Pinball machines (as well as other arcade games) use a wide variety of wires and connectors. The most popular brand of connectors is called “Molex” which is a specific maker, but also a generic term often referred to as the plug/un-plug style connectors you will find on everything from power supply wiring to board connectors.
In this video, I go over the most common sizes and types of connectors you’re likely to find, what tools are available and how to rebuild and re-pin these connectors.
If you over-tighten the bolts on modern pinball legs, you can strip both the bolts and the assembly you screw into, making it a real pain to firmly attach legs. I go over the process of replacing the inner plate to fix stripped pinball leg assemblies.
Here are two videos of me completely rebuilding the flippers and flipper assembly on a Gottlieb System 3 pinball machine (Waterworld) – many of this information will basically pertain to most flipper systems on other machines like Bally and WMS, Stern, etc. I go through the whole process of replacing all the major wear parts on the flipper assembly even including the base plate and end-of-stroke switches.
Here’s part 2 (sorry I rarely edit these videos so sometimes my camera breaks it into separate files)
Part 3
If the above is too slow, check out this time-lapse of rebuilding the flipper:
Here’s a short video showing the removal and maintenance on a drop target bank from a Gottlieb System 3 pinball machine – Waterworld.
Here’s a video I made awhile back that I don’t see linked on my main site so I thought i’d include it. It’s a short video on how to diagnose problems with score reel switches when you turn the game on and the score reels just seem to spin forever and not reset/start the game.
It seems like a no-brainer, but I’m regularly reminded of the importance of taking time to survey the playfield of pinball machines. In this video I go into why it’s important and how catching a minor issue early, can stop more annoying problems later.
In this video I pull a game off route and work on it. Discussing the unusual playfield hardware used by Sega/Stern. There was a problem with the optos in the ball trough causing problems making the game kick balls out onto the playfield unexpectedly. The game displays “too many balls” when there is the proper number installed.