Arcade Collecting > Pinball

FINALLY got me a Black Knight...

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bleargh:
Been trying to get my hands on one of these for a few years now, but any time one has come up anywhere within a half a days drive I've missed it.

This one popped up just over an hours drive from here on the weekend, and I called right away lest I miss this one too.  Was asking $750, but wouldn't agree to hold it until I could get down to see it.  Sucked... my wife is out of town with the kids on a road trip, so she's got the truck.  Sucked even more that I'm flying out to catch up with them mid-trip on Thursday, and if I didn't jump on this now it'd definitely be gone by the time I got back.  Made a few calls, no hits, then managed to convince my mother to get in her car, pick me up, and drive me down to see it right away (I've never had a drivers license, so just borrowing her car wouldn't work; I needed a driver too!)

Machine was in reasonable shape.  Wear on the playfield, but nowhere near as bad as I've seen on some.  Cabinet has a few dings, but hey, its 30+yrs old.  Backglass, however, was in incredible condition; only the tiniest bit of flaking on the very top, right above the Williams logo, but that's it.  A few cracked plastics, and the rest are warped, but I'm not that concerned; I'll either flatten them out or pick up a repro set of plastics (although that'll then feel odd w/new plastics on an obviously worn playfield).

But best of all?  NO battery corrosion.  Although the boards are dusty, they all look like they're in immaculate shape; no burnt pins/connectors, no obvious signs of overheating.  Hurray!

Kept coming up in audit mode, so we weren't able to fire it up and see how well it played, even after putting new batteries in.  Diagnostics come back as "9" repeatedly (even with door open), so I'm thinking I've got put a new 5101 CMOS RAM in it before I can test much further.  Under the hood, though, its in good shape; clean, not smoky, not grimy or dirty, and the coils all look good (no obvious burnt coils).

Offered $600 cash.  He said he'd have to talk to his step-son as it was really his machine, and couldn't do that until he got home from work that night.  I didn't want to ask why he was selling it for him, but did wonder.  Also cringed at the thought of someone else swooping in on this, but I didn't think it was worth the full $750.  But he agreed to not take another offer on it until he'd spoken to his stepson; I was first to call and first to see it, so I got first crack at it.

And, to give him credit, he stood true to that.  I got a call back that night with a counter-offer of $650.  Told him it was a done deal; I'll be there mid-day to pick it up, cash in hand.  Called my mother back, told her I needed her car again, along with the guy doing work on her house, so he could drive down w/me and load this into the car.

Turns out, they've had it in the family since 1987.  It was given to his step-son by his father back in '87, and they've had it in the rec room or downstairs bar ever since.  Any time they'd move, it came along for the ride.  Suprisingly, though, they never took it apart when they moved it... they just had "four really big guys" load it into the back of the truck.

Me, though?  I took it apart, loaded it into the back of my mother's Honda Element, and brought it home.   ;D

I know it'll need some work to get cleaned up and working properly, but I think I did pretty good here... any other time they've come up on the island here they're ~$1200 and always "not working, but I'm told its a really quick fix" (and we know how that goes).

Happy happy!

smartbomb2084:
CONGRATULATIONS!    :applaud:

bleargh:

--- Quote from: pinballjim on July 06, 2011, 07:46:09 am ---With the coin door open, turn the game on, turn it off with the cabinet switch,
Wait two seconds, turn it back on.  That'll bypass a bad 5101 for now.

--- End quote ---

Tried that, still get the same results... "04 00" on the display, and "9" on the diagnostics internally.     :(

MaineEvent:
Great price!
Way to go, I love this game too.
Also, get a damn license!
 :cheers:

bleargh:

--- Quote from: pinballjim on July 06, 2011, 06:37:31 pm ---Never worked for me on Black Knight either.

--- End quote ---

Doh! (and you're telling me to try this out on mine because... it didn't work on yours?)    :P


--- Quote from: pinballjim on July 06, 2011, 06:37:31 pm ---Put in a socket, solder on both sides, and try a new 5101.

Also make sure you've got batteries in there and you've hit reset on the mpu.

--- End quote ---

That's the plan.  It'll have to wait until I get back from vacation with the family, though; I fly out tomorrow to meet up w/them in Calgary and we're then camping our way home at a leisurely pace.

In the mean time, I ordered some parts from Marco Specialties, and spoke to the local SS pinball repair guy; he'll come out and have a look at it a day or two after we get back.  Hoping to get it working for my sons birthday party that following weekend; he's been all anxious to try a pinball out since I brought home my Space Odyssey project machine last Christmas (which is almost done; after doing major restoration to the playfield I put the last coat of Varathane on it last night, so it can sit and cure while I'm off on vacation).

I'm outta here, though; catch up w/you guys when I get back.

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