Just joined the club last weekend! Cleaned it up and fixed the 16 technician errors DOH! Looks and plays great now!

Lets see some pictures of painted treasure chests along with paints used and procedure used!

^^^^^ THIS! PLEASE HURRY! ^^^^^^

Yep assuming you are referring to the coil that drops the sails... http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/090-5074-03

Mine drops without pressing the flippers, right after the animation and light show (a second or 2).

Could you have a mechanical issue hanging up the post and the vibration from the flippers shakes it loose? Try testing the post in coil test. It should go up and down by itself in coil test...

Beautiful!

I can easily hit the Port Royal ramp from a cradle with a clean shot. Sounds like a flipper rebuild is the way to go. You should also check your playfield pitch to make sure it is not too steep.

It's not real deep in the "different and unique modes" area. But it is a challenge to finish. You have to complete lots of tasks. I will have not finished mine.

As others have said, the theme and gameplay resonates with non-pinheads which adds the population of buyers. I also do not understand why people on here bash the game yet think more simple games are better. POTC has a variety of shots that are fun to learn to hit if you take your time to figure out why and when to hit them.

I think the biggest reason it gets knocked by pinheads is the ship is easy to hit and rarely punishes you for trying the shot. The monkey on the other hand, is a very risky shot for me. Half an inch left or right and you have a very fast shot SDTM!

They can he had for less than $3500 in routed condition. That being said, my routed POTC cleaned up beautifully. The finish on the PF seems to be bullet proof and cleans up nicely! The dead giveaway on mine is the shooter lane, it took a beating!

I was able to finish Davey Jones but I didn't complete the Monkey shot... I figured out that completing the Monkey while holding a ball during multiball works well....

There are a few threads on here on the assembly process. It is not as simple as ColorDMD but it does not appear all that hard. I would also recommend the Pinball Mike parts kit, he provides some great instruction.

Sure can! Transistors can fail shorted which would cause the flasher to stay on. Decent directions to test a transistor with a DMM can be found here: http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=general#Testing_a_Transistor.2C_Silicon_Controlled_Rectifier_.28SCR.29_or_Field_Effect_Transistor_.28FET.29

If the transistor needs to be replaced, also replace the associated diode.

Wow, a reasonably priced pinball machine on eBay! Must be a first... Looks like a nice machine! GLWS

Congrats on joining the club!

I think people either don't know it is wrong or are too afraid to pay to fix it. I picked up a Firepower once that every time your hit a switch, it would say "Firepower". The owner said "Don't they all sound that way?"

Welcome to the club!

I can't see how someone could do anything from the outside of the machine to stress that part. Just weird timing....

To get at the link, grab a 1/4" nut driver and remove the screws holding the coil bracket to the playfield. The pins of the link are held in place with spring clips that should simply pop off using a small screw driver. Post up more specific questions if you need more help.

If the flipper is functioning normally, I would not be concerned. If the sound bugs you, check to see if the flipper coil is mounted tightly in the flipper mechanism. Power to the coil is pulsed many times per second when holding the flipper up. Sometimes the coil windings vibrate when this is happening, sometimes the coil is just a little loose in its mount.

Jack the monkey has blocked me the few times I got that far...

Get 'em while they last boys.... ebay.com link: PIRATES PINBALL MACHINE by STERN COMPLETE PLASTIC SET 803 5000 92 BRAND NEW

Those of you that missed out, keep an eye on ePay, this seller has posted several PoTC plastic sets...

You might be able to rebuild your clutch with these parts depending on whats broken or worn. See page 80 of the manual for an exploded diagram of the clutch.

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2030

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3711

Looks great!

Mine does not hit the ship. Was yours always hitting or is it only doing this after you worked on it?

Maybe all you need to do is slightly bend the metal to which the sail is mounted. Be careful you don't bend it too far to where it interferes with the other sail.

I only have problems making it when I need the shot to finish the Monkey! Seriously, mine is easily make-able with a good shot, even a backhand. This is not to say it is an easy shot. What are you seeing?

They don't go completely down or don't go down at all when the ship is sinking?

I had a broken wire for the sail solenoid that allowed the sail solenoid to work perfectly when the ship was in the all the way up position but would not drop the sails as it rocked to sink. I replaced the sail solenoid wiring and it works perfectly now.

That is exactly what my sails did that had an intermittent connection inside the wire for the sail solenoid. I also agree with Peter and pinworthy that your ship is not moving correctly. The back and forth movement should be more fluid and it seems to be missing some up and down movement as it rocks. Pull the mechanism and clean, lubricate the pivot points and check the track that the ship slides along. Replacement parts for the wear items in the ship is available at Pinball Life and Marcos.

I cut a piece of red velum and put it between the board with the LEDs and the plastic. The velum is translucent and totally obscures the LEDs under the treasure.

I took mine off. I don't think it is there for strength as much as preventing stuck balls in an around the ship from airballs.

If you take it off, it does create an area behind the rum ramp that can trap balls. They end up in the area just above the ship shot. I was "lucky" in that the plastic that covers the ship shot was cracked to I just cut out the plastic with a dremel. Now if the ball goes airborne and ends up behind the rum ramp it simply drops down into the ship shot lane!

In the 18 months and 100s of plays on mine, I never had a ball make it behind the ship when it was down. In fact, it rarely jumps behind the rum ramp.

There is a clutch on the ship that should be slipping when the ship gets jammed. Worst case, you are wearing the clutch out slightly faster than normal.

That looks great! Very detailed. Love the lighting. Do you think the figures will hold up to being hit by the occasional pinball?

I had a ton of airballs off the green targets when I first got my POTC. All I needed to do was tighten down the target mounting brackets. They were lose allowing the target to lean back causing airballs on the bounce back.

Swampfire, also consider disconnecting the post in the ship shot lane. You can reduce its use in the settings but it is always used through the first ship. Eliminating its use will make the ship shot a little more risky.

Mine came out of Chucky Cheese and had 54,000 plays and original code on it when it arrived. VERY dirty but it cleaned up nicely. The clear coat on the PF looks VERY shiny and I only used Novus 2 (not one of the polish kits) when I shopped it. With a new plastic set and once I polish the PF, you would have a hard time telling it wasn't HUO if it weren't for the shooter lane wear and cabinet wear on the corner of the cabinet near the flipper buttons.

Point being, I wouldn't be afraid of a routed POTC at a good price (south of $4k).

The wave crashing DMD animation is when you earn bonus multipliers. There is a jackpot callout and basic animation.

I agree that some games should be left with incandescents. For me it is Firepower probably due to the sheer number of quarters I dropped in that sucker in the day and am used to the look. I put white LEDs in my T2 GI and color matched the inserts. It looks great on this title IMO.

Agree, check the sail solenoid and/or wire leading up to it. The wire flexes a lot and eventually breaks somewhere along the line. Usually there is no visual evidence that the wire is broken. My sails would work in solenoid test but not during game as the ship is slightly moved when the sails sink during the ship sinking event. Sometimes the wire makes connection with the wire flexed in certain positions, not others.

Welcome to the club! Mine had 1.14 on it when I got it. Backup your code before you upgrade it, you may want to play it someday...

I didn't have any trouble finding a USB drive to update mine. The spec sheet says any USB 1.1 compatible drive will work. That is an old spec but most new drives are probably backwards compatible. I think I used an older, smaller one I had laying around.

Plug in a USB drive, go to the USB menu, under Utilities and select Backup.

I'm not a great player but did have one lucky game and defeated Davey Jones. I still had that damn monkey to finish so I didn't quite complete the the game. Never been close since.

Danger bounce.

I had the exact problem. Sails worked in test but not in the game. Thought it was mechanical for the longest time. Cleaned and lubed the whole mechanism. Ended up being a broken wire in the harness to the sail drop solenoid (the small one). In test mode, the ship is in a different position than when in the game when it drops the sails. The slight additional bend in the wire when in the game, caused a break in the wire. I just replaced them with new wires and its worked ever since.

If the opto was fluttering, wouldn't the timer over for the next attempt to lock the ball start over?

This is a weird one...

Only thing I can think of is the code has been corrupted or a problem with the memory that is storing the status of the timer. Have you tried to watch the timer countdown when this happens (easier said than done... )?

I have removed mine around the backboard. Its just a matter of disconnecting the wiring and turning the assembly to the point where it comes out. It is tight.

The metal disk is attached with a allen head set screw. Righty tighty, lefty loosey. Make sure you have a tight fitting allen wrench. If it is to tight, you can try heating it up with a soldering iron, then trying to loosen it.

My original motor squeaked. Most notable as the motor spins to a stop. I tried lubricating it to no avail. I believe the squeaking sound is coming from the motor brushes. I recently had to replace it, and the new one squeaks exactly like the old one....

Stern games have a similar problem on the trough connector and I've had the same problem on STTNG opto board. To solve it, I used Dielectric Grease. Using a Qtip, wipe an invisible layer of dielectric grease on the pins. You should not gob it on, just make the pins "wet" with the grease. Reassemble the connector.

My AVLE used to start to loose track of balls every 25-100 games due to a flaky connection on the trough opto board. Since applying a thin layer of Dielectric Grease, I have not had the problem in 3 years. Same with the STTNG opto board. Try the grease on the connector to the switch matrix first. I have not needed it on the actual opto connectors.

You can get it at your local auto parts store or Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-22058-Dielectric-Tune-Up-Grease/dp/B000AL8VD2/ref=sr_1_3

Carefully watch as the ship is coming up. Is the motor running and the clutch slipping during the last part of the travel?

If the motor is running, either the ship is binding (causing the clutch to do it's job and slipping to prevent the motor from burning up) or the clutch is slipping and is too loose.

I would take the ship out, disassemble (take lots of pictures!) all the mechanical and pivot points, clean, lube and re-assemble. Look for worn parts and replace as needed. Retest in the game.

Have a look at the wear track. If this is worn, it can cause binding preventing the ship from moving correctly.

Might be simpler to tie into the chest lid solenoid. You could simply use a 48V relay. Tie the relay's coil onto the chest lid coil. Connect the relay switched leads to your topper. Something like this should work:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Omron-Electronics/G5LE-1-DC48/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtSzCF3XBhmW%2fyoRnyfeNYct49MMbUY9H8%3d

There isn't an opto sensitivity adjustment, you still have an intermittent connection somewhere.

Doublecheck that you have the ship optos plugged into J3 and J4.

You replaced the opto board (the board with four 2 pin connectors for optos and a larger 5 pin connector)?

If so, you replaced everything in this circuit and the only thing left is the 5 pin connector that provides the board power and connects the board to the switch matrix. I would replace the factory 5 pin IDC connector with a new crimp on style connector with trifuricon crimp-on pins.

If you have not replaced this board, carefully look at all the 2 pin headers and the 5 pin connector header pins for cold solder joints. You may just want to reflow the solder to them or better yet, replace the header pins. If that does not solve it, I would replace the 5 pin IDC connector.

I was very disappointed with the JPOTC soundtrack. I was hoping for more epic, immersive movie scores. The first movie has an awesome score, it is sad that it was not used. The gameplay looks cool from the vids.

Bottom line for me is for the price. All I can say is I look forward to playing it at one of my friend's places.

And as for JPOTC killing the price on POTC, I can't see that happening. A dip, maybe but a crash, no. If POTC was a stinker of a game and people were buying it purely for the theme, maybe. But POTC is a fun game and will stand on its own regardless of how fun JPOTC is.

I have the LCD in mine set on the smoothing setting - l love it. The colorization is one of the best.

I've seen the LED version and really don't like it. The dots appear smaller than the plasma display and is really distracting to me. Very bright, pure colors but the spacing and/or dot size make it a non-starter for me.

Totally agree with you. In fact, this is one title I don't like LEDs in at all. The warm, burning color of incandescents works really well with the theme!

I like these much better than the condoms:

https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=2&pg=1

Looks awesome!

I left mine incandescent for this reason. The warm glow of those bulbs burning fits the theme better than LEDs IMO.

This isn't it but it might meet your needs with some aging:
https://www.amazon.com/Hampton-Nautical-Deluxe-Class-Decorative/dp/B00HS14K82/ref=asc_df_B00HS14K82/

Yes, the post should be completely level with the playfield when down. Its a simple adjustment under the playfield.

I would try fixing the post to see if the SDTM problem resolves. It should not go SDTM after being released by the post, ever.

I think Lloyd nailed it. I suspect there is something mechanical sticking the post in the up position. The vibration from the flipper mechs shakes it loose. I've seen this on other machines too.

Do you see the post extending on later ships? I believe you can set the code to disable the post on later ships.

I used a piece of red frosted plastic to defuse the leds. Works OK but still not perfect.

The position of the shooter rod in the cabinet is adjustable. By loosening the 3 screws inside the cabinet that hold the shooter rod housing in place, you can shift the rod up, down, right and left. Be mindful not to scrape the decal on the front of the cabinet as you move the bracket. You want the shooter tip to engage the ball in the center as the ball rests in the shooter lane - vertically and left to right. If it doesn't strike the ball in the center, the shooter rod can push the ball sideways up the shooter lane preventing a full launch.

If the shooter rod is already engaging the ball in the center, you can bend the forks of the auto-launcher apart to make more room for the shooter rod. You will want to make sure that with the ball resting in the groove of the shooter lane that the two sides of the auto-launcher fork engage the ball at the same time. If it doesn't, the ball can be pushed sideways up the shooter lane preventing a full launch.

Hi Mattyk and welcome to the club!

POTC is a very reliable game, once the bugs are worked out of it. Like almost any other game, reliability really depends on the prior owners and what restorations they have done, the quality of their work and their attention to detail. Once all the optos, wire harnesses, switches, flipper mechs, etc have been adjusted and/or rebuilt, this game can run for years without issues in the home environment.

To replace *all* the rubber parts on a POTC is a pretty involved project. There are rubbers all over the playfield and several parts and plastics need to be removed to get at them all. For example, there are rubber posts in the spinning disk mechanism at the upper left. To get at them all, you need to remove the mechanism from the game or remove the backboard. To get the spinning disk mech out, you need to take the Totuga ramp off. To get that ramp off, you need to remove the Rum ramp.

Where do you guys get Jack the Monkey? Is the only way to get him to buy a bigger action figure set?

I had a similar problem on another game that turned out to be a very slight burr on the very corner of the metal ball guide. The end can get mushroomed from the ball hitting the edge of the guide (missed shots up the orbit).

Put down a damp paper towel to catch the filings and hit the edge of the ball guide with a metal file. You can put painters tape down too if you are worried about scratching anything with the file.

In my case, I couldn't feel a burr, the edge just felt sharp so it really doesn't take much material to effect the ball trajectory. A couple passes with a sharp file is all it took.

It's not normal on mine. It rarely rattles and falls back out of the front of the chest unless you made a really bad shot.

1) I’d like to switch lamps to LEDs. Any particular place have the best kit? I was looking at Comet Pinball.
I actually like this title with incandescents so I can't help you there. The warm glow of old lights suits the theme.
2) Is there something about the battery I need to check/fix?
Its a lithium button cell that doesn't leak and only needs to be replaced when it dies.
3) Pinstadium lights worth it?
Only you can decide this - they are not for me, personally.
4) Anything I should check on the spinning disc or ship (I know both function as they should)?
Check the decal on the spinning disk for wear. Not expensive or particularly difficult fix. It is hard to get at, that is all.
There is a ship test in diagnostics - use it to make sure the sails drop and you can sink the ship. Also try it in a game.
5) I know the auto plunge is not working. I hear a click and ball barely moves so I need to dig into the cause but any thoughts off hand?
As mentioned, could be a broken link, missing spring, the pivot screw on the launcher could have come loose or broken, or the launcher arm could have broken.
6) Any other suggestions?
Try shooting the chest to make sure it works.

There are quite a few pivot points in the ship mechanism that can have the dirt and old grease removed and light layer of fresh grease applied. Take LOTS of pictures as you take it apart for cleaning. The mechanism and routing of wires is complicated.

Not much to the tortuga spinner. Basically the disk mounted to a motor.

Love it! It is really well done.

My original squeaked too. I lubed it and it didn't really help. Finally it died. I replaced it and the new one squeaks the same. I think it might be the sound of the brushes or maybe it is caused by running the motor on end as opposed to on it's side.

It very well may work. The motor is used in the compass is also used in shakers. At least, that is what I replaced mine with and its been working fine.

Mr and Mrs Smith brought it down there!

You need to change the cord, the main fuse and rewire the plug to the transformer for US voltage. That will get you running.

To do a thorough job you need to change the MOV surge suppressor to a 130v device (not critical especially if you use a surge suppressor strip).

I would double check how they rewired the transformer to make sure they did it correctly. You can do it incorrectly and the game will function but it stresses the transformer winding. So best to make sure it was done correctly. Info is in the manual that you can download from stern’s site.

If I understanding you corretly, that wiring arrangement wouldn't work with the stock wiring to the transformer. A jumper on 1-2 does nothing. Black on 3 is one end of one of the primary windings. The problem is white on 9 is the other end of the other primary winding which would not result in a complete circuit. If you are reading the Molex pin numbers correctly, it shouldn't work unless someone re-wired the transformer side of the connector. That will be hard to correct as the manual doesn't have wire colors for that side.

That looks like a 2 inch long screw. Next common size up would be 2 1/4 inch.

Are you sure you measured the diameter correctly? 0.1 inch is a #4 screw which I know isn’t right for a sling screw. It is probably a #8-32 screw which should measure 0.164 inches in diameter. If it’s 0.138 inches in diameter, it’s a #6-32.

Clean the playfield with a damp micro fiber cloth, rinsing often. You can use a light cleaning solution like Novus 1 or even window cleaner.

Use a quality automotive clear coat polish like Meguires Ultimate Compound. Meguiar's G17220 Ultimate Compound, Color & Clarity Restorer, Scratch & Swirl Remover, 591 ML, 1 PT 4 FL oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06W5HCZ9M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_1T85D2Z4347318Q69XSB

Use a high quality wax, something high in carnuba.

Your POTC will look every bit at shiny as a modern Stern. The clear on POTC is awesome.

Mine was squeaking. Most noticeably when spinning to a stop. I tried oiling it a few times but no fix. I replaced the motor and it sounds almost the same. I think that sound is being generated by the brushes. Normally brushes are made with self lubricating materials. Maybe these motor brushes are made with materials that last over materials that are quiet.

There are some products in the RC hobby made to lubricate brushes. Not sure if they work.

I think if it was a bad driver transistor, it would start spinning when you turned the game on.

I’d check the ramp optos that count mentioned.

Go into switch test and check that the optos are registering off and on properly.

Can also go into coil test and see if the motor starts and stops properly (coil 6). If it works properly here, you know something is telling the motor to start (like the ramp opto).

VERY common to have opto problems on this game. Really good idea to reflow the solder on the LEDs and make sure the wire solder joints are securely attached (the strands of the wire are often frayed and barely connected). Use some hot glue to attach the wire to the board to take stress off the solder joint.

POTC is a Stern title. I don’t think PPS is involved in licensing this part. I suspect it was on the “PPS” site due to the site conversion from Bay Area Amusements who was a Stern parts dealer.

Put a new coil sleeve in there while you have it out. As you tighten it down, make sure the post isn’t rubbing on the opening in the playfield.

Where did you get the decal? Might it be a copy made with poor materials?

The decal on mine has been on it for years and shows no signs of wear.