The other day the DMD just went “poof” on one of my machines. After doing a little research, and checking connections and things, I realized the DMD board died. In this installment, I walk through the process of rebuilding the power supply-portion of a Bally/Williams WPC DMD board. In part 1 I describe what I’m doing and introduce you to the tools I’m using.
Next up, let’s talk about using a meter to check circuit board traces as we go along..
Desoldering and replacing components.
Now the moment of truth! One thing I want to add is pay very close attention to each item you are replacing on these boards. Two diodes, capacitors or transistors may look alike, but have slightly different values or part #s. The three power transistors and the diodes are not all the same. You may have to bust out a magnifying glass to note the different in the markings on each part. This should also be cross-referenced with the schematics and/or parts list from the game manual.
After a lot more work than I expected, here’s a short video of me playing the new pinball acquisition. I am still learning the ins and outs of the game but I must say it’s a great game to play and extremely challenging!
For my inaugural post, I am adding this video playlist, which covers the process I went through after picking up a Bram Stoker’s Dracula pinball machine.
The idea behind this video series is not as some kind of slick “how-to”, because I’m basically filming “on-the-fly”. I’m not doing any editing; I’m not staging any scenes. I’m turning on the camera and filming and what-you-see-is-what-I-see. So basically you can follow along with me as I unload this machine and bring it back to life. I’m not claiming to be an expert on pinball repair and maintenance — the Internets are chock-full of “experts”. I’m just a guy who decided to film his experience so you can have a little amusement following along with me. Will I make mistakes? Definitely. Will this be informative? Who knows? But hopefully it will be worth your time. Let’s see…
As you will see from this series, a simple pinball acquisition turns into a major set of modifications…
How long is this series of videos? Too long I’m sure.. shot in little segments, at current time, totaling 36 parts, it chronicles the trials and tribulations of what it takes to recondition an otherwise “fully-working” game.. ha ha
