Roanoke, VA
Still wrapping up Visit #3 today so here's a video of yours truly giving a goofy interview to the local high school kids at TPF. A tired geek is a silly geek.
Skip to 6:07 for the pinball portion...
(Topic ID: 179489)
I thought you were pretty funny in that interview. But did you say you started in this hobby THREE YEARS AGO??? Jeez...and here I thought I learned quickly!
Yep... late 2013 began my shift from a casual player to a hobbyist/collector.
Q: "How the hell did you accomplish all of this in only three years?"
A: "I've been doing *only* this for three years!"
I tend to go full-guns-blazing on projects which hold my attention. Pinball has many levels to it... social, art, physics, electrical theory... lots of amusing and challenging puzzles to solve for a busy mind.
Also... no kids... not currently married... and a minimalistic lifestyle which allows total focus and large stretches of time. As well as having been plugged in to the local Maker community and thus access to numerous tools and different sources of knowledge. All of which, factored together, cultivated an environment where I could make huge leaps in knowledge and experimentation well beyond what would have otherwise been possible in the time allotted.
Quoted from NicoVolta:Yep... late 2013 began my shift from a casual player to a hobbyist/collector.
Q: "How the hell did you accomplish all of this in only three years?"
A: "I've been doing *only* this for three years!"
I tend to go full-guns-blazing on projects which hold my attention. Pinball has many levels to it... social, art, physics, electrical theory... lots of amusing and challenging puzzles to solve for a busy mind.
Also... no kids... not currently married... and a minimalistic lifestyle which allows total focus and large stretches of time. As well as having been plugged in to the local Maker community and thus access to numerous tools and different sources of knowledge. All of which, factored together, cultivated an environment where I could make huge leaps in knowledge and experimentation well beyond what would have otherwise been possible in the time allotted.
Wow,
That is amazing. And also, unless I am mistaken, not only is Nico undefeated so far playing everyone's pins, he is undefeated by any of the machines as far as fixing them. Great stuff.
Quoted from xsvtoys:Nico undefeated so far playing everyone's pins...
I'm ready to tarnish Nico's record...on a middle pop game no less. 
(Score-Board)
Happy practicing, Nico! 
Visit #3 - Richard Rickman (@fumbleflippers) in Cordova, TN
The subjects: Captain Fantastic, Abra-Ca-Dabra, Mars Trek
It was an occasionally rainy four-day visit at Richard's place, the longest scheduled stop on the tour. Time absolutely flew by as we worked through his priority project, Captain Fantastic. It is destined to reside at a local pizza parlor where he operates a few EM pinball machines.
Richard began his collection around 2010. He now possesses a sizable number of pinball machines... perhaps as many as 80. How many of them do you recognize from the photos?
The Captain presented us with several issues: Drop target bank was missing a post/clip (see it?), deformed pop bumper spoons (extremely common), unreliable ball count, weak pops, flaky lights, player count not illuminating, glitchy alternating relay... really quite a long list. But also a great opportunity to work our way through many different kinds of issues.
If you ever work on Bally drop targets, you will need a long philips screwdriver to get those last two screws!
Note also nearly every Bally could use new plastic pop bumper spoons. Just drill out the holes carefully on the new ones and they will fit.
Also note the player count "fan" stepper unit. It looks clean from the top, but the wiper fingers were bowed at the edges (and thus were not illuminating the 1-2-3-4 player count).
After using a switch adjuster to align them flat across and cleaning the circuit board... all was well again.
The Cap'n then received the stealth LED recipe. Richard was impressed with its high-contrast (yet original-looking) effect and decided to leave it that way. We tuned the recipe further by leaving filament bulbs under the translucent inserts (extra ball and special), as well as substituting a few bulbs in key areas of the backglass where some overlighting was evident. I must say this was one of the most dramatic transformations yet... truly "Fantastic"!
Richard got plenty of practice adjusting relays, polishing switch contacts, score motor switches, and stepper mechs.
Later we examined Abra-Ca-Dabra which was double-clutching and/or not advancing the bonus drop target shots.
It was a perfect opportunity to introduce Gottlieb's dreaded AS relay... also known as "the mech from hell". It is the worst thing in all of EM pinball. Richard and I spent about two hours discussing its nuances, cleaning, adjusting, checking, and re-adjusting it. After which we replaced the pop bumper yokes, bakelites, plungers, and fixed a few loose contacts on the playfield.
On day three, a local pal (Joe) arrived with a nice Mars Trek needing some help. It was blowing fuses whenever an extra ball was earned. Also it would not display the player 1-2-3-4 lights nor the ball count.
Someone had installed new lamp sockets using long nails which were touching the sockets deep inside the backbox... and thus shorting them out. This can be an easy issue to overlook but I knew from experience - I had once stapled a lamp socket too closely with the same result. I then adjusted a switch in the game over relay to make better contact for the lights.
All issues were resolved & Joe was happy again. We spent the rest of our time fine-tuning Captain Fantastic.
It seems my lucky streak continues. I am now 3-0 on the two-out-of-three "home turf EM challenge". But wow... pretty slim margin this time!
Richard has a lot of work ahead of him, but he is now armed with a new arsenal of tools and techniques to speed him to the finish line. If you're ever in Memphis... be sure to stop by Garibaldi's on Walker Avenue for a slice of pizza and a game of Aladdin's Castle. Or, if you wait just a bit longer, a nicely dialed-in, stealth LED'd, Captain Fantastic!
Ah, if only I could do the same... but no time to rest! Onward!
Next stop -> Nashville, TN
Quoted from NicoVolta:Someone had installed new lamp sockets using long nails which were touching the sockets deep inside the backbox... and thus shorting them out.
Especially helpful is documenting and pointing out some of the obscure and not so obvious issues
with games being repaired
like the nail and light socket shorting issue and the wiper fingers being misaligned/bent etc.
Quoted from NicoVolta:It was an occasionally rainy four-day visit at Richard's place
Just a little...
Quoted from NicoVolta:Time absolutely flew by as we [fixed ALL THE THINGS!!!]
Quoted from pinwiztom:Especially helpful is documenting and pointing out some of the obscure and not so obvious issues
with games being repaired
like the nail and light socket shorting issue and the wiper fingers being misaligned/bent etc.
Please keep up these marvelous posts, Nic.
Hey folks... I'm doing my best to keep this project focused upon the pinball owners (you!) and the games & fixes... and not let it devolve into a generic travel blog revolving around what I ate, what I saw, what celebrity I ran into, what I think about the climate, blah blah blah.
Nowadays it seems if every minute detail of a getaway trip isn't shared with the world, it didn't happen! Often too much of a good thing, methinks.
HOWEVER, once in a while it is fun to peek behind the scenes, so I am quietly collecting my thoughts and experiences to save for a long "finale post" to put all of this in perspective.
So... how we doing so far?
Sydney
Visit #4 - David Corrigan (@UberArcade) in Nashville, TN
The subjects: Rancho, Liberty Bell, Grand Prix
I have learned two things living on the road as a pinball nomad: One, that you don't really know how tightly wound you are until you can escape for some real perspective. Not for a weekend. Not for a planned vacation. But by throwing yourself into something so large, demanding, and unpredictable that you lose yourself entirely within the process of coming to terms with it.
And two, Tennessee is beautiful.
The drive from Memphis to Nashville was the best two hours I've spent on the road thus far. It was a smoothly-paved, undulating twist through purple redbud blooms under crystal-grey cloudburst skies. A loveliness which could also be felt behind the wheel. My car bounced along the scenic boulevards with a graceful rhythm, which might explain why Nashville became a city of music. It prompted the queuing of some 70's FM road tunes like "Amie" by Pure Prairie League and of course a bucketload of Creedence which never sounded so good.
I met Scott, Seth, and David at The Raven, a small online media/advertising company with aspirations for growth. It was located in a hip downtown square called Cannery Row surrounded by small bar/music venues. It reminded me of my first "real" IT job working for Big Hand Productions back in 1993 in Deep Ellum... which was also a similarly modest cutting-edge tech outfit surrounded by local music halls and downtown bustle. It seemed like the perfect place to stash some pinball machines for a future gig.
We started on Rancho (Williams, 1977). I spent some time explaining “relay theory” before putting Seth and David to work polishing contacts and checking switch gaps. Then I covered the process of servicing a score reel and cleaning the circuit boards with Mother’s Mag Polish. It had a broken switch blade on the end-of-stroke portion.
End-of-stroke switches are smaller than most. Replacement blades are not typically available to buy separately. The usual fix is to steal a working stack from another reel, but we didn’t have an extra lying around. So I took a normal blade, sawed it in half with a dremel cutting wheel, turned each piece 180 degrees, and sandwiched it in the stack. David remarked, “This is totally like watching MacGuyver”... which was good for a laugh. Then he held the wire in place as it was soldered it to the new makeshift blade tip. Worked like a charm.
A 10-point reel was sticking due to a closed playfield switch. I opened it with a flat screwdriver and all was well again. Then I suggested an artistic tweak... swapping the white plastic nuts with polished nickel hex caps. “Pinball jewelry”, if you will. David liked it and we left it that way.
On to Liberty Bell. The game wasn’t counting down the bonus evenly. As expected, the stepper was gunked up so we walked through the process of cleaning it. We also found both flippers were chattering due to the end-of-stroke switches. They weren’t opening wide enough at the end of the stroke, and the electricity was jumping the gap rat-a-tat machine-gun style. After polishing the contacts and increasing the gap... we found one of the switch contacts to be too small for the current load. I fashioned a new blade with a heavier-duty tungsten contact, soldered it in place, and the flippers were back in action sans-chatter.
The stealth LED recipe claimed a third victim! Everyone was pleased with the Liberty Bell playfield after the upgrade. But we didn’t have a key to open the backbox and swap the lights, so we did the head of Rancho instead. David is planning to order a new shipment of LED’s to complete the rest.
Regarding the food scene, most cities have their own culinary specialty. In Nashville, that “thing” is “hot chicken”. Apparently this is a version of fried chicken rolled in cayenne pepper and spices and, according to David, is “something you must commit to, once ordered”. I love spicy food and regret missing the opportunity to challenge the bird. I lost track of time within the halls of the local “Game Galaxy” and my tight schedule is not a forgiving one. So we shall discuss the local arcade scene instead...
Basically, it's great! I had time to visit two local haunts: Flashback Arcade, and Game Galaxy of Smyrna.
Flashback is the smaller, newer arcade with blacklight carpet and brand new pins. Arcade games tend to be the more popular ones and/or larger-scale amusement-types and bemani. It is a modern-day Aladdin’s Castle, sans mall.
Game Galaxy, on the other hand, is the larger, weirder, mostly-kinda-working arcade in a ramshackle warehouse. What makes this place special is the OUTSTANDING number of laserdisc games and arcade rarities. Around each corner you’ll find something to make you go DUDE! SPACE DUNGEON! Then DUDE! SEGA HOT ROD (runs on floppy disks!)... then DUDE! WARLORDS 4-PLAYER COCKTAIL! (yes, it is for sale, and yes, it is very expensive).
One thing to note is the vector and laserdisc games are only switched on Saturdays to prevent breakdowns and wear, so plan your trip accordingly. If you have an Astron Belt and/or Star Rider, send them here!
Day two was spent on Grand Prix. A true barn find and thus needing extensive cleaning and adjustment. Really too much for just one evening, so I used the opportunity to guide Scott (who owns all of the machines, except the EM’s) through a stepper rebuild. I think he should own a few EM’s due to his mechanical aptitude. Didn’t need much guidance to rebuild it.
Among his collection you might notice the four Black Knight variants: Black Knight, Jungle Lord, Pharaoh, and Solar Fire. Nice touch.
Amusingly, while we were working on Liberty Bell, David was awaiting a return Craigslist call on a $500 Gorgar… only to find it standing behind us! HA! Beware Nashville pinball hunters… Scott is the fastest pinball bandit in town.
As for the ongoing best-of-three challenge… I am too tired to count, apparently. I remain undefeated at 4-0 despite the coil dust on my fingers and the erroneous extra digit.
David was a great host and also runs the Grand Ole Gameroom Expo in November. I’ll do my best to return for the show later in the year and bring one of my EM’s along for the ride. Nashville has already left me with a number of positive impressions. Will be back, for sure.
Lastly, if you’ve ever wondered what happened to the arcades of the 80’s, this might help explain it…
Next stop -> Madison, AL
Toronto, ON
Quoted from NicoVolta:David was a great host and also runs the Grand Ole Gameroom Expo in November. I’ll do my best to return for the show later in the year and bring one of my EM’s along for the ride. Nashville has already left me with a number of positive impressions. Will be back, for sure.
NicoVolta - If you return for the Grand Ole Gameroom Expo, I'll have a chance to exact revenge on you for the "narrow" loss I suffered on Butterfly when you visited Memphis (hell, I may even bring Butterfly with me so I can beat you on THAT machine). I worked with David Corrigan last year at the Expo running the pinball tournament and expect to be doing the same this year (although with all this new pinball interest I see he has, he may well want to take over pinball from me!). David is great to work with and I'm very much looking forward to the next Expo. Last year was a blast.
Quoted from NicoVolta:I have learned two things living on the road...
Poetic. Keep all this up, please.
Quoted from NicoVolta:We also found both flippers were chattering due to the end-of-stroke switches. They weren’t opening wide enough at the end of the stroke, and the electricity was jumping the gap rat-a-tat machine-gun style. After polishing the contacts and increasing the gap...
Cool! (Runs downstairs to increase flipper gap.) 
Quoted from NicoVolta:...if you’ve ever wondered what happened to the arcades of the 80’s...
...stay 'til the end.
Quoted from dyopp21:If you return for the Grand Ole Gameroom Expo, I'll have a chance to exact revenge on you for the "narrow" loss I suffered on Butterfly when you visited Memphis (hell, I may even bring Butterfly with me so I can beat you on THAT machine).
Ha-ha!
Quoted from TopMoose:If this was a TV show, I'd watch the hell out of it.
Nic screwed up there. Lesser talents have been given (or tried to get) reality shows. This would have been a perfect fit of technology and Americana! Maybe next trip? Might at least have all travel expenses covered by one of the cable networks.
Quoted from CactusJack:Nic screwed up there. Lesser talents have been given (or tried to get) reality shows. This would have been a perfect fit of technology and Americana! Maybe next trip? Might at least have all travel expenses covered by one of the cable networks.
TV often screws up good ideas though. I'll consider it for an encore trip... but the debut has to be all about us, for us. No advertising, no BS.
Quoted from NicoVolta:TV often screws up good ideas though. I'll consider it for an encore trip... but the debut has to be all about us, for us. No advertising, no BS.
I am sure you will encounter a $5000 Bally Odds and Evens
Quoted from CactusJack:I am sure you will encounter a $5000 Bally Odds and Evens
In the dumpster.
In mint condition.
With a buyer waiting on the other side of the dumpster.
Quoted from NicoVolta:It was a smoothly-paved, undulating twist through purple redbud blooms under crystal-grey cloudburst skies.
Umm............. I apologize in advance for the roads in Michigan. Sights are fine, but the ride is.......an acquired taste.
Quoted from RCA1:Umm............. I apologize in advance for the roads in Michigan. Sights are fine, but the ride is.......an acquired taste.
Oh come on, we have at least 2 seasons: pot hole, and road construction.
Quoted from RCA1:Umm............. I apologize in advance for the roads in Michigan. Sights are fine, but the ride is.......an acquired taste.
Quoted from Insane:Oh come on, we have at least 2 seasons: pot hole, and road construction.
Same in MN...you have been warned.
Quoted from Insane:Oh come on, we have at least 2 seasons: pot hole, and road construction.
Better yet when they shut down the main road to do construction where your going they have a knack for tearing up the next best way at the same time 
I've got a cool private arcade in a 1800s bowling alley off the coast of Portland ME. Check out my profile for some pics. If you're up for a 20 minute ferry ride, you're welcome to come out to the island and tinker with the Gottlieb EMs and the (almost) working jukebox. Might be a fun end to your adventure.
Quoted from NicoVolta:Minnesota... seems so far away and yet this trip is moving fast despite working my ass off. I'll be there in no time.
Best roads thus far? Tennessee. Smooth as silk.
Spent some time there, my dad lived in Rochester for a few years. Very similar road issues.
Quoted from dhard:Better yet when they shut down the main road to do construction where your going they have a knack for tearing up the next best way at the same time
They do that on purpose i think. This week they tore up the intersection right in front of the high school, and then it rained all week, so they aren't done, and school comes back from spring break on Monday, and its one lane each way at the intersection, instead of a turn lane and a straight/rt turn. Ought to be fun on Monday, i have to go that way.
Quoted from Deluxodave:I've got a cool private arcade in a 1800s bowling alley off the coast of Portland ME. Check out my profile for some pics. If you're up for a 20 minute ferry ride, you're welcome to come out to the island and tinker with the Gottlieb EMs and the (almost) working jukebox. Might be a fun end to your adventure.
Cool location!
Quoted from Deluxodave:I've got a cool private arcade in a 1800s bowling alley off the coast of Portland ME. Check out my profile for some pics. If you're up for a 20 minute ferry ride, you're welcome to come out to the island and tinker with the Gottlieb EMs and the (almost) working jukebox. Might be a fun end to your adventure.
Sounds very cool! I like Portland a lot. Lobster tacos, lovely summers, and friendly folks. But alas... the most northward stop will be in Rhode Island before heading west to Cleveland this trip. Will have to include it on the next loop.
Visit #5 – Bill Hanson in Madison, AL
The subjects: Spirit of ’76, Fathom, The Hobbit
As I drove south from Nashville to Madison, the trees shrank, the temperature warmed, and I began to wonder if (more likely when) I’d ever encounter The Unfixable Game. A game so temperamental and full of intermittent bugs that it would not be possible to get it running before time ran out.
Little did I suspect the shadow of this beast would be passing over my next stop.
You may have heard of Bill Hanson via his company, “S4 - Super Skill Shot Shooters”. He manufactures high-quality replacement shooters for popular pinball machines.
The Lord of the Rings is his best seller and it is easy to see why… it beautifully wraps the One Ring around a translucent base which resembles a red crystal. The outer resin coating is smooth to the touch and feels great when making precise shots. It’s extremely cool and I’ll have one with me on the tour if you’d like to see it (unless someone buys it first!).
Bill can also create custom shooters with any choice of artwork in the handle. I’ll have this card-themed one with me as well.
He also makes custom toppers. I liked the fire illumination effects of the balrog and Gandalf’s glowing staff.
The EM for this visit was Gottlieb’s Spirit of ’76, a red white and blue bicentennial-themed 4-player game (released in 1976, of course). Previously it had been worked on by none other than “the” Clay Harrell… which made me a little anxious. You see, Clay is renowned for having published some of the best pinball repair guides on the internet. In fact his work has been instrumental in my own learning process. So I knew whatever was wrong with this game would be no easy fix.
Initially, on a one-player game, it was scoring for player 1 and player 2, but only on ball 2. I suspected the player cam in the back (a beastly unit) wasn’t cycling properly, so I cleaned all of the switch stacks and gapped a few. After which, the game began to score player 1 and player 4, and occasionally wouldn’t reset the reels at all. Uh oh. Ker-chunk, ker-chunk… and then a fuse blew! Ughhhh.
Luckily, the fuse was an underrated 8-amp. It was replaced with the correct 15-amp. I removed the motherboard and cleaned and gapped several of the relays and score motor switches. After re-installing it, the game wouldn’t start at all. Gahhhh! I could sense Bill’s concern as the issues appeared to be worsening as the fixes continued.
At this point I brought out the important tools… q-tips, alcohol, super lube, dremel, and brown lager. *hic*
Bill found a temporary distraction with my assortment of zip-ties. Of the four colors available, he chose wisely… red and blue. Perfect for the bicentennial theme. Then Bill discovered something we should have found LONG AGO: The 3-or-5 ball selector plug wasn’t plugged in! HA! Now the game was scoring the right player for the right ball. However, it still wasn’t starting up every time.
Experts, you may have guessed it by now… the AX reset completed relay was the culprit. It wasn’t latching properly, and thus, not staying pulled in throughout the startup cycle. I strengthened the spring on the reset latch and it finally locked into place.
Hobbit had an issue with the L rollover of the L-O-C-K targets. A simple fix… just a slight adjustment of the switch tensioner.
Fathom was experiencing trouble with the drop targets. The springs weren’t wound around the armatures and one of the kickout mechs was barely attached to the playfield. Fixed both, and we then enjoyed a lively game. Fathom is Bill’s favorite game of his collection (I am more partial to the Hobbit).
I spent the rest of the time breezing through lamp socket fixes on the playfield. Ideally, we would have installed double-lights across the star inserts and center kickout… but no time. Also discovered a loose contact in the player unit which controlled player 3’s reel lights. Soldered it, tensioned it, and fixed.
Stealth LED? Check. After deburring the lamp socket holes, Spirit of ’76 was given “the recipe” and it is going to stay. The rollover stars were lit with red frosted versions… no visible filaments. Looks really nice on this pin.
I worked my ass off during this visit! Was barely functional during the final hours of day two but managed to maintain my winning streak. 5-0 and counting… how long can it last?
Bill has carved out a nice niche business for himself and a quality collection of pins in the Alabama foothills. He has also come up with a creative way to beat the summer heat: Spelunking! Apparently there are “thousands” of explore-able caves in the area with temperatures in the 60’s. Literally, a cool idea.
I then shook my coil-dusted fist at the sky: Unfixable Game... YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!
Next stop -> Lake City, FL
Quoted from beelzeboob:Where'd you get that nifty lamp remover, Nic? PB Resource?
Not a lamp remover, but a lamp enabler! It (gracefully) enlarges the holes to allow LED's to fit.
Quoted from pinwiztom:Hey, i thought this was an EM only fix-it tour?
Cause I got several Classic SS pins needing some work.
Oh Well maybe next time.
EM's the thing! But if someone has a SS nearby needing a quick glance (no board work/matrix debugging), who am I to say no?
I'm following and very intrigued at your trip. I don't know your route, but I'm in Midland Tx on i20 between Dallas and ElPaso, I'd love to be a stop for you on your way home if you will be coming this way, I have a Sky Lab 1 player and an Olympic Hockey that Id love for you to show me the ropes on!
God speed on the trip and hope for tons of fun and great sights!
Thanks all, truly. The schedule is rigorous but it'll be one for the ages... just giving it all I got. BTW, had a question about "sticky topics" on Pinside. Is this something I need to ask for, or does it happen automatically based upon views or some other statistic? Figured perhaps it might be a good idea considering how many of us are/will be involved.
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