I replaced the hack with a true 16 pin housing.

Exactly.

What a novel idea... finding the correct parts.

I did one with tape like that on my EBD aux lamp board in a pinch. I think I may have one with the right # of slots on hand now, I should replace it since I already put new pins in that connector.

Diner hack. Thanks for.leaving in the fuse.

20220916_092958 (resized).jpg

The wide use of lamp cord is "essential" when doing professional repairs.

At least it still has the warranty sticker.

wait until you need a 28 pin wafer and they can't be bought.

When I occasionally need to replace one bad connector with two, I use a Sharpie to make a mark on both housings where they match up when installed. Quick reminder for the brain. Also, if either housing needs to be trimmed down, use the trimmed side on the outside, not next to the other housing. Smooth factory sides next to each other when installed. Keys, toothpick or whatever, should always be replaced on female housings. Tape or super glue isn't a good idea. Mark them in a way you'll remember.

In a pinch I've used small wire ties as
keying pins .

Away with those pesky brittle sockets.

20220916_083526 (resized).jpg

Oh that's horrible. Thanks for bringing this thread on track.

Should have duct tape over it for protection.

Steve at PBR has them. He was the other guy that had them made with Ed at GPE. Bought a hundred from Ed as my last giant order from him. Gonna miss that guy and his store.

Shawn

That's like a whole new level of fuckery!

The tech may have dropped the socket on the floor and couldn't find it in a dark location. No spares... just solder the bulb in! Uggg. reversible/repairable, but ugggggg.

Honestly, it's really not that bad.

When shopping out a game, I usually remove and go over those lamp boards with a soldering iron anyway. Add a dab of solder for all the header pins (to ensure there's no cold solder joints), and smooth out any divots for the pads that make contact with the twist socket bulb holders.

You should add checking the diodes while its out if its a data east machine.

I only do that if a lamp is malfunctioning, but yes, that is a common failure point on lamp boards.

They modified the game for the kids. Lota of work drilling steel legs.

20220920_145328 (resized).jpg

20220920_145332 (resized).jpg

Better in an easily replaceable set of legs than extra holes in the cabinet....

At least that's easily fixable.

Maybe they also put a squeeze of epoxy under each leg to hold those legs in place??? (Kidding)

LOL

Kids love standing on these. Much easier solution.

Screen Shot 2022-09-20 at 5.44.54 PM (resized).png

I was thinking the same. Otherwise, take the legs off and set it on four crates.

The unnecessary flat washers in front of the bolts suggest otherwise, but who knows?

Not really. About 30 minutes to make a jig. Drilling 8 holes on a drill press is nothing. and they look like rusted legs.

I'd be worried about the gap between the top of the legs and the cabinet where a kid could get a finger stuck.

I guess they could have cut four holes in the floor, one for each leg... Again, having too much fun with the possibilities here.... LOL!

They could have taken a hack saw and cut the lower 6 inches of the legs off.

Gee - I wonder if this is why my solenoids sometimes seem weak on my Centaur.

(BR2)

7647391B-9801-4C4F-9FE6-950F79E18615 (resized).jpeg

B2E831F3-C14F-4627-A986-3B969BE47F0C (resized).jpeg

That's not a bridge rectifier, that's a bridge rectifier's little sister.

I dunno, my old Sylvania ECG book shows that as a valid replacement part.

If it's roughly the same shape and has the same number of legs, 30% of the time it will work 100%.

Bridge rectifiers all do the same thing, but vary greatly in voltage and power handling, which ultimately drives heat dissipation as well. In general power supply replacement, my rule is bigger is better… as long as the voltage and current meet or exceed the original, the bigger the heat sink and case the better.

If you want to go nerdy, the specs that are important is the 'thermal resistance', 'max power dissipation', and 'junction temperature'.

Here's a simple transistor as an example.

The thermal resistance w/a heat sink is 97 C/W, meaning for every 1W dissipated, the junction temp goes up 97 degrees C.

Next, they state the part can dissipate 1.8W. So plugging that in the equation above, you get 97C/W x 1.8W = 174.6C (dissipating 1.8W will result in the junction temperature increasing 174.6C). This is not the junction temperature, it's just the increase in temperature - that's important to note.

Then to figure the actual junction temperature of the part, you add the ambient temperature of 25C (i.e. room temperature, 77F) to the rise: 25C+174.6C=199.6C. That number agrees with the maximum temperature it can operate at (200C). If ambient temperature was higher (i.e. 50C instead), then you couldn't dissipate the full 1.8W (it would be 1.5W at 50C ambient).

So for a part to run cooler (for the same power dissipation), you look for a lower thermal resistance (for example, 50 C/W instead of 97 C/W). One other thing that is important is to look at the number above the 97 C/W...that's 438 C/W. That means without a heatsink, if you tried to dissipate 1.8W...1.8W x 438C/W =788C! That shows the importance of a heatsink.
pasted_image (resized).png

Sorry for the minor thread derail.

There will be a test later.

pasted_image (resized).png

Bridge rectifiers are far and away my favorite electronic component. So simple, yet so powerful. They take wild ass alternating current, always going up and down, never sure where it's going to stop, and convert into amazing smooth direct current, which is so much more useful. And despite being larger than it's neighboring components, it has only four simple diodes inside. Not much to break and very easy to diagnose when one diode does occasionally fail.

I, for one, feel we should erect statues and monuments dedicated to bridge rectifiers. Forget the Golden Gate Bridge. We should rename it the Bridge Rectifier Bridge. I'll start a petition. Bridge rectifiers: The real unsung heroes of pinball.

I wouldn't call it smooth DC. It looks like this:
pasted_image (resized).png

Add a smoothing cap:
pasted_image (resized).png

Now we're getting closer.

I don't usually refer to AC power as wild-ass either, but I was exaggerating to make a point. Do you have a favorite component?

Most important part of the picture above is the capacitor charging/discharging curve. The capacitor only charges when rectifier output is higher than capacitor voltage. Rest of time it just supplies current, or discharges. This means the peak current from rectifier might be 10x higher than average load current. And that's why 35 amp rectifiers are used - and sometimes fail - in average 2 amp circuit.

Coils in their various forms and their interactions with magnetism are really cool to me.

This feels like it needs its own separate thread.

I love drop down targets, they are simply wonderful. Love it when then fall down, love it even more when the whole bank reset with a "clack".

So sad that many modern pins avoid them, guess they add to much to BOM compared to boring stand up targets.

Yes I like them also I think the new pins with the stand up they are cheaper too make I guess and the drop targets are too much too make they are cheaping out

Don't even get me started on Darlington transistors. I could tell you some stories.

They made tons of games without drop targets that are great even after drop targets were invented. I don't think drop targets are automatically better. Difficult to spread them around the playfield easily like you can with a simple target, too.

Stand up targets are just two switch blades and a mounting bracket. Drop targets have all kinds of machinery used to make them.

pasted_image (resized).png

I love the fact that drops can be used to change the flow of shots. Like the single drop at the end of the right orbit on STTNG or the one in front of the ramp on Space Station, or, or, or. Stand ups can't do that.

Agreed that drop targets are almost a must for a full, classic era feel. By classic, I mean early SS.