Addams Family, The
Bally, 1992
Alien
Heighway Pinball, 2017
Black Knight
Williams, 1980
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Williams, 1993
Centaur
Bally, 1981
Champion Pub
Bally, 1998
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Bally, 1992
Cyclopes
Game Plan, 1985There have been 17,146 images uploaded to this topic. (View topic image gallery).
Quoted from ToucanF16:
I’m in Osaka and went to the Silver Ball Planet today. They had A Skateball right up front. Only 10yen (~$.10) a game![quoted image]
Wait, you can move around in Japan?! Most of the US is in lockdown 
Cool to see a Skateball out in the wild like that.
Chris
Curtis is working a shorter schedule right now so he is using his free time to help around here. 
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With us both in the same room it means we need to keep an eye on Maverick
I make a quick tether for him.
If allowed to roam the room he will eat clipped zip ties,peices of wire or solder. Even has the potential to chew on the playfield rack. Fun guy but a bit of a handful in the work spaces. 
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While Curtis guts the BK I free the harness from the Skateball.
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Do you make notes on the playfield or is that writing just now visible after you removed the harness?
Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:
Do you make notes on the playfield or is that writing just now visible after you removed the harness?
If it is a game that I haven’t documented yet and I am replacing the playfield then I will make a template out of it.
The notes let me know what connectors I used ,which pin certain wires went into so like a 4 pin square molex,red/yel 1,Org/blk 2,yel/grn 3,red/blu 4.
Not specific the picture but gives the idea.
This lets me build sub assemblies later without having the main harness in front of me.
C81C3722-340E-4B71-9AFE-2B6B0DB4A7DC (resized).jpegI have most of the assemblies on the Skateball and all the lighting mapped out.
LEDs are in the feature lamps and regular bulbs are being used in the GI as requested for a more authentic look from the players view since many of those GI lamps are visible even once fully assembled.
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image (resized).jpgLooks awesome! I particularly like the tough of the grey G.I. wires on this one for some reason. I have to say, I've regretted it every time I've ever put LEDs in an 80s game. Both Haunted House and Black Hole in my collection have LEDs throughout, and I absolutely miss the look and motion of incandescents. There is magic in those fractions of seconds that it takes for a lamp to heat up and cool down.
Quoted from davidw:
It looks like the G.I. (grey) is one run stripped at each lamp socket. How do you manage to strip it in the middle of the wire?
I can do that with a wire stripper like this (I am not saying that's how he does it though)
wire stripper (resized).pngIt looks like the G.I. (grey) is one run stripped at each lamp socket. How do you manage to strip it in the middle of the wire?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/88#post-5139387
It looks like the G.I. (grey) is one run stripped at each lamp socket. How do you manage to strip it in the middle of the wire?
I use these there is definitely a technique to it 
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Best to strip toward the previous connection not away from it then it can be threaded into the lug hole.
Do you make notes on the playfield or is that writing just now visible after you removed the harness?
what's really cool is that Williams actually did screen the bottom of some playfields with wiring information. the bottom of my neighbor's cyclone has dotted line markings on where the GI braid was run and wire colors for the lamp and switches. I'll get him to take a photo and send it to me
edit:
7146A6E4-4259-4F68-8D73-C11E2D972D48 (resized).jpegQuoted from j_m_:
what's really cool is that Williams actually did screen the bottom of some playfields with wiring information. the bottom of my neighbor's cyclone has dotted line markings on where the GI braid was run and wire colors for the lamp and switches. I'll get him to take a photo and send it to me
edit:[quoted image]
Whoever installed that ground braid must have been horrible at staying within the lines in a coloring book!
I ended up having issues with the Rottendog rectifier board(no surprise). It smelt like something was burning and there was a crazy static coming through the speaker and pulsing with the displays when I did a power up of the cabinet solo. Turns I didn’t have the 7 volts just using the test points and who knows what else. Don’t have time or patience to figure out why it isn’t any good.
Swapped it for a better unit. Replaced a wire or three and moved on.
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Skateball playfield wired.
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Installed and powered up. No more GI issues or burning smells.
image (resized).jpgQuoted from High_End_Pins:
I ended up having issues with the Rottendog rectifier board(no surprise). It smelt like something was burning and there was a crazy static coming through the speaker and pulsing with the displays when I did a power up of the cabinet solo. Turns I didn’t have the 7 volts just using the test points and who knows what else. Don’t have time or patience to figure out why it isn’t any good.
Swapped it for a better unit. Replaced a wire or three and moved on.Installed and powered up. No more GI issues or burning smells.[quoted image]
Is that the rectifier board Marco is selling here:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PS2518-18
Quoted from vireland:
Is that the rectifier board Marco is selling here:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PS2518-18
It looks like it or similar.
Pinball life also sells one.
One thing that really struck me as odd on the Rottendog was that it only had one heat sink on one Bridge rectifier the other has one per.
Also the other is clearly labeled with the solder designations on both side whereas the Rottendog is not.
Looking at the solder pads etc the Rottendog just doesn’t look as robust as the other version to me either.
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4C6E8D9C-A6C5-4322-90DC-9A2F1C0907E9 (resized).jpegIt looks like it or similar.
Pinball life also sells one.
One thing that really struck me as odd on the Rottendog was that it only had one heat sink on one Bridge rectifier the other has one per.
Also the other is clearly labeled with the solder designations on both side whereas the Rottendog is not.
Looking at the solder pads etc the Rottendog just doesn’t look as robust as the other version to me either.[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Yeah, I tried various rottendog products and eventually just gave up. Too many weird issues. Thanks for the followup. These kinds of details (part numbers, links, etc) are necessary when there's a Tip Time with Chris key post talking about a specific product that worked for you!
Is that the rectifier board Marco is selling here:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/PS2518-18
It looks like it or similar.
Pinball life also sells one.
One thing that really struck me as odd on the Rottendog was that it only had one heat sink on one Bridge rectifier the other has one per.
Also the other is clearly labeled with the solder designations on both side whereas the Rottendog is not.
Looking at the solder pads etc the Rottendog just doesn’t look as robust as the other version to me either.[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
I've used the PinballLife one on 2 different machines. It comes with everything you need and is very clear on what you need to do. Really great kit.
Quoted from spandol:
I've used the PinballLife one on 2 different machines. It comes with everything you need and is very clear on what you need to do. Really great kit.
I have always had very good results with nvram.weebly rectifier boards. Epecially since I don't need the extra connectors and pins, which really cuts down on the price.
Skateball playfield build is all done.
Few more details left and it should be complete.
The incandescent bulbs in the GI are a nice look gives that warmth to the plastics.
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image (resized).jpgSkateball finished.
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image (resized).jpgSkateball playfield.
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image (resized).jpgEnjoy your well deserved Friday beer Chris. The Skateball looks fantastic and I can't wait to take it for a test drive!
Black Knight playfield set prepped and then cleared along with the apron.
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53E194B4-03AF-4CA3-808A-804A9BB05A13 (resized).jpegSkateball dialed in with very little resistance. 
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Started staining the wood rail parts
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Made a couple changes to the BK front.
Wasn’t too much trouble I just went back to yellow with the horses and shrunk/fine tuned some of the “blocky” looking parts of the red details. They just didn’t look close enough to my original.
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Broke out the wheat wine.
image (resized).jpgBK lower graduates the paint shop once again 
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Lamp panel refinished and the many tilt/bell assembly boards I have for it and the HS are primed. 
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The coin door and coin door parts for the BK are blasted,metal treated then etch primed and fill primed. I am going to do the door only in black. Reasons being it will look better plus the door had some dents that had to be fixed making stainless no longer an option.
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DBADD4DD-7754-4519-87CE-F5330F7406B4 (resized).jpegHere are a few efficiency tips.
First is the poor painters oven.
Place primed objects directly in the sun to bake them.
When trying to get maximum adhesion on bare metal baking is a good extra step. 
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Next on weight lifting days I am given 1:30 to 3 minute rest between sets. The program uses 5 sets per lift and there are 5 lifts so it gives a lot of down time even though I am technically exercising.
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I use that time to braid and build up my
cabinets.
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So even though I am in theory working on myself I am still baking my coin door and building a cabinet all at the same time.
Quoted from Stretch7:
Must be nice to have sun heat to bake them in
Yeah from around mid April until late October we usually have plenty of heat and humidity.
BK lower graduates the paint shop once again
I know you didn't want suggestions when you were working out the stencil design, but now you're done! A drop shadow or keyline/dropshadow combo would really make the Black Knight logo pop. I like the red with yellow drop shadow, personally.
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blackknight_orig (resized).jpgI know you didn't want suggestions when you were working out the stencil design, but now you're done! A drop shadow or keyline/dropshadow combo would really make the Black Knight logo pop. I like the red with yellow drop shadow, personally.
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That looks nice I had thought about something like that or a fade etc but the need to manually cut it all out makes it hard to shadow complex shapes clean.
Basic ones are easy enough.
In order to do it best I would have to get an extra stencil in for the lettering made about 1/4 of an inch smaller.
I also thought about Shading the shield and lots of other stuff but when you do some of these changes you have stick with things that you can easily duplicate and redo in case there are breakthroughs in the sanding process.
Where it is at now is very similar to the original but just a bit more realistically colored and a bit less basic.
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Quakertown, PA
Leduc, AB
