Duotron 1: Delivery and First Thoughts

So first of all, the pinball machine is here! Got delivered and installed yesterday. And although I suspect I will be perfectly comfortable breaking a machine down for transport using more traditional means (a van, a hand-truck) going forward, I'm glad I had this one delivered and set up. I pulled apart the storm door pneumatic closer and bracket, but otherwise it got through the door in one piece without too much infrastructure changes. 

It's rather larger than I imagined, in the space - plenty of room, but kind of glad I did not get the wide-body Genie - both because of space as well as aesthetics. I kind of wanted an older machine, both for the look / feel / sound, as well as the opportunity to work on it.

And work on it, I plan to. I've already started a punch list of things needing some attention - a lane relay that is intermittent / weak / sketchy contacts (the lane light is dim and flickers, the lane function works some of the time), a kicker lane that has not worked 1-2 times (but mostly does), a coin drop that's intermittent (one side works fine), a coin drop light that's out, a match light that's out (although figuring out which one right now involves me logging matches for a few games).

I've done a few minor things already - opened up the front, removed the safety bar and glass, lifted the playfield to poke around inside. I found a reproduction PDF of the instructions (3 Ball vs 5 Ball) and Bonus Score cards (12 versions), and opened up the back box to set the high score to a more challenging level (having won free games via points several times already, just monkeying around in testing).

I'm going with 3 Ball vs. 5 Ball because it's already a bit of an easy game

This already sheds so much light on my youth, now I understand how pinball machines can be set to award bonus plays more or less easily, and how the manufacturer provided the signage and tools to let the owner set 'em up as they wanted.

 

 Setting the bonus levels is kind of fun / interesting - there is a receptacle with 10 positions (representing 1000s) and 10 individual pins (representing 10,000s) - so to set 43,000, you insert the 40,000 pin into the 3000 receptacle. So you can only have one each of the 1000 levels and one each of the 10,000 levels - which is why the bonus levels are always such weird numbers (43,000 / 57,000 / 65,000), as opposed to nice round numbers (40,000 / 50,000 / 60,000)

I'm starting off with the 3 Ball recommended level - once I get better at the machine I might move it to a more challenging level. Or maybe not - it will be more fun for guests, and will save me from stuffing in quarters if I keep the credit reel tanked up 

 That's pretty much all I'm up for right now. But looking ahead, I've ordered a spare parts kit for this machine (which included some cleaner / polish, bulbs, rings and rubbers, spare fuses and bulbs), a reprint instruction manual and schematic, and some replacement covers for the pop bumpers (which are pretty faded).

And I've moved an LED light that was formerly over my work table, now right over the table to facilitate working on it, although I suspect I'll need a movable light as well to dig into the dark corners.