It is very possible to do the outside without removing the playfield.

There's a video of a guy who just layed the game on its side.

Pretty slick.

It's not recommended, but possible.

You have to remove the head and side rails so...after the playfield is all un plugged, pull it out of the cab...

Sand it all off, paint with rustoleum 2x gray primer then paint with rustoleum 2x satin black.

Thanks for the info. What grit sandpaper should I be using?

The backbox has a few chunks missing from the corners.

Bondo or wood putty?

Sounds like a total restoration is in order.

Peruse vids cabinet restoration thread

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cabinet-restoration-vids-guide

Successfully completed my first pinball maintenance task tonight. Feeling great about it. I’ve had an issue with the ramp lift not opening to get the ball lock. It has been trying and sometimes does it, but mostly not.

After pouring over the manual and lifting up the Playfield to try and figure out what I was looking at under there and overwhelmed at just how many parts make up that unit, I slowed down and reassessed. Instead of going all out and buying completely new mechanisms altogether I decided to shoot conservative and just focus on the things that would most likely wear out: coil sleeve, springs, and a lift crank lock plate. I went ahead and got some new clips and washers too mostly so I would have some but why not make everything a little fresh.

Man, that lift assembly rod that physically lifts the ramp is a pain to get out of there. I had to remove the plastic along the side and the cash register in order to actually get in there enough to unscrew the nut (I had hoped to not have to do all that). Underneath the mechanism was alright but the joints were greased up from a previous owner. I took it all apart and cleaned it. Fresh sleeve and springs. That tiny spring on casing around the smaller coil promptly shot across the room. So glad I bought two just in case! On closer assessment the lift crank lock plate probably wasn’t worn enough to really affect the mechanism but I traded it out anyway since I had one.

Anyway, it was a chore to put back together but I got it built back and then tested it before re-screwing all the plastics and ramps. It worked! My ramp lift will open for multiball lock once again! I’m also feeling good about my first mechanical troubleshoot as an owner. Next step will be flipper rebuilding!

Great job!

A little patience and perservarance pays off big time!

Glad you got it sorted out.
Absolutely rebuild the flippers its pretty easy...

"Get lead out!"
"Your too slow!"
"We dont have all day!" Lol

let me see what I can do!

Does anyone here have a scan of the diner clock decal handy?

Im just getting lazy....

I saw this today. The artwork is similar to the instruction cards on my Diner

20190724_173843 (resized).jpg

20190724_173903 (resized).jpg

No one has a scan of the clock hand?

PM me if you do.

Just pull the image from Marco and print it on an white inkjet full-page decal... Piece of cake! The trick will be to orient it correctly.
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/31-1559-571-2

Great idea!
Thanks.

Has anyone installed their CPR playfield yet?

I'm curious how the new diner cutout looks.

My install is months away, I have a couple more games to restore before I get to mine.

I'm with you. I can't wait to see all 10 of these new playfields in action.

Mine is on the rotisserie now. I'll post pics when I finish it up.

IMG_20190724_190437858 (resized).jpg

The white cup looks way cool.
Needs a white plate below it.

Is this 3d printed or a mod?

Thx. I scuffed and painted my original. I will add the decals and spray with auto cc to finish.
No way I could live with the old yellowed one.
And who knows when we will see a repro..

IMG_20190724_190448772 (resized).jpg

White cup looks good but will make nudging to get 2,500,000+ a bear. Usually 2 little nudges timed perfectly is needed.

That's fine with me. I think the cup scores too many points in the game.

Who has much success nudging when in the cup? I never feel like I am affecting anything. What is the best timing? Front to back.

It has to be timed right. Just a front to back nudge like when you push out of the side lanes and if you are gentle enough you will get the tilt warning but it makes a huge difference. My tilt is set to a normal setting, so I am not nudging much, but I can almost always get the 2.5 mil. or more. I would try it not worrying about tilting to get the timing down.

I see what you mean, but 2.5 mil on that shot compared to 12mil dinetime seems balanced enough for me. And if you don't hit it right and get the nudge in, 1 mil is even a stretch.

First time pin owner here: Trying to figure out a lighting issue. The GI (I guess that’s what you call it) on the right side of playfield is wonky. It flickers while playing—sometimes turning on for a few seconds before flickering generally off. I lifted the playfield and disconnected what appeared to be the wire connector for those lights underneath. Reconnected. Was doing better for a few games but now is back to nearly being off.

Thoughts/advice appreciated.

45F51A23-7145-4C8E-8BF7-DAAE1BFC45F9 (resized).jpeg

B770BF8F-B9CC-4DAF-A9AA-F4D94E63A18E (resized).jpeg

Replace the GI connector with a trifurcon type.

Check the pins on the driver board for the GI, they are usually burnt and worn.

Replace them.

New leds use less power and wont burn up the connector again anytime soon on current pinball builds.

Thank you. I’ll order some trifurcon connectors and see if that helps.

I checked all around the aux power driver board and the interconnect board, unplugging/checking connectors. I didn’t see anything burnt or worn. So I guess that’s good....‍♂️

Example of burnt connector from my doctor who:
20190615_101014 (resized).jpg

Yeah, definitely didn't see anything like that all through my machine. I didn't unplug every connection but I did look around the yellow and red wires that seem to be doing the lamps and GI. Could it still be a connector? Do the wires themselves ever wear out or go bad?

Connectors get loose.
Crimped wire connections get loose.

Oxidation causes poor contact.

Spraying small amounts of deoxit on pins and connectors can buy some time.

Loose pins should be reheated.
Loose wires should be recrimped.
Loose connectors should be replaced.

GI connectors should be replaced with trifurcon type.

Here's a scan of the clock as requested earlier in this thread

clock (resized).jpeg

That's beautiful!
Way better than the blurry image I got off of the marco site!

I'm in!
Make me a couple please..

Yes please, count me in too.

Yes please, I will have a few thanks.
cheers

You need a spring for the chef! I could also use a few.

What springs do the characters use?

Thanks I'll add them to my next order

Please can I be put on the list for a clock decal. Thanks

Can you make the flaps from blue or black spring steel?

Regular stainless curls and bends too much and has a short life.

I meant to post this sooner but I was waiting for parts to arrive. I did retrace the wiring and realized I had been tracing lamp wires rather than GI. I did find burnt molex connectors on the relay board. The pins on the board itself actually seemed to be in fine shape—no visible damage or discoloration.

When the parts did arrive I was suddenly confused by what I was observing. The problem I’m having is this “daisy chain” way that the wiring is looping through the molex. How am I supposed to solve this? I have trifurcon connectors but it looks like these original crimped differently. Should I split off the original wire into the molex? Or did I get the wrong connectors (I have .156” trifurcon crimp terminals)? Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

704E68AF-4E00-4B49-A649-2C6E66B5960B (resized).jpeg

A3105335-60D0-4D92-98B7-0FABA80C2C03 (resized).jpeg

Basically what you want to do is create a “Y” out of each wire. I take a piece of wire say 4” long and bend it in half. At the halfway point strip away some insulation. Slide on some heat shrink tube over the original wire, solder it to the new wire (in the middle where you stripped it), then slide heat shrink over joint and heat it up.

Now you have one wire split two wires (the Y), slap on some Trifurcons and insert into now molex housing in the same positions that formed the former loop. Repeat for each wire loop.

Ok thanks.
I’m assuming this is the same gauge wire as what is already there? The GI wiring is a slightly higher gauge than some of the other lighting wires.

Looks like the good ol' J6 plug on the interconnect board.

Here's the trick I use...works like a champ...

Create "solder bridges" on the back side of the circuit board. I've done this to ALL of my system 11 pins. I've never had a failure. DEFINITELY use trifurcon terminals and get rid of that nasty IDC connector.

Solder bridge #1 & #2, #3 & #4, 5 is keyed, I think, then bridge #6 & #7, and #8 & #9....problem solved.

Replace the header pins while you're at it.

I think the GI wiring is 18ga. But ya use the same gauge as the original.

My Diner is currently away to be refurbished and I am trying to do an order with Comet for some LED's. Can anyone confirm what bulbs are needed for the GI and how many? I can't find it anywhere in the manual.

More fun with Diner. When I turn it on it gives a credit dot. Checking that it says something like “can’t raise lift ramp”. There was also a ball sitting in the right side Today’s Special scoop. When I retrieved the ball the outhole kicker shot it into the trough, so that coil works. When I turned it on and pressed start when I first got to the game it did a ball search with several coils and said pinball missing. So at least some coils are working.
Once all 3 balls were in the trough, I pressed start. Instead of kicking a ball out and starting a game the display did a slow motion powering off thing. GI was still on, but the game seemed to freeze. I just did it again and the display didn’t power down, but the inserts looked like it started a game, but the game made a bong sound and then went into attract mode. I’ve never seen a System 11 do this. I did a cap kit on the power supply a few weeks ago, so the power supply should at least be happy.
Not sure if this matters, but the relay on the aux power board (bottom right) clicks 5 times when it boots. Not sure if this is normal or not, but it happens.

Hey All,

I'm about to start my Diner playfield swap. Has anyone done purple star posts throughout the entire machine? I wanted to see if someone has done this already.

Just looking to mix it up from clear. If you have any pics please post them.

Thanks

I think it was the upper "Today's Special" switch getting stuck and ended up blowing the fuse. A few test games later it was still playing great, so fingers crossed.