My JP was having trouble knowing how many balls it had. It actually had 6 in it, but would think there was an extra and keep trying to launch nothing. So I did a trough clean to attempt to fix it, and finally got it cleared. Went to look at the switches and one was wobbly. I literally moved the wire to see if it needed to be pushed back in, and it broke off. Pic attached.

I've already put in an order last night for 6 more to replace everything since they all look like crap, but the problem is that I'm leaving for vacation Sat morning and my house/dog-sitter really was excited about playing while she was there. I turned it back on to see if it would work at all, but it's just saying "Missing 1 Ball" and firing everything looking for it.

Is there any way to temporarily fix this in case the switch doesn't make it in time? I ordered from Pinballlife and they were decently quick last time, but I'm looking for alternatives just in case. I'm not aware of anywhere local that sells them unless a normal hardware store carries something like this, since the pin shop closes before I get off work and doubt they would even talk to me about buying a part from them.

Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated.

switch.JPG

Just called Terry and he said he would make sure it gets out today. I did UPS so hopefully it will get here on Friday. Pinballlife rocks!! Thanks Terry if you read this.

Thanks for the help guys. I was trying to figure out if it would solder, but it is broke flush. I even got out my gun and plugged it in, but chickened out. Any adhesive I have doesn't conduct, and knowing my luck I would end up blowing something else up. Now I've got to figure out how to replace them since all the connections are soldered on and I don't know how to do anything except break them it seems. lol

I'm definately going to practice, or make husband do it since he knows how. But my big question is how do I get the solder off the current connection? Will heating it up get the solder off so that I can remove it safely?

I don't know if the pic shows it, but the gren/red wire end connection is soldered onto the switch, then covered up with the plastic end piece. Is that normal? We've had problems with the bunker switches (that normally are problematic on JPs) and on those the diode wire is soldered on the end brackets but the connection wire that goes over the switch's middle bracket isn't soldered. On the trough ones, everything is soldered. I assume that it moving around like that is why it broke the bracket off to being with.

So what I'm holding in the pic is the green/red wire with the connection end plus a broken-off bracket soldered to it, all one big lump of metal. Somehow I've got to get the broken piece off so I have something to reconnect back to the new switch.

Thanks LTG. I appreciate all your help. I was afraid that the soldering job was something abnormal/hacked and was already screwed up before I got my hands on it. (None of my other switches have it between the wires and switch thingy I think you are probably properly calling a lug.) It's been working, so I guess it's fine, and I didn't realize that heating up what was already there would melt off the solder on it. You know, I was originally just supposed to buy a pinball and enjoy it, yet somehow I'm slowly becoming a pinball tech. lol I really do like learning and being able to fix it, but am just paranoid I'm going to mess it up royally.

Spud... I think as long as I'm going to have to replace that whole switch, I may try this tonight. To practice my soldering.

Oh yeah, I'm aware of the maintenance now and enjoy it as far as what I'm comfortable doing (replacing lights, cleaning) and get on here for help with the rest. But before I actually knew what I was getting myself into and simply fulfilled my dream of owning a pin, I didn't realize how delicate they were. Then my "working 100%" pin was shipped many miles and magically not working 100% upon arrival, and we had to do the repairs ourself with parts sent and help provided by the seller across the country. It all worked out and so far I'm doing pretty good, and still hanging around wanting more.

I wondered that, but I'm not that skilled at repair work yet and will be doing good to get them changed out once at this rate. I ordered 6 just so I could change them all if need be, since they are cheap enough and look like crap to me as far as being bent. As soon as I turn it on, it starts with the "Missing 1 ball" and firing everything trying to find it. This one is the 3rd slot, but not sure if being on the end would make a difference. I'm going to poke around more on it tonight and see what I can do.

Parts came today. Thanks again to Terry at Pinballlife for getting those to me quick. We're moving someone in for the week we are gone (since we have a zoo basically) so I was supposed to be cleaning the house but snuck off to see if I could bring JP back to life. I de-soldered, took apart, put the diode on, got everything lined up, and then couldn't get the solder to work. I thought you were supposed to melt the solder and let it run down where you needed it, but it just disappeared. So finally called in husband and he showed me how. (Thanks hubby Wahchintonka.) Then I put the switch back on, changed the rubbers, replaced a couple of lights, and fired it up. IT LIVES!!! Not to jinx it, but it was running perfectly. Six months ago I didn't even have a pin, and now I'm on my way to very basic pinball tech!

Thanks again to everyone for the advise. Karma for everyone.

Thanks j_m_. I appreciate the info. Admittedly I haven't done soldering before, but logically it didn't make sense to put the really hot thing against the fragile metal electronic stuff. lol I read up on it and was all "That cannot be right."

We played a few games last night and so far so good. Once we are back from vacation I might go ahead and replace the rest of the switches since they look like crap. But then again, maybe I'll leave them alone as long as they are working. It seems people who poke on machines because they are bored tend to cause more messes.