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Another one in the South West

edsr

edsr

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Joined
Oct 7, 2017
Messages
415
Location
Cheltenham
Hi, I'm Ed and live in Gloucestershire.

Recently played Baywatch set to free play on holiday and the whole family loved it. I've now finished rescuing my house from cowboy builders so 3yrs later have run out of things to do and wanted a new hobby that's not as dangerous as my previous ones.

So to land myself squarely in the loony bin I have "won" a broken Baywatch off eBay at auction as my first pin. Currently in chats with a courier guy called Martin to get it here as I don't know anyone with a suitable car. I've since (almost certainly in the wrong order) done a lot of reading online.

The first thing I'm planning on doing is fixing it and playing it. There is some form of issue with the screen. Dear God, please, not the DMD.

Then, depending on what I find, I was going to give it a shopping. But considering it's still near Carlisle, that's a while off! I'm told the cabinet is in great condition and the photos back that up. The play field looks good too although seems to be a bit of wear around the shark hole.

I've already spoken to some lovely people on eBay and of all the online communities I've seen, pinball seems to attract the nicest, friendliest and most helpful people. I don't think I'd be here if not for that.

So, some noob questions:

1. Subjective I know but on a DMD machine is it generally acceptable to put LEDs in and not devalue the machine?

2. Is it true that LEDs will increase reliability? I don't mind shopping this thing once but then I want to hopefully enjoy it, and avoid pulling it to pieces to change Bulbs. Also read somewhere that the lack of heat can help other components fair better. Would you guys agree?

3. If I'm unlucky and the DMD is shot, would you go down the colour/mod route or find an orange replacement? I know this is subjective but I want to try and break even wherever possible, so I can have some fun, but sell for a decent price if I ever have to. So I don't want to spoil what could be a really good example with hacky fixes, unless they're generally seen as welcome improvements. If anyone has a direct replacement, please PM! :)

4. Is there a basic tool kit for shopping? I've seen various parts kits for my machine (rubbers sleeves etc), but I wondered about those ultrasonic cleaners and parts tumblers etc - are there any 'staple' models that people swear by? Also soldering irons, mini electric screwdrivers... etc. I'm sure you guys know what you have in your ****nals, but perhaps there's a good thread somewhere that's current for us Brits? If not, maybe we could start one?

5. I'd imagine at some point I'm gonna want to vacuum a load of crap out of the cabinet - is there any risk of static from this, damaging Roms or anything like that?

Thanks in advance to anyone with advice.

Cheers,

Ed



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Welcome to the forum Ed. There's a SW league meet in Bristol today at Home Leisure Direct, and one at my house in Newport on 29th, good chance to meet a few people and play lots of machines.
 
Thanks for the info fellas; proving my observations about the pinball community!

Suspect Bristol is a bit last minute to get a pass-out from the wife (we have a toddler and an 8week old) but perhaps Newport could be an option - would be great to meet some of you!

I'll check out those links too, thanks astyy.

If any more thoughts on the LEDs etc, please chime in :)

Cheers guys!


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If I were you I'd just get it home and get it working for the minimum amount of money possible. Do a bit of research and see how much a good working condition Baywatch sells for then budget accordingly. Judging by what you've paid for it I'd say you've got around £500 to play with.

LED's are just a matter of personal taste on most machines (on some machines you will lose fade effects). Either way they're not going to affect the value significantly. Also I think a lot of people don't realise how bright a set of new incandescents can be. There are no rules here. It only gets controversial when you start putting LEDs in EMs.

Just get it working and have some fun playing it before going crazy buying tumblers etc :)
 
get the machine working but I would put LEDs in the machine as it makes a huge difference and will increase the value.

Check out pinball_live on twitch who has streamed a few games of baywatch (@strobey )
 
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RobZombie said:
If I were you I'd just get it home and get it working for the minimum amount of money possible. Do a bit of research and see how much a good working condition Baywatch sells for then budget accordingly. Judging by what you've paid for it I'd say you've got around £500 to play with.

LED's are just a matter of personal taste on most machines (on some machines you will lose fade effects). Either way they're not going to affect the value significantly. Also I think a lot of people don't realise how bright a set of new incandescents can be. There are no rules here. It only gets controversial when you start putting LEDs in EMs.

Just get it working and have some fun playing it before going crazy buying tumblers etc :)
Click to expand...

Thanks RobZombie,

I guess for me the appeal of LEDs is mainly reliability so that everything works. The reduced heat (and I guess power usage) sound good too, but it also looks quite complicated to work out what bulbs are gone using the test modes. If these benefits aren't really worth it, I'll probably just stick with bulbs. But if there's a good chance I can help reduce future electrical faults (especially knowing the cost of replacement DMDs) then I'll definitely go LED for the limited cost of a kit.

Thanks for the advice on not going mad with tumblers too - kinda need people to advise me where to draw the line. Looking at a few of the shop logs on here, it looks easy to lose months (if not years) on a machine. For now I just have to trust the seller it's otherwise in very good condition!

BTW, were you watching the same one on eBay, or guessing at what I paid? Looking back at some earlier posts on here, I think they've gone up, I overpaid, or both.

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edsr said:
Thanks RobZombie,

I guess for me the appeal of LEDs is mainly reliability so that everything works. The reduced heat (and I guess power usage) sound good too, but it also looks quite complicated to work out what bulbs are gone using the test modes. If these benefits aren't really worth it, I'll probably just stick with bulbs. But if there's a good chance I can help reduce future electrical faults (especially knowing the cost of replacement DMDs) then I'll definitely go LED for the limited cost of a kit.

Thanks for the advice on not going mad with tumblers too - kinda need people to advise me where to draw the line. Looking at a few of the shop logs on here, it looks easy to lose months (if not years) on a machine. For now I just have to trust the seller it's otherwise in very good condition!

BTW, were you watching the same one on eBay, or guessing at what I paid? Looking back at some earlier posts on here, I think they've gone up, I overpaid, or both.

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No I wasn't bidding. I was assuming it was the one in Hexham? But that listing doesn't mention the DMD so I could be wrong?
 
RobZombie said:
No I wasn't bidding. I was assuming it was the one in Hexham? But that listing doesn't mention the DMD so I could be wrong?
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the one - Hexham. I asked him about the dmd and he said it's not lighting up. So pretty big gamble. Hoping it's a fuse / 5v / solderable fix.


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edsr said:
Yeah that's the one - Hexham. I asked him about the dmd and he said it's not lighting up. So pretty big gamble. Hoping it's a fuse / 5v / solderable fix.


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Click to expand...

I would definitely recommend waiting until you've had chance to inspect it before ordering any parts or LEDs. The location looks far from ideal for storing a pinball machine, but it could be as simple as the vibrations from the washing machine causing something to come loose. Assuming its not full of damp and there are no serious issues other than the DMD I don't think the price is that bad.

Edit to say that it looks like only the GI circuit is lit on the pics (?)
 
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RobZombie said:
I would definitely recommend waiting until you've had chance to inspect it before ordering any parts or LEDs. The location looks far from ideal for storing a pinball machine, but it could be as simple as the vibrations from the washing machine causing something to come loose. Assuming its not full of damp and there are no serious issues other than the DMD I don't think the price is that bad.

Edit to say that it looks like only the GI circuit is lit on the pics (?)
Click to expand...

Hi Rob,
Yeah I think so. This is what he's told me:

**********
Hi Ed,

Below is what somebody kindly posted to me:

Hi, my guess would be a fuse has blown on the ppb board. If you remove the glass in the back box then open the light board door you will see 2 large blue capacitors in the bottom left corner. To the right of these is the ppb board. It has 8 fuses on it. With the power off, remove 1 at a time and test it. I think one has blown which stops up to 8 solenoids working. Good luck

Regarding rating the condition:
Cabinet 8
Playfield 9
Electronics (apart from the above - 10)
No missing pixels that I am aware of on the screen.
It was all working perfectly until it went off! (If that makes sense!)
********
And
********
Hi Ed,

I couldn't remember, but as I thought the playing field and back board light up, but because that's all it does and the game doesn't start the matrix doesn't show anything.
I've added another picture to show the table with lights on.
Thanks
********
It was that which made me think it hopefully wasn't the screen and there was something less costly wrong with it [emoji51]


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It would be a good idea to replace all the fuses as the first thing you do. Often you'll find they have incorrect fuses or even botched operator fixes such as a wire soldered across the fuse. So for safetys sake thats an important thing to do. Then re-seat all the connectors.
 
RobZombie said:
It would be a good idea to replace all the fuses as the first thing you do. Often you'll find they have incorrect fuses or even botched operator fixes such as a wire soldered across the fuse. So for safetys sake thats an important thing to do. Then re-seat all the connectors.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rob,

Really appreciate all the help. I'll see if I can find a list of the different fuses and order a full set so I'm ready to rock whenever it finally arrives. [emoji106]


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No worries :) And to answer your MMR question - I got mine from Maplin for about £20 or £30. But don't go buying one until you need one. Get the fuses changed first (Maplin is a good place to get these if you can't wait weeks for a US shipment) and re-seat all the connectors to see if that fixes the problem. I've only had to use a multimeter once and a soldering iron twice...and actually if I'd just taken a minute to re-seat the GPROM before buying the multimeter I would never have needed it. Pinball machines can be surprisingly reliable *touch wood*.
 
Seller just sent some pre-shipping pictures through. Looks in OK condition although shame about faded decals down the side and the chip out of the top corner. But pretty pleased overall.

Any thoughts on whether this is above/below average condition?

I'm assured the courier will be collecting it next week so should finally have it in the next fortnight or so...uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171013_3afdd8060bf98ae9a92b017153c9f8af.jpguploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171013_89f4790252c273abfa93178593e704de.jpguploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171013_7fb8c4a9cadb6551c76e8d58a8639b25.jpguploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171013_c031f2fbbe738cb9b2d8b1e143268aa0.jpguploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171013_577d9a14256dadc937a30091bbcf277b.jpguploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171013_fe759bdae70a2958d685768a37d0384d.jpg


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Looks pretty decent. Hard to tell from those pics. I wouldn't worry too much about the odd cabinet chip. Playfield condition is key.
 
Looks pretty standard to me, I've seen far worse fade on Baywatch cabs before :thumbs: How much wear is there on the shark hole, that's always a decent indicator of how hard a life it's had?
 
ronsplooter said:
Looks pretty standard to me, I've seen far worse fade on Baywatch cabs before :thumbs: How much wear is there on the shark hole, that's always a decent indicator of how hard a life it's had?
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Thanks for the comments ronsplooter. I've only got this photo to go on at present...

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171016_9c053da578fff95d4db99d8d2131952d.png.jpg

You can see the wear going thru the lines on the border graphic. What do you think?


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ronsplooter said:
I've a lot worse than that, looks pretty standard to me :thumbs:
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Great news. Thanks for the reassurance. It's finally being collected from the seller on Thursday and hopefully I'll see it in the next couple of weeks.

Will post again when it arrives :)


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It’s finally here although doorway was 5mm to small. Door now off hinges. Will hopefully set it up tomorrow and start fault finding the issue with the display.

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171026_2934934d5c341cf12ed75272ea13883d.jpg

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edsr said:
It’s finally here although doorway was 5mm to small. Door now off hinges. Will hopefully set it up tomorrow and start fault finding the issue with the display.

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171026_2934934d5c341cf12ed75272ea13883d.jpg

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Easier and prob quicker just to rotate the head that's how I get them in
 
RudeDogg1 said:
Easier and prob quicker just to rotate the head that's how I get them in
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Dammit. Too late. Wish I’d known that when it was being delivered. Getting kids down and then on the sack truck [emoji106]


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edsr said:
Dammit. Too late. Wish I’d known that when it was being delivered. Getting kids down and then on the sack truck [emoji106]


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Click to expand...

You need a hydraulic lift really to be able to do it don't think you could do it on sack trucks
 
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