Brought DW to Pin-A-Go-Go, removing head
- From: Josh Lehan - Krellan <krellan@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 03:30:53 -0700 (PDT)
I brought my Doctor Who game to Pin-A-Go-Go, hope everyone that went
enjoyed it. Much thanks to Martin for fixing it!
Did something I haven't done before: remove the head of a modern
game. This was necessary in order to fit it in the car I used for
transport. I'm going to do this more often, because it also lessens
the weight of the game, which makes it easier to move. Also, it can
fit through narrow doorways, which lessens the distance the game must
be carried/skated. It may open up another room in the house for me to
use to hold more games :)
The disadvantage is the time it takes to remove all those connectors
before detaching the head, and to connect up all those connectors
after reattaching the head. The good thing about this is that it is a
single-person job, so if you have people helping you move the game,
you don't need to keep them waiting.
I learned these tips, which will pass on here, in case they're useful
to others:
1) Use a sticky label to label EACH connector that is removed, near
the connector, using the jack number such as "J101". Fold the label
around a wire and stick it back onto itself, so that it stays on.
Include orientation on the label, if it isn't obvious. Make a system
that works for you, and stick to it. For me, I always looped the
label around the leftmost wire in each connector, and for vertical
connectors, the topmost wire.
This was the best tip by far, as it saved me a lot of time. I just
plugged away, not really having to worry about where the connectors
went, as there was no confusion at all. After connecting everything,
turned on the game and everything worked the first time!
2) Keep a list of weird connectors written down, so that you don't
forget any. I'm glad I did this for the replay knocker, the single
connector near the audio board, the grounding screw, and the weird
dangling connector at the far bottom of the wiring bundle at the
bottom of the backbox.
3) Put straps around both of the big hoses of wires coming through
from the playfield, at the area where the wires exit the hose, to help
keep the wires bundled together and reinforce the hose so it doesn't
split further.
4) After removing all the wires, put removable Velcro straps (loosely)
around the rat's nest of wires from each hose, so that each hose's
contents are held together in a bunch. This makes them much easier to
fish out, when they inevitably fall down into the body of the game.
Remove these straps when it's time to reattach the wires, of course.
I like Velcro straps because they're easily removable, which is good
for temporary holding like this. So that you don't lose your straps,
loop them around a wire in the backbox when done with them.
5) Avoid putting stress on the connectors! Don't depend on the
connectors to bear the weight of the wire hoses coming from the
playfield. Those Williams connectors are already fragile enough. Use
large twist-ties, from a trash bag, to loop around the area where the
original factory cable tie was. Between the head and body, there
should be a little plastic mount with holes in it, near each hose.
Thread the twist-tie through here, and around the hose. Make it
tight. It will grip through the ribs in the hose, so it will hold the
hose in place, and bear the weight.
6) As for the circular wiring guides in the backbox, only route the
wires through them that permanently stay in the backbox. For wires to
the playfield that you will be connecting/disconnecting, just let them
dangle, without using the wiring guides. This will make it visually
easy to see which wires you'll need to remove and which wires will be
staying behind.
7) When reattaching each strand of connectors, work in order, from the
bottom (close to the hose) to the farthest away from the hose. This
will ensure you don't miss a connection.
With this, I can make another attempt to bring Congo to CA Extreme
later this year :)
Josh
.
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