Howdy folks! I'm new to the hobby (i.e. complete noob) and got my first pin almost 3 weeks ago. I've had a Chicago Coin Galaxy Shuffle bowler for roughly a year now. That's been a project off and on since then. But that's for another story.
The pin is a William's Pat Hand. I got it from a family friend who got it out of a house that was being tore down. They knew nothing about it other than the guy was in the military. It was untested. In fact, it couldn't be tested because it had a plug I'd never seen. Turns out it was a European plug. I didn't notice at the time but the instructions were in German as well as it asking for "Deutsche Marks" on the coin door.
So after I got a conversion plug from wal-mart, I plugged it in and fired it up. Which I know now wasn't the smartest thing to do. It lit up! But that was about it. No game end. No scoring. Nothing worked well. It's been a very long process and a steep learning curve for me. It was very much a "two steps forward one step backwards" type of deal. I'd fix something, I'll break something else. I worked on it every day other than one. But now I can actually play a game! And yesterday the score started working on it's own! I didn't even get into the head of the machine much yet since I'd been focusing on everything in the box.
Anyways, I have $152 in parts and such. And $100 in the machine. I just wanted to post it to pass along my excitement! I've played probably thirty games since last night. It's a blast! I still have a few minor kinks to work out. And I have a scheduled appointment Saturday with a repairman 75 miles away so he can give it a better check and to teach me a few things.
Here's a video of the machine actually working!

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Hopefully the tearing apart is over now. Just some minor tweaks. I'm over all the tearing!

Thanks! I'm searching the local classifieds now daily looking for the next one!

Haha! I actually ordered one off of eBay the day I got the machine because I couldn’t figure out how to add credits!

Thanks fellas! This hobby has some of the friendliest people I’ve come across! Thanks for everyone being so welcoming!
I just got home from having a pro look at it. The game works and plays crazy fast compared to before.
However he ran out of time due to a prior engagement, and it still has a bug that’s really irking me. The game just keeps cycling when it starts a new game.
It will sometimes work itself out. But I’m afraid to let it keep going and to burn something up.

The score motor, the ball kicker and I’m not sure what else. I’ll take a video and upload to YouTube.
It’s like it’s trying to constantly start a game.
If I manually go and push the trip over and end the game it’s fine. Until the ball falls and it’s back to cycling over and over again.

Here’s the video!

Anyone have any ideas?
So far I’ve checked the outhole switch for sticking shut. The zero switch on the bonus stepper. The bonus stepper for sluggishness. And cleaned all the reset relay switches. As well as associated coin and bonus relay switches.
I can’t figure it out. I think it may be above what I can do. The pro who I took it to had run out of time. But he seemed pretty frustrated by it. So if he couldn’t figure it out in the little time he had. I highly doubt I can.

Yes sir. Before it was barely working. Then after the fella worked on it, it started working correctly. It started doing this cycling thing when he was wrapping it up. Basically everything seems to work now and work well other than this cycling problem.

I don’t know what’s up. I had it on for most of the evening. And the more I played it the less it did it.
In fact I played 4 straight games and it never did it once. Let it sit an hour went back and played two more games. No problems. Noooo idea. Lol