Tough call man.. I suppose it depends how much ya got into it. Hopefully nobody hacked up any of the wiring

Make efforts to restore it. Boards are available. From your description, it doesn't sound all that bad.

And heck, if the deadworld motor works, you're golden.

It's always sad when a machine is parted out. That just means there's one less of them in the world.

But, if you don't want it, I'd consider taking it off your hands

Fix it/shop it out and play/enjoy it.
Wait for Planetary Pinball to make the cabinet decals and then worry about the cabinet at that time.

That is what I'm doing. Damn good game.

This is typical of a project. Just because it may have all the boards, likely there were issues someone decided they didn't want to tackle. Don't let that be you this time. Get to work. You'll enjoy playing that game once it is working.

Just post your issues as you get to them. Many pinsiders here to help.
So you can either buy a new DMD controller board (PinLED and Rottendog I know exist, could be others) and sell the old one on Ebay. It would not be a bad idea to buy a new one and have a spare, especially if you plan on buying more WPC games in the future.

I do suggest staying away from the Rottendog power driver board though.

Can you post a picture of the DMD controller board?
These just naturally get hot being there is so much heat on this board and really no cool air that flows through the backbox. What you think looks fried, may actually just be normal.

if you part it out, it makes mine worth *slightly* more, but NO WAY should it be parted out.
JD is arguably THE best W/B widebody. The only WPC I still own.
If it's too big a job for you to feel comfortable with - sell it to someone who will do it up right!

Restore it...actually pretty fun every time you get closer to a complete machine. Take plenty of pictures, you can always reverse the process.

Take boatloads of photos with every part that you remove from several different angles. It's very time consuming, but well worth it when it comes time to put things back together.

Yes, arguably, DMD-era machines are much more complicated than older ones. Personally, I would've tackled an older and simpler machine for a first machine to familiarize yourself with all the parts and concepts of a pinball machine before moving onto a more complex one.

Dmd controller can be had here on pinside for $65 rebuilt. The driver board is more but rarely a compete failure. You'll save money if you can find a local repair person. And save shipping.

This is the one I showed you on ebay a few weeks ago.
You had your chance lol

If you're knowledgeable on electronics and a good solderer that's all repairable. If not then buy a reconditioned board as mentioned above.

Plenty of people here to help you out, just recognize your limitations and if you are interested in doing board work spend some time educating yourself and practice, practice, practice.

Windex cleans optos very well.
Don't forget to use alcohol and Qtips/rags to clean under the inserts while you are under the playfield.
Wipe off all the black dust off the lamp boards/bulbs.
New coil sleeves in all the coil assemblies will make a huge difference in how hard everything kicks.
Also suggest white rubbers over black to reduce black dust. Also suggest alternatives over the normal black post rubbers that come with the rubber kits.

Games with a hard life, I change all the opto transmitters. Hell, they are only 75 cents each.

GPE (great plains electronics) sells high voltage rebuild kits for the DMD, that may be your best bet considering the condition of the board.

If you're talking about the one listed by barrywnj, it was listed too high with too many unknowns. It didn't look like a bargain.

Good to hear it wasn't as bad as it looked.

You have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to salvage that DMD controller.

Remove all the components from the HV section, clean it and then look at the charring. The charring should be removed if possible since it conducts (carbon). But sometimes you lose traces in the process of removing the charring. After that you may find you don't have enough to salvage.

HV kit from Ed @ GPE with caps is about $10 + shipping. Compare to a new Rottendog which is about $100 shipped to you.

Good luck though - should be a fun project nonetheless. Dredd is a fun game with lots to do.

viperrwk

did you find a working Original driver board?

Buying a new board is smart given how much work this one looks like it needs - and the fact that you can get a new one pretty cheap, relatively speaking.

Problem is the only "part" on the board potentially worth salvaging is the memory, which you can buy new RAM anyway and I wouldn't bother desoldering what's there.

Of course, you could use this board to practice repairs...

viperrwk

Great idea. Once you've got your game working, go back and play with the old board and see what you can do.

I have just picked up a Judge Dredd that was listed as non working, but really it was just the DeadWorld motor that was gubbed. I spent 5 hours taking it apart and it turned out that it was one of the gears that was slipping on the shaft. I expanded the collar to make it a tight fit again and it now works like a charm.

I also picked up a High Roller Casino in bits 4 month ago (even the back box was snapped off and with boards missing) and after a lot of thinking and parts finding it is finally up and running as of today. So I am pleased you are going for it.

More people like you please.

Eric

I have done the same on a Dredd once. Not sure it took all of five hours, but the gear stripping on the shaft seems to be the normal failure point in these gear boxes. From what I can tell it is caused when the crane magnet drops into one of the cutouts on the planet ring and prevents it from turning.

Something all Dredd owners should be aware of. Make sure all the set screws on the crane mechanism are good and tight.

I have one and think the next thing is powder coat. I've seen a red one anyone have a picture of one powder coated?

Here is a DMD controller board ebay.com link: New Pinball Dot Matrix Board Bally Williams A 14039

Or these work for $40 http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2828

Reach out to johnwartjr, Chris hibler and some of the other board repair guys and see if they have any rebuilt ones

I picked one up for a friend that was from a closing union burger joint. I think it had 1/4 inch of fry grease on certain parts.

I worked on a PA system once in a cafeteria (the PA system was used to call folks when their meal was ready). Any equipment that was near the kitchen was clogged with grease. I ended up replacing a mic, an amp, and a speaker (the other speakers were fine since they were far enough away from the kitchen). Grease will simply build up over time. Not much you can do about it.

All the boards are replaceable (going for after market jobbies or getting the originals fixed) and cabinet decals are available. Playfields on JD's are usually in good condition (at least the one's i've seen anyway) so it comes down to CASH at the end of the day!!
My 2 bobs worth is >>> Get the machine up and going again !!! A). Because i hate to see pins get stripped for parts and B). Judge is a fantastic machine to play, fast, furious and also becoming a keeper ( prices for a very good example of this machine are on the rise)

Why is there a Fish Tales ROM in there?

Good catch.

Ahh....yeah. The boards are generic to use in multiple WPC games, but the software (game ROM) is specific to the game, just as the sound ROMs.