# How To Assemble Pinball Pop Bumpers **Source:** Cary Hardy **Type:** video **Published:** 2021-11-29 **Duration:** 14m 23s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8RpfSSx3e8 --- ## Analysis Cary Hardy provides a comprehensive tutorial on assembling pop bumpers (jet bumpers) for pinball machines, covering all major components from base installation through coil assembly. The video emphasizes proper orientation, wire management, and mechanical alignment to ensure functional and durable pop bumper operation. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Pop bumpers operate through a mechanism where the ball hits the skirt, which activates a switch, energizing a solenoid that pulls down a rod attached to a ring, pushing the ball away—all within a fraction of a second — _Opening explanation of pop bumper mechanics_ - [HIGH] A complete pop bumper assembly includes over a dozen different parts — _Direct statement about component count_ - [HIGH] GI (general illumination) leads on pop bumpers are malleable and can be bent to follow specific routing patterns, often secured with staples — _Detailed explanation of wire bending and stapling process_ - [HIGH] Hollow-end nut drivers are particularly useful for pop bumper assembly because they allow screws to be fully driven without length restrictions — _Specific tool recommendation and explanation of utility_ - [HIGH] Proper ring and base alignment must be verified before final assembly to ensure the rod can reach the playfield properly — _Assembly step warning about orientation verification_ ### Notable Quotes > "The ball hits the skirt. The skirt activates the switch. The switch activates the solenoid. The energized solenoid pulls down the rod. This rod is attached to the ring, and this ring being pulled down pushes the ball away. And this all happens within a fraction of a second." > — **Cary Hardy**, Early in video > _Concise explanation of fundamental pop bumper mechanics_ > "Now if it moves, it will break. The thing is, these babies move a lot. chances are at some point in time down the road you will need to perform maintenance on these devices." > — **Cary Hardy**, Introduction > _Explains why maintenance knowledge is necessary for pop bumpers_ > "You need to make sure that you're still able to get the rod all the way to the playfield because technically you could install this thing like this. And then you'd be very upset and have to do dismantling." > — **Cary Hardy**, Base assembly section > _Practical warning about critical assembly alignment_ > "One good thing about this particular nut driver is that it's hollow, so it gives me the ability to go all the way into the screw without being restricted. The length of the screw does not matter." > — **Cary Hardy**, Coil assembly section > _Tool-specific technical advantage explanation_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Cary Hardy | person | Tutorial creator and pinball technician providing assembly instruction | | Titan Pinball | company | Supplier of hollow-ended nut drivers and pinball parts | | Harbor Freight | company | Source for pneumatic stapler tool used in pop bumper GI wire installation | ### Topics - **Primary:** Pop bumper assembly and installation, Playfield maintenance and repair, Mechanical component alignment, General illumination (GI) wire routing - **Secondary:** Solenoid and coil installation, Specialized tools for pinball work ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Educational, practical tone focused on clear instruction and problem-solving. Hardy presents information methodically and acknowledges challenges (like filming tricky assembly steps) professionally. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** Cary Hardy creating detailed educational content on pop bumper assembly demonstrates ongoing community commitment to technician knowledge-sharing and DIY maintenance capability (confidence: high) — Comprehensive tutorial covering all major assembly steps with specific tool recommendations and vendor sources - **[technology_signal]** Use of hollow-ended nut drivers from specialty suppliers (Titan Pinball) and pneumatic staplers represents standard tooling for efficient pop bumper assembly (confidence: medium) — Hardy specifically recommends these tools as optimal for pop bumper work and explains their technical advantages --- ## Transcript pop-bombers, or jets, but honestly these have different names depending on the manufacturer. But regardless of what you call them, the mechanics are still the same. The ball hits the skirt. The skirt activates the switch. The switch activates the solenoid. The energized solenoid pulls down the rod. This rod is attached to the ring, and this ring being pulled down pushes the ball away. And this all happens within a fraction of a second. Now if it moves, it will break. The thing is, these babies move a lot. chances are at some point in time down the road you will need to perform maintenance on these devices. The entire mech includes over a dozen different parts. In this video I'm going to show you how to build your pop bumper from the ground up. Alright, so let me show you what I'm doing. I've got, basically, this screw is in just enough to hold it up and snug in the playfield. And I've got these hollow-ended nut drivers. You can get these from Titan Pinball. And so I'm going to kind of show you what it looks like whenever I start tightening this screw in right here. just pulls that thing all the way down into its proper position there we go and just got rinse and repeat. Start with your pop bumper base. These line up like so to the screw holes as well as the rod holes on the side. That goes in first. Then your tiny little spring. Then your pop bumper skirt. Now this is important guys. The alignment of this needs to be like so. You need to make sure that you're still able to get the rod all the way to the playfield because technically you could install this thing like this. And then you'd be very upset and have to do dismantling. So make sure that your orientation is correct. all right now it's time for base this is going to go in like so that should line up to where you can get those feds of the screw holes and your GI can go through something else to be concerned about is sometimes depending on the style of ring that you got and the base See if that able to go through like that If for whatever your ring or the pop bumper base is not the right size then you won be able to put this on after you put that on so just confirm before you start screwing things down and stapling then this is able to go through the base with no problems mine can so now I can start bolting that down all right screws are in place now all I gotta do just tighten these two down the screw hole should be recessed so should just be able to screw down right about there where they match up with the plastic base there we go and you just feed your GI leads down below like that all right now when we do the arrangement of these GI stem right here they're gonna go flat down try to make sure you don't have so much looseness on the other end you don't want it sticking up too far because these are gonna drop down we want this to hug the playfield Like so. Now when these come out, they're not going to just come straight out on the playfield like that. They've actually got these to where they bend. You're going to see a lot of playfields that do this. They come out and they bend a particular direction. I'm going to bend it right there because I've got staples right here so I'm pretty sure that's where that staple went right there after the bend get that flattened out some more and then whenever I get my stapler out actually it might go up here like so I got a staple right here and a staple up a little higher and get that camera up where you can see it yeah so luckily these things are pretty malleable so like so that's more than likely how that's gonna go now this other one let's see how we've got this one all right I'm gonna have it go out like this all right so I'm gonna staple these down where they're at and when it comes to laying my wires back down if I need to rearrange them or whatever then I will I can even step on the extra snip off the extras right here in case I feel like I don't need that or it's going to be in the way or anything like that. I may have a picture of where these wires originally went to and I'll just mimic where they were at before, but as long as I'm not overlapping another one, we should be fine. But once these get into place, we can move on to the next portion of rebuilding your pop bumper. All right, I went ahead and did the other two pop bumpers on here so that way I know where everything's gonna be laid out. I've matched them up pretty damn well with where the stapler holes were for the previous pop bumper GI stems And everything looks pretty good I going to be snipping off at least another half inch on this one just to make sure we not too close to this right here because I feel like this is still close enough to cause issue so I could have bent this a little bit further out but I'm just gonna make a little quick little fix I'm going to be snipping off some of that to make sure we don't have any issues down the road but all right that's in place that's actually the most tricky part especially if you don't have one of these and these are the kind of staples that I use in case you are curious that way you can write that down stapler again I got from a Harbor Freight it's pneumatic so you will need to have a air compressor just so we're clear on something that you need to verify after installing these cables is that you have complete clearance to where your GI leads are not touching anything else so I've got clearance going all the way around there and all the way around here so that's good now guys this is the most tricky part and I was trying for so long to be able to show you guys on camera how to assemble this portion but it is honestly very tricky especially trying to get it on camera I mean I could do it but I'd be like up against my chest and it just would not look very pretty because getting this on with this dang spring consistently pulling away and I've got these parts all nice and clean and shiny and they're all smooth from polishing which it makes it even trickier to hold on to these portions but this is the orientation that everything needs to go is that you've got this and your spring your carbon yoke and then your metal yoke on top now this is going to go inside your coil you want your sleeve in the bottom like that This is going to rest in here like so. Get your frame, that slides in down there. Then all you gotta do is screw in these two little screws right here. Before I go buckle them down, I want to make sure everything is nice and straight. All right let start with the top one Get this slid running here and then install the corresponding screws with it One good thing about this particular nut driver is that it's hollow, so it gives me the ability to go all the way into the screw without being restricted. The length of the screw does not matter. I think we're there. All right. So it's just real helpful to have a hollow nut driver for just this purpose right here. One more. All right. Pop bumper mac is installed. Now, let's flip this over. this rod needs to go through this side and see if I can get it to where you can see what's going on underneath here as well try to keep your yokes together don't let them separate Bam. So now that that's fit in there, you will need to install one of your washers. Once you get your rod in through the yokes, you shouldn't have as much concerns about that falling apart you should be good to go get that on there there we go this thing ain't going nowhere now washer in place don't need to over time it you don't want to damage the yoke there you go Nice clean pop bumper assembly. All we need to do now is do that times three and then we'll worry about getting the switch all centered up with the stem to the skirt right here. Outro Music _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 3601127f-04ba-4c5f-a40d-75c9dd35b1ff*