bad flipper switch

While looking at the burned out ball drain coil, I also looked at the flipper switches.

The left switch was in bad shape. It was all rusty and although I didn't get a very good picture, the contacts were touching even without the flipper button being pushed! that would be a real problem!

It was also off-center a little. So I pulled the rusty metal off and used a flapwheel sander on it which got rid of the rust quite nicely. 

I then used the dremel with wire brush to clean the contacts and finally needlenose pliers to bend it out a smidge. After some repeated banging around just to test, I think I have it set up correctly.

A problem I didn't even know I had! one more thing to check when working on pinball machines.

Ball drain coil repairs

on the Harlem globetrotter table the new MP3 board isn't resetting all the way. Of course there is no information with it such as what it means when it stops after only 4 blinks  of 6.

My guess is I have a bad coil or two, so let's take a look at them and see.

The most obvious starting point is the ball drain coil. Just looking at it, it looks like the paper cover is crispy, a sure sign it has over heated.

Checking the resistance on it confirms. it is only a few tenths of an ohm, basically a direct short.

After removing it I can also confirm that it's toasty, I am unable to move the plunger at all, a sure sign it has heated up and expanded inside.

I pulled it apart and set about the clean it.

Some soap and water later, it wasn't too bad but still had a lot of gunk on it, so I set to it with  some sandpaper. Finally I had it decently clean.

'The plunger was pretty crappy, and it needed to be smooth for easy moving, so I sanded it down and put some metal polish on it, it looks pretty good!

Now to get a replacement coil and put it all back together. One down and who knows how many to go.

Argosy is alive!

The Williams Argosy Pinball Machine is alive!

After checking the fuses and the solder joints and the fuse housing I was still getting no power at all even to the fuse.

Checking back to the power cord revealed nothing.

Then I slipped and bumped the wall plug, the machine sudddenly jumped into life! I had a bad power plug... Of all the problems I was searching for...

Turning it on revealed that something was wrong in the score motor. It was making a lot of noise. I can't really tell if its unusual or not as I don't know how load they are supposed to be, but it seems excessive.

Time to take a video and post it and get some answers

Argosy progress

As you read last time. I am still waiting to get into my WIlliams Argosy Electromechanical Pinball machine.

The locksmith arrived for round two and after another hour declared he could do no more that day. Quite frankly I was ready to drill out the lock, it is a cool idea to preserve the original if possible but its not earthshattering if it needs a replacement lock.

But he was now determined and offered to come back once more on his own dime and try a last time.

#rd time was a charm! and after many more hours than expected I was now able to open the unit and see what was going on.

Step 1 was to see what happened when power was added. Basically nothing. Time to start checking fuses

Harlem Globetrotters pinball power trouble

The power troubles for the Harlem Globetrotter on Tour pinball machine appear to be solved!

After connecting the boards up, the test point on the board was showing low voltage. I was looking at having to pull components of the circuit board to try and solve the issue but after reading about Nic's "swab-polish-swab" technique where he wipes with alcohol, then polishes with a dremel and wire brush and then a final alcohol wipe - I decided to try it on the connectors. 

It solved the problem! Although they looked perfectly ok to me and I had seated and unseated the connectors many times, this time it seems to have fixed it and I was getting the correct voltage.

I plugged all the boards in, including my new MPU board and turned it on with great anticipation.

The lights came on, but the MPU board would not go through its self-test successfully. I could hear a coil pop and then it looks like it froze.

My guess is that I have a bad coil and its causing the new power board to pop its internal breaker.

Tme to start testing coils!

WIlliams Argosy troubles

As is usual, I have yet to get a pinball machine in decent condition. They look ok on the surface but have troubles deep inside.

In the case of the Williams Argosy, I literally could not tell how it looked inside as the key had been lost. In most cases people simply drill out the lock and get on with life, but I have a locksmith I know and he agreed to take a look at it - confident it was a 5 minute job.

After an hour of work, he said he needed different tools and would be back next week.

While waiting, I turned it on - nothing. I opened the back and tried to move things around manually, there is a big wheel in the back - the player motor responsible for connecting things to the different players when playing multiple. I moved it around but could not do much.

We wait for a key...