(Topic ID: 213851)

Thinking of buying my first Pinball Machine.

By ralphs007

5 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 50 posts
  • 30 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by Who-Dey
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

You

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider grantopia.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    #22 5 years ago
    Quoted from TimO:

    Don’t buy a new game just because you think it won’t need repairing. All pins need repair eventually and you don’t learn to fix something until it breaks. I started with an early ‘90s machine a little more than a year ago when I didn’t know the difference between the inside of a pinball machine and the inside of a refrigerator. Stuff broke, but with help from pinside I quickly learned how to do things like replace coils and troubleshoot loose connections. Fixing stuff on the playfield like worn or broken rubbers or just changing a bulb can involve taking a lot of stuff apart and putting it back together again. If you’re like me, the first time you drop a screw down the drain you’ll totally flip out. After about a year, I’m confident that I can tackle pretty much everything short of a board repair. This stuff will eventually happen to your NIB or recently manufactured pin as well. So just buy the machine you like and don’t be afraid to poke around in it’s guts. It will scare the hell out of you the first time you need to disassemble a pop bumper or solder a connection, but after you’ve done it once, you’ll not only have that skill in your mental toolbox, you’ll also have the confidence to tackle the next repair.

    I'd echo this, with a little time and patience you'll be fine, and maybe even enjoy the repair process and find it rewarding like I and many here do. I started knowing NOTHING about pinball machines and being afraid to even change out a bulb. After a few years and several games, your confidence goes up exponentially and I went from being terrified to replace a resistor on my own, to troubleshooting and rebuilding boards and working under the playfield with the help of pinside, local collectors advice, and lots of reading/videos. I'm at the point now where I'd almost rather have a project game and bring it back to life for the experience of doing it then buy it fully working. Buy the game you'll enjoy playing!

    1 month later
    #41 5 years ago
    Quoted from ralphs007:

    That was one of the first solder lessons in my kit. You had to solder an inch and a half piece of wire,and then for a loop in it,and then solder the other end down onto a practice pad.It was repeated seven times.To be honest,I hated the solder that came with the kit.It was something like 99% tin.When it was time to solder on the PCB,I used 60/40 solder that my brother gave me.It was so much nicer working with,and for the amount of soldering I'll be doing,I'll be using the 60/40 or something close to that ratio.

    It gets second nature after a while. Another good way to practice is to see if you can get a dead or parts board and just spend some time removing and adding back various parts, pins, etc. It will give you a good feel for board work and then when it actually matters you'll have some good confidence.

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider grantopia.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    Reply

    Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

    Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

    Donate to Pinside

    Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


    This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/thinking-of-buying-my-first-pinball-machine?tu=grantopia and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

    Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.