Thrilled to be joining the club today. I love this theme .... and this pin! I'm going to use and enjoy the game for a while but I will be doing a full restoration of it at some point. It will be one of my keepers!
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Quoted from MustangPaul:Welcome aboard. Just remember that Pinballsidemirrors has mirror side blades for the game if you want them.
Thanks! I'll check them out. There are a few things I need to do... it has a widescreen VGA LCD with the converter... it works fine but I'm anxious to convert it back to CRT. Cabinet has some scars... so I'm planning on refinishing it at some point. Those things will have to wait because I'm going to enjoy it for a while first!
Question... regarding replacement cabinet artwork. There are several sources around the ether... are these all created equal? Are there particular vendors to avoid (other than the "I can print that for you guys")...
Looking to pick up a set for future restoration of my game.
Thanks!
I've had my machine for a few days... I've never owned this title... I'm so happy to have this machine. It has a ton of charm... and its very fun and funny.
My biggest issue with my machine is that it has been converted to LCD and its a widescreen LCD... it kinda looks like crap, actually there's no kinda about it... it absolutely looks like crap. I'm in the hunt for components to convert it back to CRT... If I can't practically acquire the stuff for that... then I will at least use a VisionPro 19" gaming LCD. This widescreen thing with the CGA->VGA converter is just horrible.
Things this poor machine needs:
1. Full cabinet restoration... this thing has been manhandled. 5 out of 8 bolts are stripped. Cabinet has chips, dings, cracks and scrapes.
2. Revert the LCD conversion. Wiring in the head is a mess... whomever did this used wire nuts and hacked the hell out of everything.
3. New trim, new legs, powder coat trim, and a coin door restoration
4. Replace power supply and CPU heat sink
5. New speaker system
Quoted from MustangPaul:WOW that's one messed up game. Dod you know it needed all that when you bought it? I hope you got it for a good price.
I did fine... wonderful seller. Really the biggest issue (in terms of work to correct) is cosmetics of the cabinet.... the LCD irritates me but if you are unaware of how its supposed to look then you may be none-the-wiser. I had never seen the LCD conversion before in real life, (only pics and videos)... and knew about it going into it... after a few games... I quickly realized I just need it back to original. Playfield, main cabinet internals are all great.
Quoted from applejuice:Eddy sensors? Do you mean the magnetic reed switches These go bad all the time! Wish there was a new supply of them but they are unobtanium
Has anyone tried to retrofit the Stern part 180-5145-00 ? I'm not sure if it fits length wise but the ears on it may be able to be trimmed off.
Question: When sliding your playfield in and out... is it like... horrible? I mean mine is definitely metal on metal rough, sounds and feels horrible. My playfield slide feet don't look really worn.... Should the rails be lubricated? I've zero experience with pinball 2000.
Quoted from wayout440:Sounds weird. I don't really notice a problem. I wouldn't lubricate them, though. It's one place that you might find yourself grabbing, etc... and you don't really want to get goop on your hands and in the game.
Yeah... lubrication in a pinball machine just doesn't make a whole bunch of sense to me. Maybe its just worn flat on the slide feet and I've not looked at it well enough.
Quoted from cabuford:My SWEP does this. It's annoying but I figured it was part of the deal.
I think I'm just going to clean the rails... they have a bit of carbon steel dust from sliding the playfield in and out.
Quoted from applejuice:Something to look forward to in upcoming releases if you use LED lamps/use pinbox/nucore
This is how my game normally reports lamp issues wrongly (using pinbox)
[quoted image]
New System Adjustment enabled
[quoted image]
And now, no more erroneous errors
[quoted image][quoted image]
Quick question... do I need Nucore/Pinbox to run your releases ? There is an updater that runs as a command line exe to upgrade the stock system through the serial port. I was hoping to be able to use it as your ROM structure is standard.
Quoted from applejuice:Been mentioned a load of times on here. It works with with both original and pinbox/nucore
Thank you and sorry for not using the search button 
Quoted from Zitt:What's wrong with PVC? Cheap; easy to source. Easy to replace.
Nothing at all it just cracks a grin... because you know someone was like "I've an idea..." and they went with it... its great actually... but still funny.
Next time someone has their pin open in the back...
If possible... I’d like a couple of pics of the AC wiring for the computer, monitor and light. (Looking for the termination connectors and where it goes back to the transformer)
My entire box was hacked ... I want to get it cleaned up and as close to factory as possible.
On mine everything was cut. All the AC power in the box goes to the main cabinet with a splitter and is plugged into the AC outlet. This isn’t right.
Thanks!!!
Trying to understand how RFM was originally keyed...
This machine has 4 locks... 2 on head and 2 on the front.
As far as like-keyed locks.... Is it correct that the head had locks that were keyed alike, the coin door had its own key and the field service lock had its own key?
that's my guess... mine isn't factory for sure... any help would be appreciated.
Quoted from j_m_:yep, 3 keys, 4 locks
1 (double bit key) for the head (to remove the translite and access computer) and remove the back door panel (and access the monitor)
1 (single bit key) that allowed a tech to remove the playfield glass and service the machine but not to gain access to the coin box (this is the key hole on the front left)
1 (double bit key) to open the coin door
Thank You !!!!
This is one of the funnest pins out there. Super high on the entertainment factor. I simply enjoy this machine every single time I play it. I like being able to get through the modes of the game without pulling my hair(what little I have left) out. Fun fun fun plain and simple.
I wasn’t entirely sure I would invest in a full restoration of this game ... but now I’m all in. It’s getting a full treatment... and it’s staying in my collection indefinitely.
Quoted from BoJo:I know most people in this group already have a RFM but if you know someone looking I am selling my HUO machine.
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/79048
Such a drag! I just bought a fixer-upper and I would have snagged this in a blink of an eye.
Opinions on mirror blades vs. artwork blades? I've never seen mirror blades on a pin 2000... artwork blades look decent to me. Not sure what to do... if any when I get this machine restored.
Quoted from wayout440:I'd say none. To me restoration is bringing something back to original factory condition, and the original game did not have blades. I also prefer the focus to be on the playfield, generally black sides force the eyes on the playfield. Blades are an overkill to me.
Yeah ... I’m generally not in favor of heavy aesthetic changes ... so I agree with you on this for the most part. However, every once in a while a mod works perfectly and has a positive effect on the overall machine. It’s certainly easy to hold off on committing to something like this... and I’m kind of meh on it anyway.
Wire nuts really turn my crank! At one point I think the person who installed the LED tube cut the power to the audio amp thinking that they were splicing into the AC. Then once they figured that was wrong they just wire nutted it back together... then hacked the other side of the AC molex connector and wire nutted the lamp in. I know there are a lot worse things that people do... but this is some basic stuff here. Even IF you’re not prepared to make a molex pigtail... use some solder and heat shrink tubing!
78219243-57B8-4BB3-B7C4-7C491908D688 (resized).jpegQuoted from Wharhed:From what I’ve seen, there’s no cardboard - just a wood cutout that the monitor fits through.
Thank you... I’ve never seen one in factory condition so I’ve no clue.
Quoted from robotron911:I've only been able to source "Next Gen" art. The difference is that the Next Gen stuff has a rough, pebbly appearance whereas the original was smooth, glossy. The actual art looks perfect, as I recall, it's just the texture that's different.
Yeah I accept that “Next Gen” is what it is and all that’s generally available... I just see them anywhere from 249 (eBay) to 289 (various pinball shops)... a little afraid to save a buck to be sure I’m not getting someone’s own version of a “Next Gen” product.
Quoted from robotron911:I bought mine at Expo for $125 directly from the vendor.
Oh man I’m not going to be that lucky !!!!
1 week later
Folks that are running pinbox or newcore... what PC hardware are you running? I want to keep my CRT so I need to run something with a early model ATI card so it will run at 15 kHz... but beyond that does it matter much?
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:I've built several systems with ATI Radeon HD 5450s for 15kHz output.
Excellent that’s the one I have. What CPU family? Something dual core or better I assume. I don’t mind picking up an older PC but would like to get something that isn’t too old.
Thanks!
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:I'm getting a lot of light bleed around the sides of the CRT.
Does anyone have a solution they've used aside from paper strips?
I'm almost tempted to use a weatherstripping to fill the void, but I figured I would ask here first.
I just picked up a monitor and it has 1/2” black weather strip around the tube. Not sure if it’s factory.
67AAF280-B2EE-4911-952F-3DB56DB3159D (resized).jpegGot my replacement cabinet decals ... They are definitely not nearly as glossy like the factory art. It’s a very textured print, you can feel it.
They are nice and tough, bright and colorful.
This is a fine product for those who need to restore their cabinet art.
Very excited to do this restoration.
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Quoted from Sonic:I reviewed a 3 year old post from osudrummer, but wanted to re-ask since a lot can change in 3 years...but what is everyone doing to replace the fluorescent bulb with an LED in the translite? RFM is the latest in my collection and that deal is annoying.....thanks!
I've a similar question. Most of what I've seen/read about LED tubes is that they vary in size and may not be a direct fit. Additionally some LED tubes need to have the sockets rewired (bypass the ballast and starter) so they are directly AC powered. I've found one LED tube that is actually plug and play (no rewiring needed), but my game was hacked up for a LED tube that was too long so all the wiring was cut out and the ears of the lamp holder were pranged over. I would prefer to have it stock and have an LED tube that would just be plug and play.
I've never seen how the original fluorescent bulb looks. I don't care for the LED tube in mine as it has some flicker that my eyes are picking up.
Quoted from Sonic:Couldn't have been easier....the LED T8 bulbs at Wal-Mart are meant to work with ballasts/starters.....so you simply twist in the LED bulb and you are done.....there were 2 choices...cool white or soft white - I went soft white - to me a little softer in the translite is a nice thing.....bulb was <$7......
Awesome !!! Now I just need to fix the hack job that was done to my light fixture
Nucore experiment succeeding !
CC579480-BA6E-4C2C-9F9C-E5C53235A603 (resized).jpeg
Added over 5 years ago: I ripped out that POS Seagate HD and put a 120G SSD... man this thing boots in a snap!!!!!
Added over 5 years ago:Got this running on the machine... have some odd startup issues though. Not sure what is going on yet. If I setup for auto start it won't but if I directly launch it via terminal it does. I think there is an issue with the permissions on the scripts as they were installed by the package installer. Got a bit of digging to do.
Added over 5 years ago:The problem with auto start and this installation is that the scripts are only executable by root. chmod 755 *.sh in the nucore/scripts directory.
Now I have one issue left ... it’s like the entire playfield is blanking out about every 10 ish seconds.
Quoted from thesav:Which Stern shakers are compatible with your loom and update? All of them? Or just some?
I’ve got a Rev B shaker (502-5027-00 Rev B), will it work correctly in RFM with your loom?
That’s the SAM shaker kit... that’s the recommended one (it’s discussed a few posts back in this thread). Pretty sure you only need the motor assembly anyway... all the other goo-gahs in the kit aren’t needed.
Had my best game playing this thing while testing my nucore setup. I’m still having intermittent issues with the playfield lamps blanking every so often. It doesn’t always happen ... inconsistent from boot to boot. Once in a while it runs perfectly. The problem when it occurs is you hear the relay click and just momentarily all the lamps go out...they barely go out... it’s a real fast momentary event.
Driving me nuts !!! I want to find out what this is... it may be something running in the background... but I checked and nothing is jumping out at me. I’m running this on a Dell OptiPlex 780 Core 2 Duo, 3.3 GHz
Quoted from mattosborn:Mine does the same thing, and I'm running original hardware, so I doubt your problem is related to Nucore. I'm guessing the relay is worn out and needs to be replaced. Just haven't got around to replacing it to test that theory.
Isn’t that just a pain in the ass coincidence!!! I’ve not run it with it’s original computer hardware since I’ve started this exercise... I’m gonna fire it up and see if this happens!!!
Nope ... definitely doesn’t do this on my machine with the original hardware... but I still like that nugget of info.
I think it has something to do with how the parallel port is serviced... anything could be affected... just so happens the relay and the lamps are taking a hit. They are only related to each other because they share the parallel interface.
I would love it if they opened up that software for general purpose use.
Quoted from applejuice:People who contacted me for looms, today is the day i start sending out invoices with tracked shipping for you. Check your pinside inboxes as the day progresses.
Also i will post some pics when the box of looms arrives. This has been a long road to get here, but worth it i hope. More RFM's will soon be shaking
Remember shaker support is only included in my software update v2.1 onwards. Upgrade your game today using the download at https://mypinballs.com if not already done so.
This is so great !!! Will you have some pics of proper placement of the shaker and knocker ?
Thanks for all of the time and $$$ you’ve put into this project !!!! awesome work !!!!
1 week later
A little loom from across the pond! Psyched to get my shaker installed !!!! applejuice rocks!!!!
DD0306F1-CE40-450C-8A4D-B503C4E75EB1 (resized).jpegFINALLY I think I’ve got my nucore system working properly with my Dell Optiplex 960.
I went back to the original Ubuntu distro for nucore which is 8.04.4... this happens to be too old for the Dell computer. The 8.04 distro doesn't have the drivers for the onboard NIC. I then tried to use 10.04 but that had a slightly different Desktop environment. I probably could have made that work but I opted to go with 9.04 as it maintains the same basic structure as the original 8.04.4 and has updated drivers for the on-board nic.
I took the nucore installation iso and updated it to correct the path for the sources for the distro (since they need to be pointed to the "old-releases" website and included all the updates so that its a complete current install of nucore.
So now I can basically follow the original nucore manual installation process and it works !
Ideally I would like to get 18.04 to work but I just don't have the patience at the moment to find out what is interfering with the IO.. I will get back to it but for now... this seems to work just fine.
I need to do some more testing... but I'm pretty confident this is solid.
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:I'd be interested in this..
Yup... I just have a couple of clean ups on the iso ... then I’d be happy if you would give it a shot !
On the shaker installation... I’m thinking I’m going to relocate my tilt-bob to the other side for my shaker... it’s butt up against the tilt assembly. These PB2Ks just don’t have a ton of free space in them. I’m tearing this thing down in a couple of months anyway so no biggie.
0C8539EE-FD17-4FAC-BB6C-84A0CACD759F (resized).jpeg2A288622-BCDF-42F1-89B8-B6222771A9E0 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from Lhyrgoif:I'm still deciding on if I should invest in a shaker or not (got the loom already and planning to add the knocker) simply on the gut feeling that extra vibrations doesn't really pair good with CRT's/old solder connections/electronics in general. When and how long does the shaker activate if installed (few seconds each time or much longer)?
Anyone know of any damage caused because of a shaker (in any pin)?
Shakers are very common in modern pinball machines and they are full of surface mount and lead free soldered components. Not thinking this is anything to worry about.
Quoted from Lhyrgoif:Well modern pins doesnt have 20 year old brittle solder points
Also unsure about the CRT and how sensitive it is to shaking.
You are probably correct that I worry to much though.
Yeah I suppose the CRT is something of potential concern. My point is that modern electronics use a lead free solder processes... which is way more susceptible to break with shock and vibe.
Quoted from Zitt:I think pin2k has diodes built into the board... But someone will need to confirm is the schematics
According to the schematic: Flipper Drivers, Drive Bank A and Drive Bank B have diodes on the board. It looks as if the knocker and shaker are on Drive Bank C (DRV 18 and DRV 19)... those do not have diodes on them. I’m probably wrong applejuice should confirm.
My machine is a mess so I originally thought the tilt-bob was moved but I've since seen it on the right side on many other RFMs including some HUOs... so I'm sure many have come from the factory like this. Moving it is really not a big deal, totally worth it for the shaker experience!
Quoted from applejuice:Well, there must be a pattern here somewhere as the loom has to be different for this move.... Must be a range of serial numbers or games to certain countries originally.
Moving the tilt assembly seems to be the easiest, leaving your loom as-is. The coin door PCB will need to be shifted towards the front as well as the cable clamps. This will free up the space on the right side for the shaker. This is what I intend to do.
Quoted from applejuice:I'm meaning the rfm cabinet loom. If you move your tilt bob does the cabinet loom still reach. What is your serial number for your game, and what country does the sticker say inside?
Pretty sure the tilt bob wires will still reach (as they are the only part of the factory loom which is routed to the right side... everything else remains the same)... and I believe it takes more wire to put the bob on the right side.
EBF70B35-D640-4444-A3EE-B71CACAC50D1 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from CommissarisRex:Couple of days ago I moved tilt bob from rhs to lhs, had no problems at all, cables are long enough and the holes for the tilt mechanism are already in place. I shifted the board a bit to the left to make room for the tilt mechanism, the original lhs screw holes for the board, I now use to screw the rhs of the board.[quoted image]
Yup I just moved mine... no problem whatsoever!
Quoted from wayout440:way more??? According to everything I have read/heard/known, lead free in most cases is at least equivalent to leaded solder in regards to common reliability issues such as drop shock, vibration and thermal cycling, except for some high-rel, high-stress environments where the jury is still out. Does a pinball machine have shock and vibration...sure it does. I just don't think a pinball machine qualifies for the "high-stress" definition that the experts debate.
Yeah probably used the wrong adjective there . I come from industrial test equipment background... we needed to do a ton of safety testing when RoHS took effect. I worked with PCB assembly houses on process changes for our products. It was an issue... but you’re right ... we aren’t talking about dropping a pinball machine 36” onto concrete on all faces
My restoration preview (since I’ve decided to keep this machine indefinitely... I’m dumping a little extra $$$ into it) ... I’m real finicky about colorizing trim... Powder coating can be controversial to many. There are plenty of cringe worthy color choices out there to prove it. I think this will look very nice on this machine. The red ties nicely with the playfield and apron. The coin door is really pretty ... it mainly looks black and only shows the depth of color with direct lighting. I didn’t want the coin door to stick out like a sore thumb (which happens often when people color them). It needed a new finish so I went with subtle ruby flake for the heck of it ... and I’m really liking it.
These colors were chosen by Robertstone0407 and personally I think he has a great eye for picking the right color for the machine.
Lots of cabinet work to be done before I can showcase it.
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Quoted from PinballConspiracy:Red fleck looks good. What about other pieces of metal on the coindoor? Chutes, etc.
The entire door is all red fleck... I didn’t want to make it too busy.
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:I'm encountering the same issue and this is an interesting solution. Would you share a picture showing it with the play field up?
I think I would just take the legs off (if possible) ... if that’s enough to make this fit without having to cut it.
Quoted from Zennmaster:I'm really not sure why this seems to have become such a big issue among people.
The 3rd-party Stern-compatible shaker that I got from Pinaball Life came with an ugly, bulky, flimsy and not terribly well-designed or manufactured cover, which gets in the way of a playfield foot. It's not integral to the design of the shaker, and only attaches to the top of the assembly after it's been installed, and prevents access to anything below it, including the mounting bolts. It seemed to me that it was a better idea to cut a small hole in a cheap plastic part that no one wold ever see rather than drill more holes in the bottom of my cabinet.
I don't see why this is a big deal. Nonetheless, it did start to bug me, so I spent 15 minutes with OpenSCAD and threw a set of end covers onto the Prusa using PETG.
The results are much more compact, much stiffer and stronger, look better and solve the issue.[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Yup... I like it. I may want a set of these 
Quoted from applejuice:...Speaking of which I have an idea to commission some new graphics for a new feature mode. Set In an abandoned theme park with zombies perhaps then the aliens turn up....
Very cool!!!!!
Quoted from mattosborn:Those look like coin entry plates that only allow special tokens to be used.
Yup that was my first thought ... but the shape of the slot didn’t make sense to me... especially for a round token.
Quoted from mattosborn:Double slotted security token:
https://e-service.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/products-21511600_metal_token-e1529583940251.jpg
Cool!!! I’ve never seen those before!!!
Finally got 20 minutes of my life to myself to mount the shaker ...
I put it as far right and front as possible... so it would be easy to get the cover on and off. The blocking for the prop rod and the leg anchor pretty much determined where it was to be mounted
I marked the two holes closest to the coin box and piloted them. From the underside I marked and piloted the other two holes that are closest to the cabinet wall (because the drill won’t fit for a straight hole... the wall is in the way). I used a run of the mill 1.5 mm (1/16” works fine) bit for the pilot drill. It cuts such a tiny hole you don’t really need to worry about blow-out.
Once the pilots were done I countersunk the underside where the T-nuts are pressed in. Totally unnecessary step... but I like the way it looks. For these T-nuts I countersunk using an 18.0 mm (11/16” is also fine) Forstner bit.
I used a 6.0 mm (1/4” is also fine) brad point bit to cut the holes for the T-nuts. Stay away from twist drills, they make a mess, wander and blow out the material.
BTW...the factory Stern kit comes with the bolts and T-nuts needed for mounting.
The rest was just attaching the shaker with the bolts and putting the cover on.
Perfect fit !!!
This is basic stuff ... I mean ... drill 4 holes right? ... but I thought others may like
to see it.
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Quoted from applejuice:Great work. Was thinking earlier what would be great is possibly making a template drawing that I could include with the instructions. What do you think? Might help future people line them up easier
Great idea and I can easily make a template from this for you ... no sweat!
Here is a drill/mounting template for the SAM shaker.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sAZOavUhfE25RudyAQkfhUseIJCxUoCd/view?usp=sharing
You've got about 1/16" of margin on the right side of the template, just cut along the dotted line, but I would not cut off the dotted line, otherwise your shaker may be too close to the wall. Mark your holes and do a quick “dry” fit of the motor before you commit to drilling. I hope this makes installation easy. Let me know if you have any questions.
Quoted from applejuice:Perfect! I will add this to the Instructions pdf file download. Many thanks for doing this.
Happy to contribute... even if it's just a piece of paper 
I love this game and all the work you've done just takes this great game to another level!
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:Nice work! You might want to include drill bit sizes and/or recommendations as well.
Yup I can add that... I'll just include the stuff I've already posted above on a second sheet.
Here is a link to my installation method... Completed installation document with template.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lPVtfpUrKKYvSu-5xOllqYk79oe2c5Bm/view?usp=sharing
Quoted from johnstewart:To be clear, this is the "best" shaker motor for this, right? In other words, requiring no modification (if mounted to the far right), plugs straight into applejuice harness?
https://www.pinballlife.com/shaker-motor-kit-rev-b-for-most-stern-sam-system-games.html
Nothing plugs directly into the harness... you need to either cut off the motor's connector or make a pigtail to add the in-line fuse and mating connector to the harness... those pieces (connector housing, pins and fuse block) are provided in the harness kit. You do not need the PCB that is for the SAM kit... this provides 12VDC regulation for the motor when running off of AC power in the Stern machine. The motor is directly driven by 12VDC of the PB2K driver board.
Long story short, if this kit is compatible with SAM then it should be a 12VDC motor ... and should work... fit wise... dunno.
I bought the recommended Stern SAM kit 502-5027-00 ... the Stern part number for just the motor is 41-5029-04. Links to the installation template for this kit are above.
Quoted from Ricochet:See this post for a picture of the harness and what is included with it
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:Exactly what I wanted to do. Nice work.
Thanks, Yeah... I have issues ... I don’t like cutting off connectors. I also changed the knocker plug to a 3 pos to eliminate the possibility of accidentally connecting them wrong.
I have issues.
Again... me and my A.R. self.
I’m putting the knocker in the back box. I put a knocker in my SPIKE system in the main body of the cabinet and I don’t care for the way it sounds (seriously I know). There is something about the crack on the top of the box of the machine.
So this is my attempt to make it more “authentic”. When I repaint and redo the cabinet that naked block of wood will be black. For the strike to be perpendicular, the assembly needs to sit cocked back a bit to be parallel with the angle of the top. Also I’ve not added the diode yet ... this is just fit check. A 2 1/2” x 4” piece of 1/2” plywood suits for spacing for the plunger to clear the cabinet’s panel blocking.
7AFC58CF-8AE1-47EF-9EE5-26CD672147A1 (resized).jpeg
Upgraded to 2.10 F-I-N-A-L-L-Y !!!
The shaker really compliments the game play !!! There are some subtle shakes and some good zingers !!! There are so many opportunities to fire the shaker ... applejuice could go apeshit with the feature but I like what he’s done so far.
Love the knocker !!! I’m super pleased where I located it too... it’s a small detail but the “crack” from the back of the box just sounds right !
Putting this one down for a bit to finish up some other comments... hopefully by September I can tear into it and get it prettied up !
Thanks again applejuice ... you’ve taken a really fun and unique game to new heights... honestly I think there should be a greater demand for this title... especially now. They did a ton of things right with pb2k... just not at the right time.
I’ve a handful of pigtails for plug and play with the stern motor to applejuice’s harness.
No cutting or splicing necessary... and 2A slo. blo. fuse is included.
$15 shipped continental US.
PM if interested
Quoted from alpo3744:I am moving and need to move my RFM but I can not remember how to take the monitor off and what needs to be disconnected. Is anyone able to help?
If your unit is stock... it's fairly self explanatory once you see what is coming up from the main cabinet, and all pretty much just unplugs easily...
Unplug AC power (green, white, black) molex from Computer
Unplug AC power (green, white, black) molex from Monitor
Unplug speaker/power cable (3 pin and 2 pin molex connector)
Unplug 9 pin serial cable from computer (the one that goes into the cabinet)
Unplug 25 pin parallel cable from the computer
Unscrew ground strap (bottom left) and remove the connection from the inside of the cabinet
Remove mounting bolts (hex drive) and bushings that hold the box to the cabinet.
Starting my restoration... I do coin doors first cause I HATE doing them !!!! I’m trying the clear coin reject and entry pieces with green LEDs... dunno.
9ECCE875-990E-483D-8DBC-9C6B3BEAEF91 (resized).jpeg4D104499-81A1-4A7C-99A5-6BAA68451583 (resized).jpeg0D15748C-04BF-4101-A08A-97E608619B5A (resized).jpeg4ED080FC-772E-46F7-8FBC-E559FDBC3C5E (resized).jpegBF30DBDD-ED6C-46B6-8A4C-862C10A6DF6A (resized).jpeg
Quoted from johnstewart:Well shoot, fired up the arcade tonight and RFM won't boot (original hardware, except for LCD swap). Game doesn't play, no output to video at all. The CPU fan is spinning. This is the best tech page I've found; anyone know anything better?
http://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pinball_2000_Repair#Motherboard_Issues
In particular I note the D50 LED on the PRISM card is solid amber. I'm not finding anything in the manual nor online about this LED; does anyone know what solid amber means?
Everything computer-wise seems to be spinning up.
Oh snap. As I was sitting here typing this out, it came up. Eeek, that doesn't inspire confidence.
I see the D50 LED is now flashing amber instead of solid on, so apparently:
solid == bad, flashing == good.
Are there any obvious fuses I should check? (edit, can't be a fuse; ain't never heard of a fuse blowing then going back to good)
If and when this recurs I'll confirm all power is good from the power supply. Next thing I'm thinking is maybe the capacitors on the motherboard? (According to the above URL, the green capacitors are not good, which is what I have, though none look obviously blown. )
Anything else to check the next time it's sick?
As always take a close look at what you have ... on mine, at first glance it looked like it had already been gone over. The power supply was replaced and the heat sink/fan had been replaced on the CPU.
The PSU was ATX type so it had been modified to work (which is fine)... but I decided to check the CPU cooler and the person before didn't actually remove the original thermal pad or prep/clean the IC. They put some crappy compound on top of the pad and it was all dried up and crumbly. So I basically had little to no real cooling. I also replaced the caps as a preventative measure as they came from the era of the "capacitor plaque".
I never trust anything I get second hand (especially pinball machines)... everything "working" doesn't mean it is or that its in true good working order.
mattosborn is absolutely right on reworking those caps. You really need good equipment to remove them.
I like to use greatplainselectronics.com whenever possible. Otherwise digikey.com or mouser.com
Did a quick check of the green LEDs on the coin entry ... I think I’m going to stick with it! It’s a deeper green in real life, the camera is washing out the pic a bit. The little ruby flakes in the finish also twinkle nicely in the light.
611E3849-DA54-46D9-BA33-365CB04F2B12 (resized).jpeg98560904-0B7E-45A1-9F5D-1F92923824FE (resized).jpeg
Quoted from Zitt:Get some coin reject art on that coin buttons - Stat:
http://pinball-mods.com/blogs/?p=88[quoted image]
Oooh! Yep that's gonna happen! THANKS!
For those of you who bought my Stern motor pigtail... I’ve just finished correcting some intermittent issues with it. The fuse holder was crap and the .156 connector was not as robust as it could be.
It’s redesigned, all fixed and rock solid! I will be sending out replacements this week.
1CB1C7A6-C986-49E7-8471-2109A77A4F91 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from dashv:I honestly am.
I joined here a few years back when I got my AFM(R). That was my grail pin I sought after for over 20 years. I’ve mostly lurked and learned.
Dialing it in and maintaining it was a little more than I bargained for. But I honestly love it.
Vids threads on pinball waxing and cleaning were a great read. I have dozens of posts bookmarked in his, this, and other threads.
Pinside in general has been a great resource.
I didn’t do anything more with acquiring pins until recently because my old house was not accommodating to them.
My game room was on the third floor but I couldn’t fit arcade cabs through the door and pins had to be brought in in pieces and assembled in the room.
Fortunately my wife shares my gaming addiction so the house we moved into a couple months ago is specifically laid out for a ground level gaming floor and the double doors make it a little too easy now to buy more pins and cabs. I have a full on in home arcade now. (Maybe I’ll post pictures in another thread).
I am running applejuice’s latest which I installed from a pub card.
I have the stern shaker and a Data east knocker and plan to install them into my RFM soon. Just looking for a new rubber kit and waiting on the pigtail from ricochet and my playfield protector to arrive (RFM playfield needs some cleaning and touchup in a few places). The company selling the protector (Cointaker) seems to have taken my money and ghosted me though. Maybe I should have guessed by their name. They sent me my AFMR protector but they cancelled my RFM mirror blades order and it’s been radio silence for the last month about my RFM protector in spite of numerous emails from me.
Thanks for your advice on STNG. I ended up getting one this week from a pinsider for much cheaper, squeaky clean, with tons of upgrades and I have the Color DMD ordered for it with some of the money I had left over.
As I kid and teenager I saw a lot of pins and arcade games but never really got to play unless someone abandoned a game or I found a coin in the slot. Just didn’t have the money. So they were mostly an out of reach fantasy and attraction to me.
In college there was an on campus arcade with Area 51 and AFM. There was a guy that could beat AFM like it was no big deal. I’d watch him play day after day.
One day he let me take over his game as he was late for class. I was game over in less than 3 minutes. But that was all I needed. I told myself someday someway I was gonna buy that game and play it whenever I wanted.
Took 20 years of hard work but someday arrived.
Great story!!!
CoinTaker is a very good and reputable joint. You should be able to work that out...even if you have to give them a buzz.
On the protector tho... I’ve done this once and only once and will never do it again. The lure of what it is supposed to do is really compelling. In reality what it accomplishes in a home environment is another. The amount of dust and stuff that gets between the playfield and the protector really mucks up the look. You really need a spotless playfield and a clean environment to get it right. Even then over time... somehow shit gets under there. Also the amount of crap you potentially need to remove to get it on there is so much that you might as well do a good clean and wax job and be done. This playfield is rock hard and really won’t get any worse for wear with it in your home. Put a Cliffy on your stroke of luck hole and be done..
Playfield protectors do in fact change the physics of the game, there is more friction between the ball and the protector than what you typically have on the playfied... consequently they scratch up like hell and eventually look like crapolla.
Just my 2 cents... I get the reason why people are attracted to the protector and don’t criticize those who do use them ... but I would always advise against it. IMHO the protector does the exact opposite of what its supposed to do... it actually adds maintenance and takes away from the game.
Ok well if you have significant damage then a protector will allow you to use it without having to deal with that damage. My playfield isn't horrible except for the stroke of luck hole but I was able to fix that with some quickwood and cliffy and a mantiss protector. I'm in the middle of restoring my machine and one day I'd like to get a clear-coated NOS playfield... just because.
Quoted from dashv:I haven’t been able to find a replacement playfield. Honestly not sure how good/bad mine is. Maybe a protector is overkill.
RFM was my first used pin. I’m having a blast with it as is. Original crt still going, cab is in great shape.
I really want a red or green sparkly door like what you have. Did you make that?
I had it powder coated by @robertstone0407 and I replaced the coin inserts with clear ones from pinballlife.
Quoted from dashv:I swear to God you guys are gonna bankrupt me.
Yeah the $$$$
I'm VERY much aware I've WAY more money into this thing than what its worth. Powder coating is a personal taste sort of thing and isn't for everyone... its basically just flushing your money down the toilet for a look that you and only you can expect to like. There are purists and powder coating haters out there... and I get it but I'm considering this machine mine forever and if I ever sell I'm not stupid enough to think I can get one ounce of my money back on the powder coating "investment"
Quoted from dashv:I read it being said in the voice of Han Solo.
"Thats 2 ya owe me junior"
1 week later
Quoted from johnstewart:ricochet I got the initial one, then the replacement upgraded pigtail before I even installed the first; thank you.
I installed but the fuse blew right away. I've since ordered replacements (2A, slow blow): amazon.com link »
... the first ALSO seemed to immediately blow. I've not tried another yet.
The only action out of the shaker motor (brand new authorized Stern) was briefly after the first install. Didn't feel a thing since.
I wonder if you had any further problems since the new design? Or if maybe there's more to the story (2A insufficient?). I guess next steps would be to confirm 12V coming to the shaker itself? And if that's good, maybe I'll see if I can find a 12V power supply to wire to the shaker to test (if it somehow seized right away for some reason, it could be drawing a lot more amperage?).
thanks!
Whaaaaaat? This is concerning. I really tested the heck out of this. I have the same exact fuse. I bought them all at once from DigiKey ... they are littlefuse brand because some of those cheap ones are known to have issues.
If this ends up to be a problem for you or anyone else I will just give you your money back. I don’t want this to be anything but 100% perfect
2A slo-blo is right. Issue I had before was poor connection to the fuse... and crap fuses.
Quoted from johnstewart:This is a big post about my current booting woes and related issues; I will try to break it up with titles for the various sub-topics to make it more clear and break up the wall of text.
Cap Swap
My electrical engineer friend suggested these as a high quality capacitor for the job; I bought them, he replaced the 5x caps noted as unreliable (though they looked to be in fine shape physically):
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-electronic-components/EEU-FR1C102LB/P15332CT-ND/3072212
The good news is that it was a successful capacitor surgery... it works. The bad news is my game is no better. It still doesn't come up on power on, but takes 15-20 minutes to come up. Then (knock wood) it plays fine.Power Supply
I thought power seemed to be good; it looks to be a newer power supply and when I tested, it had slightly over 5 or 12 volts on most pins.
There was at least one pin that wasn't exactly around 5 or 12... but I assume that was intentional(??). I'm not finding anything in the manuals referencing the voltage on pins.
This is the PS, it looks like this is actually the model I have: amazon.com link » so a newish one. It seems unlikely to have gone kaput so soon, but I guess it's a cheap thing to swap, I may try that now that I know it's not the capacitors.
What are people doing for power supplies on Pin2k's? Looks like you can jumper an ATX style power supply, which I think would be more reliable/efficient/modern, no?Prism Card
I tried pulling it to see if it would boot without the PRISM card in place; this didn't make any difference.
I did notice when pulling the motherboard to do the cap swap that there is a dangling cable off the power supply to the PRISM card that I don't *think* was ever plugged in.
Does everyone have this, and should it be plugged in somewhere?
[quoted image]Video Card
As far as debugging this, it would be helpful to be able to do it with a monitor outside of the pinball machine. I've got some other LCDs I can plug in. What's the best way to get output at a "normal" refresh rate?
Is this card best for the job?
https://mypinballs.com/electronics/store.jsp
@applejuice this is you, right? The link to the details page is not coming up right now (https://mypinballs.com/electronics/cga_sync_adapter.jsp), FYI.Switches
One of the problems with mine, after being on route for a long time, is the main shot up the middle doesn't register well. It looked like the switch got bent out of shape (literally) from taking a beating. I tried to bend the leaves of the switch and it seemed better for a bit, but now it's not registering hits much again. Is there a good guide on how to adjust these somewhere? Or, would it be best to just replace it?
@sonic these are your creation?
These "MRS"es are switches that detect the ball traveling over it?
I have seen your mention of these... but I didn't see in the thread any info as to they're actually used on the game; I'd like to check mine to see if they're still good. Where in RFM are they used? And are making more soon?
Thank you all for your help!
On the PSU... I use the AT one you referenced. A newer ATX style can be used but you'll loose the power switch and need to jumper the soft start switch line on the PSU.
On the PRISM card. That connector is the reset connection. It connects onto the mother board (towards the end of the header next to the card slot)... so that the prism card can reset the computer.
On the LCD. Do you have and "arcade compatible" LCD? VisionPro or something like that? You must if you have direct connection to the computer. To connect to a standard computer LCD you need two things, 1. A VGA to CGA converter... a common one is the GBS-8200. They can be found on Amazon and 2. A sync combiner, mypinballs makes a nice onel
Quoted from johnstewart:This is something that happens? And is important?
It is likely used for watchdog failure or anytime a reboot is needed. Not something that happens during normal power up and run situation.
Quoted from johnstewart:Here's a photo of where the shaker plugs in using the @applejuice harness:
[quoted image]
While I was in there... took a photo of this... the "stay arm" instructions. Can anyone explain how I'm supposed to use it?
[quoted image][quoted image]
You’re harness looks to be connected right. Just make sure you have the motor connected to the yellow/orange leg of the harness.
Quoted from zerbam:Anyone find that they had this plastic they will part with?
Would you be ok with a used piece?
I have an entire set of new plastics I will be installing on mine... I'll check when I get home to see if the current one that is installed is in good shape. I don't believe I have any broken plastics at all on my machine... but who knows.
Quoted from zerbam:still looking for this one...............thanks[quoted image]
I know this is more than what you need but the price isn’t too bad if it’s indeed a complete set...
Quoted from j_m_:that is definitely NOT a complete set. the question is just how many of the actual 17 playfield (+1 backboard) plastics are included. for $130 you can get a complete set which also includes the 8-9 promo pcs.
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/31-3437-Set
Yup... marco is the way to go!
Quoted from dashv:Why have one... when you can have two for twice the price...[quoted image][quoted image]
Do either one of those machines happen have the square warning label on the rear door panel ? I’m looking for someone to take a clear picture of that label with a ruler along x and y edges to get that label reproduced.
Thanks !!!
Quoted from dashv:Take a picture of the area you are talking about and I’ll take a look.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-2000-rear-door-warning-label#post-5209180
3 weeks later
Quoted from jgecmd:I plugged it in differently than the original fan. Plugged into the board (tried 2 spots) not pigtailed off the power supply. Should that make a difference?
I've mine plugged into the board and it works. Has the fan ever run?
Quoted from jgecmd:It’s a new fan, so I don’t know for sure but will test it tonight.
This is the one I bought...works like a champ!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006B8DB/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_i_c_yy0PDbF3R08AF
These need to be 3 pin type, non speed controlled fans. The yellow wire is a tach signal that the CPU may or may not choose to look at (in this case I don't think it gives a crap). So as long as its plugged in correctly and not obstructed it should just work. Make sure its not twisted or mounted funny, it doesn't take much to stop these things from rotating.
Quoted from jgecmd:Seems to be a defective fan. I put a 9v battery to the old fan, it fired right up. No response when testing the new fan. Oh well. Thanks for the help!
Bummer.
Quoted from longtemps1:I just received my RFM to discover (undisclosed by the seller) that it also had been refitted with a 17” LCD. I am looking at a larger LCD with a better contrast ratio.
Those of you who have used a 24” (widescreen) LCD talk about in being a perfect fit, etc. My machine has the original cutout piece of plywood holding the monitor and the cutout for the screen is about 18” wide. I see how a 24” widescreen would fit inside the cabinet going to the edges, but with that plywood unmodified the monitor would sit on top of the plywood, not have its screen inline with the playfield-facing edge of the plywood.
Do you modify or replace the plywood, do you let the monitor sit on top, or even below?
My machine had a widescreen LCD installed. The way that it was secured was that it was on the outside of the box (below the opening to use your terms). The vacancy above and below the monitor was covered with black poster board. If you reached up in there between the glass an the monitor you could turn the monitor on and off and adjust settings because the entire thing was outside the box. The previous installer didn't remove any of the monitor casing... it was black so it didn't matter. This seemed to work just fine and stuff lined up pretty well. I'm not sure if that's how everyone else does it.
1 week later
Man oh man... I just finished my cabinet restoration, having this machine cleaned up... new piece of glass, freshly rebuilt CRT, and new speakers... it really is quite amazing! What a difference! Still a keeper!
1 week later
Quoted from Tjohejsan:My Crt monitor gave up.
But just for fun i tried to connect a lcd monitor via a vga cable but i could not get it to work.
It only said something like need to change to 1920*1080?
Need some adapter /converter?
You need a sync combiner and a CGA->VGA converter.
Sync Adapter:
https://mypinballs.com/electronics/store.jsp
Converter:
https://www.amazon.com/Paddsun-Converter-Output-Monitor-GBS-8200/dp/B01IBJCAIG
Quoted from Tjohejsan:Thanks.
Actually i have a original crt i am going to pick up saturday just 30min from here.
Lucky me!
That’s the way to go! Lots of people like the LCD... I’m not one of them. The CRT just looks so much better in my opinion. I keep one as a spare.
Quoted from Giulio:For anyone interested, in the pic the result of my LCD setup. Dell 2007FP (ips) + sync converter from Mypinballs + CGA/VGA converter + scanline generator. Dell 2007 FP is 4:3 and just drops in exactly. Very important is to set properly low brightness/high contrast and sharpness (sharpness I did set to 0). Adding a scan line generator (very little device, powered directly by vga and 25$ on ebay) adds scanlines effect as a CRT, this can be really appreciated with big image sprites like the big green alien, without scanline generator the quality difference was very clear.
To all CRT lovers: I 100% agree CRT is the best (and original), but my Ducksan did fry (nice sparks and fireworks and smoke when he did, by the way), I had no skills to repair and I would never come back, I'm really satisfied with the quality now. And the weight now is half.
My ducksan was donated to a "black belt" professional CRT technician a couple of years later, and now sits in his RFM so my crt karma love is preserved.
Cheers.[quoted image]
I like the added touch of the scan line generator! I was contemplating this when I first started my restoration. I think it really makes a huge improvement to using the LCD. If I didn't have a CRT, I'd go this route.
1 week later
Quoted from luckycreature:Hi everyone. Playing my revenge this morning and the LCD screen goes dark during Abraham Lincoln. Game was still playing fine. I decided to turn machine off. When turning back on I can hear the computer fan running but nothing in the machine lights up. Suggestions on where to start? Thanks.
If I had to guess its either the computer power supply or the computer motherboard (capacitor failures). Especially if your not getting anything out on the display.
Do you know if the computer has ever been serviced?
Quoted from luckycreature:I do not know. Is the fan on separate power supply then the computer?
It uses the same power supply... but uses the 12V rail (internally)... so its entirely possible that the fan runs but the computer cannot properly operate. If the power supply is original it should probably be replaced anyway.
First thing I did with mine was replace the power supply and CPU cooler. It was a good thing I did because the person that was in there before didn't apply the heat sink properly to the CPU and it really wasn't doing it's job
https://www.amazon.com/Athena-Power-AP-AT30-Supply-Connector/dp/B0042P2IIG/ref=sr_1_3 (300W)
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-60x65mm-Socket-Cooler-Heatsink/dp/B00006B8DB (Size TX34, Style:Socket A/370)
Potential power supply issues aside, capacitors on the motherboards of some of these units are prone to failure.
Quoted from thesav:Is it still possible to buy these art blades? And what's the difference between this 3D translite and the normal one?
Those art blades are very good! I have them in mine.
https://www.pingraffix.com/product-page/revenge-from-mars-custom-pinblades
The 3D translite is printed on a lenticular film... so when you look at it at different angles images appear to be three dimensional.
IMG_2246 (resized).jpg
Quoted from msj2222:is there a way to update my stock code to yours on the stock rfm computer?
Yes scrub this thread ... it’s in here. There is a link to an application that runs on a Windows PC. It’s very straight forward. You will need a null modem serial cable and a serial port (either USB adapter or native to the PC). Anyway ... the info is in this thread.
1 week later
Quoted from daveyvandy:Could someone post pics of their harness and couplers for the shaker motor? I am having trouble getting mine to work and I used the recommended setup from mypinballs and even separately tried using the included Stern board (I have the Stern rev b shaker motor). I enabled the shaker in the settings and I just get no output onto the shaker. Hooking up 12v directly to the shaker from a power supply gets it to move, so I'm having trouble figuring out how to diagnose what to do. Thanks.
Check your fuse. The output of the driver board may not have a protection diode which can cause the fuse to blow immediately.
The install instructions have been updated to include the installation of the diode.
Quoted from daveyvandy:Here's an updated photo that includes the knocker. I've tried just about every arrangement to get the shaker or knocker to fire, but nothing seems to work. I checked continuity on the pin2k driver board for where the orange yellow brown and blue wires connect and they all seem to be connected to the board just fine. I'm not sure what I'm missing here, it's kind of driving me crazy lol. I cannot get them to fire either while testing with the coin door closed or while playing. The only time I can get them to fire is when I directly hook up a 12-volt power supply. It seems like the software is not outputting the signal for whatever reason. Even when I hook up a DMM to the ports directly on the board I can't seem to get good voltage readings off of them. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.[quoted image]
It could be a few things... It seems odd that both knocker and shaker are out... that leads me to believe its a connector problem... but everything should be checked just the same.
First re-seat the knocker/shaker harness on the power driver board.
1. Check Voltages (the game wouldn't work right if this was the case as other things would be off as well, but you should check)
- Use your DVOM and check Test Point TP5, it should be 12V. If its not... this is likely your issue for the shaker.
- Use your DVOM and check both sides of F101.. you should see 50-ish VDC if its not... this likely the issue for your knocker.
2. Cold solder joint on J101? (9 pin connector that the brown and yellow wire are connected to).
- Unplug the shaker/knocker power connector from the PCB.
- Use your DVOM and check the socket where yellow and brown connect (pins 9 and 1). It should always have 12VDC and 50-ish VDC respectively. If you get nothing here then its likely a physical problem with the connection to the PCB. You should remove your PCB and inspect the back side for cold solder joints along the connector. Re-flow if necessary.
- If the previous step checked out... plug the shaker/knocker power connector back into the PCB.
- Use your DVOM and check the yellow and brown on that harness when it is connected into the driver board. Again, it should always have 12VDC and 50-ish VDC respectively. If you get nothing here then its likely a physical problem with the connection to the PCB connector. Could possibly be the harness but I doubt it... we'll check that later.
- To be complete, check the same two pins on the adjacent connector J102? (they are the same pinout)... they should also have the same output voltages.
- If you get voltage on the adjacent connector you can try swapping them (other crap may not work on your playfield if its a problem with the connector) to get your motor and knocker to fire.
3. Cold solder joint on J111. The driver syncs the current to turn on the motor and solenoid through this connector.
- Swap J111 and J110, if the connector is bad the other things on your playfield may not work... but the motor and knocker should.
- If you can get it to work after you swap the connector, you should remove your PCB and inspect the back side for cold solder joints along the connector. Re-flow if necessary.
4. Faulty drivers (I would suspect that one could be bad... but both of them being bad seems odd to me... but who knows).
- Knocker driver Q44
- Shaker driver Q45
5. Faulty harness (unlikely)
- Remove the harness.
- Inspect all the pins and socket contacts, make sure they are not deformed.
- Use your DVOM to ring out the connections for each wire... make sure there is continuity
- There could also be an issue with the pins and sockets not making good contact to the power driver PCB. I've seen this happen on occasion with new pins and old sockets as they are out of tolerance (using less and cheaper material now). Sometimes this can be fixed (with the power off) by physically compressing the socket connector on the PCB a bit with a small screwdriver... be careful not to distort it too much.
Quoted from daveyvandy:Holy crap thank you for the very detailed response! I started with what Zitt suggested and I tested all the transistors and they all checked good with two exceptions (see picture). Do you guys happen to know the part numbers for these transistors lol?[quoted image]
It should be written on the body of the part.
FET 20N10L (IRL540)
Quoted from daveyvandy:Thank you so much Ricochet! I'll get these ordered and back on soon enough.
Cool! I’m surprised these were both popped. Do you think something was shorted during all of this ?
Quoted from daveyvandy:I hope not. None of the fuses have blown and it passes the smoke test. But until I get the parts in I'll turn off the shaker and knocker and unplug them to be safe.
Ahh they were missing !!! I thought you took them out because you said they were bad??? Yeah missing parts will be a problem LOL!!!
Quoted from applejuice:Shameless plug to ask for donations to the software cause, if you like what i've done with RFM. 3 new releases in the last year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
https://mypinballs.com and click on the donate button
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Thanks
Done!
1 month later
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:I have an Optiplex 760 SFF on the bench now can confirm it and various other flavors run well. With the right video card, you can even support existing CRTs.
Interested in your setup procedure and target OS+PB2K engine
Quoted from WhiskeyTango:Pinbox seems to crash less than Nucore, which is a little ironic. The OS is a part of the install. The only issue with Pinbox is you have to fiddle with the settings a bit to get the CRT to work.
I was never 100% satisfied with where I landed with this in either case. I ended up getting an ArcadeVGA as a last resort for pinbox... and I had issues with my sound settings (driver or whatever) in new core. I got busy with restoration so I stopped working on it.
1 month later
Quoted from johnstewart:Richochet - I finally had a day for pinball repair and returned to this. Indeed you are right; I must have been measuring the wrong colors. Got the shaker hooked up finally with applejuice 's 2.2 code; the shaker is awesome!
I bought the recommended Data East knocker and in the test mode, it worked, but also popped the fuse immediately (101). I just wired it up to the harness without a diode; is adding that what other people are finding necessary?
Yes the diode is necessary.
2 weeks later
Quoted from johnstewart:To follow up: these worked great.
As regards the knocker:I sourced a 1N4007 diode then went to go solder it in and hook back up, and lo and behold, there already seems to be one!
[quoted image]
That's definitely a diode - I can't bloody see well enough to tell if it's a 1N4007, but I did confirm it was oriented correctly according to the diagram at https://mypinballs.com/files/rfm-shaker-instructions_v11.pdf. But to be sure, I flipped the wired going to the knocker... same deal. I immediately blow a fuse when I start the knocker in test mode.
I'm getting really good at getting to that damn fuse. =)
That's not expected behaviour, right? In other words, testing the knocker isn't blowing your 101 fuse?
Is there any reason to think this diode isn't sufficient? I have a 1N4007 I could swap in instead.
I’m a bit confused. The diode I’ve been talking about needs to go across the motor. The installation pdf shows the proper direction of the diode across the motor. You also need a diode across the solenoid and clearly you have that.
Orange and Yellow go to the motor, Blue and Brown go to the solenoid. That’s it... F101 has never blown on my unit. The only fuse that ever blew was the one inline with motor and this was before the diode across the motor was added.
Make sure everything is soldered in before you test this thing. You don’t want any loose or intermittent connections. That may not end well with solenoids and shakers going off.
6A7C98E3-49BD-4F43-B2EA-D610586A0101 (resized).jpeg
A4AA5384-6E78-40C4-ABDF-9E578F016DD4 (resized).jpeg
1 month later
Quoted from applejuice:Another update on the new updater program.
Here is a screen shot of the first successful packet transmission between my mac and my test original pin2k computer. Possibly the first ever native (see below) packet transmission that isnt windows based.
The program has its own completely rewritten packet transmission system internally so that cross compiling the program will be easier. I am not using the fupdate program at all. Mainly this is because recompiling that for multiple systems seems a waste of time and secondly i want to be more independent than including old wms tools even though that program was released with the source freely available. It should be stated though the the update source is an invaluable resource in terms of working out how this stuff works!! Thanks to williams yet again.
Still some hurdles to overcome, but to get a successful acknowledgement form the pin2k computer is a good step.
Another bonus for writing this tool is i have learnt a lot more (again) about the pin2k system and have some more ideas on how to possibly save valuable flash ram space for old machines on future updates.
[quoted image]
Cheers to doing it right! This is great !!!
Quoted from Irishbastard:I was curious, does the knocker have to be hooked up? I am waiting for my harness to arrive so I haven't installed the shaker yet, but I was not planning on installing a knocker yet.
Its entirely optional.
Quoted from applejuice:Another update on the new updater program
Bingo! Fathomed it. Deliberately bricked an update to make it unusable and so forced the game to boot from roms, then ran my updater.
This is the first native update from a mac i think and also the first update ever not to use fupdate.exe
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Not gonna lie... psyched to have this work on my MacBook Pro!!! Donations forthcoming!!!
3 weeks later
Quoted from GTO:Okay, so I got an RFM and joined the club. Now what to do next? My machine has code 1.2, so I will be updating to 1.5. Can I update past that without needing more RAM?
Which mods do you all recommend? The spinning saucers are super sweet, but not available any more The 3D/lenticular translite is also cool, although pricey. Is it worth it? How does it look with the lamp behind it?
Go here... https://mypinballs.com/
You'll find RFM stuff there... and there are plenty of folks in this forum that have supported @applejuice's work on this title... he has made some really terrific updates to this title.
Get yourself upgraded to 2.21
Get a shaker/knocker loom and get yourself a shaker... knocker is great too but the shaker is a super upgrade to this title.
Quoted from GTO:Thanks for the info! Any recommendations on a shaker? Sounds like the Stern ones are harder to set up?
Go with what is recommended ... they are not hard to setup.
Here are shaker installation instructions and template: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lPVtfpUrKKYvSu-5xOllqYk79oe2c5Bm
Stern shaker: https://www.pinballlife.com/shaker-motor-kit-rev-c-for-stern-spike-spike-2-system-games.html
With that kit you will also need 4ea 8-32 t-nuts
Quoted from Pozzest01:Help. I can't find where this connector goes. It has a solid brown wire, green with yellow stripe, and a solid blue. Pictures attached. I comes out of the box that has the outlet for your soldering iron.
[quoted image][quoted image]
That's in the head of the unit correct? if so... that's not a DBA connector. In your picture there looks to be another female rectangular connector in the background that is unused that maybe related. As applejuice has stated... that doesn't look factory... it maybe that someone made this cable to accommodate something in the backbox, either a LCD or different kind of translite lamp vs. stock fluorescent.
The attached picture is pretty much stock configuration.
rfmboxinfo (resized).jpg
Quoted from applejuice:No, he's saying it comes out of the switch filter box in the cabinet. As i said above i suspect its a 'user modification', as its not factory.
Sorry I was looking at the very first picture... which is clearly the rear of the unit. So it's plugged into the power entry box and goes into the back box?
Quoted from Pozzest01:Here is a picture of the box it comes out of.
[quoted image][quoted image]
It's a hack... and your power box is missing the transformer configuration plug. Be careful because you don't know how its connected... it could be always on (a hot connection directly wired to the AC power lines).
Here is a link to some pictures of my restoration... you can find some power box pics in there for reference...
Quoted from Giulio:Wow, that's a *****restore*****, perfect. Congratulations, I think I saw it in the past but amazing to see it again. A RFM "Ferrari". Love the deep red paintings. Masterpiece!
Thank you! Now if I could only find a NOS playfield ... I could complete it.
Quoted from Pozzest01:How serious is it that I'm missing the transformer configuration plug? Where do I find one?
You will not get any power from the main transformer... it jumpers your primary windings for either 100,120,200,220 or 240 VAC line voltage.
Now it is entirely possible that someone has hard wired it on the inside... based upon the fact that someone has already been in there. You always have to check stuff for yourself ... people can really make a mess of things just to get things to work. It may work... its not right but it may work. My machine worked fine but looked like someone attacked it with wire cutters.
Here is the part
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/H-22990.1-1
powerwiring (resized).png
1 week later
2 weeks later
Quoted from applejuice:Well, lockdown is good for some things! My new pinball 2000 updater program Version 1.0 is now completed and about to go to my beta testers
Some pics of what you have to look forward to. Will run on any modern os, mac, linux or windows. I'm going to be asking for a small fee (around £20) for access to the features with this program. All proceeds will go back into the dev fund pot for more rfm features and pin2k updates.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
I’d love to give this a test run for you if you need anymore beta testers.
2 weeks later
Quoted from applejuice:Also, this
A working 6 ball trough. Coded updated to recognise the upgrade of the trough with its new hardware. Just need to make a neat pcb that will plug onto the existing opto driver board now.
Am testing at the mo and my beta testers will also put it through its paces, but i believe the code will still run with a stock 4 ball trough to. It makes it more complicated to do but we dont want to leave anyone behind just yet.
[quoted image][quoted image]
2 weeks later
... applejuice do you have a preferred USB->Serial adapter for the MAC? FTDI or Prolific chipset ?
1 week later
Quoted from nerdygrrl:I just got back in the club for the third time. Picked up a lovely machine that had been in a home for the last 15+ years. I am guessing I am the third owner.
One question, this machine is very clean sans a couple of dings in the T-Molding. Has anyone ever found a solid replacement or know the measurements off hand? I guess mostly is it centered or an offset molding.
One 20 foot roll of standard 3/4” T-molding will do the entire machine ... it’s about 9 feet on each side.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/revenge-from-mars-restoration#post-5174005
Quoted from applejuice:6 Ball Trough Update.
First prototype assembled and tested. Working nice. Pleased with my install and the neatness for the upgrade. Board plugs onto the existing opto controller board as below:
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
I've also found a neat 4 core encased cable to use for routing form the opto board expansion to the trough boards. Kit will come with the assembled board, cable and plugs to make your extension cable and the optos to add to the trough boards. This isn't a straight plug and play as you have to add the optos the existing trough boards and also you will need software rev v2.22 and higher to take advantage of the new features.
Price is going to be £80 plus shipping. I have 4 proto boards that i will assemble and can ship to early adopters to test/use in their games for 10% saving if you want to get involved early and give me feedback. PM me if interested.
Cheers all
Slick! Cant wait!
Quoted from nerdygrrl:So I am trying to get the RFM I picked up last week setup. It looks like one of the leg levelers/legs are stripped. The silver piece the leg leveler threads into just spins freely and no matter what I do heat, PB blaster, etc it will not budge.
It looks like I will have to order another leg which is a bummer given what great shape these were in. I checked out Pinball Life and they have a set of Williams black powder coated and then a Pin 2K specific coat which is $20 more. Can anyone tell me if there is an actual difference in finish?
Pin 2K: https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-rfm-and-swep1-legs-set-of-4.html
Black Powdercoat: https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-black-legs-set-of-4.html
The PB2K legs other are painted matte black. The powder coat is going to be a bit more glossy compared to the matte black paint of the PB2K legs.
2 months later
Quoted from mark532011:Hey guys, my RVM is on the container ship from Italy right now. I have a question about power conversion. When I got my Rescue 911 (Gottlieb System 3) I had to change the power jumper (A12J5) in addition to the actual wall plug. Is there something similar I will need for the RVM?
Yes there is a power configuration jumper plug.
4 months later
Quoted from Arvid:Quick question: Is there a power cable/connection with the original CRT monitor that can be easily disconnected so that on power up everything works except for the monitor?
If it is indeed factory configuration, it is a 3 pin molex connector that can easily be disconnected.
Quoted from Arvid:Thanks for the reply. It is this one, directly connected to the PCB? Or is it located elsewhere in the cab?
[quoted image]
That's the neck-board of the CRT... that isn't where main power is disconnected from the monitor... you need not mess with that.
There should be a rectangular 3 pin connector... with three wires, white, black and green. Similar to what you see in this picture. Probably on the right side looking into the rear of the cabinet. The one you see in this picture is the power to the computer... but that's what your looking for.
Be careful messing around with that monitor.... especially if it has been powered up recently. The tube (where the HV cable connects to the cup) can hold a charge. If you are going to remove it, you need to disconnect the main power (what you are looking for) and the video cable that connects the monitor chassis to the computer (unplug it from the computer... leave it connected to the monitor for now)... AND the lamp tube power as it is attached to the monitor frame (it uses the same type connector). Once all the cables are disconnected, remove the 4 bolts and lift it out carefully.
Disclaimer on my instructions: I'm assuming it is 100% factory and hasn't been hacked or re-wired. People tend to make a mess of these things when they work on them or do any sort of conversion.
2 months later
Quoted from justyn:Starting the restore on my RFM. Took apart the flipper mechs and they have metal sleeves? Did this used to be common? I presume I can replace them with plastic ones? Thanks.
Metal sleeves are not correct... feel free to swap them out with the correct plastic ones.
1 week later
Quoted from justyn:Ok - new at this and a bunch of questions as I try to restore my machine. For starters:
1) My power supply doesn't seem to have any issues but it looks to be original. It seems that everyone suggests replacing it. Why? What happens if the power supply fails? Is there a reason I can't wait to replace it?
2) My monitor isn't the usual WG or Ducksan - it's an Intervideo VP20. I've tracked down a manual (http://www.andysarcade.de/data/coinop/videogames/raster%20monitors/intervideo/intervideo_vp_series.pdf)
but I'm unclear what this means for finding a cap kit and installing the video amp. I've found this cap kit that looks like it will work. Is there any quality difference I need to worry about between cap kits?
https://www.arcadepartsandrepair.com/store/components/capacitors/intervideo-vp-series-monitor-cap-kit-105c-nichicon/
Thanks!
1. With respect to the power supply and anything (including the mother board) where electrolytic caps are used. The era when these were manufactured ... the consensus is that the electrolytic caps are destined to fail. You have this situation with your mother board. If you don’t experience weird resets or odd behavior... you don’t necessarily have to replace it. You may find that once you start using it regularly it may fail. You can’t tell if there is anything wrong by simply looking at it either. I’m not certain what the failure mode of these supplies are ... hopefully it’s not over voltage .. in which case a failing supply could cause downstream failures. Replacing it is cheap insurance.
I would make certain however that your CPU fan and cooler are solid. This is really important for the longevity of the CPU. I would remove, clean and replace the cpu cooler out of caution. The old one likely has crusty thermal compound and may not be doing it’s job. Mine was “upgraded” by someone and they didn’t clean the old compound off so the CPU was not making good contact with the heat sink. This could have caused a permanent failure had I not taken the time to check and replace it.
2. That cap kit is fine. Cap kits are another best practice ... but not alway necessary. Again ... frequent use after long periods of idle time can cause failures to begin to happen.
3. The video amp is a must. I would do this before anything. The logic level coming out of the main video board is slightly lower than what the monitor needs... causing a dim picture.
Quoted from mattosborn:He is not using one of the original monitors, so this may not be an issue in his case. For example, I am using a Kortek monitor, and it has no problem with the video levels. I can get proper brightness/contrast adjusted without an amplifier.
Ahh good point.
Quoted from justyn:Sounds like I should drop $50 on a replacement power supply. Hoping I can find an AT one that is plug and play
Athena Power AP-AT30 300W AT Power Supply 6Pin P8 6pin P9 Connector https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042P2IIG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_GH3775SMHTWXHB8YPP6B
3 weeks later
Quoted from justyn:Thanks - found the reset pins to connect to. Unfortunately nothing seems to be working....
For background - I shipped my working MB to Borygard to proactively replace the caps (one was clearly starting to bulge). It turned out there was previous work done on the board and it was unrepairable so I obtained a NOS MB from Borygard. Once I received it I installed it along with my brand new Athena AT power supply. The power supply fan comes on and all pins test to correct voltages. The yellow LED on the prism card comes on and stays on. The CPU fan comes on and everything seems fine but there is no picture or sound. The monitor is clearly on but the game doesn't seem to boot.
I reseated the RAM and the prism card. The MB battery is new and I replaced the prism card battery with a new one as well. I tried booting without the prism card. I also tried booting without the prism card to an external LCD monitor to confirm my monitor wasn't the issue. I've double-checked all connections on the MB and had Borygard verify they look correct. I tried a different VGA cable and also reseated the VGA ribbon connector on the MB.
I'm not sure what else to do at this point - this is way out of my depth. Any advice? Thanks in advance....
A couple of things you could try...
1. Move the PRISM card to the next PCI slot over.
2. Try running without that reset connector connected to the main board.
Quoted from justyn:Thanks - but shouldn't I be able to boot without the prism card entirely so I can eliminate that as part of the problem? I've tried removing it and booting and get nothing. I should at least be able to get to BIOS/startup.
I missed that... you should see something.
Quoted from justyn:Progress? I reseated the RAM (yet again) and now I'm getting something on the monitor. I shut it down, removed the prism card, and started it up again and got the exact same thing. Monitor settings? Would the vertical/horizontal hold etc. settings on the monitor change for any reason when changing motherboards? Before I touch anything thought it would be good to check.
[quoted image]
Certainly there could be differences. Trying to adjust the monitor won’t hurt anything.
Adjust the monitor and see if that gobbledygook makes any sense. You're not going to hurt anything by doing so. Listen to mattosborn and
Zitt ... they are experts. I totally blanked on the fact that the bios boots to standard 32KHz VGA sync.
1 week later
Quoted from dashv:I’m way behind on giving my RFMs (yes, multiple) the love they deserve.
6 ball expander
Knocker
Shaker
I think I am missing some parts for the shakers and knocker.
Did someone fabricate and still have for sale preassembled cable/fuse/diode combo needed to connect the shaker and knocker to the board?
I need three. (1 for each shaker, and 1 for the knocker)
One of mine already has a cable with a fuse installed (third picture) but I got it and my kits before it was realized that the 1N4007 Protection Diode was needed so with that cable the monitor goes dark sometimes when the shaker is really active.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
I made that pigtail for the shaker… I did eventually start putting diodes on them.
That version you have was earlier version without diode.
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