So that's the new Steampunk shooter I've been hearing about. They come pre-rusted. How cool is that? Well worth the $179 they're asking.

Easily fixed without any need for fans.

https://www.pinballlife.com/lotr-special-flipper-coil-090-5020-2ot.html

Single wind flipper coils get hotter than dual wound coils, but I don't recall having a problem on any recent titles. On LOTR, you eventually couldn't make the middle ring (ramp) shot. It was painfully obvious the flipper weren't strong enough. I haven't seen any single title since then that has shown the same symptom. Even with the recent weak-ass default flipper power on JJP games, you can still at least barely make all the shots.

tl;dr if you can make all the shots in your game after playing for 30 minutes or more, you don't need fans

I've seen that a few times. Usually dad sheepishly explains he did it for the kids.

As long as there's evidence of kids in the house, I say no prob. Then I clean or replace the ring. I also offer to upgrade rubber bands blocking outlanes to actual rubber rings. They're usually down for that sweet (and cheap) upgrade.

I've played at least three games with them and haven't felt fade. You have to jack up the game to 7 degrees for them to play right. Actually too strong at 6.5 degrees. Will break all the little toys on the playfield either way, but way more fun to play with the strong coils.

I put the same coils in my Ripley's (also at 7 degrees, lower flippers only) and never felt fade. They're about the strongest single wind flipper coils available.

That's almost a perfect hack. Notice how they aligned the text on each 'rubber'. The R in produce is at the tip of both flippers. That didn't happen by coincidence.

Unfortunately major deductions for not pushing the left 'rubber' down far enough and the right 'rubber' is installed with the text upsidedown. Nice try.

That's the pinball equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. The only thing that would make it better is knowing he did it while the game was powered up, so he immediately realized that he made a bad decision (and possibly needed a ride to the hospital). Either way, dude should get some kind of award. That's an epic fail. Thanks for sharing.

Nice. Is it a reimport?

What little can be seen of that playfield looks spectacular. Even the magnet core looks minty. Was the game locked in an air conditioned vault for 20 years?

Saw a story recently saying soccer is now more popular than hockey in the US, but I had a feeling it wasn't from here. Confirmed.

I didn't operate games pre-internet, but things were different then. Games weren't left out for more than two or three years, so replacement parts were more likely to be available. You got your parts from the same people you got you games from, your distributor. The distributor had all the parts books and received parts directly from the manufacturers.

Back then, distributors only dealt with operators. Home buyers weren't a thing yet. Many distributors charged a one time fee to buy from them. Once onboard, it was to their benefit to keep their customers (operators) happy.

It's going to come up short after all that filing. Unfortunately, to replace it, you still need to file it down to get it out of the housing. File it down, remove it, install new one. Also, as mentioned not a hack. Just poor maintenance.

Besides that sweet brass heat sink, I like that row of fuses. It looks like the evolution of fuses over the last forty years. From the old timey spring loaded fuses to the latest and greatest squiggly fast blows. That rectifier board has it all. Should be in the Smithsonian.

That's spectacular. Awesome solder job too. 5 stars.

We really should have a vote for the top 10 hacks in this thread. Some of them are amazing on a number of levels.

I pulled Duracell's of the same vintage, month and year, out of an EATPM last week. It didn't go as well. Rob Anthony will have to spend some quality time with the CPU board before it will ever work again. Customer had no idea game had batteries. Twist: Duracell's in poster's game are DC Ultras and Elvira had DC Powerchecks, where you could test the battery by touching two spots on the battery.

Also, shocked to see how minty CN1 and CN2 look. Those are usually the first to get toasty.

IMG_20220815_143940_0 (resized).jpg

'She is a loathsome, offensive brute. Yet I can’t look away.'

That was obviously done on a Friday. A professional would've snipped off the ends of the zip ties closer.

When in doubt, drill. That's my policy.

Axles on spinner are probably tweaked, causing the spinner not to rest at the right position, mostly vertical. Clips add a little weight to pull the target into the right position. Easy enough to test. Take off clips and tape and see how the target sits.

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.

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

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 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?

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

See if you can spot at least two hacks on the board below. Solenoid driver board from a Bobby Orr Power Play. Only issue on the game currently is down center post coil doesn't fire in test or during play.

First issue is painfully obvious. Never make this mistake while doing board work as it never works. Ever. Second issue is more subtle, game specific, and frankly, makes no sense at all. I'm still scratching my head.

IMG_20221101_151350_8 (resized).jpg

Mostly right. Q17 was definitely installed backwards. Correct replacement part, tests good with a meter, just couldn't quite get the orientation right. So close.

I believe Q3 is a correct replacement, but I stopped checking when I realized this game doesn't use Q3. Maybe they took it out to use in another game and stuck something similar looking in to make it look good?

I want to see the other side of it. Solder connections don't look factory. Likely not the first varistor installed in that game. Sleeves look factory. It has what looks like a nice grill mark on the left side, but otherwise looks ok. Is the back blown out, or is this the replacement for the one that exploded before it and it's working fine? Pic of the back side please. We need more details.

Spectacular. A complete one side blowout. It gave it's life to save that game. Outstanding. I've replaced two blown out thermistors on WPC games over the years, but never a varistor. Keep one in the tool bag just in case.

Went back to this game today with new Q17 installed wondering a little if the earlier backwards transistor might've done some damage upstream when the game was powered up previously. Worked fine. Those SDB were an excellent design.

You shouldn't assume all the hacks you see here were done by operators. You also might want to consider the age of the game in question and how many hands it's passed through before you saw a picture of it.

When I had games out, I serviced and cleaned them once a week, whether they needed it or not. More and more operators are hobbyist today, as I was. Location maintenance has never been better. Don't be lazy and assume every hack you see here was done by an operator.

In my professional opinion, a bamboo skewer would've been a much better choice to solve that problem. Just sayin'.

Fish paper is for suckers when you have a toolbox drawer full of eraser heads.

Hurricane wasn't one of them. I believe there's a plastic piece that should be there, which you can see in the pic linked below. Factory piece is likely partially broken or they couldn't find a correct replacement, so they used something similar (for the glass) and put the hinge on top. You can probably find the correct part number for that part in the WMS parts book on Planetary website. Availability is going to be tough.

https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1257&picno=21796&zoom=1

So that the minimum wage slacker working at the change desk can free stuck balls, but can't give his buddies 40 free service credits. We didn't have cameras everywhere back then.

Looks like they switched specific wires (switches) rather than just the ground for all switches, but would have to look it up to be sure.

Knowing how crappy of fuse clips Data East used, there might not be continuity between outside fuses on top or bottom. The fuse ends look shiny, but I'm not so sure about those clips.

Underwear elastic will last a lot long than a rubber band.

Also, check that lower cabinet for a pile of broken rubber bands.

What game is it from? You need to remember that just 20 years ago, there was no Marco website or any other website selling pinball parts. So if you didn't have a distributor in your area with the part you needed, you were out of luck. That was back when you had to buy your way into a distributor. People off the street couldn't just walk in and buy parts. Had to have an account with the distributor. Not to single anyone out, but I think a lot of people forget just how hard it used to be to get parts. Even simple things like coil stops

I want to say that weld looks horrible, but I'm not a welder. Did it work?

Marco website came online in 2004, 19 years ago. Pinball Life website started in 2005. Pinball Resource was online before that, but that was it for parts in this country 20 years ago.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/Marcospecialties.com

I like how they added the finishing nail between the shaft and pawl, just to be sure. Epoxy works 99% of the time, finishing nail makes sure it works 100% of the time. Always keep finishing nails in your toolbox.

That AFM has seen some shit. Deserves a purple heart.

Doesn't look especially worn, more abused. How is the scoop? I'm tempted to recommend a proper burial for the playfield, but not just yet.