I played EBD in the arcade when it was first released. We had a blast with it. Good times that I remember well. I read on RGP that new Ballys cost around $1500 in the early 80's. But not verified.

Premier Gold Wings was $1600 plus tax NIB.
Williams F14 was $2800.00 plus tax NIB.
Operators fund that going to the next state over they could save several hundreds of dollars.

Hey all.. MPU Issue I could use some help with. So, since I bought my EBD-LE, I've had intermittent boot issues, that seem to be caused by something pushing/pulling when the backglass door is closed or when the machine gets moved. Sometimes if I leave it on, it will just boot up on it's own. Sometimes, not. Recently I reseated everything, and it had been stable for a bit, so I installed some Comet LED lighting (I like them, thanks) and the Comet LED Adaptors. Everything was working great... so I closed up the BG. The next time I turn it on, it doesn't boot. I open up the BG again, reseat the J4, cycle the power, and it boots up just fine. I played it for a while - no issues. I close the BG. Next day I turn it on.. No boot again. This time I try reseating everything, nothing. BG door is propped open... no luck.

Th MPU light comes on and stays locked (as it does whenever I have this issue). Bridging pins 39&40 on the U9 6800 chip does not start the boot or reset. No evidence of corrosion (though I was planning to replace the battery next). Seems like something was pushing or pulling on something, but now adjustments are not clearing the problem.

It possible that the Comet adaptors may have caused some more pushing on whatever was causing it, but they did operate perfectly (even though they do not seat well) before I close the BG door again.

Should I save myself the hassle and just a buy one of the new MPUs? No battery and a free play setting seems pretty tempting, but I'd rather know the problem is the MPU before I buy a new one.

Thoughts? Thanks!

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LE games have a rats-nest of cabling and connectors behind the display panel. Try opening that up and inspect and reseat the cable connectors behind it as they often are not fully pressed together.

I can't tell from your picture if there is supposed to be one there, but it looks like you might be missing a grounding screw in the upper left corner of the board. A missing grounding screw can cause intermittent issues when jostling a machine of that vintage. Worth checking.

I took my playfield apart and forgot to take pics of the topside. Where do the 6x smaller plastic posts (blue) go? Are they for the top lanes under the blue lane guides? Thanks in advance

One each under the slings for sure (the two talls go to the long side corners, and the short goes opposite, where there's no hole in the plastic)

The others are going to be in similar situations, where there is a plastic or similar but no attachment through the plastic - likely not the top lane guides. I can check mine later if I'm near it sometimes it's hard to tell when everything is together.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/eight-ball-deluxe-owner-club-guests-welcome-as-well/page/69#post-5956907

So my EBD has one of these prototype resin playfields. It's made out of.... resin or plastic or something of that nature?

Anybody have an idea of how many of these they made?

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No more than 300. The composite playfields would show up from time-to-time for pilot runs, typically the initial 300 games for field testing and dealer samples.

Al, will a machine with these composite playfields typically increase its value??

I have one of these Eight Ball Deluxe machines with the plastics playfield. It's #40 off the line and has the early White Pop Bumper Caps as well. This game was owned by an operator back in 1981 when new and was then put into storage in 1984. It sat there until 2017 when I got that operators lot of games and parts. It was then stored from 2017 to 2021 until I finally added it to my collection. I have owned a few Eight Ball Deluxe machines over the years but none of them played like this one. With this playfield this machine plays fast and smooth. This is the only one I have ever seen in person with this type of playfield. I did own a Bally Speak Easy that had the plastic playfield but that was standard since none of those games had a wood playfield. The only other title I saw with this plastic playfield was a Bally Mata Hari in which they say about only 20 of these prototype machines were made.

Here is a video of my Eight Ball Deluxe I have available on my You Tube Channel.

I'm replacing some cracked plastics on my EBD LE - I got the new plastics, but the metal towers that support the top plastics are crimped to the old plastics.

Can they be removed and installed on the new ones, or is there someone that carries new ones? I'm not finding them. Advice appreciated.

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Good question but I do not know if having the composite playfield makes a difference in value. I have seen no evidence that it does.
In general, a first 10 or 300 game, IMHO, should have slightly higher value due to them being part of very limited runs. However the market is what the market is.

Those are bell posts. They can be removed from the old plastics by carefully heating them with a soldering iron. Once removed you can gently close the flare at the top and reinstall them onto the new plastics. There are a few YouTube videos out there showing how to do this.

Just came across a YT video - Thanks again Al!

Very cool to hear the history of your game. The cabinet of mine is in considerably worse shape, but the playfield is immaculate as well. Plays amazingly.

Where did you find the #40 marker?

My game was also an early run with white bumper caps, but with a wood playfield.

The s/n was stamped in two places, on the left side of both the head and the cabinet. I had it re-stenciled and lost the original s/n stamp when it was sanded and repainted. I took pics so I can restamp the original number back if I decide.

Here is a link to database of serial numbers.

https://www.ipsnd.net/view.aspx?id=762

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Bally serial nos. start at 1001, so serial number for the game would be 1040. Very early in the pilot run.

duplicate

I also searched for those "bells" and did not find aftermarket replicas. So, I guess, you have to reuse the old ones. I managed to remove them with caution and stick them into the new clear plastics.

Yes you must reuse them. I buy used plastics at shows that have them. They come up nicely after tumbling in walnut.
I pop them out with a soldering iron tip. If they are not crushed from over tightening the mounting screws to tightly then I use a automotive wire crimper to re-shape the collar. Insert them and re-crimp with a broad center punch. I have also reinstalled them in reverse order with a hot soldering iron tip. It's tricky and takes practice but sometimes the melted plastic fills the hole in the bell and has to be cleaned out with a Dremel.

Overhauled an SEB. Now it's serviceable since the MOC3011 and relay are socketed.

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Hope you have the relay socket clamp so the relay doesn't fall out from vibration

I thought of that but the relay fits fairly tight. I think I have a clamp that will fit.

Use a zip tie.

Good idea!

I need a Guinea pig who wants a new decal set on their targets.

Rules
1)You must take pictures for me to put on my site

2) you must own eight ball deluxe
3) you must love pinball

Sets once posted will be 15% off with a code found here

Sets are made with vinyl with a gloss laminate overlay.

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If you run warm white LEDs or incandescents (me!) in your GI, try two 1X cool white LEDs behind the "Shoot Again" on the backglass. I think it makes the color pop without looking 'LED-ish'. Just compensating for how lousy warm-color lights are with the dark blue and purple ink. Before, I basically never even noticed the Shoot Again light because it was so dim and gray.

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I asked this a while back and cannot remember what I did to the 1st ebd, did anyone put a t-nut on the right side mini post?

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Yes, I did, you have to recess it to get it by the drop bank.

The number is on the left side of the head and cabinet. Here is a picture of the one on the cabinet showing it's #40

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Is it imperative if there's good threads left still?

Mostly complete plastics set. PM if interested.

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My game is 170, also an early white bumper cap game. My serial number was sanded down when I had the cabinet re-stenciled.

I have "before" pics and was thinking of restamping it back.

Does anyone know the correct font, or maybe a link to the correct stamping tool to use?

After getting the full drop bank out, yes, totally see it now. I can recess the tnut, then I have an extended thread post. I'll just cut the thread to make it flush with the bottom of the tnut and use some blue locktite? and it should be good!
If you use the short length thread post it will barely thread.

I measured them a while back, I think they're 5/8 or 3/4 inch in height. The punch set for that size for numbers and letters was too pricey for me for only using a couple of times.

My Playboy and Supersonic measure about 1/2" height text.
My Medusa and Fathom measure about 7/16" height text.

Look on ebay for letter and number stamp sets.

Harbor freight sells these stamp sets cheap iirc

My EBD is no longer booting. It had an inconsistency where the sound wouldn't work after turning it on. I'd have to turn it off and on once or twice before it would boot up normally with sound.

However, now the MPU flashes twice and the game will not boot at all. Displays are dead. A few random pf lights are on. Manual says the problem is the MPU board. But replacing the board did not fix it.

I replaced the original MPU with an Alltek, and it still fails to boot. Any ideas where the problem is located?

Always start at the rectifier board. Verify voltages at test points. If good , go to the solenoid driver and do the same. Be careful testing on these boards since there's high voltage on each for the score displays.

The mpu needs 5V and 12V to boot. Also needs 43V for the 7th and final flash. The 5 and 12V come from the solenoid driver board. If only getting 2 flashes on mpu if I remember correctly the 5101 ram chip is bad. U8.

All the info you need is on Pinwiki.com bally/stern section.

If still having sound issues after game is running, try the following:

Turn volume and speech pots on the board a few times. These are suseptible to dirt and oxidation due to their open design. I change them on all S&T boards with the newer style when I re-cap them.

Turn the main volume control on the coin door as well. They get flaky with age.

Reseat the connectors on the S&T board. Even the two pin for the speaker.

This one may sound strange but the GI power in the backbox must be good since the S&T gets it's power from a connection from the backbox lamp panel via a orange wire connected to the GI power. From there it goes through a 24 pin square Molex connector and then to the board J1 pin 7. Verify GI voltage there. Check for cold solder joints on header pins.

Count boot flashes on S&T and consult pinwiki for boot sequence diagnosis.

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The easy way to test s&t power is at tp4. The GI power gets regulated to 5Vdc.

Correction, -5V at TP4

I'm learning as well while looking at the schematics. There's 12V at J1 pin 10 s&t board. So TP3 should be 11.5V

Thank you for your replies. I did some more troubleshooting.

Quick background: The MPU board, the power rectifier board, and the solenoid driver board are all new.

I discovered when I lift the playfield and turn on the game, it boots normally and everything works.

Then when I lowered it, a panoply of seemingly unrelated issues appear.

[B, C, and D rollover switches don't work.

X insert stays lit.

Player 2 display is erratic.

DT 2 is out. DT 3 acts like DT 2. Other drop targets are all okay.

Left outlane won't score special when lit. ]

When pf is lowered, it's all good. So issue appears to be under the pf. Nothing visually obvious, but it seems like perhaps a shorted switch diode pressing somewhere when pf is down. I don't think it's a connector.

I will investigate further, but please advise if I'm on the right track regarding a switch diode, and if so, if there's a smart way to proceed.

I had a similar issue and discovered that the wire or diode for the outhole switch would touch the lock down bar receiver when the play field was down causing my problem.

Thanks for this info. I'm convinced there is a hairline short under the pf somewhere.

If I give a slight twist to the raised pf, I can cause the short. Trying to find the actual wire location will be the challenge. But at least I believe I've determined the culprit..

Found the problem. It was a flaky diode on the top A rollover switch.

Nothing visually wrong, but when I pushed at it , I could manually create the short on and off.

The solder was all good. I just bent at the tab on the switch, and it seemed to strengthen the connection. It'll probably flake out again and then I'll replace it.

This can happen when the outhole switch wireform falls into the wrong position in the outhole switch stack. The stack has a fish paper to isolate the wireform from the switch contact leaf. Otherwise when the ball is sitting on the outhole switch it grounds the switch through the lockdown bar receiver causing abnormal behavior.
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