I work for a worldwide manufacturer of radio related products, consisting of high end audio processing, mixing consoles, talk show systems and networking products. The supply chain woes are hitting us extremely hard. Our board manufacturers are often stalled by components with extremely long lead times, recently seeing some products that took a few weeks to now taking months to arrive.

I'm curious how the supply chain issues with components, microprocessors etc... is affecting pinball hobbyists and manufacturers on the newer games made in the last few to maybe 5 years or so. Older games often have difficult to obtain parts, that isn't really anything new. To try to demonstrate an example for the discussion, has anyone had difficulty obtaining a repair part for a new game to be told there is a supply chain issue from the manufacturer/distributor or dealer?

#2 8 months ago

GTX

gdonovan

Pinside+ Member

6y 172K 11,825 70 4

OP
Quoted from wayout440:
I work for a worldwide manufacturer of radio related products, consisting of high end audio processing, mixing consoles, talk show systems and networking products. The supply chain woes are hitting us extremely hard. Our board manufacturers are often stalled by components with extremely long lead times, recently seeing some products that took a few weeks to now taking months to arrive.
I'm curious how the supply chain issues with components, microprocessors etc... is affecting pinball hobbyists and manufacturers on the newer games made in the last few to maybe 5 years or so. Older games often have difficult to obtain parts, that isn't really anything new. To try to demonstrate an example for the discussion, has anyone had difficulty obtaining a repair part for a new game to be told there is a supply chain issue from the manufacturer/distributor or dealer?

Pin2dmd is an obvious one for me, I'm told there is chain issues on a particular chip.

#3 8 months ago

SUL

Exgametrader

Pinside+ Frequent

St. Louis, MO

3y 34,300 53 8

Not sure if it’s supply chain issues but 27” pinball legs for Gottlieb seem to have disappeared.

#4 8 months ago

DAN

GLSP3022

Pinside member

8y 82,550 1,721

Pop bumper ring and rod assembly used to be dirt cheap and plentiful. Recently I couldn't find any. Finally Marco had them, but dang are they more expensive now.

#5 8 months ago

DAV

wayout440

Pinside member

Berea, OH

10y 112K 11,156 4 11

Quoted from gdonovan:
Pin2dmd is an obvious one for me, I'm told there is chain issues on a particular chip.

That is exactly the type of issue I was curious about. One example is a few of our products that use an AKM Semiconductor AK5385 A to D converter chip that is no longer available. We have just approved a design revision using a different part, but that is going to delay these several boards for the revision changes

Quoted from Exgametrader:
Not sure if it’s supply chain issues but 27” pinball legs for Gottlieb seem to have disappeared.

Supply chain issues would be mostly related to parts currently in production. I don't have any factual information if anyone was currently producing Gottlieb replacement legs. For out of production parts, that may just be that the parts for older games are getting sucked up in the hobby.

Quoted from GLSP3022:
Pop bumper ring and rod assembly used to be dirt cheap and plentiful. Recently I couldn't find any. Finally Marco had them, but dang are they more expensive now.

I noticed this on older replacement parts. Marcos prices have certainly increased. I couldn't find some items there for the older games, such as certain switches that are now marked out of stock. Some items I found at other suppliers such as Pinball Life, Ebay or Amazon. In many cases prices have gone up for sure.

#6 8 months ago

---

ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

8y 221K 28,022 263 17

OP
Quoted from wayout440:
I don't have any factual information if anyone was currently producing Gottlieb replacement legs

PBResource offered brand new legs.

#7 8 months ago

LXL

Isochronic_Frost

Saratoga Silverball

6y 211K 7,381 87 2

OP
Quoted from wayout440:
That is exactly the type of issue I was curious about. One example is a few of our products that use an AKM Semiconductor AK5385 A to D converter chip that is no longer available. We have just approved a design revision using a different part, but that is going to delay these several boards for the revision changes

Supply chain issues would be mostly related to parts currently in production. I don't have any factual information if anyone was currently producing Gottlieb replacement legs. For out of production parts, that may just be that the parts for older games are getting sucked up in the hobby.

I noticed this on older replacement parts. Marcos prices have certainly increased. I couldn't find some items there for the older games, such as certain switches that are now marked out of stock. Some items I found at other suppliers such as Pinball Life, Ebay or Amazon. In many cases prices have gone up for sure.

Quoted from Exgametrader:
Not sure if it’s supply chain issues but 27” pinball legs for Gottlieb seem to have disappeared.

Steve at PBR makes the legs and he’s probably the only person in the world who is allowed to with the license. He ordered an entire pallet earlier this year, and within 2 weeks it was totally sold. The metal material cost has gone through the roof so I believe he has been dialing back his orders to wait out the pricing.
Just keep calling or emailing for an updated ETA

#8 8 months ago

MSL

sataneatscheese

Pinside+ Pro!

Crofton, MD

4y 179K 7,069 6 65

From what I understand, until quite recently node boards have been the long pole in the tent with Stern in meeting demand. As a consequence, they have not been running toppers, or releasing new ones. Supposedly part of the reason for so many pros and so few premiums has been over the Premiums requiring an extra board in most pins.

#9 8 months ago

SEF

Mk1Mod0

Third Coast Pinball

Corpus Christi, TX

10y 99,300 3,459 8

Wire has gone up on copper prices and it’s taking weeks to get striping done where it used to be days. Also crimps and plugs in general are becoming increasingly hard to find. The biggest problem with most of my vendors seems to be keeping competent sales folk in place. Seems like I have to deal with someone new every time I call.

#10 8 months ago

EJS

Pinball Outpost

10y 212K 12,596

Regarding the legs it’s not only an issue of supply but the quality coming out too. They wouldn’t have the finish that would be desirable.

My company uses the same NVRAM chip as used on the retrofit chips for pinball. Fortunately we no longer have that issue of supply chain constraint from what I’m told. I don’t deal with anything at the component level.

#11 8 months ago

???

pins4u

Pinside apprentice

Gaborone

2y 29,400 971

Quoted from Isochronic_Frost:
Steve at PBR makes the legs and he’s probably the only person in the world who is allowed to with the license.

Pinball legs are not subject to ANY licencing or restrictions. ANYBODY could make them AND make them identical as long as you didn't market them as "Genuine Gottlieb".

Easy to sell them as "compatible with Gottlieb XXX" and 100% legal.

Not everything is covered by licencing or patents - far from it!

#12 8 months ago

Skyemont

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 110K 5,880 1

I am shopping out a Iron Maiden Premium for someone and i am having a hard time finding parts for this. What gives??

#13 8 months ago

???

pins4u

Pinside apprentice

Gaborone

2y 29,400 971

Quoted from Skyemont:
I am shopping out a Iron Maiden Premium for someone and i am having a hard time finding parts for this. What gives??

What parts exactly?

#14 8 months ago

Skyemont

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 110K 5,880 1

Quoted from pins4u:
What parts exactly?

The Newton ball broke so i got a new one. But, i noticed that there are two spacers under the playfield that go between the metal bracket when you put it back together. Those spacers you can not buy. No one has them. Also the rod that lifts up the ramp to the under world. The rod can not be purchase.

#15 8 months ago

---

ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

8y 221K 28,022 263 17

Quoted from Skyemont:
The Newton ball broke so i got a new one. But, i noticed that there are two spacers under the playfield that go between the metal bracket when you put it back together. Those spacers you can not buy. No one has them. Also the rod that lifts up the ramp to the under world. The rod can not be purchase.

The spacers might just be generic hardware, not necessarily specific to pinball.

#16 8 months ago

Skyemont

Pinside+ Frequent

11y 110K 5,880 1

Quoted from ForceFlow:
The spacers might just be generic hardware, not necessarily specific to pinball.

I used small washers that equaled.25 and it worked.

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