Restoration looks great, nice job! May I ask, did you use acrylic or enamel paint? And if acrylic, did you apply some sort of clear over it (and on the entire playfield or just one part)? Thanks

Hi All,

Just bought a 1981 EBD and it has a weird issue with the playfield lamps/1-7 and 8-15 ball (horseshoe) drop targets:

First of all, while all the targets are all standing, the 2, 5 and 6 ball lights next to the targets are out, and down at the bottom above the flippers, it shows the 2, 6 and 13 balls lit. For the second player (shooting stripes), it shows the 9, 10, 13 and 15 balls out and down below, the 13 ball is lit.

When the horseshoe drop targets are hit, it does the following:

Target Top, Bottom
------- ---- --------
1 Stays lit, 9 lights up
2 Out already, 2 goes out (instead of lighting up)
3 Properly goes out, 3 properly lights up
4 Properly goes out, 4 properly lights up
5 Stays lit, 1 lights up
6 Stays out, 10 lights up, 6 goes out
7 Properly goes out, 3 properly lights up

The striped balls have similar issues.

Any ideas of what may be causing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'd prefer not to spend too much (if any) on a pinball repair specialist coming to the house.

Best to all, and start chalking!
Steve

Thanks slghokie for that info. I think after my touch-ups I'm going to try painting on a clear coat over the board, sanding, then applying another coat. Based on Vid's suggestion, I know that spraying is better than brushing but I simply don't have the know-how to take apart the playfield any further and simply want to seal in the touch-ups I've done.

Thanks to both Mathazar and Lovef2k for that great info. I'm not too technical but believe I understand what you're saying and will try re-seating the connectors to those driver boards and see what happens. Hopefully I'll come back with another post soon saying everything is fixed! Much appreciated.

First impression to me is a lamp matrix addressing issue. I'm assuming it's never worked for you since you just bought it....do you know the repair/upkeep history of the machine from the previous owner?

BTW @mathazar, I forgot to mention that I bought this off eBay and it essentially works fine. The scoring on the horseshoe drop targets seems to work correctly - the only issue is which billiard ball lights turn off or turn on. So it's not essential to get this part working properly but who doesn't want to have a 100% fully functioning game! Thanks again.

All I can say Mathazar and Lovef2k is that YOU GUYS ARE GENIUSES!!! I pulled off a couple of the connectors on the two lamp boards, simply plugged them back in, and VOILA, EVERYTHING WORKS AGAIN!!! Well, at least with the mapping of the horseshoe drop targets and the corresponding billiard ball lights. AMAZING! You didn't just make my day, you made my month!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you to Pinside as well.

OK, now that you're my go-to techs, I have a follow-up question for you:

A couple of the playfield lamps are still out and they remain out during the self-test. I would presume that they are simply bad sockets since I've tried replacing the bulbs multiple times and nothing happens. Should I clean the pins on the connectors that go into the lamp boards or leave well enough alone there? And if I need to have someone replace the sockets, do you have a recommended seller for those?

Take care,
Steve

Thanks Spiderpin

Well, I'm not the handiest guy around but willing to try soldering the sockets on and off it you think I won't ruin anything. Do I need a heat-sink or anything like that to make sure I don't screw things up? I don't remember too much from high school electric class, but remember the heat sink thing!

Thanks Mathazar

Excellent, thanks. Just watched the video and waiting to receive my soldering diploma in the mail.

Hi there, my playfield is almost exactly the same in that section. Do you happen to have a high-resolution photo of a perfect playfield you could send me or post that I could use as reference? Thanks!

Bad Playfield at Bottom (resized).jpg

Hi @BobLangelius, a scan would be fantastic, thank you so much. No immediate rush...

Thanks @slghokie, that's the best I could find as well...

Hi @frenchmarky, I followed some suggestions above about removing and replacing the pin connectors to the lamp boards and voila, they all worked as they should! Thanks for your willingness to help!

Just about to start using naptha, then a magic eraser and alcohol to clean my playfield. Noticed that there are some holes next to the end of each of the three flippers for some reason, possibly had a thin post in them or something? Please see pictures attached. Does anybody else have these on their playfield or know the reason for them? If not, seems like I should fill them in and touch up the paint. Thanks, Steve

Flipper Holes 1 (resized).JPG

Flipper Holes 2 (resized).JPG

Thanks @quench!

Alright, continuing to make progress on the playfield restoration. Used the ZEP heavy-duty citrus cleaner/degreaser to clean the playfield, hopefully removing any old wax and dirt. Then sparingly used the magic eraser and 91% rubbing alcohol to try and remove as much of the swirl/ball marks as possible. Next planned step is to naphtha and then tacky cloth the playfield to prepare for painting. QUESTION: For a pretty beat up 1981 playfield (see picture taken before steps above were taken), would you recommend a light spray with Varathane before painting or not. (Please note, my goal is to make this game as good/great as possible without taking apart the entire playfield, using an airbrush, etc. I am mortal and not a professional restorer so I'm prepared for very good results, not professional results)

Bought some Createx paints per Vid1900's suggestion and am planning to touch-up selected areas or fill entire areas with one color (such as the yellow in the "1" ball pictured). QUESTION: Was the "white" portion of the billiard balls at the bottom and middle of the playfield originally a bright white or an off-white?
Following the painting, the plan is to mask off any areas that shouldn't get clear coat and then lay down a few coats of Varathane from rattle cans, sanding appropriately in between.

Any other final tips before I really get underway? Bought replacement plastics, new screws/bolts, rubbers, bumper caps, balls, etc. Excited to finish this puppy and start playing!

Bad Playfield at Bottom (resized).jpg

One other QUESTION: I'd like to take the playfield completely out of the cabinet. Looks like one big, thick braid of wires under the playfield that connects to multiple pin connectors up in the back box. If I unplug all of those connectors in the back box and run the cables through the slot into the main cabinet, am I good to go or is something else connected that I'm not noticing? Thanks

Hi All,
For some reason, the left lane rollover button (see attached picture) is not properly registering every time a ball is shot up the left side. When the ball goes up slowly, it works almost 100% of the time. But when hit hard/quickly, it seems to almost never register. I tried cleaning the contacts with a business card and that may have helped a bit, but wondering if you think the ball may be banking off the left metal face and missing to the right of the rollover button? If you look closely at the picture you can see the clear plastic lane guide which may allow too much room to the right of the button? Wondering if you EBD aficionados may have some good advice for me.
Thanks!
Steve

EBD Rollover Button (resized).jpg

mbeardsley Manu2 @chalkey, thanks to all three of you for your replies! I was hoping to see some cut leads from a missing capacitor but it looks like one is firmly in place - see attached photos. I don't know if it is the correct capacitor or not - maybe I need to replace it with another one? If so, would you please advise? If this capacitor looks to be ok and soldered in the proper spots, what other possible solutions would you suggest? And I'll try bending the switch blades so that they're closer together and more sensitive, but I believe I tried that already (when I cleaned the contacts). Thanks!

IMG_5079 (resized).JPG

IMG_5081 (resized).JPG

I had a very similar issue and John Mohr actually came by and replaced the capacitor which had been snipped off (Thanks John!). The capacitor apparently allows the CPU to have a split second longer to recognize that the star rollover has been actuated. Apparently this is the culprit in almost all of the cases. Good luck.