If nothing happens from wiggle testing on the wiring/connector, unplug the connector, it is a T5 connector. Using something to jump the terminals, short #4 and #5 together (green/yellow and white/red) and hopefully switch 26 starts to report, if so, those 2 wires are good. Next take your DMM and set it to DDC volt, #1 and #3 wires should report 12V.

If wiring checks out, then issue would appear to be with the optic board.

You da man!!! Thanks so much. I wiggled the connector and the pulsing noise began to sound so, recycled game and now it works. I sure appreciate it!

Those drop targets pcb’s are prone to failing as they get a hammering.
The slotted opto may need replacing. The header pins may need solder reflowing. It’s dead easy to remove. Just whip it off and inspect it. Try cleaning the opto too.

Edit. Just seen you’re sorted. Sorry. Well done

My next step would be to resoldier the header pins on that little circuit board. That or keep a small child in there to wiggle the connection as needed.

Hi all
I am making spinner decals for Bally/Williams stuff that have these holographic decals - many games from the 80's and 90's. In general they are $2.50 shipped in the US for a pair and $4.00 shipped international for a pair. Shipping stays the same if you buy more.

PM me if interested.
Dan

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whirlwind spinners are holigraphic, but orange!

Are the replacement spinner decals just as grippy as the originals? My originals are pretty faded, but still very grippy. I'd be bummed if I ripped them our for ones that look better but play worse.

Seems like there’s 2 types of decals floating around out there. One with really grippy material, and the other...not so much.

From what I can tell, if the blues of the replacement are lighter, it’s going to be disappointingly grippy. The darker blue style ones seem to be as good as the originals/NOS. Marco used to carry the good ones.

Edit: went to Marcos website, and it looks like just by the picture they’re selling the less grippy style. Anyone order from them recently able to confirm what they received?

Before ripping them off you could actually compare by running your fingers across them. Just sayin’.

Ask Todd Tuckey at TNT Amusements. He just replaced mine with the good ones.

Iirc I got mine from marcos and they were disappointing. Not sure about these two types of repros, but my repros don't hold a candle to some nos originals.

It's hard to really compare this stuff by feel though. I tried to do a 'scientific' test by holding my hand horizontally across the spinner's center, and then laying a ball on top of it near the outside edge of the spinner. When the spinner activated with repros on it, the ball didn't move up the playfield at all. With NOS, the ball got thrown vertically right off the disc.

I’m looking for the plastic part that holds on to the flasher domes that mounts onto the ramp

Anyone have a source, or maybe 2 or 3 unbroken ones to sell me??

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Marco sells them:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-8172-13

Thank you, I promise I searched Marco for at least a half hour before I posted, yikes!

Looking for this specific plastic if anyone has one in good shape they’d be willing to sell.

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For those who are having the famous WW left flipper ball hop, even after upgrading to the Cliffy Enhanced Ball Return Guide, I've made a small batch of offset cam spacers to finally resolve the issue.

$15 for 1 offset cam spacer, shipped to any USA address. Paypal payment. Please send me a private message with your email address if you wish to purchase one. I'll send you a Paypal request of payment.

Here are some instructions on installation, should give you a pretty good idea what is involved to install this.
https://imgur.com/gallery/4DJxqzT

I've only got 10 units, and unless there ends up being some crazy demand for these things, I don't plan on making more... they are not difficult to turn, but at my machinist skill level (0.4 out of 10), you are looking at the results of hours and hours of labor.

https://i.imgur.com/MIca3mJ.mp4

Thank you.

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Whirlwind translites are hard to come by and mine was ragged so I took a shot with a reproduction translite from Pinball Decals EU. It took 20 days to get here and I thought I'd share just in case others are looking into a replacement.

https://pinballdecalseu.com/shop/whirlwind-pinball-translite/

The reproduction translite is slightly smaller than the original, but still fills the space between the plastic trim. The resolution is good and the colors are decent, though not as rich as in the original.

The original translite is on the bottom, reproduction on the top. Second image is the reproduction installed.

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I know that it seems to be extremely difficult to judge the look of playfields, backglasses and translites from photos. Is yours lit with incandescent lamps?

Anyone in the Midwest wanting to let their Whirlwind go, let me know. Cash in hand and will come to you.

Today, my Whirlwind won't start. The display on the motherboard shows an 8. The manual says that is U10 but it could be "an associated connection or connecting devices"

Any recommendations before i break out the soldering iron?

LEDs with incandescent flashers

I was lucky to get a NOS one about 6 months ago. It looks fantastic!

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I swear, I'm surprised noone has said it yet, but the machine's NAME is the wrong color, yes?

Yes. I think the original that he said was ragged looks better. And it’s like the brightness\contrast of all the graphics on the repro is turned up too much or something.

A standard Williams System 11B CPU board does NOT have a digit display. It has 3 LEDs. The manual lists potential errors that correspond to the number of blinks of the diagnostic (LED2) LED. If your board has a digit display it is an original System 11 (nothing) board. It is compatible but has a sound/speech section that is different from the System 11B configuration (unless someone has re-worked that section of the board).

DON'T.

Do some diagnostics on what the problem is before breaking out the iron. Check the ~RESET signal. Check the ~BLANKING signal. Check for pulsing on the diagnostic LED signal.

After reading the latest thread about trouble with Whirl wind repros, I am curious if anyone on here has swapped one from last years CPR batch?
Trying to decide if there were only a few with problems, or if there were only a few that didnt have any.
thanks

Well that makes it interesting, do I try and diagnose based on Whirlwind or a random system 11b such as Road Kings?

If the board you have has the 7-segment numeric digit you have a System 11 (nothing) board. You can use any game software in it but the diagnostic output will only be valid if you use System 11 game software (High Speed, Grand Lizard and Road Kings).

https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_System_9_-_11#System_11.28nothing.29_Games

Look for the rapidly alternating segment. If the segment is not alternating you probably have a basic software execution problem.

You should connect ONLY the +5V power connector (1J17) to the board if you choose to use game software that does NOT correspond to the actual game. You may cause damage to your game if you do not follow this.

Hey guys
My spinner isn’t working.

Looks like there’s a wire missing at the top solder lug to me.

Is that right? Anyone know which wire should land there?

Nothing flapping around in this area.

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Look for a green wire with a blue stripe. If one's not hanging loose nearby, just run a jumper wire to one of the other switches that uses that wire (like one of the switches on either side of the right ramp).

.

2 thumbs up on these cams. Paid Monday received Thursday, smooth in lane! Great job!

Just want to confirm, by "not working" do you mean motor not running or disks not spinning but can here the motor moving. If the later, the set screw may need tightened.

So mine has a yellow wire at this point. I know the manual says green/blue but the last few switches in that set seem to have a solid yellow.
Mine was definitely spliced but as I did the swap I got rid of the extra wire as it wasn’t needed. It was weird because the original play field had a leaf switch instead of a micro switch for the spinner. It was definitely the original switch as I checked the back of the old play field and there were no screw holes for the micro switch bracket. Mine goes from the spinner to the red NE standup target.

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Jumping over the yellow wire fixed it. Thanks gentlemen!

FYI, a 'solid yellow' is just a jumper. If any switch or lamp has a solid yellow, then trace the wire back to where it meets with a colored wire.

^ I know. I’ve compared pictures with others though and theirs was also solid yellow. Wondering if they all are like that.

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The “More Wind” mod for when you really want to Feel The Power Of The Wind!

1- White Rodgers 24vac coil contactor
1- Fan of choice

Solder wires from existing fan to contactor coil connections, wire nut or but splice neutral wires from power outlet wire and neutral to fan and run hots from power outlet and hot to fan through Normaly Open contacts on contactor. This mod only adds about 125ma of load onto the fan circuit and electrical contacts are isolated.

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Hey guys,

Anyone having abnormal "bounce" issues with the targets beside the right ramp? Both targets bounce pretty good, but my yellow NW target on the left side of the right ramp really causes the ball to bounce pretty good when hit straight on at full speed. Quite often it bounces over and lands in between the low pressure jet bumpers, once or twice it's landed inside the ramp above those bumpers, and probably a half dozen times just in the past week it's knocked the plastic light cover off the top of both cellar signs. It's happening with such frequency that I figure this must not be normal. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for how I can tweak these targets to reduce the bounciness.

I'm recently a new Whirlwind owner, received about 3 weeks ago, and this is my first pinball machine. I've already done a few repairs on my own (million ramp replacement, new opto boards, and some new lights) thanks to some really helpful information found on this site. That is to say I'm knowledgeable enough and willing to dig in where needed.

TIA!

100% happens to me too.

I solved mine by putting a new target in and bendind foward just a bit. Mine was caused by the target being bent back that puts the target on a skew. When target is compressed the ball tries to go up the target when hit square on. The old targets mount can get bent over time.

Hello All! I am considering restoring a REALLY destroyed barn-find Whirlwind. Its got tons of rust, mouse poop, etc. Thus far my goal was to get the boards all working and that has been a success.

I am wondering - what parts are (nearly) impossible or unavailable to find?

Trying to gauge what I have versus need if I do decide to give this a proper go.

Put new foam behind the plastic on the target
Bend target backing metal toward player
Make sure there’s a 1/8” gap between switch contacts

pretty much everything is available that you would probably need. I have a new plastic set minus a couple plastics that I used on mine if that will help you.

Original topper is a tough find, usually. Re-pops seem to come and go on the market.

I did similar... A few of the switches aren't really available anymore. Most topper stuff. You can piece together the ramp assemblies, although the metal habitrail will be a bit hard to find. Metal ball guides are mostly unique and unobtainium. Spinner mech is unubtainium. The ball deadener under the ramp for the eject.

Assuming you have a complete board-set, I honestly can't think of many/any. All the game specific parts have been remade: Ramps, decals, plastic sets, topper. You might have a hard time finding the sound overlay board (assuming yours is missing), and the spinner assembly might be tricky to source (again, assuming yours is missing or beyond repair).

I’d say whirlwind is a game worthy of a full restore though. I hope you’re able to complete it!

Thanks all. Next question to those of you that have done pf swaps-

Is there a preference between mirco and cpr playfields? I see both are available.

I’ve seen a couple threads where person complained about dimple and thru-hole alignment, etc. but not sure if one is better than others.

I did a mirco funhouse swap and the quality etc was great. Just several holes were either off or undrilled. I just had to use my old play field as a template. And I don’t know that I can do that with this WW playfield. It is rough!

I restored my Whirlwind with a CPR playfield, and was a little disappointed. The issues I ran into were:
* The dimples were worthless. Almost none of them lined up properly.
* None of the topside holes are dimpled / drilled. I tried using tracing paper to determine where to drill the holes, but the art doesn't line up 100%. You'll have to do a little guesswork.
* There is a post hole towards the back of the playfield that did not line up properly and prevented me from installing the lane guides. I had to widen the hole a little for everything to fit properly.
* The blue ink towards the middle of the playfield where the skill shot targets are was really dark. In pictures it almost looks black.

That said, I'm unsure if I would get a mirco playfield over CPR unless they fixed the missing insert decal on one of the arrows on the mirco playfield. It would drive me nuts knowing I did all that work and the playfield is missing the insert decal. This post here describes the missing insert decal.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mirco-playfields-warning-for-potential-buyers#post-5725796

In the end it turned out really nice. Much like your barn find, mine was a wreck when I got it. It was essentially an ashtray with flashing lights.

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I would probably go Mirco - see above thread as to why. Not saying Mirco is going to be perfect, but I have heard better things.