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Restoring 1961 United Gypsy shuffle bowlOne of my more recent projects is the repair of a United's Gypsy shuffle bowling game from 1961, which is one year older than I am. I remember playing these games back as a kid... and always liked them. And, for $75, how could I pass up a chance to restore one of these babies? Well, maybe the fact that it does not work might be a start... (smile). The physical machine is in good condition, however. The table top is smooth formica. The word work is still in good condition. The plastic pins do not have any chips or cracks. The back glass is in great shape. Here are a few pictures to wet your whistle.
Figure 1: United's Gypsy: Shuffle bowler from 1961 And here is a picture of the formica table top at the start of the lane. 10 cents a play... I love it! 
Figure 2: United's Gypsy: Lane front showing 10 cents per player And, here is the back glass. One of the interesting things of this model is that it can score a regulation game of bowling. Well, not yet, anyway... as there are a few bugs in the system (frown). 
Figure 3: United's Gypsy: Backglass Literally, bugs. This entire machine is Electro-Mechanical (EM), relying on switches, relays and soleniods. All these mechanical devices fail over time, of course. This machine probably has a few moths stuck between the switches... Here are the bugs that I am shooting, in order. Bug 1: The pins will not retractPressing most all of the switches on the playing surface does nothing to the pins. Yes, three of the pins do retract into the up position. Without any real tools or understanding of how a machine like this works... I have discovered what I think is the problem and a "chewing gum and baling wire" fix. Here is a close up picture of the 1-pin solenoid and switches. You will notice that the 1-pin is down. The horizontal peg that is pressing down on the leaf switches is not pressing down enough, it seems. The top switch is closed and the bottom is open. Even if I manually release the 1-pin so that the horizontal peg is moved up and away from the switches... nothing happens, of course. The top switch stays closed and the bottom switch stays open.
Figure 4: United's Gypsy: Bug 1: Before showing horizontal bar of 1-pin does not press far enough on the switches Below, is my "chewing gum and baling wire" fix. By wrapping some yellow electrician's tape around the horizontal peg, this applies enough down pressure on the pair of switches so that when the 1-pin is down (as shown) the top switch is now open, and the bottom closed. Now, when the puck slides underneath the 1-pin, the pin retracts! 
Figure 5: United's Gypsy: Bug 1: After showing the effect of adding tape So, problem solved? I am not so sure. I had to do similar adjustments for all ten of the switch/horizontal pegs that drive the pins. But, the amount of tape that I had to use for most... just seems like too much. I wonder if the problem is something else. How could this part of the machine get so far out of alignment? It just seems odd that all would have this problem - and that the "fix" was so much tape. If anybody has some advice, please e-mail me at christmaswhistler@yahoo.com. The machine now plays. Most of the contact switches on the playing field work fine and the pins are flying! And, while this "solution" has made a world of difference in my shuffle bowl game... it still has some bugs that need to be worked out. 2005Aug04: Jim from California wrote me and said that he had to use a similar adjustment on his 1963 United Caravelle Shuffle Alley. This tape solution has been working fine for a year. 2005Aug08: Interesting, John of BC gives the advice that I should still look for a mechanical problem, "perhaps the support for the levers has separated from the support for the switches and has drifted apart enough to account for the incorrect response from the switches to the arms moving." Bug 2: The #7 pin is "sticky"Well, with the above fix for Bug 1, the machine works much better. But, bugs remain. Here is a description of a fairly strange one.If I press (and hold for at least 1/2 second) the switches (see Figure 6) one at a time in the order shown, the following happens:
The other way to describe the problem is that if I press and release any of the switches that should lift the 7-pin (for example, switches Q, R or S) quickly (say 1/4 second)... I hear the 7-pin solenoid energize (that "zzzit" noise) for that 1/4 second... but not long enough to pull the plate back that is keeping the 7-pin locked down. If I press and release any of the switches that should lift the 7-pin for about 1/2 second or more... I hear the 7-pin solenoid energize (that "zzzit" noise) long enough to pull the plate which releases the 7-pin to pull up. 
Figure 6: United's Gypsy: Play field switch assignments Now, I immediately suspected the strength of the solenoid that drives the action to physically pull the 7-pin up and out of the way. I have tried the following (with no obvious improvements):
Advice? Please e-mail me at christmaswhistler@yahoo.com. Bug 3: "Letting the smoke out" of the 1-pin solenoidNot so much as a bug - but pilot error. Here is the scenario:
I then started to wrap the wire back onto the coil by hand. When I was done, I checked the resistance. Normally, these X5-29 900 coils have about 14.5 ohms of resistance. My re-worked coil had around 9 ohms. Well, knowing that I would be increasing the current through the wire by over 50%... I soldered it back into place and turned on the machine (making sure the puck was not on a switch). As I expected... when the playfield switch was pressed... the solenoid did not have enough power to pull the plate... and proceeded to smoke. Well, as my Grandmother Keller used to say, "Live and learn... die and forget it all." 2005Aug08: I went to the local dealer in "games" which is the Family Fun Center in Rochester MN. Note: Parts supply is not their business - but Todd, their repair and parts guy, was very helpful. Unfortunately, he did not have the X5-29 900 coil in a used coil bin, but he gave me a 29 gauge 950 that was "similar". I do not think it will work in my system because the physical size is too big. But, at the very least I will use the wire to re-wrap the original, which, even after being on fire for a bit - is in fairly good shape. I had a shopping list for Todd - but the only thing he had that I needed was the rubber rebound strip. Time to shop the Internet! 2005Aug10: The replacement solenoid was indeed the wrong size - but had the right gauge wire. So, I attached the bare original solenoid "frame" to a variable speed drill. I then, by hand, started to wind the replacement solenoid's wire onto the original solenoid. After getting the wrapping started, one of my kids pressed down on the trigger on the drill (slow speed) and I guided the wire off the replacement and onto the original. It works! Problem solved! Bug 4: Adjust pin retraction switchesWith Bug 1 through 3 fixed...my wife and I actually played a few games on this machine! The pins were flying... but again, at game speed some timing problems still exist. For example, we noticed that the 2-pin did not always "drop". Upon visual inspection of the 2-pin switches that control the solenoid that retracts the pin it looks like they need adjustment.To "fix" Bug 1 I made a series of fairly major adjustments with electrician's tape. I always knew in the back of my mind that I would have to someday go back and adjust all the switches and refine the amount of tape used. Now is the time. 2005Aug24: The steel puck actually touches the bottom of the 1-pin while sliding underneath. So, I first shimmed up the single piece of plywood that supports all of the pins. I then re-adjusted all the pin retraction switches by first adjusting the amount of electrician's tape. And then, second, bending some rogue switches back to "center". This work made the game play much better again. But, I still have a problem. Bug 5: At "game speed" certain pins will not "drop"If the puck slowly slides through one of the strike lanes - strike!If the puck quickly slides through of the strike lanes - the game will leave some pins still standing. I seem to have some kind of timing issue. BTW - this has an interesting side affect. I tend to slide the puck quickly - and I tend to get very few strikes. My daughters are more timid - they gently slide the puck down the alley. Strike! So, with this timing bug... they routinely outscore me. On my own machine to boot! (smile). Right now I think the problem is related to the action of the 1-pin and the relays in the back of the cabinet. Certain playfield switches are turned "off" if the 1-pin is still standing. 2005Aug27: So, I went through all the relays in the back cabinet (one relay for all the pins, plus others that help control the game play) and checked them for alignment problems. I did not see any. But, I did clean all the switches with a small file that I made out of a thin strip of card board and 400 grit sand paper. To make this I took a strip of thin yet firm cardboad (like the thickness of a cover to a notebook) and glued the 400 grit sand paper to both sides. To clean a pair of contacts I would open them up, slide in the "file", pinch the contacts closed with my fingers, and then slide the file back and forth. I did this for all the relays. And, I am happy to say, the game works now at "game speed"! Bug 6: The scoring reels are "sticky"Ohhh, I think I am getting close. The game-play is very good with all the above bugs fixed. We have been putting many "miles" on the machine in this current state.Next on my list of things to do is to clean the scoring reels located in the back cabinet. Player number one works fine (most of the time). Players two through six, however, do not score correctly. The symptom is usually: The player should get 400 points. The hundreds-solenoid "fires" four times - "chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk". But, the 100's score reel only advances two or three hundred. I think I "simply" need to clean these parts. Luckily, Marv has done an excellent job of describing how to clean the scoring reels. I will follow his advice and let you know how it turned out. |
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