Gomez's Design Details
(Continued)Gomez's Design Details
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Under The Playfield
I admit, the very first time I had to visit under the playfield I was scared - not because I thought there were monsters from the Addams family living beneath the surface, but because there were hundreds of little foreign looking parts there that I had never seen before! For most people getting into owning a pinball machine, this will be the case for you too. But, with a little studying, help from this web page, and a deep breath, you will find out that it really is not all that complicated. Most of the parts are simple solenoids, light bulbs, small motors, switches, electronic components, magnets, wires that connect everything, and some hardware and nuts and bolts. That's about all there is to it!
To cover every little piece here would take a long time. But, what the heck? I'll try to cover lots of information here and expand upon this section over time, upon future revisions.
As mentioned above, under the playfield lies many electronic and mechanical parts. If you think of the back box containing the brain and heart of the pinball machine, under the playfield contains the hands, fingers, feet, and toes. All of the parts under the playfield are linked to the back box via a series of wires contained in the wire harnesses, much the same way veins in the human body deliver blood to the fingers and toes from the heart. When a ball comes in contact with a switch on the surface, it sends a signal to the back box to turn on a component under the playfield.
The Ball Through
At the lowest point of the playfield is a ball through, where the balls are constantly recycled to be replayed once they come out of play. The ball through contains a series of three switches: One that counts the balls as they drain, one that moves the next ball into the kickout hole, and one that signals to the solenoid a ball is in the kickout hole to kick it out when ready. A solenoid, connected to a small metal hammer, kicks the ball out into the plunger lane to put a ball in play.
The small switches involved are well designed to seemingly last forever. However, sometimes they get some dirt in them and they need to be cleaned out. Use a small screwdriver to take the switch apart and use a toothpick to clean it. A sign that the switch is healthy is a faint clicking sound when you press the switch on or off.
Also, some times the wire arms get bent out of alignment and need to be adjusted. In the rare case that a wire gets broken, a standard small paper clip may be soldered in as a replacement!
The Flipper Solenoids
When you press a flipper button on either side of the machine, you close a connection on a leaf switch under the playfield. This sends a current to the solenoid to react and it moves the flipper. When the button is released, the connection is broken, and the flipper goes back to its resting position. The flipper solenoids use a heavy duty design - necessary for the constant use and abuse they will likely encounter. The iron cored piston in the center of the solenoid is connected to a small plastic link, that is in turn connected to an arm that mounts the flipper stem to the flipper above on the playfield. It is important that the little hex screws are tightly mounted to the underside as to give no play on the mounting bracket. Never put oil or any other lubricant on any part of the solenoid, as lubricants tend to help dirt stick to the mechanism and gum it up, reducing effectiveness. If the solenoids appear dirty or rusty, remove them and clean them with light steel wool and a small brush.
The Upper Left Flipper Solenoid
Yup, you guessed. Similar to bottom main flippers, the small upper left flipper (as well as the upper right flipper) use solenoids to power the movement. The only difference here is the connecting hardware.
Other Solenoids
There are many other solenoids used in The Addams Family Pinball Machine. These solenoids are typically used to catapult a ball in a certain direction.
A solenoid is really nothing more than a coil of copper wire that allows current to pass through it. Through the center is a nylon cylinder shaped sleeve. A smooth iron shaft runs through the sleeve. A link is attached to one end of the shaft that attaches to a flipper, bumper, or other lever on top of the playfield. The whole setup runs on the basic principals of magnetism. When current is allowed to pass through the wire, it creates a magnetic field in the center of the coil. This field creates a jolt that sends the iron shaft moving in the direction of the field. The current is turned on and off by a switch - such as the flipper buttons, or a opto switch mounted on the playfield.
There are several of these solenoids that may be found under the playfield of the Addams Family Pinball Machine. This picture shows the solenoid used to control the upper left (Thing Flips) flipper. The coils used come in different sizes. The difference really has to do with the number of windings on the coil. The more windings of wire in the coil, the stronger the magnetic field will be, and the more powerful the solenoid will be.
There are also two motors that may be found under the playfield. This one is used to control opening and closing of the bookcase above the playfield.
The other motor controls Thing coming in and out of the red box. (And you thought Thing was alive!) Both motors used in this machine are fairly heavy duty and should virtually last forever, given the simple task they are given to do. However, if abused, they may fail. Although they may be difficult to find at your local pinball parts dealer, they may be available in hobby shops specializing in robotics, or model airplanes. They may also be rebuilt by a motor repair shop!
Also under the playfield are a network of tunnels and special chambers. Here is a photo showing the chamber will Thing takes the ball to store it for multiball. The ball is removed from the playfield by the Thing hand. It is then dropped into the metal box, where it rolls through the plastic thermoformed tunnel to the Swamp Kick-out area. When multiball begins, the ball is kicked back up onto the playfield by the Swamp Kick-out solenoid.
One of the unique features of this machine is the Power of the Addams feature. This feature is nothing more than three extremely powerful electromagnets mounted under the playfield that rotate around on disks when activated. The magnets are powerful enough to sway the direction of the pinball above the playfield - even up hill! When not active, the electromagnets lay dormant under the playfield.
The mansion lights, special lights, arrow lights, etc. on the playfield are lit by small bayonet style light bulbs mounted under the playfield. Holes were drilled into the wooden playfield, and small colored translucent plastic pieces were glued into the holes. The bulbs, commonly called #555 bulbs after their bulb type number, are mounted under the plastic pieces to illuminate them. The bulbs are actually fit into small bulb holders that mount to a special contact hole mounted just under the playfield. These holders often shake loose, or make poor contact with the metal tabs that allow current to get to them. When replacing the bulbs, make sure the bulb is fitted snugly in the hole and that the contacts are clean and not bent or broken.
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Next: More under the playfield
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