some parts printed separate in colors, some parts painted

BTTF_clock_tower (resized).jpg

Looks great! I would be interested in both the court house and twin pines sign

https://vimeo.com/199922569

Hey all I am looking at joining the club. I want to buy or trade for a BTTF for my son. He has become obsessed with watching the movies and he even has started to dress like Marty. He wears a orange vest around all day and it is funny when I say " Hey Marty what's up dude?" He is really starting to dial in his pinball skills for a 4 year old. I am super proud, and want to find him his dream theme. If anyone is thinking about parting with their BTTF please contact me.

I also want to give people a heads up that I found a really cool mod for cheap. I found a BTTF book called BTTF, The Ultimate Visual History at Barnes and Noble on clearance for $13.00. It has tons of cool cards and pictures from the movie. One of the cards is the perfect size (with slight trimming) for replacement for instruction display card. It is a hologram card with Marty and his brother and sister starting to disappear from the scene in the movie, super cool.

Be prepared to spend some cash for this game these days. The price has gone up in the last year for some odd reason. Working condition is selling for over 4K at least.

Also, the book you mention is in my library as well. I plan to make a custom topper using the photos and such.

Ok, so I didn't like how the first courthouse turned out.. I was installing the pillars separate (They are now part of the base). I didn't like the dark red color, bricks are never that color so I found a dark orange that's much closer to brick, then painted the stripes to make them look like bricks. Also went with an almond color for the cement as this closer matches than gray. Everything snaps together really nicely now.

The light isn't really as bright as the photo makes it look (it's hard to get the camera to take a photo of light). I've got more LED's coming tomorrow, probably start building courthouses and pine mall signs. I have two people interested in both, if anyone else wants them let me know. I can always print on demand, but I prefer doing a group and once I do this batch, I'm moving onto other projects. Both will run on 12v and I'm going to try to tap into an existing accessory cable otherwise it'll be a plug that goes into the service outlet.

I'm figuring $40 for the courthouse, and $25 for the twin pines ($60 if you buy the set).

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printing the 2nd courthouse now.. Got 4 mall signs done, one sign is lit up with 12v led strip

bttf_mall_signs (resized).jpg

Pretty cool that even this game - which is mediocre at best in terms of gameplay - is doing so well! The theme holds up!

Does anyone have any opinions on the cabinet decals from RetroRefurbs? I've got a pretty roached cabinet sides that I'm pretty sure I can't save.

Link: http://www.retrorefurbs.com/shop/back-to-the-future-pinball-cabinet-decals/

Haven't used them, yet. My first to get from them will be for my Getaway. If that is good, then ill get Swords of Fury decals too.

Just joined the club today when mine arrived after a long wait! Really enjoying it so far.
Any recommendations for LEDs? This game is really dark with incandescents, especially in the middle of the pf.

In need of new ramp plastics if anyone has a set and wants to sell - not at $700 listed on Flebay in earlier posts.

Congrats. I just got my BTTF last week! I'm using Comet 2835s LEDs in mine and it really helped brighten up the PF.

Any pics? I did my JP and T2 with Comet 5050 frosted. Warm white for all of JP and sunlight white for all of T2. I was thinking about color matching BTTF.

No pics yet as I actually pulled out the PF to start my top side teardown after getting everything 100%.

I use cointaker warm retro in all my machines and love them. I used the white led flashers from pinball life for the green/yellow/red under the ramps and they really pop. Are your green flasher inserts burned? Most are. I had to replace 3 of the 4 on mine.

Did a quick check my green inserts are burned up as well. Looks like I'm going to have to pop them out. Ugh

My BTTF was just delivered this week. Very excited about it!

However, I'm not sure about the Clock Tower eject. Does anyone know where the ball should go?

When ejected, the ball always hit the post from the ramp and bounces to the left McFly target. I remember playing it when I was a kid and the ball was always going dead center or right flipper. I watched a few videos on YouTube and saw mixed result.

Does anyone know where it should usually goes? Anyway to fix this? Yes, the table is leveled

Thanks!

Actually, you may be lucky and might leave it alone (or just tweak it slightly)--mine always popped the ball SDTM.

These topics should help you:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/retro-refurbs

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/retro-refurb-cab-decals-anybody-use-them

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cabinet-decals-from-retro-refurbs

Same here. SDTM

Sorry for the delay of the mods, had some personal issues the past couple weeks.

One of the things I wanted to do is make sure I'm thinking ahead (so any future mods is plug and play). I typically just include a plug to go into the service outlet, but I know some customers don't like this because then the mod is on so long as the machine is plugged in. There is the remote outlet option, but that's an extra step (I myself use power strips or remote outlets at the linecord for multiple machines, but that's me). I see no accessory port near the coin door (I'm assuming there is none, not that mine was cut).

So... I believe all my planned mods will be very low powered (any lit mod should be 12v@50mah), and if I decide to do an LCD mod it should be under 300mah. With that said, I think I can tap into the power supply without it hurting for juice (especially if your machine is running LED lighting).

My plan is to breadboard a power tap with four standard SEGA/Stern 3-pin connectors, and then you will need to connect that to the power supply. If you have a new power supply like me, you'll need to solder into the test pads:
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If you have an older power supply, there should be test loops (which you could solder to, or if you'd like me to include alligator clips I can):
DATA_EAST_ORIGINAL (resized).JPG

I figure the best place to mount the tap is at the bottom of the playfield, using one of the cable management loops that is connected to a post:
PCB_MOUNT (resized).jpg

There's a nice big hole on the right side where all the connectors can feed through to the top of the playfield:
bttf-bottom_playfield (resized).jpg

I personally have all my mods or extra power consuming peripherals wired to an external arcade style power supply that is near the sub woofer. It draws AC from the main power switch when game is powered on, and then gives me nice clean 12v,5v to what is needed. No worries of feedback to the speakers either.

I've done this too, but I don't expect people to solder to AC (in fear they will solder something improperly, or won't solder to the right poles).

Yep. I have a switching power supply in all my games that have mods. I take the big molex connector that feeds the transformer and remove the two AC pins. I then put new pins in that have another set of AC wires that lead to the switching power supply. Turns on with the master switch. But I understand when trying to make something to distribute, making it simple makes it easy for the end user.

I just don't see many people willing to solder anything to their PSU. I wouldn't.

I have one other option (this is a scaled down version of a power box I worked on a couple months ago). Basically I can suck power off the GI from the coin reject (there are 2 small faston connectors). I can make a splitter, and take that 6.3VAC, use a bridge rectifier to invert it into 7vdc, then use a 5v regulator to drop it down.. Then using a pre-made buck board it can up-convert to 12vdc (which will handle up to 4 amps, or 48 watts).

Roughly calculating, going from incandescent 44 bulbs (1.5 amps) to LED (.2 amps), which saves 1.3 amps (or 8 watts) per bulb converted over. So long as you swap over at least 6 bulbs from incandescent to LED, there should be no additional load from factory power. This would be a completely plug and play solution.

or you can just get one of these power taps and a splitter....

http://www.kimballspinballs.com/dk-pinball/

Splitter is $25, plus I don't have any 3-pin molex connector in my cabinet. Is mine missing? There's a connector in the backbox on the right side, but I'm not getting any voltage from it.

No, you would have to make the molex connections. But this is just an option without having to solder directly to your PSU or draw a connection from another source. I use this for my LAH machine, but honestly every other machine I have done after that one has been with an arcade PSU. It's an easy worry free option for mods without putting any other stress on the PSU. If you have a short or a mod stops working for whatever reason - you have easy access and replaceable power unit on the bottom of the cabinet. "LONZO" show him a pic of your inside cabinet setup. Mine is similar, but lonzo's probably looks better.

I'm not home right now but here is an old picture of when I first installed it.
IMG_3248 (resized).JPG

Not a great pic but gets the point across. About 90% LED the 44/47 and 555 with Comet 1 SMD color matched the green and red. Thanks to comment23 for helping with LED count while I was on a limited lifting restriction. A few scargglers in the back that I didn't wanna pull the flux cap ramp to get to cause I was to afraid of damaging.

Anyone have any tricks for getting to the 44/47 bulbs that aren't secured using a 1/4" nut. To me they basically look stuck in place without desoldering but I'm hoping I'm missing something obvious. See pic 2

IMG_3786 (resized).JPG
IMG_3787 (resized).JPG

You have to go from the top of the playfield, which requires disassembly.

I was afraid of that...

Ah, so you guys are making a custom molex splitter off the transformer, taking in the 120vac and powering a separate power supply. And since it's connectorized you can't mess it up. I like that option, and I have a stock of small 12v 3A power supplies that should be plenty of juice.

Just joined the club today. Got a BTTF for a really good deal. Been sitting in a non-pinhead's home for the past 20 years which means it has many of the signs of neglect: dirt, crumbling rubbers and leaking batteries. When I was in there pulling the CPU Board to deal with the batteries, I noticed this hack at the power supply. Anyone have any idea why someone would have done this?

2017-03-18 23.13.41 (resized).jpg

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The molex connectors likely failed. The "repair" was likely just to solder the wires to the back of the board. Ask me why i know this. . . Hint: my BTTF had no connector where yours is pictured.

Makes sense. Figured someone else with a BTTF probably had a similar 'fix' at some point. Will have to look at pulling that board next and cleaning that work up.

Yeah, that 12 pin connector carries a lot of voltage and will burn up. Common issue on DE pins.

just be glad they didnt just solder the wires directly to the board without having a molex connector to disconnect.

Headed to TPF
IMG_3324 (resized).JPG

Just picked up a nice BTTF after a long search. Has anyone else done the Delorean mod? I'm trying to find the right car to put on the PF and add lighting. Anyone have some photos or tips? Is this is a good choice? https://www.amazon.com/Welly-Diecast-Delorean-TimeMachine-Future/dp/B000256TDK

IMG_0409 (resized).PNG

I saw the awesome BTTF at TPF. What a fantastic restoration with all the cool add ons. Played great too.

I replaced my display with the rottendog replacement, and it's working great.

However has anyone else had an issue with the rottendog display not lining up with the backglass properly? The displays are too low for me.

I cut vertical slots in my display board PCB, in order to allow alignment.

I have the exact same problem. Explain the PCB slot more. You'd need to shift the scoreboard up to align w/ the backglass; how do you keep it there?

Would love to see how you did this.

Kind of annoying that the board is advertised as a drop in replacement and it clearly is not.

The display problem you speak of is a common issue with this game from the factory. Not only do the LED displays not line up, but the originals tend to not line up either. I fixed mine by drilling new holes approximately 1/2'' up and to the left of the original holes. Fixed it.

20170403_210824 (resized).jpg

1/2" seems a lot; I don;t think mine is that far out of whack.

When you say drill new holes up, you're obviously referring to the backbox door. How do you get the standees out of their original holes?

1/2'' seems like a lot. But the measurement is from center of board mounting bracket to the next center of mounting bracket hole. The bracket is a decent size and they unscrew out of the backbox. Your measurements may be a little different. These machines were built mainly by hand - so there will be variables. Which is why I used the word "approximately".