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Playfield Swap - on my Paragon - hints and tips *****IN PROGRESS ******

AlanJ

AlanJ

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5Years
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
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Location
Leeds, West Yorkshire
I have just ordered a replacement playfield for my Paragon from CPR, so this will be my first attempt at a playfield swap.

Apart for the usual advice of taking tons of photos before and during the strip down, is there any other advice you seasoned "swappers" can give please?

I guess its best to try keep a lot of the underneath wiring intact and soldered on - so unscrew everything and slide all the parts on the underside off the old pf and then slide onto the new one? Or am I kidding myself here.


Many thanks in advance
 
Find a good staple gun...!

If you haven't got a rotisserie then try fitting the top sides first then you can turn it over and place on a table to do the swap whilst it rests on the sides as it helps to have a little clearance when adding various mechs.

You could always build your own rotisserie https://www.flippers.be/playfield_rotisserie.html
 
(1) Make sure you have a few bottles of your favourite tipple handy whilst doing the swap.
(2) Be prepared to feel suicidal.
(3) You may feel the urge to do stupid things like offering to wash pots or other womanly things.
(4) Get the feeling that society and the dog/cat
are all against you.
(5) Say sod it and take up a new hobby.

I went through all these emotions when I did one
 
As Peter’s already said, get a good staple gun!

Check the dimpling on your new playfield and pre-drill pilot holes for as much stuff as possible. Can’t remember if Paragon has any roll over switches but if it does then file or sand out the clear on the new playfield and sacrifice a roll over star as a tester for making sure nothing is sticking.

Split the wiring harness into coils, lamps and switches if possible and use a large sheet of card to transfer off the old and onto the new. The side of a pinball box is good for this.

There’s probably more that I’m forgetting but the big thing is to prep the new playfield as much as possible before you start putting stuff onto it. Are you going to install new ground wiring for the lamps or transfer the existing ?
 
Plan your new ground wiring by offering up mechs to the new playfield and checking against the dimpling as things might be in slightly different positions on the new compared to the old. This will also allow you to check whether you can trust the dimple pattern or if you need to adjust from it. It might be worth pencilling in the ground wiring lines before you start stapling the wire down just to be sure. It’s not uncommon to put it back together and have a short from the lamp ground wire to one of the mechs like a flipper plate or pop bumper bracket. Had this when I did my Flash Gordon [emoji16]
 
Calimori said:
My one of those died under hard work on a kids climbing frame so I bought this to give it a go and have found it to be very versatile.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00XI610R0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The front comes off and you can add some good (and ridiculous) attachments: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=bosch+ixo+accessories&i=diy&crid=EUDHNSUHE22Y&sprefix=bosch+ixo+a,diy,137&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11
BBQ blower and herb grinder are my favourites.
Click to expand...
Bang goes another £50 cheers chaps - helping me spend my cash..........
 
i bought the 90 degree attachment. a bad back gets worse f-ing about in silly poses so that may help a bit


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
16b941881306c9294236f54d89906e54.jpg
dea4c6f0cc39621711e5a647fec68009.jpg

old pf stripped. new parts ordered. rest in the tumbler and or the untrasonic

replaced drop targets in the in-line. can’t find my replacement targets for the other bank. doh!!! might have to do that later

hammered those horrid screws that hold the pop bumpers into my new playfield. that was a scary moment. so was hammering in all the t-nuts.

i’ve placed all the underside stuff on the new playfield. will screw them down and ensure all line up and are correct. then draw the lamp wires on, then remove mechs again to staple the braid down.

ordered all new lamp sockets, new posts, rubbers, plastics, shooter rod and knob, flipper buttons, housing, flipper bats, star rollovers, etc, etc, etc.

whilst waiting for parts I’ll get in with the cab, pinball pimp stencil set arrived today


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