Hello Everyone! I've been a pinball enthusiast all my life, and I own 4 older pinball machines. I've recently run into a couple problems with my Trade Winds (
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2621), both from stupidity and inexperience with mechanics. I'm open to any suggestions - thank you in advance!
So... my problem to twofold. Up until recently, my Trade winds has worked perfectly (never needed any attention other than replacement of glass and rubber bands), but a good friend opened his mouth.
![Crying or Very Sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
As mentioned, a friend was over (also a pinball enthusiast), showed me that you could kill the power on the table by hitting the bottom of it (I'm sure there is a name for this), and it worked, I was unaware of this with practice with the older machines, and was a little concerned considering it was an older table. However, another close pinball friend was over at the house and I showed him this technique (yeah I know - stupid), and unfortunately from that moment on when the machine powers up it just begins and then powers out. So I thought I would look closer into the machine and try to figure out the mechanism that kills the game, because something is obviously stuck or still touching. Well... this leads to the second problem, the game board will not lift up (in the front). Visually, I cannot see any additional lock or catch. It looks like it's completely cleared and should just come up, but it's stuck. I'm not sure how to proceed. I gave it a couple good pulls, but I'm worried if I pull any harder it's going to crack the playfield, I'm hoping it's something else that's locking it in place. I'm open to any suggestions.
Big thanks again!