Category Archives: Solid State

The 10 Commandments of Pinball Repair and Maintenance

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(in no particular order of importance)

1. Thou shalt turn thy machine off when moving parts of it.

One of the most common “gotchas” when working on pinball machines is the tendency to pick up the playfield while the game is powered on. Most of the time this can be harmless, but there’s always that off-chance that a wire or solder joint can brush against a siderail, or a screw, nut or other playfield piece comes loose and shorts an electrical connection. if you need to pull the playfield up, power down the machine, lift the playfield, then turn the power on.

2. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

Some enthusiasts new to pinball repair often try to clean or work on the entire machine when addressing one specific issue. The unfortunate end result can be one-step-forward, three-steps-back. This is especially true with EM games. If you find one switch that may need adjustment or cleaning, resist the impulse, while you’re there, to go through and clean them all. Until you become very familiar with a game’s architecture, it’s best to not poke around in areas that appear to be working properly.

3. Use the right tools.

Spend the money and take the time to use proper tools and techniques when working on games. From crimping and riveting to files and types of sandpaper, paints and soldering/desoldering tools, don’t skimp. Good quality tools will save you time and money. Cheap tools will give you headaches and cause damage. Invest in a reliable jack to raise and move your games. Have a comfortable, well-lit work area. Have parts well-organized and easy to find. Have plenty of spare storage bins and a system to label and store parts on works in progress.

4. Document your work!

Take lots of pictures, before, during and after your work.  If you unplug connectors or disassemble parts, take pictures of the way they were before from multiple angles.  I like to keep a little book with each game that chronicles what I’ve done to the machine and its history. I will also stick a post-it note on the top glass where I can make notes on items that need work with each game. This way when it comes time to perform maintenance on problem X, I’ll also note that while I have the machine apart, I should fix items A, B and C that are on my little post-it note. It’s frustrating to pull a game apart to fix a sluggish flipper, put it back together and then realize there are a few lights out I should have replaced at the time.

5. Keep batteries off the MPU boards and regularly replace them.

For solid-state machines, if you are lucky enough to have a vintage machine with no acid damage from batteries, don’t take any further chances. Install a remote battery pack, memory capacitor or other solution which will eliminate the problem. Change your batteries in the machine once-a-year just to be safe.  Many of us also believe not all battery brands are equal. (I will not put Engergizers in my machines)

6. Replace the balls and keep the playfield clean.

The #1 cause of damage to playfields is the result of aging pinballs that start to get scuffed or corroded and end up acting like sandpaper, tearing up playfield art, mylar, clear coat and everything else in their way. Balls are cheap. Regularly replace them if they begin to look even the slightest-bit rough. Also make a point of routinely dusting/cleaning the playfield. Swiffers work very well for getting into tight places and removing grit that could cause wear or balls to get stuck. Waxing (with 100% Carnuba wax) is always a good thing to do too, but be careful about getting wax residue in places you can’t clean it away.

7. Look for simple solutions first.

A 14th century philosopher, William of Ockham is credited with the maxim, “Occam’s Razor” which states, “Simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones.” Don’t make an issue more complicated than it needs to be. If your machine suddenly says 7 different playfield switches are no longer working, don’t assume you have 7 different switches broken; instead perhaps there is a common wire that has failed which is affecting all 7 switches? Look around for anything unusual and if you see something odd, use your eyes and experience to deduce where it needs to be.

Usually when things go wrong, beginners will get bogged down in seemingly more-direct “solutions” when the problem is the result of something even more simple than they imagine: a flipper not working? Beginners might start replacing coils and rebuilding things before checking to see if a fuse is blown, wire broke off or a connector isn’t plugged in all the way. You can often save time by pursuing the most common/easiest-to-fix cause of an issue, as opposed to the most obvious potential failure point. Along these lines, it’s safe to first check things like: fuses (noting that on most games there are fuses all over the place, even under the playfield itself – don’t assume a fuse is OK unless you physically remove it and check it), connectors (loose connectors or bad pins on connectors are a major cause of most problems), bad grounding (again, loose wires or boards not properly screwed into a grounding backplane).

8. Inspect a game before powering on, after moving it.

Any time you’ve transported or picked up a new game, resist the urge to quickly plug it in. Even if it was working 100% before you put it in your vehicle, transporting a game can cause things to shake loose, especially connectors, and you don’t want to run the risk of damaging the machine. Before turning the game on, go through the entire machine and make sure all the connectors are properly seated and nothing looks out of place.  If you turn a game on and a high power coil is locked on, power it down before the coil burns out.

9. Know how to pack, move and store a game properly

A lot of times games are damaged or even destroyed as a result of people not knowing how to pack and move a game. NEVER transport a game with head upright (for modern games the head can be folded down; older games the head should be unplugged and detached from the cabinet). If you don’t have 2+ people to move a game, do not try to do it yourself, or break the game down and move it in parts. It may be a pain to pull the playfield out and detach/re-attach things, but it’s much better than screwing up your back or damaging parts trying to move everything all at once.

Also be aware that there are many fragile parts to these games. Be extra careful with any tempered glass and backglasses. They can easily get scratched. Tempered glass, while designed to be impact resistant, is also very sensitive to “exploding” if damage is caused along the edges, or is exposed to rapid temperature changes. Also remember that moisture is a killer! Some backglass artwork can instantly delaminate if gotten wet. Some cabinets are made out of medium-density-fiberboard and will puff up and start to disintegrate if exposed to water. Extra care needs to be taken. When moving machines, always tighten down the cabinet, BUT NOT TOO TIGHT or you can break glass or ding the head and siderails. Always remove the balls from the machine and any other parts (or coins) inside the cabinet that could bounce around in transit.

10. Use your eyes!

The best way to find out what’s wrong with a pinball machine is use your eyes. Examine the game in detail and look for anything out of the ordinary. Even if it seems unrelated to a problem you’re having, like a light not going on or a switch not registering, and you find some odd, loose wire at the other end of the playfield, there’s a good chance they’re related.

 

How to install a memory capacitor to replace a battery pack

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As many of you know, one of the biggest problems with pinball machines and repairing them is dealing with leaky batteries on solid state machines, that cause corrosion and all sorts of damage. I’m going to go over how you can completely eliminate this from happening by replacing old-style rechargeable batteries with a high-tech “memory capacitor” that will last longer and not have the same problems that batteries do.

Now lets test the new memory capacitor in the game:

Here’s source info on the caps:

Category:

1.5f 5.5f “super capacitors” at Mouser Electronics.

Specific item I used:

1.5f 5.5f Panasonic Supercap

You can also get these from Great Plains:

http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/Category-67.asp

Product ID: CER-1.5F-5V
Capacitor, Radial Electroltyic, 1.5F, 5V
Capacitor, 1.5F, 5V, 85C, Radial Electrolytic
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Manufacturer Part Number: EECF5R5U155
Diameter: 21.5mm, Height: 8mm, Lead Spacing: 5
Price: $5

Rebuilding/Repairing a Bally Squawk & Talk Sound Board

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In this latest episode I deal with a sound problem on our Mr & Mrs Pac Man pinball machine.  The sound and speech is intermittent and low in volume.

When dealing with any game that is 30 or more years old, you can bet that the capacitors are suspect.  These electronic components are known to go bad over time, since they have liquid inside that can dry up, or leak out.  It’s relatively easy to acquire and replace the components provided you have the right tools, and then you insure your game board will ideally last another 30 years.

In the video one thing to note is you aren’t always limited to having to find the exact same value/model capacitor.  You can replace a capacitor with a lower voltage rating with one of a higher voltage rating.  (i.e. replace a 25v cap with a 50v)  But you want to make sure the capacitance value (in farads or microfarads) remains the same.  You can also replace an axial cap (one with the leads coming out of each end) with a radial cap (with both leads coming out from just one end) as long as you get the polarity properly oriented.  Make sure you note that markings usually point to the negative lead, while an indentation on one side of a capacitor will mark the positive lead.

After replacing the caps, we still have some flakyness with the speech portion of the board.  I’ve got some replacement pots on order – when they come in I will check on the board traces and solder joints and probably replace that pot… stay tuned and thanks for following the saga!

Work continues on the Bally Mr. & Mrs Pac Man Pinball Game

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In the continued saga of bringing this 1980s game back to life, I begin to go over the electronics and figure out why the game wouldn’t boot up.  Normally you fire up these Bally machines and count the number of times the LED on the MPU board blinks, but in this case, the game didn’t even get far enough to begin to start up the MPU.  Fuse F3 kept blowing and the game wouldn’t power up at all…

An examination of the schematics showed an area on the power rectifier board where it was likely some components were damaged and needed to be replace.  Luckily, these were not very obscure items so I could pick them up easily.

Stay tuned for the next installment where I go into addressing an issue with a broken plastic rail guide that probably can’t easily be replaced, so I have to fabricate my own!

 

Fixing a dead dot matrix display board

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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.

Talking too much

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1977 Bally Mata Hari
1977 Bally Mata Hari

Some people, you might say, talk too much. I’m probably one of them. Not necessarily in the literal sense, although I’m sure that’s a possibility too, but in the figurative sense, I probably reveal too much, too much information, more than was invited, and possibly more than is appreciated.

Margaretha Zelle probably could, in retrospect, say the same about herself. She talked too much, and especially at the wrong times, like during World War II when she was cavorting with military officers of different sides, and in an effort for more attention, revealed her interest. Ultimately she got more attention than she bargained for.  The most famous so-called “spy” was executed as a result.  In all likelihood, she probably wasn’t a spy; she just talked too much.

Another Mata Hari might as well have fared no better, being stuck in a storage shed in some otherwise nondescript backwoods town when along come the local auctioneers… This Mata Hari had been silent for a long, long time, but it talked to me…

Now, I really try not to be a cynical bastard.  Sometimes it’s hard to not wake up in the morning and go, “Why bother?” and today might have been one of those days, so instead of cursing myself and all of mankind, I’m going to vent on this little blog and then be done with it.

So what am I talking about?  Another pinball hunt of course.  This one filled with intrigue, deception and misinformation.  Our story starts as I get word of an auction not too far away featuring mostly firearms.  Yea, one can never have too many firearms, but that’s not what I was after.  In the ad was a picture of a pinball machine, a vintage Bally Mata Hari.

To give you an idea of the depth of my insanity, right now I’m looking at a beautiful Mata Hari game already in my possession, one that really doesn’t need much of anything – it still needs some work but there’s no major parts missing.  Why would I care about another one?  Well, it’s a pinball machine!  I have to go see it.  Even if I have one already.

Us pinball enthusiasts are also like anthropologists or zoologists.  We can’t just see one homo-erectus skull.  We need to see several of them and compare and make sure what we think is right, is right.  So even if we have a pinball game, we are curious to see (and play) another game of the same title.  Pinball games are like wine.. no two are completely identical.  At least that’s my excuse.  You buying it?   Hey, I tried!

So anyway, this story starts as I go out to check this auction featuring a pinball machine.  When I get there I find out there are actually two pinball machines at auction.  Unfortunately they’re locked up and will be trotted out much later in the day after they get through with all the other stuff… so I hang out for 4+ hours letting my imagination run wild wondering if the other machine is some magically exotic game I’ve long been after.  Hey, again, that’s my excuse!

So anyway, I finally manage to get someone’s attention and get them to uncrack the storage room and have me take a look at the pinballs before the auctioneer heads over.  I was told they were going to bring a generator and plug the machines in to test them — that’s a no-no in my book.  I don’t want crazy generator power going into an old machine adding insult to injury so I wanted a quick look before anyone else at just what we were dealing with.

As it turns out, the Mata Hari was in absolutely horrible condition.  It’s not uncommon – this was a machine that saw a lot of play.  But ironically, the backglass was almost perfect.  I was hoping the backglass had the german writing on the dagger – there were two versions, and a later backglass version had the Nazi-esque writing removed from the dagger.  That earlier backglass is more sought-after even though it’s not necessarily more rare.

Whenever I come across pins in storage, belonging to people who don’t know much about pinballs, my first concern is, “Do you have the keys?” Which of course they didn’t, and this means trying to transport the machines becomes increasingly more troublesome. It’s really, really bad to try to move a pinball with the head in the upright position. So immediately I’m realizing there’s as much a logistics problem packing up and moving the games, as there is determining if there is any type of deal to be made on the price. Strike one.

Mata Hari inside the coin door

I talk with the owner and he tells me he just bought the second machine; the first one, the Mata Hari (as always) he said, “Was completely working when I put it in storage..” Yea, right, famous last words. Every pinball game I’ve ever pulled out of a storage unit has had such glaring problems there is no way it was working when it was initially stowed. I think people believe that once something is put in storage it regenerates itself, kind of like the Borg. If only that were true.

On the Mata Hari coin door there is no key so I take a peek inside… looks like an entire army of rats has been living inside for years.  There is literally 3″ inches of rat poop filling up the sides of the cabinet near the coin door.  I can only imagine how bad it is in the back… and this doesn’t look like ancient rat poop either.  Strike Two.

A look at the playfield of the Mata Hari reveals a wasteland of chipped plastics, severe playfield wear and broken rubbers and other MOOP (matter out of place).  It’s obvious this game has not been played in years.

But I was really there to see what the “other” pinball machine was.  The whole day, as I waited to catch a glimpse of the machines, I let my imagination run wild as to the unlikely potential that this would be a game I’d long sought after.

Gottlieb Royal Flush Deluxe

Gottlieb Royal Flush Deluxe

When the doors came up, it was a surprise:  Gottlieb Royal Flush Deluxe.  I had never even seen this game, but I instantly recognized the playfield as a copy of the vintage classic Card Whiz/Royal Flush, but this was a solid state version.  At first I thought it was an old game that someone had created a different backglass for, but pulled out my phone to look it up on IPDB and sure-enough, it was a System80a copy.  A bit over 2000 games were made – relatively low production.  But this game too was ragged out, with broken plastics everywhere and playfield wear as well.  The reviews on IPDB showed that it was considered inferior to the original.

So, neither game blows me away.  I am intrigued by the Royal Flush Deluxe but in my mind, I have to get it at a song, and this machine too has the problem of being locked up with no keys, and no electricity in the place to plug in a drill, and the owner conveniently can’t produce a drill to crack the locks, and I wish I could pick locks, but I suck at it, and now I’m rambling….

So I’m thinking, there aren’t many people here, the games supposedly don’t have a reserve, I have a “magic number” in mind that I’d go for the games and go through the hassle of potentially catching bubonic plague if the price was right.  Let’s see what happens.

Trust us, it works!

Trust us. It works!

And what happens makes me angry.

The auctioneers roll up and announce that they just played these machines and they both work, and then immediately begin to start the auction.  I’m like, “Are you kidding me?”  Bam, before I can pick my jaw up, the Mata Hari goes for close to $400.  WTF?  And then the Royal Flush Deluxe goes for about $350.  Someone blew more than $700 + a 10% buyers premium on those POS.

Now I understand about caveat emptor, but to see an auctioneer stand there and lie was bold.  I know also in the industry this probably isn’t unheard of either, but it just goes to show that there are tons of pitfalls in the business of obtaining and restoring pinball games.  It’s not just about finding what’s wrong and getting the parts.  Sometimes getting the machine itself can be its own trial.  I tagged along after the gentleman who ended up getting both machines.  He was a nice-enough guy whom I found out had no idea how to repair machines, and assumed those guys were honest in saying “they work!”  I felt sorry for him and gave him my number, but I also kind of felt bad for myself because I probably didn’t have the time to help him knowing the level of help the machines needed.  Especially the Mata Hari – that’s one game I don’t know if I would have restored.  So I talked too much and revealed to him that I was skeptical that Mata Hari would be something that was going to work when he plugged it in.  Good luck with that.