Episode 136 - The Control Unit - Servicing

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·9m 29s·analyzed·Jul 25, 2015

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.013

TL;DR

Deep dive into Bally control unit servicing techniques for EM bingo machines.

Summary

Nick Baldridge discusses the Bally control unit used in bingo and horse racing games, explaining its mechanical relationship to score motors and providing detailed guidance on technician-friendly servicing, including switch cleaning, clutch lubrication with Neatsfoot oil, and accessibility features that make repairs straightforward.

Key Claims

The Bally control unit is essentially a Bally score motor with added mechanical stops and clutch plates
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, opening technical explanation
Control units can be accessed via back door or by removing the back glass and folding down the backboard
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, technical procedure description
Clutch washers are made of leather and must be lubricated with Neatsfoot oil per manufacturer manual
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, maintenance procedure
Nick Baldridge has owned and maintained a Double Up machine for several years with frequent play (multiple times weekly) without needing to re-lubricate clutches beyond initial service
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, personal experience anecdote
Switch stacks in control units can typically be accessed with a file without removal, except when rotation of adjacent stacks coincides
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, technical procedure

Notable Quotes

“If you take the Bally score motor utilized in their EM flipper games and added a variety of mechanical stops and clutch plates, you would have the control unit.”
Nick Baldridge @ early — Core technical explanation of control unit design philosophy
“If you are able to move all around the game it is incredibly easy to see every switch at each point in the rotation and make adjustments as necessary.”
Nick Baldridge @ mid — Emphasis on technician-friendly design and accessibility
“You always want to shake Neatsfoot oil because it will separate or settle over time. So be sure to shake up the bottle very well.”
Nick Baldridge @ mid — Specific maintenance best practice detail
“I use twist ties or pipe cleaners to hold the stack together as I remove it.”
Nick Baldridge @ mid — Practical technician tip for switch stack removal

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonBallycompanyFor Amusement OnlyorganizationDouble Upgame

Signals

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restoration_signal: Detailed guidance on EM bingo control unit servicing including switch cleaning and clutch lubrication techniques
high · Comprehensive technical walkthrough of control unit maintenance procedures with specific tools (syringes, flathead screwdrivers) and materials (Neatsfoot oil)
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design_philosophy: Bally control units designed with technician accessibility in mind, featuring multiple access points and logical internal organization
high · Discussion of back door access, back glass removal, front board folding mechanism, and how easily switch stacks can be removed and serviced
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operational_signal: Clutch lubrication appears to be an infrequent maintenance task under regular play conditions, potentially annual or less frequent
medium · Nick Baldridge notes several years of frequent play (multiple times weekly) on Double Up without needing to re-lubricate clutches
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historical_signal: Control units represent mechanical evolution of Bally score motor technology with added complexity for specialized game applications
high · Explanation that control units are score motors enhanced with mechanical stops and clutch plates for bingo and horse racing games

Topics

Control unit mechanical design and architectureprimaryEM bingo machine servicing and maintenanceprimaryClutch lubrication procedures and best practicesprimarySwitch stack cleaning and accessibilityprimaryNeatsfoot oil sourcing and applicationsecondaryTechnician-friendly machine designsecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.028

What's that sound? It's For Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to For Amusement Only, this is Nicholas Baldridge. Tonight I wanted to start a small series on the control unit used by Bally in every bingo and also the horse racing games. Now that we've talked about score motors, and you have at least a passing familiarity with how they work, this control unit will seem very familiar. For our first episode tonight, I wanted to talk about the aspects of working on the control unit, and how friendly it is for the technician to execute a repair. If you take the Bally score motor utilized in their EM flipper games and added a variety of mechanical stops and clutch plates, you would have the control unit. On its face, that's really the only difference, is that the motor driving it is more powerful, and there are several clutches which separate different portions of the control unit so that everything doesn't have to rotate at the same time. To work on a control unit, you can either access it through the back door, which allows you to access all of the coils which will stop or release certain parts of the control unit and allow them to turn. Or you can take the back glass out by opening the lock on the sides of the head, slide the back glass out then you can fold down the backboard behind the back glass onto the side rails and you see the control unit right in the center looking at it from this angle you can see the front of every switch except for a few ones which are mounted towards the front of the game, which are a little bit difficult to see from certain angles. If you are able to move all around the game it is incredibly easy to see every switch at each point in the rotation and make adjustments as necessary. Cleaning the switches is also pretty darn easy. You can slide a file in to any of the stacks, really, without much trouble. Occasionally you have a game where the rotation of one stack coincides with its neighbor in such a way that it is hard to get a file in, in which case you have to take the switch stack off. But this is exceptionally easy, as with the front board folded down and the back door open, it's just wide open air above. So you can lift off the entire stack, keeping it pinched tightly together. and I use twist ties or pipe cleaners to hold the stack together as I remove it. And then I can clean the switches at my leisure and then tighten it back down and adjust again. aside from cleaning the switches which is fairly obvious you also have to lubricate the clutch washers Now the clutch is a metal on metal affair and what separates it is a washer that is made out of leather So for each clutch in the game and again the clutch will allow the machine to engage or disengage certain parts of the control unit from each other, this clutch must be lubricated with Neatsfoot oil. At least that's what the manual calls for, and I honestly don't deviate from the manual on that. I recall reading somewhere that something else would work, but Neatsfoot oil is readily available at most hardware stores. You can also get it, I want to say at equine supply places or there's another biggie somewhere that I'm forgetting that I found at one time and said, hey, that's a bingo stuff. I don't remember where it was exactly, but I was surprised to see it there. It might have been a drugstore or something. At any rate, what I do is, if I'm not replacing the clutches, which I've never done before, and I'm not sure when I'll do it, but I probably will do it sometime soon for double up and just finish out the restoration on that. But the way that I lubricate them is I get a syringe from the drugstore, like a baby syringe for giving them oral medicine. And I will fill it with Neatsfoot oil. Oh, also, you always want to shake Neatsfoot oil because it will separate or settle over time. So be sure to shake up the bottle very well. Then stick the syringe in and vacuum up some oil. Then if you take a flathead screwdriver and you must be careful because remember the clutch washer is made out of leather and that means that it will rip or tear if you are not gentle But the idea is that you get in between the clutch plate and the clutch washer and you gently pry apart and then you're able to squirt in a little bit of Neatsfoot oil, rotate the mechanism, and then do it again. And you want to wipe off any excess from the edges, and then do that at each clutch washer, and you should be lubricated. Now depending on how often your machines get played, you'll need to do this occasionally. However, it's been a couple of years of play, several times a week for me for double up, for example, and I haven't had to re-lubricate that I recall. If I have, then I've forgotten and it may be an almost annual thing if that's the case. And again, this is with fairly frequent play. So aside from that, working on it is almost identical to working on a Bally score motor. If you've worked on one of those, there's nothing to be frightened of in a Bally bingo. You have the same kind of steppers, the same kind of motors. again, it's just heavier duty. So, that's all for tonight. Thank you again for joining me. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com, or you can call us on the bingos line. That's 724-BINGOS1. That's 724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter, at Bingo Podcast. You can follow me on Instagram at nbaldridge, or you can listen to us on our website, which is formusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.