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    Repair log: Hot Flash II air hockey (Dynamo, 2005)

    2005 Dynamo Hot Flash Repair log

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


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    🪖 These Dynamo air hockey tables are tanks. I've seen people standing on them. I've seen countless drinks spilled on them. I've even seen people having sex on them. These tables really have seen it all. Yet they continue to soldier on. But occasionally they need a bit of help.


    This one was having issues with the sound effects not playing, displays not working, and the pucks jamming up in the goal ends. The puck jams were simple enough: foreign debris in the goal ends. But the sound and display issues were narrowed down to a fault on the control board.


    A new control board and repairs to a bad solder joint on one of the volume pots fixed the sound issues. But the displays still didn't work. The way the new control board handles display data is different from the old board. Getting the displays going necessitated getting a new wiring harness for the overhead, and rewiring half of the cabinet with it. Fiddly work, and a lot of crawling around on the floor. But once the new harness was hooked up, we had the displays going again.


    This table lives on to have countless more games played on it, drinks spilled on it, and children conceived on it! 💋


  • Published on

    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, 📬 Contact Us to discuss how we can help!

    

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    🛠️ 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.


    📺 Reminds me I need to watch the original Twilight Zone series!


  • Published on

    Repair log: Centaur II (Bally, 1983)

    1983 Bally Centaur Repair log

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


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    Time to get a Centaur II up and running again! First problem? Start a game, and the balls are nowhere to be seen. Turns out they were all hiding in the multiball trough. But they weren't getting kicked out because the ball launcher was gummed up with grease that had solidified, rendering it immobile. Cleaned and re-sleeved and the ball issue was fixed.


    The left flipper had also given up the ghost. Broken wire between the flipper coil and the end of strike switch. An easy fix!


    ...then a hard fix. A sound issue. Absolutely criminal on Centaur, because the best thing about the game is hearing it say "Destroy Centaur"! One of the wires on a sound board connector had come loose. New crimp pins and a new connector housing solved the problem temporarily, but it returned soon after. One clue was that some of the backbox lamps would go out when the sound went out. Weird. Somebody had cut the backbox GI lamp braid, and simply tied some wire around it to reconnect it; a poor connection. Once this was soldered back together, the sound (and backbox lamps) returned.


    Plenty of lamps out on this playfield, which were replaced as needed. The "B" in "ORBS" was a little less cooperative. The SCR driving this lamp had failed. New rectifier installed and it was lighting up again.


    The rubbers on this machine were long gone, so a new rubber kit went in too.


    Finally, the ground braid connecting the lower cabinet to the backbox was... not connected together. Didn't seem to be causing any issues, but it certainly could do, so they were reconnected.


    🔊 "Destroy Centaur!"


  • Published on

    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, 📬 Contact Us to discuss how we can help!


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    🐀 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"! 🎬


  • Published on

    Repair log: PinStation virtual pinball

    PinStation Repair log Virtual pinball

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

    


    👍 Yes, we fix virtual pinball machines too! Service call today for a PinStation virtual pinball machine. Computer was not booting up. New battery installed and BIOS settings updated to get the machine going again.


    Many people assume that since (most) virtual pinball machines have no mechanical components, that they are maintenance-free and will run forever. Unfortunately not so! Most virtual machines are run on computers, which suffer all of the normal failure modes that computers do such as batteries going flat, hard drive failures, and software issues.


    The most important tool when working on real pinball machines is a screwdriver. On virtual machines, it's a keyboard! ⌨️

  • Published on

    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, 📬 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.