Hi.

I just bought my first pin ('93 Williams). The seller said, "I need to advise you that your machine is twenty-something years old and will need tending. Regardless of how earnestly you "baby" it, it will malfunction now and then simply from normal play. If you're not going to call a tech over to your home twice a month or so, you'll have to learn to become handy doing small repairs on your own."

All right, fine. I'm up for it! Still, my DIY repair skills are basically limited to mechanical things - cars/bikes/etc. I know very little about electronics. Words like "transducer" or "ohms" or "rectifier" are Greek to me. I am already reading posts related to small repairs here on Pinside, but the learning curve is steep. It will take me time, obviously.

What I want to do is tool up. I want to buy some of the basic tools/parts pin owners have in their work spaces to handle minor repairs. A recommended list from the readers of this thread would be much appreciated. I know I'll need a soldering iron, but beyond that, I'm only guessing. If I need a stash of fuses, just what kinds do I need? What sorts of wire will I need? I realize that even a "basic" kit could be a very long list, but I need to start somewhere, so even a ten-item list would be very helpful.

Note: I don't claim to be an expert "searcher" of archived posts, so it's likely that there are numerous postings with this very information already posted and I just haven't found them. If you happen to know of any, a nudge in that direction would be helpful, naturally.

Thanks for reading/considering my post!

Thank you, all of you, for your helpful responses.

I do now have a short of list of things I should get now, although clearly a full set of pin-repair tools would fill a large tool chest. So, I can't expect to tool up quite like that!

Still, you've been helpful and I have new sources/links to read/study, thanks to you.

I s'pose I'll invest in a small tool box that I'll devote to pin-repair tools. I don't know what kind of functionality a pin-specific mutli-meter should have, but I will look around see what Pinsiders have to say on that.

Again, thank you!