Sound work on the Star Trip Pinball Table

Transistors on the SDU-1 (Solenoid Driver Unit)

I was pretty excited about the information detailed in this post and thought it would fix my Star Trip sound problem.

So I carefully unsoldered all 4 transistors and checked them.

All 4 were good....sigh.

After soldering them back in, I hoped something might have changed so I tried putting the board back in

And turned it on. The sound is still there......

Warning, the following short video has very annoying sound - this is what I am dealing with!

Putting the heads on

After the move it was time to put the heads back on.

Unlike newer pinball tables which have a hinge for ease of transport, mine need to be disconnected and unbolted. Since all of the electronics and power are in the head, there are a LOT of cables.

The Hot Tip pinball, being a few years older should have been harder to disconnect. In fact it was the opposite, the Hot Tip table has snap connectors for every cable running between the two cabinets.
 


The globetrotters pinball does not. Each wire runs up from the base and directly to a board connecting to a board-edge connector.

So, after disconnecting everything it was time to pull the bolts.




Reversing the process was a lot harder. While keeping the door open, we had to hold the head up so the cables could be fished through the hole in the bottom. Then trying to move it around to find where the holes lined up - all without damaging anything!

Moving day

Posting has been thin lately primarily due to how difficult it has been to work on the tables. After the rains set in, the stuff from the back yard moved in to the garage and my workspace became extremely crowded. Here is a picture of how it has been.

 Note the workbench itself, imagine trying to spread out your documentation, soldering, boards and parts. Part of that is an excuse, as I need to get better organized.

Originally the plan was to keep the tables in the garage, then during summer parties we would have the pingpong table and the pinball tables set up and it would make for some fun gettogethers.  But I started thinking about moving the tables inside. Out in the unheated garage during the snowy winter did not sound like a good idea, either for the tables or for my working on them.

In the end, I moved them up to the bonus room over the garage. Warm, lots of space and a much more pleasant environment. There are a couple of things I am worried about though...

With carpeting, I am a little nervous that I will get oil or black dust or something that will ruin the carpet. With it being inside the house, not sure that smelly things such as soldering will be well received by my wife. I may have to put a exhaust fan on the window or something.

But for now, it is almost ready and I can get back to working on them!