Because it's a job that doesn't pay well, most techs in the field now empty a cash box and clean a screen.

So it's harder to find anyone skilled to help you.

But wait, I'll let you in on a little secret. Did you see this in a post on Pinside ?

" I can find my way through a schematic, and I can solder, I can take a thing apart and put it together".

Now there is a man well on his way to being a great pin tech, he just don't know it yet.

That is all there is to it. Don't over think problems and get yourself in trouble.

How do you think people became great techs ? They learned. Often by themselves and sometimes with very funny or costly errors.

Give me the person who fumbles his way through, and I'll show you a person with great potential. Those kind are way easier than the "EXPERTS" from other fields that always do more damage than good.

You have the potential to learn and gain in confidence as you familiarize yourself with your games.

Trust me, you'll do fine.

LTG : )

I'm trying to learn repairs, but I'm a visual learner which doesn't help me much.

Lloyd's right. You're well on your way, and you don't know it yet.

I find it easier to read how something works than to have somebody tell me. If you read the countless threads on this sight about the problems that arise and how they are troubleshot and finally repaired, then you are well on your way to learning.

I have learned how to repair most things, but I am terrible at adjusting and cleaning. Someday I hope to find someone that can come over and shop and dial in my machines maybe once a year.

I am not even sure how to dial in a machine, because I really have nothing to compare mine to.

It does help to have a some kind of background in electricity and electronics. Classes are readily available in these fields. My background is automotive. Until one year ago when I purchased my first pin, I had never opened one before. But the knowledge I learned repairing auto electronics has made this (shall I say) easy. I have repaired every malfunction myself, but did ask for advice on pinside a couple times that helped greatly. You must have patience and time. And by the way, this has been one of the best years of my life!

This reminds me of when I got my business license to do pin repairs. The people at city hall had no idea how to classify me. They knew what pinball machines were, but had never had anyone apply for a license to repair them (population: ~1M people). After much discussion, they put me into a category similar to TV repairman.

Be thankful for the resources you have available. 20 years ago there was no internet. If you want more experience, operate your games. You'll learn in a hurry.

I'm Lucky enough to have Lloyd near by to help me. Thanks again for your help on Monday!

Awesome, after frying my display the other day after plugging a connector back in wrong while the game was on, I am well on my way to becoming a genius!

No one said it would be without co$t.

buy the repair videos. This old pinball got me started on learning how to fix games back in the day. Good stepping stone. Then I printed out all the repair guides in nice big binder forms for problems I run into.

I'd like to offer up a few things I've learned over the years. You didn't specify SS or EM, and I'm an old EM guy, but I think these apply most everything.

You didn't say if you had a VOM. If you don't, get one and learn how to use it. Even if you have to start with a $7 Horrible Freight meter. Of course, the first time it lies to you, you will want to smash it with a hammer and go get something good.

Learn the basic math of electricity: I=E/R. It will serve you well. Learn what parts are. What looks like a transistor could be a SCR, or a triac. Assume nothing.

When you first open a machine, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING! Do a detailed visual inspection. Look for things broken, burn marks, parts missing, work done by lesser technicians (we like to call those "pecker tracks").

Start at the power cord. Is it in good shape? Then to the fuse holders, they usually catch hell. Make sure you have good clean power coming out of the transformer (EM) or power supplies (SS) before you go after anything else. Flippers and lights will wait.

Listen to no one, trust no one. "I already changed that" or "I already fixed that" means nothing. That machine is your baby now. Do your own troubleshooting.

As with all types of machinery, there are repetitive failures: This machine won't do that so it's this part. This is not a magic gift from the troubleshooting gods, it's from experience. Though the internet will help you there.

Don't be a parts swapper. Shot gunning is not troubleshooting. Just replacing parts until it works is an expensive way of fixing things, and the sign of a lousy technician. Figure out what's wrong, then fix it. I realize this can be a bit more difficult in the SS world, where computers come into play.

As LTG said, don't over think things. KISS-Keep it simple, stupid. That light is not lighting up because it's not getting power, not because the planets are out of alignment or alien magnetic fields. Stick with the basics.

Don't be discouraged by the occasional set back. You will accidently let the magic smoke out now and again. We've all done it, we all still do it. Carry on.

I hope my ramblings help. The fact that you want to learn gives you a pretty good head start.

An "apprenticeship" or looking over someone's experienced shoulder is nice, but really not all that needed.

I am fortunate to have been professionally trained and worked in electronics all my life. My experience comes from repairing computers to over a dozen years in the cellular phone repair service and now 15+ years with a radio communications technology company.

The training is the core to all the electronics, and the basics really never change. It's the specifics that do. Even when you know how to repair an electronics item, it's made differently by different manufacturers. The company I work for turns out a number of new products every year, and the new products are always evolving - in addition to repairing gear that is old technology of years past.

With any branch of electronics, it doesn't matter if it is a pinball, a radio, or a state of the art studio system, these are the things that will give you the base knowledge to be successful:
- formal electronics training.
- reading, reading reading and more reading. From books to online and everything in between.
- conversing with others in the field.

The desire to know is all you need to start.

Mmmmmm.........blue cheese!

Ahhhh, the secret is revealed!

That tinkering gene is a huge advantage for you, so don't sell yourself short.

I can recommend a few you-tube videos that will be well worth your time for learning soldering, and well worth the hours it takes to watch them all. There's two 'channels' that I would suggest digging through in depth.

First is "paceworldwide", the company making soldering tools. They put a lot of their older soldering training course videos up for viewing, and all of them are very informative. They were made in the early 80's, but most of the information in them is just as relevant today as it was then, so don't be put off by the age of the videos.

There is also MrMarcSiegel, who works for pace, and did a more recent series of instructional soldering videos. Again, worth every moment of watching them. He covers a lot more of SMT type stuff, instead of thru-hole, but still teaches quite a lot of technique to learn from.

-Hans

And get to know other pinheads. They are a huge resource. And learn how to repin connectors because a gremlins favorite nesting spot in an old game is in the connectors.

Don't doubt yourself Grasshopper.

Read...then close your eyes--and then you shall see.

You'll do just fine--just do it...only way to learn.

Thereby in the end...as Master (LTG) teaches...you yourself will be a skilled tech to teach others.

Just learn the way I did, get a bunch of garbage machines that were all dead and bring them back to life. I have learned so much by doing that. The only problem with long dead machines is the problems compound and multiple things may need to be fixed before they will come back to life and that can lead you down the wrong path if you are not careful. You may not get the much needed feedback that the repair you just did was important and required.

I find working on a machine that just died to be a very different experience compared to a long dead machine that I am trying to bring back to life.

The worse the machine, the more I learn. Also the older pins tend to be easier to learn on, just less going on so you can wrap your head around much of the basics in trouble shooting. I learned on the early Bally SS pins, late 1970's to early 1980's. I don't think I could have picked better machines to learn on for SS pins.

Hmmmm...the force is strong in this one.

Look at it this way: You get a machine with the player four scoring display not working. So you order up a new display board. No help. Well then the computer must not be sending the score to the display. Order up a new computer. Nothing. It's got to be the power supply. Nope. How much money have you spent to find out that the last jelly head to work on the think yanked a wire out of a connector on the harness?

Another possibility. You've got a shorted regulator in a power supply. Your 5 volt supply is now putting out 15 volts and cooking everything it touches. How many computer boards you want to fry before taking a meter to it?

Troubleshoot first, replace parts later.

Not to say that it's a bad thing to swap out a part if you have a KNOWN GOOD working spare. But don't take anybody's word on that either. (We're back to that "Listen to no one, trust no one" thing). I worked with a guy who's favorite trick was to take the old, bad part, put it back in the box, and put the box back on the shelf with the spares. Ask me how many times I wanted to strangle that SOB.

Yes, I've done some IT. But I started in medical equipment repair. I learned 'meticulous' by changing the wiring harness in a servo-ventilator. I had the guts of that thing scattered from hell till breakfast. Took my time, very careful. She went on to help others breathe again.

But a lot of good info though, eh?

-Hans

Oh yeah, endless frustration there!

There are certain times it is useful to swap parts as a function of the troubleshooting process. Using known good parts is a definite must.

When troubleshooting automotive electronics you can spend hours going through flow charts and the final step is "install known good ECM". Yah, I've got one of those handy for every year, make, and model. So you order one, and they send you the bad one that somebody else sent back.

Sure. The wiggle test. With game powered up or in switch test, wiggle wires attached to suspect connector and see what happens. Watch the lights and/ or display while wiggling. My Shrek had a pushed pin on a power connector under the playfield right out of the box and that's how I found it. Power was cutting out mid game, so I started wiggling wires and found it in no time. Reinserted the pin and it was good to go. Don't break out the meter if you don't need to. Your eyes and hands will discover (and fix) far more problems than your meter ever will.

You won't find the wiggle test in any manual, but it probably should be there.