I just graduated and I am trying to study these machines to get a job as a mechanic, your video was a god send, thanks for the upload!

I remember as a younger kid, having a summer school class where we learned how to bowl, and getting to go behind the machines and see these in person. We had just an 8 lane alley in our small town. I think it had these machines or similar. They also had automatic scoring, on some ancient CRT tvs. This was back around 2016 ish, and the machines were still working well. There was one mechanic that would come in when we had our classes, and keep them running. I wish they were still there, but the building has since been closed and turned into apartments 🙄🙄. Miss that place! Wonder where those machines ended up.

I worked on and with Brunswick A-2s for around 10 years back in the day, but the AMF 82-70 has always fascinated me! Never worked in an AMF house, though.

Watching the cells open and close without dropping pins... always a good feeling

I worked as a Machine Serviceman for a 28 lane AMF centre using these fangled machines in the early 90s. I'm a fast learner, so I got the promotion from Maintenance Man in a few weeks. The machines were great to work on and they all had a character of their own. If an alarm sounded on a certain pair of machines, I'd know which tools to grab to fix them. I had a bit of a run-in with centre management, as to what constitutes fair workplace safety and got fired. ha ha :-) Best career move ever. A few sneaky tricks I learned on the way: If one group of bowlers was causing trouble for us, you could: Remove a couple of pins from the pinwheel, so it takes ages to get enough pins feeding the distributor, so the machine would still function, but a lot slower Grab the bowler's ball, wait a minute then send it back to the bowler. Grab a pin just as it's leaving the distributor but before it triggers the Pin In Cup sensor. This slows the machine, for as long as you keep grabbing pins. But then, anyone who works on the 82-70 machine would already know these tricks. :-)

I worked on these around '86-'88 in Spartanburg , SC. I was on a winter league , and always did machine and mechanical repairs at my job. Most enjoyable job I had, even though it was only weekends pt.

I worked as an AMF Pinspotter mechanic when I was in high school in German 72-75 as a military dependent. I imagine they were mid 60's era, no automatic scoring. I remember it cost 25c a line to bowl on base. It was great times.

Great work and as a filmmaker (And former 82/70 asst. mechanic) thank you for NOT SHOOTING VERTICALLY.

I've been around the 82-30's for years and I'm currently a mechanic on them and this is my first time ever actually seeing the 82-70s and wow they appear to be so much more efficient and easier to work on. Also alot easier to get around on as well

I was a pinchaser back in the mid 70s .. The owner upgraded to the 82-70 .. I’m amazed that they haven’t changed at all in nearly 50 years .. they didn’t even have automatic score keepers yet …

can you show some calls such as respots, out of range, and other jams

A2 mechanic here, this looks much less complex mechanically than an a2 but seeing it double load pins freaks me out. Neato.

That's an awesome video!

First job was a pin chaser didn’t work with these machines. But worked on the 82/30s

Pretty cool, my first job as a 14-15 yr old boy working in the back basically supervising the pinsetters. We had this EXACT model running 12 lanes. We only ever ran all 12 during league nights, mainly because it was 2005 and those machines were ancient, at least twice as old as I was at the time lol. Since they were so worn down, league nights were the nights I really earned that paycheck as a kid, running up on top of those machines having to manually rig and re-set pins, or sometimes needing to shut a lane down completely because the elevator belt slipped off, and was quite a bitch to get back on

Cool you have the old sweeps still Installed with the tubes ... don't see them much anymore they originated on the old machines 82-30's

Very interesting love the Beheind the scene look.

I used to work on some 60s era 82-70s. They had some updates bit were mostly still old school. They were upgraded for automatic scoring in the 90s.

Very good video, me too, I love the AMF 82-70 pinspotters :)

Those look like the pinsetters at my old home town's bowling alley. Back in the 90's when I was in my teens I had a couple chances to get back there, mostly from knowing the owners.

How much electricity does it take to run one of these machines? The only AMF machines I've seen in person were old 82-30's in an alley that closed down and was demolished. The remaining alleys in town are both Brunswick A2 houses.

I'm trying to learn more about the interlock system between the sweep and the table

My local alley has these pinsetters. I’m hoping next winter I can get a job there working on them while I go to college for diesel mechanics. Do you have any tips for someone just starting out to learn to work on these?

82 70 pinspotter dreams of being a Terminator someday

One of the best jobs I had was a 8270 mechanic. Easy work. Now I'm a computer programmer, less fun , more money. I may have made the wrong choice.

What vintage are these 82/70's ? They have definitely been around awhile.

Thanks Sir

i am working on amf xli edge 90 not much technical advancements, besides opting for plastic parts instead of metal and some software upgrades

Looks like a mixture of half Brunswick GSX & half A2!! These are FAST

Where are you from? I have a friend who bought a bowling alley and had this type machine but cannot find anyone to get them operational

I've seen a pin get knocked down and stand back upright in another location and the pinsetter came down and snagged it and crushed the pin to pieces. It was awesome to see the power of these pinsetters. Guess the newer pinsetters have pressure switches on them nowadays and will shut the system down when a pin is jammed or in the wrong spot.

No ball wiper cloths?

what a great video. What happens if two pins simultaneously try to get set in the same spot? Is that possible (seeing that they get stacked in the bin with extras)

Do these machines listen to sound? Because one time I saw this little kid bowl, it was his second ball and he rolled it really slow it didn’t hit any pins and the sweep never went down

What is that apparatus on the orientator pan ??

nice video, never been a fan of the AMF setters, the Brunswick A-2 is a tank!

How do you install a V belt on a pinwheel 82- 70

How old is this pinsetter?

can you make another video of this please but hold the camera steady

What is the T looking thing over the top of your orientation pan ?? Film some more of that

I work on them daily there quite simple to work on but can be very finicky at time also lol

So for these pinsetters do you have to have 20 pins or less in it so it doesnt pile up pins on the deck or is there somthing to stop the pins from going on the track?? Like a thing that locks at the start of the track or the end of the pin wheel?? Im not a mechanic or anything, but at my bowling center I still work the back end with the burnswick pinsetters. These pinsetters look way less dangerous and look like they would hardly break down. Again im not a mechanic so i wouldnt really know just by looking at it.

Belt city,and dont get your finger caught in machine city

20 pins in each machine would be ideal

Looks like a Brunswick GS setter.

The first 82-70 was very little different from this 82-70.

When will this get upgraded? I imagine some computer arms replace all this mechanical nonsence.

too many motors and switches...

CRAPPY camera work...getting motion sickness.