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Stern Nugent


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I've had my Nugent for just over a month now and in among lots of playing, I've been hard at work learning about pinball machines and making improvements to mine. I've posted a few pics in other threads, so will try not to duplicate too much - but wanted to go through a few things I've been working on and put up a lot of photos for those who are interested. The follow is a series of changes, fixes, upgrades & mods I've made over the last few weeks. I've had a lot of fun playing my new machine, but equally as much getting my head inside the machine and learning how it works. I'm glad to have an older machine to start with, as I think they could be easier to become familiar with.

 

The machine is functional and plays fine, although there are a few issues I needed to sort out. Kind of what I'd expect from a machine that is 35 years old. I suspect I've played it more in the last month, than it's been played in the last few years - so I suspect a few issues are coming to the surface as I play - and that's OK - everything seems possible to fix.

 

For the last few years I've had my head inside arcade machines - so Pinball machines are a new beast. I wanted to try doing a few simple things first and use this as a chance to learn some pinball 101. Giving the playfield a clean and changing the rubbers seemed to be a good place to start.

 

The playfield has collected dirt, dust, small leaves (?) and bits of plastic that look like they came from some of the star posts.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_dirt.jpg

 

Before wiping it all down however, I wanted to replace all the rubbers. The machine came with black rubbers installed and they looked well worn. I've read that black rubbers tend to get the playfield dirty and I found just touching them to remove put black marks all over my hands. The red rubbers on the flippers were also well used and quite dirty – these were removed.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_flipper_rubber.jpg

 

The star post caps were also well past their used by date. These don’t have and effect on the gameplay, but these look faded and old. As you can see in the photo below, the new white ones look so much better.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_postcaps.jpg

 

Next up it was time to remove all the plastics and old black rubber. I took the opportunity to replace all the old bulbs with new #47′s.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_stripped.jpg

 

I decided to replace all bulbs under the playfield too as most were #44′s. Some were broken too, which I replaced also. I love looking at the wiring on these things. In the future, I will also be replacing the drop targets, so will need to get back under here to remove the old ones and add the new ones, so this was good opportunity to get familiar with the internals.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_underside.jpg

 

I then added all new white rubbers along with yellow flipper rubbers. Yellow was the original colour the Nugent shipped with and it looks alright. I’m thinking I may get a set of blue flipper rubbers at some point as I think blue will look great. All the plastics were reinstalled and start post caps added. I wipes the plastics down also which gave them a clean look – amazing how much dust gets into these things.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_newrubber.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_newflipperrubber.jpg

 

That left me with a nice pile of old rubber to throw out. I also replaced the rebound rubber at the top with a new white disc – looks much better than the old hard black disk.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_oldrubber.jpg

 

The shooter rubber was replaced too with a new tip:

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_shootertip.jpg

 

With that done, I gave the playfield a wipe down with a lint free cloth and used a vacuum to suck up any loose dust and dirt. The glass was cleaned on both sides and added back on. I played a number of games afterwards and was amazed at the improvement the new rubber made. It felt MUCH better.

 

After giving the playfield some attention, I shifted my focus to the backglass.

 

One of the first things I wanted to when I got the machine was have a look at the game board. All of this lives behind the backglass. There is a lock on the top right of the machine. Sadly this lock came with no key, and I could not locate one inside the machine. Looking at the lock, it appeared that the previous owner had also misplaced the keys as the lock itself looked like it had been attacked with a screwdriver. Using a screwdriver myself, I undid it.

 

With the lock undone, I could then slide the actual backglass up and out to reveal the bulbs, score displays and door containing the components.

 

The lock itself controls a long metal rail that runs across the top of the backglass. With the lock engaged, the backglass cannot be moved. With the lock open, it removes the metal rail, allowing the backglass to be slid up and out.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/backglass_broken_lock.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/backglass_metalbar.jpg

 

I switched the power on to note which bulbs no longer worked and replaced them. There were also some bulbs missing. At first I thought this was strange, but then after replacing them I noticed that the newly lighted areas showed some flaws in the backglass artwork - so suspect this was intentional. It's not too bad, so decided to leave it with all bulbs. I also ordered 10 blinking bulbs to use across the top row of bulbs (a suggestion from #rob71 )– this will create a binking effect across “NUGENT” “by Stern” and the blast coming from the shot gun in the backglass artwork – just to add some extra flare to the backglass.

 

I also replaced the dodgy lock with a brand new one.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/backglass_new_lock.jpg

 

I did some searching online for replacement plastic bezels for the lights – even second hand ones or NOS (new old stock), but couldn’t find anything. I had some thick black cardboard left over from the bezel I made for my pole position machine and decided to craft up some small bezels myself.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/bulb_bezel_2.jpg

 

With the bezels made up, they were stapled into position. This helped ensure areas like "ball in play" and "tilt" and the player numbers didn't receive light from other bulbs. If I ever track down some proper plasic parts for this, I'll be sure to grab some.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/backglass_bulbs_replaced.jpg

 

Time to look at the playfield again.

 

The original Nugent machines came with solid red lane guides at the top of the playfield. They look OK, but are a little dull. When looking around at various pinball spare parts shops I spied a few transparent red guidesthat would look awesome, so I purchased them. Replacing them was only 5 minutes work.

 

This is how the original red guards look:

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_oldlaneguides.jpg

 

I replaced them with new transparent red line guides which look much nicer – especially in the dark with the lights shining through.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_newlaneguides.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_newlaneguides_2.jpg

 

Next up, I wanted to adjust how lenient the return ally’s are on each side. I constantly find the ball going down the sides to the point where I feel I'm being cheated - and it's less fun. So I moved both posts down to close the gap. The ball still goes down there, but much less often now.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_right_return.jpg

 

One of the bulbs in the pop bumpers was not working, so decided to replace the bulbs in all 3 at the same time. As with most of the other bulbs, they were #44′s, so I replaced all with brand new #47′s. The cap plastic has burnt on all 3, so I've ordered replacement caps.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_popbumpers.jpg

 

You can see the burn/melted points from on top too

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/bumpercap_old.jpg

 

I sourced 3 new caps with the same star pattern, and replaced them.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/bumpercap_old_2.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/bumpercap_new.jpg

 

The playfield is looking quite nice under lights right now:

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_playfield_atnight.jpg

 

I purchased some blue flipper rubber and decided to try out how it looked. I had gotten used to playing with the yellow, but will try out the blue for a bit and see if it sticks :)

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/flippers_blue.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/flippers_blue_2.jpg

 

The original leg levellers that came with the machine were impossible to adjust, so I decided to simply replace them – at the cost of under $10, it was an easy decision to make. With some effort I got them off and replaced with the new ones – looking much better and they have been adjusted a few times to improve the gameplay. I’m pretty happy with where they are at now. It was interesting to see how much the gameplay is modified when increasing the height.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/leglevellers_new.jpg

 

I find the 5X multiplier isn’t fancy enough. The 2X multiplier is green and the 3X multiplier is yellow, but the 5X is just a normal light colour, which I find boring. When I hit 5X - I want it to stand out - so let's change it. Replacing the insert was not an option as I could not track down a 5X insert. (If anyone has one or knows where I can source one, please let me know)

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/multiplier_5x_old.jpg

 

I purchased a blue bulb to use instead:

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/multiplier_5x_new.jpg

 

In the dark, it looks awesome – with the lights on it’s less obvious - and this is due to the fact it's just the bulb adding the colour, not the insert. But I like the fact it’s a different colour – it feels more rewarding to see a new colour light up when you achieve that 5X multiplier!

 

Time to look at the coin door. The coin door on my Nugent isn’t too bad. It has some rust, and the bolts could do with a polish, but otherwise it’s fine. I wanted to make a few minor tweaks to it though.

 

I firstly gave it a good wipe down and clean, removing built up dust, gunk and what looked like the remains of a drink spill.

 

I purchased a credit button decal and added that

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/coindoordecal.jpg

 

When I fired up the machine for the first time, I noticed that the light on the left coin decal didn’t light up. Opening up the coin door showed that the coin mech on the left was not installed, which would explain why the bulb had been removed. I really wanted to add a second coin mech, just so coins could be accepted on both sides.

 

A quick search on ebay turned one up and for $20 delivered, I snapped it up. It was already configured for 20c coins and was a match for my existing coin mech.

 

One of the previous owners of the machine had installed a microswitch in place of the second coin mech. It was attached to the frame in such a way that when the coin return button was pressed (on the front of the coin door), it would add a credit to the machine. I thought this was an excellent idea as it avoids adding new buttons to the coin door or side panels of the pinball machine. I wanted to keep the microswitch so I could easily add credits. It couldn’t remain in it’s current position and hooked up to the coin return button as it would be in the way of the new coin mech.

 

I had a hunt through my arcade spare parts and found the frame for a leaf switch button would fit nicely into to the third coin mech position. Using the frame, I attached the microswitch up using the existing holes in the frame and then put it into the coin door where the third coin mech would have sat.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/coinmechsandswitch.jpg

 

One last thing I wanted to adjust was the coin/game setting on the right coin mech. The coin door itself can support up to 3 coin mechs. My machine only has two installed and the plate on the front only has support for two coin slots. The middle coin mech was already configured for 1 coin = 1 game. The coin mech on the right was configured to 2 coins = 3 games.

 

The coin/game settings are controlled by 3 separate sets of switched on the game board. Switches 1 to 5 control coin slot 2 (middle), 9 to 13 control coin slot 3 (right) and 28 to 30 control coin slot 1 (left). Interesting the coin slot 1 only has 3 switches available compared to the 5 allotted to coin slots 2 and 3. To achieve 1 game = 1 credit, I only needed to set switch 2 from each set to on. I had originally thought the coin mech on the right was coin mech 1 (looking at it from the inside of the door), but it’s actually coin mech 3 – which makes sense when looking at it from the outside of the door. No doubt this can actually be customised based on the wiring – but I will leave it as is.

 

I wanted to make some more cosmetic changes. The old buttons has faded in colour and were quite dirty. They are cheap to replace, so wanted to do it. I wanted to keep the same colour white button housing as it’s a nice clean white, but the buttons will now be transparent red (instead of white). You can see the difference when the old and new buttons are along side each other.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/newnugentbuttons.jpg

 

Replacing the buttons was as simple as undoing 2 screws each side, popping the old plastic out and putting the new buttons in it’s place. I double checked the switches to ensure they still made a clean connect when the buttons were pressed and also gave each one a clean with a random business card I had handy.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/newbuttonsinstalled.jpg

 

Since I was in the area of the buttons, I wanted to rebuild the shooter. The shaft was (very) well used and sticking at times. The handle has seen better days and the springs no longer as effective as they could be. The white beehive was also faded, scratched and dirty. To replace the whole thing was going to cost around $15 - $20, so decided why not.

 

I removed the shooter and disassembled it.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/shooterdisasssembled.jpg

 

Using a new shaft, springs and beehive, I put everything back together and then screwed back into the machine. It has come up looking great. It’s interesting that a lot of shooter shafts these days are slightly shorter than the original ones. The new one I’ve used is 5mm-8mm shorter. The new plunger feels much nicer and the springs make a big difference.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/newnugentshooter.jpg

 

The only thing I'm disappointed with on the rebuild is the shooter shaft is not quite as long as the original. This one is sold as a "universal" rod and measures 7-7/8". The original one was over 8 inches, but I've not been able to source one of this length. It works, but I suspect the extra length will improve it more.

 

Last part for now - rebuilding the flippers. The flippers on my Nugent are in need of some attention. While I can make any shot on the table with them, they often bounce when catching the ball. This sometimes acts as a trampoline by making the ball jump or causing the ball the bounce off in unexpected directions.

 

I purchased two sets of flipper rebuild kits. They only came in sets of two, so I will have a left flipper kit spare once all three flippers have been rebuilt. First step was to get the play field lifted up so I could get access to the flipper parts below the play field. I decided to start with the left flipper since it was the worst of all three.

 

Here is a picture of the left flipper before I began:

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/leftflipper1.jpg

 

I removed the coil stop, along with the coil. Then the plunger, bushing and finally the frame. I now had access to all the parts and could start replacing the worn out parts with new ones.

 

I was worried the bushing might be damaged and be part of the issue I was seeing with the flipper. But it turned out to be OK. It just needed a good clean. I really wanted to replace them, but sadly could not source the correct parts. The bushing on the left is the one out of my machine and the one on the right is one I purchased hoping it would fit.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/flipperbushing.jpg

 

Here is a photo of the old and new flipper components:

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/leftflipper_rebuildparts.jpg

 

Installed all the parts, and one new flipper.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/leftflipper_rebuilt.jpg

 

I went through the same steps to rebuild both right flippers. I also decided to remove the faded old white flipper bats and replace them with new yellow bats.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/yellowflipperbats.jpg

 

The flipper rebuild was a great success. The flippers are much stronger now and I now need to adjust to using them. I used to be able to use the weakness in them to hit certain targets, but now I’ll have to get some experience up with the new flippers for hitting targets.

 

 

So I've been busy.

 

There is sill more to do:

 

Drop Targets - I've sourced replacement targets as the painted stars are worn (see previous image). Also, during gameplay sometimes the game does not register that all 3 have been dropped. It only happens sometimes and can often be fixed with a well placed shot at the dropped targets which seems to trigger the reset - so maybe a switch not connecting properly? I'll be looking at that soon.

 

Pop Bumpers - The bulbs flicker during gameplay, so want to take a closer look at the connections there.

 

Player 4 score - One segment of the player 4 score is missing - sometimes. Right now it's working, but that could change any moment. I've sourced replacement parts which I'm told will fix it. I don't want to bother touching it until it's not working again.

 

Playfield surface - needs a proper clean, the use of some novus 2 and some wax. I'll be doing this last since it will probably mean i'll be without the ability to play the machine for a little bit.

 

I've also kept all of the original parts, incase I decide to revert anything back.

Edited by Jesder
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Great post!. Love your enthusiasm :)

 

Did you remove the apron and give it a clean under there?. 30 years of encrusted filth!

 

Not sure about those Williams flipper bats. Might have to report this to the Classic Stern police ;)

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Great post!. Love your enthusiasm :)

 

Did you remove the apron and give it a clean under there?. 30 years of encrusted filth!

 

Not sure about those Williams flipper bats. Might have to report this to the Classic Stern police ;)

 

I have that on my to do list (remove apron). I got under the plastics at the top and that was an eye opener - so can't wait to see what's lurking down there..

 

Yeah the flipper bats - they don't have a W on them - I made sure to avoid a branded version :) However if you (or anyone) can point me in the direction of coloured bats shaped like the original Stern, i'll go place an order right now :) I like the old style better, but could not find anything that suited - white is boring :)

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Yeah the flipper bats - they don't have a W on them - I made sure to avoid a branded version :) However if you (or anyone) can point me in the direction of coloured bats shaped like the original Stern, i'll go place an order right now :) I like the old style better, but could not find anything that suited - white is boring :)

 

These could look choice. Dont think you can get them locally though.

 

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-3994-2

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The star caps I pictured above came from marco specialties, along with a few other things.

 

Not sure on the transparent part (and the ridges) of them though.. I'd love a good solid yellow or blue.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I should add too that as part of the play field clean and wax, I plan to level the inserts - which is why I'm leaving all that until last.

 

I've found it really difficult to find exact part numbers for various components of the machine. I've seen newer machine manuals break down the entire assembly of flippers and bumpers and targets, etc so you can easily source a specific spring, or piece of plastic. But the Nugent manual lacks all of that detail. I've seen a book on Marco Specialties that supposedly has part numbers for all the older Stern games (Nugent included), so may purchase that shortly to aid in tracking parts down.

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wow..i enjoyed reading that so much! thanks for taking the time to firstly post all that and secondly for all the work you put in.

 

it is awesome to see all your enthusiasm for your game..a game that brings back so many great memories when the game was on location..

 

will go as far as saying the above post is my fave on aussie arcade for the past 12 months..

 

keep at it mate..you have done really well!

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Thanks guys :)

 

There was actually more content originally, but I found that AA has a 20,000 character & 40 image limit per post. So I had to go back and remove all emoticons, along with a few photos and trim down some parts.

 

I've really have enjoyed getting hands on with the machine - just as much as playing it. I like to log/record things as I go - photos come in handy also when trying to put things back together ;)

 

I did have some sound issues which I didn't go into above and will add a future post in this thread about (once I'm satisfied the issue has been resolved). Some here will remember a thread where I explained some sound issues I was having. Although they were resolved (at the time), the issue surfaced again and again until sound never came back. But i'll go further into that later.

 

I'll be adding more content here too as I address the remaining issues.

 

Thanks also to the people who have been kind enough to PM me with details about things I was looking for!

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Excellent stuff, a great read and an even better result - well done.

 

A comment on the flipper switch - I think you will find the contacts are tungsten and will possibly need filing with a points file. They are different to the other "computer controlled" switches that are gold flashed and are cleaned using a piece of card and NEVER filed.

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Excellent stuff, a great read and an even better result - well done.

 

A comment on the flipper switch - I think you will find the contacts are tungsten and will possibly need filing with a points file. They are different to the other "computer controlled" switches that are gold flashed and are cleaned using a piece of card and NEVER filed.

 

Does that apply to all switched on a machine of this age? Or only the flipper switches?

 

Thanks for the tip though :)

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A fantastic and thoroughly comprehensive read. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to share your journey so far :)

I wish you all the best with your Pin journey and hope to see some more updates soon.

I love this time in a pinball journey, all the tinkering and getting your head in and learning heaps as you go. And all the cool stuff - bulb changes and rubber replacements etc etc .. then standing back with a beer admiring all your work ;).

Gotta love pinball!

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What is really cool about the way you're going over this machine and getting to know it, is the day you get hold of a 90's machine you'll feel right at home. Although they are more complex, a lot of the theory of operation carries over to them. So it wont seem so daunting.

 

Way to go man :)

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Does that apply to all switched on a machine of this age? Or only the flipper switches?

 

Thanks for the tip though :)

 

Generally only the cabinet flipper switches - it's pretty easy to tell the difference - the gold flashed ones connect to the switch matrix and don't carry any current to speak of, the heavy switching is done by the transistors.

 

The cabinet flipper switches carry the full current of the flipper coils and you can see by looking at the contacts they are MUCH larger and beefier than the gold flashed ones. These can be filed with glee.....

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been a bit quiet on my Nugent lately - more playing than tinkering :)

 

I've got a batch of parts arriving in a week or so to fix up a few more things, so will hopefully have more work to report shortly.

 

I have been meaning to get under the apron for awhile and check it out, so decided to do it last night.

 

The apron itself isn't in bad shape. There are a few marks across the "for amusement only" text and some very minor scratches around the edges. But overall it's clean, solid and the artwork clear.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/apron_start.jpg

 

Before getting under the apron, I wanted to pull the instruction cards out and clean away any dirt on the plastic protector and anything that had collected underneath. I started with the price/replay card. This looks like an original to me given the colouring of the paper. It's in decent condition and only has some excess glue of some kind over what looks like a price value. The plastic cover has coloured a bit but it's not too bad. I gave the plastic a wipe down and cleared away dirt and dust that had collected under the paper. Can the plastic cover be replaced easily enough? Where can you source these?

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/game_info.jpg

 

I then moved onto the instruction card. The paper for this one feels a bit different - slightly thicker - and hasn't coloured like the other. Not sure if that means this is a repro or NOS, but it's in better shape - although showing some signs of age. The card actually has printing on two sides. The plastic cover on this side has the same aging signs, although is still very usable. I gave everything a wipe down as per the other side and then put it back together. Something to note that's different on this side is some minor scratching under the card.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_instructions.jpg

 

Then it was time to remove the apron. The photo probably doesn't show it well enough, but there was some serious dirt and crap that's been hidden here for who knows how long. The white coating on the large washers was very flaky and leaving dust everywhere when moved. A nice later of dirt/dust covered the playfield under the apron. The solanoid and plunger were covered in black dust and dirt had collected around the metal rails/frames.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/apron_underside.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/apron_removed.jpg

 

One thing I noted was the kicker uses a metal "foot" (I have no idea what to call it :p) to kick the ball out. Should this have some rubber or something over it to avoid damaging the ball? Those with an eagle eye will also note the new looking red rubber on the post in this photo. I noticed early on that when the ball drained down the centre, it would often hit this post. The post was covered in dirt and I was concerned about the metal ball hitting a metal post at speed with no protection. Without removing the apron I was able to clean the post and slide on a rubber sleeve to protect the ball. I'm not sure if anything should be on this post, but it made sense to me to protect the ball to minimise damage to the play field.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/nugent_kicker.jpg

 

Because there was dirt build up around the base of the metal rails and fences, I wanted to remove as much as possible. I also removed the metal cover that sits over the shooter. After removing all but two parts I got to cleaning as much as I could. I only had limited time to

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/shooter_casing.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/apron_rails.jpg

 

Given the amount of crap around the solanoid, I decided to detach it so I could give it some attention too.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/kicker_coil.jpg

 

With pretty much everything removed I cleaned the parts as best I could. I was wondering what the best method for cleaning the metal is? Steel wool and brasso? I'm not too worried about it looking flash since they live under the apron and no one can see them - but I'd like them to have minimal impact on the condition of the ball - any thoughts?

 

Anyway, once the parts were given a good clean and the playfield cleaned up also, I reassembled everything. I suspect I'll be back under the apron in the near future to give it some additional attention. I'm really interested in how to best look after the metal ramp and kicker to prevent (or at least minimise) damage to the ball.

 

 

 

 

Something else I've been wanting to do for awhile is re-replace the ball shooter. In my last post I showed how I rebuild the shooter, which included replacing the rod itself. The reason I replaced the original rod is because it was no longer smooth and had seen much better days. I have read that some people recommend sanding it to smooth it out - but given how used it looked, I wanted to get a new one.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/original_rod.jpg

 

The problem with the replacement rod is it's a generic rod - which turns out to be roughly 10mm shorter than the original rod. While this doesn't sound like much, it resulted in the rubber tip on the rod only just connecting with the ball when it's at rest in the start lane. Size does matter and 1cm can make all the difference.. ;)

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/tip_too_short.jpg

 

This actually has an impact on the start of each ball as I could easily hit the bonus roll over and land the ball in the 9000 point lane by pulling pulling the shooter as far back as possible - every time - there was little skill required. It also meant the power of the shot was much less. Because the shot was less powerful too, it also never rebounded with enough power to hit a small target at the top. The target is only worth 10 points, but I don't like the fact part of the game was removed and part of it was made easier.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/toptarget.jpg

 

First step was to dismantle the shooter assembly. As you can see in this picture of the two rods lined up, there is a difference of roughly 10mm.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/rodcompare1.jpg

 

With that done I substituted in the new rod and reassembled.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/rodcompare2.jpg

 

Then it was back into the machine. The shooter tip now sits that 10mm higher, making better contact with the ball and it also does a much better job of putting the ball into play.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/newshooter1.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/nugent/newshooter2.jpg

 

I did like the black handle - but I think the metallic look of the new one will grow on me. I think it's closer to the original anyway :) I'm glad to have finally got around to sorting this out. It was quite tough to find a rod that was the correct size - most places I came across only had the generic kind or shorter.

 

 

 

I should have more to report in the next week or so. I've got some replacement bats on order which will let Rod sleep better at night ;) I will also be doing a service of the 3 pop bumpers and 2 drop target assemblies too. They have all shown a few issues - but I suspect most it will be resolved with some cleaning and reflowing solder. I've also got a small custom mod in the works that even the stern police will approve of - but more on that next time :)

Edited by Jesder
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Great job mate. That apron looks pretty good. Just gotta be careful as the red and blue paint is ultra thin and will rub off easily.

 

Lol yes looking forward to sleeping better after the batts are changed. Hehe.

 

I have contacted Constable @brado from the stern police, who will be keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.

 

Carry on.

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everytime i see and read these post makes me want to get a nugent!

 

just to add a few things..if you're not fully happy with the card tray you can buy decals for the trays here

http://www.pinballrescue.net/Decals_Apron_Stern.html

 

with the cards it's easy to make reproduction cards from here

 

http://www.pinballrebel.com/pinball/cards/

 

just copy the .pdf files and either print them out on card stock or take them to officeworks and get them to do it, costs sfa..just trim to size, makes a massive difference.

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I have contacted Constable brado from the stern police, who will be keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.

 

Carry on.

 

 

I have been monitoring the progress and all is satisfactory thus far......keep up the good work son........

 

Any stuff-up and you will be dealing with commandant Ballywannabe and you don't want that to happen.......

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.....for the plastic that covers the cards try a stationary store - there are dozens of different types of plastic folders that you can chop up to make them from.

 

Also, chuck away that metal sleeve inside the coil (and ALL coils for that matter) and replace it with a nylon one. Cheap as chips and stops the metal filings from getting into everything.

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Just gotta be careful as the red and blue paint is ultra thin and will rub off easily.

 

Yeah I found this out. Where the paint has been removed on the "Amusement" text, there was previously some sort of glue / sticky substance that had caked on. I was able to remove it OK, but did notice some colour coming off on the soft cloth I was using. At that point I backed off and just tidied it up as best I could without removing any more of the paint. Thankfully I didn't go to town on it before realising ;)

 

The white paint has started to come off where the ball drains on the left and right, but not much I can do about that :(

 

just to add a few things..

 

Thanks for those links! I didn't know you could get a decal kit for the apron. I've booked marked it for future in case needed. Almost tempted to buy one and put aside should the need ever arise.

 

.....for the plastic that covers the cards try a stationary store - there are dozens of different types of plastic folders that you can chop up to make them from.

 

Also, chuck away that metal sleeve inside the coil (and ALL coils for that matter) and replace it with a nylon one. Cheap as chips and stops the metal filings from getting into everything.

 

I'll have a hunt around for some plastic that would suit. I thought that maybe it had a part code (everything else seems to ;)) but happy to make some up myself.

 

I was a little surprised to find the sleeve was metal. The others I've come across so far have all been nylon. I'll look into finding some of the same size and purchase some. I suspect there will be more, so will grab a few to be safe. Thanks for the tip.

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.....for the plastic that covers the cards try a stationary store - there are dozens of different types of plastic folders that you can chop up to make them from.

 

 

tried officeworks last december and the only folders they have are clear have the dimpling on them and think they would look terrible..

 

went to buy some to do all my games..so if anybody has any other ideas please speak up :)

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tried officeworks last december and the only folders they have are clear have the dimpling on them and think they would look terrible..

 

went to buy some to do all my games..so if anybody has any other ideas please speak up :)

 

I found some at a $2 shop not that long ago - cheap shitty ones but excellent clear covers....

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Also, chuck away that metal sleeve

 

The stern part number on that coil sleeve is 2A-189, but that doesn't show up in searches.

 

Does the "189" refer to size or anything which can be used to compare against sleeves produced by Bally or Williams to find a part that would be suitable?

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