tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45149360012292029042024-03-13T05:50:34.838-07:00Evil Pinball Machine RestoringBBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-61848853060081407752010-05-31T08:14:00.000-07:002010-05-31T08:16:09.185-07:00Latest update...It has been over a year since my last blog, and nothing much has happened with our table.<br />In short, something appeared to be wrong with the right flipper diode. The right flipper now only works with half-strength. Dad soldered it once and it was fixed, but it has broken down again.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-24947916418523421992009-02-25T07:56:00.000-08:002009-02-25T08:08:43.196-08:001st blog of 2009!Well... it's sure been a long time since my last blog! Not that nothing happened to PinBot in the mean time.<br /><br />We have a new item to be concerned about: the plastic over the skillshot has a habit of breaking down. It's terrible! It's broken in 3 different places, and because of its shape, it's hard to glue. Worse, because of its position, we need to remove half the table in order to reach it. At the moment it's broken again, and occasionally breaks balls that are going up the skill shot.<br /><br />Anyway that didn't stop me from breaking my high score! Today I discovered:<br /><ol><li>There is a maximum bonus of 99,999 for this table. As the bonus multiplier is 5 max, this makes the maximum total outhole bonus: 499,995. I knew it had a special reward programmed for the top multiplier, but it also has a small program for the 99,999 bonus. I scored both at the same ball, quite possibly the best ball I ever played.</li><li>The table keeps track of more than 1 extra ball at the time. This is not on every table, but it is on PinBot.</li><li>The maximum Superkraft (= bonus for re-shooting a ball through the shooter, after putting a ball in the visor, letting a ball in through the ramp, or extra ball) is 10. I knew that, but I didn't know there was a special programme for that as well.</li><li>Even more fun: there is even a special programme for scoring 1,000,000 when you combine the 10 Superkraft with the 100,000 Skill Shot. It is kind of distracting though.</li><li>It is very well possible to make it into the HighScore without having at least 5 million in the Solar Power Score. I had 2,3 M points stored in there when I won it.</li><li>There is another extra ball for the 5th time you open the visor. There is no extra ball for the 10 Superkraft.</li></ol><p> </p><p>Anyway I just scored BIG! 9,4 million at least, close to the table's maximum! I made a video of me scoring the last few secs, and entering my name in the HighScore. I'm as proud as a duck can be.</p><p> </p><p>Cheers, BB</p>BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-53229940221588004712008-11-25T09:12:00.000-08:002008-11-25T09:18:24.991-08:00Pinbot Restauration Update, 25 November 2008After putting PB back together again, we had one screw too many, and the cover over the blue ramp (the robo head) missed a screw in the middle.<br /><br />Because it missed a screw, it pressed heavily onto the plastic that covers the vortex (skill shot snailhouse). When I was playing, the ball landed on the plastic dealie with great speed, causing it to break.<br /><br />Dad managed to fix Humpty Dumpty, and it's now back in place.<br />Dad also scored 5.4 million, and ended in the high scores.<br /><br />Today on playing, the wire of one switch let go. It now looks like it's back in place.<br />And today I broke another record: 7.4 million. Quite good considering there was under 5 million in the jackpot!<br />Poor Dad only spent two days in the high score list. It's my revenge for his cheating-making of the top score and being there for weeks.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-33229580740804017262008-11-17T08:37:00.000-08:002008-11-17T08:39:17.466-08:00Pinball Pictures<a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_29.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 570px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 427px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_29.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_30.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 570px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 427px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_30.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>For your entertainment, I'll place the pictures of the ball getting stuck. Above one is what I described in my 16 Nov update. </div><br /><br /><div></div></div>BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-8113397460553619442008-11-16T12:32:00.001-08:002008-11-16T12:34:31.080-08:00Wait! Update 16th November 2008So we just installed new rubber bands everywhere, and we have new balls.<br /><br />At playing, the ball got stuck in the right lane (path that leads to the right flipper), between the rubber bands on either side. We're now wondering whether the elastics are too thick, or the balls are too big.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-72962516328569251972008-11-16T12:18:00.000-08:002008-11-16T12:27:18.767-08:00PinBot Restauration Update 16th November 2008Last Tuesday, my father and I went to the Flipperwinkel in Arnhem, to purchase parts for our table.<br />Getting there was not easy: we had used instructions from Google Maps, which told us to exit the highway, drive to an industrial zone, drive a circle there, then go back the same way, and get back on the highway at the same place. It was mildly frustrating to say the least.<br /><br />We got there, and purchased a solenoid, lamps, rubber bands, a post, two locks, balls, several nuts and bolts, cleaner and table wax. We spent over 100 euros, which is much considering the money it took us to get it to us in the first place, and the maximum value which is 400 E. At least we've had a lot of fun from it!<br /><br />So over the course of the week, we had installed several of these. And today we made the Big CleanUp: removing particles from every section (sectionwise so it wouldn't get mixed up), cleaning, and replacing rubber bands.<br /><br />It took several hours. Nasty bits were a lamp in an awkward position, and of course the little rubber bands around the pinned section with the female android on it. On screwing that back together we needed help from on-line pictures, because we hadn't written anything down and we had dinner between the removal and the reinstallment of the parts. It was a major pain in the neck, but for now it seems like we're done!<br /><br />Except we're thinking we may need a new plunger. And the top broke on one of the pins.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-22127591926999674582008-11-02T06:32:00.001-08:002008-11-02T06:36:01.848-08:00PinBot Restauration Update: Nov 2nd, 2008It's been a while again, but this time, I have news!<br /><br />Our left slingshot was not working for quite some time. The same was for the outlanes.<br />It turned out to be one dirty latch, that stopped the low voltage current flow to the slingshot, so it didn't give points, but it did bounce the ball back. There are namely 2 currents that go to the elements: a low voltage one for the electronics, and a high voltage one to cause the movement.<br /><br />So, the left slingshot works! And we will soon go to the Flipperwinkel to get a rubber band set. Our flippers need rubber bands, apparently.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-84074574008834151222008-10-07T12:29:00.000-07:002008-10-07T12:33:13.629-07:00Pinball Repair Log 7 October 2008OK... it's been real lacking in the updates... College started and all that...<br />Not much happened in the past month. My sister accidentally deleted my high scores. I beat the 7 Million Points mark twice. We're close to finding out what is wrong with the left slingshot: I think that after that emergency repair with superglue, the rubber is too tight and is continuously pressing the switches.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-71513916090162807232008-09-07T13:20:00.000-07:002008-09-07T13:24:37.632-07:00Pinbot Restauration Update 7 September 2008Been two weeks since the last update... and not much happened. The most interesting thing that I've learnt, is that the timers can be altered using the menu. It's very well possible that, when we were just working our way through the configuration menu, we accidentally changed it ourselves. So there's not some "mysterious error" or "PinBot Phantom" that sneakily altered the timers for the drop targets and ramp.<br />...Bit of a shame, really... Oh well. Saves money on the exorcist.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-83132879224719014822008-08-23T01:44:00.000-07:002008-08-23T01:48:00.316-07:00Pinbot Restauration Blog 23 Aug 2008Yesterday I grabbed the microfibre cloth and scrubbed whatever I could reach on the playfield. Most of it is black, but the light coloured decorations on it looked awfully dirty, so I worked my fingers to the bone, trying to get it off. There's this undefinable brown muck on it, like real dirty frying grease.<br /><br />That fancy blue shiny cloth is not so fancy anymore, some of the threads were badly cut. And it's filthy!BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-63880557625381207372008-08-19T14:19:00.000-07:002008-08-19T14:25:56.431-07:00Pinbot Restauration Log 19 Aug 2008Managed to repair the elastic on the 13th. I fixed it with superglue. Dad's suggestion, and I'm amazed it works. I couldn't restore it myself, as it required for many covers (and screws) to be removed. But the rubber band is back in business.<br />The slingshot is still not functioning properly. It won't give points or cause flashing, although it bounces back. The ramp and outhole still give errors in test.<br /><br />I now hold the top 3 scores, close to beating my father's cheating. And today I managed to balance the ball directly on top of the pin in front of the drain.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-66198875253823543912008-08-12T12:50:00.000-07:002008-08-12T12:53:20.023-07:00Pinball Restauration Blog 12 Aug 2008Yesterday evening, while my father was playing, the elastic on the left slingshot snapped. Much to my surprise: I thought the one on the right would give in first.<br /><br />He asked me to attempt to repair it with superglue. I did, but when I wanted to put the band back, I discovered I needed to unscrew the entire lane cover first.<br /><br />So there'll be no playing for a while... :(BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-77372373895608797822008-08-11T12:31:00.000-07:002008-08-11T12:37:33.434-07:00Pinbot Repair Log 11 Aug 2008I've been a little low on the updates... it's just that there's not much to do until I'm able to pick up the lamps and rubber bands in a week. Another trip to Arnhem, yay.<br />In the mean time, I solved the high score issue by playing my fingers to the bone, scoring immensively on one ball and reaching 5,8 million points, thus knocking my father's fake score off first place!<br /><br />The dirt is still an issue. I can't stress enough how dirty it is. You just can't get below the glass without your hands getting dirty. Every wire you touch leaves these dark smudgy stains... every ball lodge salvation is icky...BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-15118594262508652322008-08-06T02:02:00.000-07:002008-08-06T02:10:08.763-07:00Pinbot Repair Log Aug 6 2008I'm now convinced the machine is either haunted, or has a will of its own.<br /><br />The left slingshot will sometimes work, and sometimes not work. Actually it always works, but won't always score points. Fortunately it only scores 10 points per hit, so I can live with that.<br /><br />The timing is still giving problems. Yesterday the drop targets would resurrect quicker than the ramp would lower.<br />(when you hit a drop target that's lit, the ramp goes up. You can then shoot a target under it for a lot of points, but the time is limited. The time that one or two targets stay down, is also limited. Usually the ramp lowers way before the targets resurrect, but yesterday it was the other way round.)<br />Right now, it's "repaired itself": the ramp lowers once again before the targets do, but strangely there is still not much time between the two, even if it was there before.<br /><br />A few days ago I advanced to the planet "Earth". It took us some time to figure out that making it so far meant the first "special" planet is Mars, not Jupiter. (For the record, you start at Pluto (Ahhh! Good old days) and make your way to the sun).<br /><br />I also cleaned the table a little with a dry microfibre cloth. It got incredibly dirty! Maybe I need to use some cleaner. Thing is, in order to clean it properly, we need to unscrew all the dealies first, which is going to take a long time.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-61774682590839966212008-08-03T04:07:00.000-07:002008-08-03T04:09:06.206-07:00Pinbot Restauration Update Aug 3 2008Been a while since last blog... The errors still haven't been found out, and worse there's a new one. Left slingshot is now refusing to work.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-6213578409044181132008-07-30T12:19:00.000-07:002008-07-30T12:36:51.710-07:00Pinball Repair Log 30 July 2008Once again, our machine is troubled. It now has 4 badly working switches:<br /><br /><br />44: Ramp Down (moves down (and timer runs) much too fast)<br /><br /><br />20: Shooter Switch<br /><br /><br />56: 10 Point Switch<br /><br /><br />17: Ball Trough (balls won't load quickly).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We probably won't be able to check them out until the weekend: I'm not a technician and dad has to work.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the mean time: photos!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p><p><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_20.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_20.jpg" border="0" /></a> The lower end of the table. Innit gross!! The cushion on the metal frame that goes there, has disintegrated and is sticking to both the glass, and this.</p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_21.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_21.jpg" border="0" /></a>This picture shows the bad condition on one rubber band on the slingshot. The other rubbers look about the same. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_24.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_24.jpg" border="0" /></a> Ramp. Those white stickers seem to point to something needed on top of it, but I could find no picture that shows it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_23.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_23.jpg" border="0" /></a> Visor when opened. The balls get stuck around this thing at an alarming rate, so I assume it misses something.</p><p> </p><p><br /><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_25.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_25.jpg" border="0" /></a> There's DEFINITELY something missing here. The edge of the screenshot almost looks as if it had been deliberately cut off.<br /></p><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_20.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_21.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_23.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_25.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_26.jpg"></a>BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-17534645807013101992008-07-29T10:17:00.000-07:002008-07-29T10:19:40.255-07:00Pinball Repair Log 29 July 2008The slingshot switch didn't give any more problems today! But now Pinbot seems to have timing issues. It counts a lot faster than it should normally do, or at least that's my experience. This results in drop targets being pushed upright much quicker, and the ramp shots being much shorter available.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-90183351264226913802008-07-28T09:00:00.000-07:002008-07-28T09:04:36.529-07:00Pinball Restauration Log 28 July 2008And today something else gave in: the left slingshot. The switch works, but no points are given. On first glance it seemed the rubber had slipped, we put it back on correctly, but it's still not responding.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-91764185274273131352008-07-26T05:19:00.000-07:002008-07-26T05:24:11.051-07:00Pinball Repair Log Update: 26 July 2008We found that all the non-working switches were caused by 1 loose wire in the connector plug. Now the ramp is no longer clicking, the yellow and green targets work, but the left outlane is still not responding.<br /><br />We also found that the rubber band near the ramp was not in the right position: it had slipped off. This caused the 10 point switch error. It was easily fixed.<br /><br />Need to delete the high scores. In the testing process (with glass plate removed, trying out all switches) Dad managed to get the 1st place, over 5.2 million.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-60111946965897014442008-07-26T02:44:00.000-07:002008-07-26T02:46:47.110-07:00Pinball Repair Log 26 July 2008We found 6 broken switches during the checkup: Left Visor; ramp down, left outlane, shooter switch, RS Bank, Top Jet. Some checking up to do! Hopefully cleaning the contacts will be sufficient...BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-29981707567771787262008-07-24T10:59:00.000-07:002008-07-26T05:30:22.365-07:00Pinball Repair Log 24 July 2008We got some more stuff to add to the repair list. I found two targets* weren't working and one scoreboard light was refusing to work. When we switched it on, there were 3 faulty switches: left outlane*, plunger and something I forgot. It's growing very depressing for me.<br /><br />On a brighter note I scored more than 1 million twice today.<br /><br />*Target: a switch you can hit your ball against for points or activating things.<br />*Outlane: those cruel ball paths that run behind the flipper, so that if the ball goes in, you'll lose it unless you can nudge.BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-80105477917981438932008-07-23T12:03:00.000-07:002008-07-23T12:14:01.309-07:00Pinball Repair Log 23 July 2008Two days ago we fixed the pinball table! It's not out of the woods, but now it's playable!<br />Yesterday we installed new batteries, which I found out are used to remember highscores when the machine is turned off. The old ones were only good until 1997. No wonder it said "Justage fehler".<br />After placing the new cells, it still said "Justage Fehler". It's a highly annoying error because you have to run through the entire testing/setup menu until you're in the game mode, and that takes around 80 knob pushes.<br />We just grounded the battery contacts, and now that message is no longer popping up!<br /><br />Unfortunately the broken ramp turns out to be hindering gameplay. It tries to go up fully during gameplay, which is noisy. Plus it may catapult the ball when it rolls over (which means it won't go in the right place anymore, or worse: will smack into the glass) or the ball gets trapped beneath.<br />I fear it's another broken solenoid. It'll be a month until I can go to that store again for a new one.<br /><br />Another nasty lodge place is behind the visor. The visor is a plastic type of box that sometimes opens. In the box there are 2 holes. Knock your ball into one hole, and it's locked. You get a new, fresh ball, lock that into the other hole, and then get a lot of points and play with 2 balls instead of one.<br />There's a lot of places around the visor where the ball can get trapped, which means you have to remove the glass and try to get it out. There must be some answer to this...BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-88441229650186169112008-07-21T12:23:00.000-07:002008-07-21T12:29:02.370-07:0021 July 2008: IT'S ALIVE!!We got the machine working today! With the aid of one kind member of the Flippermarkt.de forum (Zerozillion: Vielen Dank für Deine Hilfe! Du bist super!) we found the place where the wires needed to be soldered to. Two of them were loose anyway, but the third one needed to be connected to the lower target to get her to work! And now, the living room is bathing in light and noise!<br /><br />But that's not where it ends; we still need to fix the elastics and get several missing parts, change the batteries and fix the ramp, which is continuously moving up and down during play.<br /><br />For now I couldn't care less though. I'm just trying to get over 400,000 points!!BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-43630710367215157652008-07-21T08:54:00.000-07:002008-07-24T11:04:56.693-07:00Pinbot Repair Log 21 July 2008<a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_22.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_22.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://bonny.ploeg.ws/pb_12.jpg"></a><br /><br /><div>Again we did not get much repairing; we have no idea what we need to fix, rubber bands aside. We did discover that the rubber band that was around the visor, shouldn't go there.<br />We also discovered the ramp* does not stay up: it falls down a little after it moved itself in the high position. It's so low the ball doesn't fit underneath.<br />And I made a large number of photos from the table, to monitor the damage. Above is one. There is something on the right side of this lane that has broken off. Cool shot, anyway.</div><div><br />And: we found an Eight-Ball pinball machine at a second-hand store. We left it there, although I'm kinda wishing we'd bought it. We need to finish this one first! </div><div> </div><br /><div></div>*Ramp: special type of lane that you can shoot the ball into for points. The ramp on PinBot hovers over the board and can only be accessed if you lowered a see-saw enough to allow the ball to roll on.<br /><div></div></div>BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4514936001229202904.post-23897888532298823152008-07-20T12:45:00.000-07:002008-07-23T12:16:42.700-07:00Pinball Repair Log 20th July 2008Today we repaired the knocker. It makes a lot of noise!<br /><br />We're also investigating on the three loose wires, and the visor. It doesn't move fluently and sometimes gets stuck halfway.<br /><br />I also uploaded another Pinbot video. I now have 3 Pinbot videos online:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhVg9ceV_cE">#1: getting it to work</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_90UbkbSAs">#2 Getting it to work again</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLVZRze39MI">#3 Me in a shrill voice explaining what's wrong.</a>BBPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01736639672695015488noreply@blogger.com1