Complete Gottlieb Pinball Pool

[ronsplooter]

I've started having a look at the Pinball Pool I picked up from eBay last week and based on the very first look it should clean up to be quite nice, electronically might be a different story though First job was to give the main cab exterior a good clean and polish before moving it into the pin cabin and it came up so nice I'm not going to do anything more here. There are the usual knocks and scrapes expected on such an old game but it's a good original survivor and I want to keep it that way:





I've put a set of decent chrome legs on instead of the rough black legs that came with it and the only exterior cab work I have done is to the backbox front door that holds the backglass. It's just a plain black wooden door and it looked a bit rough compared to the rest of the cab so after a quick sand to key the paint, some coats of satin black and a bit of clear to finish it's now much more presentable:



While I was messing about with the backbox it's the perfect time to have a look at the backglass which is in pretty good shape but will need a little bit of work. First job was to get it triple thicked to seal in the current condition and I'm currently waiting for this to cure before I start on any paint touchups. In the pics below you can see some of the paint wear and it's a mixture of lit and non lit areas so will need a couple of different approaches which I'll get into later:







Next was to have an initial look over on the electrical and mechanical condition of the game before deciding whether to power it up or not. The inside of the backbox doesn't inspire much confidence, in particular the corrosion/repairs to the MPU board and the missing connectors/wires soldered to the same board:







I was already planning on replacing all of these with a Pascal Janin 4 in 1 board so not too worried other than having to sort out the missing edge connectors. Having a look under the playfield and in the cab things looked a lot better Most of the under playfield mechs look surprisingly clean and shiny and everything seems to move freely with the only thing I had to sort immediately was the blown under pf fuse. The base board in the cab looks ok too (it has had some wiring work done) and all fuses test good!





The game was sold as non working but based on all of the above (and the fact I don't care too much if I blow the existing boards) I decided to power it up and see if I could get it working on it's current boards before I start swapping things out............







It's partially alive!!!!!!!!! No smoke or fire which is a bonus and no blown fuses. We've got GI lights, displays (although one has a missing segment) and it seems to start a game but more info to come on this as I start testing things out

 

[ronsplooter]

Testing time Powering the game on it does the expected 5 second wait and then boots with both playfield and backbox GI coming on. All 4 displays light up and show six zeros except for the player 2 display which is missing the 100K segment. The Game Over light in the backbox is also on as expected but no CPU controlled lights on the playfield (I think this is normal though).

With a ball in the outhole, I press Start and the following happens:

• Player 1 display changes to a single flashing 0 - Good
• Ball in Play display shows 1 - Good
• Kickers on both playfield saucers fire - Don't know if good or bad
• Game Over light does not go out - Bad
• No CPU controlled lights on the playfield - Bad
• Ball doesn't kick into the shooter lane - Bad

The machine thinks it's in a game as most of the switches register and increase the score, if I chuck the ball down the drain then it goes to ball 2, ball 3 etc until it ends the game but......

• Flippers are dead
• Slings are dead
• Neither drop target bank resets
• Pop bumpers are dead
• No sounds

So it looks like the only working colis are the two saucer kick outs and everything else is dead. Coming back to the switches, when it's in a game I get the following:

• Top A - ok, scores 5k
• Top B - ok, scores 10k (think this should be 5k)
• Top C - ok, scores 5k
• Left Pop Bumper - doesn't register
• Right Pop Bumper - doesn't register
• Left Saucer - ok, scores 5k and fires kick out
• Right Saucer - ok, scores 5k and fires kick out
• Left Upper - ok, scores 10pt
• Right Upper - ok, scores 10pt
• Left behind drops - doesn't register
• Right behind drops - doesn't register
• Left Star Rollover - ok, scores 5k
• Right Star Rollover - ok, scores 5k
• Captive Ball Rollover - ok, scores 5k
• Left Outlane - ok, scores 5k
• Right Outlane - ok, scores 5k
• Left Inlane - ok, scores 5k
• Right Inlane - ok, scores 5k
• Left Slingshot - doesn't register
• Right Slingshot - doesn't register
• Outhole - ok but a bit flaky

I already know the fuses are all good so where to start based on the above info

 

[mufcmufc]

@MajesticPinball

 

[Moonraker]

Tie all earths. Follow them from the copper plate and find the connector then on the other side of the connector (backbox side) tie the earths. Also send on earth form the metal plate to the board in the backbox (pascal has a connector for this).
Rip the old board set out and replace with pascal jannin 4 in 1.
Replace missing connectors.
Check other connectors for broken pins or corrosion.
Swap orange capacitors on the display before they go bang.

Until the above is completed, I really wouldn't recommend switching the game on anymore particularly with that much battery corrosion as you're asking for trouble with locked on coils, blown displays, etc.

 

[ronsplooter]

Thanks Peter, tbh I'm just messing about with it at this stage knowing full well it's going to need the above as you've suggested For my own curiosity I had a bit of a tinker earlier this evening just to see if I could change it's behaviour rather than properly fix anything. I did discover that the switch for the ball roll tilt didn't have the wires soldered on (they we just loosely hooked into the tabs) so sorted that out.

I also gave the 3 under playfield relays a clean as I think there's a switch on the tilt relay that disables the flipper, bumpers and slings but that didn't change anything. The game over relay also doesn't energise when a game is started and there's a switch on that to give power to the playfield solenoids (although that doesn't explain why the saucer kick outs work but nothing else). I will have another look at these relays tomorrow to see if I can get anything going by manually messing with the switches:



I then decided to have a closer look at the driver board Looks like battery corrosion has gone through the wire harness that connects the MPU to the Driver board and it put up a right fight trying to get the connector off. All of the edge connectors on the board have seen better days and there's also been a small transistor fire at some point in the past! I think this spells the end of any further playing about and I just need to rip it out and sort properly

 

[ronsplooter]

Looks like I'm going to need to put an order in with Docent Electronics in the US. Has anyone used them recently and confirm they're still ok as their mid 90's website and archaic ordering system doesn't inspire confidence! I'm getting Pinball Resource vibes in terms of it being a ball ache to order Looks like I'd need to use Western Union to make payment with them?

 

[ronsplooter]

Need to park work on this for a few weeks if I'm going to have any chance of getting Spin Out ready for Pinfest but there was one job I wanted to get sorted before that. I'd previously triple thicked the backglass to preserve it's condition and that's had time to properly cure so it was time for some touch ups. I'm using a couple of different techniques depending on where the touch up is required, either painting for the non-opaque areas or using coloured gels/plastics for the opaque parts. I've experimented with this in the past and got decent results and it's way better than painting the opaque areas but as with any backglass repairs it's never going to be perfect

Here are the worst areas:

 

[ronsplooter]

I did the paint touch ups first as there weren't too many and thankfully I had good colour matches straight from the bottle and didn't need to mix anything. I tested the colour match by painting directly onto the front the of glass and waiting for it to dry before wiping off and painting on the back:





Next was the coloured gels which I traced on the front of the glass before cutting out and taping in place on the rear. By sealing the backglass with triple thick I'm protected against any mistakes as I can just remove the gels (or the paint touch ups) without damaging the existing art. I'm also leaving the protective film on both sides of the gel as when I've done this on other backlglasses where I've removed the film you don't get as good a result with light dispersal:

 

[ronsplooter]

All in all I'm pleased with how it's turned out although the real test will be when it's back in the game and lit up but as there were no large areas of art missing it shouldn't be very noticeable when it'a back in the game:

 

[ronsplooter]

Used some Pinfest energy to start on Pinball Pool again today. I've had a few parts turn up whilst I was getting Spin Out ready for Pinfest so today I began stripping the playfield:

 

[ronsplooter]

Playfield is out so I can start working on the underside and I've also been removing the lower cab hardware as well

 

[ronsplooter]

Not had a lot of time for pinball recently but just starting to pick things up on this again. Everything on the bottom of the playfield has been stripped down, cleaned and tumbled so I've got a lots of tubs of shiny metal at the moment. Just about to start looking at the top side of the playfield, magic eraser clean up first and see what we're dealing with

 

[ronsplooter]

Another gap in progress on this but spent some time sorting out the top side of the playfield. Gave it the usual treatment with magic eraser and IPA which got it looking a fair bit better. It's never going to be perfect and going any further with the abrasives will start taking paint off so this is my starting point for paint touch ups:



Thankfully most of the work is in the black key lines so not a lot of colour matching required Here's a couple of before and after pics of the main areas and then a final shot of the whole thing:

Before



After



Before



After

 

[ronsplooter]

Underside of the playfield is fully rebuilt and it's ready to go back into the cab

 

[Jay Walker]

The game over relay also doesn't energise when a game is started and there's a switch on that to give power to the playfield solenoids (although that doesn't explain why the saucer kick outs work but nothing else).

Sorry to hark back so far in the thread, but that's what I'd expect; the saucer(s) might need to operate without the 'Game On' solenoids. If, say, the game was tilted with a ball in a saucer, it would need to eject the ball with the flippers Off. I once owned a Gottlieb e/m, Jumping Jack, where a ball going into play had to negotiate one of two eject saucers before entering the open playfield. If it had been like our Spin Outs, with a technical fault serving the ball out at Game Over, it could've been marooned trying to return the ball to the outhole.

Something of a corollary of this occurred with Pin-Bot and Space Station; each had their left-over 'Special' solenoid used for an alternative purpose. With PB it's one of the 'eyeball' flashbulbs, which are used during the attract mode (when the visor's open), with Sp. Station it's the r/h lock eject. To make use of these, the Game On/enable line has to operate, enabling the flipper relay.

 

[ronsplooter]

Cosmetically it's almost complete Still a few rubbers to fit and the playfield protector to go on but I did a test fit of the plastics today and it's looking really good. The big remaining job is to sort out the connectors and wiring in the backbox so I can fit the Pacal board. Also need to fix the knocker and perform the chime conversion but that will be the last job once I've got it all working on the electronic sounds.

 

[ronsplooter]

One last display connector to do and then I've re-pinned everything The new Pascal board is in and initial testing looks good Starting to see the finish line with this one.

 

[ronsplooter]

Connectors finished and hardly any issues on first proper boot up. 1 cpu lamp, 1 GI lamp and a couple of switches to adjust and that's it, the Pascal board is a fantastic bit of kit Then all that's left is to fit the playfield protector and do the chime conversion. The beep-boop board is all working fine so that should be relatively straight forward as well This game is beautiful when lit up!

 

[ronsplooter]

Playfield protector is on and everything looks very shiny I'll get a video done tomorrow before I start messing with the chimes

 

[ronsplooter]

The outhole switch is giving me grief and on closer inspection I don't think this looks very factory. Calling any System 1 owners....is this normal? I'm guessing I can just replace all of that crap with a single leaf switch? @MajesticPinball @Moonraker @Poibug @JMP

 

[JMP]

Can't help you there Chris, sorry.

 

[Moonraker]

I agree, not normal and there shouldn't be any need for a capacitor either...

My system 1 is currently folded and a little hard to get to for pictures.

 

[Triple H]

Not the best picture

 

[ronsplooter]

Nice one all Thanks for the pic @Triple H I'll be swapping tha`t out this evening

 

[ronsplooter]

Outhole switch sorted and a quick video of the game in action:

 

[Triple H]

I remember playing this in the arcade when it first came out.
Absolutely gorgeous looking machine but felt a bit dated for the time.

It's almost a 'Big Shot' remake.

 

[MajesticPinball]

Never seen that before with the capacitor, I'm guessing they're using it to try and lengthen the switch closure time, maybe dirty contacts were giving them an issue originally? Glad to see it's all sorted looks beautiful mate, top work!

 

[ronsplooter]

I'm calling this one done Chime unit conversion is completed and sounds loads better IMHO. Here's a quick video:

 

[Ashbo]

I'm calling this one done Chime unit conversion is completed and sounds loads better IMHO. Here's a quick video:

That's awesome

 

[RetroHeed]

I'm calling this one done Chime unit conversion is completed and sounds loads better IMHO. Here's a quick video:

Thats stunning, love it with the chimes