Sana'a
I posted a guide on how to fabricate a new, mirror finish horseshoe from scratch:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/making-new-ball-guides-from-scratch-vids-guide
(Topic ID: 66093)
Linked Games
Silverball Mania
Bally, 1980
Topic Gallery
1 week later
Saint Paul, MN
Quoted from vid1900:Here is a pic of one of the brand new, heavier duty horseshoes for SBM.
430277.jpg
Beautiful work as usual vid. 
1 month later
Quoted from vid1900:A few years back someone had a ROM image that did not spot a letter every time you did the center loop. It made SBM a perfect playing game.
Anyone still have that image?
Any luck finding this custom software Vid? I gave a SBM on the way and would love to get this version.
Quoted from MrBellMan:Any luck finding this custom software Vid? I gave a SBM on the way and would love to get this version.
I emailed Scott (Seymour Shadow) and never heard back.
Maybe he's pissed at me or something, lol.
He is/was here on pinside and on RGP if anyone else wants to give it a shot.
1 week later
Concerning the modified rom file to delete the "spot letter" feature of the horseshoe:
I found this 4 year old post from Seymour-Shabow:
http://rec.games.pinball.narkive.com/4UsCL6OW/has-anyone-created-a-new-silverball-mania-rom
I just did the mod to the normal 2732 binary for U2 and it at least passes the Checksum test on the bench (unable to game test at this time).
So, if anyone wants to try the mod and test it, here is the change (Again, as stated by Seymour-Shabow)
Original code in U2 binary:
Address 00A6 = 2A 02 8D 1C 8D
New code for U2 binary:
Address 00A6 = 01 01 20 02 3E
As stated in the old post: The 01 are NOPs (No Operation) commands. The 20 is a Branch Always (02 from Program counter) and the 3E corrects the block of EPROM data to pass Checksum testing.
I state again, this is NOT game tested by me as of yet. Only bench tested to pass power up tests.
Other changes that could make things a tad better. 10 sec timer on the ball save kicker.
No memory on letters from ball to ball.
I can not believe it does not have an opion to start from scratch each ball.
I will have to give that rom hack a try sometime. But just to increase bonus NO letter. That is taking fun away.
Free play and divide by ten scoring is what I would really like to have.
Well, the spot letter off the horse shoe is the one feature that made the game way too easy for a skilled player to kill the specials. So, one would think its the perfect fix for anyone that would want to operate one on location today. Without the spotting, it forces you to shoot the rest of the playfield to complete all the letters.
Its been a while since I played mine but I would think it would be VERY hard if all the letters were to reset at the end of every ball.
It appears based on Vid's post in the other SBM thread, Seymour-Shabow (or is it Seymore Shadow?) did finally respond and you can PM him for the files.
1 week later
I got my project game and spare parts today. It will be a while before I can get to it, but it will be sweet when finished!
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/if-you-like-paragon-you-will-love/page/5#post-2678278
10 months later
Anyone know the size of the plastic posts either side of the N target in front of the horseshoe? Mine still has the skinny metal ones, and it's way too easy. I saw a post somewhere with the bulletin from Bally about it. But I can't seem to find it again.
6 months later
Revivng this thread again ...
I always wanted this machine, and finally got one off of e-Bay. I paid a pretty penny for a machine in "Very Good" shape. Playfield is in decent shape, as is the cabinet. Not stunning, but pretty nice overall. It could use a good cleaning.
Backglass is in decent shape, but the "S" and "I" in the SILVERBALL are mostly missing.
Since I got the machine I have done the following:
1) Installed all new rubbers
2) Some of the plastic finned posts were PURPLE - I changed them back to the original RED.
3) Fiddled with the horseshoe rollover switches a lot! Half the time it wouldn't register, but now it almost always registers, very rare that it does not.
4) Fiddled with the "A" left inlane rollover - another problem switch. Turns out the resistor came off on one end - I resoldered it.
5) Replaced all the boards with new ones, except the sound board. New ALLTEK MPU / Lamp Driver / Solenoid Driver boards. New Rottendog Rectifier board.
6) Replaced a few problem bulb sockets.
7) Installed the new XPin 7voluition 7 digit displays.
To take advantage of the new 7 digit displays I changed the center hoop posts with the original mini posts for higher scores.
9) Spinners were pretty beat up, I installed new spinner decals.
10) Bought a new plastics set, but keeping this for a future upgrade. Plastics are OK, but a little warped, and I cracked the center horseshoe plastic trying to remove it. Not noticeable, however.
11) Bought a bottle of Wildcat #125 as well as another playfield cleaner, but have not doen anything with that yet.
12) Installed LED's in the pop bumpers and dead bumpers.
Machine plays pretty good now, and my High Score is 2,387,220. I just need to get around to cleaning the playfield - it's pretty dirty. Rubbers are less than 2 months old and are getting dirty as well.
I've attached psotos of the machine ...
Cabinet (resized).JPG
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PF (resized).JPG
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Boards 2 (resized).JPG
Xpin Install (resized).JPG
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IMG_2393 (resized).JPG
IMG_2395 (resized).JPG
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That's a Classic, I hope you restore it. I have a new CPR glass that I want to build a light box for. I just love the art.
1 month later
Picked mine up in January. Our household has fallen in love with it! She's got some wear and tear showing, but she earned it! Clean and polished will be just fine. I had to replace the lamp driver board, flippers rebuilt, leds added throughout. I paid 975 for it.
Quoted from TnJHead:Picked mine up in January. Our household has fallen in love with it! She's got some wear and tear showing, but she earned it! Clean and polished will be just fine. I had to replace the lamp driver board, flippers rebuilt, leds added throughout. I paid 975 for it.
Yeah that looks pretty nice. How badly are the inserts cupped?
4 weeks later
Howdy fellow SBM owners, I'd like to join your ranks. I just picked up a SBM last night and wish to share a few pics, it will be getting re-worked and I plan to open a restoration thread to capture it's progress.
Cab is decent, much better than the last pin I worked on. The boards appear decent, one minor spot of alkaline damage, not sure yet if I'll just clean it or replace it. I'm competent with board level repairs, just not sure yet if this machine needs a new MPU. It does fully function so I'm leaning to just cleaning it, repinning it, reflowing it and replacing all the caps. The worst issue is by far the playfield. It has significant wear, lots of missing paint and almost all the inserts are severely cupped. I'm on the lookout for either a CPR playfield or looking into subcontracting repair to the current playfield. One question for those in the know, if I go with a restore of the existing playfeild, what are your thoughts of replacing all the old inserts with new starburst type?
1 month later
Hello fellow SBM owners! It is my current go to game in my collection. Anyway, I started a thread about the spinners being lit with MANIA and trying to figure out why they stay lit from ball to ball or not. Still haven't figured that out, but anyway. . .
My current question is about the up kicker. Like one out of every 20 times it kicks the ball out it might be kicked out into the flipper and then drain (not making it onto the playfield at all). Is this a mis-adjustment issue of the kicker, or just a normal occurrence? The other times it is generally pretty much up the middle. I can't really see much adjustment that is possible.
2 weeks later
Quoted from QuietEarp:The other times it is generally pretty much up the middle.
I noticed on the game I have, which is undergoing restore, it kicked all over the place. I did not investigate it very close initially since I procured it to tear down and restore. Once the game is all done, I'll give it a better inspection and advise how it performs.
Hamilton, ON
I examined the mechanism and cleaned up the coil sleeves and made sure everything was OK. I am not seeing anywhere to adjust. Maybe when it happens the ball is not sitting square in the channel or something. Anyway, so far so good. It happened so rarely, but it is annoying when it does happen.
Yeah if memory serves me it is just a flat metal finger that pushes it. I would suspect that maybe yours is not squared off anymore and possibly rounded over on one side. Or maybe not sitting against it, or possibly a pf divot.
3 months later
Nuneaton
Hey guys, time for me to join the thread. SBM was my original introduction to pinball here in the uk when I was 9 yrs old. I have been looking for one for ages but they were not too common here.
A week ago someone asked for some help in getting an SBM running that had been left in a damp garage for best part of 25 years. The backbox is completely shot, not backglass (anyone have a spare?) and the lower cab has paint peeling.
The playfield though was remarkably good, lots of white dust etc but mylar from new and from the look of the pop bumper caps, could have been a lower used machine, also very little wear anywhere the mylar didn't cover.
So someone has given me an old bally backbox that I can sand and stencil, boards are all savable but hardest thing is the glass...
Anyways here's a few pics in the as found condition. I paid just $135 for it due to the condition and the fact the owner didn't want to spend the thousands of $ to restore it.
So yeah, if anyone has a backglass, anywhere that they would ship to UK please let me know.
Cheers n Beers
Courtney x
Quoted from CourtneyBlush:Any hints guys on cleaning the dirt from the paint cracks like in this pic?
Use a magic eraser but DON'T use alcohol. I tried alcohol in an inconspicuous spot when starting to clean my Space Invaders (also an early Bally SS) and the alcohol ate right into their "Tuffcoat" clear. Judicious use of magic eraser and naphtha and you should be able to get quite a bit of that dirt out, but you'll never be able to remove it all so don't ruin your playfield by trying to.
Quoted from roar:Ministry of Pinball appears to have the backglass in stock.
http://www.ministryofpinball.com/en/game-specific-items/bally/silverball-mania/silverball-mania-backglass.html
Not if you go to check out 
Quoted from CourtneyBlush:Not if you go to check out
Shoot... sorry about that!
3 months later
i have a question, i have since recently moved a silverball mania from my dad's place to my place. but since i've been playing it more often i noticed that some features don't work. for instance if i get all the letters from silverball mania, i get the 15000 bonus, but if i then complete the letters again i don't get the 30000 bonus. all the sensors work fine. if somebody could help me. that would be awesome.
IS it possible that the 30,000 light is out? What actual bonus do you get if Silverball Mania is made a 2nd time? If you complete it a 3rd time, does the red Kickout Special light up?
1 month later
Quoted from NinJaBooT:magnet mod for SilverBall Mania.
Wow, very cool!
Quoted from NinJaBooT:Just finished our magnet mod for SilverBall Mania. Working on custom cabinet decals next.
Can't tell where the pf ends and the apron begins. That's the way to do it. 
I don't have the game but I'd want it for the art.
1 week later
1 week later
1 year later
Just finished up this Silverball Mania that I got last summer. I'm really happy the way this one turned out, it wasn't a disaster but it was far from perfect. Took a lot of elbow grease to get this one finished. New rectifier board installed all solder was reflowed on mpu, soundboard, and displays. New LED GI lighting on Playfieldand back box, replace star inserts. Cleaned all mechanisms and put in new coil sleeves.
Waxed the Playfield, installed new rubber kit and some new star posts, new pop bumper cap set and nvram installed. Will be at GSPF 2019
IMG_20190508_140456_1 (resized).jpgIMG_20190508_140531 (resized).jpgIMG_20190508_140547 (resized).jpgIMG_20190508_140602 (resized).jpgIMG_20190508_140620 (resized).jpg 2 months later
I can see from the number of posts that this isn't a very popular game!
I pick one up about a week ago and got it working. I took a spare Alltek MPU and installed it yesterday and the game seems to work ok.
Not sure what the issue with the previous MPU yet, but game is working now...as well as a 39 year old game can.
Robert
Quoted from dasvis:Yeah, it's a great looking pin, but the gameplay is meh at best
Presently, it's my grand daughters favorite pinball machine to play. I think it's the simplicity of it that she likes.
Robert
Just about done 'restoring' a SBM machine that was found in the basement of a house. I got an AllTek board and an LED adapter for the lamp board so I could outfit it with LEDs. The Comet warm LEDs look pretty good in it.
One nagging issue that still bugs me is that center 'N' spot target. It seems to not register a hit all the time. I gather this might be because it takes a lot of the fast shots, either from the outlane kicker or just from the flips. I've tried to adjust it but it still doesn't register all the time. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm wondering if it just needs more adjustment, needs a new switch/target, or possibly could having something to do with the Alltek board and how often the strobes 'sample' for hits.
Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks!
malkneil I had a similar problem on my SBM. I'd check the disc cap on the switch which lengthens the time that the MPU board has to register the switch. If you've got it adjusted and it's still missing some but not all then it's likely the cap is bad or missing.
Quoted from malkneil:It seems to not register a hit all the time. I gather this might be because it takes a lot of the fast shots
Does it have the capacitor on it?
.047 mfd if memory serves.
pasted_image (resized).pngQuoted from Atari_Daze:Does it have the capacitor on it?
.047 mfd if memory serves.[quoted image]
Thanks for the suggestion guys! I'm at work but will check it out later.
Cgts on getting this classic. This and Centaur were the first Pinball games I ever played and hooked me completely. I plan to start a restoration on mine next year.
Quoted from malkneil:Thanks for the suggestion guys! I'm at work but will check it out later.
new caps on some of my switches fixed my intermittent not registering problems. most of all the caps had been cut on one leg.
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