1976 Bally Flip Flop EM Pinball Machine - Sold

1976 Bally Flip Flop EM Pinball Machine

I picked up this machine in pretty rough condition. Originally bought for my collection, but I'm running out of room for new machines. Hard choices need to be made.

I'll post some before and after pictures. I haven't done anything with the cabinet except wash it. It is in pretty rough condition. I am considering repainting it, but I haven't made the final decision yet. My plan is to paint a base blue coat, then use yellow lettering with a black outline spelling out Flip Flop like on the backglass. Back box would be blue with white trim. I could buy the stencils for the original, but I'm not a fan of the horseshoes.

Before:

It was covered with a nasty level of dirt when I got it. Previous owner was clearly a smoker. Was pretty hard to tell what would be underneath the dirt.

The cabinet is really rough.

One of my favorite pictures. With the rubber on the shooter rod completely worn away, they continued to shoot the ball, metal to metal, until the rod (thick metal rod) mushroomed at the end. In order to replace this I had to take the assembly out and take the rod to my grinding wheel. All of the mushroom had to go to remove it from the housing. Too bad. Would have made a cool decoration/conversation piece.

No wonder we have some pretty significant wear above the ball trough when the original ball may never have been replaced. When I picked up the machine I left the ball with some kids as a souvenir....it was terrible.

Here is a collection of broken parts. From the top we have chewed up pop bumper skirts, a replacement flipper from a Gottlieb game (notice the ribbing on the top), a chewed up flipper and a skinny stick that used to be a post (lots of these were cracked and broken.

Sorry, still my favorite. I forgot to mention the dirt. Did you miss it?

Start of the tear down process. Pretty gross.

These are after cleaning. The next pics are the finished product.

In addition to what I have mentioned, I replaced the star roll over inserts, replaced bulbs, sprayed a protective coat of triple thick on the backglass, repaired some coils, cleaned stepper units and relay contacts, found and corrected a GI short on the playfield, replaced the shooter rod, polished the playfield, new rubber set, replaced broken parts, resoldered all 50vdc coils, replaced the bridge rectifier, partially rebuilt the flippers by replacing all coil stops and some sleeves. The rest of the sleeves were cleaned. Cleaned and adjusted end of stroke switches. Cracked the motor housing to lubricate it, and vacuumed the cabinet.

After about $125 in parts and a bunch of hours (I don't really count), here is another pinball machine rescued from a burn pile.