Rottondog is closing down, this information was given to me by PPS.
More info to follow soon on a new source for williams/bally boards.
(Topic ID: 276843)
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Friday Sept 18th I'm launching my site officially. Launching up to 30 products on that date. New products are added as I finish batches up. Everything from coin door interface boards to WPC 95 driver boards.
My main goal with these boards is that they are original williams designs that are well documented. You will have 30 years of knowledge online that will never go away for trouble shooting eventual problems. There will be no scenario where you can't find information about these boards like you're currently seeing with the rottondog site going down.
https://pinballbasement.com/products/wpc-95-power-driver-board
Quoted from Atari_Daze:Nice to have someone picking up and running with the ball, can we learn more about you pinball_basement?
Your moniker has you joining 1 day ago, is it safe to assume you are someone we all know and love already from the Toronto area?
If this info has already been covered, my apologies for the dupe.
Quoted from Bryan_Kelly:Posts as lordloss here.
Correct.
I've been in the hobby since 2012 and I have a background in engineering and manufacturing.
I take on a lot of extreme projects, its all about the hunt and the extreme depth of learning to know these games inside and out. I want original parts for my projects and there are way too many parts that are hard to find. So it made sense to step up and get these parts made again. I know if I need a part, there has got to be X other pinheads looking for that part too.
Quoted from Bugsy_D:I am sending this out to Pinball Basement...
Been out here for a while but this is my first post. I have picked up a couple project games this last year (Torch, Flash, Nitro, Grand Lizard) and every one of them has had hacked original boards, from MPUs, to displays, driverboards, sound boards, and a lot of bad coils. Got all of the games cheap (4pk for $1100). So my question is, why would anyone put in a new copy of an original board knowing that the originals had problems to begin with? Are you putting new parts but the same part numbers? Where are you getting your new 6821's or 6802's? Are you going to use TIP102s and TIP36s? At least Rottendog, XPin, Gulf, Alltek, and others have been trying to improve on the original boards. What are you going to do to make yours better than the originals?
I appreciate that you are trying to fill a void and bring more choices out for us to use, but when I got these projects I tried fixing some of the boards and when you hand them off to some of the guys that fix them and they say that the years haven't been kind and I would be better buying something better than an original, you begin to think with regard to the original boards it isn't if they fail but when they will fail.
The new original boards will be the same unless a drop in replacement can offer a better solution for the circuit. The main reason these are being made is to put the hacked boards to rest and have a proven circuit be used in the machine as intended. For example the Sys 3-7 Driver board can have a transistor updated and the high wattage resistors are no longer needed with that update. If I get down to that level of games, I will update the part to solve that issue. Another issue such as the special solenoid circuits should have been fused. I would add inline fuses to this design and make that safer.
If Williams issued a service bulletin to update an aspect of the boards, this would be updated as well.
Circuit board fabrication has come a LONG way in 30 years when all these original boards were first made. Better through hole plating and fabrication processes in general. Yes, the old boards haven't aged well, but I'd like to prove that a new board of the old design just flat out works and will age better than the older boards. When repairs need to be made, the pads won't come up with the trace.
Redesigning boards could be on the table as time goes on, but for now authenticity is my main goal and I just want the board to work without any issues. Too many times i've seen people take out a competitors board and put back an original board to get it working like it should.
6821's are back in production actually... really good timing on my part. I'm really happy that I can produce system 11 boards and not have to worry about second hand chips not lasting.
Quoted from chad:Who is reproducing the 6821 IC Chips?
https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=W65C21N6TPG-14
Quoted from sparkup:Hopefully you will be offering paypal and overseas shipping.
Yes, I will have to do an individual paypal request I think until I can figure out a better way to do that.
In general these boards are just another option. Each company will have their place in the market and their pro's and con's. Its up to each collector to figure out where they stand with each generation of pinball and how they want it to operate.
All I know is that my WPC games are getting a full set of new boards and its going to be wonderful.
Quoted from Crash:Question, for the LM323K regulators are you replacing those with switching variants such as the popular PSU5 from Ezsbc? I see your WPC driver boards are using heatsinks for the 5v regulators. This could improve reliability for WPC logic power in the long term.
You are correct, a modern Ezsbc is replacing the lm 323. I am working with that company on a lm317 replacement as well
20200902_142154 (resized).jpgQuoted from Crash:Not sure if serious. He already announced he is lordloss. I've done business with him before and had a good experience. Not sure how producing original Williams PCB drawings with upgraded components is a negative thing.
Whysnow and I have a bit of a history. I don't like his price pumping of machines.
He can support whechever company he wants, there are plenty of options.
Quoted from Whysnow:Not from my experience or that from many at MGC over the past.
Take the time to research whom you are dealing with is all I am saying.
His ethics and business practice are questionable at best. People change, but I am yet to see any indication of that change and making a duplicate account to hide from his past is an odd start.
You may reach out to Robin and verify he personally approved my business account.
Quoted from ralphwiggum:I agree... I didn't see anything that was 90 day ban-worthy, but at the same time he may just be on a shorter leash based on his history here (This is either his 3rd or 4th- I think- 90 day suspension).
I think the two accounts thing is sort of weird. Maybe Charlie can chime in from one of his accounts and explain the logic behind it. It has his store name under his LordLoss name, not sure the need for a second account, maybe just rename the LordLoss account to the business name? Either way, it is a little strange, but nothing I would red flag and stop me from doing business with him, he is very upfront about it.
It comes down to having an account that only does business advertising, questions, and the main aspect is the built in store function on pinside. Also the name links to the website.
Quoted from MikeSinMD:Will one of your wpc power driver boards work in whitewater? I bought a rotten dog one and had nothing but problems. I sent that shit back several times then just got a refund. I knew it was a problem with the board because I swapped in one from another game and I did not have any problems. Then I would swap the rotten dog board back in and the problems would come right back. Mìke
It will work!
Quoted from CrazyLevi:I'm pretty sure every Rottendog board is "untested."
I bought 5 WPC89 transformers and am building 5 test fixtures for my boards. The plan is to run them through a burn in cycle similar to the WPC 95 test fixture. Eventually I'd like to have a test fixture for each and every system before I release a board set for it.
I have a williams system 11 fixture (thanks LTG for helping me grab this), a WPC95 fixture, and the 5 in progress WPC89 fixtures.
A local pin repair shop has a game plan fixture i'd like to buy if he is selling, as eventually i'd like to keep expanding to niche stuff like game plan and give it some love.
.
.
Special offer:
$100 in trade credit if anyone has fully intact power wire harness' for the WPC89 transformers.
2 weeks later
Quoted from Robotworkshop:It would really be nice if out of all this the schematics (legible/readable) versions of the schematics would be posted online. It looks like some were at one point but then taken down. Makes repairs a bit more challenging.
I did get a couple small letter size sheets for a WPC driver but it is really had to tell what the chip locations are. I think I have the board fixed now anyway (just waiting on a couple odd parts) but for future repairs it would save a lot of time to have them.
I've had to repair one of their DMD drivers, WPC Sound board, system 6 combo board, and the latest once of their WPC driver boards.
If someone takes on those boards and makes updates would be nice to have slightly larger pads for the parts and also not bend over all the leads on the chips. Makes them harder to remove and replace when needed.
The bent over leads is part of the manufacturing process, a through hole stuffing machine was used to place those. They also most likely used lead free solder, so that makes working on the boards harder.
Quoted from chad:Do you have the files for the rare printer boards for Williams WPC ?
If you get me a pcb or assembly part number I can look.
Quoted from Robotworkshop:I know that the bending of the leads is part of their particular manufacturing process but not everyone uses that and it happens to suck for those repairing the boards. That and the small pads make these a bit more difficult for people to service and replace parts. Just a suggestion to whomever picks up those boards to consider revising that part.
Just about everything these days use the lead free solder. That isn't so much of an issue as the tiny pads and folded leads.
I use a leaded solder, and with my files I can set the pad size to any size I wish. So enlarging pads past williams spec's is possible.
Quoted from MikeSinMD:The reason I ask is because the rottendog ones do not work in a whitewater. I am not the only one that found that out. It’s weird because it does work in so many others that share that same board with white water. I don’t know why, but the rotten dog board just does not work in a white water. I am interested in buying one of these boards but I would just like to know if someone has actually tried one in a Whitewater. I know what a pain in the ass it was dealing with rotten dog on that problem and I don’t want the headaches again. Thanks!
I might be able to send you a board to test out, if it doesn't work just pay return shipping. I will look into the white water issue first and see if that game had a different board revision or not.
4 weeks later
Quoted from jeffpaletz:I purchased an MPU/CPU for my Star Trek TNG from Pinball Basement and I’m really impressed with the quality. The board looks great and works perfectly. I’m so glad there’s another option now.
I'm glad I could help.
I have 12 left from my current batch if anyone else needs one.
https://pinballbasement.com/collections/wpc89-boards/products/a-12742-wpc-89-mpu-board
Quoted from 2pupPinz:Do you have an idea of when the WPC 89 power boards will be back in stock? I just picked up a backup for my 95s from you, and would like to get one for a CFTBL I have. Thx for making these and good luck!
It will be in a couple weeks. I will reach out when they are back in stock.
1 month later
Quoted from chad:I think RottenDog sold off inventory and closed up shop. Pinball_Basement is now making boards. Not sure on Data East/Sega boards....
Quoted from Crash:Dumbass is considering a Data East MPU board.
Data east ppb is done, data east power supply is almost done and mpu will be done in two weeks.
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