I am going to take a sabbatical and see if I feel like continuing this blog at some point in the future.
After 3 years of posts; other than my own, I estimate I have 312 views, 17 in the last year. Its pretty obvious that without extensive socializing, I won't get up on the search engines enough to get to the first couple of pages of even specific search's like "pinball repair blog" and without being in the first couple of pages I won't get any views.
Its frustrating that original content is not viewed with as much weight as endless retweeting and relinking but such is the way of the internet. Actually content seems to be worth around zero weight as even with 3 years and over a hundred posts of original content, I am still listed in the search engines below a guy who posted a "hello world" post 6 years ago.
Such is life.
We will see what the future holds.
Monday, April 2, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Rebuilding a pinball flipper
On the Harlem Globetrotters pinball machine, only two of the three flippers were working and they seemed sluggish. It was time to rebuild them!
Step 1 was to get it off the table. I unscrewed the plate everything was on and tried to remove it. No luck. It was connected to the flipper on the other side. I thought I would just pry the flipper off, no luck.
Finally after some head scratching I noticed the hex pins on the side of the shaft. It took awhile to locate the proper sized hex tool, but eventually I was able to loosen it.
Once it was removed I was able to take the whole unit apart.
Into the tumbler all of the parts went for an overnight cleaning and polishing.The plunger itself was sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper and then polished with some polish so it would slide through the solenoid with ease.
After a night of tumbling and cleaning everything out, it was time to put it all back together. I don't have too many pictures, but I do have a nice little 15 second video of the flipper in action. Check out the action on this thing!
Woohoo, now to do the other two!
Step 1 was to get it off the table. I unscrewed the plate everything was on and tried to remove it. No luck. It was connected to the flipper on the other side. I thought I would just pry the flipper off, no luck.
Finally after some head scratching I noticed the hex pins on the side of the shaft. It took awhile to locate the proper sized hex tool, but eventually I was able to loosen it.
Once it was removed I was able to take the whole unit apart.
Into the tumbler all of the parts went for an overnight cleaning and polishing.The plunger itself was sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper and then polished with some polish so it would slide through the solenoid with ease.
After a night of tumbling and cleaning everything out, it was time to put it all back together. I don't have too many pictures, but I do have a nice little 15 second video of the flipper in action. Check out the action on this thing!
Woohoo, now to do the other two!
Friday, March 16, 2018
minimal progress on the Argosy
I installed the replaced score motor last night.
And turned it on. There is good news and bad.
The good news is that it runs!
The bad news is that it runs and runs and runs and runs...
From my reading, this is a pretty common problem. Somewhere there is a stuck switch or wheel preventing it from finishing the reset operation.
Now to dig through it all and find it.
And turned it on. There is good news and bad.
The good news is that it runs!
The bad news is that it runs and runs and runs and runs...
From my reading, this is a pretty common problem. Somewhere there is a stuck switch or wheel preventing it from finishing the reset operation.
Now to dig through it all and find it.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Argosy Motor Replacement
As you may recall from the last post, the score motor was in sad shape and needed repair or replacement.
I contacted a vendor (Steve Young at pbresource.com ) who makes replacements and ordered one. Steve is a great guy to work with and the motor arrived quickly and worked great.
Unfortunately, as Steve carefully explained, the replacement part has a different set of mounting holes than the original.
The solution was to drill and tap a new set of holes in the old motor mount. So I ran down the the hardware store with the bolt in hand. A few bucks later I had a tapper and made short work of the hole:
And the new motor was mounted to the bracket:
I then did a quick test by connecting the motor wires and turning the unit on:
And it worked beautifully. Next step is to put the motor back into the machine and see if it boots up correctly.
I contacted a vendor (Steve Young at pbresource.com ) who makes replacements and ordered one. Steve is a great guy to work with and the motor arrived quickly and worked great.
Unfortunately, as Steve carefully explained, the replacement part has a different set of mounting holes than the original.
 | |
| old and new score motors |
The solution was to drill and tap a new set of holes in the old motor mount. So I ran down the the hardware store with the bolt in hand. A few bucks later I had a tapper and made short work of the hole:
 | |
| tapping the hole |
And the new motor was mounted to the bracket:
I then did a quick test by connecting the motor wires and turning the unit on:
And it worked beautifully. Next step is to put the motor back into the machine and see if it boots up correctly.
And..... its alive!
The Harlem Globetrotters table is alive!
After all this time, the lights come on and the solenoids move and the sounds beep. Its amazing.
When I got it back in 2015 ( link ) I never thought it would take this long. Part of it was my limited skills, and part was I seriously underestimated how much work was needed. I opened it up and it looked pretty clean so I thought it was a minor problem and I would be good.
live and learn.
But now after replacing a fuse that looked good but intermittantly did not make contact, its all in good shape.
I could actually try and play a game on it but the next step is to figure out what is wrong with the front door and the "start a game" switch which currently does nothing.
After all this time, the lights come on and the solenoids move and the sounds beep. Its amazing.
When I got it back in 2015 ( link ) I never thought it would take this long. Part of it was my limited skills, and part was I seriously underestimated how much work was needed. I opened it up and it looked pretty clean so I thought it was a minor problem and I would be good.
live and learn.
But now after replacing a fuse that looked good but intermittantly did not make contact, its all in good shape.
I could actually try and play a game on it but the next step is to figure out what is wrong with the front door and the "start a game" switch which currently does nothing.
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
A gigantic step forward
Finally, finally, I have made progress with the Harlem Globetrotters pinball!
and this isn't a little progress, this is a LOT of progress!
I started working on the unit, checking and identifying cables and connectors. I thought perhaps I had plugged the wrong one in and accidentally swapped a couple. So I sat down with the schematic and verified cables and wires (J2 is a 28 pin connector, wire 1 is green with grey stripe: check) and marked them with Sharpie.
I dug around and found a 2-wire connector that was supposed to go to the sound board that had not been connected and plugged it in.
When I was finished I turned it on. Lo and Behold I heard a sound!! yes, the startup music played and most of the lights started flashing:
According to the manual, self-test #5 was the sound self test, so I pushed the test button.
And some lights came on, not all of them but some changed and this was the light test!
With baited breath I pushed the test button again. The second test was the score displays. These had never shown anything in the 18 months I have had the unit. They all came on and counted up!
Seriously - this thin has been dead for 18 months while I slowly worked it over and now it has at least partially come to life!
Test 3 was the solenoid test and as usual, the only solenoid that works is the "match" solenoid. None of the playfield ones do anything.
Test 4 was the switch test, it shows a zero on the displa, not sure what that means yet
Test 5 was the sound test, it makes a continuous changing sound so I think its ok.
Theoretically I should be able to start a new game. The MPU board is set for free-play.
But when I push the "Start Game" button, nothing happens. No spark of electricity, nothing.
Looking at the coin-door unit shows it to be in pretty bad shape:
so its possible I am unable to start a game because the door wiring is screwed up...
Back to the schematic, but hey.....its alive!!!!!
and this isn't a little progress, this is a LOT of progress!
I started working on the unit, checking and identifying cables and connectors. I thought perhaps I had plugged the wrong one in and accidentally swapped a couple. So I sat down with the schematic and verified cables and wires (J2 is a 28 pin connector, wire 1 is green with grey stripe: check) and marked them with Sharpie.
I dug around and found a 2-wire connector that was supposed to go to the sound board that had not been connected and plugged it in.
When I was finished I turned it on. Lo and Behold I heard a sound!! yes, the startup music played and most of the lights started flashing:
 | |||
| it works! |
According to the manual, self-test #5 was the sound self test, so I pushed the test button.
And some lights came on, not all of them but some changed and this was the light test!
With baited breath I pushed the test button again. The second test was the score displays. These had never shown anything in the 18 months I have had the unit. They all came on and counted up!
Seriously - this thin has been dead for 18 months while I slowly worked it over and now it has at least partially come to life!
Test 3 was the solenoid test and as usual, the only solenoid that works is the "match" solenoid. None of the playfield ones do anything.
Test 4 was the switch test, it shows a zero on the displa, not sure what that means yet
Test 5 was the sound test, it makes a continuous changing sound so I think its ok.
Theoretically I should be able to start a new game. The MPU board is set for free-play.
But when I push the "Start Game" button, nothing happens. No spark of electricity, nothing.
Looking at the coin-door unit shows it to be in pretty bad shape:
 | |
| coin door |
so its possible I am unable to start a game because the door wiring is screwed up...
Back to the schematic, but hey.....its alive!!!!!
Saturday, February 10, 2018
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.
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.
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
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
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Argosy progress
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
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