Restoring 1965 Williams Pot 'O' Gold Pinball machine
About five years back I was looking for a pool table to be the center piece of a game room. A friend of a friend wanted to sell their table so I hooked up the trailer and drove to see the table. It was in bad shape - and even though they offered to sell it at a really low price (just to get it out of the basement) I would not have taken it even if it was free. But, they did have a similar offer on an old pinball machine (yes, the 1965 Williams Pot 'O' Gold). Haul it out of the basement and we will give it to you for free - it does not work anyway. So I did.
And so it languished in my basement for years until I finally had the time to look at it with my daughter who is quite the wizard with mechanical things.
In less than a minute she identifed the main problem: the switch to register that the ball has fallen into the drain was broken. With a screwdriver and wrench we fixed that problem - and had a (95%) working machine moments later! Here are some photos of the Pot 'O' Gold:
Figure 1: Williams Pot 'O' Gold: Playfield and back glass
Figure 2: Williams Pot 'O' Gold: Side view
Figure 3: Williams Pot 'O' Gold: Playfield
Figure 4: Williams Pot 'O' Gold: Back glass
Figure 5: Williams Pot 'O' Gold: Close up of the playfield: Bottom
Figure 6: Williams Pot 'O' Gold: Close up of the playfield: TopRepairs made
As I indicated above, the machine was in really good shape. I followed the advice detailed in
Marv's Pinball
repair guide. Here are the things that I did to the machine to restore it back to nearly its original splendor! I purchased about 50 USD worth of parts for the components that were worn or broken.
- The main problem with the machine when I got it (for free!) was that the switch that senses that the ball has dropped into the drain was not working. The parts were all there - just out of alignment.
I had to unscrew the switch assembly, move the wire to its proper location, then tighten the switch assembly back.
Crazy, non? A five minute repair to turn a free machine from broken to 95% working!
- Removed all the parts from the playfield. Cleaned all the plastic parts with Novus 2.
- The "On" button for the yellow bumpers was not working. The problem turned out to be a switch set located near the front of the machine. These switches were out of alignment. A simple fix.
- Waxed the playfield with Milwax. Note: Marv recommends to stay away from Milwax... but I could not find the other kinds of wax he did recommend. So far so good.
- Replaced the skirts for the four bumpers. The originals were chipped. Cleaned all the parts associated with the bumpers while I had them apart.
- Put back all the parts to the playfield. Note: I made some small mistakes putting the hardware back on the playfield - so do not use these pictures as a reference for the playfield layout. Note to self, "Self, take a picture of the playfield before you take it apart the next time."
I will fix these the next time I take the table top apart. I figure the less I screw and unscrew the longer the table will last. The two that I know about are: 1) Figure 5: Above the "300 WHEN LIT" I put rubber around all three posts. It should have a single rubber ring around the post that is the closest to the center; and then rubber stretched between the two posts that hug the outside wall of the playfield. The play in that area is a bit different than originally intended - but not too much. 2) On Figure 6 you can see I placed a metal plate between to posts immediately below the 1 and 9 skill shots on the sides. This metal plate should actually go on top of the two posts that I describe in 1) above (right above the "300 WHEN LIT"). This mistake does not affect game play - but depending on your height does cause some people to not easily see the 1 and 9 skill shots (especially when the ball is actively zinging around!).
- Added new rubber to the playfield. This really makes a difference in the speed of the game.
Money well spent.
- Replaced the leg level adjusters. I have the back levelers all the way up and the front all the way down. This gives the game the maximum slope - making for a very fast game!
- If you take a look at the picture that included the back glass - you can see that the paint has started to flake away from the glass itself. I decided not to try to restore the backglass - due to the effort and cost. So, I followed Marv's
instructions for spraying the painted side of the back glass with Krylon Triple Thick. The purpose is to arrest the flaking and the result was successful.
- Replaced all the burned out light bulbs. You can never have too many light bulbs - so the next time I buy a batch on the Internet I will buy too many.
- Many of the scoring reels were sticky. Cleaning fixed all but one of them. For this one, I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more - to no avail. The final answer was to tighten one of the springs that pulled the reel to the next number position. I do not like adjusting in this fashion... as it involves cutting off a portion of the spring and reforming the end... but it was the only thing I could do to get it working.
- Dropped in the new, clean, ball. A new ball will run faster and help reduce the wear and tear on the playfield.
All in all, and with good help from my kids, I would estimate I put about 20 hours into the machine. An old pinball machine like this
Williams Pot 'O' Gold from 1965 is probably worth around 400 USD. Due to the backglass
not being perfect... something less than that.
I really like how the machine plays. As a kid I grew up playing pinballs of this era. Usually, they were set up for 10 cents for one play... three for a quarter. I remember being good enough to be able to play for an hour on one quarter - by winning free balls and free games. And, with just a little bit of practice I should be able do that with this machine again! Special note: as of 2008Feb05 - nobody has rolled over the machine! The closest I have ever got to that accomplishment was 9560!
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Change history
- Created 2007Feb01
- Modified 2007Feb11
- Comments to christmaswhistler@gmail.com
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