The Pinball Diaries (what did you do today?)

[REVOLUTION]

Took all of last week off and spent some serious time with the family. Also took the opportunity to see if we could make it financially after I switch to running Pinball Customs and PBRev full time. Looks like it'll be tight, but doable.

Needless to say... I made a lot of mongols (and other parts) last week.

- B

 

[Vengeance]

I stripped down and pulled the mylar off my Genesis Doubt many people have but that much time onto this game

What a PITA by the way! All the lane guides are wires, pounded into the PF, getting each of those out was a huge PITA and I lost some wood in the process, thankfully it's just a Genesis

Still even with that, with the mylar off, the game looks much better.

Now to polish it up, clean everything and reassemble.

Also considering a new translate:

http://bayareaamusements.com/Merchant2/ ... GENESIS-TL

Who knew this awesomeness wasn't supposed to be faded

 

[Menace]

I spent a few more hours rebuilding the top-side of a friends ToM PF Friday night. Probably one more solid evening to get it all completed as long as we have all the parts.

D

 

[brad808]

Got to do a bit of work on the games during the weekend again.

I Was able to fix the roadshow bulldozer down issue (not going down properly in game) by removing the dozer opto board, cleaning the transmitter and receivers as well as reflowing all the solder joints. If I had to guess what fixed the issue it was reflowing the solder joints to the two resistors on the board. I didn't test them with a meter before soldering them but they looked like bad solder joints. As far as I can tell the game is all working as it should be now. Actually there is one light bulb out that doesn't appear to be a bad bulb but I haven't got to that yet.

Terminator 2 still needed a couple of adjustments with the gun but I believe it's all sorted out now. It seemed to not be going to its home position fully and the ball would sometimes get stuck on the rail because the edge of the gun was blocking the entrance. I just took the entire thing apart and did some adjustments then reassembled it and it appears to be working good now. Still haven't got around to the flipper switch not activating though (I think I'm secretly avoiding it). I've been advised through pinside that it's possibly a bad opto-isolator ic on the power driver board so I'll probably get one when I place an order for parts and swap it in. Hopefully that sorts it.

Star trek needed a remote battery pack installed so I was able to do that. I did a few little things as well like put new coil sleeves in and adjust the flipper posititioning. It also had a sticky outlane microswitch (one of those little cherry da3 switches) but luckily I had a few new ones from my last order of parts so no big deal to swap that in. The dmd was whining a lot so I swapped in an extra one that is much nicer. Nobody else seemed to notice the whining sound but it bugged me and I'll be playing it 90% of the time anyway so I wanted it changed. I'm thinking tonight or tomorrow I'll steal the drop target reset coil and plunger from T2 to put into the star trek as a temporary fix until I order parts in. They both use identical parts and the T2 has an option in the adjustments menu for a broken drop target so I'm thinking it might be able to compensate gameplay through software until I put the new one in. That'll give me a chance to do the tieback mods for star trek and then that game should all be working. We put probably 100 games on Star trek this weekend and it all seems to be working minus the drop target at this point. There was a problem twice though where it went to load the cannon and the ball overshot the rail and drained down the left outlane. I'm not sure if something funky is happening there or if it's just a really bad design. I'm thinking something is funky though because both times were on the left hand side. Visually everything seems normal. I just had one of those light bulb thoughts while typing this that I haven't actually set the pitch or level on the game yet and there is the possibility the left side is sitting lower right now and allowing the ball to shoot over the rail. hmmmmm. Off to do some work.

 

[meegis]

Brought an ST:TNG home to my dads. Now it sits where Demo man used to.

 

[WARLOCK]

I fell of the wagon and purchased some pins.
And, ah, couple of vids too.

I will likely do this again one day....

 

[tim.sanderson]

I fell of the wagon and purchased some pins.
And, ah, couple of vids too.

I will likely do this again one day....

Wagons are over-rated!

 

[spiroagnew]

Lit up my swamp. Added a socket with a single green LED to light up my TAF swamp with a subtle soft green glow. One definitely does not need to buy an eBay "kit" to do this. Looks like a million bucks. Gave the game a general tune up...fixed a lazy upper flipper and the sort. It needs a complete teardown as it still has some "container dirt" in hard to reach nooks and crannys but I'm playing it so often (and it plays so well) that I just can't bring myself to put the game out of order for any length of time! I don't care what others say about the Addams Family ("overrated!", "shallow!") I've loved the game since its release and I continue to adore it to this day. Who says you can't take it with you!!

 

[DRANO]

It's been a slow week for pinball, and posting in general. Had to leave for LV last Saturday and just got back in the week hours of the night. Didn't even get to visit the PHOF this time around
I was on a bit of a tear last week. Hoping to pick that up again, now that I'm back.

If the jetlag doesn't get me first, I hope to be assembling some DK cabinets today and tomorrow!

 

[spiroagnew]

I have obviously angered the pin gods.

White Water is now by far the least played machine in my collection. I've fired it up exactly once since its been set up in the new basement. Last night I decided to give the game a go, but after fifteen minutes I got a random reset during gameplay. When it finished its reboot, I verified that double flippers reset it as well. Looks like I have some work to do on a well documented issue...maybe it will be a labour of love and it will rekindle my love for WH2O.

 

[DRANO]

Bummer
I've been plagued with various 5v reset issues over the last year.
Good luck with it Rob.

 

[REVOLUTION]

Rob, just get one of these!

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2425

 

[Menace]

Rob, just get one of these!

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2425

:FP:

Rob, get your hands dirty and fix it the right way as what you learn during the process will help you along the way with other repairs. Just be very careful when removing the BR, as there is a very small trace on the topside of the board that is easily broken and often times people don't even realize it's there in the first place.

D

 

[spiroagnew]

Rob, just get one of these!

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2425

As much as I love quick solutions...can't mend a fractured elbow with a Band-Aid. :lol:

Bummer
I've been plagued with various 5v reset issues over the last year.
Good luck with it Rob.

Rob, get your hands dirty and fix it the right way as what you learn during the process will help you along the way with other repairs.

Did some poking around before heading into work. "Good" news, I think. I have acceptable voltage at TP2 but a big drop in voltage from this TP to PIN32 of the rom. So from what I'm reading, and feel free anyone to chime in, is it will likely be a flaky connection in wiring or the connectors themselves...or at least that's where I should start. I'll dig in and reseat some of the connectors as my first step and see if voltage corrects itself...I also spotted a couple plastic quick crimp wire connectors (from a former "Z" connector maybe?) while I was in there which may be a weak link causing a voltage drop...

 

[Menace]

Yep, start with the connectors / wiring and work your way back systematically. Good call on checking the VDC @ pin32.

D

 

[WARLOCK]

Today I took a drive and delivered Drano his first and only vid. (She is a biggun!)
It gets garage status only, near the beer fridge I think.

This week, I have 9 pins up on legs at my shop, 6 working, 3 under restoration.

My parts from Mike Chesnut are done, shipped and on route here already.
Sweet...

I also made room to put 7 more pins on their legs and set them up.
They are on their backs and in position to reassemble them now.

18 months behind schedule, but I am on the home stretch. (ish)
There will be gatherings soon enough though. (finally)

More soon.

Cheers.

 

[meegis]

Got my DE Simpsons up and running in my home office. Furniture strewn about the room, and wall unit sitting in front hall, but she's in!

 

[Grauwulf]

I started transferring and re-organizing all my tools and supplies from my old tool box in to my much larger, rolling box. It's going to be nice not having to play tetris to get everything inside and the lid closed.

 

[frolic]

Started prepping my games for their big move this Friday to my new house. I have to take them apart, remove the heads to fit the narrow stairs, wrap 'em up. I'm having the moving company take them out of my basement though and move them with everything else. I hired extra movers to get it done.

I had a lot of pinheads volunteer to help move them (bunch of masochists!) but if I've got movers here anyways it made sense to just add it to the job. Plus now I won't owe anyone and have to reciprocate .

 

[luch]

ah man I wanted you to owe me!