1980 Magic Neon Challengeball

[lotsoballs]

I just imported this rusty 1980 Magic Neon Challengeball; partially tested by the same seller I bought the nice Fuji Cyclone V from; the trim is a little rusty; and I can tell this one needs nearly a full restoration, nails removed, parts removed cleaned up and polished.

Initial testing seems promising; 4 lights aren’t lighting up but that may be to the switches out of adjustment; or just burn bulbs. Sounds work; both of these early 80s models I recently got have an loud alarm that triggers when you drop a token to start the game it activates the solenoid that drops the balls to start the game for 2-3 seconds; completely normal but alarming at first!

Scoring works; and payouts are working.

The plan for this one is the same as the last; nearly a full restoration but preserving the excellent shape factory playfield; I just hope they used solid brass nails in 1980

The nails are far too corroded and filthy to be playing this machine; so time to take it all apart now it’s passed the test.

[MrGneiss]

Is that a hand holding a gun on the pockets??

[lotsoballs]

Is that a hand holding a gun on the pockets??

Yes; not sure what the guns pointed at you has to do with the flying saucers theme though!

I forgot to test those pockets when doing the initial testing; I believe they should just payout 1 token.

[MrGneiss]

Maybe they are trying to scare the UFOs away??

[lotsoballs]

Luckily this particular model is kinda like a Nishijin model C; the whole rear mechanics just “pop” off with the release of some “buttons”, also the playfield board is screwed; not nailed to the door frame; so this facilitates quicker disassembly and way less headache as earlier 70s models pachinkos and arrange balls often use nails (and the wood will disintegrate removing them if you aren’t careful)

Nails are removed, chrome and plastics have been polished.

No idea how to remove the gun pockets; there’s no nails of screws on the front or rear…so those are staying put.




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[takethecastle57]

The pockets could have been interference fitted

[lotsoballs]

The pockets could have been interference fitted

Or they could be glued in? I figure it’s best to leave them be than risk damaging them.

The pistol pockets polished up nice and shiny with some Novus polish.

[lotsoballs]

Unfortunately, I’ve run into the same problem as the 1981 Fuji; they cheaped out on the nails and used brass coated nails. So upon polishing them overnight I see these copper looking nails only have brass coating left on the lower half of the nail.

I’m not going to ruin it with leaving these copper nails that tarnish/corrode way too easily since no brass coating left.

So I’m going to probably have to buy yet more 60s-70s vintage brass nails, I bought 300 last time; so going to have to count the nail holes to see if I’m going to have enough leftovers to replace the nails on this machine.

[emmadog]

i bought a few pounds of nails off yja some years back after realizing they're unavailable in the US for my arrangeball restorations to include this one (Space Wars). i'm sure nails still come up for sale.
i think the pistol pockets are molded around a pair of nails and then the assembly is then mounted. you could carefully pry them off but the old plastic may be brittle and since your cel looks to be in good shape, probably not worth it.

[lotsoballs]

i bought a few pounds of nails off yja some years back after realizing they're unavailable in the US for my arrangeball restorations to include this one (Space Wars). i'm sure nails still come up for sale.
i think the pistol pockets are molded around a pair of nails and then the assembly is then mounted. you could carefully pry them off but the old plastic may be brittle and since your cel looks to be in good shape, probably not worth it.

I just bought 150 more used nails from pachinkoboy.com that’s the only place domestically I could find that sells them.


https://www.pachinkoboy.com/store/15...pins-polished/

[compirate]

Has anyone ever re-plated nails?

[lotsoballs]

Has anyone ever re-plated nails?

I think this is only a modern pachinko (and arrange ball) problem? (1980+) I’m not sure but seems like earlier pachinko nails are solid brass?

I’ve restored lots of 1970s model pachinkos and and a 1976 arrange ball with nasty looking nails that I polished myself via vibratory rock tumbler but they always polished up perfect; but try the same with 1980s models they used brass coated nails that look like a copper colored metal underneath.

Also I’ve noticed a few of my modern machines that have heavy wear on the nails you can see the shiny coating coming off the bare (steel?) metal nails; when it comes to pachinko nails; “they don’t make them like they used to”!

[lotsoballs]

I haven’t forgot about this one; more nails have arrived so time to resume the nail reinstall!

[Moparformances]

looking forward to seeing final pics..

[MrGneiss]

Yay, nails!!

[takethecastle57]

All in all it's just another nail in the board . kind of Pink Floyd don't you think ?

[lotsoballs]

I won’t be much longer! Now I’ve got the playfield board back together and the machine fully cleaned, polished and re-assembled; moving along getting all the lights working; lucky for me the 4 bulbs that weren’t lighting up were simply bad bulbs; not switch related or wiring.

Also replaced a couple of the scoring bulbs that were completely missing.

However my backup supply of arrange ball bulbs is really low; I’m out of the smaller sized bulbs. Anybody know where to stock up on a few more bulbs?

[sparky kilowatt]

Just checked, the bulbs I removed when I converted mine to LED are bayonet style, not the type in your picture, sorry.

[takethecastle57]

Yellow light led with a step down resistor to bring it down to 5vdc


https://www.ebay.com/itm/40524126438...Bk9SR7DF7OXzZA

[lotsoballs]

Well I thought I was mostly done; was testing out the gameplay; figuring out how the banked scoring works; playing it for 10 mins or so before it suddenly died; the main fuse blew and now the corroded old transformer is making odd buzzing noises?

Tried replacing the fuse a few times but keeps blowing them. Going to try bypassing the old transformer and hook up one for a modern pachinko.

Still need to make a replica of the numbered placard that goes over the scoring holes.