Hi all. Having read this thread front to back... I think it's time to add my game to the list. Unless I am missing something, I think I am in the club (being a happy owner of a Black Knight Machine). I got my machine back in 2005(ish). It was located, box top off, legs off, sitting on the floor of someone's basement. It had the wrong back glass on it (Wms. Stellar Wars), and was missing a couple of plastics (top left). They said that they had it for some time, but it wasn't working and they didn't know how to fix it. "May be it's just a fuse" they said (yeah... right). So, I bought it and have had it ever since.

I took it home and read everything I could find on Marvin's site (when it was still up). I read everything on Clay's site and printed most of it so I had a repair manual. Glad I did as a lot of it seems to no longer be on his site. I did a basic run through when I first got the machine, but it was pretty minor (replacing the 5101(?) RAM chip and replaced one of the displays (player 2) as it wasn't working. I got it into attract, but it wouldn't start. I kept reading and looking and everything seemed right, but it would never start into a game. Long story short... Turns out you have to have balls in the machine. DOH!

I bought a proper back glass (though not pretty) so it could stand proud as the Black Knight. I am about to get working on it. It's been very kind to me. It has clearly had some work done to it. I am really curious what happened to it through life as some of the repairs are... a little odd. I have played several years without changing out the 40 pin interconnect or touching the power supply. I did change out some of the caps in the sound card as it has always been a little flinky (sound starts to work after about 20 minutes of use). But the caps didn't fix it.

A few years back I went to start it and it the display didn't turn on. While I am pretty sure it was just the fuse (for real this time), but I was far too busy at work to deal with it. So... it has sat (I know... stop haten'). I decided that it was time not to push my luck this time. So... It is time to love on the machine a little bit and set it up for another lifetime of use. I didn't want to power it on until it's been worked on hence the photo is a dark machine. So... I have been reading through Vid's thread about bulletproofing the power supply. So... I have been stocking up a 'project' at Mouser which I am about to pull a trigger on. Eventually I will be buying a new backglass as this one is... well... not great. After all... I do have a fairly nice Stellar Wars glass I can sell to offset the cost of the new backglass. I also have a bunch of other arcade related stuff I can sell too.

The internet has come a very long ways in the past 13 years, and my search for new information is what led me to find the Pinside site. Man this is a great site. So much stuff and... Most of it is really good. I have been a collector of arcade machines and have had a lot of them. My current collection is a MAME machine which I personally built. A Centipede, and my Black Knight.

So... I have a few questions. Aside from the prescribed power supply stuff. Are there any electronic components that I should have a bajillion of on hand that I will want to replace in the cabinet / playfield etc?

While I am comforted by seeing several of your machines, because I always have had this... horrible 'scar' which I have never liked. Like someone made a mistake and didn't know how to deal with it and covered it up in a really bad way... but now I see... all of us have that same issue. So... WHAT is that horrible white dot on the left part of the apron about? Why white? Who thought that this was a good idea?

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Wow. Seriously? So, that's why it needed to be obvious.
So, is it a plug? Something drilled through, or is it something that can be removed without a left over blemish?

I am on a trip for work right now and will be starting when I get home. When you say glass, do you mean backgkass, or playfield glass? I will be working getting a new backglass before the playfield as I can look I can live with the scratches (for a while).

I was going to post pix of the boards once I started work (before and after). I spent about an hour and took a couple hundred photos of the various elements of the game (something I do before every referb). It's proven to be a life saver. The flippers look to be in great shape. They are smooth and shiny.

The batteries are still part of the board. But I have been replacing them every few years knowing that was a dangerous point for these machines. I will be moving them off the board, or putting in a coin cell. I just don't get how a 3v coin cell works better than 4.5v (from the 3 AA batteries). But folks say it lasts longer.

The fuses are definitely part of the plan. No fun in replacing the transformer, so yeah, the fuses are a must.

Yeah, Vids guide is how I found this site. I spent many hours reading through that one. I sort of hope he gets around to doing the sound module tutorial. He said that he would be doing one, but that was like 6 years ago. That's the one part of the game that I know will be in need of repair once I finish the power supply. Although I guess it's possible that the problem is in the headers, but not holding my breath.

Hey, Thanks for the offer. Let me get the first phase done so I can see where it lives. Then I will be quite happy to some help.

Thanks. Yes I am really happy with the playfield. I am really looking forward to seeing this thing up and running.

Part 1: Reading about things that could damage your balls... (sorry, there's just no good way to say that)...
I am not sure what the device is called that flips the ball up onto the playfield, but mine doesn't exactly meet up properly. Being that there's only so much room for the playfield, and it's pretty well locked in, how would I go about making this less of a hit to the ball as it meets up with the field? I have been thinking about going at this in a couple of ways, and I think that the least invasive way might be to slightly carve some of the wood away on the right side to bring the metal guide out just a little. But... I am worried that this could cause other issues too.

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Part 2: Gates n such.
I have never had a gate below the entry. I bought one from the same guy I bought the backglass from. He had no idea what game it came out of, but I got it for like $5. It has a slight slant to it, but I was figuring that I could put it in a vice and bend it so it's vertical similar to the gate on the Black Knight.

But... Not knowing what I don't know, is there anything I should watch out for before attempting this?

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I am not sure. But I am about to work on several bits of the game, so I figured I would look deeper at it. But you bring a good point. Don't sweat it if it's not an issue. Last week I took a ton of photos of all aspects of the game so I had a good set for before / after photos, and / or if things go south for any reason, I have lots of reference images. I had not really noticed this before. But as I was looking through the photos I saw that it looked out of alignment.

I have a Pixel 2 which can also do 240 frames per second. It's a very good idea Travish!

The ramps look to be stainless, but when I looked into my loop thingy (heh... elegant name) it too was not pretty. I am thinking this will be a wire wheel on a drill. Given that lubes are bad news for pins, I have been thinking about what to put on the metal afterwards to prevent new rust. I could hit it with a coat of clear, but I worry that it will fall apart over time and cause a mess of flakes.

@travish, Hey I went and did a recording. It's funny, even at high framerates, the pinball passes so fast. So, I used quicktime so I could just page though the frames so at least the movement was visible. I then took a screen capture of the window (hence the odd frame size). It is right on the edge. It's possible that it's just barely scraping, but that's just a raw metal edge and thinking that each of these balls is going to hit this every game, it will start to wear.
Edit... I am not sure why the image is not showing up. It looks like a dead link, but it's not.

I am wondering if I might be able to make a little plastic inner shell. Something that gives the ball enough room to fly through, but covers any rough edges on the back side and as it's coming out. Perhaps even a vacuform sort of thing.

This is the first time I have touched these pinballs for a few years. They desperately need to be replaced. I have pulled them out. If I need to roll something around I will do it, but, they are pulled for now.

I was looking at that. But the ball seems to travel right under the nail. I would think it would deflect off the wall if it was touching the nail. But perhaps the speed causing the compensation. Was it causing a problem? This is where I was thinking that if I pulled the guide off the wood, and carved it down just a little, it might meet up flush with the metal u-turn thing.

Hey frunch
No, not pulled from storage. It's always sat where it is right now. When I found the machine the people whom I bought it from had it sitting on the floor with the legs and head off. It's been set up in my place and in the same place for it's life with me. But following your same thought, I had pulled the playfield up and tried to shift it. I was looking at the little leggy things that sit under the metal glass guard lock thing (apron, or is the apron the black part with BLACK KNIGHT with the cards on it?) Anyway, I was looking at that seeing that there was a couple mm of space to the left and right, so I tried shifting everything left. But I guess all that stuff is all tied together. But, yeah, I will try what you guys are suggesting. I am open to anything. I wanna make this thing sing.

In a positive note, I pulled out my box of arcade goodies (all my spare pushbuttons, leafs, balls, lamps, ... parts) and found that I did have the plastic for the lower area next to the left ramp. It's in perfect shape aside from being a little warped. I remember now that it never fit right because of the warpage and it was fighting with the plastic from the upper playfield. So I left it off. Thanks to this site, I have found a couple of solutions for how to unwarp plastics, so this is a fixable thing.
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Lastly, and to add some interest / mystery to what's going on with a Limited Edition... I looked at the serial numbers last night. I made a comp in photoshop of the serial number on the box, and the serial number which I found in the head. They do not match at all. So, first, I suppose I should ask, are they supposed to? The box serial places it safely within the time of the LE release. The head serial places it more in the early portion of the original release. So... Wassup widdat?

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When you say platform, do you mean the board that is crossing the lower box sort of towards the back? If so, I have a photo... It's just a fuse and an emi filter. The transformer is in the head.

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So... What is this thing, and what does it do? (not the volume pot, the metal bracket above the pot).

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Lifting the playfield...
I know we can use the little retractable arm to keep the playfield lifted, but it worries me every time I do it. There are several things that concern me about it.
1. Given that the support is only on one side, I can not imagine that the amount of flex is good for anything in the machine.
2. It's just a little point, so I am worried that I might bump the PF and have this thing come down on my head.

I tried to pull out the table a little farther to get more height with the lift post thing, but being that there's more weight in the air, the bottom slips until everything equalizes. On the newer machines, it looks like there might be a hinge like 2/3 into the playfield? If so, this is very cool. Eventually I will be making a rotisserie which looks to make life much easier, but dollars will not allow it just now, so I will have to work inside the machine.

My question is this... Is it a bad idea to pull the playfield out far enough that I could stand the whole playfield vertically? I would need to find a way to secure it, but this would give me far greater access to the underside. Obviously I don't want to cause damage to the playfield, so I have not yet lifted it like this yet. I wanted to get your thoughts on it. Safe, or bad idea?

There is, but it is just not very deep.

Dig it. Makes sense. Nifty solution actually. Well... there's a use for one of the pitted balls.

Got it. I will be careful. No need breaking other things trying to fix current broken things.

Heh... Well crap. Gonna have to get rid of it then.

So is that an easy find? I can't imagine it would be as hard as finding plastics, correct? I knew it was the tilt mechanism, but this is my first pin, so I had no idea.

In other news, I started taking capacitors off my power supply. I had no idea that the filter cap was glued in. Made removing it somewhat problematic. But I got it done.

And you took the BK name too. Nice goin' on that. Yeah that would be awesome. Heck if nothing else, I'd love to see just see your collection. You have a great range ( old to new). As mentioned earlier, I am working on re-capping the power supply, and sound. I am also going going to replace the 40 pin interconnect.

Perhaps a silly question, but... You do have balls in the machine, yes?

When I first got my machine, I wanted to do all the testing without the balls. Just finger tripping the switches n such. I just could never get it into game mode. In fact, I didn't put the balls in because I could not start a game. I still thought it was broken. Turns out it ran fine. Just no balls. Once I put them in, it worked fine.

So... I did the fireproofing and the bullet proofing. I added the mosfets, removed the resistors, and jumpered. I pulled the resistors, and jumpered the driverboard. I replaced the 40 pin interconnect, moved the batteries off the board, and reflowed all other connectors. I turned on the machine and saw the 2500 4. I went through the diagnostics (twice ) and then it went into attract. While I am really excited. With that excitement, I now get to work though figuring out all the little things that might be wrong. I am a little perplexed, but moving forward.

- The credits / match display has the first digit (on each number) coming in and out.
- The sound is nearly non existent. And that which is present is rreeeeeaaaalllllyy sssslllllloooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (and it seems to be stuck on).
- Eventually the machine heats up (or something) and the sound starts to come in. Gritchy at first, and then it comes in nice and smooth (such a great sound).
- I am still working through some bulb replacement to see if I have a ROW issue, or, just a bunch of dead bulbs. I am however interested in how many things I am breaking just trying to change the lights.

I have a lot of things I still need to do. But I want to get the obvious items running. I will be replacing a WHOLE BUNCH of sockets.

Hey @schwaggs, Actually, it doesn't make any sound at all for between 20-45 minutes (silence), then all at once, it comes in (both voice and sound effects). But it's like little chirps at first. Like... you will get a glimpse of sound here and there. And then when it finally decides to kick in, it's all within about 5 minutes, and then it plays perfectly. I am working recapping and reflowing it tonight. I am not sure if I will get it finished tonight or not (because I really want to play it some more). I found a couple posts about how to troubleshoot it this afternoon, and hopefully between that and your suggestions I will figure out something. I went to Fry's tonight in search of sockets, but I am not paying that much. I will get it from Mouser, or Amazon r something.

So... I was already disassembled and working when you wrote this. Previous to this run through of fixes, (back in the olden days)(4 or 5 years ago) I had this same issue. This is one I knew I would be fighting. I could press the button and get the run through of sounds, while there would be no sound in game. This told me that the issue was I believe off board. I just reflowed the MPU connector prior to working on the sound board. So... this didn't help anything. It could be a wiring issue, I suppose, but then I would have some sounds, and not others, right? So, it has to be before that too. I were a betting men, I would think it's deeper in the MPU, but I haven't really gotten to just explore the process yet as there's some maintenance I know I have to do. In the past, I would go in and get sidetracked and sidetracked, and sidetracked... So this time, I am going through all the bits I KNOW I really need to do... as if nothing else, a baseline. Just so I know I can rule X, Y, and Z out, without having to wonder if that might be part of the problem. I mean, sure, I could easily hork something up, but I am really paying attention and reflowing carefully.

Now... I have not been here long enough to start ribbing folks like @vid1900, so I wont. Buuuut... Many years ago, he said that he would write a Williams Sound Repair thread. All, I can say is... Man, if you write it, it will get read. You have laid down some great chunks of knowledge here, and I really do appreciate it. Heck, I have read and re-read the bullet proofing thread at least 3 times, and some sections of it many more. I am doing my homework this time and trying to make the best of my time.

For emergencies, yes, Fry's is nice. But they are going to be receiving a call from me today. I am going to try to speak with as high up in the management chain as I can go. Man, that place has gone down hill and is still slipping. Trying to find... well anything by tag on the wall is impossible. Good luck in trying to find a price that matches with the thing. I bought a pack of slow blow 4A fuses last night. It was $2.00 more that what the tag above it had said. They do not put prices on the little box of fuses. So... is $2.00 a bank killer? No, but if you have a cart full of unknown prices, it makes it impossible to be efficient money wise.
If I wanted to be a dick about it, I could show them the place that the fuses were hung and the fact that the whole peg was marked with that price were these fuses. I can't speak for all places, but at least in Ga. if it is an item marked, that's what the cost is, and they have to honor it. I was in a hurry as it had taken far too long to find the things which I decided were too expensive.

That's another thing. They used to have all the sockets, fuses, components... all in the same area. Now they are spread out into like 7 or 8 areas. Talking about a cluster.

Sorry about getting a little moody here, but dang... fix yer store.

So... I discovered a miraculous feature of my machine. It makes screws disappear into thin air.
How to make this work.

1. Try changing a bulb and loosening the screw so you can get the bulb out.
2. Accidentally drop the screw.
3. While looking in the wrong place for where you think it will drop, it must hit the speaker.

So you start the search. You will see... it's gone. Nowhere to be found. Poof! Pretty amazing stuff Williams was able to make.

So... I got home and went to work on the machine. I was working on the sound and got all the soldering finished (well finished for now).
I put it back in the machine. I used an alligator jumper wire and clipped onto the bracket that holds the sound board (ground) and touched the connector points. It made the sounds. I went to the MPU connector and tried it there. I had sounds. So, both the connector is good, and the wires are good. Immediately the machine had sound when I turned it on. ??? Really? I played a game and reveled in the sound.

I then turned off the machine and restarted it. NO SOUND. Grrrrrrrr. What the fffffffactory settings.
So... I pressed the diagnostic button, and it played just fine (and normal, of not faster (than I am used to)). I then tried the grounding the pins, and it no longer works. This makes no sense.

So... what does work. The amp, the chips (I have both sounds and voice). I have proper positive voltages. The negative voltage is running -18v.

Awesome. Thanks. I will do it as soon as I get home tonight.

Would someone be willing to make a high resolution scan of their upper left plastic? This is the one that looks sort of like Florida.
If so, please lay a ruler next to it so I can get proper scale. I am going to CAD this thing. I do not want to purchase a whole set of plastics, just for one piece.

I have seen a few videos on Youtube about how to make your own plastics, but they all use printed decals which I suspect are not as rich in color. I am looking at what it would take to actually do a stamp, or pseudo silk screen. I am still playing with it, but I do need a form to play with. My machine came without this one. I do need to make a metal shield though. I am pretty sure that one of these days the trough is going to kick a ball out and that glass is going to shatter if I don't get something in there to redirect it.

Heh... This is a great idea.
So... I am discovering that I need more hands. I need a hand to direct the metal lamp holder, one to hold the screw with the divining wand, one to hold the screwdriver, and redirect it to screw into the hole all the while avoiding all the wiring around it(held gently out of the way by yet another hand). I was laughing at how silly I felt... I just couldn't get my fingers into the right position to make it all come together. I then tried from the other side of the table, and it just came together. So, I learned something there. There's an optimal place to do certain jobs.

So... I played for like an hour tonight. The conclusion... 1. This is a great game, and 2. I suck (though the margarita was probably not helping either).
I got up to a massive 270K tonight. The game eventually was over and then I looked up to see the default 2,500,000 flashing in between my high score.

Question 1. Is there any way reset this thing to a far lower number so I can play against myself and not a crazy impossible level that I wont reach... well for a while (cough... ever)? I found 13, which I changed, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

2. In watching some internets webz videos, I have noticed that a lot of people are nudging the machine. Is this an acceptable part of play? I mean I know that there's electronics at play to keep people from getting carried away, but is nudging a thing? Is it considered poor play, or just part of play?

In repair news... Interestingly when I turned the machine tonight, I had full on sound from the start. I played the crap out of it for like an hour. Not an issue. Then I turned it off as an experiment. I left it off for about 10 seconds. When I turned it on, there was no sound. So... while it was on, it was rock solid. After a brief repower, it was completely gone. That's a little odd. I will try this again tomorrow morning.

Ha Dang... using photographic evidence against me. Yeah, I had looked that up. They have many different versions, but I didn't know which one to grab. I have a Marco order coming up soon I think. I have some plastic posts n such that I need as well.

Wow. That's pretty impressive even with 5. Just curious, how long was that game?

I was rereading the instruction book and playing with the settings. I thought that the total ball in play timer was kinda cool. I explored the game a little in the past, I guess I never really crawled through it. It's been a fascinating ride so far.

epeabs Man, I am sorry for your struggles. I guess it's up to us to encourage you not to give up. So keep on man! Make it go!

This is why I eventually sold my 3D printer. Nothing ever was strong enough for my needs. I tried all sorts of fills and materials. The best (strongest) bond I was able to get was from PETG, but while it was very strong, it was too flexible. It's sad because the precision is there. Just not the strength.

Actually given what these things are doing, perhaps PETG might be okay. You want some flex.

I wonder if you have a couple of wires with the shielding cracked and you are having some crossed wires, or a stray whisker wire touching somewhere.

So... long time since my last post with any progress here. My mom passed away and that's shaken my up pretty hard.
In looking for a little distraction here and there, I am nosing back into my Black Knight.
So... SOCKETS! I am on Amazon looking at a variety of sockets. I do see the round pin, but also more of the wafer type. I know that we all loath the scanby sockets, but is the issue waferish type sockets, or the choice of really bad ones? Are the ones made in recent years better than the ones 40 years ago?
I use fairly cheap sockets when I am making my own DIY Arduinos n such and have not had any issues there. But I don't want to put something in the machine I am trying to give a future to that will be it's downfall too. Thoughts?

Link to the sockets I am looking at... https://amzn.to/2PvSr2Q

Mikonos Holy smokes. That's VERY cool. What kind of printer did you use? I saw the original posting of the design, and it got me inspired to hop into photoshop and play with some designs, but I really like your design. The foil makes it 'pop' for sure.

I actually have a wax stamping kit. I think it would be really slick to finish it with a true wax seal. I am not sure how it would hold up with all the vibration, but it would be a killer touch with that design.

Are these cards something you are selling, or do you provide a download somewhere?

Cool. Would it be totally silly just to buy a set of 40's and cut (Dremel) a few down to 28's?

You know, for all your struggles, if this is an option, you might just consider it. This thing has had you pinned for long enough. I know that there's the satisfaction of fixing it yourself, but it's also possible that it could be a defective unit. If they can look at it and know in an hour what would take you...

I have several missing screws throughout the playfield. Is there a standard size / thread? It looks like there might be a couple different sizes.
Also, some screws are topped with a little rubber nubby thing, and others just have a nut. rhyme or reason?

Lastly, and off topic from the first couple questions. I am thinking about re-rubbering with black. For those who have done this, does it still strike you as cool, or... just dull? Is there a nostalga missing with black vs. white? Does anyone really even care, or is modding to taste acceptable?

I know that with my arcade machines, if you start to make permanent mods to things (things that cannot be put back) people tend to get bent out of shape. I get it, there's fewer and fewer of these things in existence. So...

Perhaps that's why your machine is getting goofy. You made the Knight mad with the orange. ;0)
Seriously though, the orange over the clear plastic posts is outstanding.

Happy Black Knight Friday to All!!!