Play it?

PLAY IT!

I would check to see if fuses have been added two the 2 bridge rectifiers. I bought a Pinbot with a completely melted harness had to rewire from transformer to head.

Did all High Speeds come new with the mylar on the playfield?

I would think so.
Never seen a Wms of this generation without one. (apart from those that have new/restored PF)

Someone on FB stated that a former owner installed it over a dirty play field. Looked original to me but what do I know.

They may have removed an old one and put on a new one.

I'm no expert though.

I have 2 HS. One had mylar the other doesn't. The one with no mylar was early in the run.

Fitted a playfield protector and sunlights in the GI, ball rolls smoothly now and art is protected from getting worse.
All good.

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Where'd you buy it from?

For new HS owners....I recommend the following modifications. Change lights to LED, Put some fire lights in the backbox around the car, Add the stop light mod from RobTune next to the ramp and move the original stop light to the back left corner of the playfield (Use School Bus Yellow paint to paint the stop lights to match the playfield yellow), add the 2 fuses around the bridge rectifiers on the right of the backbox, Add some led spotlights in the back of the playfield to light up the ramp signs and the back of the playfield, add silver mirror tape to the sides to light up the playfield, Use some colored post bumpers to replace the existing yellow ones, Get the sign to add below the ramp to cover the metal plate. These are all fairly simple modifications that really brighten up the game. I also think the new ramp from Freeplay40 is a great idea but a little harder to install (I would love one in a light grey to match the color of concrete). Enjoy the modifications!!

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I managed to get one new from eBay for a good price as wasn’t used, but it is from here https://www.playfield-protectors.com/Home/Details/6OZ0CdN4DkCmxneLSoDBVw?catgoryid=22&name=High%20Speed%20%7C%201986%20%7C%20Playfield%20Protector

Does it adhere to the surface or is it held down by the fixings?

Neither. Just gravity. I don't have one on High Speed, but I have had those protectors on several other games. They fit well.

Got the lower cabinet dried out well enough, found a suitable donor backbox thanks to a generous fellow collector in the region, and moved all of the electronics over tonight. Really looking like the only thing wrong with this machine was a broken backglass and maybe some of the displays being out. I was able to boot it, coin up, start and 'play' a game, no problem. Huge shame it was put outside for years like that.

Here's a video of what I found after getting it all hooked back up:

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Just lays flat, nothing really holds it down. Works really well.

The_Great_Man, I have to say I never considered using mirror tape to create my own mirror blades for my HS, but that was the best $12 and 45 minutes I've spent on a mod for any of my pins. I may be late to the game and that might be a well known thing, but that one was a pleasant surprise. You are a Great Man!!!

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Is this silver duct tape. The stuff used to seal duct work off?

Sure looks like it. What a great idea. I'd imagine you need at least a 3" band like this:
amazon.com link »

No, I used Chrome finish vinyl.

12''x78''Chrome Mirror Silver... amazon.com link »

I only used about 1/2 of the roll but I wanted enough in case I screwed up (which I did). It was really slick and easy.

Thanks Ryancaseystudio. I used the silver chrome vinyl wrap 12" x 60" for $7.99 on ebay. Now you need to get the stoplight from RobTune - real easy to add and it really opens up the ramp. Then get the "High Speed Pinball Sign' on ebay to cover the metal under the ramp. The lighting on your game looks real good.

Working on RobTunes stoplight and the Red Ramp from FreePlay40. Going all in on this one.

Do not forget the spray paint can of School Bus Yellow. Paint your new stoplight to match the color on the playfield.

Does anyone here have a high quality image of the high speed backglass?

Hello guys.

Looking for a used MPU board for my High speed or any used Williams System 11 MPU.

Thanks

For those that have asked previously, I finally posted these to my pinside shop.

Thread;
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1252-robtune-/05776-hs-tree-spacers
Market;
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1252-robtune-/05776-hs-tree-spacers

Just ordered!

I technically joined the club at the end of October, but have just been lurking and using some of the background info to get my High Speed (also my first machine) into the best shape I can. So, hey eveybody, thanks!

Has been a fun process from learning to re-connect the backbox on day one (picked it up off a friend who had it in two pieces in storage) through to tearing down and reassembling the whole playfield for cleaning, new plastics/rubbers, LEDs for all the lighting, fuses for the bridge rectifiers, two new full flipper assemblies, fixing a cracked standup target; various switch adjustments and things so far. Throughout, the machine has been good fun to play, and it's exciting to see it slowly getting even better.

Been letting one issue linger - all the music works as expected from the background sound board, but I get nothing for sound effects or voice samples from the main board (this was a known issue when I picked it up and had started during the time my friend owned the game). So, next I plan to investigate that to decide if I am up to doing my own troubleshooting on the board or need to send it off to a pro. I'm pretty comfortable with a meter/soldering iron/schematics, but there's always some self-doubt as this would be a fair bit deeper than I've taken that experience before.

After that, I guess I'll be facing down whether I want to do the work for a hardtop or a full replacement playfield

Annnd, I think that's enough of a wall of text to say hello, thanks, glad to be here!

Welcome aboard. I also had little experience when I bought my High Speed and have learned an incredible amount - both good and bad. If you are going to work on the "Boards" of your machine without thousand dollar equipment - Be Careful. The boards are 40 years old and were not made that great. Very easy to screw up the traces on the boards even if you do the work perfectly. I would not replace anything unless you are pretty sure it is broken. But please do not just take my word for it - Try to get more expert advice - I am a novice. Also be careful who you listen to on Pinside...Some help is great - Some not so much. If you read anything from Grumpy or Pincoder....Listen! Good luck

Has anyone bought the mirrored backglass from CPR? Well I am sure someone has. My backglass is pretty good but has some spider web cracks in it. I would like to get a new backglass but bought one once - not from CPR - that really did not look that great. Does the mirrored CPR backglass look like the original - I have heard that it does. Thank you.

One more thing. I asked someone with a lot of experience about an overlay for my High Speed. Answer: Do not do it. Almost impossible to get it to align perfectly and over time dust and dirt will get underneath the overlay. As for a full playfield replacement...I have an incredible amount of respect and admiration for anyone that can do it. I am an engineer and think i can do just about anything with a little work and research - I would never try to do a playfield replacement...Once you start there is no turning back.

I appreciate you sharing your experience and cautionary notes - I have heard elsewhere about the concern over doing damage to traces and other issues with learning to work on these old boards, so put up another point leaning me toward sending it out to a pro after doing a little testing to see if I can't understand at least where the root cause may be.

As for the overlay, it seemed in my reading of threads on these forums that the hardtops from Outside Edge were generally better liked than other overlays. Do you know if your reference was speaking specifically to that product or another one? My playfield has a fair amount of wear, and soon it'll probably be the "worst" part of my instance of the table (though not so bad as to have much impact on the playing), so improving on it is definitely appealing if possible for some "reasonable" cost/effort. So far, I have relatively little cost into the machine and all my effort has been a fun learning experience.

Definitely looking forward to adding another game or two to the collection in the not too distant future, but had it in mind to get closer to "finished" with changes to this one before adding another. I also do have a Williams Phoenix (my friend was happy to get it out of his storage for free when I bought the HS off him), but that may likely be more of a project than I am motivated to take on for a machine I probably would end up just giving away or selling at very low cost. High Speed is probably mine to keep.

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The problem is - It is real hard to diagnose the one actual problem that is happening with these machines. Unless it is an obvious burnt transistor or something like that. As for damaging the traces - It is done by experts and beginners - Just happens with old circuit boards. And fixing bad traces - though it looks easy - Is not. And sometimes hard to know which board to send out to be fixed. Working on these games is just hard work. Many times trying to fix one problem means creating 2 other problems. My suggestion - and again I make many bad decisions....Try to fix the sound problem yourself. Read some things....Take the board out and look at it. Find out which part of the board does the sound and start there. I must say I had a problem with the sound and just moved a few wires around and pressed some connectors and got it to work. Am I an expert and fixed it and know what was wrong. No.
My friend did not specifically say which overlay she was talking about. Looking at your machine....Yeah I would definitely look to do something to the playfield. But again - I make a lot of mistakes and bad decisions. I know there are some overlays/hardtops that just use gravity and friction to lay flat instead of sticking. I would probably try one of those. Need to take everything off the playfield - which is doable just takes time - get some good magnetized screwdrivers and socket wrenches. If it does not work you are only out money and you have gained experience - So not a bad tradeoff. One thing I have done is put in some double "spotlight" lights under the trees near the back to help light up the corners. And if you are really into it - Go get some of the mods offered by RobTune. They are all pretty good.

Actually just ordered the robtune stoplight and tree spacers yesterday. Been eyeing those freeplay40 ramps, too. Of course, those things being nice and shiny new also help to draw attention to the state of the playfield, but at some point, the playfield will probably be improved one way or another.

Ok. On the path. When it is time...Remove the ramp assembly and send the whole thing off to Freeplay40 for a new ramp. While that is off - remove the rest of the playfield stuff and put down a hardtop/overlay. When your ramp comes back (And FP sounds like he is crazy busy) - You will have an almost new game. And do not forget to paint the new stoplight "School Bus Yellow" before you install it - Matches the colors on the playfield perfectly.

Just got the mirrored High Speed backglass from CPR installed on Sunday. It's good, but if I have to nitpick, the rear view mirror isn't as reflective as I'd hoped. My old one wasn't too bad and the reflection was very clear. On the repro it isn't as mirror-y as I was expecting.

I also got a new Joker Poker glass at the same time and my complaint there is that the tinted scoring windows aren't as clear as the original either (the displays are a bit 'blurred').

Granted both glasses are beautiful and I don't regret getting them, but was slightly disappointed. I'd say 8/10.

I was disappointed with the TAF version and Indy, TZ is pretty good though. Put me off buying anymore as an upgrade.

Is the backglass for sale on Marco a resale of the CPR or a different take on it? It also notes having proper mirrored sections instead of a flat print like I have seen on at least one other product. My glass is rough, but looks pretty much fine when illuminated, so it is low on my list considering the cost - nice to have other’s perspectives on the quality of the options, though.

Pretty sure as in Real sure the Marco back glass is made by CPR. Must be the same mirrored one CPR is selling. Can not believe CPR is making a different one just for Marco. Mine is ok but has a bunch of spider web cracks in it. Really would like an original new one.

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Cool, yea I’m not yet familiar with how all that stuff is produced/sourced and didn’t know if cpr is the only one making decent backglass.

Yours does have an interesting pattern going Mine has pretty significant bubbling, but it doesn’t standout too terribly when lit - luckily not much cracking. One day when everything else is finished, I’ll probably grab a new one, since I’m sure even if it isn’t quite as good as the best condition originals, it is a lot better than mine .

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Hey guys. I've had my HS for about a year now and the only thing that is driving me crazy is the significant humming I get from both speakers during attract mode. It matches the light show and I'm assuming it's a grounding issue somewhere but I don't know where to start. Plus I don't know what I would do to figure it out. Any direction or ideas would be appreciated. It drives me insane.

I’m sure some deeper experts will have some additional thoughts, but I had noticed mine doing the same - for me it got a lot better when I replaced one particular bulb in my swap from incandescent to LED (under hideout jackpot - based on the timing of the noise paired with the lighting pattern, it also matched when this one was lit).

Also, I had the 1/4A fuse populated on my power supply, even though I didn’t need it, because my machine has pinscore displays - removing that to disable the highest voltage circuit further reduced the noise my machine makes. There is still some hum, but is acceptable now - perhaps a couple things that might spark ideas for things to test.

I purchased the CPR HS backless and that was my complaint as well. It is not anywhere near the mirror the original had. The first CPR HS backless was terrible. I called CPR and they replaced it but still not as good as the original!

The pattern on my backglass is so interesting it almost looks like it belongs - except it is only on one side.
Your backglass looks a lot brighter than mine....What bulbs are you using behind the backglass?
As for the speaker humming....I had a speaker humming problem and I replaced both speakers. Also looked at all the wiring for the speakers and for that cheap volume turning switch and moved them around a little and got rid of most of the humming. No idea what the problem really was.

I used 44/47 Frosted Premium-Non Ghosting warm white bulbs ordered from cointaker on a recommendation from a friend for all the 44s behind the backglass and above the playfield. Used other premium/nonghosting bare bulbs or flex versions of them for certain tricky inserts to get more even alignment, #63 replacement in all the flashers (clipped the warming resistors), and these 2LED bulbs with clear tops in the pop bumpers.

Pretty happy overall - I personally like a somewhat natural look and don’t often love complex colored LED arrangements, myself. My flashers have a very slight momentary glow (nothing close to a flash) along with all the GI getting very slightly less bright for a split second if I flip wildly. Have seen thoughts on how to possibly deal with this (current reversing through some diodes possibly as the voltage sags?). But, it reaaally doesn’t bother me - have seen lots of other games of this era blink worse on flipper flips.

As for hum, I feel like it could be so many things from power supply noise, aging filter capacitors, grounding, etc - definitely a lot to track through. It doesn’t feel like these machines were designed to have clean audio, and adding years of aged components, broken grounds, etc doesn’t help.

But, I love that they put an early FM synth chip in there along with the sample playback stuff, so I will excuse them the noise. It’d be fun to try to get it really really clean, but also could be fun to just blast it out with a fuzz distortion circuit and a noise gate (says musician and electronics tinkering brain).

edit to note: i think my phone cam is also doing some low light trickery, because the bulbs are not blindingly bright in GI or washing out the decals on the inserts the way it appears in the photo

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Very nice. And I thought I had lit up the back of my playfield pretty good....Yours looks even better. I have been using the Comet lights but I think I may have to spend a little money at Cointaker.

I hardtopped mine and it was my first experience doing really much of anything with a pinball machine. I learned some things in the process for future hardtops, but overall it came out pretty nice and plays great. I continue to fight ramp switch adjustment, but it sounds like I'm not alone. That's a battle a lot of people are fighting (or maybe just dealing with), forever. They work perfectly most of the time, just not 100% of the time, so sometimes I have to re-do the shot I just did. All in all, I think the hardtop is GREAT for any HS playfield that's in bad condition. This title just works really well with it.
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I still have things to do on mine -- namely, tighten down one of my wireforms (wallowed out hole causes some wiggle.. I'll probably have to revert to running a post with a T-nut on the bottom, then a nut on top), reinstall flashers in the back with dome covers like exist all around the rest of the PF, buy that sweet yellow vertical stoplight to go next to the ramp, powdercoat rails/lockbar/other misc hardware, and now mirror blades or tape or something on the sides as shown above. I do like that look. I've meant to get back to this but with other things going on (shopped out Black Knight in preparation to trade for LOTR, working on a Bad Cats teardown/shop out, starting on a couple of Mata Hari hardtops for a friend, still trying to finish off my EBD hardtop from hell, etc) HS has kind of slid down the list since it's working and playing well. Someday I'll get to the last few tasks so it can officially be considered 'done'.

Looks great - Well done. Maybe you can let us know which hardtop you got and whether you had to adjust anything to get it to fit right - I heard that the extra thickness can cause some issues on some games. I think everyone has some issues with those ramp switches. I have contorted my hands several times to adjust them because taking the whole ramp setup off is something I do not want to do that much. A couple months ago I did research and bought an opto switch to replace the first switch under the ramp. I think the opto switch would be better to pick up the ball since it moves pretty quick up the ramp and sometimes gets airborne and jumps the switch. I have not installed it yet because the game is running so well I am afraid to touch anything on it right now. I do think it is the right way to go.

Sorry, when I say "hardtop" I'm referring to the one product that goes by that name. I understand there are a myriad of overlay options out there, but I would absolutely never use one of them after all of the horror stories I've heard about them (puckering, shrinking under clear, etc). No thanks.

The hardtop, by Outside Edge, is its own whole-scale solution (art+protector) and is basically the equivalent of a giant sticker with a plastic covering you put over the sanded, bare playfield. I've had them on a Space Shuttle (another good one for the product), an Eight Ball Deluxe (I'm not as much in love with this one, but there's a LOT that goes into the negative feelings there), and I'm preparing to do two Mata Haris. Overall I like the product. Alignment isn't always perfect on every insert/hole and for that reason I highly suggest outlining inserts with a black paint pen prior to laying the hardtop down. I didn't do that on HS or EBD and there are some alignment issues with inserts that irritate me. But most people just playing the game will never notice. It is what it is.

As for the switches......ugh. I tried a magnetic reed switch for the lead ramp switch and that was a glorious disaster (not sure what the issue was, but I think the metal plate on the ramp interfered with the magnet working properly). I think an opto could certainly be a great solution. Personally I feel like the FP40 ramp, without any sort of cover, can introduce some 'hopping' which causes the inaccuracy of the switch registration. I don't think this is a flaw with the ramp itself, but probably more with my install, or with my playfield, or...who knows. I feel like a cover would really shore up the issues, but alas...no such cover exists for the FP40 ramp. Someday I might tackle trying to make one. Probably when I don't have 96 million other projects.

I have 6 lights that after changing to LED do not light up (100,000 light, 2 light, 6000, 50,000, upper yellow light and 1000 by escape).
I believe it's bad connection due to grime... can you clean the receptacles with a qtip and alcohol?