*Ouch* And drywall screws are small and on the brittle side.

Bally Strikes and Spares I'm currently restoring....

How about that ground mod!

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While not a hack, this falls into the WTF category.

Does your long power cord bother you? Just tie it into a braid to shorten it. Paragon I picked up today.

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Is it a "worst" hack if it's clean and works well enough that it lasted X years before you get it, and then even you yourself forget about it for a while?

I bought a Time Fantasy a couple years ago. It had a few issues, but GI wasn't one of them. Yet here's what greeted me:

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I don't know what I like more: the beefy (but dissimilar gauge) wiring for the all-in-one splice... or the use of 9V battery pads as connectors!

I reduced amp draw by switching to LEDs and over two years it's been solid stable and hasn't gotten any worse. So I guess it gets a pass? But I've decided to replace it before bringing the game to a 3-day show.

That is impressive. I've never seen anyone do that before on a power cord, lol

9 volt battery terminals!? I guess when the pressure is on you use what you have on hand but to leave exposed terminals floating around is asking for trouble, good thinking to change it and make a proper repair!

I'm guessing this was owned by a sailor. My grandfather was a Navy man and did this all the time.

I hear you but in "defense" of the hack, the lead wires soldered to the PSU connector are pretty thick and stiff (giggity) so it doesn't move like, at all. In that regard it's not much different from any other exposed prong, clip, connector, or trace in the backbox. I was more intrigued to think a 9V battery pad could handle that much current, but on closer look I suppose there's no reason it wouldn't...

...so I guess I should be glad they still improvised a solid connector at all!

After untying the 1st 3 loops , the rest just pulled straight out, not knotted. Somebody knew what they were doing. After inspecting the cord, it's solid with no damage.

It’s actually a way of storing cords so they don’t get tangled. We did it when I was in construction when I was younger. It works really well with very long cords. Don’t do what the guy in the video does and tie the cord in the middle with a tight knot. Just loop it. It’s also easier to plug the male and female together to find the middle.

I bought a machine like that from a guy once... I think his name was Eddy? Eddy Current?

Har. Electrician joke. That said, as a former stagehand and current construction electrician, this is a lousy way to coil. Watch this guy coil a cable. It's the only right way to do it, and after one of my new apprentices learns how to sweep, this is what they move on to next. Once they master this, then the more interesting work can begin.

Gigging musician for over 20 years and electrician for over 10, I support this message.

I was just explaining the method. If you came over you wouldn’t find a single cord like that here. We were just made to do it that way at that job I had at the time. I agree with you guys

Interesting. I always wrap them around my elbow to my shoulder, but i'm going to try this.

With that method, you'll get ripples and twists in the cable.

With a proper coiling method, the cable will be perfectly straight and flat when uncoiled, even if it's been coiled up for a long period of time.

I have a friend who gets frustrated with me because I complain and ask him NOT to help with cords when he is helping, for this same reason. I replaced an extension cord that I use indoors a lot after he coiled it up a couple times and got twists all in it....I think he thought I was nuts with my OCD (probably am, lol).

Between boating a little when I was younger and handling lines in auto body shops, I have a tendency to get kind of anal about kinks and twists in lines. Even things like video game controllers. I always coiled my cables; not wrapped around.

My wife thinks I’m nuts with my tools. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is very particular over them.

When I was reading the 30 pages or whatever I had to catch up with here, someone mentioned applying a bunch of red "Cleveland Coin" padlock tags to boards they worked on back in the day....

Well I've acquired a mild Blackout project. It works, but none of its boards are original and all of them (even the displays!) are mismatched serial numbers... Except the speech & sound pair... And look what they have:

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I thought someone would get a kick out of that. As a student / enthusiast for history, I even left them in place when I serviced the board...
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This is not uncommon to see larger vessels do this with their dock lines provided the cap or mates know how to do it. It is complimentary to coiling up dock lines so they are not messy dockside

It took a while for me to realize that these are just being held on with wires lol. So they had none of the hardware for the mechs so they just held it in with wires... nice.

I have a City Slicker and mine were very clean, and after reinstalling they broke during the first few test plays. They’re so brittle and tiny, they can’t handle the stress after all these years. I think the super glue method makes the most sense

If that’s a playmatic that’s how they come. My Last Lap has that heat vent in the top from the factory. I guess Playmatic thought heat was a huge issue an put big metal vents on the top of the heads.

exactly this. they should have drilled the hole out larger, filled it with a section of dowel rod, sanded it flush, repainted the black and then drilled a new [centered] hole to fix it correctly

yes, it would have taken a bit longer but the results would have been 10x better

I still think id prefer to have just added a tnut under the original hole and change that center post to one with a matching machine threaded base instead of just one threaded for wood.

Unless you just mean drill a clean hole, there are dowels of various sizes available. Or you could also just use a wood filler. A dowel by itself won't be the finishing step, anyway.

Okay, that one's mine & the pics are in reverse order.
That connector, A1J1, needed re-pinning as it was causing resets & A2J2 to get real hot. I read on here about using a jeweler's screwdriver to release the tang. Tried putting it under the pin & the corner of the housing snapped off. Before I started, while I was looking for anything else to use, I found the rubber bands in my toolbox. They hold the broccoli bunches & I guess I figured the may come in handy.

While that can work for some connector styles where the tang is exposed, screwdrivers are too big for this style of connector.

You'll want this extraction tool: https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=11-03-0016

Nice temporary! I purchased these recently to remove a number of pins on various types of equipment and there are a couple in the set that work perfect for releasing pins on Gottlieb, Williams and Bally plugs. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZC1V2W6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

I use this exact same set daily in my repair business.

The rubber band fit perfectly. I used the broken bit & after getting the pin positioned correctly, it never reset.
I'll have to order the housing from G-P-E since the edge connectors are obsolete. I'll also get the housings for the P.S. Does this work on those? I'm going to take the P.S. to the local electronic shop, Nutech, & have the pins replaced, but I'm leaning towards that terminal removal kit 72Devilz limked to.

No connectors on hand? Just raid your EM parts bin!

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Geez that’s a lot of work! That must have taken them longer to wire up that Jones plug, then to just wait for the right connector to come in.

I'm totally the type that *can't wait* for parts to arrive, and would very seriously consider doing something this just to see if it works while I'm killing time waiting for them...

...though there's easier, more readily reversible ways of approaching it than that!

oh I know the feeling

Just making sure I brought all my screwdrivers with me.

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Burt connectors , no problem

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No one is going to steal it in a hurry.

Real men of genius know you only need a flathead for all 3... (yes, even the square one... don't ask how I know )

Fun Fact: The Square Head is called a "Robertson" drive.

More fun facts.
It is prevalent in Canada, where it was invented. It is also dang near the perfect screw head, as it does not strip, when you use a Robertson screwdriver with it.

I don't know about that. I had a stainless version of those for my deck. they were a pain in the @ss to remove when I re-did the deck. I replaced them with star headed screws, which do not strip.

I agree, I'm not a fan of the square drive. In theory, they should never strip. In reality, I've seen a ton of them strip out. Yes, using the right bit.

Interesting. The only one I have ever seen strip out, was because the person was using a flat head to remove it.

Must have been some soft metal!

Living in Canada, Robertson is pretty much the only option we have...yes, they can strip but nearly always from an incorrect or stripped bit. They are miles ahead of flat head, but philips is great too.

Saw this video a couple weeks ago and found it interesting:

I'm a proponent of torx simply for their cam-in properties, and I don't recall ever stripping one.

That is a GREAT video!! I learned all about the Robertsons when I lived in Nova Scotia for a Decade, running a computer store. I actually use them for ALL of my wood projects here in TN, still today.

I have actually broken a few Torx bits and stripped a few of the screws. Again, I blame soft metals.

I see Robertson screws all the time during my restorations since I live in Canada and it bugs the shit outta me.... Friends don't let friends use Robertson screws in their pinball machines.

As an electrician I've always liked the Robertson head. Most of our receptacles and panelboards, circuit breakers, etc. are a combination of Robertson, flathead and Phillips. Most of the guys in the field don't even realize it or have the driver in their tool bag. More recently some of the 10 in 1 screwdrivers are including it. I find it quicker, less likely to strip, and safer. Thanks for the video!

I found this quite fascinating! Thanks for sharing. I have rarely come across a Robertson screw, but oddly enough learned all about Torx when I began to have to work on my '87 Camaro which was assembled in Canada!