Category Archives: WPC-89

Repair, don’t replace that broken pinball coil!

Posted on by
Reply

Pinball coils (aka solenoids) are windings of insulated copper wire that create electromagnets that make things move on the playfield. If you have a coil that is no longer working, and doesn’t have any obvious signs it has “melted down”, there’s a very good chance you can repair it instead of replacing it. In this video I go over how this is typically done. This works on all types of pinball machines from the EMs to Stern, Bally, Williams, etc.

Diagnosing, repairing and replacing pinball coin door service buttons

Posted on by
1

In this short video, I go over how to test the coin door service switches, and if faulty, how to replace them.

This is a fairly simple procedure.

If you have a button in the coin door that doesn’t appear to work, the first thing you should do is check to see if any of the wires have broken off or there’s a bad solder joint. This is very common because the coin door is opened and closed quite a lot and things can get snagged on the wires. Always check the wiring to make sure there are no kinks or damage to the wire. In the video I use a multimeter set to continuity to test the integrity of the switches. If the switches seem to work and the wiring is intact, the next thing to check is the continuity between the switches and the connector on the MPU board. If all that checks out, it could be one of the chips on the MPU board that handles the cabinet switches.

First Look: Red & Ted’s Road Show

Posted on by
1

These days I’m really not trying to acquire more games. I’m stuffed to the rafters and until I get the new space finished, which is all-consuming both in terms of time, money and blood-sweat-and-tears, I don’t have room for new games.

However, I’ve learned that the key to building a good collection at a reasonable cost is to be patient and always be on the lookout for deals. When you are hot for a game, it rarely falls into your lap, so it’s best to have a “wish list” along with some standard dollar-amount target values that are what I call, “no-brainer deals.” If a game shows up in good condition at the right price, I jump at it.

In this case, that’s what happened. Take a look at the restoration video series for a “first look” at my latest acquisition. A Red & Ted’s Road Show pinball game.

“What Was That?” – Rebuilding Rudy on a Williams Funhouse

Posted on by
10

I recently picked up a Funhouse as part of a trade deal I did.  This game is in pretty nice shape, but it needs a little work here and there.  Rudy stopped working and someone tried to “fix” it but didn’t put things back together the right way as I later found out.  Here is the video series of me pulling the game apart and trying to make things work…

Did you really clean that board well enough?

Posted on by
Reply

The other day I was reminded of how important it is to make sure you fully mitigate battery acid leakage on circuit boards.  A friend picked up a STTNG (Star Trek the Next Generation) pinball machine.  I’ve been systematically going over the game trying to get it working.  When I first looked at the backbox I noticed wires had been run for a remote battery pack – I thought “good deal, one less thing I have to worry about.. the MPU board is clean…” so I went about working on other areas of the game, checking switches and optos and everything.  After I got the game booting up I discovered the start button would not work.  After spending a bunch of time testing all the wires and connectors and still not finding the culprit I took a closer look at the MPU board where the cabinet switches plug in…

I have seen acid damage before, but nothing as sneaky and widely-spread as this. Components all across the main processing board were showing signs of corrosion and damage, but I could also see that repairs had been done, several components and ICs had been replaced and sockets added. Someone cleaned up battery damage and added an external battery pack. But there was still major corrosion on the board… what gives??

My theory is that whoever cleaned the circuit board, instead of using vinegar and multiple paper towels or q-tips, they probably used a single wipe, and in the process of cleaning the circuit board, actually spread the acid all over the components! At the time, they thought it was clean, but they actually made the problem worse.

This is why it’s very important to thoroughly clean off any leaked electrolyte from batteries, and use vinegar to neutralize it, and use multiple wipes — do not wipe from one area to another area. Work on small parts of the board at a time, throw the q-tip or paper towel away and use a clean one when you start to work on another area of the board. Do not risk spreading the acid to previously un-damaged components.

Fixing messed-up pinball flippers, slingshots and ball kickers

Posted on by
16

As I continue working on another new machine, Bally’s “Black Rose”, the first order of business is to go over the flippers and other areas where parts are not working. This series focuses on basic problems that occur with pinball flippers and also addresses an issue involving a broken ball kicker (the same assembly that is used on slingshots). Here I address everything from replacing a coil, coil stop, coil sleeve, to determining which parts to replace and which ones to save, as well as wiring problems, end-of-stroke switch problems, flipper bushings and more.

When I first got this game the system diagostics reported an unusual error: “Upper flipper EOS switch stuck closed.” That was a sign that someone had monkey’d with the machine and not done things right. As you will see in the videos, there ended up being a plethora of problems with the flippers in this game, each representing some of the most common problems with modern pinball machines. I go over how to fix them.

In a nutshell, the following issues were found and corrected:

  • flippers needed cleaning and coil sleeves replaced
  • bad wiring job on one flipper
  • broken/improperly-installed EOS (end-of-stroke) switch
  • bad coil stops that needed replacing
  • fixing and re-shaping coil pistons
  • replacing a damaged/melted coil and sleeve
  • fixing a broken armature on a ball kicker (same assembly for slingshots)
  • replacing a broken flipper bushing
  • replacing a flipper return spring that was the wrong type

You may be wondering, why was the machine reporting only one thing wrong when there were so many other issues?  Not everything that is wrong with a pinball machine can be diagnosed by the software.  Obviously things like sticky flippers or dirty coil sleeves can impact performance but still make the game think everything is working.  The same thing goes for the kick-out coil.  The game wasn’t quite smart enough to know it wasn’t working.  One way the game determines if certain features are working is to keep track of how often they are triggered and if a certain number of games is played, without a certain feature activating, the game can sometimes report things broken.  Other times, things may be broken but they are still being triggered (like the kick-out solenoid).  So it’s always best to go over everything carefully to make sure there are not more problems than what is indicated.

First Look: Bally Black Rose and dealing with leaking batteries

Posted on by
Reply

Another deal came my way recently and as usual, when you’re out of room and almost out of money, and someone offers to sell you a game, I threw out a pretty low number and it was accepted.  Actually, I’ve been wanting to get a Black Rose pinball machine for awhile.  These early Bally/WMS DMD games are quite good IMO, and they bridge the gap well between the older games and the more modern ones with extremely complex rulesets.  Like its predecessor, Party Zone, Black Rose is a very fun game that doesn’t require curling up with a big printout to understand the ruleset and enjoy the gameplay.

However, first things first… when the owner told me they had no key to the backbox I suspected the worst…

And as expected, we had battery issues, but this looks like it was rescued in time…

Remember, the first rule is to neutralize the acid on the board and then clean it thoroughly.  Then make sure everything is thoroughly dry before you put the board back in the game.

If you want details on how to install a remote battery pack, see this article:  http://pinballhelp.com/how-to-add-a-remote-battery-holder-to-your-pinball-machine/