Nice work. Does anyone else find the recess for the ramp as circled here, isn’t deep enough. So my plastic ramp sits proud of the wood. The previous owner sanded the plastic down to eliminate the lip!! Obviously it looks a complete bastard. So I bought a new ramp (not realising why the old one had been sanded) only to realise why!! So I basically need to chisel a millimetre of wood out of the mini playfield so the ramp sits flush with the playfield.
It’s an original mini playfield.
Anyone else experienced this?

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I haven't seen that. Before doing anything I would make sure it's not some other issue, like an obstruction causing the ramp to lay untrue. Also, I would alter the ramp before the playfield.

I believe the repro ramps are thicker, but I can't recall anybody having this specific issue.

If you need to sand or trim the ramp consider doing it on the underside. If worried about plastic cosmetics, after sanding with progressively finer paper use Novus 3, then 2, then clean with 1.

Set up properly the game should be hard. Open up the right drain to the max. Make sure the Lost Mine isn't giving you an easy catch. Turn off the ball save (it was never on the commercial rom anyway).

Edit

There’s not a lot you can do with the ramp, except sand it, which then scratches the hell out of it and looks awful. I think a small sharp chisel and some care will sort it.

This is what Novus is for. If you sand progressively using finer and finer paper as you go along, then finish with Novus, you can get a nice, smooth, glossy finish.

Thanks for the tips. It actually looks like mine has already been sanded a bit. That, or the ball has just put a lot of wear on it. Either way, I'm not sure sanding will work as the issue seems to be less about the thickness of the ramp, and more about the shape. It's pretty much flush with the playfield where the screws are, but it's kind of curved so that in between those screws it's raised above the playfield. So much so that at the very middle, the bottom side of the ramp seems to nearly be above the top of the playfield. I have no idea if there's any way to flatten out the ramp. I can easily push down on it and get it pretty much flush, but I have no idea how to keep it that way, other than glue, and there's no way I'm going to try that! I do have another ramp (The previous owner included all the original ramps, though I think this extra ramp might actually be a repro because it looks much thicker than the other one. So maybe the one still in use is the original.) and it looks pretty nice, but unfortunately the left screw hole is broken on it and I don't have the missing piece to reattach it.

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While I'm on the subject, this one screw holding the Big Foot's Cave ramp to the mini playfield exit ramp is completely stripped out, which makes dealing with the ramp a huge pain because currently I can't do anything with it unless I remove the entire whirlpool ramp. Any advice on how to best remove it? I'm afraid to mess with it much because I don't want to end up cracking the ramp.

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Yeah I hear ya. But to sand over a mil of ramp back so progressively that the scratches can be novus polished out, would take far to long for me. The easier and safer option is definitely chisel out the recess

First time hitting Vacation Jackpot , quite the show!
1.4 billion still not my highest score ,but what a blast!

So, how much was the Vacation Jackpot worth?

Supposedly, it increases by 10,000 each game until it is achieved (and then resets back to 200 Million).
However, I think there must be some sort of bug where it increases a lot. I have seen multiple machines with the value at over 700 Million. When I bought my machine it was like this.

But at 10,000 per game, this would be 50,000 plays. That seems unlikely. Maybe at some point, it starts increasing by more than 10,000 ?

Well crap, I think something very bad might have just happened... I had pulled the playfield out to adjust a few things, the left slingshot switch, the plastic guide at the top of Insanity Falls, and I added a couple rubber rings to the No Way Out VUK to try and eliminate roll back. Once I finished I turned the game back on, heard a very faint click (Which I initially assume was just a plastic settling, and maybe it was) but the game won't get past the test screen. GI does come on. It still makes the normal beep sound but that's it, after that it's completely unresponsive. Test buttons don't do anything. Big Foot's head never spins like it normally does when starting up. I tried restarting the machine a couple times, no change. Worst part is, unless I'm now just being paranoid and this is totally normal and I just never noticed before, I think I was able to smell something electronic. Not smoky, just seems to be a stronger than usual electronics smell.

I checked all the fuses. None seem to be blown (I checked with a multimeter while they were installed) however a few are incorrect according to the manual. I'd been meaning to check them all to make sure they were correct but I was having too much fun playing and kept putting it off...

The incorrect fuses are:
F113 - Has a 5A fast blow, manual says it should be slow blow
F114 - Looks like an ordinary slow blow fuse, however manual says it should be normal blow. I'm not really sure how to tell them apart though so it could be correct EDIT: Just did some research and found that normal blow means fast blow, so this is definitely wrong.
F115 - Manual says it needs a 3/4A slow blow, but the fuse that's currently there doesn't seem to specify what it is. Labels on it are 32 VOLTS and BUSS AGC 5
F901: Has a 3A fast blow, should be slow blow
F902: Has a 2 1/2A slow blow, should be 3A
F904: Has a 5A slow blow, should be 3A

I'm not really sure what to do next. I'll swap out the incorrect fuses with the correct ones although I might not have all of the correct ones on hand. Besides that though I'm kind of afraid to try turning it on again and potentially causing more damage... Assuming something's been seriously damaged already. Hoping it's just a loose cable or something.

Actually didn't notice , first timer , though my machine was blowing up when it went dark

Make sure you take at least one side of the fuse out of the holder when testing and use 250 or 125 volt fuses.
Hope you find what’s wrong.

Thanks but your profile picture isn't very encouraging, haha.

I've already ordered the fuses that I need that I didn't have. Just to be safe I'm not going to power the game back on until I get all the fuses correct. Once I do I'll check to see if all the board LEDs are responding properly and report back.

Yes, definitely makes sure the board LEDs are doing what they should. It's worth doing a careful check of the places you did work to make sure you aren't shorting somewhere on the playfield. If you can't figure it out and you're convinced it the PCBs, this is the stage where I send the boards to Clive at Coin-Op Cauldron. Some people are good with troubleshooting PCBs, that's not me. The problem with these old machines is that sometimes you're inheriting some previous owner's hacks, improper fuses, etc. In my mind its worth sending out the boards to Clive, who will make sure they are functioning properly, that the voltages are making it to all the places they need to make it, that the headers are good, that all the fuses are in order, etc.

Last time I used him he upgraded all my headers and then I ordered and replaced all the crucial molex connectors on the wire side. I feel like the board service is worth it even for preventative maintenance.

Yeah that's not a bad idea. I'd like to get some NVRAM installed as well but I'm not comfortable doing board work yet. Thankfully there's no corrosion around the battery holder so I don't think that's an issue.

Okay, so I finally got the correct fuses. I inserted them and also made sure all the plugs on the board were plugged in all the way. Now the game boots, but I get the "Check fuses F114 and F115 message" and the switch matrix is completely empty. Only the dedicated ground switches still work (Flippers, test buttons, coin slots). That seems to be the only issue right now though, everything else works fine. Neither of those fuses are blown, but of course both those fuses were way to high before I put the correct ones in, so if there was a short on that circuit while the old fuses were installed it wouldn't have stopped at the fuses...

Currently I'm looking at the Pinwiki's guide on the fuse error, and I'll go through all the steps, but the fact that the entire switch matrix is completely unresponsive seems to be worse than just getting the error. If anyone has any advice let me know. I'll also probably create a separate thread for this soon if I can't figure this out on my own.

Edit: I'm getting 11.86 VDC on TP3. LED 6 and LED 1 are both lit.

Finally got my boards back from getting repaired, game is working great again!

What is the fix for the Lost Mine armature (that doesn't seem to be available anymore--#02-4672)? A real old post I found said to use the upper playfield kick-out armature and cut it down--but did not mention if you would still screw the cup onto the cut-down plastic tip. Any suggestions?

It seems to be available here:

http://actionpinball.com/parts.php?item=02-4672

Thanks, I have not used those guys, I'll give them a try.

I have not used them either, I just did a quick search for that part and it showed as available there.

Hey guys I am doing a restoration and are looking for some NOS parts any help would be appreciated I need nos ramps nos topper decal and a nos playfield set

Your chance for biggest lottery prize ever is higher.

Well, new ramps are available from Starship Fantasy for about $700, new playfields are available from Mirco for about $1200, and new topper decals are not available anywhere for any price.

It's not clear from your request, were you expecting people to just donate these to you?

If you find a source of new playfields/ramps for free, I could use some too.
If you find a source of topper decals (at any price), please let us know.

Good luck and I hope you have some serious $$$ should you find actual NOS Ramps or Topper Decal!

Everything I ordered that was listed as "in stock" on their website was packed and shipped today. Quick and efficient service if nothing else.

Anyone have a suggestion on this bank of lights that are down? Also upper GI with many switches not responding. Seemed to happen all at once. Checked all fuses and they are clean. Diode replacement?

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Any ideas for repairing the whirlpool light board? Mine has one non-working light socket, and two cracked sockets.

I would check to see if Chris Hibler can repair it.

http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact/

Fuses with multimeter?

Pins on board is always a good one for dead GI. Before that, take the connectors off and hit the pins with some 600 grit sandpaper real quick, see if that changes anything.

What does the "bank" of lights mean? The row, the column, or both?
If it's the entire row, i'd be thinking pins again. But you can check for the wire on the first location of row or column and make sure the correct colored wires are there and chaining to each bulb....or stranded wire, whatever it is.

Unless...hmmm....are those lights all on a PCB? if so there's another pin connection to check

Make sure the twist isn;t the first issue, if not you need to check for cracked solder & re flow on the light board. What do you mean cracked socket? like the PCB is physically broken?

Whirlpool light board is very simple...
Order some new socket, and replace the wrong ones with a help of solder sucker.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/24-8804

Nice! Thanks!

Could someone tell me if the Disaster Drop switch is the one visible in the upper LH corner? I am not registering a lot of loops through here. Thanks.

Dip a Q-tip in some alcohol and clean the optos at the entrance to disaster drop. Then go into switch test and test those optos and see if they are registering and then also check the exit switch on disaster drop

Thanks for the answer. I probably inadvertently cleaned the optos yesterday when I cleaned all that I could find while I had the hood up--I'll check them in the switch test.

So, the parts I ordered from Action Pinball came today, cool. I put the new (and correct) armature into the coil, buttoned everything up and played a game. The optos were not recognizing the ball--no kickout from the Lost Mine. Looked to see what was going on--the "correct" armature was too long and the ball never broke the optos. Weird. So I took it apart and drilled a hole into the old (and shorter) armature, screwed a cap onto the end and so far it works great. Seems all the "incorrect" armature needed was a cap on the end to make it work a lot better. Any ideas of what is going on with this part number--doesn't make a lot of sense unless it is a mistake in the manual.

Does anyone know if there is a "promo" white water keychain like there are for other pins? Ive seen promo coasters but no official keychain

I don't believe that there is, unfortunately.

So last nite ol' BF stops working right (again), I check the switches and find the one on the ramp has totally broken off. I recall reading about the plastic cover fix, so I spent most of the afternoon dorking with a sheet of lexan cutting it out, sanding, fitting, re-cutting, drilling, etc. Of course the first two broke while cutting--then it's a white-knuckler drilling the holes when you finally do get a good one. First practice hole I drilled shattered a piece of scrap--good thing I got that out of the way. If anyone has a good way to cut this stuff--please LMK.

Works great--well, it did after I soldered the switch wire back on that I broke while maneuvering the assembly around...

Thanks to the Pinsiders who posted this fix previously!
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Nice, clean DIY fix and I gather you'll never have to fool with it again!

One can only hope...

I've had good luck making holes by drilling in reverse. So the drill bit spins in the opposite direction.
Cutting I don't know.

Yes, you probably blew the 5V regulator(6-A, 4.5-Vto14-VINPUT, NON-ISOLATED, ADJUSTABLEWIDE-OUTPUT, SWITCHING REGULATOR , part
PTR08060WVD).

I blew it in the past working on the machine while on.

Cheap and easy to replace.

https://www.arrow.com/en/products/ptr08060wvd/texas-instruments

I have a rottendog board. Called rottendog and their tech walked me through troubleshooting and That is the part I blew.

I do not think the original board has the same type of regulator.

Hi everyone, joined the club yesterday!! My topper is lit with LEDs and wanted to change them back to the incandescent light bulbs. Are they just the regular 555 wedge bulbs or is there another version that works the best? Thanks

#194 wedge

Yes, #555 bulbs will work...for about 30 seconds, before they burn up.

You need the #194 bulbs as the voltage is too high for the #555 bulbs.