What's new
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Another one in the South West

I ' shark finned ' a Xenon out of sellers house on a sack truck a few weeks ago, just put a piece of wood across the side rails and ratchet strapped the rotated and tipped over head to the cab resting on the wood not the glass...simples.
 
It’s in!uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_422c16d445a22959559001bdb3ad9294.jpg

So first thing I’ve had to do is remove the badly rusted feet and clean the legs which looked like they’d been in a farmyard “I’m not having that in my kitchen” she said. It’s soooo much bigger than we expected [emoji51]

Cleaned the legs with meths and then used car detailing spray to bring them up to a shine. Put rust protector spray around the base threads and cleaned the threads of the feet with dremel and wire brush then lubed. One so badly rusted it only just came out under a lot of force. Anyway sorted now and gonna order some new feet and shiny bolts for the legs.

Before after:

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_328b8bff1fe6045f0b90c09b03b4a514.jpg

Things I need immediate help/advice with:

1. Before I turn it on, anything I should do?
2. Any tips for cleaning the cabinet? Furniture polish?
3. Only came with 2 (rusty!?) balls in a filthy coin box. Maybe the balls are still in there?

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_3763da0bb0e2979d908fbd08c4673350.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Those have come up well. Ditch the balls immediately and buy some new ones. Change all the fuses. Furniture polish is fine. I use car polish and baby wipes.
 
RobZombie said:
Those have come up well. Ditch the balls immediately and buy some new ones. Change all the fuses. Furniture polish is fine. I use car polish and baby wipes.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rob,

I’ve just popped the back glass out and the electronics look a lot better than the feet! The batteries are on-board so just pulled them out as have no idea how old they are.

I’m sure there should be more than 2 balls - I am sure I remember a multi ball feature when I played it last year...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Paul says 5 balls needed. Funny what you said about the size of it, gets me every time a new one arrives. They are humongous.
 
I hope I’ve found why it won’t boot - F1 and F2 on this board are visibly blown.

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_1e7ef1db5788adae5f38915c43b25669.jpg

Also I’ve spotted what seems to be the only hack in the back box so far:

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_493567092eecb57610b8f85e73e7dbbe.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hmm that’ll be a fun little job to sort out. Also just seen four balls in the trough (and a sticker saying “install 5 balls”) so it looks like the courier only took one (or maybe none) out. Perhaps the less skanky of the two balls is the one he removed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
It's not always obvious how to take the balls out. Some machines have mechanisms to stop them dropping out (Gottliebs), but usually its easier just to stuff a sock in the eject hole than go through the menu.
 
OK so I’ve just had the glass out and the inside is filthy. Black finger from wiping one of the ramps. Cobwebs, etc. Also one of the rubbers is shot up top. Should I even be considering playing a game once it’s working?

Inside of coin box for reference uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_1ad1daf15f7c59fd16a6cc7a621d0640.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
You've got young kids yes? Get some baby wipes and run through the whole machine with them. My 1st machine was a Gottlieb Cue Ball Wizard that I bought unseen on eBay for £800. It arrived looking like this. Notice how dirty the 'white' cue ball is. I cleaned it up with baby wipes, added new legs and side rails. It was like a different machine. Someone paid £3500 for it (not to me unfortunately).
FB_IMG_1509144839077.jpg
 
RobZombie said:
You've got young kids yes? Get some baby wipes and run through the whole machine with them. My 1st machine was a Gottlieb Cue Ball Wizard that I bought unseen on eBay for £800. It arrived looking like this. Notice how dirty the 'white' cue ball is. I cleaned it up with baby wipes, added new legs and side rails. It was like a different machine. Someone paid £3500 for it (not to me unfortunately).
View attachment 53659
Click to expand...

Thanks Rob. Yeah a 10 week old and a 2.5yr old. We got plenty of baby wipes!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So my main concerns are corrosion. There’s a lot. Most of the rails are starting to go. And screw heads, plates at bottom of ramps etc. If I’m gonna start changing rubbers etc. I’m inclined to clean and protect as I go - any suggestions for preventing this, short of tumbling it all?

The other possible issue is the inserts in the play field to let the light thru from underneath has cracking in a few places where the insert meets the wood. Only feint lines at mo but will it get worse and is there a way to protect it?

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_e59e16d560ce532bd59ae779c27953c7.jpg

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_ff754805e0d0935a0135d40178f12416.jpg
uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171027_7b69de8d731ff1de41a1f266b6573aaf.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
I always give them a bloody good clean when I get a new machine. But first get it working 100 %. Don't worry about the inserts that's pretty normal for a game that age
 
Yeah just concentrate on getting it working. That is the main purpose of a pinball machine, to work. Cosmetics are relatively minor.
 
Thanks fellas. One last question before I go and buy a load of fuses balls and rubbers... the top two bolts of the two back legs don’t grip properly. It’s like they are screwing in to something that’s theaded. Is that common and/or something to sort while it’s apart for any reason? It’s not about to fall over but made a horrible snapping sound when i was shunting it into position - both back legs are the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
PinballDaze said:
Threads are stripped...

Tap out leg plates and fit new bolts. 3/8th.
Click to expand...
That reminds me Dave, do you still have my tap? :)

edsr, you may need new leg plates, depends how bad they are...i.e. you can't cut a new thread in a hole that's already too big.
 
I always replace with the larger leg plate as it's much stronger.

Unless you are worried about it being like the original I don't think there is a need for the smaller plates
 
Thanks chaps. As for the leg plates and now I’ve plucked up the courage to flip the play field up and properly poke around, the sega ones are a bit pathetic.

So today I spent a lot of time cleaning it. Starting with the head and then under the play field, using a small paintbrush and a vacuum.

Must have vacuumed a small farmyard out of the bottom including fag butts (so now smelling a bit less funky).

And I’ve run some wipes over the bits of the playfield I can get to (thanks Rob) so it’s all looking a hell of a lot better already.

Very little solder in there only three places I could see that weren’t virgin: one of the ball sensors in the trough. One of the start buttons on the left. And the mods on the power board...

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171028_7dd8d76e8b37a022b59f6cab8e58d278.jpg

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171028_75dae921f155dad620216712f9a75140.jpg

So two things that I noticed:

1. It looks like the VUK plunger is about to smash into a wire sensor - does this look normal? It looks a bit bent - anyone got a picture of theirs or a similar machine?

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171028_f6c0fbd1a2bc8be5c268ae74ead5a1d4.jpg
uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171028_7c6f9efc2f356541ccacab08888ac189.jpg

2. I replaced F1 and F2 on the power board and they instantly blew. I used 6.3 Amp rather than the specified 7amps so perhaps a chance it’s the wrong rating but unlikely from what others have said.

Reading up and taking advice from others it seems the bridge rectifier is a likely candidate. But none of the caps are ooozing, no signs of heat anywhere and the mod to the board (two wires soldered onto the tracks which then connect to a bunch each so it’s just to replace the right hand connector block), so while hacky, seems to make sense.

So is there an easy way to check the rectifier before replacing it? And where can I get one from? I’d imagine it’s not the usual Maplin stock?

uploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171028_d52fc9c7e96dedb5ad3068349eafa46c.jpguploads.tapatalk_cdn.com_20171028_e604e5f64bc958f181b9654ccf197880.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom