Stepper cleaning, part 3: rivets, wipers and lube

Steps

• Wipe grease and dirt off the bakelite rivets with alcohol on a rag.
• Brighten the rivets with 400 or 600 grit paper (or Scotch-Brite) and wipe again with alcohol.
• Sand the wiper contact pads too; on Bally steppers also clean the contact ring around the wiper hub.
• On Gottlieb and some Williams units with snow-shoe wipers in a bakelite disc, make sure the shoes slide freely in their sleeves; soak the disc in alcohol or degreaser if they stick and gently straighten bent ones.
• Spread a thin film of Teflon gel on the rivets so the wipers glide, the rivets wear less and they stay bright.

Systems

• Electro-mechanical

Related tips

• Stepper cleaning, part 1: mark, check and remove the wipers
• Cleaning and aligning an EM stepper unit
• Set stepper wiper finger tension and alignment
• Repair a broken or worn stepper wiper arm
• What stepper units do in an EM
• Burnt pad on a stepper unit's contact board
• Kinds of stepper unit
• Game ends at the wrong time: stepper wipers off their rivets

Source: Repairing Electro-Mechanical (EM) Coin Operated Games to 1978, Part One, Clay Harrell (pinrepair.com)