(Topic ID: 28788)

Worst hack/repair you ever saw.

By mcclad

11 years ago


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  • 4,635 posts
  • 731 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 days ago by jibmums
  • Topic is favorited by 312 Pinsiders

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    There are 4,635 posts in this topic. You are on page 18 of 93.
    #851 7 years ago

    So what is permanently locked on?

    #853 7 years ago
    Quoted from desertT1:

    So what is permanently locked on?

    Drop targets and pop bumpers.

    3 weeks later
    #854 7 years ago

    buggs (resized).jpgbuggs (resized).jpg

    #855 7 years ago

    is that a bees nest?

    #856 7 years ago

    Don't know. Hard as a rock.

    #857 7 years ago
    Quoted from Drewscruis:

    is that a bees nest?

    Quoted from pindel:

    Don't know. Hard as a rock.

    mud dobber's nest ....... not a hack but

    #858 7 years ago

    Pretty sure it is a mud dauber's nest.

    #859 7 years ago
    Quoted from jwwhite15:

    Pretty sure it is a mud dauber's nest.

    When that nest warms up in the house, there will be a few nice surprises.

    MudDauberWaspBlr1 (resized).jpgMudDauberWaspBlr1 (resized).jpg

    #860 7 years ago

    Wow that gives new meaning to the Beast's Lair.

    #861 7 years ago

    Working through a TZ and TAF. I keep forgetting to take photos of some of these things. I'm often too busy trying to figure out what was done, determining if it's correct and how to restore it back to factory (or as close to factory as possible). I fixed the issues on the TZ but last night I remembered to take photos of the TAF power harness (after I started fixing it but before I really completed it).

    Three photos. One of the flipper drive connector at J802. The other two of the wires for the lower left and upper left flippers. The wire configuration was originally swapped from what you see in the photo. That is ... blu-blk connected to blu-gry and org-gry connected to org-blu. The wires of the lower left flipper were cut and connected to the upper left flipper. The wires of the upper left flipper were then connected to the (cut wires of the) lower left flipper. It took me a while to figure out what was actually happening (pre WPC-DCS flipper wiring color is consistent between games but does not follow what I would consider an "obvious" pattern). The why of this "hack" is another question. Not sure I can think of a good reason. The puzzle is left to the reader. As a clue look carefully at J802.

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    #862 7 years ago

    This WTF is inside a '76 WMS Liberty Bell that is currently on eBay. I know Williams EM's inside and out, and cannot even tell what part of the machine this picture might have been taken. Seller says it needs a new power supply. Ya think?

    image (resized).pngimage (resized).png

    #863 7 years ago
    Quoted from Mikala:

    This WTF is inside a '76 WMS Liberty Bell that is currently on eBay. I know Williams EM's inside and out, and cannot even tell what part of the machine this picture might have been taken. Seller says it needs a new power supply. Ya think?

    Looks like it has a lock. Did they modify it so the bottom board comes out of the cabinet... with... whatever that is?

    #864 7 years ago

    Pulled the flippers off my Mystery Castle last night.

    All 3 are greased. 2 coil sleeves won't come out. 1 link is worn out. 1 is good. All the pawls look to be out of round.

    Then I found this lovely bit of engineering.

    For now going to modify a capcom link. Coils will get a bath in the ultrasonic. If that fails I have 24 nos spares to use.

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    #865 7 years ago

    Duct tape and zip ties for the win!

    1 week later
    #866 7 years ago

    Typical operator fix. If it works, it's not a hack, right? I can imagine it would be tough to perform this repair on site. Fun enough to do it on a workbench with a good vice. Roll pins are awesome but can be a son-of-a-gun to replace.

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    #867 7 years ago

    Just spotted this one on a comet playfield:

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    #868 7 years ago
    Quoted from Mikala:

    This WTF is inside a '76 WMS Liberty Bell that is currently on eBay. I know Williams EM's inside and out, and cannot even tell what part of the machine this picture might have been taken. Seller says it needs a new power supply. Ya think?

    The red wires are going to toggle switches accessible outside the game, probably to change a game feature like "3 - 5 Ball" or a score threshold. The black things are probably fluorescent ballasts. I don't remember fl lights in Liberty Bell, though.

    IMPORTANT!! The ballasts look like they are mounted to an asbestos sheet. Wear a mask, don't make dust, put the asbestos and any cleaning rags into a strong plastic bag, seal w/ tape and place in regular trash.

    Don C.

    11
    #869 7 years ago

    Spotted this in a for-sale ad.pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).png

    #870 7 years ago
    Quoted from slag:

    ower board had an auto fuse holder soldered on with a 20A fuse.

    I've honestly wondered why pins didn't go that route, being that auto fuses are a dime a dozen, always easy to find, more compact, and easier to replace. Seems like that would have been ideal for ops. At least for the lower voltage fuses.

    #871 7 years ago
    Quoted from ForceFlow:

    Spotted this in a for-sale ad.

    Spaghetti, yum!

    #872 7 years ago
    Quoted from thedefog:

    I've honestly wondered why pins didn't go that route, being that auto fuses are a dime a dozen, always easy to find, more compact, and easier to replace. Seems like that would have been ideal for ops. At least for the lower voltage fuses.

    Probably voltage requirements. Fuses used in pins are 250V and pretty much everything in a car runs on 12V max.

    I agree though, super cheap fuses that every Walmart has would be great.

    10
    #873 7 years ago

    Gi hack on my high speed. Works just fine

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    #874 7 years ago

    Not the worst I've seen but I'm not going to enjoy cleaning it up.
    --
    Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
    http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/contact/
    http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

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    #875 7 years ago

    The weird things that happen to 20 plus year old pins

    #876 7 years ago

    The repairs that I see in this thread would not only not allow me to sleep at night but I would be itching as I was lying awake in a cold sweat. Do really enjoy this thread and seeing what others have done to keep the beasts going!!

    11
    #877 7 years ago

    From a local tech. As long as the bridge rectifier is touching the heat sink it's all good! Best part was the original one was still on the underside of the heatsink.

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    #878 7 years ago

    On a Batman Data east... It works fine too LOL

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    #879 7 years ago
    Quoted from Ronnie1114:

    On a Batman Data east... It works fine too LOL

    Very nice

    I notice your Batman has a REV2 CPU board (Secret Service ~ Phantom o/t Opera). Your slingshots and popbumpers are probably not working. REV2 boards use special solenoid inputs, at REV3 boards these are controlled by the switch matrix.

    #880 7 years ago
    Quoted from MarAlb:

    Very nice
    I notice your Batman has a REV2 CPU board (Secret Service ~ Phantom o/t Opera). Your slingshots and popbumpers are probably not working. REV2 boards use special solenoid inputs, at REV3 boards these are controlled by the switch matrix.

    Its not my game, a friends. Funny thing is those work fine. Honestly, if you didnt open up the Backbox you wouldnt know anything is wrong!

    #881 7 years ago
    Quoted from MarAlb:

    Very nice
    I notice your Batman has a REV2 CPU board (Secret Service ~ Phantom o/t Opera). Your slingshots and popbumpers are probably not working. REV2 boards use special solenoid inputs, at REV3 boards these are controlled by the switch matrix.

    On Rev 3 boards they are controlled by both. There are two sets of header pins for the same plug due to this. Downside is if the hardware fails for one set of headers, it will also affect the other.

    #882 7 years ago
    Quoted from MarAlb:

    Very nice
    I notice your Batman has a REV2 CPU board (Secret Service ~ Phantom o/t Opera). Your slingshots and popbumpers are probably not working. REV2 boards use special solenoid inputs, at REV3 boards these are controlled by the switch matrix.

    The only problem with this game is that the background music cuts out. Would this cause it?

    #883 7 years ago

    Bally BOPP.
    The seven end wires on J3 of the rectifier board were cut, stripped, wrapped together, and soldered. This actually works as all of those pins are connected on the rectifier board. Rehabbing the rectifier boards fractures header solder joints might have been an easier fix. All better now.
    --
    Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
    http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/contact/
    http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

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    #884 7 years ago

    I guess mine isn't on the same level as most of the ones I've seen in this post so far...

    A former owner of my Indiana Jones tied *all* the GI circuits together to fix a burnt connector. Cut the wires a couple of inches from the plug and just crimped them all into just one big circuit. So the game only had two options for the lights, all on or all off.

    Unfortunately, I didn't snap a before picture. I did snap a pic later for a friend that wanted to know how it was going. I was down to soldering the last wires to the new plug in this pic. I had to add a couple inches of new wire, I guess they cuts some of the original wiring off for some reason, it just did plug into the board before...

    IMG_0223 (resized).JPGIMG_0223 (resized).JPG

    #885 7 years ago
    Quoted from ChrisHibler:

    Not the worst I've seen but I'm not going to enjoy cleaning it up.
    --
    Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
    http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/contact/
    http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

    At least they made it pretty with different colors. Very patriotic.

    1 week later
    #886 7 years ago

    Riverboat gambler I picked up.

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    #887 7 years ago
    Quoted from Mitch:

    Riverboat gambler I picked up.

    Gold lamp cord... Fancy!

    #888 7 years ago

    That will buff right out Mitch

    #889 7 years ago
    Quoted from eh97ac:

    That will buff right out Mitch

    Already rebuilt the connectors and re pinned the headers

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    1 week later
    #890 7 years ago

    Works well enough i might just leave it.

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    #891 7 years ago

    I was getting nostalgic going over my previous shop-job galleries, and found this beauty.

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    Nice smooth ramp entry

    There were screws on both side of it where it was cracked.

    I ended up gluing on pieces of lexan to the side of the ramp where it chipped off. Hopefully it is still doing the trick.

    #892 7 years ago

    Power connector burns from all the acid damage. Clean up acid and replace header? Nah, let's just shove wires of a similar gauge through the melted wreckage

    IMG_20170111_170801 (resized).jpgIMG_20170111_170801 (resized).jpg

    Impressively, the board still boots fine

    #893 7 years ago
    Quoted from thedefog:

    I was getting nostalgic going over my previous shop-job galleries, and found this beauty.

    Nice smooth ramp entry
    There were screws on both side of it where it was cracked.
    I ended up gluing on pieces of lexan to the side of the ramp where it chipped off. Hopefully it is still doing the trick.

    That ramp is about to be reproduced by member Replay40 I believe. It may be being produced right now. If you need it send him a PM

    #894 7 years ago
    Quoted from sohchx:

    That ramp is about to be reproduced by member Replay40 I believe. It may be being produced right now. If you need it send him a PM

    I don't have the game any more, but that would have been nice a few years ago. Freeplay40 makes awesome ramps. I picked up some for Genesis a while back.

    #895 7 years ago

    Something about the doorbell. One is from the 50's, saw it on twilight zone

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    #896 7 years ago
    Quoted from pindel:

    Something about the doorbell. One is from the 50's, saw it on twilight zone

    Stop! Stop! My sides are killin' me!!

    #897 7 years ago
    Quoted from pindel:

    Something about the doorbell. One is from the 50's, saw it on twilight zone

    That's the exact one that came with my Star Gazer! Now it really IS a doorbell.

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    1 week later
    #898 7 years ago

    Spotted this in a Williams Laserball for sale. Take a look at the power supply.

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    #899 7 years ago
    Quoted from zacaj:

    Power connector burns from all the acid damage. Clean up acid and replace header? Nah, let's just shove wires of a similar gauge through the melted wreckage

    Impressively, the board still boots fine

    Just amazing. Anything to keep the game earning money. I guess some business' take the long view and some the short. Pinball definitely falls in the latter

    #900 7 years ago
    Quoted from ForceFlow:

    Spotted this in a Williams Laserball for sale. Take a look at the power supply.

    Dats one of 'dem there fancy switching-linear power supplies

    There are 4,635 posts in this topic. You are on page 18 of 93.

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