Husband and I picked our first machine a week or so ago, Space Invaders. Nice "player's machine," with wear around the inserts and some planking. Ok for us, planning to just clean, wax and enjoy. New rubber and ball, locked ball waiting to be put in. Both of us are using loose terms we've picked up on pinside after about a month...be gentle with us newbies This was our V-day present to each other, and we are realizing we've stepped into a serious responsibility We will both be eagerly watching and responding to our first topic, posts about our first machine, looking for 'newbie' advice like:

1: What's up with a single invader light not lit that doesn't seem to be the socket or bulb?

2: What are those burnt marks on the solenoid driver board?

3: Just how "hacked" is this power supply?

4: What kinds of tools will we need to pull the light sockets, maybe swap in a stronger flipper down the road, do other minor playfield repairs like single lights out, etc?
Can/should we do any of this with the playfield up, connected? (small soldering is what other half suggested, told him maybe not with game together? How would one quickly test work, otherwise?)

5: Generally, help?! us protect the game from ourselves...and my husband from the game, maybe One zap already. Reminding him to go slowly...he is like a kid again, wiggling wires near the top blue invader light and just trying to get back to cleaning it. I have to admit, I can't wait to get that one light working and know if we are OK to really play this for hours!

We both really look forward working with this community - already had a great experience with a pinsider who helped us with the pickup. Awesome to have this kind of support and knowledge out there! We plan to take pictures of the specific questions and post over the next week, but if anyone is stuck at work, bored and has any starter tips

The Other Half here.

1.) Invader light was working. Bulb is fine. Hoping I didn't do any damage with the wiggles. Had luck with the other sockets that way

Three invader lights in a row in pic there. Middle one has wire that wiggled free. Was connected. Was working for first week, just today tried bulb swap and twisting of socket slightly as described with previously success. Nothing doing this time around, was about to solder wire back after stripping a little, see if a clean solder might be magic, haha.

14876177153151361388427 (resized).jpg

3.) Here is the power supply my wife described, lol:

14876182582371386398232 (resized).jpg

1487618390059-1544188164 (resized).jpg

Hasty repairs and shortcuts abound, I'm sure. "Gotta fix it, quick, so I can roll that score again," every owner of this particular machine must have said to themselves.

I'm a complete newbie, as mentioned, so I'm crash-coursing simple things like positive and negative wire 'flows,' layout, general terminology. Sheesh, I should get comfy with the manual and someone's suggested "beginners guide to pinball guts" online lore. Feels like when I showed up to music theory in college after having learned and taught myself by ear... You can't flunk out of Pinside, right?

***

I thought the same as you, herg and have been only playing the amount needed to assess condition.

Plays very well, given the *possible* nightmare of a power supply even a newbie like me can recognize.
Until that blue invader light didn't respond to a wiggle, new bulb, I was going to just cross my fingers and clean, rubber and wax and watch for the first sign of an issue. So glad everything worked, again, given that mess. Wondering if this middle blue invader is the first sign of trouble to come -Or- if I got unlucky and messed something up, as zacaj mentioned, by just trying to check socket, replace bulb while machine was on.

Either way, I know a cheap multi-meter will be of use later, for sure. Any specific way they can used to diagnose this blue invader light, socket issue? (Also open to additional, general multi-meter usefulness down the road re: Medusa the power supply, lol.)

Gotta love the wife for kick starting this project for me, today You guys are quick and gentle, so far, haha. Much thanks!

Runs very well. Played it for about a week, at least once a day, noticing this light and that light flicker and fixing with a simple wiggle or two.

Good - I was thinking the same thing and was super-pumped to just clean, rubber and wax the puppy until this blue invader forced us to pop our Pinside cherry

Assuming that when I solder the wire back on it still doesn't work, what's my next step with this center invader?
It's just about the only bulb left on the thing not working and the first one that hasn't been a simple wiggle or burnt bulb. Worked up until yesterday.

Thanks, guys.
Just what we needed so far. The power supply parts specifically...love this website and you guys for having the links in my hands so quickly. The tool suggestions, the reading material... this, in particular, is the type of stuff I need to learn from square one:

Understood that we start with the first step.
Going to wander the hardware store looking for a few simple things. Jumper wire should be easy to build if it's not something they just sell. This is certainly going to be my new norm. I always wanted to learn this stuff.

Will try the solder, jumper and get back.

I've power read that whole thing So far, not a fan of the restoration for our game...looks absolutely awesome in it's battered arcade-glory condition. Considered new caps, maybe new plastics, but aside from the plastic directly next to the furthest right '50' dead bumper they are in good condition.

Something about it all matching with it's wear, showing the sheer amount of continued use without anyone having attempted a restore makes me want to just leave it as close to this as we can. I thought I'd want to do the lamp driver and led's right away, too, but now I'm thinking just switching to 47's instead of the 44's. Wife agrees, likes the warm glow, said, "I don't wan't to be overloaded or add colors that weren't intended to compliment the artwork." I just can't get over the story it all tells... I think I'm just still head-over-heals and maybe, down the road, both the wife and I won't mind if our new friend gets a little work done The power supply is a no brainer, though, and of course, we have to make sure we are out of the woods with my learning cusp and this blue invader hangup, lol.

Backglass looks to be very nice. I'm not too familiar with the specifics of flaking but certainly nothing that looks like the start of that, there.

Absolutely on the money. I have a tascam 4 track cassette I want to use with some tubes to record drums. Gotta throw a new playback motor in there and I'm good to go. The multimeter is something I've been putting off for a while, and I feel like a lot of basic info is going to come from just jumping in on a few smaller things like old broken audio equipment. Gotta admit though- I'm using pinball to escape the music industry...and realizing it's intrinsically still going to be right next door!

Adding the continuity test to the list of musts while shopping for a multimeter.

Off to the store and to solder. I, (or my wife!) will be back on here tomorrow to let you guys know how the tab-clip test goes after I get that positive wire back to the socket for the center blue invader.

*Updates*

Good: soldered blue invader light, works now. Must have just really needed it.

Bad: curiously moved a few of the taped wires around on the wider molex on the horror-show of a power supply and this blue wire seemed to break free from what I am assuming we call the 6th pin? from the left.

Was going to reiterate my beginner status in the a.m. in reference to this intimidating power supply, but since this blue wire issue has me so bummed right now...

What am I up against as far as just getting this blue wire back where it was when the game was working today? Will need the names of the tools, little wire end pieces I'll need... crimpers as already mentioned, wire stippers and maybe some ?Ga wire.

dmbjunky - the curse of the new tools is upon me! Lol
Eric_S - thanks for the link. Will be referencing now in case of blue wire answers by some chance...and again later down the road when we do the swap.

1487640277564-792395737 (resized).jpg

Thanks zacaj - Eric's pics helped me quickly confirm where the blue wire indeed was. Got the solder on the second try, powered and played well. (Huge confidence boost on power up, even for such a little, hack job.)
Wife and I both were able to play a few games for the first time. She schooled me?! I mean, I took it easy on her

dmbjunky I'm seeing about a $15 difference between the Great Plains board and the Marco board, along with some visual differences - any reason to consider one over the other?
You're speaking truth for sure re: just getting the board correct. You and the others have really helped us both overcome our novice fears. The blue invader, blue wire soldering has me feeling better with an iron, and now I'm happy just waiting for parts knowing this thread is here for us when they come in!

***

Wife has a few SI game play, scoring questions she wants to ask about next while we wait for parts, rectifier board. Also, she might be on 'team Blitz...' has a few cautious questions about protecting our worn playfield, etc.

We will resist putting a week's worth of plays on it and brush up on a few other subjects, here. Pinsiders are great. Thanks again, all.

About to pull the trigger on the Great Plains board. Says it comes with the connectors, fuses - all for $60. Sweet. Threw a crimp tool on for $5 and I think I'm all set.

-Wire Stripper
-Crimp tool
-Wire nuts
-Solder, flux and iron

Middle of the line multi-meter w/ beep for cont. test from hardware store, amazon...

Can't think of anything else with my little experience and research. I'm bit nervous about tracing the wires back, finding the correct wires for J1, J2, etc. but as my other half keeps telling me, I learn more each time I look at the rat's nest previous owner(s) left us.

We used some Mother's in lieu of the Blitz, but since we have moderate wear around inserts we want the wax to stick to the exposed wood..? Is that something the consistency of Blitz would even do? (I have no experience with car wax, one to another, and $35 for a tub is a bit much for us, especially if it won't have an effect.)

Thanks for the suggestions. I've actually read both threads pretty well. I need to slow down. In retrospect, I remember something, maybe about the 'more liquid the wax was, the more silicone...'
There is so much to sift through on those guides and I'm already overwhelmed as a newbie. There are a few instances where individual replies suggested the Mothers or the P21S as an alternative, now I guess I have something to look for and "learn to deal with" when I eventually attempt some touch ups. I wish that part had stuck in my head when I thought back, instead of remembering the alternative brand suggestion, for some reason. Vid must have been assuming we had already taken his liquid consistancy warning. Hoping that when I have the time, there is some sanding or other prep/technique I can use, (in Vid's other guide I'm sure, 80+ pages on that one!)

Inevitably, there is a learning curve to all of this tied to experience and resources at hand. With our first machine came the opportunity to 'dive right in' and learn - everything from the connection issues with the solder on a few lights to the fried and hacked power supply had a certainly amount of first time association that had to be hands on for me to 'get' certain parts so quickly. Helps to hold things and look with your eyes after so many words and pictures!

We understand more of the condition of our machine and the choices we have in the future, and I'm certainly ready to treat our next acquisition with a lot more confidence and inertia. I can only say that it's too tempting to simply google the process at hand and skip ahead in the threads to direct suggestions when you're trying to just play some flippin' pinball! The opportunity to take a deep breath, read and cross-reference, post on the subject at hand and wait for advice from the community is always there...

Just an update:

Since joining and jumping into this a little more than a year ago I've learned a LOT. Have a new board waiting for the right time to switch in, slowly massing other parts and helping others within driving distance move slowly while fixing their machines as well. Tons of help from this site, very grateful to have gained so much insight from this original post. Now, slowly working on a few more machines for my family when I visit and otherwise looking forward to having the correct space to tackle any serious PF restoration. Still in the land of no pins BUT driving to see the ones down in norther WI and having fun meeting people who need a little help getting their private machines going. Thanks to pinside for the great connections and troves of 411 in the forums. What a year - from absolute newbie to avid enthusiast with much more to still learn

Thanks for the lead - was originally just posting to let other's know it's not as intimidating as it seems after you get your feet wet...a good convention has been on my list and I will see about making this suggestion of yours a reality. Nice, knowing ppl are willing to part with parts and advice at these - sometimes having both together can make all the difference.