Hello everyone and thanks for clicking this thread!
So last week I picked up my first pinball machine. I have been looking locally for years but they always seem to be scooped up as soon as they are posted for sale. I found this one that the owner had sitting in his garage for years with no plan on ever fixing it. So I got a good deal on it!
The first thing I had to do was rebuild the cabinet. It was missing the back wood panel and the bottom had fallen out. I basically took it all apart, recut the missing parts and Re assembled with a lot of glue! It turned out great and finally looked like a pinball machine again!
Before I tried to turn it on, I checked over the wiring the best I could without a schematic, cleaned some moving parts so they moved again, and started my list for things to order. When I was satisfied that nothing would short out and start a fire, I plugged it in.
The first time I got it started, it was very loud and obviously had some problems. Some things were stuck, relays were snapping open and closed, etc. So I had to clean some more and manually move a few things to get them un-stuck.
So today I come here with some questions that hopefully someone will be able to help me with! The way it works right now, when I plug it in, nothing happens. I have to open the coin door and tap a switch which brings the game to life (obviously need to adjust this so it works with the reset button on the door)
When it comes to life, the elevator doors open than close, and the elevator floor indicator will drop back to 0. My 1s and 100s score reel are missing the coils (on my list to order) but I believe I have them all resting at the 0 position and the 0 position switch is making contact.
My replay unit has a somewhat mangled switch bank as it seems someone has over turned it and now the pegs on the sprocket hit the switches at about 6 or 7 on the replay wheel. I believe it was modified like this for free play, but it will need some work.
The scoring motor under the play field spins constantly and I just realized that the ball release coil is stuck on. The playfield does not energize.
So to sum things up, the game wakes up, elevator doors open and close, floor drops back to 0, score reels are set to 0, and I have credits on the wheel. The score motor doesn't stop spinning, and the ball release coil is locked open while it is turned on.
I assume a switch is stuck closed somewhere so I am currently trying to trace the circuit.
When the start relay is activated, the 115v hold relay begins to hold, and the elevator door relay flips on then off.
If anyone has any info that can help me I would greatly appreciate it! Sorry for the long post and I will post some pictures of the game soon!
-Brett