Black Knight

[JONTHEBOMB]

On March 14 2006, an excellent little surprise was waiting for me when I got home.  A pinball machine from 1980 called Black Knight was sitting in three pieces inside the garage.  My pinball loving father and me hauled it down the stairs to the basement and set it up.  I played the machine for over an hour shutting everything else out in my life.  I have played a few pinball games here and there, but because my skills are lacking I lose my money so fast I would become discouraged and move on to a video game machine or simply go home.  Now that we have our own pinball machine on free play I have discovered how addicting pinball can be.  Now for some questions.

1. Can you get pinball manuals free on-line from anywhere legally?

2. Are there any good pinball sites/forums?

3. Are pinball machines usually restored this way?
We got a Black Knight that was restored by some company in New Jersey (cost a fortune to ship).  All around the machine is in pretty good condition, but some things aren't quite right.  First while checking on different things we found nuts and bolts (second to last picture) inside the machine near circuit boards.  these could have come loose during shipping, but there were quite a few of them.  Second while playing pinball a few things have popped out on the playfield after little play and not everything works on the playfield such as the extra ball.  Also, the 10 and 8 that are a part of the sword, stick up ever so slightly and can screw up the path of the ball sometimes.  Third they didn't even take the time to clean the buttons (last picture).

[Ken Layton]

1. Some manuals are available on line for free, but may not have all diagrams/circuit board layouts included to keep file size down. Many are not scanned in a high enough resolution to be useful. It's better to purchase the actual manuals from authorized pinball manual & parts dealers like Marco Specialties and Steve Young's Pinball Resource.

2. Try www.pinball-forum.com

3. "Restoration" means different things to different companies. There are different degrees of how far something is restored/shopped out.

Those loose screws could certainly have come loose in shipping. As a professional who has uncrated literally hundreds of brand new pinball machines over the past 30 years, the first thing I look for is loose screws/items rolling around in the machine.

[ChadTower]

If they didn't even clean visible things like the flipper buttons you can pretty much count on the fact that they gave it a very quick and not very thorough shop job.  Just enough to get it to work for a couple of weeks in your house.

[PetitMorte]

Black Knight is a Williams System 7 game.  Just about everything you could ever need to know about repairing it can be found HERE at Marvin3m's Fixit Web Page.  Just click on the link for 1977-1984 Williams System 3 to System 7 Repair Guide and you're off and running.

There is an absolute TON of information there on general maintinance, break-fixing, and so-on.  He even has links to useful schematics and board layouts.

Congrats on joining the pinball club!  I wish a Black Knight'd appear in *my* garage! 

[bconner]

I've found replacement parts on Ebay and Action Pinball.

I used to have lost of links to sites, but most are dead now.

Try doing a search with Yahoo.

I've seen the extra ball kick out for sale occasionally on Ebay. I think Action Pinball  might have a plastic part for the kick out.

The numbers on the playfeild are just pressed in, but I'd be cutious about putting pressure on them as they are proabably brittle due to age.

My Black Knight works pretty good (although there is a dead spot on one of the sound pots). It's not cosmetically perfect. I've replaced the back glass and have some vinyl stensils for painting the cab, play field overlays (would possibly help bummpy field as you sabd it down 1st, although art work isn't as detailed as original paint), and some misc other playfield parts).

Bob

[D_Zoot]

1. Can you get pinball manuals free on-line from anywhere legally?

2. Are there any good pinball sites/forums?

 Also, the 10 and 8 that are a part of the sword, stick up ever so slightly and can screw up the path of the ball sometimes. 

If you are into the Black Knight for the long haul, I would take Ken's advise and purchase a manual.  It will be worth it to have a quick and legible reference right with the game.


For pinball advise check out the newsgroup  rec.games.pinball.    RGP is a busy newsgroup full of people experienced in the art of pinball repair and upkeep.  Use google groups and you can search thru the archives of old posts for all sorts of valuable information.


Lastly, your raised lamp inserts.  Those inserts are glued in.  It's not uncommon for them to lift over time.  It is possible to repair it, but extreme care must be used so you don't damage the insert or surrounding playfield paint.  What you'll need to do is using a hair dryer carefully heat the insert from the bottom side to soften the glue then using something flat against the top tap the insert back down.   If you search RGP on google groups for insert repair or insert lifting you'll get a ton of posts full of repair advise.


Regards,
D

[JONTHEBOMB]

Lastly, your raised lamp inserts.  Those inserts are glued in.  It's not uncommon for them to lift over time.  It is possible to repair it, but extreme care must be used so you don't damage the insert or surrounding playfield paint.  What you'll need to do is using a hair dryer carefully heat the insert from the bottom side to soften the glue then using something flat against the top tap the insert back down.   If you search RGP on google groups for insert repair or insert lifting you'll get a ton of posts full of repair advise.

The numbers on the playfeild are just pressed in, but I'd be cutious about putting pressure on them as they are proabably brittle due to age.

Unfortunately, at least one of the inserts is cracked.  Looking at the playfield more it looks like they used scotch tape in some places.  Some good news we did get a Manuel.

My Black Knight works pretty good (although there is a dead spot on one of the sound pots). It's not cosmetically perfect. I've replaced the back glass and have some vinyl stensils for painting the cab, play field overlays (would possibly help bummpy field as you sabd it down 1st, although art work isn't as detailed as original paint), and some misc other playfield parts).

bconner, off the top of your head do you know the high score that is the machines default.  Our Black Knight is set at 2,500,000 which seems a little high to me.  I'm lucky if I get over a million.

[jjd]

Some good news we did get a Manuel.

Good, ask him if he has a manual.   


It looks like that restoration company did a less than stellar job on the pin. 

[Gunstar Hero]

Wow, that rocks.

I had a buddy who wanted to swap me a Black Knight machine for a NES game once and my parents shot it down!! Damn them.

Old pins have alot of... personality quirks... and learning to fix them or live with them is just part of the game!

Someday I'll track down a Black Knight 2000 for my very own, and then I will be pleased.

[JONTHEBOMB]

I had a buddy who wanted to swap me a Black Knight machine for a NES game once and my parents shot it down!! Damn them.

That must have been some really great NES game.  Unless your parents were pinball haters I'm guessing the trade couldn't happen because their wasn't anywhere to put it.  Which leads me to another question.  I know pinball machines usually stay in one place, but is there an easy and convenient way to move them?  We thought putting wheels on the legs would work, but then that would raise the machine.  Right now the Black Knight is sitting in the middle of the family room and is kind of in the way.  Until we clear away some of the clutter it would be nice if the machine could be stored in the closet and then when we felt like a pinball game it could come out of the closet fast and easy.

[Gunstar Hero]

Bingo. Too big, too loud, and we were in an apartment.

And the game was Faxanadu, which sucked, but he liked it, and had had his fill of the machine eating up his bedroom I guess.

[ErikRuud]

You might look into something like this:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2383

[ChadTower]

Unless you have one hella big closet, no, you can't store it there and pop it out quick and easy.  Pinball machines have to be properly levelled, and that takes time, every time they are put into place.

[JONTHEBOMB]

You might look into something like this:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2383

Just what I need. Thanks ErikRuud

Unless you have one hella big closet, no, you can't store it there and pop it out quick and easy. Pinball machines have to be properly levelled, and that takes time, every time they are put into place.

Yep, the closet in the basement is giant.  Measurements are 8.5 feet by 5 feet.  The closet situation will only be temporary until we remove some of the junk out of the basement.  Then the Black Knight will get a final resting spot.  Is there another part on the pinball machine that can adjust the level other then the legs?

Edit: Just to clarify, by legs I ment the little thingys on the bottom of the legs.  Which now I know are called levelers.
Thanks ChadTower

[ChadTower]

No.  The machine is leveled with the levelers on the bottom of the legs.