Out Of Sight: all done, ready to go!

Let's take a moment to realize Caitlyn discovered how to use the panorama feature on her phone and take in the game room:

That's it, take it all in... because as we've learned around here, things change rapidly.

I am now done with Out Of Sight.  It plays 100% and looks great and I already have a perfect trade lined up:  I will be trading it for another non-working EM!  Perfect!  Project done, time for a new project.  This new project might be a bit tougher since one local tech was already stumped by it, but who knows.  I'm taking the gamble.

I am still waiting on an LED order from Comet to finish replacing all of the incandescents on this machine.  I am hoping the non-frosted yellows will be bright enough for inserts, but we shall see.  Worst case scenario, if they aren't, I'll put full intensity whites beneath them.
Also want the entire title in the backglass to have colour changing LEDs for the maximum psychedelic feel.


There was one minor issue with a single drop light not coming on to indicate its bonus status, but that turned out to be a musty socket that took well to a good cleaning.
Apparently there is a tool to help clean/file out those sockets, but I manged with an L shaped switched tool, some paper towels, and a cleaner solvent.

I have also been cleaning the score reels, which was an odd thing since I did it without taking them out.  Just got the game to varied scores, then went in to the back glass and started scrubbing at the reels.  They glow quite cleanly now.

The delightfully easily to work with lighting assembly

Good-bye Out Of Sight!  And heeeeellloooo new project, coming soon!

Out Of Sight: so much going on!

Let's talk power issues first!  I was under the PF swapping some lights out and poppin' in LEDs.  I almost have the whole thing done, just placed one more order to Comet Pinball to fill in the gaps.  (bright yellows for inserts, more colour changes for the backbox title)


First, let me tell you how much I enjoy the 3 lighting strips in this game:

They are each easily removed by 2 screws, allowing quick access to a row of bulbs.


But while under there, I got a nasty shock from touching a chasis on the drop target reset solenoid.  Dang, power is off!  What gives?

belly of the drop target beast

After one shortly lived false lead, I had some great assistance from my local board and found the main culprit:  The hot and neutral power lines coming in from the wall were soldered to the wrong points.
And yes, I got a receptacle tester to make sure it wasn't my home wiring that was deficient.

I got the schematics from Marco, but before I got them a friend pass this portion and highlighted the pre-transformer power setup on the machine.

As you can see from the schematic, one wire goes to a switch, the other to the reset banks.
First things first, let's get in there.

Yeah no, this is NOT going to work.  Thank god taking out a Gottlieb playfield is quite easy.

ooo just resting there..  Makes it so easy to solder on!

Off the lug going to the reset coils:  122.4 Vac

From the lug going to the switch?  0.69 Vac

Problem: Verified.  Time to put some flux on the connections, desolder the wires, then swap them!

The false lead I took?  Well the first thing I noticed under the playfield was this warning notice:

This game  had the red wire on the high-tap.   This wasn't the issue, but since there was no need for it, I soldered it to the NORMAL lug.  Might extend the life of some of the plastics .

right where it's supposed to be.

Next up, fixing the right outlane gate.  It was opening, but not staying open.

AX is the left gate relay, BX is the right gate relay.  Both are held ON by themselves, until a rollover breaks the circuit and closes them.

this is the switch for the right rollover.

 A visual inspection of that right rollover switch would imply that all systems are GO!  But I put my multimeter on continuity, started at the coil and worked my way back through the circuit to see if any solder was cracked, wires were busted... or if contacts were dirty.  The first time I didn't get a beep was across this gap.  Gave the contacts a quick clean, and it worked perfectly.

Time to work on the left gate.  Remember our burnt up AX coil?  This was due to a short, and I swear it wasn't on my watch.

note how much exposed wire is coming off the solenoid solder points...

Inverted view, brand new replacement coil in place!

You can see it better on the first AX pic, but on the circular gate piece there are two screws holding it in place.  On first test, the gate was not swinging open far enough.  All I had to do was loosen both of those screws, hold the mech in place while giving a small adjustment to the gate on the top of the playfield.  With a bit of trial and error I found the perfect alignment for it.

 And a few final touchups.  New rubber casters for the feet!  And I took a knife to the old rebound rubber and got it off.  Once off, the fresh rubber one was a cinch to work over the slight nub at the end.  And really, that bounce of the initial plunge is such a HUGE part of the aesthetic of an EM.  You have to get a fresh one on there.
Getting the metal bracket reattached to the playfield was an exercise in frustration, but if there is a hot tip for how to do it simply, I am not the lady that would know.

Everyone in rubber.

Out Of Sight: I tried to stay away...

this project was supposed to last me...
I was going to wait until my friend got back from Allentown with a freshly purchased schematic for Out Of Sight, but alas, we got back from a long weekend in Toronto and I decided to have a peak at the covet kickback mechanism.

I mean, how could I not?  It's so cool.  This is a 1974 machine with a gate that opens, traps the ball, and kicks it back out.  It's one of only a handful that had a left kickback at that point.

There were 2 serious problems:
1) the gate wasn't opening when the left rollover was hit
2) the ball wasn't firing back.

Problem #2 was solved first:  The switch gap was just too large.  Lots of parts seem to have been replaced here, the switch for this, and the kicker solenoid and brackets, all seemed brand new.

Problem #1 was pretty easy to spot:  the solenoid for the gate had wire #1 leaning over and touching terminal #2.  Shorted.  Fried.
I am putting in an order for an A-489 #29 coil ASAP.  I can't wait to get this game playing perfectly.
And I might have it running fully before June.  :)

Out Of Sight: score reels issue

2 birds, 1 stone!  That's the way I like to deal with my problems.

Player 1 tens unit was not reseting properly to zero.
Also during game play, the player unit would suddenly advance from player 1 to player 2.

With the glass off I quickly isolated the problem by hitting things that would rewards thousands, hundreds, and then tens.  On hitting a 10 point item, that is when the players would shift from 1 to 2.  The player unit was advancing errantly, but only from player 1 to 2.

I checked the player 2 10s score reel to see how things should be:

zero position

1-8

9

There are 3 main switch stacks up in each reel, and they are charted as:
0    C OO
1-8 O C O
9    O C C

So the leftmost stack is only closed on zero.  This stack toggles with the middle stack (meaning when one is closed, the other should be open)
The right-most stack is the carry bit.  when the 9 advances, it scores one on the subsequent reel.


It is hard to see from the crappy photo, but the problem on the player 1 10s was quickly obvious:  The metal bar coming from the upper left was to the right of the toggle switch.
Check the pics above, it is supposed to sit between the two switches.
I was able to correct this, but then there was still some reset problems stemming from the left most stacks not making great contact.  Cleaning and adjusting them, the game now scores properly!

ugggh sorry for the crappy pic.  But trust me, the bar is in the wrong spot.

I think the reels could be due for a cleaning since some manual stepping was a touch sticky, but I don't know if I want the massive task of taking each apart and cleaning it at this point.  They work, and that's good enough for now.


DONE:
Correct scoring reel
Deep clean + wax
Add LEDs to backglass + top of playfield
Seal backglass
Flatten plastics
Clean cabinet + legs + hardware

TODO:
Get kickback gate working
Get kickback solenoid working
level it on the damn concrete floor...
Add LEDs beneath playfield
check for a few dead light sockets (double bonus light)
mod the game to include a way to reset drops?

Out Of Sight: cleaning and rebuilding the playfield

I took some time and took all of the rubbers, posts and plastics from the playfield.
I want to clean and fix them, but also do a deep-enough clean of the playfield with minimal obstructions.

As we can see, the playfield has a bit of planking.  Not being the artsy type, the best defense is to be gentle and loving, clean it as best possible, then wax the hell out of it.

 I flattened the plastics tonight with great success, and here is my recipe:
Oven to 185 degrees.
Flat cookie sheets, with parchment paper on it.
Placed plastics on paper, in to oven.
Left them in until they started noticeably bending.  For the bottom rack this was ~4 minutes, top rack plastics were ~6 minutes. (they are further from the element)

Took them out, lifted the parchment paper on to flat counter.  Put another sheet of paper on top.  Piled on heavy artbooks, let cool for 10 minutes.

Worked great!  Not perfect, but much much better, and no damage.

all of the rubbers removed

verdict:  toss the rubbers, clean the star posts!

starting to take apart the playfield

everything removed!

ooo dirty

I wish I knew how to remove the rubber from this guy...

cleaned + waxed!  Planking still there, but the wax will help with further wear.  I hope.

flattened + cleaned plastics, new rubbers, clean + waxed, and LEDs!

Introducing... Out Of Sight!

Welcome welcome to my spring/summer project.

Max capacity here is 4 pins.  2 went, Monopoly came, leaving room for THIS, a dirty and not-quite-working machine to be gone over.

BEAUTIFUL!

The cab isn't perfect, but really who really needs a mint EM cab?

Coin door is great.

A bit of dirty, and a some unfortunate planking

I love the art on this game.  I got it dirty and not-quite-working and am excited to see what I can do and where I can take it to.
Can't get too attached, as obviously something will have to go eventually, and it will probably be this one, but hey games don't generally last too long here anyways since this is my eight in over a year.


I started with the cabinet, and here is the top of the head.
Decades old ducktape is on there for some reason, as well as layer of what I assume is dust + nicotine tar.

I used a razor to start peeling the tape

I very gently cleaned with mean green and windex, being careful to ensure I wasn't soaking it, nor stripping any paint.

Compared to the starting point, this is actually pretty good!

The back glass is pretty great:

This is after I sealed it with acrylic triple-thick paint, which unfortunately reacted with the oranges and pinks.  Salvageable.

I took all of the metal bits and soaked them in a bath of Evapo-Rust

be sure to clean them well before doing this though.  You can re-use Evapo-Rust, but not if it's a dark cloud of dirt crud....

After the Evapo-Rust, I rinsed them, then give them another quick Evapo-Rust did and sit to dry.

The metal bits all came out nicely.  On to the legs!

Before  UGGH.

I only havd a 22" wallpaper tray trough to soak them in, so could only do one end at a time, and at an awkward angle.  Even with 2 bottles of Evapo-rust in the tray, coverage was limted.  If I could have found a trough the could contain the 32" legs, this would have been even better.

Next was the back box.  I took out all of the incadescent bulbs and replace them with LEDs.  It's a rea shame this doesn't have more lights, considering how vibrant the art is.
Warm white bulbs for the scores.  White and coloured LEDs for the characters, and colour-changing LEDs for the "Out Of Sight" logo to compliment the psychedelic feel.
I wiped away a bit of the black crud that incandescent bulbs leave over the years, but there wasn't that much.  Cleaning the score reels will help eventually though.

I didn't take photos of it, but I also spent time cleaning all of the stepper units in the game.  This is something I know how to do fairly well from past EM practice.  I learned everything from Clay's great guide.
This game has a crap load of steppers.  Player Unit, credit unit, a big one under the playfield, and 2 relays each with 2 smaller ones.  7 total.

I also started tightening switch stacks and ensuring the major assemblies are properly secured under the playfield

I played a test game and two things are obvious:
1) Something is causing an erratic step in the player's unit while the ball is in play, switching it from player 1 to 2.
2) the tens unit for player one has a switch stack error where the zero position switch is always closed, so it never resets to zero properly.  (although it doesn't hit zero, since the switch is always closed this does not interfere with the reset sequence)

In addition to that, a few obvious things:
- a few light sockets are out
- the left kickback gate doesn't open
- there is no back door to the back box

Marco Specialties has the schematics available and I have ordered them to Allentown.  I am not going, but someone from Ottawa is and has offered to bring back my order.
(Also coming is a small pile of stuff for Monopoly!)