(Topic ID: 28788)

Worst hack/repair you ever saw.

By mcclad

11 years ago


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  • Latest reply 6 days ago by jibmums
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    12
    #59 11 years ago
    Quoted from ollagynot:

    I saw drywall screws holding a flipper leaf switch to the cabinetq once. Drywall screws have no place in a pinball machine. Some people just have no business making repairs.

    I disagree with your statement;

    I worked for a route op from August '79 to June '85. Pinball was big for a good portion of that time. When a service tech had a call, the rule was to get the game up and running bringing in quartrrs. We all carried drywall screws, nuts & bolts, drills and taps etc. We would bypass burnt connectors soldering jumpers to the rectifier board test points splicing into the wiring near the burnt connectors. Heck, Bernie Powers of Bally Field Service mentioned how a jumper to a test point or ground will keep a game earning if you did not have connectors and terminal pins. with you.

    Remember, these machines were designed and developed to make money for operators. Tournament play, home collectors and long term durability for a home collector were not high on the priority list.

    #62 11 years ago
    Quoted from pinwillie:

    just curious... how many times did you have to go out on route and fix another techs repair?

    Hardly ever ( less than 5% of calls ) our "improvising" was meant to last.

    #63 11 years ago
    Quoted from johnwartjr:

    The idea of a field repair is to return the next time you collect with the right parts, and fix it right... now, how often that really happened...

    We had separate collectors. They did not perform repairs other than clearing coin jams. When parts were ordered, the tech responsible for a geographic area installed those parts such as a flipper base plate. I usually worked nights covering all parts of the Detroit area from Ann Arbor to Flint to Mt. Clemens to Monroe. Back then about 20% of our locations were in the City of Detroit. Bypassed burnt connectors were not considered for follow-up repairs.

    Post edited by MrBally : classified.

    2 months later
    #117 11 years ago
    Quoted from woz:

    Homemade Gottlieb System 80 CPU Reset board. This was installed in my Black Hole when I purchased it 10 years ago. Amazingly this still works, though I should probably remove it from the game.

    If it works, save it. Kind of a "Badge of Honor". Note the Rockwell logo on the PCB. I spent some time at the plant where they built those boards at 6 Butterfield Trail in El Paso, Texas. Rockwell IC's were wafer fabricated and encased on Jamboree Road in Newport Beach, CA.

    1 year later
    #208 9 years ago
    Quoted from dung:

    This is the ball trough on my BF. Found it saturday while rebuilding the flippers. Funny thing is it works perfectly.

    CAM00243[1].jpg 295 KB

    Leave it alone!!!

    14
    #266 9 years ago
    Quoted from thedefog:

    So does this mean the nerd fight is over?
    I was hoping for a pocket protector to be ripped at least...

    One of these?

    IMAG5458.jpgIMAG5458.jpg
    1 month later
    #319 9 years ago
    Quoted from MarAlb:

    Someone "repaired" a piggyback at a system 80 board.... also notice the tag glued on the driverboard connector....

    20140130_070815.jpg 59 KB

    Love the substitute ferrite chokes.

    7 months later
    #476 8 years ago
    Quoted from ForceFlow:

    Hot glue to the rescue (Williams DMD board on ebay)

    _12.jpg

    The hot glue securing the jumper wire is actually a factory approved repair/modification method.

    #477 8 years ago
    Quoted from jibmums:

    Couple of hacks on a recent Centaur I picked up. First, what do you do when you've broken a plastic? Why, you carve a new one by hand and color it in with a black Sharpie marker, of course. I'm replacing all the plastics but if anyone's got a couple of extra bell spacers they can part with, please met me know, as you can see I need them.
    Second, here's an "extra" bridge rectifier on the power board. I can only assume the original one went south and the op was too lazy to remove the board to replace it, but this gives me shivers.....I'm actually afraid to power the game on.

    100_6652.jpg 100_6562.jpg

    I don't see a screw securing the original bridge and am guessing it was removed. They usually fail in a "shorted" mode so if not removed, the new one wouldn't work as the input voltage fuse would blow upon power-up. Note that for bridge rectifiers that would short prematurely ( more current was drawn that originally engineered due to connector fatigue, low line voltage etc.) a factory recommended modification was to do exactly what you see here. A higher current-rated Bridge was used and remote mounted to improve ventilation and, since larger, would not fit where the original one was installed. I would not call this a hack.

    As for the plastics, if they were unobtainium or required purchase of a complete set, an operator would do what is necessary to keep the coins coming in.

    1 year later
    #903 7 years ago
    Quoted from Cheddar:

    WHat? and have to remove the board to do the repair? F That!

    That was a very common route repair to keep the games running. Yes, why bother taking the board out since the wires weren't long enough to work with on a removed board.

    Heck, the instructors at the Williams service schools even suggested this since they knew no money in meant fewer machine sales.

    #909 7 years ago
    Quoted from Travish:

    I hate it when idiots solder wires directly on boards. A new connector and pins are really cheap.

    Don't be hatin'. That was a common practice for route operators. Even suggested by the Bally & Stern service schools as not every technician carried connectors, pins and the proper crimp tool in the late '70's to mid '80's....

    #914 7 years ago
    Quoted from Travish:

    I have heard that. I also know in the late 70's during the golden years operators had to empty the coin boxes sometimes twice a day. Machine down was $$$ not collected. Still hate it when I have to deal with it though.

    Ms Pac Man & Asteroids required twice a week collections. Thus, all games were collected on location. Earlier, for the original Space Invaders, we were modifying cabinets so we could put a larger cash box inside. The OEM ones filled up too fast.

    #919 7 years ago
    Quoted from Travish:

    That's why asteroids deluxe came out but they made it to hard. I could play asteroids for hours and they didn't like that. Deluxe came out and although very cool black light and graphics we would walk on by.

    Space Invaders Deluxe came out. (IIRC, first video you could enter your name on) but it was a dog compared to the original. Plus, as soon as kids figured out the high score name could be "FCUK YOU", we had to put electrical tape over the monitor as it was non-disableable.

    10
    #921 7 years ago
    Quoted from ForceFlow:

    That's hilarious
    And I'm sure the kids thought so too.

    Asteroids followed with initials. Kids were quite creative with three letter versions of their favorite words. Fuk etc.
    But the best was when either Exidy or Gremlin allowed a list of high score names on the monitor. They were writing stories at bowling alley arcades such as:
    Betty at the
    counter has a
    nice ass and
    will swallow
    your load

    Sorry if I shocked and offended anyone.

    1 month later
    #994 7 years ago
    Quoted from ForceFlow:

    Looks like someone substituted a DIP chip for a failed SMD chip.

    Now that is awesome; If it works, it the best repair yet.

    2 months later
    #1128 6 years ago

    Yep, wire wrap sockets by Augat. The pins are too large to fit through holes on PCB's but fit in proto-boards. I spent my first two years at Rockwell building and debugging wire wrap prototypes. Both with the hand wire wrap tool as well as the battery powered "gun".
    Now I enjoy a monthly pension check from Rockwell.

    1 week later
    #1145 6 years ago

    Bungee cords from China Freight are cheaper than rubber rings from certain pin part vendors....

    #1160 6 years ago
    Quoted from CNKay:

    Yeah I saw that. On phone just saw the(what looks like 4 doides) so therefore the guess.
    Does it work better getting double rectifed?

    Like using two filters when making a pot of coffee!

    5 months later
    #1428 6 years ago

    That looks like the telephone switchboard at Sam Drucker's General Store in Hooterville. Did Homer Bedloe steal it and disguise it as a Gottlieb pinball machine?

    3 weeks later
    #1467 6 years ago
    Quoted from algrande:

    I found the soldering iron that a lot of operators used for board repairs!

    Similar to Bally playfield production soldering irons.....

    20180102_203047 (resized).jpg20180102_203047 (resized).jpg

    #1477 6 years ago
    Quoted from DennisDodel:

    If so, that would make her over 60 years old today.

    I wonder if she's still smokin' hot?

    Here's a Big-Haired Williams soldering girl at their Menasha (now Fox Crossing or Appleton), Wisconsin PCB plant in 1982. Most likely a posed photo as the only reason for soldering on the component side of the board (Hyperball board?) would be to add a jumper wire for a fix/modification. Then again, the iron is hot as there is smoke.

    1982 bhiew64239ierlkm (resized).png1982 bhiew64239ierlkm (resized).png

    #1490 6 years ago

    The Blonde is working on a SMDM playfield. The pic is from the Bally 1978 Annual Report released in March of 1979. You can see the machines shown on the assembly line.

    Bally was on the cutting edge of technology and safety equipment at their first Solid State pin plants in Franklin Park.

    Amazingly, the picture of the non-safety glasses wearing big-haired chick at Williams/Menasha Controls was in the 1981 Williams Annual Report issued in 1982.

    Screenshot_20180108-223621 (resized).pngScreenshot_20180108-223621 (resized).png

    #1491 6 years ago
    Quoted from DennisDodel:

    We must find out who the "Blonde Bombshell" is.

    But let's remember how she looked in early 1979, not how she looks today.

    1 week later
    #1543 6 years ago
    Quoted from LynnInDenver:

    Because for private owners, they don't have the parts, don't know HOW to get the parts, and are in a hurry so there's no time allotted to research how to get the parts, and think that since it works just fine that way, then the "repair" is fine.
    For operators, they don't have the parts, don't have time to get the parts (because any downtime, they might as well pull the machine and part it out to help avoid downtime on other machines), and since it works just fine that way, then the "repair" is fine. My husband worked in an arcade (not as service), and saw that sort of thing happen all the time.

    For burnt connectors on location and no parts in your tool kit or trunk/truck load of parts; At the Bally service schools for their first Solid State machines (remember, this was a transition from EM to Solid State machine time period) they instructed you to cut wires from the burnt connectors on the Rectifier board and solder them directly to the test points. This was acceptable to keep the machines making money until you could come back with new connector shells and pins. More money allows the Operators to buy more new machines.

    2 weeks later
    #1595 6 years ago
    Quoted from wisefwumyogwave:

    Balloons. The original colored rubber.

    Little Joe!

    1 week later
    #1605 6 years ago
    Quoted from northerndude:

    This is a normal thing to weld right?!?

    Actually, that's way stronger than stock. You'd be crazy to replace if operating that machine.

    #1629 6 years ago
    Quoted from uncivil_engineer:

    I saw this today on ebay.. someone put a lot of work into this.

    I'm amazed that a post has not been made regarding the socket type being sub-par. FTR, those are my favorite type of DIP IC sockets, particularly the ones made by Augat.

    2 weeks later
    #1652 6 years ago
    Quoted from Dono:

    Mata Hari EM playfield...Ive seen a bunch of post additions between the flippers but never one in the middle of a playfield...geez...

    They didn't want to hack the kick out hole arm by bending the tip to prevent sdtm drains from it. Well done....

    3 weeks later
    #1662 5 years ago
    Quoted from ForceFlow:

    I serviced someone's TZ not too long ago and they had the coin switch fed through the coin return slot just hanging out there. Another case of not changing the game setting

    Although it was a push button switch, like the one drilled through the door above, That's the way all distributors (real distributors, for route operators, with a building, parts department, service department, machines in inventory, ready for immediate delivery, buyback of used equipment, even for $50.00 a machine, multiple employees) would set the equipment on "free play" so you can simulate inserting a coin or bill to get a play/vend.

    2 months later
    #1728 5 years ago

    That was part of an alarm system. Sold by Wico.

    #1733 5 years ago
    Quoted from zacaj:

    Maybe there's a second switch that would detect when the coin door opened, and if it was opened without turning off the alarm key, it'd go off? And the OP had matching keys on their coin doors so installed the lock disable elsewhere or something?

    Yes. Powered by a lantern battery. If coin door was pried open, the alarm would latch on. Prety loud bugger.

    2 weeks later
    #1746 5 years ago

    When I worked for a route operator, our Centaur's and EBD's (we had several of them) were burning out the recently introduced to pinball 555 lamps like crazy on the controlled lamp circuits.

    Eventually, I called the Bally service line to discuss and they sent me a service bulletin with the mod that IIRC mentioned it cut the voltage by 1.2 volts to prolong lamp life.

    #1748 5 years ago
    Quoted from zacaj:

    So they're just using the bridges as a double inoine diode to drop the voltage a bit?

    Yep. High current with simple heat sink capability. Stud rectifier would have to be isolated from the cabinet ground straps.

    2 weeks later
    #1752 5 years ago
    Quoted from Mk1Mod0:

    Did a repair at a customer's house this past weekend. Couldn't really stop and take pictures but you'll get the idea.
    First we resolved the non-working slingshot -

    Next we made the sketchy GI a little more solid -

    And finally I put one of these on the CPU where there had been one of those giant wire-wound cement encased power resistors like you find on a rectifier board. Yikes. Yes, it worked and probably had been for years.

    Shawn

    I take it the resistor you install was the proper wattage and the one you removed was "overkill"?

    1 week later
    #1760 5 years ago
    Quoted from Axl:

    i totally forgot about this frankenpin i got offered...

    Did the MPU power up? Did the displays and controlled appropriate properly?

    Maybe the prior owner Raspberry Pi'ed it....

    #1765 5 years ago

    Just the ceramic case cracked near leg 12. Probably due to a screwdriver pry attempt. As long as the froghair wire wasn't damaged, all is well.

    1 month later
    #1800 5 years ago
    Quoted from Pinballer22:

    Customers Ebd I just started on
    [quoted image]

    As stated earlier, from a Bally service bulletin.....

    1 week later
    #1818 5 years ago
    Quoted from arcademojo:

    My Space Shuttle I just started working on. The transistor works too.
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    Nothing wrong with that as that's about all one can do to save the board with a new transistor. The lesson here is don't overfuse a pin.

    #1823 5 years ago

    Not a hack. It's called improvising. Especially when parts became unavailable.

    #1826 5 years ago
    Quoted from Robotworkshop:

    Some of the hacks are pretty creative but I sure hope I never see those people working on civil engineering projects.....

    As a Rockwell International chief engineer told me when I quit the route technician and board repair job I had, joined Rockwell and completed my degree; Pinball Machine repair isn't rocket science.

    3 weeks later
    #1831 5 years ago
    Quoted from Cheddar:

    At least 3 of these on a skateball I'm swapping[quoted image]

    If that works, it is awesome.

    1 month later
    #1870 5 years ago
    Quoted from Pecos:

    My first hack!
    [quoted image]
    I needed a 300K Ω resistor. I had 100K Ω resistors. Hey, it seems to work fine and those resistors get plenty of air for cooling!

    Welcome to the world of route operating. Keep the quarters flowing.

    #1873 5 years ago

    Does that Robotron 2084 board have an Empire Distributing blue hang tag or Cleveland Coin red "padlock" seal tags? If so, that may be one of my field hacks....

    2 months later
    #1919 5 years ago

    No fire hazard at all. Especially if the electrical tape is really covering everything and it is not Harbor Freight junk tape.
    That said, a dab of Silastic on the wire and tab to hold it in place will save you the expense of a new coil. Aten't they like ten bucks apiece these days?

    I don't keep up with coil prices as I have all I'll ever need....

    #1927 5 years ago
    Quoted from neemypeemy:

    Hi mrbally , I haven't used Silastic before, is it basically this? amazon.com link »

    This is what I mean:

    3M RTV Silastic (resized).PNG3M RTV Silastic (resized).PNG
    2 weeks later
    #1942 5 years ago
    Quoted from robertmee:

    That would be a tilt deactivate device....slap .99c on it and sell them

    Three bucks at Marco....

    2 months later
    #2010 4 years ago

    In the early '80's we were scrambling for memory components for service parts. 6800 series microprocessors too.

    Hard to believe there was no internet for ordering stuff either.

    2 weeks later
    #2022 4 years ago
    Quoted from Asmig:

    Too much effort, just jam the wire into the test port![quoted image]

    At the Bally service schools, students were taught to solder wires to the test points to bypass burnt pins. Quick and keeps the games earning.

    #2024 4 years ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    That makes sense. What is confusing me on this one is why the tech soldered the GI return wire to the test port and also soldered the other three wires to the pins instead of just leaving them in the connector wafer? I suppose the connector wafer could have been bad but didn't the techs at least carry some spare repair parts?

    Some of us did. One of the AID Kits from Bally had a good assortment of pins and connectors. There was a shortage of the wafer connectors at that time and they could be scarce.

    Also, if you were at a far location and had several more calls, the solder to the test point trick could save you several minutes so you did that and got out.

    #2026 4 years ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    Was a tech under a lot of pressure all of the time to keep the pins running? Yes, all equipment. On Christmas Day & other major holidays the priority was Juke Boxes & cigarette machines though.

    Was there any kind of preventive maintenance? General cleaning of pins, rebuilding Flipper mechs., rubber ring & lamp replacement. Cleaning video game monitors and cleaning / replacing moving parts on control panels. Marquee glass lamp replacement.

    Was it always just chasing pins needing repair? No.

    Did the tech also empty the coin box or was someone else assigned that task?
    We had separate game and separate vending collectors who also refilled product. Also, we had separate cigarette collectors & machine fillers. They had armored vans with pretty good vaults. Cigarettes are a hot commodity. A few guys had guns put to their heads as they were getting back in the vans. Then we had to have armed guards go in a separate vehicle and stay near the vans.

    Or did the route owner trust no one and keep the coin box keys to himself? No.

    Thanks.

    2 weeks later
    #2054 4 years ago
    Quoted from trumpy:

    not the WORST hack , but things aren't that expensive . found in a pop bumper, and how to repair bumper mounts . centre would of been CLOSE!! not
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    Well, the non-rigid lamp socket was actually a good modification that helps the Chinese junk lamps last longer than a day on location. These days LED's are fine though.
    The bumper bracket mods are long lasting and a welcome operator tactic to keep the games running.

    1 month later
    #2108 4 years ago

    When I was a route tech, broken coil stops, flipper and bumper bracket breaks on pins in bowling alleys were a joy. Every bowling alley had a welder and bench with a nice vise.
    The welded repair lasted forever. Never had to make a return trip with parts.

    4 months later
    #2202 4 years ago
    Quoted from pinballplusMN:

    A stern meteor. 4 inch screw through pf with nut on bottom compensating for bad bumper body.[quoted image]

    That's actually a very good on-location repair when parts are not on-hand. Remember, Meteor was pre-internet and just when Federal-Express was coming into the commercial world. Meteors were bringing in over $250-300 a week depending on location. You did not keep them off earning zero/day at all costs. We had to hack the shit out of Stern's crappy flipper mech plates and drop targets all over the place.

    14
    #2213 4 years ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    When you were doing work on location, what kind of parts did you carry? Did you go out with certain types of inventory for "regular" repairs. Did the types of repairs being called hacks here happen often where you did not have a needed part? How many times did you run into a problem that could not be repaired on location and have to carry the pin back to the shop?

    In the 5 1/2 years I worked for a route operator, I carried the Xcelite technician tool kit and three years into it replaced it with Jensen Tools Field Engineers tool kit. Also two old-school cardboard beer cases with one of every coil needed on the route. Coil stops, coil brackets, Flipper pawls, coil sleeves, a large box of springs, shooter rods, shooter housings, flipper buttons, joy sticks, Every contact blade and point type imaginable, Bumper ring & Rods. A nice hardware kit with 4-40, 6-32, 8-32 and 10-24/10-32 screws/bolts nuts flat and lock washers. Remember, this was prior to Home Despot/Blowes so hardware stores were not open late nor were many at all on Sundays.

    Also had a shoe box with an assortment of plastic parts including every flipper plastic housing we had on route, Bumper bodies, rollover buttons (all types), drop targets (all types including Game Plan garbage) Also light sockets not to mention fuses and every incandescent lamp type. Including flourescent tubes. Not just F15T8's either. Had to have them for the Juke/Jute boxes and cigarette machines. An unlit machine doesn't make money. The silly 25 or 40 standard incandescent bulbs for the Galaxians & Pac-Man machines. These parts were stored in two milk crates with boxes nested inside. My trunk was pretty full.

    I also carried all seven Bally AID/Solid State board part kits as I would sometimes repair a board on location if the kids in the game area were not too obnoxious. Or, I'd get to use the bowling mechanic's workbench as I carried soldering irons, solder wick and a Soldapult solder sucker.

    If it was an MPU issue and it was not fixed in 15 minutes, the board went back to the shop for a swap as we had had many spares. I also stayed in the shop two days a week repairing boards. Sound boards were brought back but the game remained operating. Did not work well on Gorgar, Centaur & EBD.

    We would only pull a game if we could not fix the board, Under warranty for 90 or 180 days as cut-throat operators would search for broken games and offer to put theirs in as a working game. We had CONtracts with most of our locations though. Also, we would pull heavily damaged games from break-ins. I'd say pulls on games we could not fix in two days was maybe ten that I went out on the calls for. Probably 40 during my time there by everyone.

    #2219 4 years ago
    Quoted from Skidave:

    Need a credit, slam or kick the coin door.[quoted image]

    On Williams machines with their stainless steel coin doors, strong kicks would pop the rejectors out of position. On Two chute doors, both would be laying in or on top of the coin box. On three chute doors, the left one would pop out but the others were just moved enough to jam all inserted coins.

    1 week later
    #2235 4 years ago
    Quoted from pinballplusMN:

    Aside from the wrong bumper cap,one has to admire the savings by using a flipper rubber to add life to a dead rebound rubber.[quoted image]

    Every pin with a rebound rubber at the PHoF has that. Only aboot half at VFW.

    1 week later
    #2251 4 years ago

    Nothing wrong with that. When a switch broke on the route, you used what you had or wnet to a Radio Shack or other electronics store and grabbed whatever would work. Heck, Wico, Great Amusement Emporium, Penn-Ray etc all sold universal switches to route operators to keep in the parts room.

    1 week later
    #2263 4 years ago
    Quoted from pinball_ric:

    Anyone know if this is some sort of hack or a legit model? Traces to the top and bottom resistors have been cut. And a diode run to the top resistor. This is a sega cpu from an xfiles
    [quoted image]

    That's a legitimate mod from a service bulletin.

    #2290 4 years ago

    A dab of Silastic/RTV/clear Silicone adhesive works great and remains pliable.

    2 weeks later
    #2336 4 years ago
    Quoted from chad:

    I guess they did not want tge prop bar moving.[quoted image]

    That's the Manual/Schematic/score card hold down. Standard on the LE & CE's.

    1 week later
    #2362 4 years ago

    A fuse measuring contest!

    #2398 4 years ago
    Quoted from JethroP:

    I'd rather fight than switch.

    Us Tarryton Smokers would.....

    1 week later
    #2402 4 years ago
    Quoted from pinballplusMN:

    Let the rectifiers hang in the air. That will dissipate the heat better.[quoted image]

    When you don't have the Bridge Rectifiers with straight leads for PCB mounting, the extended wire connection works fine. Hopefully no shorting occurs if the game gets shaken.

    The technician dressed the wires well with cable ties.

    1 month later
    #2514 4 years ago

    I see what you did there

    #2520 4 years ago
    Quoted from RichWolfson:

    [quoted image]

    Q: Why do the British drink warm beer?
    A: Because Lucas makes refrigerators.

    1 month later
    #2613 3 years ago
    Quoted from Foo:

    Need a switch cover... no problem. Where's my black rattle can at...[quoted image]

    All that was needed was to imprint "Gottlieb" on the paint can lid.

    1 month later
    #2666 3 years ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    Moral of the story: Always keep a supply of toothpicks on hand.

    I always got the toothpicks from the location bar as needed. I'd wrap electrical tape around the toothpick so it wouldn't vibrate out.

    #2667 3 years ago
    Quoted from iamdrunker:

    The screw is probably in the coin box.

    We had different employees as well as one of the owners who collected the cash from the machines. If a screw ended up in our Klopp coin counters, into the shitcan it went. They would get quite angry having to get out a screw as would usually be jammed quite tight near the star "gear" that ran the counter and shut off circuit if they were wrapping quarters.

    4 months later
    #2837 3 years ago

    I got brass ones from the Bally parts department when it existed. Aluminum ones from Wico and Amusement Emporium.

    1 month later
    #2900 3 years ago
    Quoted from algrande:

    WTH???
    [quoted image]

    Oh, an RD Network. Covered in Circuits 205....

    #2908 3 years ago

    WMS: "Wires May Sizzle"

    #2919 3 years ago

    Elevator Bolts for a quick-fix there.

    1 week later
    #2934 3 years ago
    Quoted from RobDutch:

    In all seriousness: who does things like these and why are they allowed near pinball machines?
    [quoted image]

    Route Operator service technicians do this. Job description is to "Get the machine up and running immediately" to bring income in to pay the technicians, game movers, company vehicle fees, and to fund the owner's new Mercedes.

    2 weeks later
    #2962 3 years ago
    Quoted from pinball4ever:

    Why spend 20 cents on new flipper rubber when you can just take an old crusty piece that broke off and a tube of super glue and fix it? You don't use the back side of the flipper, so you don't need anything there anyway, right?[quoted image]

    Great, now Clay is going to have us do that going forward. Even though there are 10,000 new ones in the parts department.

    2 months later
    #3027 2 years ago

    No flipper rubbers needed on the Spiderman at the TA truck stop in Rawlins, Wyoming.

    20210318_150127 (resized).jpg20210318_150127 (resized).jpg20210318_150134 (resized).jpg20210318_150134 (resized).jpg
    #3031 2 years ago
    Quoted from shirkle:

    Hey now, the upper flipper has one. Here's the thing that gets me...you'd think if it broke off it would still be jammed under something or in the trough. But if the game is still working and the rubber isn't somewhere in the game, someone must have taken the glass off, taken the broken rubbers out, not replaced them, and thought it was all good.

    I did not see any sign of broken flipper rubbers on that machine. They were missing on purpose....

    #3058 2 years ago
    Quoted from Markharris2000:

    I have to say that looking at the age of the repair, I am pretty impressed any tech had enough gumpshun to do that and the result was probably more quarters for years! I suspect that fix was a passed-down through the ages brute-force fix probably scratched down on a page in his/her tech note rattling around the the toolbox for years. Its kinda ugly but kinda marvelous too!

    I recall seeing that "emergency field repair" tip in either Star Tech Journal or Play Meter Magazine in '79 or '80.

    #3061 2 years ago
    Quoted from Quench:

    Heh, his genius might have ended at that transistor because the board had underspec TESLA branded parts:
    10,000uf, 15V capacitor instead of 20V (anyone who's regularly worked on those Bally boards knows the voltage on that capacitor can sometimes be as high as 17 volts).
    5 Volt, 2 Amp regulator instead of 3 Amp.
    [quoted image]

    All of the Bally authorized distributors sold 3 amp 5VDC regulators as replacements for the solenoid driver/regulator boards. Empire/Bally Midwest, Bally Advance, etc.

    2 months later
    #3156 2 years ago
    Quoted from Tuukka:

    That's a Wico add-on sound board designed to replace chimes in EM games. Quite rare.

    Wico sold shitloads of them. Mainly used in early SS games with chimes. As soon as Solid-State sounds came out, play dropped on the chime games. Those $79.00 sound boards helped prop up play. Gottlieb Sinbad was a great example. Made tons of money then died when Dragon came out. We went to locations and added the sound boards. Brought the cash box right back up.

    #3160 2 years ago
    Quoted from undrdog:

    What did it sound like? Did they have custom sounds for each title?

    Universal board for "any" game. Blip-blip tones.

    #3163 2 years ago
    Quoted from zacaj:

    I've got a board in one of my EMs that seems to be semi-programmable via jumper wires. It's got a giant grid of holes that someone has hand jumped shut in some way, and it can make a variety of simple synth sounds, but not just one-off things. Some even have their own patterns, or can play little multi-note tunes. All done without a CPU somehow. Wish I had a manual

    We installed them in the games with the jumpers in the default positions. Installed them as soon as we received them. IIRC, Penn-Ray and The Great Amusement Emporium also sold them. There may have been slight differences between each one.

    2 weeks later
    #3237 2 years ago
    Quoted from pinballplusMN:

    Eightball deluxe socket repair for backglass lamp
    [quoted image]

    We did that all the time on the routes. Sometimes directly solder the wires to the pins. Usually ty-wrap the tube in place too.

    #3240 2 years ago
    Quoted from Pin-Pilot:

    Makes changing bulbs a little tedious

    Those preheat tubes usually lasted a year or so. Most pins were rotated back through the shop where we had most parts in stock. We'd replace the broken socket as part of "shopping" the game to place at a different location.

    2 months later
    #3250 2 years ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    [quoted image]

    In that location and it's not a Stern machine....

    #3256 2 years ago
    Quoted from Robotworkshop:

    Found on a Bally Space Invaders. That is a use for a protoboard that I wouldn't have expected. Two pieces of circuit board stacked to make a link.
    [quoted image]

    Bakelite's Bakelite. And the holes make it easy to custom shape with just a coping saw. Yes, I carried one, and a Hacksaw in my auxiliary tools in a Stroh's heavy cardboard beer case.

    #3262 2 years ago
    Quoted from hocuslocus:

    half the coils in this game were covered in hot glue and grease. Seen the grease before, but hot glue is a new one for me.
    Besides the plastic being melted a little from a soldering iron (I think), there wasn't much wrong with the coils themselves... so I'm not exactly sure why.
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    The hot glue minimized the wire harness wires, Wire eyes and the solenoid windings from breaking off of the coil wire eyes. The small movement of the coil, when energized, took a toll on this stuff. Driving out to Bel-Mark lanes on a snowy Sunday night when I was on-call, to solder a wire onto a Flipper Coil, sucked hind tit. 38 miles each way.

    2 weeks later
    #3299 2 years ago
    Quoted from kevmad:

    I looked it up. Produce code 4060 is broccoli, not bananas. So someone had broccoli for dinner and decided to use the bands for their flippers. This thread continues to amaze me. Just when I think I’ve seen it all…

    Another money-saving idea for the 3" Flipper games at PHoF; More money for charity and to pay the loan!

    At least use them for the rebound rubber on the top playfield arch. Why waste a proper Flipper rubber.

    #3302 2 years ago
    Quoted from DCP:

    They also work nicely on the Bally/Stern solenoid driver boards. I've gotten a couple of older boards running again by using the psu5. You can't get the LM323K regulators any more, unless you want to get one from Digi-key for $71.17 each. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/LM323K-STEEL-NOPB/6200

    Where the hell is Poly-Paks when we need them? There was usually an LM323 in their $1 grab bags...

    1 month later
    #3332 2 years ago
    Quoted from Pintopia:

    STTNG I just picked up a little coin door mod…[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

    Looks like for Token use at a particular arcade.

    1 month later
    #3374 2 years ago
    Quoted from girloveswaffles:

    Kind of like this one:[quoted image]

    That is awesome. All of that wiring in an attempt to bypass the missing right slingshot coil on Zip-A-Doo......

    2 weeks later
    #3411 2 years ago
    Quoted from Deleenhe:

    My new AFM, works (mostly) but some sketchy repairs.
    [quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

    The shooter solenoid fix works well to avoid buying a new $10.00 (plus shipping) coil. Typical failure of the winding snapping off at the wire terminal. A better fix is to unwind one more turn of wire and reattach to the wire tab for a more vibration resistant connection.
    What is shown is likely fine for home use.

    1 week later
    #3446 2 years ago
    Quoted from Tommy_Pins:

    The good old days....hard to believe we survived 7-10 day shipping.

    Sorry, the Flipper coil stops for your Gorgar (new design) are on Backorder. Tough titty.....

    1 week later
    #3452 2 years ago

    From my Route days: For games without Auto-launch mechs, we would carry and use a large file to get rid of the "mushroom". Then bend back the "fingers" on the shooter gauge by 1/8-3/16" to make up for the shortened shooter rod.

    #3454 2 years ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    Could you push a couple of small washers into the new tip before installing it to take up some slack?

    You could, and we tried that along with plastic spacers similar to circuit board standoffs. the problem in a commercial environment is that the weight of the spacers quickly caused the rubber tip to launch into the shooter lane causing a ball jam in the lane or on the playfield. Usually within a week. Again, on location, not in a home environment.

    #3456 2 years ago
    Quoted from Robotworkshop:

    Can't you unbolt the whole housing with rod to take out of the machine? The outside grind that off or cut the rod. Either way definitely get a new shooter rod.

    You can, in the shop. You would need a complete assembly. We only carried a spare shooter rod for Bally, Williams & Gottlieb to replace ones that idiot players bent. (IIRC, you could use one of them with Stern machines). We did not carry the shooter rod guides. In order to swap the guides, springs, Washer by the E-Clip, you had to grind away the mushroomed tip. At that point, you could re-use everything. The Route owner was one cheap SOB who watched service part costs closely. Best to file in the cabinet as it acted as a Vise. At a bowling alley, I used their mechanic's shop for certain things like this, But not so at a 7-11, pool hall, Bar, strip joint (Yes, we had pins there) etc.

    1 week later
    #3476 2 years ago
    Quoted from vec-tor:

    That brings me back to the good o'l rout days.

    That was one thing on the route. NEVER, EVER, bypass a fuse. If the game caught fire and took out a location, our insurance carrier warned us that liability coverage could be void if it was discovered.

    #3478 2 years ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    I never thought about liability issues when you have a game on location. So, I'm guessing if you had a pin catch fire and burn a place down that the insurance company will be fine tooth combing it as it looks for a way out of contract obligations.
    Without a jimmied fuse, is it possible for a pin to spontaneously combust? Could a shorted transformer cause a pin to catch fire?

    Yes regarding the transformer, but the obnoxious smell begins to waif for days. Then, usually, it simply opens and the chance of a fire is gone but the machine is dead.
    The best I can say is that Insurance Companies are your friend, until something goes wrong.

    #3504 2 years ago
    Quoted from WW2GURU:

    Yes that is a flat 4 trailer connector scabbed onto the rails.....
    [quoted image]

    Keyed with high current capability. Looks good to keep a game working and earning for a low price.

    4 months later
    #3588 1 year ago
    Quoted from tomdrum:

    Phillips head deck screws are antique now. T20 & T25 Torx are the current standard.

    Thompson Head are quite popular too.

    1 month later
    #3724 1 year ago
    Quoted from Sputnik:

    Use .22 magnum to replace a slow blow fuse. .22 LR for standard fuses and .22 short for fast acting fuse replacment. Information from Moe Ron`s book of pinball repair.

    .22 Short on the 190 volt DC regulator circuit on early Bally SS pins.

    #3746 1 year ago
    Quoted from Cheddar:

    This is an accepted method of fixing floating ground issues on a Gottlieb.

    That extra touch of Quality and Originality....

    1 week later
    #3823 1 year ago
    Quoted from ryanbrooks:

    And I thought the zip tied duct tape was bad…how does this shit find me?
    [quoted image]

    Looks like Mondial worked out a JV between Bally/Midway and Gottlieb.

    1 week later
    #3837 1 year ago
    Quoted from bayoubilly70:

    Probably not the worst, but this one's always fun...
    [quoted image]

    Quoted from Pinball_Postal:

    For some reason I have to think that whoever did this was not aware that a proper repair was possible. Or maybe they thought this was the only way to repair it. It certainly took a lot more time and effort to do it wrong.

    Quoted from undrdog:

    They didn’t have crimps or a crimper. What’s a guy to do?

    Bally actually taught this as well as soldering a few burnt connectors wires to the Test points to get a machine running and making money when a technician didn't have the proper parts.

    2 weeks later
    #3882 1 year ago
    Quoted from Billc479:

    Gee - I wonder if this is why my solenoids sometimes seem weak on my Centaur.
    (BR2)
    [quoted image][quoted image]

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

    1 month later
    #3914 1 year ago

    Wear safety glasses when trying to operate those backwards installed transistors.

    The burnt R16 doesn't really matter either....

    #3919 1 year ago
    Quoted from Pintopia:

    Hmm… something looks suspicious…
    [quoted image]

    Looks like that Varistor did its job properly. Replace with a new one for continued protection.

    2 months later
    #3992 1 year ago
    Quoted from Zigzagzag:

    Backside of my Congo driver board.
    Currently waiting for a new one that I ordered ...
    [quoted image]

    The lesson is don't overfuse a pinball machine.
    It's a good repair since new boards were hard to get for machines that were new. Like today with "Node" boards.

    2 months later
    #4112 11 months ago
    Quoted from Quench:

    Haven't got the right bridge rectifier handy, make one!
    [quoted image]
    [quoted image]

    BTDT, at Bel-Mark Lanes, in Ann Arbor. On a Sunday in 1980 or so.
    Building was recently converted to a Tesla dealership!

    #4119 11 months ago
    Quoted from Quench:

    Heh, if you could just see how thin the four connecting wires actually are.

    I presume your work was probably more straight forward like this at BR2
    [quoted image]

    More like the one on the left. What sucks is that the bridge always fails in a shorted mode so you have to disassembe the board from the heat sink to cut out the shorted bridge.

    #4121 11 months ago
    Quoted from KenH:

    ...I would have to pull the board and do it right---which would probably take less time and effort than doing it wrong.

    Agreed, but for awhile, those rectifiers were impossible to get. Even through Bally. We did this with parts we had in our vehicles. Kept those EK's, Mata Hari's, LW's and SaS's making money....

    #4123 11 months ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    When you were repairing pins for a living, I assume you stocked on repair parts and kept them in your vehicle. But it must be impossible to take every part on the road.
    How many times---if you can count them- how many times were you at a location to make repairs only to find yourself without the needed part?

    10% of the time. Improvising substitutes kept things to this level. If something was left i operative, the night shift tech would go out with the part. Or, we'd pick one up at one of the distributors if we were on the correct side of town. There were three major distributors in the area who stocked parts in those days.

    #4127 11 months ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    Is this where the "hacks" came in?

    Route operators did not consider them hacks. Game is on and making money? Attaboy!!!!

    16
    #4129 11 months ago
    Quoted from pinballplusMN:

    Sounds like you have lots of history and stories to tell from the ss Era. I started operating in 1985 as a teenager so a little post video boom etc.
    Curious on what got thrown away back in your day of operating. Also, what games like lw,ebd etc earned when new.
    Sorry to go off topic.

    We had ten EBD's in Detroit-area Billiard rooms including a"chain" with four locations. One of them did $450.00 to 500.00 per week. The others at least $250.00
    All on a 50-50 split.
    Lost World was pretty good at $200.00/week. Kiss started out good at $250 but quickly tanked to $125 to 150. We got our first allocation of five from Empire Distributing (who became Bally Midwest). Before we got our 2nd five, we saw the coin drop tank so we cancelled the rest of the order. We let competing operators hold that bag.

    Examples of throwing stuff out were Williams Hyperballs. Into the dumpster they went. We had to smash them with sledge hammers first. They went from bringing in $400/week to under $40 in under two months. Distributors would not sell them on credit. That was the big warning. I kept one backglass and set of boards. I eventually threw out the boards as they were useless.

    The best example though were the Mylstar M*A*C*H 3 laser disc games. We had ten of those expensive hunks of junk (one was the sit-down model). They started out bringing on $600-700 per week. A few weeks into it, they started failing. Laser disc player repairs were slow. Operators stopped making payments on them. Distributors demanded payment or they would repossess them. We said great; no need to repossess, we'll bring them back to you. You already have the broken Pioneer laser disc players so you can have the rest of the hardware.
    They said wait, just give us the Rom board and keep or shitcan the rest. They even gave us the repaired laser disc players back as Pioneer repaired them. Every service tech had a laser disc player at home. We threw the cabinets into the dumpster, one per week. All we saved were the coin doors and cashboxes. This is basically what killed Mylstar.

    #4134 11 months ago
    Quoted from bob_e:

    I cant remember the name of the 1st laser disc game at Abby Road. UG sucks getting old but it was 50 cents a play

    Dragon's Lair. With the Pioneer Disco Vision laser disc player....

    #4137 11 months ago

    "To slay the dragon; use the Magic Sword".....

    #4140 11 months ago
    Quoted from girloveswaffles:

    And by design, there was no 1 coin 1 play mode. There was a hack where you could use a diode and jumper one coin switch with the other and it would trigger both, and it would only advance the coin meter once.

    And within a few weeks, greedy Route Operators, like the one I worked for, had us jack the prices on our Ms. Pac Man and Rally X games to $0.50 per game.
    They were baffled that revenue dropped by 70%. Within another two weeks, we set everything back to $0.25 per play.
    By then, the Laser Disc games [that were still working] started to tank....

    1 week later
    28
    #4169 11 months ago

    cfh was working on a pin today and ran across this. When a chime plunger's nylon tip falls off and you dont have another, simply fit the eraser end of a pencil (#2 or #3) onto the tip end of the plunger. Rub the eraser on the inner cabinet or floor to "tune" the chime using calibrated ears.....

    704252271 (resized).jpg704252271 (resized).jpg
    #4174 11 months ago
    Quoted from Tuukka:

    As much as I do appreciate cfh's work, I think adjusting the makeshift plungers rubber tip does not do very much to tune the chime.

    That was what he found. He removed it and installed a new chime plunger with nylon tip.

    20230412_142511 (resized).jpg20230412_142511 (resized).jpg
    1 month later
    #4179 9 months ago
    Quoted from dudah:

    Whirlpool ramp is out of order
    [quoted image]

    Be sure to lower the price per play until repaired....

    Too soon?

    1 month later
    #4265 8 months ago
    Quoted from ArcadeRaid:

    Been meaning to post this one for a while and since I’m doing some switch maintenance seemed like a good time to snap a pic.
    Someone hacked the drop target reset arm assembly back together after the end snapped off. Likely done while it was on route back in the early 1980s. It came to me like this 36 years ago and the zip ties are still going strong. They have been on there doing their job since at least 1987, possibly earlier.
    Ironically, the zip ties have held longer than the original metal.
    [quoted image]

    Panduit (Tinley Park, Illinois) makes good stuff....

    #4272 7 months ago
    Quoted from koen12344:

    cue tip used as spacer(?) on Road Show wireframe
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    Service techs carried them as most route ops had pool tables on the route. Push on tips with a dab of Tweeten's ten minute cement worked wonders on pool cues. We didn't put on standard leather tips in the field, we'd bring the sticks back to the shop where a pro would properly install new tips. The same cement worked wonders on Seeburg cold drink vending machine ice maker insulation that was flaking off.

    1 week later
    #4294 7 months ago

    I can't tell you how many broken, dried-out rubber rings I've seen "repaired" with staples here in Vegas....

    #4300 7 months ago
    Quoted from alf_1968:

    Williams - Gorgar
    Big mistake...
    [quoted image]

    Definitely a repaint?
    I could see it happening in production as those machines were in high demand when first released
    The money was flowing and Williams wouldn't want to delay any sales.

    1 month later
    12
    #4410 6 months ago
    Quoted from Mk1Mod0:

    Not the worst, just typical Bally operator hackery.
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    We kept 'em making money in the field.....

    2 weeks later
    10
    #4464 5 months ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    Not really a hack but a no slotted screw head. I saw this once at work but not in pinball. This is for a score reel EOS if it isn’t obvious to some.
    [quoted image]

    Manufacturing defect. Contact Williams for a free replacement.

    1 month later
    #4508 4 months ago
    Quoted from DCRand:

    So along the lines of operators doing whatever it takes to keep a game going. Have friends where the wife was just diagnosed with ALS. Their game had been down for a couple months. She really wants her grandkids to be able to play Thanksgiving Day. They are over an hour away. So my attitude was whatever it takes to get it going. Along with three other problems being fixed, did the attached hack myself. Game works, and if just through Turkey Day till I can replace the board, that’s ok.
    [quoted image]

    Why replace the board? Your fix is fine and not a hack.

    The wipers don't make contact in that area. That trace likely fried due to overfusing or a short-circuit caused by accident (such as a fastener falling across blades on a relay or solder splash etc....

    1 month later
    #4520 80 days ago
    Quoted from Sputnik:

    I picked up a Lost World project, they it was working until some smoke came out. F4 had a 25 amp fuse in it, might be something to do with hole burned in board by the bridge.
    Some nice wiring hacks also.
    [quoted image]

    Like the old fuse 5-packs say: "Electricity's Safety Valve"....

    20240107_142837 (resized).jpg20240107_142837 (resized).jpg
    1 week later
    #4538 72 days ago
    Quoted from Billc479:

    Really? The screw was in the bottom of the cabinet.
    [quoted image]

    Usually, the threade were stripped in the flipper base plate.

    2 weeks later
    #4550 56 days ago
    Quoted from statictrance:

    Is this the worst? Nah. Is it maybe the laziest or saddest? It's up there.
    [quoted image]

    Some people can’t solder, that's all....

    #4551 56 days ago

    We'll get that coil lug to stay put, and maybe hold the coil winding wire too. But, where is the 2nd diode????

    20240130_122113 (resized).jpg20240130_122113 (resized).jpg
    #4559 53 days ago
    Quoted from vec-tor:

    That is the quick and dirt rout repair. All operators did that to Bally flipper coil stops.

    Short Drywall screws sure came in handy with the Linear flipper abominations. If we had time we carried 6-32 machine screws and nuts. We could fish the nuts in with tape and a tongue depressor or popsicle stick to avoid complete disassembly...

    #4560 53 days ago
    Quoted from wrd1972:

    Outline difficulty settings set to easy. Lol.
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    Is that a Monte Carlo or a $5000.00 Odds & Evens?

    10
    #4564 52 days ago
    Quoted from cottonm4:

    On average, how much time did you spend on a pin to get it working again?
    Did you have to account for your time with the boss?
    At what point would a pin be too far gone and returned to the shop?

    Not counting the many usual coin-jams which took a minute or two, most repairs were 10-20 minutes. Only accounting was calling in service calls to mark them completed.

    Pin and video maintenance/cleaning visits required a few hours. Video game monitor cleaning was a pain on most Atari videos.

    We had coin jams galore being in a border town with Canada. Canadian Quarters were usually worth twenty US cents so they were popular for use in cigarette machines. Those multi-coin slug rejectors often had the bent/magnet caught coin wiper broken off so you had to clear the jam and swap out the rejector.

    The only time we pulled machines before normal game rotation was if the cabinet was destroyed due to a crowbar break-in. This happened when a crook hid in the bowling alley at closing time and then went to work once the building was vacated.

    Some would open an entry door and let in helper crooks and empty all the machines. Plus the safe in the office, vending machine cash and the cigarette machines of all contents. Also, full bottles of booze from the bar(s).

    3 weeks later
    #4615 29 days ago
    Quoted from steve-o:

    Machine: Williams Tri Zone
    Not the worst hack/repair… but really, who needs a volume control potentiometer when you have duct tape and a shop towel to reduce your machines volume.
    SMH
    [quoted image]

    Locations would do that if the night shift didn't get the day shift to have the operator or coin collector reduce the volume. When it was a non-protective grill, an ice pick wad used to poke shitloads of holes in the cone.

    3 weeks later
    #4634 6 days ago
    Quoted from alf_1968:

    Bally - Lost World
    New pop bumper fiber yoke, I've never seen. XD
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    Old EM part

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