Episode 135 - Score Motors - Williams

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·10m 32s·analyzed·Jul 24, 2015

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.015

TL;DR

Williams score motors have a service Jones plug adjustment that can lock cams, appearing as failure.

Summary

Nick Baldridge discusses Williams EM pinball score motors, focusing on their unique service Jones plug adjustment that can lock the motor cams and appear as a mechanical failure. He compares Williams motors unfavorably to Bally and Gottlieb counterparts, noting cheaper construction, discusses the challenge of accidentally damaging the score motor index switch during maintenance, and observes that Williams machines seem to accumulate more dirt in the score motor assembly.

Key Claims

Many Williams score motors from the late 1960s and early 1970s have a service Jones plug that can lock the motor cams in place, making the motor appear bound or trashed when it's actually just a configuration issue
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, based on personal repair experience with many Williams machines
Williams score motors feel cheaper in construction than Bally and Gottlieb score motors, particularly in switch quality
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge, subjective assessment based on hands-on repair experience comparing all three manufacturers
Williams score motors accumulate more dirt than Bally motors, though the cause is uncertain
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge, observation from working on multiple Williams EM machines
The score motor index switch on Williams machines is the first switch stack and controls when the motor stops after reaching home position
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, technical explanation
Flipping up the Williams score motor assembly to view switch state changes can easily damage the first switch stack by mashing it or catching it misaligned
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, based on maintenance experience

Notable Quotes

“It's like plugging in a USB plug into a computer. It always takes at least two tries, sometimes more.”
Nick Baldridge @ early segment — Humorous analogy describing the confusing nature of the Jones plug service adjustment
“If you happen to pick up a game, as I've mentioned before, I like to observe the motor's movement and whether or not it's smooth, whether it moves at all.”
Nick Baldridge @ mid-episode — Describes Nick's methodology for evaluating score motor condition before purchase or repair
“I tend to ignore that adjustment. But, the one exception is if I'm going to pick up a game.”
Nick Baldridge @ mid-episode — Establishes Nick's practical stance on when the Jones plug adjustment matters
“If you happen to catch it on something as you lower it back down it prevent the motor from turning at all. So you want to be very careful if you do lift up the Williams score motors in particular.”
Nick Baldridge @ mid-to-late segment — Technical warning about maintenance hazards specific to Williams machines
“Every Williams EM that I've worked on just seems to be filthy in the score motor. I don't know if it's a difference in mentality for the operators that bought those games.”
Nick Baldridge @ late segment — Observation suggesting either manufacturing or operational differences in Williams machines

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonWilliamscompany Ballycompany GottliebcompanyFor Amusement Onlyorganization

Signals

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restoration_signal: Nick documents specific maintenance challenges and hazards when working on Williams score motors, including the Jones plug adjustment confusion and index switch fragility
high · Detailed technical discussion of the service Jones plug and the risk of damaging the first switch stack when flipping the motor assembly
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restoration_signal: Nick shares troubleshooting approach for assessing score motor condition and distinguishes between apparent failure (locked motor due to service adjustment) and actual mechanical failure
high · Extended discussion of how to diagnose whether a locked motor is a service adjustment issue or actual mechanical damage
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design_philosophy: Williams chose accessibility and visibility for score motor inspection (front-facing orientation, flip-up assembly) over robustness, creating new maintenance challenges
medium · Nick notes the design allows for easier inspection but makes the index switch vulnerable to accidental damage during maintenance
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product_concern: Williams score motors perceived as cheaper in construction (switch quality, cam design) compared to Bally and Gottlieb equivalents
medium · Nick's subjective assessment based on feel and hands-on repair experience: 'feels a bit cheaper than the Bally score motors'
?
operational_signal: Nick advocates for turning machines off before working on them and checking motor shaft movement by hand to assess repairability
high · Explicit statements about never adjusting while powered on and always testing shaft movement before declaring a motor beyond repair

Topics

Williams score motor design and maintenanceprimaryService Jones plug adjustment and its complicationsprimaryComparative analysis of Williams vs Bally vs Gottlieb score motor constructionprimaryScore motor index switch and its critical functionprimaryEM pinball maintenance techniques and troubleshootingprimaryDirt accumulation and cleanliness in Williams machinessecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.35)— Nick is frustrated with specific design choices in Williams score motors (the confusing Jones plug, the fragile index switch, dirt accumulation) but pragmatic about their repairability. His tone is educational and helpful rather than harshly critical.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.032

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 yesterday we had our discussion on bally score motors the day before we talked about gottlieb And before that, we talked about Exhibit. Today, I wanted to talk about Williams and the one big gotcha that their score motors have. Many of the Williams score motors, especially in the later 60s and early 70s, have a service Jones plug. When you switch the Jones jumper from one side to the other, and part of what frustrates me about this is that I can never remember which is which, and I'm sure it's worded incredibly clearly to 99% of people, but I must fall in that 1% that just doesn't get it. Because it's like plugging in a USB plug into a computer. It always takes at least two tries, sometimes more. So this adjustment, this service adjustment, will prevent the score motor from turning so that you can more easily observe the state of all the switches and clean and make adjustments without worrying about the score motor turning. Now, here are just a couple things that I don't like about that. The first is that I never do any adjustments to the game while it's on. That's a good way to cause extra problems for yourself, I feel. So I always turn the game off. With the game off the motor will turn but it not going to engage and finish the revolution So the thing that irritating about this particular adjustment is if you have it in the wrong side, the motor cams will not move at all. They're locked in place. It appears as if the motor is bound and is trashed, but in actuality, it's just that little adjustment. now if you happen to for convenience sake switch that adjustment in order to more easily tighten the switch stacks and adjust the switches without the fear of accidentally changing the state by knocking into a cam and not realizing it you go to turn the game back on and the motor won't turn And it's not immediately obvious what's going on. So, I tend to ignore that adjustment. But, the one exception is if I'm going to pick up a game, as I've mentioned before, I like to observe the motor's movement. and whether or not it's smooth, whether it moves at all. And for any motor in the game, I like to attempt to just move the shaft or whatever is connected to it to load. And just make sure that it will actually turn. If it does, then it's repairable if it needs repair. If it doesn't, then you're in for kind of a hard road. But, if you reach into a Williams game to turn the score motor and it doesn't turn, I would highly suggest checking that service jack adjustment. Now, as far as construction goes, it feels to me, and this is just based on feel and repairing many of these, many Bally's and many Godlieb's, but based on feel alone, it feels a bit cheaper than the Bally score motors. There just something about it which doesn quite add up in my mind In much the same way that the Williams chime boxes as I talked about are inferior in my mind to the Gottlieb ones I just feel like these Williams score motors are inferior to both the Bally and the Gottlieb. is just the switches feel cheaper. The cams are different. Once you've had your head in a couple of those, you'll see what I mean. And contrasted with some other ones. Because it's just funny. But otherwise, the construction is very similar to the Bally. You have a variety of cams, which rotate around, and they bump switches on stacks. There's no funky actuators, like on the Gottliebs. the cams while similar to the ballys in orientation the score motor is typically turned towards the front of the cabinet so you can see the score motor moving up and down if you look in from the coin door on the left hand side on the ballys it's kind of hidden, obscured by the motor itself on Gottliebs you can view it straight from the coin door most of the time depending on how old the machine is but other than that on the Williams machines you can flip up the entire score motor assembly to more easily view the state changes of each switch on each stack but if you do that it is easy to mash the first switch or the first switch stack. Guess what the first switch controls? If you guessed score motor index, you're right. That's the one that tells the motor to stop turning because it's reached the home position. Now, if you mangle that switch the motor is going to turn constantly Alternatively if you happen to catch it on something as you lower it back down it prevent the motor from turning at all So you want to be very careful if you do lift up the Williams score motors in particular because it's easy to get the thing knocked out of alignment in such a way that you've got a little bit of adjusting to do. Now, is it the end of the world? No, not at all. It is really easy to adjust that single switch and then be on your way. Is it frustrating? Heck yes, it's frustrating. When you've been working on a game for a few hours and you've got it mostly working, and then all of a sudden it just dies, it's pretty frustrating. So, at any rate, they are pretty easy to service. Other than that, if you look at them straight on, their orientation in the cabinet does make it a little challenging to view the state of all the switches. You've really kind of got to put your head right in the game to figure it out. but other than that they have the same kind of dirt accrual that the Bally's seem to have although on the Williams it does seem worse and again I'm not sure if this is due to the feel that I referenced or if it's something else about the switch construction but every Williams EM that I've worked on just seems to be filthy in the score motor. I don't know if it's a difference in mentality for the operators that bought those games. Maybe they did something funny to lubricate the switches for some reason. I don't know. Thank you again for joining me. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at bingopodcast. You can follow me on Instagram at nbaldridge. We have a Google Plus page with a whopping two posts, I think. And 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