Noticed something on the PF today during gameplay, thought it was a bit of paper towel... realized it was a chunk of the artwork from between/under a post and a metal ball guide. Should I chalk this up to an over-tightened post on my part or is it a vision of things to come? This is a CPR playfield that I just finished 2 weeks ago and I was cognizant to not over-tighten anything as I re-assembled the topside. Only about 30 games on the new playfield.

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Exactly!
In some cases, the flipper coil-stop!

That's why I didn't recommend doing it my way Inexperience sucks.

Did it have a month at least to cure? If I remember correctly you got this after mine, I’m getting to mine only now after the cure.
Just thinking of a reason why this could be happening

I bought the PF at the end of February so it's been at least 10 weeks since CPR mailed it out to me. It had no smell when I recieved it and seemed fairly hard when I checked to bottom edge before assembly. I'm hoping it's just a combination of stresses from the edge of the metal rail and threaded securing post combined with the round post next to it. I supposed it will be pretty easy to remove those pieces, repaint some white there and apply a bit of clear epoxy onto the area. It's about 8mm x 4mm.

Someone should sticky this post. These pictures will work for most 11B games. (But really though, most 11s in general...at least it can help someone in a jam) THANK YOU.

Looking for the sinking building. If anyone has one they'll never get around to installing please PM me!

And if you have 2, let me know secondly please

Chris

I just got one a few weeks ago.
https://www.basementarcade.com/ES_Purchase.html

I am guessing these are out of stock because I ordered one and my payment was refunded about 10 minutes later

Chris

Bummer. It took a bit after I paid for it so I'm guess that he makes them to order. Maybe reach out to him?

As far as I’m aware, the sinking building is made in batches. You might have to wait for the next batch, assuming there is one. I remember trying to get one from him several years ago after his second batch ran out, and it wasn’t until now that I was able to buy one.

Definitely try reaching out to see if/when it’ll be re-run.

I believe I was sent the last one on hand

I have what I believe is an NOS plastic set for Earthshaker. I found the set years ago in an operators warehouse along with several other NOS parts. Been hoarding for year, but need a new home $175 plus shipping.

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You people are depressing. LOL
I'd heard it can take ages to find one, that's why I figured I'd ask and pray someone was holding onto one and wouldn't be using it...

Well in those last couple weeks, that domain vanished. Wonder if he is done for good.

Just working for me now.

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Work work work work work

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How has the playfield been for holes and dimples for you?

Left that part for my friend who is helping me on this project and is way more competent than I. He’s had some work but I won’t be a good source to tell you how much effort it took

I got a CPR backglass yesterday. Love the colors but it’s not mirrored the way the original is. Meaning I can’t see my reflection in things like his sunglasses. For anyone that has one, is this the way they all are?

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I picked up the pink car version from CPR this year. The mirroring definitely wasn't as clear as the original, but I can still see my reflection.

CPR glass & speaker panel on sample game

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I believe you can get mirrored or non mirrored from them.

Can anyone provide information on when and what can be connected, turned on and tested during a rebuild? I have about 80% of the playfield done, can I plug everything in and turn it on (as long as no shorted wires) safely and test what is connected? Should I wait until everything is on the playfield?

I figure it will be easier to fix things before everything is in place.

Thoughts?

There’s a few ways to go about it. When I started doing my own swaps I’d leave it on the rotisserie and plug in next to the game. Generally it would be easier to put it all on now and triple check things. Then plug in and test.

I just finished my own PF swap last month. I would recommend to visually inspect all switches, bulb sockets, GI, ect to make sure there are no shorts. Check for switch tabs bent over and touching the other side. Leave the solenoid connectors off at first if you're really concerned. I was lucky and had almost no issues...but I didnt desolder much during my swap. I only had a small issue related to wiring getting pinched in the VUK when I got it fired up. You will at a minimum need to connect the harnesses for the coin door to get the machine to fire up. You can leave the lamp, switch, and solenoid connectors disconnected if you want to. But as long as your methodical in your inspection prior, you should be fine.

Here’s the swap I did/doing. I second Duffy’s comments above. Most of my customers want all new switches, coils, etc and disconnect/unsolder everything.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/shaking-up-another-old-earthshaker-for-a-refresh

IMHO, doesn't matter that much.

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Last rebuild, have the playfield still on the bench and had all 3 harnesses hooked up and did my testing. Everything was fine.

If you wanted to play it safer, hook up just the switch harness, power up and test. Then do the lamps, power up and test and finally the coils/flashers, power up and test. Testing out of the pin is better because IF you have to dig into something, a lot easier on the bench.

It is a bit ... exciting.. that first time you power it up after having it torn down.

I'll second this. When I did a High Speed swap, I had a Special Solenoid transistor explode on the first power-on. On my Nine Ball swap, I had locked on coils and transistor magic smoke the first time I powered it on! My recent Earthshaker swap went extremely well with virtually no issues.

So look over your work carefully, but in the end don't be afraid...if you blow something up you get the experience of finding and fixing the issue. It's sure taught me a lot. Once you get comfortable replacing PCB components then you're not near as worried about what might go wrong.

Can I ask for some help figuring out the correct T-nut thread size needed for Earthshaker?
So many different sizes and lenghts to choose from, ill never get it right.
Prob need to replace a good 15 or so while swapping the playfields.

Which would be the one to get?!
Thanks in advance

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They are all pretty much the same size except maybe 1 or 2 that have a longer barrel. I think 1 is a 6-32 thread but I cant remember where. I removed and re-used most from of them from my old PF and the vast majority of them were 8-32 thread and about 1/4" barrel length. I had to replace a few that were stripped or the teeth were broken off of...so definitely order at least 5-10 of this size. Just pop one out from the old PF with a thin flathead screwdriver to verify the size.

I would also recommend to pre-drill tiny guide holes for the teeth of the T-nuts. I placed them where they needed to go and pressed them into the wood a bit to make small marks on the wood, then drilled 3 small (1/16") holes about 1/8" deep. This helped keep the teeth straight as I tapped the T-nuts in from the PF back side. Without doing this I had some T-nuts fold their teeth over flat as I tried to install them.

thank you!

Should always get the longer barrel the more threads the better on this type of connection - usually a Tnut is used for strength of the post, so you want more than a single thread or 2 from the screw in the tnut.

Looking for some help on my Earthshaker. The top left scoop gets rejected 90% + of all accurate shots to it (accurate as in that shot hit directly in the center of the scoop). It literally hits the metal back part of the scoop and ricochets right back out in the opposite direction. I can feel/see a little bit of a raise in the metal protector at the start of the scoop, but not much. I'm thinking that maybe that is making the ball "jump" just a little and hit off of the back of the scoop a little high or something. That part of the scoop looks like a PITA to replace, so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas to try first? Anyone else had this problem on a scoop before?

Thanks for any suggestions, links and or help!

I was going through my menu today and noticed the option for attract sound. I’ve never heard my machine make a noise in attract mode. Does anyone else’s?

mine is slightly raised as well. I get rejected often but I adjusted the gate a bit and that helped.

ES is like Twilight Zone...when you turn on attract sounds you will only hear it if a game has been played. If you turn on the machine and don't start a game the attract sounds will never play.

New to the forum! Got a question about the shaker voltage.

I have a problem with the resistor burning out on the high current driver board. Checked voltage, and it's around 50VDC.

I'm also reading about 50VDC from the aux power board post-rectifier, but only about 30VAC pre-rectifier (realizing that this is the 25VDC circuit). Aux board has an unpopulated power resistor R10 whose value is not specified in the schematic. In the schematics, I see a varistor which I believe is supposed to limit the DC to around 47v.

Any clues at to what's going on? There's not much in the circuit, so not a lot of suspects. Varistor maybe?

Thanks!

So wrapping up a ground up refresh and the shaker motor didn’t work when I got it. I reflowed the board and put in new brushes. It has all new boards so it’s good there. Now it blows the F3 special solenoid fuse although it works fine for several shakes but seems to draw a bit much when pops are firing.

I disconnect the shaker and no problems. Safe to assume the motor draws too much and should be replaced?

So wrapping up a ground up refresh and the shaker motor didn’t work when I got it. I reflowed the board and put in new brushes. It has all new boards so it’s good there. Now it blows the F3 special solenoid fuse although it works fine for several shakes but seems to draw a bit much when pops are firing.
I disconnect the shaker and no problems. Safe to assume the motor draws too much and should be replaced?

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Well, here’s an instance it is just a fuse. We’ll sort of. I checked the HV board again testing diode, resistor and TIP36C. Still fine.

So staring at the new aux power board from Dumbass (BTW, if you haven’t heard of him, check out his stuff! Works great with lots of improvements.) I noticed he silkscreens the different values of certain games that use different values. Of course F3 says should be 5a likely due to shaker. Swapped out the 2.5a for 5a and voila!

Freaking love the chromed out legs, lockbar and rails. Did u buy them that way or get the old parts chromed?

The owner like the chromed out TAF I did for him and wanted them on this one too. The blue and chrome really does pop!

I get my chrome parts which he usually has stock from Chris at Hot Rod Arcade:

https://pinballplating.com/new-parts?category=Side+Rails

I tried a few different ways but never could get the attack sounds to work. Had the machine on for over 12 hours today and it got played a bunch. ‍♂️ I’ll have to research it some. I may have a ROM issue but seems all the sound during gameplay works as it should.

Do you have a new high current driver board too? If it’s the original, check the TIP37C and associated diode on the board.

If that all checks out, then ohm out the motor, but I’d be really surprised if the motor is bad.

Thanks, yes it is good too. While I generally agree, we have motors meg out bad at work for same reasons.

Anyone ever notice on the documentation in the lamp matrix table there are 4 jet bumpers?

• Jet Bumper Center (Column 1, Row 8 )
• Top Jet Bumper (Column 6, Row 1 )
• Left Jet Bumper (Column 6, Row 2 )
• Right Jet Bumper (Column 6, Row 3 )

nope, there's one lamp for each pop, and then the center insert.

Got a replacement plastic set the other day. This plastic was included and I can’t find it on my game. Any idea where it’s supposed to go? It’s about an inch long

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I don't recall seeing that one in my tear down. Only black plastic I remember was under the spiral ramp between the inlanes, but that one had rounded edges and two screw holes.

Thanks. That other black plastic is included. This one is just a mystery. It’s definitely not in my game. I guess it really doesn’t matter though