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    πŸ¦… Repair log: Judge Dredd (Bally, 1993)

    1993 Bally Judge Dredd Repair log

    Repair logs are quick summaries of workshop and on-site repairs. If your machine needs a service, πŸ“¬ Contact Us to discuss how we can help!


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    This Dredd had a rough time after moving house. The removalists destroyed the topper, breaking off its wings! It looks more like a sphynx than an eagle now. Thankfully, Planetary Pinball still have reproduction toppers in stock so a new one is on the way! While we wait for that to arrive, let’s deal with the other issues…

     

    First up are the test buttons on the coin door. Two of the buttons were very sticky and wouldn’t register consistent switch closures. These switches cop a lot of abuse, and they were cheap switches to begin with. Normally I shy away from contact cleaner in pinball machines but it works quite well at dissolving the muck and improving the action on these switches in particular. One spray on each switch and both were working nicely again!

     

    Upper left flipper was being weird. It was very weak when it worked, but pressing the flipper button rarely got it to move at all. Let’s look at the flipper switch in the cabinet. Dredd needs a unique opto interrupter and bracket due to where the opto board sits in the cabinet. These were missing, and they aren’t readily available. A regular opto board had been put in its place, with a long metal blade taped to the interrupter to make it work. Not a bad solution actually, but the tape had perished and the blade was loose. Reinstalled a new interrupter plastic and secured the blade to it properly.

     

    Some general illumination lamps were out in the backbox. Specifically the bottom half. These are all on the same GI circuit. Following the wire back to the power driver board, the J120/121 connectors were fine. So were the fuses. The problem was all the way back on the input side, at J115 where lamp power comes in from the transformer. The connector had been messed with and somebody had tried to solder some of the wires back into it, causing a couple to get loose. Installed a new connector with new terminal pins which made a solid connection and the lamps started working again. 

     

    What else? Battery was flat, so that was also replaced. Some vertical lines appeared on the display which were caused by a loose ribbon cable on the display driver board. One playfield switch needed adjustment. The playfield also got a clean. All working well now! 


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    Repair log: Twilight Zone (Bally, 1993)

    1993 Bally Repair log Twilight Zone

    Repair logs are quick summaries of workshop and on-site repairs. If your machine needs a service, πŸ“¬ Contact Us to discuss how we can help!

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    πŸ› οΈ Basic service for a Twilight Zone that had been sitting unused for a number of years. First port of call was the CPU board. Batteries weren't retaining any memory. No wonder, they expired in 2016! Other than the battery pack, there was only minor damage to one connector and header pin which was causing one column of switches to fail. All replaced, and a coin cell battery added.


    Now onto the playfield. Rubbers were perished, so new rubber rings installed throughout, including the mini playfield. Several lamps not working. New lamps and sockets were necessary. Of course two of the pop bumper lamp sockets were broken, so they had to be desoldered, unstapled, pulled out and replaced. Very fiddly! Highly recommend the lamp sockets with centering brackets for this.


    The trough release coil was jamming, stopping from balls moving in the trough. Pivot point was gummed up with dirt and debris. Cleaned and re-sleeved.


    Lockdown bar had a bit of surface rust on it as well. Treated and polished. Nice and smooth now. Playfield also got a clean to finish off.


    πŸ“Ί Reminds me I need to watch the original Twilight Zone series!


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    Repair log: Last Action Hero (Data East, 1993)

    1993 Data East Last Action Hero Repair log

    Repair logs are quick summaries of workshop and on-site repairs. If your machine needs a service, πŸ“¬ Contact Us to discuss how we can help!


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    πŸ€ It's been a while since I've had to repair a insect and rodent sanctuary. The cabinet and backbox of this game were full of wasp nests and rat poop. So this game needed a pretty deep clean before I could tackle anything else! The primary issue was the game would not boot. A combination of destroyed fuse clips and leaking capacitors on the power supply were the culprits in this case.


    Once the game booted up, I could focus on the many other issues. Unfortunately the rat poop was not the only evidence they left behind; they also chewed through a bunch of wiring at the base of the cabinet as well as in the backbox. This resulted in a lot of game features not working including some lamps, flashers, the shaker motor, and a couple of switches. Those little teeth sure do a lot of damage!


    A few small issues to round out the repair. The balls were getting stuck in the trough. The trough was very rusty, and the balls were getting caught on the rust spots. Some rust converter and a clean made things nice and smooth again.


    Most of the insert lamps above the flippers were out. Bulbs, sockets and connectors were eliminated as the cause. Turns out, these lamps are all in the same column, driven by Q70 on the MPU board. Q70 had failed. Once replaced, the lamps were turning on again.


    A bunch of other parts needed replacing. New drop target. Couple of new switches. New balls. New rubber rings. New lamps.


    Machine is almost at 100% now bar a couple of minor issues, and is fully playable, which is much better than it was before I turned up. Ready for "action"! 🎬


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    Repair log: Judge Dredd (Bally, 1993)

    1993 Bally Judge Dredd Repair log

    Repair logs are quick summaries of workshop and on-site repairs. If your machine needs a service, πŸ“¬ Contact Us to discuss how we can help!


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    Lots of work involved in preparing this machine for sale! First, a thorough clean. This necessitated taking all of the ramps off the playfield so you can access all ball areas at the top of the playfield. There was some Mylar lifting in this area so that had to be removed.


    Next, the drop targets. The "J" target was not staying up. The targets are meant to rest on a plastic shelf which keeps them in the "up" position. Somebody had installed a homemade version of this part which had cracked. Correct part installed and assembly rebuilt.


    Next, the subway entrance. There were some lamps missing here which were reinstalled. There are also two small wire ball guides on either side of the hole which guide the ball into the subway. They had fallen out at some point and were in the base of the cabinet. They were re-tensioned and glued back into place. New rubbers installed while I had this bit apart.


    Next, the lamps. Plenty not working, particularly those on the lamp boards. Cracked solder is common on these, particularly the lamps in sockets which are parallel to the playfield. Most of these needed resoldering.


    Next, the Deadworld. It kept spinning and wouldn't stop to allow the magnet to pick up the balls. One of the optos under the playfield which reports the Deadworld position was not working. It was fouled up with dust and dirt which were keeping it "closed". Cleaned and back in action.


    Finally, the flippers. Upper right flipper to be exact. This one was intermittently weak. A quick rebuild did not help. Test mode revealed the flipper switch was flaky. This switch is on an opto board. Rebuilt the connector and reflowed solder on the board but this didn't fix it. Turns out, the opto itself was on the way out. Replaced it and all was good again in Mega City One.


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    Jurassic Park (Data East)

    1993 Data East Jurassic Park
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    I haven't had to do a full restoration on a Data East machine in a little while, so it was about time one came around. Enter Jurassic Park! This machine came from a customer who had this machine sitting in their garage. They had just moved house and wanted the machine brought back into playing condition so they could play it in their new house. As expected, the Jurassic Park was much older than the house, and was also in much poorer condition. The game did start up and enter attract mode, but a lot of playfield features did not work and a lot of parts were broken. This was going to be a full-on restoration, and I wanted to add a few little touches to really bring the machine back to its former glory. ​So, if this pinball machine was 65 million years in the making, then I was in it for the long haul with this restoration.
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    Last Action Hero

    1993 Data East Last Action Hero
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    Last Action Hero (Data East, 1993) came to me as a restoration project for a customer who had had the machine for some time but was moving it to a new location. He wanted it to be fully working so he could set it up in his factory. The machine was relatively functional, but had a few issues that required extensive repair. I have a soft spot for Data East machines, so I was keen to take this one on and see how a full restoration would make it pop like new again.