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Complete Centaur - Wreck of a project

AlanJ

AlanJ

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Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
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Location
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Alias
Alan
So I bought a Centaur, bit of a project: It is more or less complete, but status of the boards is unknown.

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The cab is not bad, but the playfield!
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Lots of playfield wear and mylar has bubbled lifting the artwork
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Incorrect pop bumper caps and a home made plastic !

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More home made plastics

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First job - the rectifier board, some odd fuses!
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Think I might have to re-rubber it.
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When I bought it I knew the playfield was wrecked. 2 Options - a vinyl playfield overlay or a playfield swap (new or better condition). I have purchased a playfield overlay, but to be honest it looks just as much work as a playfield swap. Both involve stripping both sides of the playfield which is the biggest job anyway.

There is a great article on pinside about fitting overlays so I will follow the advice there. I have ordered a large piece of hard plastic to overlay so I can mark out all the drill holes. Big delay on getting plastic delivered due to c-19 ppe etc, so in the meantime, I plan to test out all the boards and see if I can get the thing working. All board present, but it's all unplugged, so need to connect it all up.
 
I have been after one like that to restore myself,just never seem to be able to find anyone willing to sell,other than a couple of dreamers wanting £3000 for something non working with a trashed playfield and acid damaged boards
 
So, I wired it all up, checked all the voltages, did the recommended upgrades to the MPU and Solenoid driver board, checked the AC on the 5v DC, etc. All looks good. And.......... It sparked up into life. Got a small issue with the MPU rebooting occasionally, there is no battery damage, but it looks like some components have been replaced, in the reset area, so that may need looking at.

Managed to play a game! All the mechs working, most of the lamps work, obviously a load of blown bulbs. I put in a known working lamp driver board and the same lamps lit, so looks like the lamps driver board is ok, just needs new bulbs.

Score and credit displays are all knackered, all 5 (various problems). As a temp measure I've put in 6 digit displays until I get around to buying some 7 digit ones.

Squawk and talk is working both sounds and speech. The say it again board is duff - ordered a mypinballs replacement for this.

Now on with the playfield strip..............
 
Looking forward to this one Alan. Great to see all the Bally ss love Currently on the site. Among the best games ever made. Keep up the good work. K.

Footnote: In context with what Neil said. Andrew’s Bally pcb’s (nvram.weebly). Have just had a forced price increase. As good old planatery pinball slapped him with licence fees.....🙁
 
Oh this looks like a beast of a project! Amazing! :) That playfield looks...looks... like a project. heh.

Can you get new playfields for 'em?
 
Really? I’d have thought these boards would have any IP expired on them.

I’ve had varied success with altek boards.


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New playfield vs overlay? New every time.

However you'll need good luck in finding a new playfield as CPR are only pushing their colour version at the moment.
 
Well I know you like a challenge and you certainly have one there.
Good luck with it.
 
AlanJ said:
Cpr are going to do a b&w rerun soon. they are not doing it the new digital print way, instead the old way so that means they need a batch of 50 blanks to be made. i’ve got my name down for one or two
Click to expand...

It's a no brainer then... :excited
 
top side stripped and pulled off as much mylar as i could 4deed6d09544f38f20c146a6deb413c7.jpg


now to strip the bottom
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it was in an unlit room, it’s not quite as sharp as an original

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ps these photos taken at an angle to stop the light glare so they are skewed


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Give me a shout if you need any comparison photos, I’ve got a currently stripped very decent original playfield ready to transplant to my centaur.
 
Supersprint said:
Give me a shout if you need any comparison photos, I’ve got a currently stripped very decent original playfield ready to transplant to my centaur.
Click to expand...

i hate you [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

no, seriously thank you. [emoji106]


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Neil McRae said:
Really? I’d have thought these boards would have any IP expired on them.
Click to expand...
It's ridiculous. The NVRAM board is basically just a footprint conversion module for the FRAM part. There's like 1 passive on it. "IP" my butt...

Edit: nevermind that website's name is confusing
 
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Fubar said:
It's ridiculous. The NVRAM board is basically just a footprint conversion module for the FRAM part. There's like 1 passive on it. "IP" my butt...
Click to expand...

not the nvram boards, it’s the bally really replacement mpu boards, etc


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overlay is probably better than no art work at all

I seen pinballs that have come to australia that have been drawn with sharpies with mylar over them :rolleyes:
remove the mylar and you have this :eek:
Centaur nice playfield 1.jpg
 
Neil McRae said:
Really? I’d have thought these boards would have any IP expired on them.

I’ve had varied success with altek boards.


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Click to expand...
It’s not the electronic design that’s causes a licence fee as much of willians and Bally designs originally came from ic manufacturers own data sheets which are free, but the fact they include single roms with multiple game code on it. Dip switch selectable etc.
 
Underside strip down coming along nicely
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I must say i’m impressed with how the pop bumpers come out as a single unit. A real move forward in technology compared to the barbaric method used in earlier machines , eg Paragon!


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