Diner owners and appretiation thread!
A place where owners can talk about their machine from modding, help, and just a general chinwag about the game itself and why you think it's one of the greatest system 11s out there.
(Topic ID: 50275)
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Diner
Williams, 1990
Topic Gallery
Durham, NC
Thanks. I was looking for one of those, and a nice fellow Pinsider sold me his. It's actually a radio but looks just like a standard wall box such as the one on the Diner playfield. I have a line on a good Cyclone topper, but it hasn't materialized just yet. The High Speed was completely restored and is gorgeous. You can see the black powder coated legs, rails, coin door, etc. in this photo. It's only one of two pins I have that I'd rate as collector quality. (The other is my STTNG.)
Seems like a shame to keep all of these in a basement, but that is where I have a bit of space.
Quoted from Craig:Seems like a shame to keep all of these in a basement, but that is where I have a bit of space.
Just finish your basement like I did. 
Chris
Quoted from Pinballgeek:Has anyone thought if powder coating the wire form (habatrail) yellow like the early production
Yes. I contacted Alex about it. He can do it if you wish. I ended up not sending him mine for monetary reasons, but still may.
Chris
One you hit the right ramp so many times and you spin the saucer do you nudge the machine forwards and back gently if so I got 3.7 million of the saucer
Underrated pin, but the word is getting out. Love the cup shot!
Mine is HUO and is here to stay!
2 weeks later
Fellow Diner owners,
Any chance someone could scan their center drop target plastic for me? The one that always breaks 
My machine is missing half of it, and I'd love a scan so I can attempt making a replacement.
thanks!
Interesting, four years ago on the RGP site seems very few people gave Diner high marks. I owned one a few years back but sold it. The wife was not happy about that but the machine got old(very repetitive). I did powdercoat the wire ramp red and it really did make the machine look better.
2 months later
Quoted from cireone:Had it happen on my taxi, relay was toast.
Interesting, can I ask how you diagnosed it?
-mof
Has anyone solved GI going out in the left side of the backbox? I swear someone posted a Diner thread on this...
for me, it was a connector issue. My head pins were fine and I cheated and only replaced with IDC connector, but now works fine. I switched the backbox gi to LED's and I like the look and hope it reduces overheating problems. here's a pic of the toasty connector. Actually heard a sizzle when it happened.
Let my Diner go in a trade and miss it. I've got a couple other sys11s that keep me busy. I'll own a diner again some day. 
Diner was my first NIB game purchase and still one of the favorites in my collection. Back then, my pinball buddies (the precurser to the WV Pinball Players Club) thought I was "nuts" to spend the dollars on a brand new game. They all said I could get several nice EM's for what Diner cost. Now they all want to be the person listed in my will as the recipient of my Diner when I die!
Jim
Diner is one of them uncommon games in the UK
And when you see it get it
The trick I found is when you shoot the ramp to spin the saucer
Whilst the ball is spinning around nudge the machine back and forth and I ended up getting 5 million out of that
Leuven
Thanks for the positive feedback.
Quoted from Noahs_Arcade:What did you fill that backbox corner in with? I'm trying to boost my woodworking skills
Just regular wood filler from the local DIY shop. In different stages off course, because the hole was so large.
Quoted from diesel64:Well, I'm still learning. It's my third restoration and the first time I'm taking it this far.
Next year or 3 i dunno
Cpr are going to release repo diner playfields
Quoted from Noahs_Arcade:It's well worth the effort. Diner is a solid game.
Overall fun
Best system 11 game
1 week later
Just posted an ad to see if anyone would like to buy mine. The reason is that B_R has a nice Tommy up for sale, and events of the past week have made that seem like something I'd enjoy having.
No worries either way. I like the Diner a lot, but it is the only pin in my collection that is worth pretty much exactly the same as the Tommy.
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anyone-in-or-near-nc-want-a-good-williams-diner#post-1057783
My first pin was a Diner. The theme went well with the gameroom. I powdercoated the wire ramp red and it looked great. New ramps and a well waxed playfield made the game look and play great. Same GI problem as discussed, just changed the connectors on the inner connect board. My wife's favorite game but to me it just got old and I sold it. I had it for two years. I then decided that ramp games bore me especially when they deliver the ball right to the flipper for you. No longer a Richi fan.
1 month later
Question for you folks... I just got a Diner in amazing shape (thanks to a fellow Pinsider and friend that restored it), but I am having trouble getting the Cup shot to score more than 2 times around the cup no matter how well I hit the shot. The game is at exactly 6.5 degrees with brand new rebuilt flippers. For folks who have their Diner at 6.5 degrees, how many cup rotations do you get?
Trying to understand if I have a weak flipper issue, or maybe 6.5 degrees is too steep to get proper scoring on the cup.
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks,
Marc
Quoted from pintechev:Question for you folks... I just got a Diner in amazing shape (thanks to a fellow Pinsider and friend that restored it), but I am having trouble getting the Cup shot to score more than 2 times around the cup no matter how well I hit the shot. The game is at exactly 6.5 degrees with brand new rebuilt flippers. For folks who have their Diner at 6.5 degrees, how many cup rotations do you get?
Trying to understand if I have a weak flipper issue, or maybe 6.5 degrees is too steep to get proper scoring on the cup.
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks,
Marc
I have the same issue. I am rather sure it's the flipper strength. I've already cleaned and checked for ball travel slow-down imperfections. I need to learn how to get more pop out of my flippers I think.
-mof
Bump for the night crowd!
Update: I replaced the Aux Driver board (pinballpcb.com) and it clearly added some power to all of my coils. Sadly, I wasn't able to hit the cup shot once, so, I cannot tell how much it helped the cup, but if anyone has an answer to my general question above, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks,
Marc
Sunshine
2 weeks later
This is my first pinball machine I've owned, I fell in loved with it at an arcade, at that point decided I needed to own it. I've owned mine since 1996, purchased from a previous collector. It did have some arcade use. But for the most part it's a very clean working machine. I've only added a few LED lights, to enhance certain playfield items. Cabinet has some wear, so it isn't brand new. But the playfield is fairly clean, with mylar installed. Love this machine.
2 weeks later
Funny enough, replacing the flipper rubbers with harder Super Bands fixed my problem with the cup shot.
Needed cash and considered selling mine last month but retracted my bad decision.
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-diner-pinball-phoenix-az#post-1183355
Love the game. I did not know till way after I had my game that I had an original prototype with yellow habitrail and diamond plate. Guess that's why my pf is white and not beige like most I see.
One of the best games even today for guests and games rooms, etc. top 3 best looking games ever.139234-i.jpg
2 weeks later
I made this a while ago, but just adjusted the checkerboard pattern to better line up with the apron checkers.
It's made to print on 4x6 photo stock, then the 3/4" should be trimmed off the bottom before putting it in your game. (Walgreens will print this for 20 cents).
Maybe you can make use of it?
2 months later
PS: I also had the dreaded half of my GI lights don't work happen to me, but on my Taxi. For me, it wasn't the relay at all. Check at the bottom of the cabinet next to the transformer. I had a burnt connector coming right off the transformer. It was right in front of me but because of all the folks saying it was their relay, it took me forever to notice it!
1 month later
Im finally in the Diner club!! I have been wanting this game for a long time. I picked it up last Sunday and managed to get all of the bugs worked out except the GI on the right side of the backbox is still not working.
Does anyone have a plastic set or know of where I can buy a plastic set for my Diner. Most of my plastics are just ok but a few are trashed. The plastic in the middle above the yellow drop targets is totally destroyed.
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