This was my first restore. $200 non-working Pinbot. It was rough.

Way too much work to list. Clear coated playfield, fully restored cabinet.

It will never leave my house.

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Yes, and it makes very little difference. You would be better off hooking it to a Polk sub for $69. That will make a huge difference. Also, replacing the speaker in the backbox with a cheap co-ax speaker and adding a volume control so you can turn the backbox speakers down and allow the cabinet speaker to be louder helps.

Check out this thread
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cabinet-speaker-size-and-wiring-williams-system-11

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I removed the mylar on 2 Pinbots. In my cases it came off pretty easily. In both cases though, the planking was really bad and but noticeable with the mylar on. Had I not been clear coating after, they would have been rough.

It sounds like the roll over switch is too tall or it is bent too steep. If the front of the roll over is too flat, and the ball is moving fast it won't be able to push it down fast enough. That switch is hard to adjust so be careful if you start messing with it. The leaf switch underneath is impossible to adjust without taking the ramp out.

If you can replicate it with rolling the ball with your hand then it probably isn't that the flippers are too strong (although they may be) I am betting money that the switch doesn't have a slope at the front of it and when the ball hits it the ball just can't push it down and bounces over it.

If the switch is sitting too high there is a flat spot before the slope that will be hit.

If you roll the ball slowly you will feel if it is hitting some kind of resistance before it pushes the switch down. (and remember the ball is going to be rolling against the back of the lane)

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Nice!

Bump for Pinbot fans.

Since you are no longer in the club, you can no longer post here. Sorry.

If you broke a post it was probably the one to the left of the visor. If you do the "washer under the post" mod, it won't break or get loose anymore. You can really tighten it down against the washer instead of it digging into the wood.

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I finally did something to my Pinbot that I have wanted to do for several years. I got the trim around the speaker panel chrome plated along with the metal trim at the bottom of the backglass. That trim has never looked that good. It was a little rusty at one point before I restored it and polishing it and clear coating just didn't cut it. I have been getting Mike Chestnut to do some plating on parts on other machines and decided to do those 3 pieces too. I think it turned out awesome. I don't think I have ever seen it done before. I am sure I am not the first.
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That does look really good. I wish I would have seen that before. I might had went that route and saved some money. Definitely looks way better than the original trim.

+1 on game that started it all.

It's a science thing. The problem is that the gels "block" out the colors from bulb that do not exist in the gel. So a red gel blocks out everything from the orange display except red. The blue gels block out everything from the orange light except blue (and blue doesn't really exist in orange).

Sure. You can shine that mylar with one of the kits or you can use the Meguire's polishing balls and some 3M Perfect-It polishing compound. That stuff is amazing. I also hear that those headlight restore kits work pretty well also.

That really sounds like it is an alignment problem. My Pinbots are notorious for not going up the ramp if the plunger hits the ball in anything but EXACTLY straight on. Look at where the plunger lines up on the ball when the ball is at rest in the trough. If it is hitting the ball low, it would put back spin on it and it won't make it up the ramp.

Try this. Take off the glass. Put the ball in the trough and try lifting or shifting the playfield side to side to line it up exactly center (or a little higher than center on mine) and see if it does any better.

If that is your problem, then you have to work on getting the plunger to hit the ball straight.

Just use a small round file. You will be surprised at how little you have to take off to get it to drop where you need it. You really only need the lowest screw to go down a little.

1K sounds like a good deal. I sold one of mine a year ago in what sounds like the same condition except mine had a restored clearcoated playfield for $1200.

Here's the only one I have at work. I will try to find more.
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Just remembered that there are some on PhotoBucket.

http://s1218.photobucket.com/user/badbrad97/library/Pinbot

Thanks. Just happy to help.

That looks great. You got the hard part out of the way. After doing the lower cab, the backbox is going to be a breeze.

Pinball Resource has a few in stock. If they don't have the color you need in Pinbot style, I have had success drilling out the rivets at the bottom of the target and redrilling the holes on the blade so the target is the right height. I have had really bad success trying to replace just the plastic target face. The big rivet in the middle never seems to stay in. After a few hits the target face falls off.

http://www.pbresource.com/pfswitch.htm

The clear plastic that covers the spiral ramp is easy to remake with some clear lexan and some water slide decals. As long as you have the metal brackets.

It should have some adjustment screws and a nut to keep it in the correct place. The problem I had on mine was that it was bottomed out and still couldn't adjust. If i remember correctly, on mine I put a washer on each screw between the playfield and the drop target unit itself to give me some more room to adjust. Another problem I had was that the top of the drop targets didn't sit flat when they were down. The washers helped with this too.

Yes. Zippo lighter fluid or Naptha and a plastic razor blade is the way to go.

AND not a real metal razor blade or lighter fluid (for charcoal)

Is there another fuse under the playfield someplace?

I just went through my teardown pictures and I don't see that anywhere. unless it is under the visor \ helmet, which I don't recall seeing it either and I have restored 2 Pinbots.

That is better than what I did. I used a dremel and took off some plastic under the sticker and then put a new sticker over it. It worked great but I think the hair dryer method is better.

I would put a meter on those switches and make sure they are working properly before I started hooking wires to it. I have found if everything is cut off, it usually means that something was wrong.

You need a wll-a11315-17. Those are hard to come by. Try PBresource.com. They had them at one time. They are showing out of stock, but they might have them.

Wax it and play the fool out of it. You will be fine. That is what 30 years of wear looks like. In a home environment, it is not going to get any worse. Check for loose posts and stuff, that is where the wear and tear comes from.

Try swapping out the cables. Intermittent displays is sometimes the cables... Try plugging the cables into a different display and see if the issue follows the cable too

The only real way to protect that plastic is with something like the pinbit protectors. That is a hard piece to replace or repair because it goes all the way up in there and everything needs to come off to replace it.
https://pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_44&products_id=248

That upper playfield is not too hard to get off. There is that one post on the upper right side that needs to come off, but the rest are screws.

Have you tried Potentiometer cleaner? That usually works unless it is too far gone.

Good luck. Mine looked way worse than that when I started.

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That has usually been a power supply issue in my cases. Check the voltages and see how close they are from being too weak. When everything is going wide open and the machine has been on for a while, the old capacitors are just too weak to keep up. A rebuild of the power supply is pretty easy and not too expensive.

My Pinbot has been rock solid for maybe 10 years now without a single issue. Last weekend, it started acting up. On power up, the GI came on, visor just cycled up and down and the scores were out. Starting checking fuses, nothing blown, but I noticed when I touched one of the fuses, it kind of rattled in the holder. So I bent the prongs a little to hold the fuse tighter. All fixed. I think that could have been pretty hard to trouble shoot if it were happening intermittently.

I would love to find the rubber gaskets that blocks the light around the displays. I have the soft foam ones on mine and they are too fat. I need the thin rubber ones. I guess I can cut something if I have to. I am finally going to break down and buy the mirrored backglass, and this is bugging me.