In Progress Fathom

[DRD]

Flipper rebuild, this made the game look a lot better and greatly improved the performance of the two main flippers. Purists will be happy that these are staying as linear flippers.

The rebuilt flippers withstood a league meeting and allow you to shoot all the shots, including the critical top lock. I sneakily put a link flipper mechanism on the top right as I was waiting on parts, no-one at the league meeting died. Will post a request for help on the forum as two of the three still (minor) have problems

Using superbands in Fathom, the yellow is not the right shade but I think they play better. The key wear part on linear flippers is the white circular nylon bearing on the flipper pawls (left in the shot), these get hammered in old games. The before and the after parts ...

 

[DRD]

One of my pet hates is the pitting to the Bally saucer mechs that you can see underneath the saucer cut outs on the playfield, my Paragon also had this. Given that my much better condition Paragon suffered too, I think that the playfield waxes or similar might have contributed to this general corrosion over time .....


Used a mixture of progressive buffing wheels on the drill (starting with the sisal), and the dremel to deal with the surface you can see under the playfield (the two lugs that support the ball mean that the dremel if the best bet here). Fathom had two of these filthy little mechanisms ....


Into this ....



I actually think these old Bally kick outs are better than the newer wpc versions. You often see saucer wear on wpc games, but none of my old Ballys suffer from it as the ball is struck upwards and out of the hole. Bit of gentle bending required to straighten the arm that strikes the ball.

 

[Nedreud]

Beautiful work on the kicker! Just what I like to see.

Yes, do be careful with the two spikey lugs... I snagged one on the buffing wheel and it snapped off! Definitely a job for the Dremel that area and it will achieve a better finish anyway which is good because that's the bit you see through the hole!

These mechs also seemed to have a habit of becoming sticky so an overhaul like this is going to improve performance no end. I don't know if it's because someone used some lubricant but on both PARAGON and VECTOR they were very dirty and gungey. The double-kicker in my VECTOR needs some TLC as it's regularly having problems ejecting the ball back into play.

 

[Nedreud]

Also, glad to hear someone else thinks Superbands are great! I tried them first on VECTOR and thought they were great (they look fab too) so I naturally put a pair on GOLD BALL. I went for yellow, like on your VECTOR, and again they play great. The glossy finish looks well class and they hardly get dirty at all. A quick wipe with Novus #1 (or probably a cloth with just about anything on it) and they're looking brand new again. I think @astyy has black on his HOOK and is just about to fit some red ones to his GOLD BALL.

 

[DRD]

I think that they will have been oiled. I have removed the kickers from paragon and fathom and both were really oily. I now clean with IPA before I buff to get rid of it. This clean up does improve the power. I also learnt that you might have to bend them a little to get the ball impact point right.

Fathom has a saucer in the very top right hand corner of the machine, making it hard for the flippers to shoot it up there. The kick out is similarly challenging, as the ball must make it over the rollovers at the top of the machine and this requires a very clean and well aimed eject, good cleans seemed to do the job on my machine

 

[RudeDogg1]

The gunge is normally cause by some kinda lube

 

[Flyte]

@DRD This thread is AWESOME! I just got a Fathom on Friday and don't have a clue where to start but your thread is really giving me a lot of help.

 

[Jb3d]

I realise this is a thread from last year but I've only just seen it after recently joining. I just wanted to say thanks for the shop log. For someone like me who wants to learn new skills it is a great way to see how to tackle repairs and your photos make things very clear. Thanks for taking the time and the trouble !​

 

[DRD]

Hi

Fathom is paused, sat in the workshop. Awaiting a new playfield from cpr ! Plus a stencil job on the cab. It will upset the purists but I am going to put the earlier, Paragon/ Harlem Globetrotters era flipper mechs in. This is very easy to do

I am also going to try to put Paragon era slingshots in too which are based on pop bumper mechs. Depends on whether they will fit

But when the game is getting a new playfield, newly stencilled art etc ..... We can safely say that originality has left the building

IMHO Paragon has the best flipper mechs on any game I have played from any era. Responsive, powerful, far more control than I am capable of using. The flippers and slingshots are so much more "immediate' than the linear crap that followed. The linear flippers do have more inertia so are easier to control, but at a hell of a cost to immediacy

I fired her up a few weeks ago. All still working fine.

 

[new forest pinball]

You need to update this thread David..... Shame on you!......
Never a chance of having to much Bally ss eye candy.
Photos of the finished article please!
In anticipation...K.

 

[AlanJ]

fantastic.

what’s so good about fathom? i’m sure i’ve played it but can’t remember much about it?

My own Bally SS collection coming along:



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[ronsplooter]

@AlanJ dual in line drops and a sweet spinner.

 

[DRD]

Wholly holy thread resurrection batman

 

[AlanJ]

And is the Fathom all sorted @DRD ?

 

[DRD]

All sorted yonks ago.

@Matt Adams did a playfield swap and pinball pimp stencil job

I think fathom is so well rated as

1. Fundamentally, it is prettiest game of all time imho
2. Great theme
3. 2x independent lock and release mechanisms

I actually prefer the gameplay on Centaur. But Fathom is simply beautiful to look at.

Fathom, Centaur and Vector are the beauties of that era. Shame that Vector gameplay is quite poor.

 

[Sven Normansson]

As someone who had the entire 81 lineup. Centaur, fathom, flash Gordon in that order of gameplay but fathom trumps all on artwork alone.

 

[andy]

As someone who had the entire 81 lineup. Centaur, fathom, flash Gordon in that order of gameplay but fathom trumps all on artwork alone.

Well I’d definitely put Fathom top on gameplay but possibly Medusa top on artwork...

They are all great games though if I could only have one it would be Fathom without a doubt!

 

[ronsplooter]

All awesome games but Flash Gordon is top for me, then Fathom and Centaur third you can’t go wrong with any of them though!

 

[AlanJ]

i don’t like the art on fathom. it’s too blue. paragon for me. but i AM biased based on the memories of playing it at university in 1980 along with a bunch of cool dudes including the girl with the post punk blue hair, black leather strides tight-ass, safety pin in her left nipple and a pearl tattoo [emoji160][emoji160][emoji160]


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[new forest pinball]

i don’t like the art on fathom. it’s too blue. paragon for me. but i AM biased based on the memories of playing it at university in 1980 along with a bunch of cool dudes including the girl with the post punk blue hair, black leather strides tight-ass, safety pin in her left nipple and a pearl tattoo [emoji160][emoji160][emoji160]


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Unless you married her Alan. This is far to much information..... one of my customers was the same, he played it in the uni bar, loved it so much when he graduated he purchased it for £50.00
He still has it today. It was recently flood damaged so we refurbished it for him under the insurance. Here it is....ohh and the 4 flipper version is nicer to play but the 3 flipper game is more of a challenge in our opinion....

 

[roadshow16]

February 1981 - Flash Gordon
April 1981 - Eight Ball Deluxe
June 1981 - Embryon
June 1981 - Fireball II
August 1981 - Fathom
September 1981 - Medusa
October 1981 - Centaur
December 1981 - Elektra

Just incredible. What a time that must have been! 4 years before I was born, but without a doubt the greatest year for pinball. What a collection of games.

Flash Gordon is the best. Perhaps the best game ever made.

 

[AlanJ]

February 1981 - Flash Gordon
April 1981 - Eight Ball Deluxe
June 1981 - Embryon
June 1981 - Fireball II
August 1981 - Fathom
September 1981 - Medusa
October 1981 - Centaur
December 1981 - Elektra

Just incredible. What a time that must have been! 4 years before I was born, but without a doubt the greatest year for pinball. What a collection of games.

Flash Gordon is the best. Perhaps the best game ever made.

yes what a truly incredible production year


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[Pinoffski]

All sorted yonks ago.

@Matt Adams did a playfield swap and pinball pimp stencil job

I think fathom is so well rated as

1. Fundamentally, it is prettiest game of all time imho
2. Great theme
3. 2x independent lock and release mechanisms

I actually prefer the gameplay on Centaur. But Fathom is simply beautiful to look at.

Fathom, Centaur and Vector are the beauties of that era. Shame that Vector gameplay is quite poor.

Unless you married her Alan. This is far to much information..... one of my customers was the same, he played it in the uni bar, loved it so much when he graduated he purchased it for £50.00
He still has it today. It was recently flood damaged so we refurbished it for him under the insurance. Here it is....ohh and the 4 flipper version is nicer to play but the 3 flipper game is more of a challenge in our opinion....
View attachment 123805

You Guys are killing Me with the nice pinball's
Paragon was my first pinball purchased in 1984 and i will have to source another one

I have looked at the you tube vid many of times @Matt Adams as i would like my fathom to turn out as good that one