Desoldering is something that is a straightforward affair with the right tools and a nightmare without. I splurged on a Hakko desolder gun, what a difference. If using a sucker style desolderer take your time, until all the pins are released the header is staying put. It takes patience.

I sold a new in box Hakko desoldering gun on this forum because I thought I would never use it. Then after ruining a few traces with a basic solder sucker, I bought another Hakko desoldering gun. I’ll never sell this one. Makes desoldering a piece of cake. Well worth the money.

Hey guys, I turned on my machines this morning and played around bounced back and forth between Future spa, f14 and monster bash... i hit the start button and it never kicked the ball into the shooter lane? I lifted the play field and looked at the wires they all seemed to be fine... i restarted the machine and to the same avail.. so i opened the coin door and manually loaded the ball... it played fine ...i let it drain and it kicked out the next ball... then nothing again after that... lifted the PF again and thought it might be something on the coin door? Or? The coil looks fine.
Any info or an idea where to start would be appreciated
Thanks guys

Try cleaning (and maybe adjust) the outhole switch.

So i fired it back up this morning after letting it sit all night... it never kicked the ball into the lane(again) so I put the ball in the lane and shot it...then none of the solenoids fired for the pop bumpers... i shut it off.. checked fuses and unplugged and plugged everything back in... powered it back on and it worked great for a few balls...then just went slack again...no pop bumpers or anything besides flippers were operating properly. Possibly something on the solenoid driver board?

When it goes bad, put it into switch test mode, are the switches still registering? If not start at the MPU for a loose connector (top right of the card is the strobe/return for all switches). If switches are working, I would look around the solenoid driver board. Have these cards had all their connector header solder reflowed?

Did you also check the fuse under the playfield for loose or defective?

I haven't reflowed all the boards. But I noticed on the rectifier board the solid red wire post was shorter than the others.? Like maybe it had mted at some point?

under the pf looks good..i feel like a fuse would either work or not... not work sometimes and then not.

Glad to be part of this club. Awesome table.

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Hey all - figured here would be a good place. I'm rescuing a bargain basement Future Spa that needs a lot of help, most of which I can do myself (cleaning, electronics, mouse de-turding, haha). Unfortunately, this one didn't come with a backglass. Anyone out there have an extra, or a good scan to print a translite off of?

I saw BGResto had it, but for mid range players machine, that blows the budget. (Plus no mirroring, no sale!)

Replaced the off-white Bally lane guides with some red transparent ones. I think it looks much better.

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Do you still have the original off white Bally lane guides / would you wanna sell me one or two?

Sending you a PM...

Bump for a backglass, translite repro, or a nice scan that I could get printed.

PPS sells hot stamped Bally lane guides.

I tried searching myself with no luck. Will definitely keep an eye out for you.

What is the tone? Is it a specific switch-triggered sound or do you mean the background sound gets stuck at a certain point?

Not sure if this could be the solution, but if you have original electrolytic caps on the sound card I would replace them. They have exceeded their life expectancy.

Time to re-pin the .100 pins in the harness. It's a pain in the ass job, but has to be done. I've had 3 Future Spas, and the pins in the harness get brittle and break. You can's see it by looking at them, but when you take one out, it will come out in two pieces. The connection will work most of the time, but with a little vibration the circuit will go open. There are 4 address lines that go between the CPU and the sound board that control when a sound happens and which one. If the communications is lost, it is kind of like the guys in our nuclear silos... they execute their last instructions. You will notice the same thing if you go into sound test mode and then advance to the next test when the test sound is playing... it will stick and keep playing.

My 2cents

I recapped my soundboard shortly after acquiring my FS. Got the cap kit from arcadepartsandrepair. Dunno if there’s a better price out there; only ordered it through them because I was also ordering a number of flybacks and other arcade parts.

I was having issues prior to the recapping, but they were issues caused by a failing 6821P ic (e.g. playing the incorrect sound at times). Still did the recap anyway because they seemed to have never been replaced.

The difference after the recap was noticeable. Though to be fair, as a working musician by profession, I am hyper-critical of sound quality. I’d say the post-recap difference is similar to playing a dusty vinyl record vs. a freshly-cleaned one: the frequencies generated are more precise.
Also with this kit, there is a choice for one of the capacitors where you can use the original value or a beefy one (both in the kit) which extends the overall range of frequencies. Lower lows and higher highs. Puts an almost high end clip on the bonus counting which is ‘meh’ but ignorable, but man, rip an unlit spinner and the bass will shine in what is my personal favorite sound bite of the whole game.

https://www.arcadepartsandrepair.com/product-category/pinball-kits-parts/pinball-kits/

What Sheprd said - repin the connector cause its losing connection.

You should cut off the shitty IDC connector and replace it. Pretty sure its a .156 connector on that sound board, not a .100 though. (The MPU side is .100 though). Start with the sound board connector, then the MPU connector. Standard Mole crimp and stuff parts that are sold at all pin retailers.

would this be my problem if some times after the ball kicks out the background noise stops and the feature sounds trip out?

How do I get some?

LED upgrade. Did you upgrade any boards?

If the capacitors on the sound board are original, I'd start by replacing those.

Previous owner installed LEDs and had a new lamp driver board installed to support them.

Thanks! I am new to pinball. Just picked up my Future Spa.

Congrats and welcome to the club! It's a great game that doesnt get much attention. When set up right, it's a nice player with some great features. Enjoy it!

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Looking for a backglass... Figured I'd throw another out there. Happy to take a fair one for cheap at this point just so it isn't totally bare.

Also if anyone has a lockdown bar laying around. My FS project was a real project... Haha

Ministry of Pinball is out of stock of their apron decal. Has anyone found another source? Also does anyone know of a good off the shelf color match spray paint for the apron?

Let me save you some time: You can't match the original deep red Bally apron using a latex style paint, or even an automotive paint. Therefore, my strong recommendation is to choose a red you like, like burgundy red, and use that.

If I were to ever do it again, I would probably scan my old one, photoshop some decals, and print water-slide decals to go over latex or automotive paint, then clear the whole thing like HEP does it.

If you want to see how I ended up matching it (and broke some painting best practice doing so), here is where I started on my restoration:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/future-spa-father-and-sons-second-restoration/page/3#post-4466832

Thanks for the tips. You and your son did an absolutely amazing job on that restoration.

You’re welcome and thanks! I was just playing it today.

Anything wrong with this setup? My gate isn’t working properly and when I pulled up the playfield the arm was hanging off the pin. I put it back but gate is still not working.

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^ manually close the solenoid gap, with the power off.

Does the gate move?

In my setup, which was a factory crate, it had this unwired switch inserted on the metal bracket, which served as additional spring tension to push on it from the other side. Here's what mine looked like when I finally got it adjusted properly.

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Yes, but it’s kind of sticky. Use a drop of lube around the shaft?

No, don't lube it.

Take it apart and clean it

I noticed that on post #92 also - I might try to find something in my parts box that will do the trick and will take it apart to clean as per Vid’s suggestion.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/future-spa-club-come-on-in-the-water-is-warm/page/2#post-4061628

Hello i'm from Germany and i have a Future Spa since two years. Its a beautiful machine and i love it.

It looks like it is not seated correctly to the main frame.
Also is the spring missing?

I found an old switch which does the trick. I had to drill a screw hole in the metal plate as they were too close together for my switch. I put the switch at the end of the stack so there’s enough tension to pull it down into the open position when the coil magnet switches off.

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