The post was included in the machine, Not sure if it came in The coin-box or already installed, but I do remember it's not there to stop SDTM but to prevent bangbacks, which is why most operators leave the center posts in the machines. Sure it saves a lot of SDTM, but doesn't really affect total game play times. Bangbacks, however, can let a person play a lot longer and if your average game times start creeping up, you may have a bangback wizard playing your machines.

Does anyone know where I can purchase I clear plastic protector for the visor? I aleady have one but it is broken at the front and has done it's job of protecting my original plasic, but now I need a new one and don't want to buy a whole set if possible.

Pic from the net, not my game.

IMGP0978 (resized).jpg

Pinball Life sells a smaller set with the slingshots and the visor protector.
I’m kicking myself that I didn’t buy the full set when I had the chance.

Thanks that's just what I'm looking for, but postage kills it $10 for the product and $45 postage for a product that could easlily be sent in an envelope, insane.

I might just try putting a clear washer style bumper protector there to see how that works.

The thing that kills that plastic is the impact from the ball eject.
If there is a CNC shop or maker space near you, you could have one made. Alternately, get a piece of Lexan or the like (whichever isn’t brittle/prone to cracking) and cut it out on a scroll saw. I’ll probably go that route on the big blue plastic (though that one breaks because the threaded nut of the lift ramp catches it - file down the shaft for insurance against that problem!)

I have a Jack*Bot, and assuming the basic parts in question are the same as Pinbot - for the main ramp and the shield that goes on top of it, is there only supposed to be one short hex post on the left side between them? So the left side of the shield is raised up and the other two screw hole points on the shield just mount flush onto the ramp? And post is supposed to be about 3/4" high?

**Oooops, figured it out when I found a second hex spacer I had missed with my bad eyes after removing the ramp. Figured out they both went under the clear ramp entrance plastic and were never involved with ramp shield.

157515010_1474416562898067_2642257834349418163_n (resized).jpg

I wonder why mine has no post, since it came standard

F6A9DC51-886C-4C1D-9CE8-8AD4FBE3BBA1 (resized).jpeg

Could a faulty or misadjusted end-of-stroke switch cause a flipper coil to stay on/powered after releasing the flipper button, until the coil burns up or I pull the main power plug? Or does this sound more like a flipper board issue?

The problem isn’t the capacitor at the cabinet switch? I’ve had those mysteriously burn up a couple times, resulting in the flipper drifting up until I turn the game off. If your EOS isn’t opening, the coil will heat up badly; conceivably the sleeve could start to melt, but the flipper would probably get stuck if that were happening...

The flipper button switches inside the cabinet could be old. I had the switch contacts on mine get so pitted that the arc actually welded the contacts together. I replaced both cabinet switches and all was good.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bugs-in-early-solid-state-games#post-5963772

Dude found bugs in pinbot !?!?

Impressive to find them, but not surprising that they exist. Every non-trivial piece of software is broken in someway or other.

Original topper cover on eBay. Has some cracks at mounting flange. $80 shipped. Not mine, just passing along.

ebay.com link: WILLIAMS PINBOT Pinball USED Topper With Cracks

Hey all - this is in regard to a PinBot; it has been fine for years, since I had all the boards overhauled (in 2014.)
I recently swapped the playfield; this isn’t my first rodeo with playfield swaps by any means, but it is the first time I put a playfield back in the game a had a coil locking issue.
Here’s the issue; when I first fired up the machine, it was locking the drop target reset coil and the back box flashers on the right (Pinbot’s lightning bolt finger) were staying on. Also, the fuse at the relay daughter board blew.
I wish I could remember the sequence of events more precisely, but you know how it is.
The drop target coil and the flashers are on the same circuit, and i figured the only way they could be staying on at the same time was for the relay to have somehow become stuck together (I know, it doesn’t really physically make sense). I couldn’t get the relay to click using a jumper, whereas the one next to it for the GI responded. Of course, transistor Q24 was crapped out. Not scorched, but took a hit and needed to be replaced. When I measured the diodes on the steering diode board under the playfield, diode C-4 game me a reading in both directions.
So, I ordered some stuff from GPE. New diodes, new transistors and pre-driver transistors, and a new relay.
Today I installed the new relay, replaced pre-driver and main transistor Q20 and Q24, and replaced the diodes at A-4 and C-4 on the steering diode board.
I turned on the game, and there was a new issue - the visor motor didn’t operate as it usually does when booting up. I should have taken the hint that something was up, but no, I decided to run the coil test anyway. As soon as it got to the Drop Target reset, the coil locked on. I turned the game off, and checked the transistor. Of course, it had blown.
I’m kinda out of ideas at this point. The visor motor thing has me pretty puzzled. (The fuse is fine.) Would appreciate the wisdom of the crowd if anybody has some insight here.

I'm not sure of this daughter board you speak of, could you post a pic of it.

Apologies if that’s a misleading term; I thought I’d heard these referred to as daughter boards elsewhere. The individual relays under the playfield - there are 3 on PinBot, one for the GIs, one for the visor motor, and the one I ended up replacing, which diverts power. In the first pic, it’s the relay that is *not* in my hand:

8F9553EE-FF04-4A35-8053-DA19D000C65E (resized).jpeg

95F7E706-4BF4-4A7B-97F5-F7E3E57F40E8 (resized).jpeg
720A0426-8204-4D94-97F8-17ED759FEE16 (resized).jpeg

That is known as an A/C relay, and you have it wired correctly. So this isn't the issue.

Somewhere you have a dead short on either the drop coil or the flasher bulbs in the back box. Most likely it was the coil that is shorted as you just worked on the play field. Not sure of the extent of your swap. Did you install new coils? The diode on the coil maybe bad. The wires might be installed on the coil reversed. If you post a pic of the coil area in question, someone may see something out of place.

I’ll take a closer look at the diode at the coil. I don’t usually change coils unless there’s an urgent need, so this got transferred over from the old playfield. But, I’m out of other ideas.

Any take on why the visor motor seems to have crapped out?

This could just be a coincidence that the diode on the coil shorted. Cut off the diode and test the diode and the coil and then replace the diode.
Also check the 2 flasher sockets to be sure that the wire lugs haven't rotated and are touching each other causing a short across the bulb.

This can be a lot of things like a burnt fuse on the power supply from the other coil locking on. Cracked pins on the motor relay board. Something maybe bound up on the target mechanism. A miss wired motor limit switch. I would start with testing for positive and negative voltage at the motor relay board, then I would use a jumper and ground the metal tab of Q-15 to engage the motor relay. Then I would test the motor for positive and negative voltage. Let us know what you find.

This turned out to be totally stupid. Faulty memory - while I didn't replace the coil, I *did* clean up the lousy solder job somebody had done at some point. In doing so, I didn't notice that the diode had become desoldered from the lug - it was still touching, but not well enough. So, I desoldered everything, put in a new diode, and soldered again from fresh wire (not the crusty stuff that had been soldered before.
So, now, when I enter coil test, the drop bank kicks and doesn't lock on. But, I do kick myself for my oversight.

However...the A/C relay is not working at all. The coil test fires the opposite "A" coils when it is supposed to be firing the corresponding "C" coil. When I ground the relay, nothing happens. Grounding the visor motor relay also results in nothing. The transistors at Q-15 and Q-7 are OK (around .6 and .45 on the left and right legs).

Fuses are good. I did a visual check on the motor relay board, it looks fine, no cracked solder or loose wires (these relays are the old variety, soldered directly to pads on the board.) I don't think there is anything binding the target mech; I'm just not getting any power at all to the motor. Switch test shows the correct limit switch is active (visor is currently in the open position). I'm gonna need a "this way, dummy" lesson on testing for positive and negative voltage at the relay board and at the motor.

Is this the relay you replaced with new?
Grounding the corresponding tip metal tab didn't even make the relay click?

Grounding the corresponding tip metal tab didn't even make the relay click?

Also, just for the sake of thorough documentation, here are pics of the A/C relay I replaced. As you can see, there is a textbook cold solder joint in there, which led to arcing which has discolored the plastic housing.

Hey Grumpy - thanks for sticking with me on this. I got it figured out, just took me retracing my steps.
When I was soldering in the new relay, I noticed some solder was bridging two of the pads on the relay board. It had apparently ever been thus, but it looked sloppy and like an error, so I “fixed” it, by heating up the solder and isolating the two.

This was a mistake. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Just leave well enough alone, for the love of god.

So, i interrupted the daisy chain. The red wire coming off the power board only had juice at the flashers at top of playfield, then at the GI relay, then at *one* of the two solder points on the A/C relay. Because they had been soldered together purposefully.

14F98897-8F5C-484D-80FB-F7741CF4FAE2 (resized).jpeg

These damned sys11 machines, with their stupid single-pivot-point playfield access...I really hate that. I unplugged all the big Molex connectors, pulled the playfield ONE MORE TIME, drooled some solder in between the pads, put the playfield back in the cabinet, reconnected everything, and BOOM.

After I sorted out the handful of switch adjustments I needed to make, it was like a whole new game. Freshly clear coated playfield, new vortex ramp, new lift ramp, new solar value ramp, rebuilt pop bumpers, rebuilt flippers (with parallel coils and capacitors)...this game is playing like an absolute DREAM.

@Grumpy, if you’re ever in western MA, come on by; the machines are on free play, and I’ll have all the cheap beer and bourbon you want.

Don't be that hard on yourself, this is really Williams fault for being soooo cheap and using one board for 4 different uses. They didn't even relabel the terminals to make any sense.

Sounds very nice indeed.

Maybe one day when I retire I may take a road trip, I have had a few invites over the years. It would be a blast for sure. For now,

Playball!

Here’s a tip that seemed worth sharing...
The big blue plastic light shield is always broken, and in the same spot. I had though I’d ordered a set of protectors around the time I bought new plastics, but memory is unreliable. I was really nervous about cracking my new plastic just as the old one had been, but realized something: that plastic is at least as likely being broken by the ramp arm screw hitting it as from ball strikes, maybe in fact *more* likely.

So, I took out the screw and the nut, put them in the bench vise, and sliced off about 3/32” of the threads using a Dremel.

Before:D7AD7A04-418F-445A-B393-C98787F6BFF8 (resized).jpeg

After: 4DB70D9E-212C-4445-B126-A080359B49E5 (resized).jpeg

When reinstalled, the threads still only clear the edge of the plastic by about 1/16”. So it’s a cinch that over the course of a lot of play, that plastic doesn’t stand a chance. I recommend this for any PinBot owner who has invested in fresh plastics!
2A019DE4-4F95-4869-B10A-F1BF259C7DF7 (resized).jpeg

Some PinBot porn:

BB95B6EC-0193-40A8-BA94-4C40F8EE15BD (resized).jpeg

7BCC7A9E-0F3A-4FB0-8FD2-6F6FA946D5EC (resized).jpeg

7588095A-75E1-481A-866E-5B91B46111D4 (resized).jpeg

6A7D4CE6-3365-48C9-A30E-145FF2D0CAD7 (resized).jpeg

63176F0D-487C-4042-AB1B-C45B477DD0D9 (resized).jpeg

D33E216A-9C43-481E-808B-AA60CA9DEF93 (resized).jpeg

C2EFA824-970A-4F9F-9850-FA4D7B63101C (resized).jpeg

A4C24F5A-E012-4640-B995-8868DEFCEF88 (resized).jpeg

6D6F6035-6F55-4A63-B6A6-108E95DAA48F (resized).jpeg

I really like the look of the clear pop bumper bodies. Im about to install these on mine with high speed caps and the evo lights. I have been meaning to get to this for weeks. So this may be the push ive been needing to get it done.

I used the translucent red skirts as well; I like anything that may brighten up the playfield a bit more. The clear ones would actually have looked nice, too; kinda wishing I’d used those!

The EVO pop lamps might not work on PinBot - they make the caps sit up higher, and there’s no clearance between them and the mini playfield. I used the Comet pop lamps, which also have lights top and bottom. EVOs are nice (perfect for F-14 Tomcat), but these have become my go-to. Be aware that you sometimes need to sand them down (they can be too tight a fit, especially if you’re using new caps.)

Another heads up for PinBot owners (and other sys11 owners, really):
After the playfield swap, all of my switches registered in Switch Edges test, except one - the left outlane. I couldn’t figure out why only one switch would be failing; none of the others in that row/column were dead. I had initially checked all the switches, as you do when reinstalling a playfield, and they all connected, so something must have gotten tugged loose over the course of adjusting things. I couldn’t figure out why occasionally the game was ejecting a second ball, but that had never happened anytime over the years I owned this game. So something was up, for sure.

Poking around I eventually found that the trough switch’s daisy chain wire had one broken connection, which wasn’t visible until I started tugging on things. This is of course right at the edge of the playfield, where it has the greatest potential to be damaged by repeated playfield service. The solder at the diode had held, but the wire and the diode arm had broken, surprisingly enough. As you can see in the photos, the insulation had worn through in one spot, right where you’d expect. I loosened the wires to give myself enough slack to work with, and tied them back again with zip ties.
After desoldering the whole thing, putonghua in a fresh diode, and re-soldering, it’s good to go.

0D4B2807-A6CC-48C0-BAAA-325C954531CD (resized).jpeg

1D5599BA-DAEA-45B5-B431-871C996A6BF1 (resized).jpeg

Need a little help here. Which black plastic posts are people using for the lane guides.

These? https://www.pinballlife.com/6-x-0541-black-plastic-spacers-with-mounting-notch.html?Category_Code=

2 issues on my Pinbot.

1st, the Special insert lights up in attract and test modes but does not work during game play.

2nd, after the game is on for a while and heats up, the sounds get all wacky and weird. I did replace the sound board caps but it didn't help.

Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance!

Hi folks. Pinside Newbie here and second time Pin bot owner. I am probably going to need some help. I think I paid too much for this one and it has a few problems: was a routed Chucky-Cheese game then was a home machine since '97 but boy has it been ghetto repaired. If I posted pics it would make some of you cringe: duct tape for the missing upper right plastics by the energy transfer under ramp and there seems to be a switch that I don't remember being there on my first machine (by a burned out light behind the rubber.. it seems to be missing something), scotch tape holding down the mylar on the right far outlane and the mylar is bubbly around the inserts. I think the pins that protect the right visor post are missing(cant see now cause i'm at work) but I know the foam around the post is gone and the pin is loose, and the helmet sticker is crap and coming up. the visor color targets doesn't go all the way down ans is acting like a small speed bump being just a little above their recesses in the playfield. Lesson learned- Never buy a pin from a darkened game room. I have Zero Experience repairing these and have never soldered before so I beg your forgiveness and help. I'm hoping this thread was still active; anybody still on here?

We are, and I am sympathetic to your plight... lets start with the speed bump issue... there are two set screws on the Target Carrier bracket that set the "down" position level when the target bank is retracted. There is one for the left and the right end so you can set it level with they playfield. The target carrier has a slot, the cam pin from the gearbox/motor cam rides in this slot. Also, the cam pin has a bushing on it. Most times this bushing is missing. If the target carrier up and down switches are working, you should be able to move the visor to the down position and adjust these set screws to level the top edge of the carrier with the table surface.

On the Peeling mylar side of things, this is where you decide do you want to fix the issue or put a bandaid on it. Fixing it usually means removing it, and well there are volumes written on how to remove a mylar playfield protector, and none of them are easy, and all require a complete top table removal of everything to perform. You can try and put a bandaid on it using some high efficiency 3M double sided adhesive, but it will peel up again eventually. Most people I have seen take an Xacto knife and "carefully" cut the mylar back to the point where the peeling ends and put another piece down that covers the area and overlaps the seam.

Missing posts, well let us know and we can take photos or look through the photos already on here and see if you can spot what is missing and replace it, I suggest if its stripped out that you replace it with a through post and t-nut combo if there is room for in underneath. If not, then plugging the stripped out hole with wood/white glue and toothpicks and letting it dry completely and then you can screw it back in.

On missing plastics, there are reproduction plastic sets available, just see if you can find what you need from the usual suspects.

Well thats a start... we are here to help us keep our Pinbots running...

Sounds like you need to dive into the deep end.
This is a playfield swap waiting to happen. Extremely helpful reading is available here on Pinside: you should look up “Terry B’s Guide to Soldering”, “Vid’s Guide to Rebuilding Flippers”, “Vid’s Guide to Rebuilding Pop Bumpers”, and “Vid’s Guide to Re-Populating the Playfield”
There’s another guide to doing playfield swaps, but I can’t remember what that one is titled.

I know it seems super daunting, but if you take your time, read up, approach the work in “baby steps”, you will eventually end up with a machine that plays like a dream. Classic Playfield Reproductions just did another run of PinBot playfields and will again; if you don’t find one right away, don’t despair. Replacement parts for pretty much everything in the game are available at this point, either through retailers or dedicated hobbyists here on Pinside.

You can DO this!
It’ll cost a ton of money and take a long time, but YOU CAN DO THIS! We can help.

Hi Everyone, I'm new here! I've been reading these forums for a while and I'm ready to buy my first machine- ideally Pinbot.

Just curious how often you see these machines pop up on the market, and how much you think is "fair" for one? I am pretty savvy with other forms of wiring/computer hardware so I would be open to a project piece.. just trying to get a good idea of frequency on the market and pricing for them. Any advice appreciated, thanks!

Fairly often. It's a pretty common game. Also depends on where you are and how far you are willing to travel.
Pricing is all over the place, based on condition. And pinflation is a real thing.
I paid $1,300 for my Pinbot about 10 years ago. It would probably sell for more than double that today.
Here's one that might be a bit high price for Pinbot, but the seller is 100% and the game looks really nice.

SOLD!

Machine - For Sale

Pinbot Archived

Partially restored (almost original) - “This beautiful Pin*Bot is the first pinball restoration I did many years ago. Is it perfect? No, but it is damn nice. Good Stuff: Was (and still is) loved CPR Playfield, still...”

2021-04-01

Sleepy Hollow, IL

TheNoTrashCougar

3,600 (OBO)

Archived after: 12 days

Viewed: 597 times

Status: Sold (amount undisclosed)

Contributed to Pinside

Got positive feedback

This is a premium price, but it looks like the playfield is new(er). This is as close to plug and play as you'll likely get on the market. If you're willing to put in some elbow grease and learn about the machine, I had a few minor things to do (EOS switch replacement, flipper plunger replacement, cleaning) but paid more than $1,000 less than this listing (bought mine in August 2020). I had never done any of those things; it's a great confidence builder for the maintenance and repair that comes with ownership.

Thanks for all the resources guys. I'm sure I'll be back here so often you all will get sick of me. I agree about the playfield swap but since they are out with no restock date, I picked up an Outside edge Hardtop... a little less work and great reviews on that product and there are a few videos on one being installed on a Pinbot. orangegsx is sending me some decals at a great price since the helmet sticker is coming up (you guys are right, Bob is a really great guy!) and I see some new plastics coming out of my next check. Boy, doesn't this hobby eat spare money? LOL!

@alyssa: I probably paid to much for mine considering it's condition ($2500), but when you gotta have a Pinbot and they haven't been up for sale in my area for at least 3 years.... I bit....I live in the mountain west and they seem more rare in my area. If you want a good one,l think $3000 seems to be the going rate on pinside and Mr. pinball classifieds, but be prepared to pay for shipping on top of that price and all the *F-U-N* that entails.

Buy the machine with the best playfield you can find, if appearance and quality of play matter to you. Bubbled mylar sucks and is difficult to remove without damaging the art, and lifted/warped inserts can be a real annoyance on this title since the bonus inserts right above the center drain can cause unexpected ball behavior, resulting in balls draining that otherwise wouldn't have if the inserts were level.

There's a lot of examples of this game out there, with 12K made it's on the higher end of production numbers, but it was also popular enough that many of them got played to death. Also, the hinged and wider-than-normal backbox design was a little unusual (earlier backboxes were narrower and easier to remove) so they often took a beating on normal width doorways.

Richard

Thank you RCA1 , GraySaint2006 , someotherguy , that is really good info to have. It does seem like a bit of "pinflation" has occured with Pinbot in the last couple years! The one I'm looking at is asking 29, but it also appears to be in decent condition. No bubbling on the playfield that I can see, the inside is a little dusty from the pics but nothing that sticks out as a red flag.

ALWAYS. CHECK. THE. BATTERY. HOLDER.
Too many people buy these and don't know about the AA batteries in the backbox. I got lucky with mine.... it was sold to a grandparent for home use after a route at Chucky-cheese in 1997 and the seller did the world a favor and took out the batteries and never told the new owner.

Can anyone please confirm the wiring of orange and white on the flasher in the back right corner? I know it's not the easiest thing to just glance it. I made a rookie mistake with a crappy bad angled picture. It looks like the way the whites are flared that they go on the right side facing the picture. Thanks for any help!
070 (resized).JPG

The orange wire is the positive voltage, it should go to the center pin of the socket.

Thanks! Where the orange is snipped from here, is this the center pin of the socket you mentioned?

F89172D5-A6D3-4374-AB74-8F7A4B3B566F (resized).jpeg

Yes.

Yep.

Finally the proud owner of my very own Pinbot! I got very lucky tracking it down. I was looking at Pinbot related posts on ALL of FB in an act of desperation (lol) and found a post from Jan/Feb from a guy with two pinbots in the photo. I cold-messaged him seeing if he would be open to selling one... turns out he was!

I paid 2850, down from his ask of 3250. I feel good about the price considering the excellent original playfield condition and the light conversion to LED. I even have the original manual! This is my first machine so I'm glad to have it immediately playable and not need to travel too far (cheaper ones were more than double the distance from me). I used the "tennis ball" method to roll it in the truck bed. Worked like a charm!

There are a few things I'd like to change, but thankfully nothing that needs to be fixed:

- pick up some new pinballs. Seller removed them for transport with a strong magnet, and the magnetization of the balls is affecting gameplay. Any suggestions for pinball brands are gladly welcomed! ( Or... a degausser?)

- front legs are not original. All 4 legs have been spraypainted in Rustoleum stone grey speckled texture. Definitely want to track down original front 2 legs, or at least refinish all legs with a chrome silver finish.

- change a few of the white LED's in the backglass to blue/red / yellow according to artwork. One red light in the playfield helmet grid is darker than the others and shuts off slower than the rest. Not sure if it's an LED issue or if it just hasn't been converted at all..need to take a closer look.

- light under the left flipper remains solid, while the right flipper one only flashes on when right flipper is triggered

- the ribbons for Player 3 and Player 4 were connected in each other's spot. easy fix!

Ball Baron balls are fantastic.

Just pick up a set of brand new System 11 legs next time you order from Pinball Life. 55/set or 52 each for 2 or 3 sets.
https://www.pinballlife.com/williams-system-11-chrome-legs-set-of-4.html

Congratulations on your pinbot. This is my personal opinion but I prefer the backglass with all white LEDs. I swapped out the popular different color per section setup for comet sunlight LEDs and the backglass looks better to me. YMMV.

The one thing I need to sit down and tune on mine is the kick out hole mechanisms. On mine, sometimes one visor hole launches the ball straight down the middle, and the other two drop it right in between the end of the flipper and the SDTM post, which makes the game unplayable.