Repair & Maintenance Log
10/13/06: Acquired game at the Whiterose Gameroom Show in York, Pennsylvania.
10/26/06: Re-soldered bad solder joints at the left coin switch (06) and the ramp entrance switch (40).
11/07/06: New pair of matched locks.
02/04/07: Rebuilt high-voltage section of the power supply. All the displays suddenly died and I determined that I lost -100 volts. As usual I turned to the repair manuals at marvin3m.com. Look under the display section of the System 11 manuals. Once I got the power supply board out of the machine I determined that the 39k resistor R4 failed, but by then I had already got a complete rebuilt kit from Great Plains Electronics (www.greatplainselectronics.com). I replaced all the components in the high-voltage section. The new set of components outputs about +/-91 volts as opposed to the original +/- 100 volts. The displays are a bit dimmer, however, their life span should be considerably increased. While I was at it I also replaced the big +5 volt filter cap.
Before (left) and after showing all new high-voltage components.
The original high-voltage output transistors are no longer available and the replacements have a different pin-out. The leads need to be crossed as shown. This only applies to the D-8345 power supplies found in sys-11 and sys-11A games.
02/11/07: Added remote battery backup. Instead of permanently soldering some sort of remote battery setup to the CPU board I made battery place-holders from 1/2 inch dowel. This method requires no board modifications. And no connectors are needed between the board and the battery pack. The battery pack is from Great Plains Electronics. I like that the pack is fully enclosed. I don't like that it has an integral ON/OFF switch. I set the switch to ON and put a blob of silicone caulk over it. The battery wires are mounted to an end of each dowel with a screw and crimp terminal. The screw head becomes the "battery terminal". Don't forget to account for the height of the screw head when figuring the length of the dowel. Also shown is a plastic tool I got from Home Depot. The tool is for pulling large inline fuses, but is also great for pulling AA batteries.
Battery place-holders and remote battery pack. Note the blob of silicone over the battery pack switch.
The CPU board shows how each battery must be oriented, but does not show the location of +4.5 volts. Before removing the old batteries I used my volt meter to confirm that the lower-left terminal of the battery holder is +4.5 volts. The orientation shown here is correct for most System-11 CPU boards. Grand Lizard is at least one exception. Grand Lizard and the previous System-9 CPU boards (along with their battery holders) are oriented 180 degrees from that shown here.
Dowel sticks in place.
01/15/12 - Battery Pack Update: I rewired all my remote battery packs with 8' leads. Instead of placing the battery pack in the head, I drop it down into the body and place it next to the cash box. Opening the coin door is easier than opening the head. The idea is that I'll be better motivated to replace the batteries more often.
Remote battery packs with 8' leads. Scruffy gives each assembly a quality control check.
03/18/12: New playfield glass. New legs, bolts and levelers. Replaced stripped-out leg bolt plate at left rear corner.
03/24/12: Installed standard-keyed (751) lock on coin door.
12/15/16: Installed new CPR mirrored backglass in place of the original translite.
CPR mirrored backglass.
02/20/17: Added fuses to the AC sides of the solenoid and lamp matrix rectifiers. This modification is generally recommended for System-11 and System-11A games prior to the advent of the auxiliary power driver board found in System-11B and later games. The fuse modification potentially protects the game from shorted rectifiers.
8 amp slow-blow fuses added to the AC sides of the solenoid (top) and lamp matrix rectifiers.
12/30/17: Fixed right lane change switch. The non-banded side of the diode needed to be soldered back onto the switch terminal. This switch hasn't worked properly for years. Not sure why it took me so long to get around to it.
Right lane change switch.
I also replaced the old shooter rod spring with a new softer spring. This Pin*bot was somewhat unique in that it had an original unbroken vortex ramp. I always thought the shooter rod spring was too stiff and endangering the ramp. The problem was non-pinball visitors who would just whale on the shooter without realizing there's a skill shot. Pin*bot should have a blue spring. But the existing spring was a super stiff cut down piece of brown or purple. The softest spring I had on hand was green which was what I tried. Update: Green wasn't cutting it so I went up one level of stiffness to a proper blue spring.
New green shooter rod spring.
05/19/18: The drop targets were sluggishly resetting so I cleaned the plunger and coil sleeve. In fact, this whole game is due for a good teardown and cleaning. I also noticed the remains of the upper left eject shield in the bottom of the cabinet. Time for new eject shields (part 03-9101-9). For now I found an old spare in my scrap box.
Busted eject shield replaced with a less busted eject shield.
02/13/19: Replaced drop target bank coil sleeve. Aside from being cruddy and worn, the old coil sleeve was too short. I improvised with something longer, but I need to get some 2 1/16" sleeves (part 03-7066).
Newish coil sleeve.
02/23/19: Fixed high score reset switch. The switch terminal broke at the banded side of the diode. I was able to tin the remaining nub and tack it back together.
Diagnostic switch assembly.
06/19: Shopped game. Overall the game still worked well so I took something of a minimalist approach to this project. What's shown below is less of a guide and more of an unorganized collection of tips and tricks or stuff I just found interesting.
I replaced the balls, of course. I disassembled most of the topside for inspection, cleaning and waxing where needed. I replaced any dead lamps and switched any #44 lamps to #47. I replaced all three of the eject shields and disassembled and cleaned their respective ball eject mechanisms. I also installed new a CRP plastics set along with a set of Pinbits plastic protectors. The flippers worked well enough. Aside from new rings, I saved a flipper rebuild for another day.
Below is a shot of the vortex switch mechanism. Note the lever actuators for the 20k and 100k point shots, The levers connect to under playfield leaf switches. Note the one-way gate for catching balls at the 5k point hole.
Vortex mechanism.
The target carrier mechanism worked well, but the foam target pads were missing or deteriorated. All the target faces were worn, but none were cracked or chipped.
New foam pads.
Cleaned and reassembled.
I disassembled the target carrier in its down position which, I believe, makes reassembly easier. First I secured the motor mounting bracket to the playfield without the adjustment bracket. Then the target carrier can rest on the two eye eject hole solenoids while the bushing (red arrow) and motor cam are lined up. Next the target guide was secured to the playfield. At this point I turned ON the game and tested the mechanism's motion. I had a finger standing by at the power switch. The motion was smooth so I reassembled the adjustment bracket and lever arms.
Reassembling the target carrier.
Jet bumpers are one place I'll make a concession to LEDs. It isn't that I like LEDs; it's that I dislike bumper sockets. So I take advantage of the LED's (hopefully) long life expectancy and hardwire them into the game. In this case I picked frosted red. These LEDs don't necessarily like being soldered on. I'm quick with the soldering iron. Then I test that each LED still lights up and I make sure the lens hasn't come loose in its bayonet housing.
Hardwired LEDs.
Two of the bumpers had playfield wear marks by the skirts. I cleaned and waxed the area and added small strips of Mylar to prevent further wear.
Wear mark by the top bumper.
Jet bumper bodies are Williams part number 03-7443-5. Not every supplier stocks the Williams part. But they may cross reference the part number to the Data East/Stern part, which is almost, but not quite the same thing. In the case of Pin*bot, clearance is critical. The DE/Stern part won't work. For what it's worth, I got the correct part at Marco. Overall I replaced two bodies, three caps and three coil sleeves.
The DE/Stern part (right) won't work in Pin*bot.
Coming back together.
My four Sun flashers were down to 50% thanks to a broken resistor on the associated lamp resistor board. Likewise I had only two of the four Energy flashers thanks to a missing resistor on that lamp resistor board. Two new 5 ohm 10 watt resistors got all the flashers working again.
A new resistor for the Sun flashers' lamp resistor board.
For what ever reason this playfield had a #1251 decal under one of the two lower playfield flashers (Sol. 05C). Not helpful. Now I know why that one flasher was always dim. Decal removed.
Lower playfield flashers (Sol 05C) should be #89 lamps, not #1251.
The blue ramp includes three flasher domes. One of my three domes was recessed. The game flyer makes it look like all three should be recessed. Plus all three lamp socket brackets are at the same low level. So I went to the hardware store and bought a half dozen ¼" spacers to recess all three flasher domes.
Recessed flasher domes.
The game manual didn't show locations for the rubber parts as most manuals do. Shown below is what I came up with. I'm not saying this is correct, but it's what was on my game and it seems to work. Note the 1" ring below the center jet bumper and the 4" ring to the right on the jet bumpers. Theses rings don't have a letter designation and were not in the ring kit I bought. Click for larger image.
Rubber parts map. Click for larger image.
Some say there should be a spacer above the tapered bumper. I didn't have a spacer so I cut down a yellow sleeve to use instead.
A piece of yellow sleeve over the tapered bumper.
I cut the top off a mini post and thinned the shaft. Then I used the point to apply rings to the non-pointy posts separating the outlanes from the inlanes. It also helps to lubricate the point and post with some Windex from a Q-tip. Note that these are the smaller 23/64" rings as opposed to the larger 27/64" rings used elsewhere on the playfield. The ring kit I bought did not include any of these smaller rings.
Making a ring application tool from a mini post.
Ring application tool.
I also used the smaller 23/64" rings to populate the mini posts on my new CPR mini playfield. I had a mirrored mini playfield, but decided to go with the standard reproduction instead. I used new mini posts which I like to pre-tap. I made a tap from a screw using a thin cut off wheel in a Dermel. I gently held each mini post in a bench vice while I ran my tap in and out a few times.
Homemade mini post tap.
Tapping a new mini post.
New mini playfield.
The balls had peened down my flipper return frames in typical fashion. These are part numbers A-8108-L and A-8108-R. There isn't really a left and a right so I'm not sure why there has to be two part numbers. The only replacements I found were from passionforpinpall.com (the Cliffy Protector guy). The replacements are "enhanced" meaning they're a bit larger than the originals and are supposed to prevent ball hop. I don't become enraged by ball hop as some folks do. In any event, the new parts worked just fine.
An old peened return frame atop a new and slightly larger Cliffy frame.
I had a new set of playfield decals, but decided it would be easier to work with what was already on the game. The old decals looked pretty good except for a few lifted corners here and there. I bought a ½" roll of 3M 467MP adhesive transfer tape. First I lightly cleaned the underside of a lifted corner with some Windex on a Q-tip. Then I cut small pieces of tape to slip under the lifted corner. Next I picked off the tape backing with the tip of an X-Acto blade and pressed down the corner of the decal. I rubbed the decal with a finger to smooth it down tight and rub away any excess adhesive.
3M 467MP adhesive transfer tape.
Tape applied under a lifted corner and ready for the tape backing to be picked away.
I replaced the worn "20,000" decal on the vortex ramp. The remaining decals looked good enough and were left as is.
New "20,000" decal.
There was no evidence that my lift ramp ever had an ADV. "X" decal. If there was a decal, some previous person did a perfect job of taking it off and cleaning up any residue. I acquired a new reproduction decal from Pinsider chaskett around 2018. The under playfield lift ramp mechanism worked well so I left it alone.
New ADV. "X" decal.
Fresh set of instruction and price cards.
Done!
03/05/22: Intermittent issue with the g segment on all numeric displays. "Fixed" by reseating the ribbon cable at the CPU.