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Blackout - weak flippers

M

mac49uk

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Joined
Feb 6, 2025
Messages
140
Location
Birmingham, UK
Hey folks

The blackout machine I have seemingly has quite weak flippers.

The left is okay(ish) but the right is very weak.

Would you recommend a full flipper rebuild?

Many thanks
Marcus
 
You need to work out why it is weak.

Is there a lot of play in the right hand mechanism compared to the right?
Is the right binding on the playfield?
Is the EOS switch adjusted so that it is opening too early?
Is the EOS switch or the flipper button switch badly pitted/worn?

If none of the above point to the problem, then it can be a bad connection in the flipper ground path from the driver board.
 
lukewells said:
You need to work out why it is weak.

Is there a lot of play in the right hand mechanism compared to the right?
Is the right binding on the playfield?
Is the EOS switch adjusted so that it is opening too early?
Is the EOS switch or the flipper button switch badly pitted/worn?

If none of the above point to the problem, then it can be a bad connection in the flipper ground path from the driver board.
Click to expand...
I don't understand most of that but I am going to have a go at figuring out what it all means - will keep you posted.

Cheers Luke!
Marcus
 
Don't touch anything you are unsure of.
Ask for advice and/or assistance.
Provide photo's and video where necessary.
Don't rush into anything, slow and steady wins the race.👍

The members on here will help to resolve any problems you may encounter providing you consult them, listen to them and carry out any necessary step by step instructions :cool:

You will get there and it's all part of having a volatile machine as a hobby.
 
Full rebuild is a bit of a sledgehammer to nut approach, as Luke says there could be something more straightforward causing it. Can even be something as simple as a deformed coil sleeve which would cost about 50p to replace, whereas a full rebuild kit will be something like £30-40 and a lot more work.

Another cheap thing to check is the bushing (the plastic thing screwed into the underside of the playfield which the flipper shaft goes through) - when those are worn or cracked they can make flippers feel weak or sloppy.

Don’t attempt to disassemble anything without taking lots of pictures first, and until you know what’s what, always unplug your machine from the wall before poking around under the playfield!
 
Always worth checking that it has the correct flipper coils in too, some unscrupulous operators would put anything that came to hand in just to keep the cash flowing into the machine.
+1 for unplugging the machine before doing any poking around, these things can give quite a good kick if you are not careful.
 
Get a good pic of the flipper mechs, you can often tell if they've been rebuilt recently.
I've seen games with nice shiny flipper mechs that play awful because they haven't been set up properly.

One big thing with the early solid states is the EOS switch. That carries the voltage that powers the coil. If it's the wrong type of switch or not adjusted properly you can lose a lot of power through it.

I had a Black Knight here that couldn't make the left spinner ramp to the upper playfield. The mechs and coils were fine. What I did was attach a multimeter to the EOS and checked the resistance, it was sky high. I kept cleaning and adjusting the switch till the resistance was 0.5 (irc), the difference was night and day.

Those EOS's are supposed to be self cleaning but if they're not adjusted properly they'll just get worse over time.
 
With the power off tryfiling the end of stroke leaf switch. Games of this era use this to dosconnect the high power so if its weak it may be operating on the hold winding or it may be just not making proper contact. Check the wiring is soldered on and not just a few strands.
 
mac49uk said:
I don't understand most of that but I am going to have a go at figuring out what it all means - will keep you posted.

Cheers Luke!
Marcus
Click to expand...
Start with the easiest things first.

Take the glass off and jiggle the flippers with your hand. Does one feel looser than the other?
Look closely at the flipper, is there a gap underneath it all the way along, it is not touching the playfield in any way?

Next lift up the playfield, move the flipper mechanism with your hand as far as it will go (as though it is being flipped) and take a photo of it held like this, specifically showing the EOS switch as clearly as you can
 
I rebuilt both of mine when I got it.
The holes in the fibre links were well worn out, the right flipper was the worst one, I don't suppose the bent nail holding it in place was doing it any favours.
 
To add to what @lukewells was writing: Check you have a bit (about .5 mm) of up and down play on the bats by pulling up. You should not be able to tilt them in the bushing though. Plunger should move freely in the coil. End stops not to be mushroomed (but that needs disassembly already).
But very likely EOS as discussed above. The should be closed at rest and opened towards the end of the bat stroke by a pawl on the linkage. A warning: Don't file the EOS contacts if you ever get a newer machine with electronic flippers. They are easy to discern in that they have gold contacts and are normally open.
 
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