Quoted from Clytor:The FP 2 backglass is 3/32 thick? Does anyone make a replacement lift trim for this?
Maybe contact planetary ? They had various trims
(Topic ID: 248353)
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Firepower II
Williams, 1983
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3 weeks later
La Porte, TX
Well, here is my offering to "spice up" the thread. This is a FP2 insert panel retrofitted into a Flash head. Reese Rails reproduced the speaker panel with cutouts for two 6x9 speakers instead of the one center speaker. A sign shop reproduced the decorative plastic trim. I also retrofitted six digit displays on the insert because this is a Williams system 3-6 multipin. A custom backglass is the next step.
IMG_8351 (resized).jpg 2 months later
Bracken Ridge
Quoted from Firerpower:I have the Firepower 2 and there is only a black mesh in front of the speaker and no "W". Were some made like that or is it missing?
[quoted image]
It is probably missing.
Tough to say for sure.
FP2 WAS manufactured during a time of cost cuts, so I could see a small run of them going out the door with no logo.
You could easily make one with some stencils though if you don't mind different mesh.
Welcome to the club. You got yourself a bargain and a "sleeper"--it was my first pin and my first resurrection from the dead.
Welcome to the club!
Thanks for the reply ss-pinball. I see you have a good collection of pinballs.
I started into pinballs with putting electromechanical pinballs in shops as a hobby. Then moved into electronic pinballs in late 1970 with Ballys Strikes and Spares. I had a Six Million Man ordered but they gave them to all their mates which would have taken much more money. Then noticed Williams had better sounds and fast action so bought a Flash, Time Warp, Gorgor, Steller Wars etc.
Then had to replace the pinballs with Space Invader video games. When my mate sold his Bally Playboy pinball he was operating he sold it for $250. Guess worth a bit more now. When moving to electronic pinballs with electronic boards we were lucky Bally sent out a person to Australia who gave us a two day course in fixing the Bally pinballs.
I got the new type sound and speach board for the Firepower 2 pinball and I play it much more now as the speech makes it better. The boards come from a USA company but I bought them second hand on ebay.
I'll have to get the circuit diagrams out as I have two things to fix. The Ball in Play does not show and five bulbs do not light which are on one line of the matrix in the circuit including the top left rollover bulb.
Looks like I'll make the speaker artwork as you mentioned.
Thanks
New FP2 owner here and first post on the forum. I bought it off a member. This thread has already helped tremendously (the manual download, troubleshot an issue that’s now resolved). Looking forward to being a contributing member at some point. Appreciated
Quoted from Spanyerd:New FP2 owner here and first post on the forum. I bought it off a member. This thread has already helped tremendously (the manual download, troubleshot an issue that’s now resolved). Looking forward to being a contributing member at some point. Appreciated
Welcome aboard, guys.
Quoted from Firerpower:Thanks for the reply ss-pinball. I see you have a good collection of pinballs.
I started into pinballs with putting electromechanical pinballs in shops as a hobby. Then moved into electronic pinballs in late 1970 with Ballys Strikes and Spares. I had a Six Million Man ordered but they gave them to all their mates which would have taken much more money. Then noticed Williams had better sounds and fast action so bought a Flash, Time Warp, Gorgor, Steller Wars etc.
Then had to replace the pinballs with Space Invader video games. When my mate sold his Bally Playboy pinball he was operating he sold it for $250. Guess worth a bit more now. When moving to electronic pinballs with electronic boards we were lucky Bally sent out a person to Australia who gave us a two day course in fixing the Bally pinballs.
I got the new type sound and speach board for the Firepower 2 pinball and I play it much more now as the speech makes it better. The boards come from a USA company but I bought them second hand on ebay.
I'll have to get the circuit diagrams out as I have two things to fix. The Ball in Play does not show and five bulbs do not light which are on one line of the matrix in the circuit including the top left rollover bulb.
Looks like I'll make the speaker artwork as you mentioned.
Thanks
There's a discussion earlier in the club thread about adding the first Firepower speech ROMs to FP2 as discussed here, in case anyone more recent hasnt' done it (I haven't yet) There may be more info on the other Firepower club (which included BOTH machines at first--and may still from time to time, I guess).
I just bought these boards on ebay in Australia and put them in. The rom on the Sound Board says Firepower 2 and I guess the speech roms are the same as the first Firepower.
There is a company in USA that sells the speech boards and roms. I could probably find the company tonight if any is interested.
Speech and Sound Boards (resized).JPGI noticed after buying my FP2 that the plug had the ground prong removed. It looks like it’s the OEM 3-wire line and terminal plug except that prong removed. It looks like it could’ve been that way for years and the machine functions properly.
(Dumb) question: Should I (would you) replace the plug bringing the ground line back into the picture? Could I be opening up a Pandora’s box of electric issues that wouldn’t be present otherwise. Would you let sleeping dogs lie?
If there’s a forum discussion regarding this topic, guiding me to it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
57983EA8-1F64-492E-9C37-9B08A93868EA (resized).jpegQuoted from Spanyerd:I noticed after buying my FP2 that the plug had the ground prong removed. It looks like it’s the OEM 3-wire line and terminal plug except that prong removed. It looks like it could’ve been that way for years and the machine functions properly.
(Dumb) question: Should I (would you) replace the plug bringing the ground line back into the picture? Could I be opening up a Pandora’s box of electric issues that wouldn’t be present otherwise. Would you let sleeping dogs lie?
If there’s a forum discussion regarding this topic, guiding me to it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.[quoted image]
Yes, ground your game. Either change the plug end or change the entire cord. It is easy either way. (I had a maintenance man who removed the ground plug from all of my extension cords....fired. Why would you defeat the built in ground? All of the outlets are upgraded to have functioning three prong plugs around here).
Quoted from Firerpower:I just bought these boards on ebay in Australia and put them in. The rom on the Sound Board says Firepower 2 and I guess the speech roms are the same as the first Firepower.
There is a company in USA that sells the speech boards and roms. I could probably find the company tonight if any is interested.[quoted image]
There isn't "factory speech" on FP2. Williams was in cost cutting mode when FP2 came out. (Video games had come out in '81-'82 and were more operator friendly than maintenance-heavy pinball machines. Conveniently for operators, arcade patrons also overwhelmingly preferred video games) Omitting speech (it was something like only 7 words per chip) saved about $50 per chip, per machine. Most machines would use 3-4 chips.
The sounds are the same on FP2 as a few other Williams games from time time (Defender, the video game is one of them, I think).
Anyway, there are detailed notes earlier in this club thread about adding the speech from the first Firepower to FP2. As I understand it, the upgrade costs $75 or so and integrates well.
Personally, I'm holding off on adding speech to FP2 for now. I'm adding the Arduino Nano to Meteor ("Classic" Stern) and Flash Gordon (Bally)...there is a way to mega-upgrade sound/ROMs using this for old Stern and Bally pins. It (or something similar) is not currently available for Williams titles. I think that in the next year or two there will be great strides in ROM development and sound enhancement for the Williams systems 3-9 games. FP2 and Laser Cue in particular should benefit from this trend like crazy--along with Jungle Lord. (Though there are "new" ROMs for Jungle Lord and the original Firepower making them pretty hot players, as if the original Firepower needed any help--it is such a good pin).
Quoted from idealjoker:You should ground your game. It's a safety thing.
Quoted from ss-pinball:Yes, ground your game. Either change the plug end or change the entire cord. It is easy either way. (I had a maintenance man who removed the ground plug from all of my extension cords....fired. Why would you defeat the built in ground? All of the outlets are upgraded to have functioning three prong plugs around here).
On it. Thanks for the input.
Well I finally came up with the drawing and test cut for a new speaker grill, with some help with a friend with a laser cutter. Just used some clear 1/4 " acrylic he had in stock.
It varies slightly from the factory in that the speaker opening is centered in the panel which lines it up perfectly with the screened art on the grill itself. The lightning bolts are all symmetrical unlike the factory piece which vary quite a bit. The finished piece would be 1/8" mirrored acrylic. Searched quite a bit to come up with a chromed version but couldn't find anything that could be lasered.
I'm testing coming up with a lit version. I need to get it lit to see how it will turn out. I think it will work pretty well.
Quoted from psd4me:Well I finally came up with the drawing and test cut for a new speaker grill, with some help with a friend with a laser cutter. Just used some clear 1/4 " acrylic he had in stock.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
It varies slightly from the factory in that the speaker opening is centered in the panel which lines it up perfectly with the screened art on the grill itself. The lightning bolts are all symmetrical unlike the factory piece which vary quite a bit. The finished piece would be 1/8" mirrored acrylic. Searched quite a bit to come up with a chromed version but couldn't find anything that could be lasered.
I'm testing coming up with a lit version. I need to get it lit to see how it will turn out. I think it will work pretty well.
[quoted image]
This is awesome! Keep us posted with progress!
Got the leds wired up and just kinda stuck it together to see how it looks.
The color is much more even than the pics show. I would also router a groove in the wood to recess the led strip into. I'm going to put this on my game. I'm not sure how the glare on the glass will be, I may wire a relay up to the flipper relay to turn it off when playing a game.
Quoted from psd4me:Got the leds wired up and just kinda stuck it together to see how it looks.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
The color is much more even than the pics show. I would also router a groove in the wood to recess the led strip into. I'm going to put this on my game. I'm not sure how the glare on the glass will be, I may wire a relay up to the flipper relay to turn it off when playing a game.
I'm considering adding some LED strips with a lightshow to the pinball room at my house.
We saw some strips like that on a coin op machine from outside an arcade on a recent trip.
From the angle we were able to see it, you couldn't tell it was part of the machine.
It had a display: the lights changed colors and had a flashing sequence and a chase sequence.
All up, it was kinda cool.
It got me to thinking in terms of what to do in there. I like under cabinet lighting mods...time to look for a "club thread" for game room lighting mods, I guess. Thanks for the inspiration.
I’m having problems with the ball drain switch, it isn’t working with switch test and a new game won’t start. The wires make continuity with the connector in the back box and the diode is fine.
Does anyone know the part number for this switch?
40FBC056-E41D-4864-92D4-42BAB76BADE1 (resized).jpegC76E3E27-73A2-4294-920E-3CA6BCB9B128 (resized).jpegQuoted from ss-pinball:I'm considering adding some LED strips with a lightshow to the pinball room at my house.
We saw some strips like that on a coin op machine from outside an arcade on a recent trip.
From the angle we were able to see it, you couldn't tell it was part of the machine.
It had a display: the lights changed colors and had a flashing sequence and a chase sequence.
All up, it was kinda cool.
It got me to thinking in terms of what to do in there. I like under cabinet lighting mods...time to look for a "club thread" for game room lighting mods, I guess. Thanks for the inspiration.
I have LED strips under the top edge of the TV cabinet etc and my son has them behind the TV and the kitchen cabinets. These were the strips where you could see the dots of the LEDs. I am not cool now as I still have them but my son replaced his with the newer modern LEDs where it is a continuous light and no dots of LEDs.
If you want to be cool get these. They are called COB LED Strips. But if you can not see the strips I guess it does not matter.
Hmmm Might have to think about some under the pinball cabinet.
3 weeks later
Hello all! I wanted to join this forum as a new owner of a Firepower II. I'm really new to pinballs but always wanted one so I will probably have some questions. I know I would like to know how to turn the volume down during gameplay, it is way to loud for our living room area! My manual says it is inside on the left side of the cabinet but the only thing I can find that seems like it would be volume control seems to do nothing. Thanks in advance!
Quoted from c1charge:Hello all! I wanted to join this forum as a new owner of a Firepower II. I'm really new to pinballs but always wanted one so I will probably have some questions. I know I would like to know how to turn the volume down during gameplay, it is way to loud for our living room area! My manual says it is inside on the left side of the cabinet but the only thing I can find that seems like it would be volume control seems to do nothing. Thanks in advance!
[quoted image]
Congrats on joining the club! Great first pin! (Our pin is a sleeper--totally underappreciated! I think you have a great backglass too!--most of them are trashed). There is a volume control knob...not sure what to do if yours doesn't work. Sounds like you may need to replace it or that your soundboard needs to be gone over.
Don't forget to put in two new balls and to clean and wax your playfield!
They currently aren't making hardtops or replacement playfields for this machine.
Quoted from ss-pinball:Congrats on joining the club! Great first pin! (Our pin is a sleeper--totally underappreciated! I think you have a great backglass too!--most of them are trashed). There is a volume control knob...not sure what to do if yours doesn't work. Sounds like you may need to replace it or that your soundboard needs to be gone over.
Don't forget to put in two new balls and to clean and wax your playfield!
They currently aren't making hardtops or replacement playfields for this machine.
Thank you! I picked this pin up from the museum of pinball auction. I think the sound board might need some work as their notes left behind mention sound board issues in the past. I will also need to purchase more balls and wax!
Quoted from c1charge:Thank you! I picked this pin up from the museum of pinball auction. I think the sound board might need some work as their notes left behind mention sound board issues in the past. I will also need to purchase more balls and wax!
check out the rubbers too.
Maybe look into some of the PETG plastic protectors since they don't make these plastics.
You might want to look earlier in this club thread for the Firepower II sound/voice chip upgrade....adds the original pin's voice chip(s) to this game. I understand it integrates well and is relatively inexpensive. If you need to send out your board anyway might as well consider adding it
First thing I do is send out the boards when I get a project pin.
Clive at Coin op cauldtron, chris hibler, Eugene marsh and Robotworkshop all have great reputations for board work and are real assets to the pinball community. Helpful, cool guys--and I still owe one of them a beer or coffee...
I've personally had Eugene do two pins and most recently had Robert (robotworkshop) do two.
Take a peek at IPDB and familiarize yourself with the manual (I printed one off--it isn't the best quality but--it's good to have one in case you need to track down a short or something).
I know the last thing you want to hear is something about down time...and board work.
Does your machine have batteries on the board? are they "off board"? Does it have a button battery? The board set for FP2 is the Williams System 7...they are tough to come by these days. (and while many will chime in and say that they make replacements, that's true--but the replacements kinda suck and are available only intermittently). Board sets from many system 7 stablemates have been used as donors for Black Knight restorations. I'd seriously consider having all of the boards checked and reworked and having NVRAM installed. With NVRAM the battery issue is non-existent. With rebuilt boards you defeat LOTS of problems right off the bat and have significantly better reliability as you are learning to maintain your pin.
Well I finally have the speaker panel light in the game. It's hard to get a true pic of it lit.
In person the glare is about as much as you get from the bg. I'm going to put a relay tied to the flipper switch ground feed to turn it off when playing. I rewired the outlet in the cab to the game switch and plugged the ps for the leds into that. Everything is on connectors and can be swapped back to stock if desired. I'm getting power for the relay from the coil for the bell (waiting on a zener diode)
Quoted from psd4me:relay
excellent.
Quoted from mof:Looks like some horrific glare -- does it shut off during game play?
Did you bother reading my post?
Quoted from psd4me:Did you bother reading my post?
I did. You know, this is one of those "I coulda had a V-8" moments for me...I know that there's an outlet in there. It NEVER occurred to me to actually use it for anything other than my lighted magnifier on an arm or a soldering iron.
F-ing brilliant psd4me
I thought I'd mention that the plastics/hardtop/repro playfield issue is currently dead for Firepower II unless one of you guys is working on it.
@greatwichjon has had some changes recently (that I just read about because I've mostly not been on pinside for the last few months--haven't spoken with him).
I'd still be down with ordering a playfield or a hard top (and I still need that single, small plastic).
Quoted from ss-pinball:I did. You know, this is one of those "I coulda had a V-8" moments for me...I know that there's an outlet in there. It NEVER occurred to me to actually use it for anything other than my lighted magnifier on an arm or a soldering iron.
F-ing brilliant psd4me
Thanks. I wanted this to work without any additional input so you don't have to think about it.
Halifax, NS
Yes the playfields look like a dead end at this time. Maybe it will be revived next year by someone.
1 month later
1 week later
Hi, everyone! I just got my first Solid State pinball, and you can all probably guess which one it is. It seems to have all its plastic and the playfield's not the worst I've seen, so I'm happy with that, but I get no power right now. I've checked every fuse, I guess I need to start with a cap kit? Is there a flowchart I can check somewhere?
There were some grounding issues, and those have been taken care of. The cord has a new 3-pronged plug and the grounding braid has been attached to the top box. I also asked for some help in a pinball discord, and I checked the voltages coming out of the power board. ~1.4 on the 12v parts and .75v to the 5v leads. Looks like my first order of business is recapping the power board.
Quoted from MysticJoJo:There were some grounding issues, and those have been taken care of. The cord has a new 3-pronged plug and the grounding braid has been attached to the top box. I also asked for some help in a pinball discord, and I checked the voltages coming out of the power board. ~1.4 on the 12v parts and .75v to the 5v leads. Looks like my first order of business is recapping the power board.
I’d highly recommend following the pinrepair.com guide for working on System 7 machines. It’s most excellent!
I've got a bit of an update. The new bridge rectifier and the power board cap kit came in the mail, I installed all the new components and tested voltages out. It all came up good, so I hooked it all back up. The MPU board powers on now, and seems to work for the most part, but now I've got three current issues that I'm working on:
1: the MPU is missing its CMOS RAM. Someone must have scavenged it for another pin after the power board blew. Ordered a new one already.
2: The solenoid fuse on the power board went out. I'm going to get a pack of new fuses to figure out what caused it.
3: Initially, pushing the diagnostic switch on the MPU gave an error code of 6, implying a bad IC14. I reseated it while it was off, turned it back on and the next time I pushed the diagnostic button there was a spark from the flipper controller on the driver board to one of the components directly above it and the left flipper engaged, because I was pressing against the flipper button when I pressed the diagnostic button. Pushing the switch normally now doesn't produce anything but it does make the flipper controls make a slight noise. I think the ROM was probably fine, but I'll take care of the fuse and the RAM before I try and figure this one out.
It seems like I'm getting closer to a working pinball machine! In addition to the new CMOS RAM, I also ordered 2 new pinballs for it, a rubber ring kit and a pair of lane guides since they're broken on this. If there's something obvious I'm missing about the flipper controls, like if it's somehow supposed to do that, let me know.
Quoted from MysticJoJo:I've got a bit of an update. The new bridge rectifier and the power board cap kit came in the mail, I installed all the new components and tested voltages out. It all came up good, so I hooked it all back up. The MPU board powers on now, and seems to work for the most part, but now I've got three current issues that I'm working on:
1: the MPU is missing its CMOS RAM. Someone must have scavenged it for another pin after the power board blew. Ordered a new one already.
2: The solenoid fuse on the power board went out. I'm going to get a pack of new fuses to figure out what caused it.
3: Initially, pushing the diagnostic switch on the MPU gave an error code of 6, implying a bad IC14. I reseated it while it was off, turned it back on and the next time I pushed the diagnostic button there was a spark from the flipper controller on the driver board to one of the components directly above it and the left flipper engaged, because I was pressing against the flipper button when I pressed the diagnostic button. Pushing the switch normally now doesn't produce anything but it does make the flipper controls make a slight noise. I think the ROM was probably fine, but I'll take care of the fuse and the RAM before I try and figure this one out.
It seems like I'm getting closer to a working pinball machine! In addition to the new CMOS RAM, I also ordered 2 new pinballs for it, a rubber ring kit and a pair of lane guides since they're broken on this. If there's something obvious I'm missing about the flipper controls, like if it's somehow supposed to do that, let me know.
My Blackout sparks when the flipper buttons are engaged. It is just as reliable as my FP2. I wouldn't be surprised if they are all supposed to do that.
You might want to look at Vid's guide to bulletproofing...in fact, any and all of Vid's Guides are indispensable. The first thing I do with any pin is get the boards bulletproofed and upgrade to NVRAM if possible. If NVRAM is not workable with the pin then I will use a button battery. I also like to switch to natural LEDs to ease the load on the power supply and the circuit in the house (because I usually have a few players at the same time). I'm far from an expert, but I am enthusiastic! www.IPDB.org is a great resource and has the FP2 booklet--the scans aren't great BUT they are better than nothing. How's it going?
And welcome to the club. You found one of the underappreciated pins out there. A bargain usually.
My new IC came in, along with new pinballs, a pair of lane guides and a new set of rubbers for it. Installed the IC, and now I get weird behavior. First time, I powered it on and the flippers do stuff but nothing else starts. No display on the score panel things either. Solenoid fuse blows, and I replace it again to see if I can isolate what's causing it, but no flipper action this time. I decide to try hitting the diagnostic button, it gives me an error 6, spits a ball out and suddenly I can use flippers again. I've no clue what it wants, but I guess I'll be buying a ROM burner next to try and make some new ROMs for it.
Also, I got the machine for 350 dollars, so I knew it was gonna take some work to get going again.
Another update. I got in a ROM programmer and pulled the game and flipper ROMs to test. I have no clue what I'm doing, honestly, but I was able to select a compatible chip type for the 2k ROMs and read the info off them. 2 of the 3 chips have 100% matching data to the romset, the third one has different data, but this might be a different revision. What concerns me, though, is the IC17 flipper ROM. When I pulled it out, four of the legs crumbled away completely. I guess I need a replacement.
Quoted from MysticJoJo:Another update. I got in a ROM programmer and pulled the game and flipper ROMs to test. I have no clue what I'm doing, honestly, but I was able to select a compatible chip type for the 2k ROMs and read the info off them. 2 of the 3 chips have 100% matching data to the romset, the third one has different data, but this might be a different revision. What concerns me, though, is the IC17 flipper ROM. When I pulled it out, four of the legs crumbled away completely. I guess I need a replacement.
You just passed what I can comfortably talk about. 
I'm sure that you'll have FP2 up and running in no time now.
Mine was also a resurrection from the dead, though it sounds like I was a fair bit luckier than you have been so far.
All I needed to do was get the boards bulletproofed by Eugene Marsh and then do some repinning on a few of the connectors.
FP2 is really an undervalued and under-appreciated pin.
All of the same shots as the original Firepower, half of the love.
The good news is that it is almost always a bargain.
1 week later
I have many things I need to do to my Firepower II machine, and I am a novice with machines, but handy overall. I'm looking for advice as there isn't anyone experienced in my area that I can hire and learn from. The machine currently functions, but the following items need attention:
- 2 Target switches need fixed (see photos)... the release target and one of the main firepower targets. they work, but the plastic is damaged. Is it easier to grind the rivot and replace the plastic or just replace the entire switch? if replacement, what is the correct release switch? I purchased a switch from Marco, but the configuration looks different to me.
- the left ramp in roll under doesn't seem to be working. I don't get a score or extra ball when executed. the leaf seems to be touching correctly on the switch, so I'm assuming something else, but don't know how to start tracing the issue.
- B rollover isn't working, again, the leaf seems to be contacting as should, but it doesn't register.
- bumper caps are turned on two of them. they work fine, but i can't stand that they aren't facing the right way. I'm assuming there were issues with stripping out on the wood, but does it make sense to mess with them or not worth the hassle?
- Someone replaced the speaker with a horrible replacement. Is there a williams speaker cover available anywhere? I have looked where I know to look, but no luck.
Many more questions, but want to tackle these first. I appreciate helpful responses, please be kind, I am aware that I don't know what I'm doing, but I want to learn! Thanks in advance everyone!
1 (resized).jpg2 (resized).jpg3 (resized).jpg4 (resized).jpgHey Everyone!
Just wanted to introduce myself as a newish owner of a FP2. Bought the game about 3 months ago from an auction. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it yet (can't wait to though!). I wasn't able to pick this up personally from the former owner so I had some family help bring it in for me. It supposedly played then but when I put it together at my house I have nothing happening and the game is stuck in attract mode. Of course, they disconnected everything from the head without taking any pictures. So to the best of my ability I hope I connected everything in the right place. The game keeps popping code 9 on the self-test. Procrastination has gotten the better of me in diagnosing the machine so I started with some light work here.
-Replaced batteries, majority of everything looks original in the head. If the diagnostics come back as something other than full board replacement, I plan on relocating that battery pack ASAP.
-The playfield was heavily covered in dust and dark ball swirls so for the last month little by little I've been cleaning the field and trying to lighten up the swirls. I don't think the pictures do any justice but I can't believe how I was able to make them look practically nonexistent compared to what they were.
-Installed new LED bulbs throughout the field and head. Backglass is flaking but with the new LED bulbs it makes it look pretty cool with the light reflecting out of the flakes on the ships. Installed red and orange LED bulbs on the left and right of the backglass to make those planets really pop.
-Installed a translucent eject hole plastic and installed a matrix bulb connector that's tied into the lock light. Definitely gives a better look to that side of the play field.
Not a fan of the white jet bumpers so I think that's my next experiment after I get this thing working!
Heres the link for anyone interested in more pictures:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xVl8JuxkqgD8w9Pp04nSyHdNg-3bWoEV?usp=sharing
Happy to be a part of the FP2 community now!
after2 (resized).jpgQuoted from Guinness:Hey Everyone!
Just wanted to introduce myself as a newish owner of a FP2. Bought the game about 3 months ago from an auction. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it yet (can't wait to though!). I wasn't able to pick this up personally from the former owner so I had some family help bring it in for me. It supposedly played then but when I put it together at my house I have nothing happening and the game is stuck in attract mode. Of course, they disconnected everything from the head without taking any pictures. So to the best of my ability I hope I connected everything in the right place. The game keeps popping code 9 on the self-test. Procrastination has gotten the better of me in diagnosing the machine so I started with some light work here.
-Replaced batteries, majority of everything looks original in the head. If the diagnostics come back as something other than full board replacement, I plan on relocating that battery pack ASAP.
-The playfield was heavily covered in dust and dark ball swirls so for the last month little by little I've been cleaning the field and trying to lighten up the swirls. I don't think the pictures do any justice but I can't believe how I was able to make them look practically nonexistent compared to what they were.
-Installed new LED bulbs throughout the field and head. Backglass is flaking but with the new LED bulbs it makes it look pretty cool with the light reflecting out of the flakes on the ships. Installed red and orange LED bulbs on the left and right of the backglass to make those planets really pop.
-Installed a translucent eject hole plastic and installed a matrix bulb connector that's tied into the lock light. Definitely gives a better look to that side of the play field.
Not a fan of the white jet bumpers so I think that's my next experiment after I get this thing working!
Heres the link for anyone interested in more pictures:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xVl8JuxkqgD8w9Pp04nSyHdNg-3bWoEV?usp=sharing
Happy to be a part of the FP2 community now!
[quoted image]
Wow that board is in great shape!
Playfield looks nice. The ramp has 2 switches entrance and exit gate on the right. Both need to be triggered to score, half ramp shots don’t count so if you haven’t check clean adjust that exit switch.
The top bumper caps on mine are mounted turned 45 degrees but have the W in the center straight, looks like you have 4 bottom caps.
That’s all I got for you for now, great game good luck fixing it up.
Quoted from wswinehart:I have many things I need to do to my Firepower II machine, and I am a novice with machines, but handy overall. I'm looking for advice as there isn't anyone experienced in my area that I can hire and learn from. The machine currently functions, but the following items need attention:
- 2 Target switches need fixed (see photos)... the release target and one of the main firepower targets. they work, but the plastic is damaged. Is it easier to grind the rivot and replace the plastic or just replace the entire switch? if replacement, what is the correct release switch? I purchased a switch from Marco, but the configuration looks different to me.
- the left ramp in roll under doesn't seem to be working. I don't get a score or extra ball when executed. the leaf seems to be touching correctly on the switch, so I'm assuming something else, but don't know how to start tracing the issue.
- B rollover isn't working, again, the leaf seems to be contacting as should, but it doesn't register.
- bumper caps are turned on two of them. they work fine, but i can't stand that they aren't facing the right way. I'm assuming there were issues with stripping out on the wood, but does it make sense to mess with them or not worth the hassle?
- Someone replaced the speaker with a horrible replacement. Is there a williams speaker cover available anywhere? I have looked where I know to look, but no luck.
Many more questions, but want to tackle these first. I appreciate helpful responses, please be kind, I am aware that I don't know what I'm doing, but I want to learn! Thanks in advance everyone!
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Quoted from swillie:Playfield looks nice. The ramp has 2 switches entrance and exit gate on the right. Both need to be triggered to score, half ramp shots don’t count so if you haven’t check clean adjust that exit switch.
The top bumper caps on mine are mounted turned 45 degrees but have the W in the center straight, looks like you have 4 bottom caps.
That’s all I got for you for now, great game good luck fixing it up.
Thanks swillie. I'll give those switches a good cleaning and adjustment, and hope that works. I didn't realize there were top caps and bottom caps. sounds like I just need to purchase a new cap set then.
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