Repair & Maintenance Log
05/19/07: Acquired game.
05/25/07: Mini-Shop Job. The game could use a good teardown and cleaning, but I was anxious to get in some game time so I just took care of a few simple odds and ends. I replaced a lot of burned and/or #44 bulbs with #47 bulbs. Some sockets need repairing. The game was reprogrammed to my liking. Did some cleaning and a quick waxing. Adjusted some switches. New batteries. Finally, I moved the new PinLED score display from the player #1 to the credit position. I think the backglass looks better with the intensity of all the player score displays balanced.
Display swapping, before and after.
05/30/07: Acquired and installed the missing right coin acceptor and cashbox. Fixed a chattering center thumper bumper. After trying to adjust the bumper switch to no avail, I discovered a cold solder joint on the switch capacitor. Some folks consider these capacitors to be unnecessary. So I just cut it out and the bumper works fine.
06/06/07: Fixed coin lockout coil (just a cold solder joint on the +43 volt bus back at the chime unit).
06/23/07: Rebuilt lower right flipper. This flipper was giving me problems from the start. The flipper could not withstand a ball hit when in the hold position. Having tested everything else, the high-impedance side of the coil appeared to be weak. I rebuilt the flipper and replaced the flipper coil. The flipper rebuild kit was from Pinball Resource. The only thing I did not like about this kit was the length of the set-screws. One comes uncomfortably close to the EOS switch. I shortened one of the set-screws on a grinding wheel. Power Play is a four flipper game. Note the additional pair of switch contacts for activating the upper flipper. These switch contacts are in addition to the flipper rebuild kit. The extra switch contacts are part #ASW-A10-45. I also rebuild the left flipper.
Lower right flipper rebuild. Note the shortened set-screw uncomfortably close to the EOS switch.
03/19/09: Fixed all the dead feature lamps. Enough feature lamps had gone out that the game was loosing some fun factor. There were a combination of problems including burned bulbs, bad sockets and bad transistors. I replaced Q4 and Q53 on the lamp driver board. I also soldered shut most of the sockets. First I used a mini wire wheel in a Dremel to shine up a spot between the socket body and the mounting bracket (supply voltage). Next I placed a dab of paste flux on the spot. Then I bridged the body and bracket with a solder blob using a 40 watt iron and a wide tip. Despite my efforts at cleaning the spot and adding flux, the metal doesn't seem to tin very well. The end result is ugly, but it seems to work and it's easier than replacing sockets. I tested all the sockets for shorts before turning the game back on.
Socket shined up (left) and soldered shut (right).
If the socket continues to be cantankerous, I pull the ground lead off the tab and solder it right to the spring thingie in the middle.
03/22/09: Re-rubbered game and cleaned and waxed playfield. Replaced any missing switch capacitors with .1 micro farad caps. Note: switch caps should be .05 or .047 micro farad, but .1 micro farad caps work too and that's what I had on hand at the time.
04/23/09: Despite having replaced all the switch contacts associated with the lower flipper assemblies, I could never get any consistent feel from the upper flippers. As noted above, the lower flippers have an extra pair of switch contacts piggybacked on the EOS. Pressing a flipper button grounds the respective lower flipper. Then the lower flipper closes the switch, which in turn grounds the respective upper flipper. That is how it's supposed to work, but my upper flippers never seemed to have a consistent reaction.
The picture below shows the lower left flipper assembly. As shown, I decided to simply bypass the switch contacts. The black wire is from the upper left flipper. I pulled the black wire off its switch contact (white circle) and re-soldered the wire so as to directly connect with the green wire (white arrow). The green wire connects with the left flipper button. Now when a flipper button is pressed, both respective flippers are directly and simultaneously activated. I suppose this modification puts more stress on the flipper buttons. But now the upper flippers have a solid consistent feel (and the game is a hell of a lot more fun!). Others have also reported success with this modification.
The lower left flipper assembly is shown above. The black wire from the upper left flipper (white circle) is now directly connected to the green wire (via the red jumper) from the left flipper button (white arrow).
04/03/10: New playfield glass.
03/24/12: Installed standard-keyed (751) lock on coin door.
10/11/13: Sold game at the White Rose Gameroom show.