(Topic ID: 177917)

Learning from mistakes (share your stories)

By Nokoro

7 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 94 posts
  • 58 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by PinRob
  • Topic is favorited by 13 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

    Topic Gallery

    View topic image gallery

    stock-image-fail-soldering-iron-bob-byron-1 (resized).jpg
    ccfire2.jpg

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider nokoro.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    #1 7 years ago

    I often learn the best from my own mistakes. And, I find there are also a lot of lessons to be learned from the mistakes of others. I thought it would be fun to have a thread about mistakes people have made and lessons they learned from them. I hope a lot of you will contribute.

    Here are a few mistakes I've made and the resulting lessons:

    1. I once failed to realized that I had pulled my playfield out all the way when it was sitting on the service rails. I gave it one more yank, thinking I had to lift it over the usual bump, and the whole thing fell into the cabinet. Luckily, nothing was broken, but my heart nearly stopped. I've learned to always double check the position before I move it again.

    2. Having successfully used a magic eraser to clean up some glue spots on my Special Force, I tried to clean some dirt with it in a different section and rubbed away some of the paint by accident. I learned to be very careful with a magic eraser, to read Vid's guide more closely, and to know that what works in one area will not always work in another.

    3. I was trying to diagnose some weird behavior with my switch matrix where one switch was causing multiple switches in the same column to fire. It took several weeks and many pinsiders help before I realized that I was creating a short to ground with my own body by touching the metal rivet on the stand up target while leaning on the metal cabinet rail. I learned a lot about switch matrices from that whole experience and realized that sometimes you create problems that aren't really there.

    #14 7 years ago
    Quoted from Chisox:

    Never work on the game with the power on, not even chainging bulbs.

    This is a good one. I always get tempted to take that shortcut. I have to remember to resist.

    #21 7 years ago
    Quoted from cosmokramer:

    I got a bally blackjack when I first got into the hobby...someone had used incorrect clear coat (or perhaps it came from the factory)and it turned a yellowish color...so I stripped the playfield and fired up my palm sander...
    things were going good for the first 5 minutes as I thought I could masterfully remove the ever-so-thin clear without touching the art underneath... then I used a cloth and some alcohol to wipe away the dust so I could admire my brilliance....UGH! I felt sick when I saw what I had done...live and learn

    I'm sorry. That sounds awful.

    #27 7 years ago

    What are the characteristics of a good screwdriver vs a bad one? A sharp and well defined head?

    #31 7 years ago
    Quoted from Chisox:

    Thanks for the suggestions for the screwdrivers everyone, didn't mean to hijack thread.

    You didn't. That's what threads like this are for, learning new stuff.

    #49 7 years ago
    Quoted from pin2d:

    From past mistakes: take lots of pictures if you're unhooking anything.
    I also find if I get stuck on something I can't figure it out, walking away for a while and coming back to it later helps.

    Quoted from Chisox:

    Best advice ever, take pics pics and more pics. You can't take too many. The one you don't take will undoubtably be the one you need.

    And, make sure you do this even for something that looks incredibly simple and minor! I remember removing a couple of plastics on my Star Trek to replace the mini post rubbers. One plastic was over the other. When I tried to put them back in, I reversed them and couldn't for the life of me figure out why it wasn't fitting. It took me longer than I care to admit to figure it out.

    I did a similar, but more excusable, thing when I disassembled a 3 drop target bank on my Special Force. I couldn't get the pieces to fit back together. Luckily, I had lots of pictures, and after studying them for a while realized that I reversed the position of two plates.

    4 months later
    #74 6 years ago

    Having just gotten a haircut yesterday and seeing little hairs all over the place, I remembered this one: Never clean your playfield after a haircut unless you have showered first. I did that once. Never again.

    #79 6 years ago

    What's the problem with rings and watches? Do they snag on wires, or is it a matter of causing a short? I wouldn't do work with the power on.

    2 years later
    #88 4 years ago

    My outhole switch recently stopped working. I tested continuity to the molex connector in the back box, and there was none, so it appeared a wire had come loose. I located the broken wire on another switch in the row and reconnected it. Now, the whole row was out. It took me a while to figure out that I pushed the wire in the molex connector out of place when I was testing continuity, knocking out the whole row. Guess I don't know my own strength.

    #92 4 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    If you are moving games, you can get them squished and have to get them cut off before loss of circulation causes damage.
    Or if working on games, short the ring or watch to high power and arc weld/burn yourself good.
    LTG : )

    Yep. I remember this advice. Just installed a wheelchair lift for my mother-in-law today. Took off my ring before hand. Glad I did. That thing was heavy!

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider nokoro.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    Reply

    Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

    Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

    Donate to Pinside

    Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


    This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/learning-from-mistakes?tu=nokoro and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

    Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.