This apparent cycling in the video is normal and is a result of the camera's movie frame rate interacting with the refresh rate of the scoring displays. There is no setting in the Black Knight to fix it since it is native to how the displays work. If you dig around you may be able to find the correct setting for your camera to sync with the displays but I don't know what those settings would be.

Hey all, I've been lurking in the background gleening all this good info. I'm slowly putting BK together. It plays pretty well and I have all the original manuals and instructions plus a new reprint set. The play field is pretty nice and I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a new b.g. Forms Steve at Mayfair. Im slowly getting things rebuilt and the next big item is the drop targets that don't drop. Thanks and keep it going. Harley's and pinball, go figure. My lift table came in darn handy.

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

Fun times, bk was my first clear coat. Wish I could get it out of my garage and into my house.

Look through this thread for drop target stickers, me and another guy made some that really pop, good luck and have fun!

It's definitely going in the house when I'm done.

Does anyone have a Williams Trough Microswitch aseembly part #B-8644 - Marco are no longer stocking it and the same for Action Pinball.

Anyone have one that isn't going to use it?

Link to picture http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/B-8644

Regards
Clive

Pinball resource did have some.

Hi,
my topper: Blended "whisky".
Two in one, decor and tilt switch.
Everybody playing carefully... )

Topper2_(resized).jpg

There was some kickers and BK stuff on flea bay. The seller is hitheforeiner or something close. I know I botched the spelling

I need drop target springs, the few I have are 3/16" dia x 21/32" long. Thanks

Found replacement targets and springs at action pinball, thanks for the tip!

Ok this is a total rookie question: I bought the led lamp kit but am not familiar enough with the lamp/function names just to replace them. Is there a lamp map? I have one for switches and solenoids..

There isn't one in the manual (and also no rubber diagram!), but everything in the lamp matrix looks pretty clear to me. Just post a list of any lights you're unsure of

Thought I would post this here. My CPR Silver Knight #14. New plastics. All new boards, sound, speech, power supply, combo MPU. All new connectors in back box (I hate insulation displacement connectors). New displays. Mayfair back glass. Every coil replaced. New flipper mechanisms. All new maple rails. It's like a new 36 year old machine.

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

Yea I don't get the lamp matrix as far as name vs physical location. The led kit came with a numbered list with name and what color it should be and general location. Are there assumed grid lines on the playfield that correspond to the matrix? The GI stuff is pretty obvious so that narrows it down. This is my first project and it's been a blast. I'm an old IBEW #48 hand so Iv'e been doing controls and electrical stuff for 40 years. Pinball is new to me.

There's not any real grid on the playfield corresponding to the lamp matrix, it's just the way the wires are connected. You can identify any light in the matrix by the colors of the two wires (row and column) attached to it. For instance, the left magna save lamp would have a red and black, and a yellow and red wire attached to it. As long as you can narrow a light down to a few possible entries in the lamp matrix, it's simple to just check the wire colors on them.

That is a nice looking machine, i have some minor touch up work to be done on the playfield but all in all it's going to be nice.

Got it thanks!

Drooling on my phone right now. Wowza that's a nice BK!

No it was not the camera....it ended up being low output voltage from the power supply board to the display. Should have read +/- 100 v, but was only 46 v. All fixed now, and added a nice LED not too.

Local #80 here

Hello Brother...
Well it was a tedious day but got the led kit installed. Always had trouble with certain color combinations on wire. I have some sockets to replace. I have all the staple down ones for the back box, I need the controlled style for the play field. They are on kind of a z bracket. I need a half dozen if someone has a part # off the top. Cleaning the drop targets, new springs and decals made the difference. They snap pretty good. She plays pretty good, voice is 100%

Here's some gameplay of my Black Knight. Just got it finished before taking it to the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown 2016.

Nice BK! What is that hanging ball over the left MagnaSave? And what is the ball track across the playfield?

Its a "ball and chain" weapon... just hangs there and gets drawn in when you activate Magna-Save. The ball jumps up and smacks it once in awhile, too, which hits the glass and swings around. Its just a nice little effect. The ball ramp on the lower level is to start the game on the lower playfield instead of the upper (I wanted to make a more difficult version of Black Knight). So, you have to first get up to the upper playfield before you can start locking balls. The upper "gate" was moved down to the lower level and the ball can now go back down the shooter lane and pop out the "chute" above the magna-save. Just one more way for the ball to get down to the lower level. Its a lot tougher version of Black Knight and the people at the show seemed to agree and enjoy it because of that.

SAM_0051_(resized).JPG

SAM_0055_(resized).JPG

SAM_0060_(resized).JPG

SAM_0061_(resized).JPG

SAM_0063_(resized).JPG

SAM_0066_(resized).JPG

Here are a few more. The shooter lane feeds to the flip/flop ramp and goes across the playfield to the left flipper return, which lites the Mystery center ramp for a "Mystery Skill Shot." Because the upper gate is no longer there, sometimes the center ramp shot feeds directly into that tunnel, down the shooter lane, and pops out the chute. If you have a magna-save lit, then you can grab the ball right as it comes out of the chute and drop it safely in the right lane for a spinner shot. I've added some switches and altered the wiring so that Magna-Save is dynamically controlled by the player (like Pharaoh) instead of just holding the ball for a pre-determined amount of time. This is handy, not just to speed up the game, but when multiple balls get stuck on the magnet you can flutter them off safely instead of always dropping one accidentally down the outlane. Lots of mods and changes throughout. Really fun and challenging.

IMG_1761_(resized).jpg

IMG_1762_(resized).jpg

IMG_1763_(resized).jpg

IMG_1765_(resized).jpg

I need to see a video of this.

Scroll up...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/black-knight-clubmembers-only/page/12#post-3205691

Not sure if I have any on hand. This game and Barracora came back from the RMPShowdown in Denver and went right into storage until we get into our new house. What a pain, don't want to move again until the kids are grown and out of the house. Yeesh.

The vertical "flip flop" shooter lane ramp is repurposed from a Gottlieb "Monte Carlo" machine, along with parts of the skill shot ramp. I cut out the sections I needed, formed my rails and welded it all up, then powdercoated everything in "black diamond" coating. After doing all this its incredibly fun and challenging but I don't want to go this custom again for awhile. It was a tremendous amount of work.

Here's a video walkaround of it lit and unlit that I made a few weeks ago.

https://www.facebook.com/ryan.grant.5205/videos/10153675542027029/

My bad! My buddy sent me a link and it started below the video.

Hello everyone. After looking at this forum for several months, I finally pulled the trigger on a BK. I have never shopped out a pin before. I am relying solely on smart ppl such as yourselves and my mainatance background as a Army technician. I do however own a Gorgar that was shopped out prior to me purchasing it to reference some basic pin questions. Here is my question... I noticed on the upper multi ball ball trough when a ball is released it hits the plastic (hence the broken plastic in that area). I have a new set coming but I am reluctant to install it. Did Willaims come out with something after BK's release to fix this problem? When I replaced the rubbers I that area there is no bracket or shield to protect that area. Any pictures or assistance is very much appreciated.

Jen

I feel like an optimal solution would be some type of metal bracket, but I don't know of one. I just removed the plastic nub that seated the plastic on that end, so that when the ball pops up the plastic can freely move, under the assumption that what breaks the plastic isn't the ball hitting it, but the plastic being held down tightly when this happens. I also put a bit of foam taped to the bottom of the plastic to protect the paint from getting scratched

Don't forget a mylar spot where the ball comes down on the playfield too!

Yes there is a piece of metal you can put between the posts and the plate that keeps the ball from hitting. I made one out of a piece of stainless kick plate that goes on the bottom of a door. You could just use any thin metal and trim the same shape as the plastic. It also helps the ball from popping out when hit hard and there are no other balls in the trough. I can post a picture tonight if you need. Better than that, I will make you one if you want.

Travish,

Thank you so much for your offer. I would love for your to fabricate me one since you already have the template. Just let me know the cost.

Zacaj

Great suggestion on the mylar. I will have to acquire some and watch videos on how to apply it.

No cost just pm me.

Could anybody else use a upper trough plastic protector? I figure I can shear out a dozen almost as easy as one. Yes, it's hid under the plastic on top of the posts and lane guide. Plate is on me, stamp is on you.

IMG_1727_(resized).JPG

Picture of the non magnetic lane protectors I made for the new rails. I just love stainless.

IMG_1718_(resized).JPG

IMG_1724_(resized).JPG

Any thoughts on using a piece of Lexan or some other clear solution for this so that the plastic could be lit like the rest of the playfield plastics? I have the metal plate but it blacks out the majority of the pretty plastic.

There is a bulb behind the u-turn on the left but the rail blocks all the light. I think it would be hard to light that area because the ball would hit the bulb or get in the way. I guess you could use thin lexan and install another bulb socket and make it work with one of the "stalk" led's somehow.

I may give this a try but first I've got to work through a drop target reset solenoid that's stuck on. Hopefully replacing the driver transistors does it.

I just installed Comet Sunlight LEDs in the GI and color matches for the inserts. Wow, it really lights up! And the sunlight LEDs give it a natural color that brightens everything.

Good morning fellow BKers. My Black Knight was left on overnight and now this morning the solenoids are not doing anything and the Black Knight is skipping words in his phrases. I'm sure that I can figure out the solenoid issue but does anyone have an idea of what might be happening with the speech?

Is it missing words in the test too?

I can't recall but alot of the older games use solenoid drivers to cue the speech from the sound board. The solenoids not firing could have some reason that the speech board is never telling those phrases/words to play back. You can look up the transistors in the manual to see what they fire and work your way back from there.

**************************************
Alright, just looked into it. The system 3-6 get triggered that way, not System 7 like Black Knight. Here's what the pinrepair guide says:

When System7 came with Black Knight, driver board transistors were no longer used to trigger sounds. Instead the System7 CPU board had an additional PIA chip at IC36 which triggered the sounds (this freed up the driver board transistors for coils instead of triggering sound). The sounds were still generated by the same sound board in the same manner though, using the same pinout. Grounding sound board connectors 10J3 pins 2,3,4,5,7. Just this was now done by the CPU board's extra PIA chip at IC36 (and a new connector on the CPU board at 1J8). Here's the system7 CPU connector 1J8 pins. Note this connector also handles commas for the score displays:

1J8 pin1: Comma for displays 3 & 4 (Brown/White)
1J8 pin 2: Comma display players 1 & 2 (Violet)
1J8 pin 3: Key pin
1J8 pins 4-7: No Connection
1J8 pin 8: Sound Select 4 (Yellow) to sound board 10J3-7
1J8 pin 9: Sound Select 3 (Green) to sound board 10J3-4
1J8 pin 10: Sound Select 2 (Blue) to sound board 10J3-5
1J8 pin 11: Sound Select 1 (Red) to sound board 10J3-2
1J8 pin 12: Sound Select 0 (Red/Yellow) to sound board 10J3-3
With the sound board connector pinout info, some (not all!) of the individual sounds can be triggered by momentarily grounding the sound board Sound Select pin. You won't get all sounds this way (many sounds are triggered from a combination of pins being grounded), but at least you can do some prelim tests on the sound board. Also helpful is of course the sound board test switch, which should fire off most of the sounds at any time.

Black knight spanned system 6 and 7....I know they used both power supplies and transformers in the head vs the cab. Don't know if the driver board or speech changed tho.

Thank you for the info everyone! I will dig into it more this weekend and report back...

Thanks vintageclub! This post helped me out with a sound board issue I posted in its own thread that got no love.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/black-knight-playing-the-wrong-sounds#post-3319043

BK is back to playing the correct sounds again.

Nice! Love it when it's something simple... you might consider for the future to pull the chips and clean the legs, and maybe replace any capacitors on the boards to give it a good update if they are old, Glad you got it working!!

WTB- Looking for some diplays for my machine. If you have any pm details. Looking for two score displays and credit display.