I've been intrigued with getting to work on a pinball machine for some time now. This cocktail pin had been sitting on CL for about 2 months and it really haunted me for a week after the seller dropped the price for $250 recently. I had stumbled upon some videos in the past on these cocktail pins and the themes were kinda dumb but this one looked cool. It was complete, dirty, not working and listed as a project. I set up an appointment to pick the table up last Thursday and transaction went well.
I was happy to see that the telescoping legs that extend the table to a standing position came with the game. I imagine sitting and playing a pinball is pretty lame. Upon first plug in only some of the GI lights powered on. Playfield was in great shape with no wear marks in the paint at all.
The same day I set up the appointment there was a new thread on klov for a little cache of allied leisure parts selling for $26 shipped (paid for em 10min later).
The main power supply board was producing the proper voltages after a couple fuse changes. The little unit pictured above is what came with these tables stock to supply power to the MPU board. It was showing no signs of life and I didn't care to try and fix it, so it made sense just to replace it with an arcade switcher. When first powered on with the switcher I got some signs of life to the score displays but the led's on the MPU were not doing what they were supposed to. Based upon the initial signs it seemed that the reset circuit chip was tripped and needed repair.
Taking the whole thing apart was the best way to clean it. While it was apart I had a chance to get a better look at the board on my bench and holy sh!t!!!, discovered that 2 of the CPU's weren't all the way into the sockets and there was some damage to the lower left of the MPU with 3 broken traces on the board. So now I couldn't wait to get the table cleaned and back together.
Table reassembly was complete and crossed my fingers for the first power up. Powered on and attract lights were flashing (which meant MPU booted), coined up and hit start BOOM!! the ball ejects from the out hole and the thing fu©k!ng works!!!!!!!! There was a number of playfield issues (dead pop bumper, drop targets were a mess and some switches were sporatic) but those are easy issues. What a great moment that was when the ball shot out the first time.
Some interior pics after the cleaning. This table orignally came with a digital "blip" board (what that speaker is for) that sounded like crap, but I was surprised and shocked to see the chime board in it when I purchased it. Apparently at some point the chime board was taken from another allied leisure table since the chimes were wired with stripped wire stuffed into the .156 plug and the other ends that wrapped around the coil lugs with no solder. I was able to use one of the connectors that came with the cache of parts to properly wire in the chimes. I suspect that the black metal shelf that holds the coin counter is what did the damage to the MPU since it was kinda flopping around in the bottom of the cab.
Drop targets needed some work. There was one missing and 3 others didn't work. These are pretty unique since they are individually controlled and certain ones are only reset based upon the game play. That cache of parts paid off again with a new drop target and a couple springs. I needed to replace 2 of the sub mini microswitches with 2" leafs in the drop target unit.
I was really concerned about the dead pop bumper since allied leisure kinda did there own thing and use ALOT of plastic parts. After recieveing 3 new standard metal rod and rings I was pleased to discover that they didn't stem very far from spec when they molded the part in plastic. It's not perfect right now, but the damn thing works again. The rods are a tad shorter and I need to get a little bit stiffer spring for the coil to accomodate for the extra weight of the metal. Good to have a plan of action for the other 2 pop bumpers when those break.
Cleaned and waxed the playfield along with installing ALL new #47 bulbs and rubbers. The new rubbers make the game play lightning fast and really fun. It's quite a busy little playfield with a nice variety of items to shoot for. Last little detail is pulling the glass and having a new piece cut by my guy.
I've logged about 30 hours of work on the table over the last week and what an absolute joy it has been bringing this thing back from the dead. I had never seen or touched the inside of a pinball machine til last thursday. This was the greatest learning experience and a superb way to get my feet wet in the world of pins. I've got about $326 into this thing so far. The gained knowledge and hands on learning along with the gameplay are worth far more imho.
good day.