3 replies to this topic

[MikePinball]

I followed MJR plans for the placement of the coin door. However it looks like my lockdown bar receiver is about 1/10" to 2/10" too low when I place it in the same top hole for the coin door. This side view helps to show the relative heights.

 

 

This view shows that the lever does not quite move back to into its original position once the lockdown bar is added (because it cannot go down far enough into the locking mechanism.

 

 

I can only just get the lockdown bar receiver into place and moving over the arm is a struggle which only just works. The solution is to move up the lockdown bar receiver but I am struggling with the best way to do that.

 

There would seem to be 2 solutions:

1. Omit the top bolt of the coin door and use only 3 bolts for it. Then the lockdown bar receiver can be placed higher and fastened with 2 bolts (instead of 3).

2. Use a dremel or other tool to cut a longer vertical slot into the lockdown bar receiver so it can be placed higher.

 

Does anyone have experience with this problem or can offer any solutions?

Edited by MikePinball, 10 February 2020 - 06:43 PM.

[DDH69]

Argh, yes, the old lockdown bar alignment challenge!  Even on genuine cabinets I've had to make adjustments to get them to work correctly, so its not surprising that you get this when you're building the entire thing.

 

My solution was to create some adjustment room by enlarging the mounting holes in the lockdown bar itself (#2 above), then teak its positioning and "clamp" it in position as the bolts are tightened.  THen of course you have the adjustment screws on the lockdown bar itself that give you some ability to get this correct as well.

 

Solution #3 that I've also used on my very first cabinet build, is to cut another slice (1/4") off the "hook" on the lock down bar itself.  You can cut or grind this, just beware, they are stainless steel so check you have the correct tool, and don't overheat it, stainless steel can discolour, although to get enough heat from the mount via the adhesive to the actual visible side of the bar would take a lot of effort.

[MikePinball]

I fixed the problem using option #2. As can be seen by the picture below, the steel for the receiver is quite soft (see nut indentations) and I simply used a round hand file to lengthen the hole. The receiver is now just proud of the inside (flat) edge of the front and the locking lever moves a lot more freely. I have another 1/10" to make the hole even longer in the future but I will wait for my glass before making any more adjustments.

 

Edited by MikePinball, 10 February 2020 - 06:44 PM.

[mjr]

I followed MJR plans for the placement of the coin door. However it looks like my lockdown bar receiver is about 1/10" to 2/10" too low when I place it in the same top hole for the coin door.

 

Argh, yes, the old lockdown bar alignment challenge!  Even on genuine cabinets I've had to make adjustments to get them to work correctly, so its not surprising that you get this when you're building the entire thing.

 

Indeed!  My plans are based on three WPC machines, which I took apart to measure the placement of their drills.  The confounding thing is that my reference machines weren't very consistent.  The vertical placement of the drills varied over a range of almost 1/4" over the sample machines I looked at.  So I had to go with an average.

 

Mike's CNC build is certainly a far more precise cutting job than the original Williams product from the 1990s.  The loose manufacturing tolerances on those are evident when you compare a few of them side-by-side like this, and not surprising given that they weren't using CNC equipment at the time.  (Plus, I've read that they had up to three different subcontractor sources for the cabinets at some points in the WPC production years, so there was undoubtedly some variation in the equipment setup at the different suppliers.)  So Mike's build might be a better reference point than the original product!  Maybe I should take Mike's experience as indicating that my average is a bit biased towards the lower end, and tweak my numbers to move the coin door and receiver drills upwards by 1/8" or so.

 

Mike - since you already made some adjustments to get it to fit, this probably won't be relevant to you, but other people running into the same thing might find it helpful:  the "receiver" mechanism actually has some additional adjustability of its own separately from its placement.  If you take the lockbar off and look at the top of the receiver, there are two large brass screws, set in a little from either side.  Those adjust the tension of the lock mechanism.  If the lock is too tight (as it was for you initially), you should be able to loosen it a bit by turning the screws (counter-clockwise loosens the lock, I think, but I might have that backwards).  If the lock isn't tight enough, you can tighten it by turning them the other way.  They let you adjust the lock position by maybe 1/4" up and down.  It might have been possible to adjust it that way without repositioning anything.  But then again, it might not have - it might already have been at the loose extreme and just needed the whole thing moved upwards as you did.

 

Edited by mjr, 10 February 2020 - 07:22 PM.