Blackout Orbit Repair

[Widnesbernie]

The orbit on my Blackout needs some attention.
I am after opinions of the best way to straighten it out, the spiral nails have come away and it looks like it is deflecting the ball downwards.
It is supposed to follow the red line, but as the pictures show it is not running true. I used a nail punch and knocked the nails back in, but they came back out within a day.
The pictures show where the wood needs to be and how farout the nails are coming.

Options as I see it.
Insert some wood glue into the holes,clamp it and replace the spiral nails.
Drill right through and replace the nails with machine screws and nylock them from behind the playfield (as long as the heads are not too large a diameter).
As above, but use coach bolts instead of machine screws.
Remove the orbit and try to drill a hole between the original 2 holes and use one of the options listed above on all 3 fixings.

Has anybody got any previous experience as to which way to go?

 

[AlanJ]

fill the nail holes with glue and wood

 

[Widnesbernie]

fill the nail holes with glue and wood

Cocktail sticks?
There is not a lot of room (unless I widen the holes in the wood).

 

[AlanJ]

Yes I’ve used cocktail sticks or wood glue and sawdust. Another trick is to use bluetack

 

[neil1637]

Another vote here for cocktail sticks and wood glue mixer with sawdust.

 

[drhex]

Usually just sticking matches or toothpicks (or a cocktail stick ) in until the hole is full and then screwing/nailing it back down is enough - no glue needed, which means you can do it without dismantling half the pin. Worth a try.

 

[Arv]

+1 for matches. Get a small pin hammer and knock them in.

Just to be clear it's not the whole match just the length of the screw basically.

 

[drhex]

Yes, just push them in as far as they go and break or snip them off. Then take the broken off end and stuff it in. Repeat until full

 

[lukewells]

Another vote for matches and glue.

I've done this hundreds of times, to fix any sort of loose post/screw going into wood on a playfield.

 

[Pudsey pinball]

Yep tooth picks,match sticks or those wooden stir sticks for tea n coffee

 

[Widnesbernie]

I'll have a look at taking the metal guide off to make sure the hole is fully packed out with wood and glue before adding new spiral nails.
Thank you for all the advice.