Forgive me for posting in here before I actually have a BSD in my possession, but I'm hoping to pick one up this weekend and had a couple questions and I thought this would be the place to ask them:

1) Does anyone know how tall the machine would be with the legs removed and the backbox folded down onto the cab? I'd like to make sure it will fit in the back of a Toyota Matrix so that I don't have to drive my Jeep which doesn't do nearly as well gas mileage wise.

2)I'm planning to have the side rails, legs, etc powder coated black, but since the side rails are held on with what appears to be some sort of 3M heavy duty tape I thought about ordering a new pair just in case. I'm not quite sure which ones to order.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to posting up pics once I've gotten it home and into it's final resting place. Thanks guys.

Awesome. Thanks. Now I won't be as nervous when pulling them off. Hopefully the machine won't get sold out from under me since I can't get there until Saturday morning.

Well, hoping to join the club tomorrow and it suddenly occurred to me that I'm not 100% sure if it'll fit in my vehicle. Does anyone know the measurements with the legs removed and the backbox folded down on top?

Thanks.

Thanks for that quick reply. 30 inches will fit no problem even in the little Matrix I think. It gets twice the gas mileage of my Jeep, so I was hoping that could handle the job.

I'm in! Now, if my cart hadn't had a flat that I didn't realize I'd be up and running instead of it being wrapped and waiting on the garage floor. Time to start ordering goodies.

Thanks. It's making me crazy that it's just sitting there. Hopefully it'll be in it's place soon and then I can think about how to tinker with it and get some pics up. I suppose in the mean time I can start taking down the flat screen that's currently in that corner and get it ready to be swapped to the other side of the room.

Anyway, I'm glad to be in the club and soon I'll be picking everyone's brain about mods and all kinds of little things I'm sure. It does have LEDs so that's one thing I won't have to do. Although I've seen some shots of colored ones in the translite that really make it pop so I might have to swap some out for colored versions.

Well, it's not in place yet, but it's up and running. This week, I'm going to order some new LEDs to hopefully make mine look nice like aobrien5's above. I also have to pull the 40" off the wall and put it in the other corner now, pain in the neck, but that corner is where BSD is going to look best.

My "Love Never Dies" doesn't light up quite as well as I'd like, some letters barely have light, so I'll have to check into that. I'm hoping that since it's all LED that it'll be an easy adjustment.

Sound is good, but I'm thinking a Flipper Fidelity kit is going to be ordered soon, unless there's another kit people recommend.

Graveyard also needs a little lighting and I'm thinking some nice red under cab LEDs would look nice and go with the red LEDs in the Rockstar fridge that's right nearby.

Oh and my high so far is a pathetic 56.9 million.

Forgive the terrible cell phone shot.BSD.jpg

The backbox does have LEDs, and this is what's in the Love Never Dies. These 3 only really do a good job of lighting up Lo Ne Di pretty much.
Suggestions?
LoveNeverDies.jpg

Well, ordered the Cointaker Love Never Dies LED kit and some Cliffy protectors. Next up I'm going to order something to light up the graveyard. Should I just order up a spotlight or a specific kit?

I'm also working on a topper for my machine. I've had one of those red wolf's armor helmets for about a year now and never had a good place to display it. I got it on ebay and the paint job couldn't be worse, talk about disappointed, but on top of or mounted above the machine it shouldn't be noticeable, especially if lit by some red LEDs, etc.

So far I haven't had any problems with the machine aside from not being any good at it (110mil is my slightly less pathetic high score), but I'm glad there are so many knowledgeable brains to pick if and when I do have an issue.

In looking around for topper ideas I saw what I think was a laser etched Dracula lit with red LEDs. Does anyone know where this was purchased or who makes them or if they're even available anywhere? I've struck out hunting for it or something like it.
I have the red wolf helmet that I mentioned in a previous post, but I keep envisioning nudging the machine and having it somehow come down and crash through the glass so I'm trying to come up with other options.

Thanks Kpull. I didn't see one on his site. I knew I should have just emailed him. lol
And on an unrelated note, I definitely need to keep practicing my high score is up to 156 mil, but that's just nothing compared to some of you guys here.

Strangest thing happened today, fired up the machine and solenoids are just randomly popping in the rat hole and the hole in the upper left playfield by the ramp. Entering into the diagnostic menu I'm seeing:
Check Switch 51 Opto T.R. Lane
Check Switch 53 Opto Castle 1
Check Switch 54 Opto Castle 2
Check Switch 55 Opto B.L. Popper
Check Switch 56 Opto T.L. Popper
Magnet Unload Error

Also when running a test on the magnet, the display is showing as though there are 2 balls in the left gate when there aren't any.

I went from everything working perfectly (or so I thought) to this. And being new to pinball it's all very confusing.

I looked at the batteries, they looked new. Under the playfield, one of the boards doesn't seem to be getting any power, as the LED isn't lit. I've got someone coming early next week to have a look, since I didn't seem to find anything loose and didn't see any of the fuses were blown.
So for now I guess Dracula is going to be decorative until next week.
This is a strange hobby, my game is "broken" for lack of a better word and I'm looking forward to the topper I ordered coming (thanks Joe at Laseriffic) and oddly looking forward to the person coming here and showing me what's wrong and how it gets fixed.
I may already have a slight case of pinball fever since I keep looking at the gym in my basement and thinking, "do I really need all this stuff? I have a Golds membership and man could I fit a lot of pins in here." lol

Yeah, they all seem to be coming from one spot. I will check the connectors again. Maybe undo them all and reconnect just to make sure. I never thought about actually testing the fuse with a meter, makes more sense. The guy who's coming out seems to think that 12v isn't getting there for some reason, but as far as I can tell so far in looking, the black and grey/yellow (I think that's what it was), seems to be in good condition everywhere I've been able to trace it to.
I'll have to open it up and have another good look. I can survive without it until mon or tues but I'd sure rather be playing. I felt like I was just starting to get a bit more control and not spaz out and just slap the flippers like they'd offended me. lol

joe, here's c-2, not sure if it shows up clearly, but the top isn't bulging.

Rlerman, It's weird, on mine, J207 is empty, but 205 and 206 have plugs, and I pulled both and reseated and nothing changed.
I've done what I think is a pretty thorough job checking to make sure everything is seated well, but obviously something's going on. I just don't know what.
C2.jpg

Oh and I really appreciate all you guys taking time out on a Friday night to try and help.

Ok, just to update. Everything's now working. The problems were, a wire on the left ramp opto had broken, but with just a cursory glance and not really knowing what I was looking for I missed it. This apparently blew a fuse, and since I couldn't find my multimeter and not having any previous experience with these types of fuses I assumed (wrongly) that a visual look at them would suffice.

Jay from M&P Amusement came out and tracked the problem down, re-soldered it, replaced the fuse and to top it all off installed my Cliffy Protectors for me all for no charge. Plus I got a few hours worth of pinball school, which for a complete noob was really great. Now I actually understand more about what everyone was trying to tell me.

Next up, installing my topper from Laseriffic and the Lover Never Dies LEDs from cointaker and then have to do some color matching LEDs in the translate.

Oh and if anyone else is new to pinball like I am, have a working multimeter handy and learn how to use it.

Thanks again everyone who threw in some advice. I hope I don't have any other issues, but when I do I think I'll have a bit more of a clue now on how to address them thanks to you guys.

How's your play been when you have the credit dot? I believe the game gets the dot if you don't trip certain things every X amount of games.

Does anyone else ever get their Mystery Hole shot and it says "Outhole Bonus" and then hit the Mystery Hole again and you don't seem to get anything for it at all? Is that normal?

Is there a strategy guide anywhere as well?

lol Yeah I suppose that does make sense. Duh. I'll claim being new to BSD rather than not real sharp.

Thanks Double_D, just what I was looking for!

Well, that sounds like good news to me.

Well, Dracula was up and running flawlessly for a bit and now when I get the ramp to lift for coffin ball, and fire them in there the Opto is not registering them. Get the check switch 72.

Under the board, everything seems to be connected and I didn't see any solder that was loose, etc. It just seems like the opto is not seeing the balls going in, but that sucker is in such an awkward place I can't see if it's even lit.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

Figures too, as I'm just starting to get the hang of things although I still haven't heard "30 million", just 20.

Well, couldn't tell when it was still in place, but pulling it out, it became pretty obvious there was a problem.
Opto.jpg

Found the diode laying inside the cab in the sub.
New one should be arriving tomorrow. Then I get to see how my soldering skills are these days. I've only ever really done wire to wire soldering for car stereos and electronics.

Yeah they're sending me out the whole piece, not the diode. I actually looked up how to do just the diode for future reference and I think for little things I may need to invest in a higher end soldering iron. Just to hit the two wires I'll be fine with my old one, but for some of the finer things I don't think it would get the job done, especially if it requires a really fine tip.

davjoszie, what is the error message the machine is giving you? Is it just "Check Switch 72 Castle Pop Opto"?

If the solenoid is just randomly firing, unscrew all 4 screws and pull the pieces down, go into switch test and use the up down buttons to get to number 72 and shine a non LED flashlight at the black side and see if it's registering. And look at the other side with your cell phone and see if it glows.

Also, it's on it's own little plug so make sure it's properly seated and didn't come unplugged or loosened.

And yes your part numbers should be correct.

Well, got my opto replaced and then started adding mods. Seems each one I add causes it's own little headache, between blown fuses and strange electrical static and popping and sound cutting in and out I can't seem to get Drac dialed in 100%.

Even with all that frustration I am loving the game more with each play. Of course I'm hating it more with each play too, because every time I get a little better, I still fall short somewhere else. Finally got a decent game going, hit castle multi and mist, and couldn't put the finally ball in for coffin until ball after I'd drained the multis. 845,490,010 and all I could think about was how I missed joining the Billionaire's Club and didn't stack all three multi balls. lol

Curse you Dracula!

I did buy Dracula a little buddy though. Not another pin (yet), but a Dracula Returns Skill Stop Slot.

Well, apparently I've got too many mods.
Laseriffic Topper
MezelMods Under Cab single color lighting
Cointaker Love Never Dies

Any two seem to be fine, add the third one and there goes the poor F116 fuse.
I used the DKPinball power bundle to connect them

I had assumed that since everything is LED the draw wouldn't be enough to blow a fuse. Apparently I was wrong.

Thanks for the tip joe2012 I will look into that!

What kind of LED flashers is everyone using behind Love Never Dies?
As mentioned I have the Cointaker strip there which looks great, but if I have to remove one mod that'd be it since that's technically only supposed to light when you get a quickly drained ball. So basically what's the brightest LED flasher that would fit there?

Ok, being almost completely clueless where is the service outlet and how is that done?

Hmm, that empty cut out looks suspiciously like it could have once held an outlet. I know my game was a reimport from Europe, could that be why it's gone?

service outlet.jpg

Jeez, I didn't even get the rubber plug. lol I'm glad to know I just wasn't not seeing it.

I need to learn a bit more about electronics. I assumed that since the DKPinball FS-8 had 8 plugs in it and I had only 3 mods to plug into it, surely it must be able to handle that without a fuse blowing. I suppose it's rather like saying "I can't be out of money, I still have checks left."

Time to hunt down the thread aobrien5 mentioned and see what I can do. Worst case scenario I'll simply convert the topper to a regular plug, since I have an outlet right up there from where the TV was before I had BSD.

I'm sure glad you guys are here for me to ask silly questions to, I'd be lost without this thread and Pinside. So thanks fellas.

Thanks, this helps a ton and doesn't look overly difficult.

Question to anyone who might know, since the 12V fuse is what kept blowing and I actually had things plugged in two different places, one on the just inside the coin door on the left panel at the bottom and then using the DKPinball tap up at J117 in the back box. If I add in plug should it keep things from blowing if I plug one in there? While I can do things like route coax behind walls, install outlets behind tvs I've mounted on walls, etc. The actual knowledge of what is too much power in a pinball is way beyond me.

I'm new to the hobby, so I don't know if mylar is the best solution, but it's what I plan on using, once I touch that area up, because while the rest of my game looks pretty nice, that area has taken a beating to the point of paint loss. So, while I can't be sure what's best, I highly recommend putting something there if you plan on playing the heck out of it.

I've seen the Frisket stuff used in threads when people are redoing the cabs, it never occurred to me to use it like that. Easy enough to pick up on amazon.

Oh and why do people seem to dislike mylar so much?

Boy the coffin multiball problem you're having is exactly what was happening with mine when the opto was bad, so I'm surprised it's testing fine since it's the same problem I had. Maybe just manually check that opto? You'll have to unscrew the pair, but it they're not hard to reach.

Are you getting any error messages?

Unlock the back box, carefully lift the translite out and set it aside. Then carefully lift the speaker panel out and set it face down on a towel or directly on the glass. Get some flex flashers from one of the vendors. I just got some nice flex flashers from Comet Pinball. They look great back there and come in many different colors.

Also, Cointaker makes a kit that keeps Love Never Dies permanently lit while the game is on and color changing, looks really nice, but it hides it being functional.

Wow, one thing after another with my BSD. The sound was working just fine, sounded quite good actually, but since I can't leave well enough alone I ordered the Flipper Fidelity kit. Install was very easy, but when I turned the machine on the sound would cut in and out. Talked to Michael at FF and he said without seeing it, could be the volume control, since when I took it out of the loop it was fine. He sent me out a new one free of charge and I also ordered the volume control extension the lets you put the knob right near the coindoor.
Soon after the sound started cutting in and out again and no adjusting would get rid of that and the snap crackle popping of the speakers.
Today I simply removed the whole kit and reinstalled the originals and now there's barely any sound at all and it's crackling like crazy and then it fades to zero sound.

Suggestions? Is this a question of needing a new set of the sound chips? Game still plays great, but I miss the music, callouts, etc.

I've been thinking about a second pin (who doesn't after you get the first one) and think a NIB is the way to go for sure, then I read about all the NIB pins that have lots of issues too. There's just no winning, only tinkering and spending money. lol

Got my soundboard back from Keith at K's Arcade, looks great, sound's back all in spite of the post office trying to rip the box in half.
Of course immediately upon firing it up I have a new issue that was similar to an old issue, I get check switch, 51,53, 54, 56,57. Also the ramp isn't lifting for the ball to load into the right mist gate. I checked all fuses with a multimeter and they all read as good, that was one of the issues last time. There don't appear to be any broken wires either, but maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place.
I still haven't gotten this whole hunting down of errors down pat.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I have new black rails and a lockbar ready to go on, but I figure I'll save that project for once I have it up and running again.

Switch 51 Opto TR Lane
Switch 53 Opto Castle 1
Switch 54 Opto Castle 2
Switch 56 Opto TL Popper
Switch 57 Opto Castle 3

So all opto's are they all on one fuse? If so which one, as it would appear the fuse is blown or there would seem to be a hidden broken wire. It's very strange that they're all out at once.

I was hoping to play some BSD when that board came in. Seems it's down more than it's playable.

Thanks for responding joe. The board itself seems to have power as the red LED is lit. I unplugged and reseated everything at the board, and didn't see any broken wires after tracing them around the board. I'm sure I could have missed something though.

Could this mean the opto pcb board itself has something wrong with it? It would be my luck after sending in one board another one goes.

It registered dropping it in the mystery hole, but the left side magnet pocket the optos aren't registering.

I will definitely start a thread on it, I had hoped it would be a quick fix.

Ok, before I do please forgive my ignorance but you referred to the mystery switch as being the last one on the column. Uh, maybe I'm having an issue because I'm looking in the wrong place. I was looking under the playfield literally at the switch that gets tripped by the ball as it goes down the hole. Where is this column?

I hope one day this doesn't all seem like Greek to me.

Actually what I really hope is for the game to miraculously never need repair, but that seems unlikely.

Wow, looks amazing!
Whoever you're working on those other BSD's for is going to love it when it's done!

I got a better looking one on eBay and it had some sticky tape residue on it. I tried using a Goo Gone wipe and it took off the residue and started taking off the white too. I stopped before it became noticeable from the outside. The black there actually looks rather sinister, which obviously works with BSD.

CPR is asking if there's any interest in a repro BSD playfield. I can't be the only one who owns a BSD who'd be in for a new playfield, so if you'd be into it as well, maybe vote and post in the thread.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cpr-taking-playfield-suggestions

Actually I have a set here I haven't installed yet. They're nice looking but obviously its hard to say much else until I install them.

Nice job on LND! Looks amazing. Really creative solution too.

Ouch, if the game is that worn there, what's it look like where the ball drops, up by V I D E O where the wear seems to most typically be?

Personally I would, because it's typically the area with the most wear. I'm new to BSD (and pinball in general), but I don't think I've seen that kind of wear in that spot before. Maybe someone else can chime in on if that's common or not. My game has paint loss up near VIDEO where the ball drops, to the point where it almost looks like someone took an eraser to it, but none in the area that one does.
Just made me wonder if what happened in your pic is a freak occurrence or if it's got wear all over. If you have some paint skills anything's fixable I suppose though. Especially if you get it for a steal.

FYI, don't let the fade bug you, scroll up and you'll see how it can be done with a paint pen. Or open up the checkbook a bit more, there's a full set on eBay right now starting at $125.

Joe, that looks really good. Great idea. Your skill as a cameraman isn't quite on par though.

Edit:
Also makes me want to try it and pull the tombstone piece out that surrounds the lights, dremel out the cross, paint it to match and lay a piece of tint across the back, and put an LED back there so that it lights up from the back.

Changing the flippers doesn't take long, so why not swap them out for blood red bats and black rubbers? I think that was the combo it was designed to have. Someone will chime in with the correct combo I'm sure.

You can always go back to the lightning flippers if you start cranking out 1 Billion plus games on the regular.

I haven't done anything much to my BSD since I got it working really well, but the flippers seem pretty weak to me, so this upgrade really interests me. Thanks for sharing!

lol I over spent on mine too, and while it's not faded it's definitely just player's quality. One day I'll find a CQ one.

Now to figure out why the Mystery Hole isn't registering. I've been ignoring BSD since I got MET and TWD.

Add me to the list of folks who want a playfield. I think there are quite a few of us, but when I talked to Mirco he seemed to think it wasn't worth the effort.

Anyway, now on to my main question. Does anyone or can anyone take a picture inside the cabinet of the flipper opto board and connectors? Ideally I'd like to be able to see which color wire goes where. I was about to tackle rebuilding the flippers for more oomph and asked in Vid's thread what type of switch was best and he was like switch? You've got a flipper opto board. And I was all like nuh uh...
leftswitch.jpg
rightswitch.jpg

So if anyone's got a similar pic, but with the correct parts I'd love to be able to see what wires are going into the IDC connectors.
I suspect they may look like this...
ButtonMess.jpg

I'm guessing it was done because it was cheaper and faster than ordering $70 in opto boards. They've always worked fine but they seem under powered. Maybe I'm just comparing em to new flippers but now that I know they've been hacked I want them correct. If I ever find a CQ one I wouldn't want to sell it like that.

I've got all the parts and that's when Vid clued me in on the cabinet buttons. I certainly wish they felt too strong as it is they feel like they have just enough power to make the ramps from the opposite flipper but no way I could backhand the coffin ramp from the right flipper for example.

If you're not right on top of it it looks good though. Lol

Thanks Jaybird. That's definitely going to help. If anyone else has other shots to confirm the wiring, I'd love to see em. New flipper boards and IDC connectors ordered, hopefully by some time next week I can get them and install them and rebuild the flippers and see a bit more power and hack free.

First I will rebuild the flippers check and see if that does the trick with fresh parts and then install the new cabinet flipper boards. Pitch looks good on the bubble level but I will test with the app.

Well, rebuilt my flippers and they're working much better. So much better in fact I decided to not fix the hack job yet since I didn't have the time to make sure I did it right. Finally put up a decent score too.
And of course it was good while it lasted, we had a kid over who didn't know what a pinball machine was pretty much and was pretty much just pounding the flippers constantly. Then the game stopped working properly and reports a ball missing. The trough isn't working or registering anything and the launch button is not lit or responding.

Now, I had the flippers rebuilt for a bit and logged at least 20 games on it to "test" it. This kid plays less than a game and it's jacked up.

Is there a fuse that could have possibly gone? Any ideas? Thanks as always for the help.

Well, after further investigation, all the switches seem to work as they should. However when I go into the solenoid test not a one will fire.
I'm digging through the manual to see if I can find a fuse that might be the culprit but if anyone has any ideas, shoot them my way.
The game is actually holding all the balls and won't pop them out, which is I guess why it registers a missing ball.

Edit:
Yup, fuse. Now to make sure which 5A goes in there.
Second Edit:
F112 is a 7A slow blow. I pulled a 5A that didn't even look like a SB out. I don't have any 7A, can I use a 5A SB until some replacement 7s arrive?
Looks like a good time to stock up on all the fuses to have as backup.

Well, I've got a 5A SB in and seems ok for now. I was going to say I was snowed in and can't get to the Radio Shack today, but seems silly to complain about 4 or so inches on the road to someone up in MA. lol

lol It did that exact same thing to me the other day doublestack. And I didn't even think to get killed in Video before the ball drained. It doesn't happen often, but next time it does I'm going to try that since a mist multiball is so much more lucrative.

Here's kind of a random question, I saw that Mirco is asking about Cactus Canyon and thinking of doing a playfield for it. Do more people actually have one of those than people with BSD? I thought it was a fairly rare title? A year ago I asked him about BSD and he told me it wasn't popular enough to merit him doing one.

Ok, this is pretty much what I was thinking. Maybe his rationale is that BSD is on average a $2500 game and maybe people wouldn't spend $1000 on a perfect playfield? I guess he hasn't seen what they go for when they do pop up or how quickly?
I just can't imagine that considering how valuable CC is that there are many people with one that has a trashed playfield to begin with.

And maybe that's what Mirco figures most people would do too. My game looks good and plays great (when something doesn't stop working), but a new playfield would sure look pretty in it and I'd love to see what it played like clear coated and smooth as glass.

Work's kept me plenty busy lately, but I finally got to play some pinball last night and hearing "30 Million" never gets old.

Anyway, long story short my playfield has seen better days, it's an LS with mild planking and some sort of paintloss/crappy touch up right where the ball drops out at VIDEO. Is there any cure for planking? Would sending it out to one of the talented folks on pinside for proper touchup and clear remedy that at all?

Second, for a relative noob who's more comfortable turning a wrench on his Jeep than tinkering with 20 year old wiring on a pin, how hard is a playfield swap? And with the wires being old, dry, etc is there a lot of risk of damage when moving things to a new playfield?

Thanks all. Hope everyone's too busy playing pinball to answer this for a while.

I've got an awesome wife.
Have it clear coated or use it stock?

bsdnos.jpg

I was thinking that. I just got it, I hate to see it go out for 12 weeks or so but the end result will be worth it.

I actually just started looking into it but I know Kruzman takes about 12 weeks, that's why I mentioned 12 weeks.

And yeah this thing needs no repair. The only "flaw" is the factory mylar on it in a couple places at the edges seems slightly gummy. I'm hesitant to do anything to it at all for fear of screwing it up. lol

Lately my BSD has been working great, but every now and then when the ball goes in the Mystery hole and travels down the subway, that switch doesn't register. It's always a simple fix with just a little bending, but I want to replace the switch itself to hopefully eliminate it from happening again. Does anyone happen to know which switch I'd need to order?

With Halloween coming up I want to have it tip top when the house is full. Thanks!