Thanks for all the input, I have set mine to 4.80 degrees (was going for 5 but couldn't face crawling under it again!!) which leaves the lower playfield at 6 and it seems to play well.

One other question, are you able to set the GI so it stays on instead of switching off in attract? I have a Pascal board in it.

So back to my lower pf pop bumpers blowing their fuse.
When I start a game it triggers 100 points on the lower pf and the fuses blow. I've checked the switches on the pop bumpers, they are fine. Not sure how to track this one down? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thx.

It's possible the pop bumpers are locking on when you start the game. Are the pop bumper driver boards original? My first thought would be to try swapping around PBDBs and see if the problem follows the boards.

They are original. And I thought about getting new ones and now I will. They're cheap enough. Thought it strange that both bumpers have seperate fuses. But yet, they are tied together. Both fuses pop. Ugh. I have breakers in there now for troubleshooting.

Well, it *might* have something to do with the pbdbs. Perhaps just disconnect them for the lower pops first and see if the fuses blow. Basically we want to rule out the wiring and coils (which i frankly don't suspect, but for completeness i like to rule out a much as possible). If the fuses don't blow, swap one of the suspect boards with a good one from the main pf and see if the problem moves with the board.

It's not necessarily a bad idea to replace those boards, my only concern is if the problem persists after you do. At very least that would rule out those boards, but you have enough working ones that you should be able to do that now.

Good call on the circuit breaker, btw. Been down that road enough times myself

Yeah, I'll report back in a few days once the boards arrive. Thanks much.

Im having a weird issue and I cant figure it out. My lower pf kicker cant get the ball to the upper pf anymore. I had Steves bracket installed, so I flipped it back to a brand new stock coil and that didnt help. Seems to be hitting the tube just fine, just not with enough force. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks

I don't have the game infront of me, only the schematic. If you're sure everything is lining up properly (tube and trough wise), my initial thought is to test the under playfield transistor associated with the upkicker. Then test Q15 on the driver board. I doubt it would be Z4, but that's the route of that trace.

After having trouble with mine, i got Steve's bracket and installed w/ a flipper coil. The trick with that (given the coil and the driving circuitry is good) is to adjust the eos to stay closed for long enough in the stroke in order for it to give enough power to launch the ball all the way up. Just like adjusting an eos on a flipper, if it opens too soon you get a weak flip. Tbh that adjustment took me more times than i care to admit, opening both playfields to access the mech over and over

Anyone have advice for adjusting a pop spoon that has one dead spot. I replaced the spoon/switch, moved it back and forth under the skirt, bent the leafs, and I still have one spot that wont activate consistently. When I watch the the spoon and move the skirt by hand, every direction but one causes the leafs to make good contact.
Do you ever want to bend the spoon itself?

If you replaced the spoon I wouldn't think you should need to, but shouldn't be a big deal to slightly tweak it so you get it to register evenly between the registering side and the non-registering side. Before that though, make sure you have the right switch gap, that the the pivot on the skirt is exactly centered on the spoon where if you press up on the spoon you see no movement of the pivot and that the indeed the spoon is slightly pressing up on the pivot at rest and not just floating under it.

I get the same issue with the old switch as the new. Must have spent 4 hours tweaking it. It looks to be in the center of the spoon, but when I move the skirt I can see it easily
Activates in most directions, but there are a few degrees where it barley moves the spoon. The gap is so minimal, if I reduce it further it will go off on vibrations.
I even tried a new skirt...

It's centered if you pull down on the spoon, then release it or even push upward on it, and you don't see the skirt pivot move.

New pop bumper boards have fixed this issue. Thanks all.

Ok I just joined the club,
I am pumped!

I ran out of new pinballs. Is the ball baron Ninja chrome Pinball a good choice ?
3128F18E-AC99-4F98-8E61-237F77895930 (resized).jpeg

Proably. No mags in Black hole.
That said; I find it very hard / impossible to determine if a ball is chrome or standard carbon.
If you ever have both mag and magenetless games; its best note have both in your possession - as it way to easy to mix them into the wrong machine.

My new pinballs arrived so I figure maybe
I’ll give a quick wax to the playfield while I have the glass off.

Nothing wrong with a little carnauba wax huh?

I recently found 3 of those big circle plastics for the backbox (used). Going to hang one on my wall for sure but seems they dont repro them. Is there a demand for these? Not sure how one would go missing or break? Or just cool wall hangars? Or should I take them to a printer and make some repros?

You mean the spinner that mounts to the motor?

I could use one if so, mine is worn in a few places

I will dig them out and get pics. Not sure it they are better?

I'd also be interested. I messed mine up when I was retrofitting a new motor.

Ok cool. Now to remember where I stuck them lol!

Hello everyone, just wanted to share a simple idea that added a lil flare. Just used a couple different size drill bits to remove paint on underside of plastic in places for some lit stars, already painted in white.

6D33C1B4-99D5-4DCC-A5F6-107ABF478A48 (resized).png

Top repair tip:

Too many balls in shooter lane, ball ending early, ball never ending.... count the # of balls in the game and make sure it's 3, not 4

Also I found 2 balls underneath the top left plastic! How did they get there??

So the upper pf ball lock will sometimes lock the ball out when not supposed to
It seems like it’s a vibration vs a specific other switch being active. Is that just not enough contact on that leaf switch. If the contacts sep with a ball locked it will eject I tvink ?

Working out some bugs with my Black Hole pinball machine. Had just got done tracking down and repairing a dreaded GI short on the main play field, and decided to do some upgrades and bulletproofing while I had the play field removed. After my “ attempts” at bulletproofing and upgrades, I seem to have a couple of issues:

1. Right Side Flipper Issue: Currently the right side flippers are not operational when the flipper button is depressed. However is an significant arc / flash / spark that I can see (through ball guide crease) at the flipper switch — when pressed., and there is no flipper action. I found the one (1) solenoid had the coil diode backwards, but corrected it. Hopefully that did not cause board trouble. When the ball goes down to the lower playfield, the lower playfield right flipper is operational. It appears the U relay is okay (the contacts show normally closed as per the schematics ). Has anyone ever had this sparking issue at the flipper switch? Any suggestions?

2.) Up Kicker Not Strong Enough: The infamous up kicker strikes again. There was a A-1496 coil installed which was working great. Again I was going to upgrade and continue my bulletproofing (Bulletproofing = upgrading the power transistor and adding the pull up resistor, installed and wired a pop bumper driver board to prevent burn out/ meltdown / overheating, and upgraded the coil to the A-4893 coil). The pop bumper driver board was a suggestion found on Pin Lizards Black Hole / Haunted House Club manual. I am stumped why the up kicker lost the strength / power to shoot the ball up the ramp. Defective power transistor? Suggestions?

Going to cross post this over at System 89 Club as well. If anyone could assist or provide some guidance or insight it would be greatly appreciated. I am so close to getting this machine running so I can enjoy it. I have learned so much, but still have so much more to learn. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

I highly recommend replacing the upkicker with a flipper coil and EOS switch. You can contact Cliffy to have the bracket made up. I reached out to him a few months ago and he was able to get one out to me in about a week. The EOS switch will help prevent the coil from getting fried if the transistor fails and it can be adjusted to get the kicker strength more consistent. You should then run a smaller 2A fuse in F17 for additional protection.

https://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Black_Hole#Black_Hole_Ball_Lift_Kicker_Mod

Hi - got a Black Hole coming in next week which I need to repair and restore

Does anyone have a "High Res" pic of the Topper "front on" view?

Just joined the club. Lot of work needed but should be fun once done. May possible need a sound speech board if anyone has one. Here it is already tore apart getting ready for a good cleaning and shop out

20201023_185335 (resized).jpg

Anyone??

To be totally fair your description is a little lacking. What do you mean by “topper” and “front on”?

https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=38555&zoom=1

probably this

Wow. I’ve never seen this!

I got to do a repair on a Blackhole that was in a home many years ago...
It was the first time I ever saw the simplified version of this game.
I assume it is a low production line, as compared to the full animated version.

That's an interesting thought, since it was the export black holes that didn't have the animated backglass right? But export was a huge market back then, so hard to say which is more common.

Looking for the best way to clean the backglasses. More worried about using something to harsh on the mirror side of each one. Both backglasses are removed ready for cleaning. Anybody have any good suggestions?

I have used damp facial tissues to clean score windows.

Anyone have ideas on this. My middle top pop has a dead area when the ball comes from the lanes. I’ve put all new parts in, adjusted the new spoon switch countless times. The gap is so close that it will go off at times from the top right bumper, but I can’t get that say 45 degrees from the top to activate in game. It almosrbseems like skirt should be higher off the plAyfield ( looks fine) to allow more movement of the spoon tip. ?It just doesn’t seem to move the spoon much from that direction.
Thanks

Would a pointed Skirt help?

I dont know, maybe? it so strange when I watch the skirt, as i activate it on the pf, even with no spoon there it has allot of movement in 270 degrees of activating, but the upper side facing the lanes when I push on it the tip doesnt move as much at all .

Is the actuator centered on the spoon?

OK, so I joined the club a little while back but the game has been in my garage for a few months. It finally made it inside to be gone through completely from top to bottom and made spotless clean and 100% functional too.

One of the first things I've accomplished is replacing the motor for the spinning wheel in the backglass. The motor my game came with barely worked and when it did spin it was about 10rpm instead of 3rpm. Also, it was noisy as hell. I started by referencing pinwiki for the basic information, but the hub(s) they recommend are no longer available. I developed my own solution for the hub so replacing the motor was very easy and only required two parts. First is the Servo City SKU Number: 638158 motor. This is the proper 3rpm motor that operates at 12volts. Second is an M3 screw to mount the motor to the plate.

https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Black_Hole#Replacing_the_Black_Hole_.22Spinning_Disk.22_Motor

https://www.servocity.com/3-rpm-gear-motor/

The motor mounted just as suggested on pinwiki and I installed a molex connector rather than soldering the wires direct to the motor. For the hub I just reused the original hub. All that was required was to drill out the center hole of the hub to 1/4 inch to accept the larger motor shaft on the new motor. You will first want to back the set screw way back in the hub so it doesn't get hit by the drill. The hub is aluminum and easy to drill with a drill press.

So that is it. Basically remove the old motor, remove the mounting plate from the old motor, install mounting plate on new motor with a single locktited screw, drill out the original hub to 1/4 inch, install the hub on the new motor, solder short wires on motor and crimp in molex connectors, install the assembly back in the backbox and connect it up. The spinning disk will off course install using the original screws since the original hub was retained. You might have to adjust the hub inward or outward to set the clearance from the bulbs and backglass. The new motor works great, spins at the correct speed and is much quieter.

yes..I have had it in the center, then I even tried other positions to increase the movement. Its almost like it needs to be further from the playfield in the one area to allow more of a pivot..

Behind the spinning disk I put a mix of all three kinds of 455 LEDs that Comet sells. I think it looks good plus there are no domes on the LEDs, so they give a bunch of added clearance.

20201120_123220_1.gif

I'm about to undertake a playfield restoration on my stripped Black Hole upper playfield. Has anyone done any paint matching and have any specific colors and manufacturers to share?

The best paint match is the one you make yourself.
Liquitex Opaque.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-ultimate-playfield-restoration/

Yeah, I’m in the process of mixing my own now. Fun times!

First time I’ve ever had flipper/+38v issues.

I was working on someone’s game yesterday and I had more or less solved all the issues at hand and then right at the end of the day, a dangly filament of the player one score display broke and all the displays went dim. Then, possibly by coincidence, all of the non controlled +38Vdc coils wont fire. No flippers, pop, ect.

+38Vdc is still present on the flipper coils and pop coils, but can’t get them to work at all. +38Vdc is present on the bridge rectifier, and I get continuity on the +38Vdc tip and the coils (at least most of them, I didn’t check all as it was the end of the day). Any tips on where to look? Connectors A12J/P8 and A12J/P1 and A9J/P8 all were disconnected and reconnected and had no affect.

Possible ground short? While I’m at it, the owner mentioned that he had flipped a few dip switches with the game on. I don’t see any reason that would affect this?

Looking for a speech-sound board if anybody has one.