Arcade Collecting > Pinball

FINALLY got me a Black Knight...

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bleargh:
Should put an update in my own every now and then, shouldn't I....  :o

Charles (the local tech) came out and had a look at the machine ~2wks back.  Power supply kicked out a solid 5v when boards were disconnected, but it dropped to ~4.25v when the MPU board was hooked up.  Checked the fuses, they were good.  Checked for overheating chips, none of those.  Checked for loose chips/connectors, and he was surprised to see that they were all rock solid... IIRC his words were, "I've never seen a Black Knight with connectors this tight" (and he was a tech at the biggest arcade within a 4hr drive for ~15yrs).

I didn't have schematics for the machine, so we've pulled the MPU boards for him to take back to his place and put it up on his test bed, while he goes through it and looks for something.  Once pulled we had a look at the back side of the boards and they too looked like they were in awesome shape; no burn marks, overheating marks, no obvious cracked solder joints.  We know somethings up, just haven't figured out what.

In the mean time, while he's been working on the boards, I took to flattening out the warped playfield plastics.  It finally warmed up enough to get into the low 80s here (like sheesh... its mid-August, and we haven't broken 80 yet?), so I cleaned the plastics and set them out to bake in the sun, sandwiched between two panes of glass.  Set it all out on the picnic table on the deck, with our black bbq cover underneath it to help capture heat.  Two afternoons sitting in the sun, and they're almost completely flat.  Anything that was only minorly warped is flat, and the stuff that was completely bent out of shape now just has minor warps in it.

Kids are getting antsy, though... I've now got two pinball machines in the basement in pieces (this BK and a Space Odyssey I'm restoring), and they're dying to be able to (finally) turn one of them on and try it out.  Current plan is to get one of them working enough to be playable, and then focus on the other one and getting it finished off.  Once that one's all done, go back to the first and finish what I started.  So, I'm hoping the BK boards come back soon, so I can focus on the Space Odyssey restoration (which is a whole other story, and one day will warrant a thread of its own).   ;D

bleargh:
PBJ, if I ever end up in the same pub as you, I owe you a beer.  You said...


--- Quote from: pinballjim on July 07, 2011, 10:34:34 am ---Never, ever, EVER put a Williams classic SS machine on a deadline.

--- End quote ---

... and you were ... 100% absolutely correct.

Getting this baby fixed up has been no end of grief, with one thing after another uncovering itself as we worked through the issues... troubles getting parts from regular suppliers, multiple shipments of incompatible 5101s (or at least, multiple shipments of ones that didn't work in this BK), and that whole domino affect of "fix one thing, now you can see the next item down the line and its not working either".

Although the boards looked really good, multiple chips were toast and needed replacing.  5101 was bad and needed to be replaced.  MPU, toast.  Power supply needed repair before it would put out a solid voltage.  And then the myriad selection of resistors/transistors that although visually looked fine were in need of replacement.

But today, I got "the call".  Its done, its working, and he's had people playing it in the shop for three days without a hiccup.

5:30p sharp, he backs-in across the front lawn (its grass, it'll grow back) and we unload it out of the back of his truck.  Carry her downstairs, plug her in, fire her up... and it works beautifully.  I'm so happy to finally have this machine home and sitting next to the Space Odyssey behind my desk (which other than for one or two switches that seem to be out of alignment, has been fully restored).

Finally.  Hurray!!!

yotsuya:

--- Quote from: pinballjim on March 01, 2012, 09:40:20 am ---Anyone want to start a betting pool on how long before it craps out again?  I put the over/under at 3 weeks if it's played regularly.



--- End quote ---

Aw, why you gotta go there? He just offered you a beer!

yotsuya:
 :cheers:

Rando:

--- Quote from: bleargh on March 01, 2012, 01:14:34 am ---Finally.  Hurray!!!

--- End quote ---
So original cost was $650,
What's it work out to after 6 months of repair costs?

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