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Flipper Coil Upgrade?

K

Koplings

New Member
May 4, 2014
15
0
1
Waterloo
So one of my other machines is the 1977 Bally Fireball Home Model (the early SS one that was made and sold through catalogue stores in the 70s). It has sentimental value so I don't want to part with it but the flippers are pretty weak and underpowered. It uses the AF-23/300-28/1000 flipper coils.

I have a Bally Wizard! that up swapped out the flipper coils and replaced them with Gottlieb coils to get more power and it works great.

Is there anything similar anyone could recommend I do with the Bally Fireball Home Model coils to get the same effect (i.e something else I could swap in?). i'd kinda like to avoid opening them up and rewinding them.
 
DRANO

DRANO

Super Member
Nov 15, 2012
2,821
517
113
Mississauga
Those are perfectly acceptable coils. They are the same ones used in other commercial models from Bally such as Evel Knievel .
I'm no expert in coils and electronics but I do know that you should be very careful as some of these older coils may have been series wound vs. parallel wound. My Firepower II had improper coils installed and it caused a whole mess of problems right back to the rectifier and eventually to the transformer due to some stupid over-fusing.

That being said, I would consider simply rebuilding the flipper mechs. Get some new coil stops, sleeves, plungers maybe. There can be a lot of slop in those old parts that are making the flippers feel under powered.

Also, make sure the EOS switch contacts are clean and properly gapped (so they don't open too soon; robbing the flipper of power before the stroke is complete).

All this will make your flippers feel like new. Changing the coil alone would be the equivalent of dropping a V8 into a rusty 1982 chevette with worn out transmission and bald tires ;)

Hope that helps.

Also. This is a great resource too:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers
 
Menace

Menace

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Nov 14, 2012
2,440
255
83
Santiago de Aurora
Where it's a home model I'm not sure if the standard "rules" would apply here... the stronger you make the coils the more power is required to drive them and I have no idea if the power supply in that game would be up to the task of driving higher powered coils.

Maybe someone more familiar with these home models could comment on this? If it is, all you need to look for are coils with a lower first set of numbers for a more powerful coil. Yours is 23/300 which is 23 AWG @ 300 turns, so something with 250 or even 200 turns might be what you're looking for. (if even such an animal exists)

But I agree with Drano's post above. I would rebuild all the mechanics on the flippers first before making the decision to install higher powered coils.

D
 
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