Received today. The digital print and colors look great and all the cutouts are aligned well enough. But I noticed that every insert has a scuffed pattern (all in the same direction) under the clear. Is this normal?

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I was the original donor and got one of the first samples. Mine has the same type of inserts. They have a scratched, scuffed appearance. I don't notice it as much when the game is on and gameroom lights are dimmed. But they are definitely different from the originals.

That's sanding marks. Likely the clear hasn't filled the marks. Only thing you could really do about it is get it recleared. Not really that big of a deal unless the clear starts to separate from the insert.

Yes, that's common on these Mirco repros. I have two Quicksilver playfields that look the same.

Also, be careful of the clearcoat chipping right above the "Spot All Numbers" text. When the ball lands in the hole, it will impact the edge of the clear and chip it pretty quickly.

Ok, good to know it's (basically) normal.

I was planning to add mylar over that area. Thanks

Chamfer that hole

Got my 3rd one today from Mirco.

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Mirco was having all of those problems with the Jersey Jack play fields chipping and pooling. So he changed his sanding methods to a coarser grit of sanding media. The result is all of those clear Stern inserts are now cloudy. The scuffed pattern is the sanding marks.

It is another one of those things where the repro is not quite like what Stern put out.

EDIT: I found out about this because I sent my early QS play field back to have the keylines screened on. Apparently, he sanded the play field bare to do a re-screen and all my clear inserts were cloudy. I asked and he pretty much told me this is the way it will be going forward.

Anyone asked Cliffy about making a protector like he did with the QS saucer? I'd feel a hell of a lot better putting a protector on than trying to chamfer the hole. I haven't ordered a Nine Ball playfield quite yet, saving up for one currently.

I've begun to have more and more game lockups and crashes. Looking for advice from the club on where to start. Sometimes when turning the machine on I get a loud solid tone and it doesn't boot, then yesterday while filming a video for my YT channel, the game crashed and rebooted during the end of ball point tally.

I recapped the power supply last year when I did the playfield swap. Seems like it has good power. I'm reading about a possibly bad C16 cap? Or U14 IC? Thanks for any help.

Someone knows this stuff and will come along to help you.

I just want to re-introduce you as the guy who sent his Nine Ball play field to Mirco so that we all can now have a nice repro Nine Ball play field.

What is the mother board? OEM are new repro?
If OEM, it could be a bad ram 5101.

What voltage are you measuring at the MPU? You want to make sure you have a good 5vdc. You can use the test points on the board to check it--i believe TP4 and TP5 are the points you'll put your probes on--one is the ground, the other is the 5vdc. Resets can sometimes happen in the 5v dips too low. Compare the 5v you're getting at the power supply with the 5v at the MPU. If there's a notable difference, you'll probably need to replace some connectors.

Have you replaced/re-pinned connectors on the mpu and/or power supply? (the upper right-connectors on the power supply, in particular)

It was my pleasure @cottonm4. One thing I definitely learned during the playfield swap process is to NOT try and re-use the old lamp sockets. After washing my wiring harness, the lamp sockets all corroded and gave me a lot of problems. I have now replaced almost lamp sockets, but the GI is still really dodgy. Next time...new braided ground wires and new lamp sockets straight away.

Make your own protector for the saucer hole.

All you need a piece of cheap piece of plastic.

If you have a daughter, get her a Barbie doll just because you love her. But keep the box as a useful tool.

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But for less money, get a one time cheap cooking pan with a plastic top. $4.00.

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I'll spare you a lot of details, but cut and trim the plastic to fit the shooter lane where the saucer is at.

This is just a slop cut with a piece of paper to show you how you want to cut the plastic. Locate it to 3 post screws. Using your Dremel Tool sanding drum, sand excess plastic so you get to the edge of the saucer hole.

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With this piece of clear plastic, you have protected your saucer hole and have added a layer of protection in this high wear area, even if you do a repro play field coated with clear poly.

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You can see the orange tape outline.

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After you have opened up the plastic to match the hole in the play field, then make a small strip plastic to roll up and fit inside the hole. This completely protects the saucer hole. To install this strip of plastic get some double-back tape and roll it into the hole. Trim to fit.

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Caveat: I have not tried this myself, yet and will not be able to until I get my new Nine Ball play field wired up. But I think it will work.

And: If you don't want to use the cheap plastic, then get a small sheet of Lexan for $7.50.

ebay.com link: itm

The same way people look at me sideways for owning pinball machines like I'm some rich mogul, I look at people with kids and wonder "how they hell do you afford those things?". I have pinball machines and cats.

Jokes aside, great idea. I'd love a nice rounded metal cliffy if he made them but looking at his designs, I don't see any circular ones with an L-bend in them to protect the lip. The QS protector is top surface only. I'd shy away from a carbon fiber one too.

I have a Cliffy protector for my QS, too. Before I got the Cliffy, I tried making one of thin Lexan that would bend down and "follow" the chamfered lip. It did not work. I think the Cliffy will work OK; The top edge of the saucer is protected. But just the same, when I get to me QS play field I am going to place a piece of mylar on the chamfered area of the lip. The between the Cliffy and the mylar, I think th e QS play field will be OK.

And for that matter, one might be able to just place a piece of mylar at the saucer hole on Nine Ball and get the protection needed for that hole.

So at some point in time, someone added a second reset coil to the large drop target bank. I’m sure they had an issue with the dt’s not all staying up, and used this as a fix.

What I don’t understand is why they added a new wire for the extra coil. They Daisy-chained the power side from the other coil. But for the ground, they ran an extra wire all the way back to the connector in the back box. It’s the green wire in the picture.

They almost seemed to know what they were doing. They put a connector on it, so it could be removed. Also, they did a decent job of tucking the wire in the harness.

Any idea why a second ground wire would be used, rather then just linking it to the other coil?

I’m tempted to leave it with the extra coil, since that bank could use it. CC86C605-685C-4018-A346-9235BB934A71 (resized).jpeg

I decided I’d try to improve the look of the drop targets, so made new decals for them.

Once the bank gets rebuilt, I’ll see how it looks in the game.

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I;d like to see those decals in the game. They look cool .

I was actually thinking about doing this same thing! Great minds!

Assuming it looks as good as hoped, I’d probably be in for some decals with that ball guide set you’re making me djblouw

Our machine has similarly modded main drop target banks using plain white drops with decals.

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So where did you get those decals?

Well, this was kind of a one-off thing. But if they look good when installed, and tested, I’ll consult with the wife and see if she can put up with me to make another set.

It’s not a make-or-break for me, so if it’s actually a hassle then all good!

I’m about to purchase an Epson photographic inkjet printer; I tried printing gloss decals for things like this using laser, but the results were pretty poor. What printer/paper combo did you use here?

the 2nd one looks like a Bally Frontier one, exactly what i am looking for right now as mine is missing the whole center switch

still looking for a rly nice example of a Nine Ball if anyone is looking to sell.

thanks

Here’s the targets installed. You don’t notice it much in game play, but it’s better than the boring blue dot. 86884771-6158-4424-8FF7-C01C1DB34887 (resized).jpeg778CB014-7994-4B3B-9CFF-D9C454E9608D (resized).jpeg

They look great! I would buy them if you were making them.

Looking for a spinner assembly for Nineball. Bought a populated playfield to practice touchups and clearcoat, and the spinner assembly is missing. Thanks

Just listed my Nine Ball for those who want to join the club:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/87638

I’m in need of the large drop target assembly. It’s entirely missing from a project I’m working on.

I’m considering an alternative and I am wondering if anyone in the same situation has been able to use two four-bank assemblies?

I think someone was going to try to convert a F2K bank. I don’t think two separate four banks will work.

Yeah, you can't use 2 banks because the drops are right up against each other and the frames for the banks would interfere with each other.

If you do get the f2k bank it's a full bank that would need you just have to populate the drop coils.

Shoot, I figured with the open area between the 7 & 8 that I could somehow make two 4-banks work.

If that option presents itself I will try and get creative

I have not pulled the drop assembly from my F2K to check it out.

Does it have the bar that the memory coils attach to?

Yes

I have been building up a parts inventory to scratch build a Nine Ball (that damn game is just too overvalued at this point!)
I was able to find a F2K drop bank on eBay.
The easy part: you can buy the little coils for the memory drops on Marco and elsewhere.
The harder part: the little metal plates and “fingers” that drop the targets automatically aren’t available, so you’d have to delve them from another “donor” bank off of a another machine with that feature, like a Galaxy or Meteor. It would be pretty cool if somebody could produce that part…..

Greetings. Recently picked this up locally. Got it cleaned up very nicely and fully working/repaired but I'm beating my head against the wall on this last issue. I'm trying to set the dip switches to reflect the replay values. Nothing I set seems to enable the replay. No matter what score I get, there's no replay awarded. I have successfully set the switches to reflect everything on the card (but I'm running $.50 vs. $.25) except for the replay. Nothing happens when I reach either score shown. I have switch 6 set to "on" but nothing happens when you reach the scores. I simply can not figure this out. I have included what the dips are currently set to below. Any help would be appreciated.

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The actual values for Replay aren’t set via dip switches. You have to set them through the test menu via the test button inside the coin door.

Thanks. I figured it out 0.68 seconds after I posted the question. Got it resolved.

So this popped up across town from me. A surgeon was moving to KC and didn't want to bring it with him. He said come get it for $500. I couldn't get there fast enough. Had numerous issues but overall not bad. Some minor playfield wear and planking, but I got most of it touched up (the best I could). The MPU had issues that I didn't want to try and troubleshoot (laziness plus it's going to be on location), so I threw in an Alltek. Also had to repin the connectors. No big deal there. After all that, I got a full non-ghosting LED kit installed, new rubbers, all new drop targets (had a friend weld on the broken arm that was lying in the bottom of the cabinet for target #1), full playfield clean and wax, new balls, full cabinet touch up, full switch adjustments and testing, new Loop Value target face, new correct pop bumper cap, new flipper bats, full solder joint inspection/reflow on playfield and boards, new plastics kit, new spinner decals, new playfield brackets, new cabinet speaker, new drop target springs, new EOS switches, and full gameplay testing....it's at 100% and looking/working great! All told, I'm into this for right around $1000. Quite the deal. The only other early SS machine I have is a Bally Star Trek but for some reason, I had a hard time getting this one setup for replays and dip switch options. Finally got it figured out. That was the last step. Now it's ready to live again for a good long while...hopefully.

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Good deal but too bad about the spinner.

Nine Ball has been added to the lineup at The Arcade in Wichita. If you're in the Wichita area, stop by and say hello.

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Time to move to Wichita!