Evil Pinball Machine Restoring

Latest update...

2010-05-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

It has been over a year since my last blog, and nothing much has happened with our table.
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.

1st blog of 2009!

2009-02-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

Well... it's sure been a long time since my last blog! Not that nothing happened to PinBot in the mean time.

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.

Anyway that didn't stop me from breaking my high score! Today I discovered:

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.
The table keeps track of more than 1 extra ball at the time. This is not on every table, but it is on PinBot.
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.
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.
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.
There is another extra ball for the 5th time you open the visor. There is no extra ball for the 10 Superkraft.

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.

Cheers, BB

Pinbot Restauration Update, 25 November 2008

2008-11-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

After 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.

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.

Dad managed to fix Humpty Dumpty, and it's now back in place.
Dad also scored 5.4 million, and ended in the high scores.

Today on playing, the wire of one switch let go. It now looks like it's back in place.
And today I broke another record: 7.4 million. Quite good considering there was under 5 million in the jackpot!
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.

Pinball Pictures

2008-11-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

For your entertainment, I'll place the pictures of the ball getting stuck. Above one is what I described in my 16 Nov update.

Wait! Update 16th November 2008

2008-11-16T12:32:00.001-08:00

So we just installed new rubber bands everywhere, and we have new balls.

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.

PinBot Restauration Update 16th November 2008

2008-11-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday, my father and I went to the Flipperwinkel in Arnhem, to purchase parts for our table.
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.

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!

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.

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!

Except we're thinking we may need a new plunger. And the top broke on one of the pins.

PinBot Restauration Update: Nov 2nd, 2008

2008-11-02T06:32:00.001-08:00

It's been a while again, but this time, I have news!

Our left slingshot was not working for quite some time. The same was for the outlanes.
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.

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.

Pinball Repair Log 7 October 2008

2008-10-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

OK... it's been real lacking in the updates... College started and all that...
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.

Pinbot Restauration Update 7 September 2008

2008-09-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Been 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.
...Bit of a shame, really... Oh well. Saves money on the exorcist.

Pinbot Restauration Blog 23 Aug 2008

2008-08-23T01:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday 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.

That fancy blue shiny cloth is not so fancy anymore, some of the threads were badly cut. And it's filthy!

Pinbot Restauration Log 19 Aug 2008

2008-08-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Managed 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.
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.

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.

Pinball Restauration Blog 12 Aug 2008

2008-08-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday 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.

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.

So there'll be no playing for a while... :(

Pinbot Repair Log 11 Aug 2008

2008-08-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'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.
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!

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...

Pinbot Repair Log Aug 6 2008

2008-08-06T02:02:00.000-07:00

I'm now convinced the machine is either haunted, or has a will of its own.

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.

The timing is still giving problems. Yesterday the drop targets would resurrect quicker than the ramp would lower.
(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.)
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.

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).

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.

Pinbot Restauration Update Aug 3 2008

2008-08-03T04:07:00.000-07:00

Been 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.

Pinball Repair Log 30 July 2008

2008-07-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

Once again, our machine is troubled. It now has 4 badly working switches:

44: Ramp Down (moves down (and timer runs) much too fast)

20: Shooter Switch

56: 10 Point Switch

17: Ball Trough (balls won't load quickly).

We probably won't be able to check them out until the weekend: I'm not a technician and dad has to work.

In the mean time: photos!

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.

This picture shows the bad condition on one rubber band on the slingshot. The other rubbers look about the same.

Ramp. Those white stickers seem to point to something needed on top of it, but I could find no picture that shows it.

Visor when opened. The balls get stuck around this thing at an alarming rate, so I assume it misses something.

There's DEFINITELY something missing here. The edge of the screenshot almost looks as if it had been deliberately cut off.

Pinball Repair Log 29 July 2008

2008-07-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

The 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.

Pinball Restauration Log 28 July 2008

2008-07-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

And 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.

Pinball Repair Log Update: 26 July 2008

2008-07-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

We 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.

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.

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.

Pinball Repair Log 26 July 2008

2008-07-26T02:44:00.000-07:00

We 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...

Pinball Repair Log 24 July 2008

2008-07-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

We 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.

On a brighter note I scored more than 1 million twice today.

*Target: a switch you can hit your ball against for points or activating things.
*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.

Pinball Repair Log 23 July 2008

2008-07-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Two days ago we fixed the pinball table! It's not out of the woods, but now it's playable!
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".
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.
We just grounded the battery contacts, and now that message is no longer popping up!

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.
I fear it's another broken solenoid. It'll be a month until I can go to that store again for a new one.

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.
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...

21 July 2008: IT'S ALIVE!!

2008-07-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

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!

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.

For now I couldn't care less though. I'm just trying to get over 400,000 points!!

Pinbot Repair Log 21 July 2008

2008-07-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

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.
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.
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.

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!

*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.

Pinball Repair Log 20th July 2008

2008-07-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today we repaired the knocker. It makes a lot of noise!

We're also investigating on the three loose wires, and the visor. It doesn't move fluently and sometimes gets stuck halfway.

I also uploaded another Pinbot video. I now have 3 Pinbot videos online:

#1: getting it to work
#2 Getting it to work again
#3 Me in a shrill voice explaining what's wrong.

Pinball Repair Log 19 07 2008

2008-07-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today we discovered through a German pinball forum (flippermarkt.de) that one of the error messages we received (Justage fehler) was because the batteries in the circuit board were empty.
We also found that many of the rubber bands have worn out. Rubber bands are wrapped around several pinball items, like the slingshot. When the ball hits the band, the band activates the metal plate that pushes against the elastic, and so pushes the ball away. The visor is not working because its rubber band is worn down, and so on.
These have probably gone bad because the previous owner left it out without glass plate. Shame.

We managed to play a little bit of "pinball" yesterday. We put it in "switch test mode", when the machine activates all the switches one by one. This causes balls being occasionally moved into the plunger area. The flippers can be operated during the test, and so we can, very basically, play the keep-up game, seeing where everything goes.
We discovered that a ball may get stuck in the visor section, between the two "eye holes".

About that possible wire solution: I was wrong. The spot I found was not the location where the loose wires need to be soldered to.

Pinball Repair Log 18 July 2008

2008-07-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the new transistor arrived in the mail. It is not the same as the old one, hope it doesn't do any harm. We soldered it onto the circuit panel, then put the panel back in the headboard.
We started it up again. No dice. It still does the same, after repairing the solenoid and the circuit board. I made a video, hope I can upload it later.

We also performed the mechanics test, where one by one all the mechanical functions are activated. These include the flippers, the ball ejection into the plunger area, the visor of the robot moving up and down, ejection of the drop targets* and the ramp going up and down.
We ran it a couple of times. Indeed we fixed SOMETHING with the solenoid: the left slingshot* now bounces back. Unfortunately it seemed like more and more things were breaking down during the test. The visor and the drop targets became stuck. With some manual assistance they worked again.
I'm very worried about it. Hopefully it may get fixed simply by cleaning. It's after all incredibly dirty.

GLOSSARY
1 Drop Targets: little upright items that fall down when hit. Usually there are a few in a row, and if you hit them all you earn something special.
2 Slingshot: Triangular thing that usually appears near the drain, above the flippers. When the ball hits them, points are received and the ball is pushed away from the slingshot by a little mechanical pusher.

More Pictures

2008-07-17T06:12:00.001-07:00

The yellow circle shows the broken left flipper solenoid frame. It is now fixed.

The green circle shows the burnt solenoid which we just replaced.

Inside the headboard. On the top right, the red circle, is the knocker. The red wire is still unattached. At the lower left is a tiny light-blue circle, showing the nasty worn-out screw in impossible position.

The red circle here shows where the burnt transistors and resistance is. We had a new transistor in the mail today, hopefully we can fix it tonight.

Pinball Pictures

2008-07-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

La MACHINE!

As we didn't get much to do yesterday since the transistor I got was wrong, I'll show you the pictures of the Elusive Machine! Above is the table, before we put it on its feet and before we performed the initial glass cleaning.
The other object is the Headboard. This also needed cleaning desperately.

And here is the first picture I made from the inside, through a hole in the table. We hadn't yet figure out how to open it.

Pinball Repair Log 17 July 2008

2008-07-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the wonderful Flipperwinkel, the only pinball specialized store in The Netherlands. Went to get some parts that were burnt: a solanoid, 2 transistors and a resistance.

Unfortunately it was located in Arnhem, which is quite a while from here. Fortunately I get free public transport as a student.

After a very, very long train ride and bus ride, I arrived at an industrial area in Arnhem. There was no useful plan or map around. I'd looked up on the Net how I would have to walk from the bus stop: in southeast direction, first turn left. However the first turn left wasn't the street I was looking for.
After wondering around for half an hour, I finally found the store. The man at the desk was very helpful, mounted a diode* onto the solenoid for me and recognized the transistors on sight (even though they were very burnt).
I went home.
Unfortunately it turned out one of the transistors was not the one we needed. Dad contacted the Flipperwinkel and they decided to send us the right transistor. Great!

Yesterday I spotted a potential point where the loose wires could be attached to. Hope it works out.

*Diode: Dealy: electricity can only run in one direction through these.

Pinball Machine Repair Log #1

2008-07-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

In this blog article I'll summarize what we've been doing on repairs for the past 2 weeks.

First, we installed it. We put the baby on its legs the first time.

Then we switched it on, to see what it did. It seemed to work!
That is, until we discovered it wouldn't load new balls into the plunger* section. We discovered the left flipper* didn't work.
By now the game refuses to start altogether. Pressing the credit button* results in a "take-off" sound, but the game would forever stick in "game over" position.

We opened the game. We lifted up the play field* to check what's wrong.

It's FULL OF WIRES. It's VERY full of wires. The sheer thought of having to check all of them for breaks was enough to make me sweat.

I made a list of things that need repairing. It's ever growing. It seems like, every time we check, there's something new that breaks.

The lock of the cash machine *was violently opened by the previous owner. Apparently the key snapped in the lock. As the table won't play unless the door is properly shut, there needs to be a new lock.
The headboard also has a lock. The key was missing. We had to open it using scissors. That needs a new lock too.
There is a clasp that holds up the headboard, so it doesn't fall off the body. This clasp was broken and replaced by a new one. We unfortunately had to drill three holes for it.
The previous owner used DUCT TAPE to hold up the headboard. This has of course left nasty residue that needs cleaning.
The entire table needs cleaning. It's never a good idea to have anything that needs to be dust-free kept out of the dust jacket, whether it's a harmonica, vinyl record, or pinball table.
There are several nuts and bolts missing. The leg misses a bolt, and so does the table-headboard hinge.
The circuit board needs new screws. The old ones were worn.
There are also several lights missing.
The left flipper was broken. The system that holds the solenoid* had snapped. Dad welded and re-installed it. It now is repaired.
There need to be spark-eaters for the flipper solanoids. Now, every time you flip, there's a huge spark. This is scary and dangerous.
The pinball programme needs to be checked. Does it still work the way it should?
There are 3 mysterious wires that are loose. We need to identify them before we can fix them.
There was 1 burnt solenoid. This one was replaced only yesterday.
On the circuit board*, a resistance* and two transistors* had blown. These need to be replaced.
The knocker* is currently unattached.
The player 1 and player 2 scoreboards are loose. This is not really a problem unless we remove the glass plate to open the headboard. At the moment we have a temporary tape solution, but that doesn't work well.
The rubber bands all seem to need to be replaced.
The circuit board batteries need to be replaced.

Nothing has been easy on it this far. The flipper solenoid holder had to be welded together, something my father did at work. The burnt solenoid is not just soldered, but also held in place by hexagon-head screws in awkward positions. In order to remove the circuit board, we had to remove screws that were worn AND in nasty positions.

Fortunately we are now on the right track. We now have to install one transistor, then we can re-install the circuit board and take it for another test drive.

Glossary:

Plunger: The system you use to bring a ball in the game. On newer tables this goes automatically, but on older tables it's a stick with coils.
Flipper: A stick that moves around a pivot point, operated by the player. On recent tables they point down and are placed at the bottom of the play field, but initially flippers pointed upwards
Credit button: If you insert money, the pinball computer remembers "credits". If you push the button, you use up one of them and start a new game.
Play field: The wooden board the ball rolls on.
Cash machine: The thing you put coins or bills into.
Solenoid: A coil wrapped around a metal bar: an electromagnet. These are used to move objects on the pinball table, like flippers and the knocker.
Circuit board: A large green plaque all the electronical dealies and information are mounted on and connected to each other.
Resistance: A resistance stops a certain amount of electricity from going through it. So that when the electricity moves to the more sensitive dealies on the circuit board, they don't get so much current they'd blow up.
Transistor: A transistor is a dealie with three legs. It amplifies or switches electronic currents.
Knocker: Located in the top right of the headboard, this is a metal pin that drops onto a metal plaque making a knock sound. It does this whenever a player has been performing so well, he's earned himself a free game.

Pinball Machine Data

2008-07-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the data of the pinball machine.

Name: Pinbot
Theme: Outer Space
Made By: Williams
Built in: 1986
Dimensions:
Height: 73 3/4 inch = 187 cm,
Height with backbox folded: 53 inch = 135 cm
Width: 30 1/4 in = 77 cm
Depth: 53 in = 135 cm
Weight: 225 lbs = 102 kg.

Pinball Machine Restoring History

2008-07-16T05:35:00.001-07:00

This story begins roughly a year ago, when my sister moved into an anti-squat residence in The Hague.
Strange things happen at anti-squat buildings. One of them is objects lose their owner. In said anti-squat there were for instance many movie props of the WW2 film Blackbook (Paul Verhoeven). These contained bookshelfs, signs, waiting houses, statues, images and flags, coffins, cell doors, and even a motorbike. All these props were standing idle for a long time, until they were split among residents.
There were also several chairs and couches that lost their owner. Whoever had gotten them, had put them in the canteen, then moved out but leaving the couch to the next user. The next user doesn't take responsibility, and so they become unowned.

Another item was a Pinball Machine, a real one. It was called Pinbot, and apparently broken. A previous owner had attempted to repair it, and failed. The table was left open (= without glass plate) for a year. When the antisquat had to be cleared, we got the table and decided to fix it.

On Saturday, June 14th, the table really became ours. After we moved my sister out of the anti-squat, we got to take the table. As there was no time for us to drive it all the way home and still deliver the truck on time, we had to park it in my grandmother's basement. We promised to pick it up next week.
On the 21st we were unfortunately way too busy to move to grandma. And we couldn't rent a trailer.
On the 28th we couldn't rent a trailer either, but we tried to get it into the car anyway. We drove all the way to grandma, picked up the mighty heavy table, dragged it to the car; and found out it didn't fit. We also broke a car fan in the process.
Finally, by the 5th of July, we managed to rent a large trailer and picked up the machine.

We've installed it onto its legs (it was left legless in the antisquat) and are doing our best to restore it. This blog contains a diary of the repairs.