(Topic ID: 28788)
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2 months later
Quoted from Colsond3:It continues.
"Oh man, the left flipper is sagging down a little bit."
Buddy - "No no no. Dang it. Put that darn Allen key away. I have a nice screw we can put it right through the playfield and you'll never have that problem again."
The infamous flipper rest mod.
WTF is it with people putting screw holes in playfields!!!! And is that another hole just the the lower tip of the same flipper? Like they tried the bottom tip of flipper screw mod, and after putting it in found that oh yea, the ball might hit it, so moved the fng screw to the more reasonable and attractive mid flipper position?
2 weeks later
Really???? They couldn’t have found nails with bigger heads and maybe a file pattern on top? No wonder the ball was rusty and pitted and the pf has deep swirls everywhere. And please don’t tell me this is factory original. OMG pulled one and shame on me. It is factory coil assembly mounting screws but installed on top of the Mylar bumper protectors. So what the heck to do about this????
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Yes looks like someone carefully pulled them out, put down adhesive mount Mylar, then put them back over the Mylar. Ball hits all 9 of them. Don’t want to take a chance on pulling up Mylar. So will take your advice and grind smooth (they come out pretty easily) polish, then cover w 1” Mylar and replace bumper skirts.
10 months later
So not sure these are hacks so much as just weird wood modifications. Seems some owner of this game thought wood, carriage bolts, and nails were the solution for everything. Bent a leg, so filled in all the legs with 2 X 2 wood with carriage bolts. Put plywood reinforcement behind top of back box cover. Nailed plywood over cabinet bottom, and had to remove bottom switch to do it and just left it laying in bottom of cabinet still connected electrically. Put small nails on all sides of shooter housing. Reinforced the sides of the back box with metal angle brackets, with you guessed it, carriage bolts through the cab. And I just bought the game last night and started working on it today. Who knows what will find next.
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Quoted from Darcy:Must of suffered from a whole bunch of shaking and nudging.
And the reason they probably bent a leg.
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Quoted from Ronnie1114:Who needs a power switch under the game...[quoted image]
That's just criminal, and you have to reach further to get to it than reaching under the game. Idiots abound.
6 months later
Quoted from RandyW:Same. I have, with clients permission, just super glued these back on as well. Bad design, they just don't last long. Chuck an LED in there and glue it together.
Had the same problem with an EBD I think it was Steve from PBR who suggested small amount of clear caulk so they could be pried apart later if need be.
1 month later
Quoted from gutz:Are they corked too?
Probably, didn't even try them and already out of the game.
Quoted from PghPinballRescue:Corked?
You have to be of a certain age and a baseball fan to get this one. Lol
2 weeks later
Quoted from FunkyFreshWalrus:Just making sure I brought all my screwdrivers with me.[quoted image]
I try to be totally anal about using the correct screw. But in a pinch if it were the last thing I needed to get the machine going, yep, I'd do this.
Well not exactly a bad hack. But why wouldn’t you just solder the main wire directly to the middle of the socket instead of messing with these little bitty jump wires? Half the sockets in the game have these, and a quarter of them have broken loose.
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Quoted from Foo:What outlane? [quoted image]
Can't tell you how many games I have bought where some moron did this with added posts, or just nails. But had a new one this month, 4 holes driven through the play field from screws replaced in under play field brackets. How much time does it take to check your screw length?
Quoted from Grandnational007:I knew before even seeing the coil cover that that was a sega machine; literally every one I've ever worked on, had a broken ball plunge coil bracket.
My current Baywatch came in with a welded bracket, that is surprisingly square.
Have to admit, not on a Sega, but I did repair a coil stop bracket by bolting a small angle bracket around the back side of the coil stop. Didn't have an extra stop, wanted to get the game going, and the bracket was heavier guage.
5 months later
Quoted from Tallon:Or at the very least “all original”
How do you know they didn’t originally use zip ties?
1 month later
4 weeks later
Quoted from Jahkub:This threaded hook will work for a leg bolt right?
Might as well put a nut on the backside as well.
The cabinet was so rotten it was easiest just to pull the bracket straight through the corner, poor Dolly.
[quoted image]
Ingenious, hold on the leg. And give you a place to hang your purse.
1 month later
Quoted from RobDutch:Who needs connectors anyway? Just solder all wires to the board and add some funky hacks! Make sure to cause a short so atleast one of the opto's will blow.
In all seriousness: who does things like these and why are they allowed near pinball machines? Found "awesome" solder jobs all over the game.. Luckily the boards in backbox are untouched, as far as I can tell at least..
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Looks like they used paper clips, I am sure they are not, but....
1 month later
Quoted from Hadojae:This is my BTTF that I am working on slowly. I had to rebuild the flippers because the coils were backwards and one was held up by a blue wire tied around the coil and baseplate. (Picture) To try and keep the coil snug there was electrical tape around the end with a part of a clothespin on one coil and the other was crammed with post it notes. Some screws in the baseplate were missing and some were completely the wrong size. The screws on the posts behind the drop targets had broken off so someone decided it was a good idea to drill new posts rather than remove the broken screws and use those. The main ramp was held together by old yellow epoxy, some tape, and the screw was hot glued on to make it look like it was attached. Of course, it has been fun fixing it up.
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Wow, just wow. So much easier than doing it the right way.
2 weeks later
This isn’t the worst. And sorry I didn’t take a pic. But spent a while trying to figure out why a Top Score always started a two player game. Only to find out someone soldered a jumper wire in the main cabinet so it would do that on purpose. Why??????
1 week later
So this is hopefully a good hack. Flipper link on 1950 Spot Bowler and found the hole on one end of the link was seriously oval and allowed too much slop. Don't know if the part is available or not. But was a Sunday morning and wanted a fix that day. However, with the rod attached to it, couldn't just replace it from parts on hand. So drilled the out of round hole to just bigger than the smallest washer on hand that fit over the tension pin. Filled the hole with 4 washers, drove in a replacement tension pin, works perfectly.
IMG_7969[1] (resized).JPGIMG_7970[1] (resized).JPG 1 week later
This is a 2 fer. Apollo just picked up. Who needs to replace the cord to get a longer cord. Just tape 3 wire 3 prong cord to the 50 year old 2 wire 2 prong cord. Then have seen more than one machine with plates and rods added to go across a coin door. But to go across the back box cover? And they even very neatly cut slots into the back box door for the plates to fit through. The rod was long since gone. And the plates will be soon. But think I will polish the bolt heads and leave them in.
IMG_8148[1] (resized).JPGIMG_8157[1] (resized).JPGIMG_8158[1] (resized).JPGQuoted from Tuukka:Back in EM days, if a game was in a dark corner, clever kids used a large screwdriver to pry the backbox cover open a little from one side, then turned the credit unit wheel to maximum with a bicycle spoke. We mounted a microswitch detecting open cover and a loud alarm inside the backbox. Also securing rods like that were used.
I guess I am just too honest. Would have never thought of prying open a back box. Not to mention, sticking a bicycle spoke into a cabinet with live electricity? Kind of a Darwin test. But like others mentioned, always on the look out for coin return change or free credits. Also, most of my playing was at the local roller rink, where we had the 4 Square dialed in. Would run it up to 15 games, then sell them for a buck and a half. Wait till the kid lost them, then do it again. Bet the operator wondered why 4 Square wasn't a good earner. LOL
1 month later
So not really or maybe a hack? But if you are going to go through the trouble of taking the pops off of the pf to apply stick on clear pop ring protectors. How much more trouble would it have really been to do the paint touch up first? And of course, putting on a complete ring on all the pops would have maybe been a good idea.
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Not the single worst. But collectively on one game? I particularly like the neatly penned in missing letters where it’s worn to the wood. Oh and the empty middle hole in the lockdown bar. They apparently drilled all three holes with the locking portion backward, then had to turn it around and the holes didn’t line up.
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Quoted from cysnake:This was also done on the main harness.....
[quoted image]
And if something isn't working, it is probably the orange wire.
1 month later
Quoted from slochar:coil stop bracket for bally made out of a window shade bracket.
Brilliant!![quoted image]
I agree, Brilliant. Should get hack of the day award.
Quoted from ryanbrooks:Def not the worst, but saw this on an EM my brother is working on at the shop this morning. I’m not sure which I’ve seen more times-foil on fuses/fuse holders or my best friends mom naked…
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Yes, but this foil has a unique purpose. Most of the time it is to jump around the fuse. In this case I think it is just to create something for the alligator clip to bite on to hold the fuse in place.
Quoted from ryanbrooks:Opened a game from the warehouse today…this time the foil was used to jump around the fuse.
[quoted image]
Well, it says slo blo, and foil would be pretty slo.
4 months later
Quoted from danczaz:A lot going on here!
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
I think "Castillo" wants his inspected by label back.
Quoted from PlanetExpress:Not the worst, but funny that someone bought a new box of copper crush sleeves to repair the rubbers… came with the Jacks Open I picked up:[quoted image]
What a waste, since by the time they break, they need to be replaced anyway. Maybe copper was cheaper than rubber that year?
Quoted from Knxwledge:From that same White Water. Otherwise pretty nice game. Customer wants all new ramps, boulders, plastic set, topper plastic
[quoted image]
Clamps, glue, finish nailer, actual tiny head drywall screws, super glue, interior blocks? I mean, come ooonnnn man, there are so many alternatives to the biggest fat head screw laying around your work bench.
Quoted from MtnFrost:I picked up "The Games" for very cheap. So I open up the pf once home to check on things, and there's a burnt coil. Ok, fine. And then I see the fuse situation. Going to have fun cleaning this one up. But the boards in the head are spotless. So there's that. I get the impression the PF glass hadn't been removed in a very long time. The dried shrivelled playfield rubbers said the same. The plastics however are really clean and flat. Odd.
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Those are the new 5,000 amp overload fuses guaranteed to fail right after the house burns down.
Quoted from MtnFrost:Best place to get fuses? Marco? Home Depot? Ace?
No, the grocery store. Buy that there aluminium foil by the roll.
4 weeks later
Quoted from Schwaggs:Wire nuts AND tape. How thorough!
That was my first thought. The time it took to tape after using wire nuts. Sigh.
Quoted from pinballinreno:They look great!
But if you are going to go to all that trouble for the "look", at least polish the acorn nuts.
1 week later
Quoted from ryanbrooks:And I thought the zip tied duct tape was bad…how does this shit find me?
[quoted image]
Is the knocker sound now "ding dong"?
7 months later
Quoted from Gornkleschnitzer:Look between the baseplate and the coil bracket.
This hack gives new meaning to the term "matching"!
Yep, unlit match used as a spacer. Who knows how long it has been there.
Quoted from cottonm4:I see the match now that you pointed it out. But it has been burned.
Actually kind of looks that way in the picture. But the head is blue and unlit. Thinking it is a new form of fuse. If the match lights, the game shuts down?
1 week later
Quoted from PinMario:This one deserves a medal, pure genius !
Wish I knew? Best guesses have been to stop vibration, or to line up the plunger and coil better. My personal belief is the tech could foresee the day there would be an internet, and knew there would be a pin forum. So wanted to give us something interesting to wonder about.
6 months later
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.
score reel board (resized).jpg 4 months later
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