Re: Pinball Repair..How hard/long to become competent? Long, read at own risk

On Jul 3, 8:55 pm, "cody chunn" <cchu...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<sevyj...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1183512972.782035.117680@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Used to play Pinball in 1975-1982 era. Loved it.

That was a pretty good time to be playing...

Addicted to the
various games at the bowling alley or pizza parlor or pop shop. Lost
touch after college. Recently (November2006) realised that awesome
games of my youth were available to buy and my wife didn't seem too
upset that I would dump gobs of money and take up lots of prime real
estate with machines!

No matter what happens with the pins, KEEP THE WIFEY!!

Bought some machines. Got a little abused on
Ebay once.

That's a pianful cherry to break!

Now have to deal with the frustration of repairs.
Paragon..right upper flipper stuttered /now just goes up then right
down...marvin diagnostics, looks like a bad coil (EOS looks old but
fine). Do I have the courage to change the coil?

Fugettaboutit! File and burnish the double-switch on the lower flipper and
same for the End-of-Stroke for the upper fluttering flipper and you will be
good to go!

Captain Fantastic...Bumper skirt broke...repaired, was harder than it
looked...had to learn to solder (rough job but ok) While fixing that,
developed problem of starting the game on ball # 2.. Used marvin site,
able to fix but a little loose, so acts up occasionally. The enemy of
good is better.

The good thing about EMs is that the more you play them the better they
perform.

Jack's Open..Great machine..wanted to replace the drop targets...OMG
brutal, finally succeeded, but had to jerry-rig things with an extra
spring attached to help the ACE go all the way down when hit.
Eldorado..Bad EOS..Successful repair! Bought new back glass...Too
big! Had to file down the machine.
Space Invaders Great shape...Changed one bulb, a fuse blows, and a
row of lights is gone..change fuse/blown fuse...can't find the short.
Should bulbs be changed with Power on or off? I have LTG and have
found conflicting answers.

All repairs should be done with power off. At least until you get a "feel"
for repairs, or on a repair that you have to have the game powered up to
check the repair. But then you should exact repairs with power off, then
test in game up. You will get the hang of it...

T2 Ebay bummer, repairs appear beyond my ability until I get some
circuit board repair skills.

Check the Mr. Pinball Collector Register to see if someone is close who can
come by and give you some pointers.

MM Worked great, then a few lane errors, then a bad kicker, and now
finally the dreaded slam tilt occuring about 3 minutes into a game.
The Marvin site is great, but how brutal is learning the circuit board
work, the schematics, the use of the DMM and all the other things it
takes to fix these things. Can an electrically challenged person with
normal (whatever that is) intelligence actually teach themselves how
to fix these things without ruining killer machines? IS IT POSSIBLE?

See above. You will learn MUCH from someone with even little experience.

In an effort to limit repairs, I bought a NIB LOTR from Captain Jack
at Pinball Sales per this site's general rec. Called him on Labor
Day, machine arrived three days later. Great service, through in a
POTD protector because I asked if he felt it was needed. Great guy.
One of my heros.
So, bottom line, I keep staring at the Marvin Site, reading this site,
and am slowly getting up my courage to tackle the foreign language of
circuit boards..Give me strenghth. At least it is over the top fun,
and my kids love to play and I own my basement (I occasionally
threaten the wife with a bowler, and then she is relieved when it is
only a pinball machine :-)

Picture yourself as Luke Skywalker and RGP as Yoda.

Curious as to how long it took to learn the repair skill, and did
anyone take a course, if so, where? Did the repair tapes (TOP) help?

One never stops learning. When the heart stops beating, only then do you
stop learning.

Thanks for reading
Mike

Welcome to the Great Historic American Amusement Addiction, or "GHAAA!!!" TM
& Copyright 2007 by Cody Chunn!

-
--cody
CARGPB4

Thanks for the reply Cody

Will Keep the wife As they say in Aussi land ...Keeper

Fugettaboutit! File and burnish the double-switch on the lower flipper
and
same for the End-of-Stroke for the upper fluttering flipper and you will be
good to go!

Not sure I get this. Is this to make the flipper dead? If so, this
is a bad idea, as the coolest thing is watching a Paragon virgen try
to catch the ball on the R and watch it fall between the flippers.

As far as finding someone nearby, there is a guy who seems gifted at
Pinball repair in my town. He came over and helped me fix a few
problems, taught me how to solder, helped me install a capacitor in
Paragon after removing the battery. Only problem is, he is super nice
and won't take a dime (sounds good, except then I feel like I am
imposing or wasting his time), and I hate to bug him.


I must learn to use the Schwartz, Luke.

.