This pictorial is demonstrated on a 1995 Bally Indianapolis 500 and 1992 Creature From The Black Lagoon pinball machines.
However, this technique and procedure is common to all of them made int he last 30 years, with some non important differences. We'll demonstrate how to replace old, parts, rebuild with new parts, fine tuen them and what's going on.
IMPORTANT! Please use due care and precaution while following this pictorial. Use at your own risk. If you do not have any repair or refurbishing experience and/or knowledge, do not work on pinball machine circuit boards, power supply, transformer, connectors or anything inside at all and step away from the machine!
Okay, let's finish it and see how it all ties and fits together. It's a nifty little assembly that didn't really change a whole lot for the last 50 years.
Fitting the skirt. Follow the holes exactly. Spring goes into the base, skirt goes over the base and the spring as shown.
Now, fit the bumper body over it as shown, see the circled arrows?
Ok, top part is reassembled. We need ring and rod now...
Fitting in the ring and rod metal part.
That's it, fits fine.
Reinstalling the flasher bulb sockets. Pay attention to where the wires go, they will go underneath the playfield for later resoldering.
Closeup shot of socket and wires.
Extreme closeup shot. We will reuse the socket we cutt off earlier.
All done with the flasher bulb in place.
Put the cap on and align the screw holes on the cap with the screw holes on the bumper body,
Time to reinstall the whole thing back into the game.
Make sure it fits the way it's supposed to.
Now, get those body screws back in and reinstall.
Closeup shot of the bumper body with screws tightened and securely in place.
Go back to the bottom now. Put those washers on the ring and rod.
Reinstall the bottom part. Solder the light bulb wires back in place (where you snipped them off). If using a new socket, just solder them back on.
That's it. Done. It took all of 20 minutes, but it might seem by reading it here that it took a bit longer. Either way, I am fast, since I have done it many times, but it still wouldn't take a whole lot longer even if you've never done it. So, it is worth it to fix your pop bumpers ifn you are doing a complete shop job of yoru machine, or it might help you diagnose why your pop bumpers are not popping as much as they should.
Happy flipping and let those pop bumpers rip the ball!
POP BUMPERS IN ACTION VIDEOS!
Pop bumper Video 1
Video 1 shows how the bottom part of the bumper assembly works, wich the coil taken off and simulating the coil triggering.
Pop bumper Video 2
Video 2 shows the whole process of closing the blades on the spoon switch (making contact) that in effect triggers the coil, and the bumper "fires".
Pop bumper Video 3
Video 3 is showing simulated closing of the blades on the spoon switch (making contact) and it's gap between the blades (the most important part to adjust).
Pop bumper Video 4
Video 4 is showing how to adjust the blades (by adjusting the gap via the smallest/strongest blade).
Pop bumper Video 5
Video 5 is not the finest camera work made, but it shows the top part doing its job ina simulation - ball rolling over the skirt will move the cone bottom of the skirt, whihc rests on the spoon, spoon moves downwards activating the switch, switch blades close, coil fires, you got bumping.
Pop bumper Video 6
Video 6 shows how are rebuilt pop bumpers popping on Indianalopis 500. They are popping more than Jiffy-Pop popcorn on your kitchen stove!
Pop bumper Video 7
Video 7 shows Creature From The Black Lagoon rebuilt pop bumpers whaling away... It's dark in here! Let me out!!! I'm suffocating!
COMPLETE POP BUMPER PART LIST AVAILABLE FROM PINBALL LIFE
if you want to completely trick out your pop bumper assemblies and replace everything, here is the parts list to purchase with direct links to individual parts below
Bumper Body Screws
Bumper Cap Screws
Pop Bumper Switch Assembly
Fiber Yoke
Pop Bumper Bracket
Pop Bumper Lamp Socket
Pop Bumper Skirt - Red or White
Pop Bumper Skirt - Assorted colors
Pop Bumper Spring (small)
Williams/Bally Metal Yoke - These often break, get some spares!
Ring And Rod Assembly
Williams/Bally Pop Bumper Caps
Williams/Bally/Stern/Gottlieb Pop Bumper Base
Williams/Bally/Stern Pop Bumper Body
THE END!
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If you have any questions, please email us and we'll try to help you. Remember to do all these steps safely and frequently check and recheck your work.
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