Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #045 - 1978 - October [International Arcade Museum]
type unit is presented with the basic adjustments to be made out
lined.
A liberal dose of common sense is required to extend the
basics to other problems of units not illustrated.
After all, most
of the pinball mechanics are simple minded and do work in essen
tially the same way:
an electromagnet either does work directly
or stores energy in a spring to do the work later.
One of the key ideas we found useful was the suggestion to use
a pencil eraser to clean the brass contacts on step unit biscuit
boards for such things as ball count, match number and advance
units.
The treatment given technical items is a generally excellent
course in the basics of keeping a pinball in good repair/adjustment
provided it was purchased in good working order. It is not the aim
of this treatment to go into the depth necessary to inform the
would-be mechanic how to overhaul a machine not bought in
top condition.
Many games are purchased from other non-pinball
persons who have been unable to repair their broken games. (They
needed a copy of this book.)
There were several topics we felt glossed-over or missing from
the Tolberts' treatise.
No emphasis was placed on the necessity
of receiving a schematic with the machine (many operators keep
the schematic) or on reading the schematic to troubleshoot prob
lems.
Not every problem can be solved by going directly to the
unit appearing to malfunction. Also lacking was a discussion of the
score motor.
Many problems are traceable to or through the score
motor. More information should have been included on the impor
tant topic of lamps.
These important items can cause premature
damage to the game cosmetics (see "Backglass Preservation" in
the April 1978 Coin Slot).
As anyone playing pinball knows, all pinballs are not created
equal.
Repairpersons know that repair and reliability of pinballs
.com
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player Gottlieb. The optimum
of reliability, repair-
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ability, and payability
are
to
be
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in
this
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The Pinball D Book / is
excellent
start
in
the
basics
but would not
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for either commercial or home use depends on the brand of game.
The best game for a player to own as his first game is a single
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