What's new
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Cleaning bayonet bulb holders in old Bally SS Games

DRD

DRD

Registered
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
5,434
Location
Newark
Is there an easy way of cleaning these bulb holders, in situ, in early Bally SS games please ?

I have a few corroded bulb holders in the backbox of my paragon (causing intermittent bulb connection issues) and I was hoping to gently clean the insides a bit to stop this, but without stripping them out of the light panel ! These are the ones with the little springs in the base where the tip of the bulb contact is held in place by the bayonet socket pushing the bulb down against this spring.

Many thanks for any tips
 
I find these old sockets a PITA on my 2 old machines. Would be nice to replace them all but they don't bother me that much :D
 
I presume it's the same deal as bulb holders on old BWS and Segas so I just get an old scotchbrite green scouring pad, roll it into a cigar shape, and use that. Then blow in the thing and all the crap comes out so mind your eyes
 
Little bit of Scotchbrite as suggested by @cooldan is good for an in-situ clean, unless you've got a little brush attachment for a Dremel.

The hardest part about cleaning a bayonet holder is doing the top inside of the holes where the pins make contact. I've found this is a common place for a duff contact as the inside of the main tube is not guaranteed to make a good electrical contact. You can get an old bulb and keep twisting it back and forth whilst gently pulling it so that the pins rub top of the holes clean. Don't forget the button at the bottom of the tube either.

Also, these older Bally holders suffered from a problem with the spring used to make the connection at the bottom. You can heat it up and run in some solder to make a better permanent connection to the spring which is normally held in place with the riveted centre contact.

upload_2015-4-26_13-27-4.png
 
LOL! I thought you were just trying to clearly get your point across!

It is a valid point though. Don't waste time on a genuinely iffy lamp holder. Fit a new one. But... at around £1.20 each if you wanted to do all of them on a backbox or playfield it's going to get expensive quickly! But since when was pinball a cheap hobby ;)
 
+1 on Buy New.

But if you're real tight, just de-solder them and put in a tumbler for a few days with some Autosol. They'll look as good as new.
 
Ive used dans scotch cigar method but put it in a batt drill chuck for high speed jinx. The cigar will do about 3 holders before you need to change ends in the chuck.
 
I can't face doing all the holders in my game, it will cost a fortune and take a very long time. Gleaming internals are not my thing, but I do want a robust game. As I am not looking to sell it anytime soon, after I have sorted the current crop of duds, if I have to replace a bulb holder every 4 months then that will not kill me.

So I will do us selective replacement. I had one yesterday (underneath the slingshot plastic) where the case connection was dodgy (I think they rely on metal solder plate transmitting power to the outer bayonet ring by virtue of the rivet clamping the two bits of metal together), and I do not think that will clean out, even if tumbled You can put a blob of solder over this join, and that works but purists will sniff at it.

Is there a better way (cheaper) to buy these things than over a quid each ? If you buy in bulk ? Are there non pinball suppliers of these things - a maplin type of place ?

Thanks
 
Try this cheap trick. With the lamp in place, pull back the central contact and let it flick back into the lamp base. Sometimes after a couple of flicks contact is made.

Or buy new.
 
DRD said:
Is there a better way (cheaper) to buy these things than over a quid each ? If you buy in bulk ? Are there non pinball suppliers of these things - a maplin type of place?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not. Pretty much all pinball parts are specific to the coin op industry, mainly the American coin op industry. That's why you can't buy screws and nuts from B&Q - even in the states they can't go to a general hardware store to get them either.
 
Well, I have completed my initial fix here. I have not replaced anything, other than bulbs, but I now have new lamp holders in stock and will swap out any troublesome ones that go wrong again in the future. Lessons learnt.

1. Needed a mixture of techniques and a multi meter
2. Reflowing solder on the lamp driver connection pins sorted a few out
3. Cleaning these pins with isopropyl alcohol sorted a few more
4. The rolled up scotch brite pad was very effective at removing corrosion from the inside of troublesome holders
5. Pushing the sprung pin in and out to remove corrosion, was not required. But I do think that if you need to do this it is worth considering a new lamp holder as corrosion here will be hard to remove
6. Two holders needed me to solder the external join on the holder where the mounting bracket meets the cylinder. This really works well
7. One pop bumper needed me to re-tension the leaf spring/ cup the bulb sits is
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom