Shot in the dark considering there aren't a ton of these still floating around, but does anyone happen to have a hi-res scan of the backglass? My glass is pretty poor and finding a replacement is about impossible.

Thanks (and also to you @Aniraf). Straight pictures won't be able to be turned into a backglass, unfortunately. Too much distortion, natural light, etc. Was worth a shot at least

WeatherbyMAG Drop Target decals are available....and cheap.

https://littleshopofgames.com/product/scorpion-target-decals/

WeatherbyMAG These decals are also currently available from Planetary Pinball (PPS) for the same price. Those ones are Laminated.... Not sure about the ones at LSOG. Might want to check both and figure out who has cheaper shipping

Also, I'm 99% sure that the spinner decals are the exact same ones that were used for Gorgar. That is also available for cheap at PPS (6 bucks). Just search for "Gorgar Spinner Decal". If you need both, get from PPS and you'll only pay shipping once. No brainer.

I assume you've tried some wiggling the bulbs?

Can you elaborate? Did this just start out of the blue or when you were doing something? Is it only the GI on the backbox? Is it at all times, or when you do certain things (like hit the flippers)?

Immediate thought is that this would be something in the games power supply or the wiring to the head, since it is only affecting the backbox GI. Start by checking the fuses (maybe one that powers the lamps is just hanging on by a thread...visually inspect in addition to continuity) and replace as needed. Secondarily, check the power supply board for burnt connectors/pins (and loose wires) running to the head.
After that, you may have to pull out the big guns and test the capacitors, the bridge rectifier and take a look at that massive filter capacitor at the base of the backbox.

Good troubleshooting tutorial for system 3-7 games can be found at http://pinball.flippers.info/system6resources.asp

Well, considering the backbox GI in scorpion is solid on all the time and I don't think there is an attract mode, that should pretty much rule out interaction with the Mpu, Driver and Sound board. Gotta be something with either wiring or the power supply chain.

Well... Failing components are failing components.... Once that happens, not much you can do.

I have an issue to track down on mine too with a blowing Solonoid fuse. Hopefully, I will get to it in the next couple weeks (shopping my Johnny Mnemonic is first in line). When I do, I'll look over the wiring chain to the backbox GI and might be able to point you more in the right direction.

That's a classic and very typical problem with the horseshoe targets used in this and many other games made around that time,. The contacts more than likely have to be cleaned and adjusted. You have to disassemble them from the underside of the playfield.

To expand: Prior to each ball, the machine fires each drop target coil automatically to ensure they are all up at the beginning of the ball. Each target drop in the bank is wired in series. The machine knows when a target drops because the drop causes a connection to be made as the drop slides over the horseshoe shaped contact on each drop's pcb. If the contacts are dirty or don't make solid contact, they wont register. Thus the need to clean and readjust them.

Start a game with the glass off and then drop each target in the bank with your finger. As each drops, the machine will make a noise from the speaker. Those that don't cause a noise are the ones that need to be checked.

..... And if you end up needing to replace any of the drop target PCBs or just want to get new ones for reliability, read this topic:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/excellent-replacement-boards-for-williams-system-3-6-drop-targets

Welcome to the club. Hope you can find a backglass!

I concur on vids price assessment. One that lit up and looked to be in decent shape but didn't play recently sold on Ebay for about 650. I bought mine last year, fully working but with a touched up backglass for 750.

It plays MUCH faster than other wide body machines of that era.

Amazing you found one.....and a beauty at that. Those things are seriously hard to come by.

That's an awesome story. Honestly, probably one of the few backglasses for this that was still just floating around somewhere.....no one repros them (even as a translite) that I've ever been able to find. I've probably seen a Scorpion pop up for sale somewhere maybe 4 times in the past 3 years and 2 of those, the backglass was missing.

Now get to that Firepower!

Ok. I finally looked over the schematics and the physical GI wiring for the backbox. The GI wiring is REALLY simple on this machine. I'm going to add a few posts with pics to explain it better.

First, you have 2 6.3v wire leads coming from the transformer to supply the power. One runs through a relay (to control the lights on/off during multi-ball) but ultimately, that is irrelevant for this problem. They terminate at the fuse block below the power supply.

IMG_20180620_112033386 (resized).jpg

One transformer lead is soldered to the bottom of the solder lug at the far left of the fuse block. The other is soldered to the bottom of the left-most fuse clip. This is the 6.3v GI Fuse.

Now, for this power to make it to the GI to light the lamps is very simple. It passes over separate yellow/white-yellow wire pairs directly. One pair goes to the playfield, one pair goes to the coin door, and 2 pairs go the the GI lights in the backbox.

The key here is that all 4 white-yellow wires are soldered to the top of the solder lug and all 4 yellow wires are soldered to the top of the left most fuse clip. If the fuse is blown/missing, you will have no GI on any of the 3 locations. So in your case the fuse isn't the issue.

If you trace the white-yellow pairs that go to the GI, they end up in the following connector, which then runs to the backbox light/display board:

IMG_20180620_112050590 (resized).jpg

Here's a picture of the back of the light board. Notice the 2 yellow/white-yellow pairs that connect to the light chain (right and left sides of the picture).

IMG_20180620_112108655 (resized).jpg

That's all there is to it. Since ONLY your backbox lighting is dim, but the lighting or the playfield is fine, this means your issue is really simple: the fuse is good and the 6. 3v to and through the fuse slips and lug should also be good. What is not good is somewhere in the wiring chain between the top of the solder lug and the top of the left most fuse clip.

Verify all 4 wires are soldered correctly to both the lug and fuse clip and you don't have any loose wires or cracked or cold solder joints. If all good here, you should be able to test with a multimeter between all the test points to verify you are getting the proper power through each test point: lugs/fuse clips, connector, and the chain on the light board. You have a bad/burnt/damaged connector or wire, or bad solder on the fuse lug or fuse clip somewhere in this chain. Hope that helps.

No problem. If I ever make it back to Phoenix, you can pay me back with a beer in the bar you have it in

My poor scorpion, since the day I bought it. Rainbow hell.

IMG_20180624_104058115 (resized).jpg

But not anymore. It's not quite as bright as the pictures make it out to be since I took it in the dark, but much better lit and the muti-ball light show on this thing is now seriously amazing.

IMG_20180624_124435503 (resized).jpg

Can someone take a picture of underside of the playfield showing the upper right flipper assembly? Here's mine....and I can pretty much guarantee this isn't right.......the stop for the plunger is definitely wrong (it's a reversed coil stop!) and I'm thinking the EOS switch and the entire bracket is also not correct at the very least.....

IMG_20180625_111921635 (resized).jpg

SORRY.... Apparently, I don't know my right from left. I meant the upper LEFT flipper assembly.

Welcome to the club. Damn......you just missed a used but complete plastic set on eBay the other day. Sold for $48 bucks after shipping. I was kicking myself for not buying it.

Does the eject switch not register with a ball in the hole or does the solenoid just not pop the ball out when it should? Do both a solenoid AND switch test and go from there.

That's some really great news! Although I am currently letting my Scorpion go after a couple good years with her, I really love this machine. Severely underrated....in part due to the fact that almost no one has one with a decent backglass and lots of these machines were simply scrapped once the backglass was beat or broken since they are near impossible to source. I see people looking for the glass all the time to no avail. Maybe I'll pick up another one someday and get a nice new glass from BGResto to go with it.

Thanks for being the community guinea pig and sending that in. Ability to get that backglass reproduced has been a long time coming.

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