Found it! Gold Ball Target Cover Template

[Nedreud]

Whilst ordering some new rubbers I've discovered my GOLD BALL has it's Target Cover, part number 12. 0371-00108-0000, missing. I've discovered that this part is a just a shiny metal plate mounted on top of three star posts:

Whilst the chances of anyone having a spare is probably zero if anyone has a GOLD BALL and would be willing to remove this part and draw round it on a piece of paper I'd be most grateful It wouldn't be too tricky to then have it cut from a sheet of stainless steel and polished up nice and shiny!

 

[Nedreud]

Hi @astyy! Now you're here we can pester each other non-stop with GOLD BALL queries!

As you can see in my original post above I've discovered that my GB is missing this metal cover plate that sits between the centre pop-bumper and the 3 stand-up targets. If yours still has this piece is there any chance you could trace round it on a piece of paper (marking the fixing holes too) and popping it in the posts, please?

I'll sort you out a decent scan of the manual in return

 

[astyy]

Hi @Nedreud, yes I certainly have that part on my PF and am very happy to help you as this is likely to be a one-way street in the other direction based on your expertise on this machine. I previously took that part off for polishing and it is quite bent perhaps because this area gets a lot of stick in front of it. If you do make one I'd be happy to contribute to a second. Also, I note on my PF a couple of plastics are different to yours, I've read in the Field Update manual that a couple were replaced which I think mine are with different text (bottom left, top right). Note mine has as EBD bumper cover - I kind of like that! Also did you find a Gold Ball - picture of the one found in my machine below too - I can't tell it's Gold when in Play but there's no mistaking the lights and sounds associating it. As you can see, I could do with a replacement for this too - all that Brighton beach in the machine took its toll over the years.

 

[Nedreud]

Morning, @astyy!

Wow! Your GB playfield is certainly in better condition that mine. Looks as though you've got Mylar over the whole thing? Mine has typical wear around the inserts, just like my VECTOR, with the worst bit in front of the gold stand-up target. Unfortunately it seems as though there was a spill or leak that ran down the entire length of the playfield, down the left side, from the "P" in the P-L-A-Y inserts through the "GOLD" logo and down to the "SHOOT AGAIN" insert. This has caused a 3-4" wide strip of severe "planking" and paint peeling. I'm going to clean it up as best I can but leave the full paint restoration for another day (I'm doing a major restoration on my PARAGON and I want this machine back together asap so they don't get mixed and it's playable!). To protect it I've ordered a full sheet of 0.75mm polycarbonate Lexan, the same stuff as Makrolon that http://playfield-protectors.com/ are mode out of. The difference will be that my sheet will cover everything from edge-to-edge.

That would really be awesome to get an outline of the metal plate cover. I was perusing eBay last light for some small offcuts of polished stainless steel. If you could let me know how wide it is I'll get a piece big enough to make two. Little bits of offcut sheet are only £3-4 for something six inches square. A rough idea of the thickness would be good too. I'd guess maybe 1 or 2mm?

You're right about the plastics. I knew about the Field Service update (there are changes to the ROM for "gold ball percentaging", etc.) but didn't realise there were updated plastics. Looks like they both say "SPOTS LETTER". I've ordered some custom ROMs (they are based on the Field Service ROMs) from Jim aka @myPinballs but thinking of making an adapter board to quickly switch between original and custom.

I haven't got a gold ball. Mine was a total non-working project when I bought it and the gold ball was long gone. I have found somewhere that does them however:

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog...oss-low-magnetic-p-1819.html?language=english

They're €8.90 each but depending on package weight (under or over 1kg) it's either €10 or €20 shipping from Germany to the UK. Roughly, that would be about £15 just to order one ball so I was going to leave it till I needed a few more bits and pieces. I quite fancied their new transparent orange bumper bodies and skirts for GB:

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog...nsparent-0374435-p-4947.html?language=english

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/bumper-skirt-orange-p-1173.html?language=english

They also do all sorts of gold bits and bobs, and whilst I wouldn't want to go mental smothering everything with gold instead of chrome, a few accents would be nice, like:

Spring (golden) - Ball shooter outer barrel

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog...ter-outer-barrel-p-2752.html?language=english

Shooter Spring, gold

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/shooter-spring-gold-p-3197.html?language=english

I've also used up both packets of spare #555 bulbs I had (VECTOR uses them too but PARAGON takes #47), so I was going to order them from here too as they do a very good price on a bulk 100 pack. €11.90 is about £9.10. Cheapest I can find them here in the UK is £14.50 for 100:

T10 Pinball Bulb #555 6V, 2W, 100Pack

http://www.pinballcenter.eu/catalog/t10-pinball-bulb-555-100pack-p-855.html?language=english

Let me know if you're interested in ordering anything and we can split the postage, and then maybe get together to pick up the parts? We're less than 20 miles apart!

 

[astyy]

Hi @Nedreud ok I'm hooked now, here's some pictures taken next to my period ruler as reference and you can see the kink in the metal to the rhs. 130 x 60 x 1 would suffice. Yes my PF is covered in Mylar which has some en-grained crud but I'm resisting the temptation to remove it as to maintain it's age related look but I'm sure as I improve the overall condition I'll want to get round to it. My game has been set on the GOLDBALL spelling update since I got it, I can't imagine it being much fun the random way, also you need those extra 'spot letter' options as that centre gold bullseye is unforgiving. Have you played yours at all yet? You're welcome to pop over to mine for a try out. If you ping me your address I'll post you a trace of the shape outline.

 

[BigIan]

Oh a DEC ruler... Cool

Did you work for them ? I worked for them then Compaq, left just before they became HP though...

 

[Nedreud]

How things have changed...

"Imagine being the one with Alpha AXP."

 

[BigIan]

a customer of mine still has a few Alphas

ok mainly because they are too heavy to shift but they are still there

 

[Nedreud]

I shouldn't mock. My Dad used to work for ICL and I have very fond memories as kid sitting in rooms filled with reel-to-reel tape machines, punched tape machines, etc., back in the 70s and 80s, when ICL had all the government and defence contracts. Oh, how things have changed...

 

[astyy]

It's DEC's fault I'm in Basingstoke, it felt like a stable company to work at the time, who'd have ever thought...

I still have a DECstation with Gold key keyboard

 

[BigIan]

Ah good old basingstoke.....

I was in the Belfast office. from about 1990 - 2000 or there abouts

 

[astyy]

Hi @Nedreud per your PM is this any good to print a scale template? NP to post a trace over if not. When I took it off the machine is was tension-ed between the two star posts, that may explain why it's been bent as it fairly easily fouls the target rectangular plate in front of it. Re-looking at the stock photo you used in the OP I see that isn't sitting straight and I'd have thought the LH target would snag it.

 

[astyy]

Hi @Nedreud , looking at this part further to refit it, it's definitely bent up at the front, I guess that's what caused the crimp in the narrow spot. The large arc is circular of a radius concentric to the lower bumper. I'm interested to see how a flat version fits to yours perhaps it needs spacering higher on the star posts to clear the target rectangle when it's hit. Anyway have attempted a trace rolling it flat to give better dimensions. Has a single passive part of game ever got so much attention (not from me)! I'm looking forward to seeing the results when I went over the PF I wasn't happy with this part.

 

[Nedreud]

Thanks for the tracing photo. That's great! Need to get my playfield back together so I have something to fit it to. Watch this space!

 

[Nedreud]

Hey @astyy, just to let you know I'm finally spending the day tomorrow at my neighbours new workshop with the CNC machine!

I was re-reading this thread and realised the problem with the photo in the OP because I found several others from the same machine. The left post is way too short. Like on yours the plate should sit about 1/8" above the triple-target plastic. Also, it has the wrong vertical fin style of posts, whereas this era of Bally's should have horizontally banded posts.

Anyway... Fingers crossed by the end of tomorrow we should both have our choice of 1.2mm or 1.5mm mirror/polished steel plates

 

[Nedreud]

Shame we ran out of time @astyy but have made a start on cutting the first cover plate. This one is in the 1.5mm polished plate. Slow going as its really tough steel so can only cut 0.2mm per pass as the CNC is only air cooled. My friend is going to finish it off tomorrow and then I can try it on my GB for size. If it's good he'll then cut another from 1.5mm and two from the 1.2mm mirror polished plate next week.

 

[cooldan]

WTF is that thing?

 

[Nedreud]

WTF is that thing?

See the photo on the first post for a picture of the metal plate I'm trying to make. It sits on top of 3 star posts between the middle pop bumper and behind the triple bank of inter-linked stand-up targets.

The one on @astyy's GB is rather battered (but provided the outline) and mine is totally missing! No chance of ever finding a replacement so I'm making new ones out of some buffed and mirror polished sheet steel offcuts using a friends CNC cutting machine!!!

I'm mad me. Completely bonkers check out my other thread where I'm making some new Nylon "buttons" for my linear flippers!!!

 

[cooldan]

I'm mad me. Completely bonkers

and that's why i love you man

 

[astyy]

@Nedreud keep up the good work but turn up the gas, i was thinking more

 

[Nedreud]

Being a wannabe Bond villain is exactly what I accused my friend of!

He just laughed maniacally and muttered something about global domination...

 

[Nedreud]

So my fantastic neighbour finished cutting out the cover plate on his CNC and dropped it round:

Cleaned up edges sharp edges with a rounded file, drilled out the holes to 4.5mm and then buffed in the wheel and polished with Autosol.

And the end result:

Very pleased with the result! Better than a new original I reckon. @astyy I'll be back at the workshop next week and will cut another one like this and then 2 out of the 1.2mm Murrow polished steel so we'll both have a choice and a spare.

So that's what I was making @cooldan

 

[Nedreud]

Christ! Look at the state of those white rubbers. Would you believe they're brand new and never been fitted before? Must be more careful with my grubby little fingers. White rubber is a sod to clean.

 

[Nedreud]

I've also just realised that this cover plate is supposed to be held on with Nylocs not rubber acorn nuts! Should be the same size and the ones that hold the pop bumper rings onto the solenoid. Should be able to salvage a pair from the old junk PARAGON playfield...

 

[astyy]

@Nedreud great work. Once I get a mine I'll do a side by side before/after shot to really show off your efforts vs a knacked one on this.

It will probably need raising slightly once you place the target bank in front as this tends to foul the chrome plate - are you still re-decalling a new target rectangle plastic (or two ) and I'm intrigued to see how you handle the gold bullet target - I'm still thinking we could fashion something out of leaf gold, the gilding gold is like £1.80 delivered for 10 sheets, which could then be triple thicked or similar.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-Genuine-Professional-Gold-Leaf-Sheets-for-gilding-10-Sheets-

So a pretty cheap experiment to get some 24K bling on the playfield - go GOLD BALL

 

[Nedreud]

You'll have a pair of new cover plates to choose between! One like this in 1.5mm Bright Shiny and another in 1.2mm Mirror Polished. Take you pick! One for work, one for Sunday best

Yes, I'll be making new rectangular plastics. I'm going to use some uber-tough Lexan and go for as thick as can be re-attached back onto the targets. The original is probably 1/16-inch PETG which is barely 1.5mm. I'm going for at least 3mm Lexan which is many times tougher.

As for the fouling I'll have to look into that because I was going to experiment installing a 2mm sheet of Lexan underneath the cover plate that's about 1-2mm larger all the way around. This is so that ball strikes will hit the plastic rather than metal edge hopefully preventing ball damage and wear.

A real gold bullseye? Nice! I think I've had this thought before but it looks like coloured anodizing to me, but then I don't think the target it made of aluminium. The steel ball would pound it to bits. This part is going to require some further research...