Diagnosing the problem appears to be beyond my skill level. I tried to get in touch with Kevin at Classic Pinball here in NJ but the phone is disconnected and when I took a ride to the address on the website I did not find the store.

Does anyone know if they moved or are no longer in business? If they are no longer in business, does anyone know of another local pinball repair shop?

Thanks...Joe

#2 1 year ago

---

ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

9y 238K 31,369 268 14

Was this the place?

https://classicpinball.com/restorations-repairs/

[edit]: Looks like Kevin's personal facebook page was active as of a few days ago. The classic pinball facebook page hasn't seen a new post in 6 months, though.

#3 1 year ago

???

Grandcheapskate

Inactive member

Bloomfield, NJ

1y 5,650 11

Quoted from ForceFlow:
Was this the place?
https://classicpinball.com/restorations-repairs/
[edit]: Looks like Kevin's personal facebook page was active as of a few days ago. The classic pinball facebook page hasn't seen a new post in 6 months, though.

Yes, that is the place. When I look at the website, the dates on the pages are from 2017 which probably means they have not been updated since then. Combined with the phone number unavailable it doesn't look promising.

#4 1 year ago

???

Steve_B

Inactive member

Unknown

9y 10,650 86

Hi Grand,
I worked with Kevin for 10 years at Classic Pinball. He closed the business a couple of years ago. One of the last games I restored there was a play field swap on a Gold Strike.
Where are you located in NJ?

#5 1 year ago

???

Grandcheapskate

Inactive member

Bloomfield, NJ

1y 5,650 11

I am located in Bloomfield. When I was buying my machine from Kevin he invited me to his house which was located only about 5 minutes from me and his old store. He had a couple dozen machines in his garage, all of them standing on end with a little path you could walk through. That's when he showed me his Gold Strike and I was hooked on ADD-A-BALL...I had to have one and he found one. I had played El Dorado and had never seen an ADD-A-BALL before. Both his stores were within 10 minutes of my house.

If I cannot figure out what is wrong with my machine (and I may have found a clue today which I will post in my other thread), is there anyone in the area who fixes machines?

Thanks...Joe

#6 1 year ago

ROB

rrosenhouse

Pinside member

Verona, NJ

11y 56,400 327 6

OP
Quoted from Grandcheapskate:
I am located in Bloomfield. When I was buying my machine from Kevin he invited me to his house which was located only about 5 minutes from me and his old store. He had a couple dozen machines in his garage, all of them standing on end with a little path you could walk through. That's when he showed me his Gold Strike and I was hooked on ADD-A-BALL...I had to have one and he found one. I had played El Dorado and had never seen an ADD-A-BALL before. Both his stores were within 10 minutes of my house.
If I cannot figure out what is wrong with my machine (and I may have found a clue today which I will post in my other thread), is there anyone in the area who fixes machines?
Thanks...Joe

Try Paul at https://wannapinball.com/ . Good guy.

Rob

2 weeks later

#7 1 year ago

???

Grandcheapskate

Inactive member

Bloomfield, NJ

1y 5,650 11

Thanks for the info. I spoke with Paul today and while EM machines are not his strong suit, he gave me some good info I can hopefully use going forward. It does not seem as if there are a lot of EM pinball repair guys around.

I asked Paul the following question and I will ask it here...how does one gain the knowledge to work on and debug EM machines? It seems I either learn to repair this myself or it will sit in an unusable state forever. I'd like to learn how these machines work but I have no idea where to start.

Thanks...Joe

#8 1 year ago

???

pinballdaveh

Pinside member

Unknown

10y 38,800 1,974

It sounds like a good candidate for the next online pinball clinic.

#9 1 year ago

???

hjh632

Pinside member

5y 47,050 799

I was a total noob until I started watching Joe's Classic Video Games on youtube. The link above takes you to one of his latest pinball repair videos. He has quite a few dozen pinball repair videos including EMs and solid state.

I have gone from calling a repairman for any problems to fixing almost everything on my EMs. I just got a Royal Flush and worked through it being in a score motor constantly spinning state, fixed that, drop targets wouldn't fully drop, ball wouldn't kick out at game start or after drain, match lights didn't work, ball didn't kick out of bonus hole, solenoid buzzed VERY loudly, AS stepper nonfunctional, etc, etc.

MarkG also has a pinball repair clinic. Look on the recent EM posts and you'll find sign-up info.

Spend time look on Pinside at repair posts - I do that every day.

It works! Henry

#10 1 year ago

???

hjh632

Pinside member

5y 47,050 799

And very importantly, post your problems on this forum. The experts here are very good explaining solutions geared to your ability level.

#11 1 year ago

MarkG

Fun With Pinball

9y 71,300 4,364

OP
Quoted from Grandcheapskate:
how does one gain the knowledge to work on and debug EM machines?

There are lots of good online information sites like:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/forum/electro-mechanical
http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index1.htm
https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/EM_Repair
and many others.

I organize a free online repair clinic mentioned above where you can get help or just listen and learn:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/an-em-pinball-online-repair-clinic

I also offer an in person repair class and remote help (not free):
https://www.funwithpinball.com/services

/Mark

#12 1 year ago

???

Grandcheapskate

Inactive member

Bloomfield, NJ

1y 5,650 11

Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I did open a thread about the issues with my machine here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gold-strike-not-fully-resetting

I want to print out and read the document which MarkG gave me in a link. It looks like it could be a very useful document to help me get started.

Thanks...Joe

2 months later

#13 1 year ago

Ant16bar2

Pinside member

Allamuchy Township, NJ

5y 40,550 358 2

Hi Grand . As far as your game you say it’s not resetting all the way . How far is not all the way ?

#14 1 year ago

Ant16bar2

Pinside member

Allamuchy Township, NJ

5y 40,550 358 2

Is all score reels returning to zero

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