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Episode 146 - Changing a Flipper

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·13m 45s·analyzed·Aug 4, 2015
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.015

TL;DR

Technical guide to EM flipper replacement and maintenance procedures.

Summary

Nick Baldridge provides a comprehensive technical guide on replacing flipper components in EM and Bingo pinball machines. The episode covers the complete flipper overhaul process, from removing old flippers through reassembly, with emphasis on changing shafts, shoes, bats, bushings, plungers, coil stops, coil sleeves, cabinet switches, and end-of-stroke switches. Baldridge emphasizes that proper maintenance of these interconnected components is critical to achieving responsive, long-lasting flipper performance.

Key Claims

  • When changing flippers, the shaft, shoe, and bat should all be changed at the same time

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, episode intro; stated as standard practice

  • Gottlieb machines have extra bushings in their flipper mechanism to prevent slop

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, technical explanation; specific to Gottlieb manufacturing

  • Plungers can mushroom over time from repeated coil hits and must be changed alongside shafts

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, maintenance recommendation

  • Coil sleeves are cheap and effective for increasing flipper power without replacing the entire coil

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, cost-benefit analysis of flipper upgrades

  • End-of-stroke switch gap should be set between 1/16th and 1/8th of an inch, with 1/16th providing maximum power response

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, precise technical specification

  • Improper end-of-stroke switch adjustment can cause the coil to burn up from arcing

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, safety warning about switch engagement

  • Cabinet switches should be replaced simultaneously with flipper mechanism overhaul for best results

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, maintenance best practice

  • Flipper shafts can be permanently deformed by incorrect set screw tightening and cannot be adjusted after deformation occurs

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge, final reassembly caution

Notable Quotes

  • “It's vitally, crucially important that your shaft is good and your bushing is good. If either of those components is bad then your flipper is going to slop.”

    Nick Baldridge @ mid-episode — Emphasizes the interdependence of flipper components; foundational to proper flipper function

  • “Don't do my little hack that I mentioned on these flipper switches. It won't hold up, and it's a bad idea.”

    Nick Baldridge @ late-episode — Self-correction; Baldridge warns against an unorthodox repair method he had previously mentioned

  • “If your end-of-stroke switch is engaged too closely, the hold winding will not be fully engaged and the power winding will stay engaged. You'll hear an awesome crackle and you'll start to smell smoke pretty quickly because the flipper coil will burn up.”

    Nick Baldridge @ late-episode — Vivid explanation of a critical safety failure mode in flipper adjustment

  • “It's a one-to-one ratio here. It's very direct. If you want the best return on changing out the flipper mechs, change your cabinet switches at the same time.”

    Nick Baldridge @ mid-to-late-episode — Cost-benefit recommendation; identifies cabinet switches as high-impact maintenance item

  • “Once you've done this once, and especially if you've misadjusted the flipper, it will never adjust appropriately again. You have to throw the shaft out and get another one.”

    Nick Baldridge @ final-section — Warns of irreversible damage from improper reassembly; emphasizes care required during reassembly

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonGottliebcompanyPinball ResourcecompanyFor Amusement Onlyorganization

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Nick Baldridge providing detailed educational content on flipper maintenance to support home collectors and operators

    high · Entire episode dedicated to step-by-step flipper replacement procedures with safety warnings and best practices

  • ?

    technology_signal: Flipper fade and coil degradation are identified as common failure modes requiring systematic component replacement

    high · Discussion of plunger mushrooming, coil sleeve wear, cabinet switch pitting, and end-of-stroke switch arcing as cumulative wear mechanisms

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.041

0:00
What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nick Baldrige.
0:15
Yesterday I talked a bit about flipper history and construction. And today I thought I'd talk about how to actually change your flippers. What you need to do in order to get your game playing correctly.
0:30
So, the first thing you need to do is understand how to remove your old flippers. Depending on the construction of your flipper, this task is either pretty simple or not really at all simple.
0:50
Whenever I change a flipper, I change the shaft, shoe, and bat all at the same time. If your flipper has a screw in the corner that holds the bat to the shoe, you want to remove that screw and set it aside before attempting to change your flipper. Alternatively, if you've already removed the bat with the screw, or it's one of the any other type of flippers that exist, then you move on to the next step, which is to lift the playfield, and underneath where the flipper shaft comes through the playfield, you'll see usually two set screws. Loosen these two set screws, you'll be able to remove the shaft from the game. Just set it aside. You also need to take apart the mech underneath, and depending on the manufacturer, it's either more complicated or less complicated. Gottlieb, for example, put extra bushings in their mechanism to prevent slop, which was a good idea, but it requires a bit of extra disassembly. The other manufacturers, not so much.
2:29
But you take that bit apart, take any mounting plates off, and you're left with the bushing. Now, the bushing is just a fancy plastic spacer. And this spacer exists between the playfield and the flipper shoe and will prevent the flipper from dragging on the playfield. It also helps to stabilize the flipper shaft as it makes its long journey from underneath the playfield to up above. it's vitally, crucially important that your shaft is good and your bushing is good. If either of those components is bad then your flipper is going to slop It probably drag on the playfield and cause all kinds of problems that you don want to have So be sure to change those when you change your flipper shafts and bats. Now the part that had the set screw is what makes up the pawl, the flipper pawl. This piece attaches to the linkage, which then attaches to the plunger.
3:55
Typically, this linkage is connected to the plunger by a roll pin. If you're reusing the linkage, if there's no slop at all in where that connects, then you're fine to just hammer out the old roll pin and hammer the roll pin back in with the linkage in place to the new plunger.
4:31
You want to change your plungers at the same time that you change your shafts and this is because the plungers can mushroom over time over many many hits on the coil stop.
4:42
Over time they'll deform. And this deformation will prevent your flipper from operating properly. So that brings us to the coil stop. This is what stops the plunger from shooting through the back of your machine.
4:59
Or out the other side of the coil, whatever. This stop is made of metal, and it's a circle. In most EM games, there is a divot that exists between the outer edge of the coil stop and a small raised circle in the center.
5:25
Now this raised circle prevents buzzing a bit. And over time, we'll get worn down. the plunger will also, over time, in many, many, many, many hits, try to conform to that ring shape.
5:45
So it's important to change both the plunger and the stop at the same time. Now at this point, your flipper should be pretty snappy, assuming that you've followed along and changed all these parts. But the one part we didn't talk about was the coil itself.
6:06
The coil needs, at a minimum, its sleeve changed at the same time that you're doing the rest of the shopping out of the Flipper Mac.
6:16
You also need to change the coil sleeve. Coil sleeves are cheap, and they're a very effective way to get more power in your machine. if you started to notice that the machine is dragging a bit when you flip. Very simple way to spice up the game.
6:39
Now, if you change your coil sleeve and it's still acting like it's low power, the next thing to check is your cabinet switch Your cabinet switches provide the power to the flippers Depending on the manufacturer they going to either be located on the cabinet itself or on the bottom of the playfield Gottlieb did this for several years when they were in their everything-must-be-brass-on-the-inside phase. So, what you do with those is you examine the contacts. You see if they're freely rotating. If they are, then you need to replace the switch.
7:33
Don't do my little hack that I mentioned on these flipper switches. It won't hold up, and it's a bad idea. the other thing to look for is pitting and dirt both of which can be cleaned with a file and at a minimum it's usually a good idea to file those contacts a bit and bring out some shiny spots or make the whole thing shiny as shiny as they can get.
8:15
This will provide a better transfer of power, which means that you'll get a snappier response. It's a one-to-one ratio here. It's pretty direct.
8:29
If you want the best return on changing out the flipper mechs, change your cabinet switches at the same time. it's fast, it's simple to do two extra solder points and you're good now if you do all that and you're still having trouble it's possible that your coil has shorted internally over time and use so despite changing the coil sleeve, changing all the mech and changing the SOP, and so forth, the cabinet switches, you're still having low power. It's time to change the coil.
9:18
And changing the coil, it's important to get the same strength coil. Now you can order those from Pinball Resource or pretty much any store in market.
9:35
Just make sure to transfer over the wires one at a time to the new coil, and you should be good to go.
9:45
Remember that in an AC game, it doesn't matter if there's a two-lug coil, which lug is connected to which wires. But on a flipper, there are three different lugs, if the game is not an impulse game. and those three lugs do matter greatly where the wires are connected Two of the lugs provide the power winding or what happens when you initially push the flipper switch And then two of the lugs provide the hold winding or what happens when the end of stroke switch is opened. And this brings us to the final component in the entire mechanism, and that's the end of stroke switch. The end of stroke switch is actuated by the pawl as it turns by the plunger pulling into the coil, the shaft rotating, and the pawl turning. The pawl turning, there's a little hook or other protrusion that hits the end of stroke switch and either opens it or closes it, depending on the manufacturer or the year. and a stroke switch should be set to somewhere between 1 8th and 1 16th of an inch.
11:10
1 16th would be on the lower side. That means that you'd have the highest power response, and it would engage the hold winding at the latest possible moment.
11:24
1 8th gives the hold winding a bit more time and decreases the power a bit, but it will prevent arcing. Arcing is the enemy of the end-of-stroke switch.
11:39
If your end-of-stroke switch is engaged too closely, the hold winding will not be fully engaged and the power winding will stay engaged. You'll hear an awesome crackle and you'll start to smell smoke pretty quickly because the flipper coil will burn up. One final note of caution about flippers and when you're reassembling them, the shafts can be deformed very easily, say by tightening a set screw. So ensure that you have your flippers in the appropriate position before tightening your set screws and you want to very loosely set those screws just enough to hold the flipper bat in place so that you can make any final adjustments needed and then you want to crank it down. You want to apply quite a bit of torque to those set screws because they have to hold the shaft in place while the game is constantly trying to shake it apart. Once you've done this once, and especially if you've misadjusted the flipper, it will never adjust appropriately again. You have to throw the shaft out and get another one. But once you've changed all these parts, you should have a very, very good playing game that lasts for many, many years in the home environment. Well, thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nick Baldrige. can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com, or you can call me at 724-BINGOS1. That's 724-246-4671.
13:26
You can listen to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast 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 4amusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time.