What happens when one of your flippers seems “weak?” What could cause that? I investigate on m y 1979 Bally “Paragon” pinball. But the cause of this could happen on any game regardless of era. Let’s take a look at how the flipper works and the different things that can cause “weak” flippers.
This video addresses a common scenario that I often hear about – mostly from people who aren’t very familiar with these games. Someone gets a pinball machine and it doesn’t work. Now what? Let’s walk through this situation with a game I just picked up and explain the process of what to do when you have a new pinball that you don’t really know what condition it’s in or what’s wrong? What do you do? Are there things you should not do? How do you tell what’s wrong? Let’s get into it.
Be sure to subscribe: https://youtube.com/pinballhelp?sub_confirmation=1
I talk a lot about LEDs and their pros/cons (mostly pros in my book) but obviously this is a heated discussion among enthusiasts. I decided to try an experiment and do different configurations of stock incandescent bulbs, along with a warm white and cool white LEDs and even a mixture. Can you tell the difference? What do you think looks best?
Before I show you a video of the process, here are random pictures of the backglass of Paragon with different lighting configurations. If you don’t want to know which is which, don’t scroll down too far…
Ok, below is the same experiment done on video.. and if you scroll down farther, you will see the lighting configurations revealed… NOTE that the order of the light configuration in the video is not in the same sequence as the A, B, C pictures. I mixed them up for the pictures so people could try and guess first without knowing.
What do YOU think? You can also leave comments on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/Rjl4fi7t8I4
This is the next video in my series of work on Paragon. After the first look (http://pinballhelp.com/first-look-bally-paragon-pinball/) I discovered there were still issues with the MPU board that were the result of continued corrosion even after the battery was removed and the board was supposedly cleaned. Whoever did the previous work didn’t clean the board enough and corrosion continued. I’m going to do my best to salvage the board.
Here’s a new game I picked up and I’m going to roll the camera and have you come along with me as I figure what’s wrong with the game and what I notice…
Here is Part II:
After getting my Trident operational, I installed the BSOS system and have been working on fine-tuning the custom code and sounds. Here’s a short demo of what the new Arduino-based controller does to a standard Bally 18/35/Stern early solid state game.
Resources (courtesy Dick Hamill):
The code is all available on GitHub. It’s broken down into a base library and then machine-specific implementations. Rewriting other games requires a moderate knowledge of C/C++.
https://github.com/BallySternOS
Here’s a suggested parts list. If you bought all these things, you could create 6 of these boards. If you don’t need that many boards, you might find cheaper ways to source smaller quantities. I haven’t done any work to figure out if this is the cheapest way to source any of this stuff.
Cheap Arduino knockoff x6 ($20.99) – needs CH340 driver for programming / has to be ATmega328P
https://www.amazon.com/ATmega328P-Controller-Module-CH340G-Arduino/dp/B08NJNJCTX/
0.1″ 40-pin connector (40 pieces for $7.99)
https://www.amazon.com/Honbay-Single-Female-Connector-Arduino/dp/B06Y4S6G29/
32-pin Prototype PCB (2 pack for $9.99) – this won’t work for Alltek or MPU-200 because they have a 34-pin connector
https://www.amazon.com/Prototype-Snappable-Arduino-Electronics-Gold-Plated/dp/B081QYPHHP/
Wire ($7.99) – tons of wire
https://www.amazon.com/REXQualis-Breadboard-Assorted-Prototyping-Circuits/dp/B081H2JQRV/
74125 – ($1.95) https://www.jameco.com/z/74125-Major-Brands-IC-74125-Quad-Tri-State-Bus-Buffer_49373.html
Boot switch – x2 ($8.99) this switch will work for activating the Arduino board and toggling the speaker (see the writeup here to find out why: https://ballysternos.github.io/install.html)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XMH174C/
OR
@RoyGBev has created a PCB and kit (doesn’t include the Arduino) here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1304-roygbev-pinball/04736-arduino-nano-adapter-for-classic-bally-stern
I found this old video the other day and realized I didn’t have a post on my main site showcasing this video so I wanted to add it (also, this was before I learned the proper pronunciation of “Bally” LOL…. bah-lee).