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So I bought a 'work-shopped' pin...

P

Phil

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Joined
Aug 17, 2015
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35
Location
South Yorkshire
paid over the odds for a super mario as its the first one and I wanted it to be right.

To be fair, I think its great and its certainly getting played plenty in the pub but now the initial excitement has passed I am noticing a few things and even with my untrained eye I get the impression that its had little more than a run over with a damp squib.

I first noticed that the upper flipper is a bit slow, some of the rubbers seem to me to look 'a bit slack' if that makes sense and I have noticed a couple of cracked plastics and a light or two burnt out.

Anyway I want to keep it reliable so wondered if anyone had done a shop-log or have a workshop manual for it, and whether there was any known issues on this model that I should look out for. so I can at least do basic preventative maintenance and hopefully catch any problems early on.

If your in South Yorkshire its available to play in the bar, Bar428, Hoyland, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. 50p a go. somebody really needs to beat the Jamies (local/barstaff) high score of 80m cos I cant!
 
Few TNT Amusement videos of Mario Bros. on YouTube.

I just searched Google for 'gottlieb mario pinball tnt amusements'
 
brilliant thankyou for that, downloaded the manual, those schematics look a bit daunting! maybe start by watching the video...
 
If it works ok currently then you probably don't need to worry about the schematics, just concentrate on solving your flipper issues. Rebuilding flippers is a pretty easy but incredibly useful skill to learn. It may simply be a gummed-up plastic sleeve, maybe £1 in parts.
 
Excellent that it's seeing use:)

You can change the bulbs easily (they go regularly enough, so might have been fine when you bought it - but cost pence to replace), the flippers can be serviced with a rebuild kit if you like (if it's being played a lot, then heat may be effecting the coils, whereas in home use you might not notice...here's a kit which will resolve any mechanical wear issues: https://www.pinball.co.uk/shop/flipper-rebuild-kit-1991-1999-a-13524-8/). Then just keep it clean (various potions are availalble from pin spares suppliers, but windowlene works fine), change the rubbers if they look like they need it (e.g. the tips of the flipper rubbers will start to crack and decompose a bit), check to make sure the batteries in the backbox are new, and ideally isolated from any boards in case of leaks, using a remote battery holder (https://www.pinball.co.uk/shop/remote-battery-holder), make sure that the fuses match those in those in the manual, but otherwise I'd recommend the engineer's mantra of if it ain't broke, don't fix it :)
 
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Thanks for the advice JT, I think I will buy the rebuild kit and rebuild that top flipper. When I have done it once or twice maybe I'll be able to identify problems and just buy the bits needed. According to the manual it has a button battery so I guess I don't need the remote battery holder mod? but then I have not even had the play-field up yet. I am just a tad apprehensive now since all the 'experts' (ie. not members of this forum) keep telling me how much there is to go wrong.

I purchased it from an arcade dealer in Pontefract, they also sell replica arcade machines on ebay, I also bought a Sega Rally Twin from them. They are always pleasant enough people and happy to give advice but it took them 3 months to delivery the Sega despite quoting 14 days and in the end I ended up sourcing some replacement parts to get it repaired. And I really don't think the pinball has been work-shopped to any standard. Next one will definitely be coming from a member on here.
 
Is this the place Phil? http://www.arcaderepairs.co.uk/

Couldn't find an address on the website but the area code is for Pontefract.

To be honest i'll never buy from anywhere other than here or eBay, and in the latter case I wouldn't buy a Pin that I wasn't willing to drive and see 'in the flesh' first.
 
@Phil I'd give that pin a good look over if I were you. Arcade Whorehouse don't have the best reputation for supplying quality items and if you're operating the game then you need it to be reliable!
 
thats not a pic of their warehouse on the website. Being brutally honest, I have found the second hand arcade game and pinball machine dealer network to be akin to 70's used car salesmen! Very much a buyer beware marketplace and not really a safe place for a noob. You do learn fast once you have been stitched up a time or two though.
 
arcade wornouts. great in the past for cheap as-is machines but used car salesman is about right. to their credit they have brought in a lot of used equipment from Europe in the past so many of the rarer stuff you see around came in via them. they do get panned a lot on the video forums for bodging dedicated "classic" games with LCDs etc. but then some of that has an element of snobbery
 
Wiredworm said:
http://www.arcaderepairs.co.uk/
.
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love their listings for machines

24 Hours
Pirates
THE wheel of fortune

Not even bothering to check what is written on the backglass doesn't exactly instill confidence in their knowledge or skills.

1% knowledge 98% sales patter 2% attention to detail as Phil Dunphey would say
 
Phil said:
If your in South Yorkshire its available to play in the bar, Bar428, Hoyland, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. 50p a go. somebody really needs to beat the Jamies (local/barstaff) high score of 80m cos I cant!
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Hi Phil,
Might nip in one day for a go and a chat..
 
I've told many a story about Arcade Whorehouse on the videogames forums.

For the pinheads, this is my "Complete' Rocky and Bullwinkle, that was anything but complete when it arrived.

When I phoned up to complain about what was delivered, they got abusive with me, and made out I was the problem

Cost me £hundreds to sort out

DSCF4156 (Medium).JPG

DSCF4157 (Medium).JPG



The most obvious missing parts in case you can't see are :-

Coin door
Right hand side rail
Solid state Flipper board
5 bank drop target
Ball trough mech
Spin and win
Entire save nell assembly
Various platics/screws/posts etc
Hat trick mechanism
Parts of the harness

And why did I get caught out buying from a known trouble company? Because like any good reputable company :tut:, they change their company name pretty much every year!
 
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Phil said:
When I have done it once or twice maybe I'll be able to identify problems and just buy the bits needed. According to the manual it has a button battery so I guess I don't need the remote battery holder mod?
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Correct. :)

Phil said:
but then I have not even had the play-field up yet. I am just a tad apprehensive now since all the 'experts' (ie. not members of this forum) keep telling me how much there is to go wrong.
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Don't worry about lifting the playfield up but do remember to remove the balls first! Yes pinball machines can seem rather complex at first but as time passes and you get to know more then that is no longer off putting... As someone else pointed out, Gottlieb's are fairly bullet proof so you have a good starter machine. SMB is a fairly simple game, which is exactly what you need for the casual player/punter.
 
Well I lifted the play-field and judging by the amount of dust under there, it hasn't even been hovered out in a while. The play-field looked much better when viewed through glass, but I think it will clean up with some tlc. Thankfully there seems to be no major issues so I will count my blessings and be much more careful next time.
Incidentally I have had a couple of messages offering me another item. I just happened to be following the same item on eBay a week earlier and know they paid 840 for it, but I can have it for 1600. So the basic business model seems to include flipping item from Ebay. Think I'll have to pass.
 
Flipping from eBay after wiping over with an oily rag. And charging £800+ for the priviledge. :eek:

@lukewells I saw your posting about that R&B ages ago and didn't realise just how bad it was. But having just recently started to rebuild mine it's now clear just how many bits were missing from yours - and it looks to have been in a real grubby state as well. Shocking :eek:
 
I don't usually like doing this but these people are now called Williams Amusements Ltd, Britannia Works, Pontefract.

I bought my Mario pinball, which I love but I just discovered another issue today, I don't have a key for the back box as I assumed the one that fit the coin door also fit the back. Been reading up and I need to see if the battery cell is soldered directly to the board. Closer inspection of the back box looks like the original lock has been cut out as there is some sort of plate and lock type thing there instead.

As a warning to others I also bought a Sega Rally twin from them, which so far has had to have:
a new coin mech as the original just stopped accepting any coins,
2 new AC cooling fans, 1 was completely seized up but still drawing power and getting steaming hot (literally) so was a fire risk,
a new power supply to sort out a game 'freezing' issue ,
it still needs at least 1 new pot fitting to fix the force feedback steering on 1 side,
and a damn good clean inside.

They choose to ignore my complaints so I wont bother any-more, I will just fix the machines.
 
Phil said:
I bought my Mario pinball, which I love but I just discovered another issue today, I don't have a key for the back box as I assumed the one that fit the coin door also fit the back. Been reading up and I need to see if the battery cell is soldered directly to the board. Closer inspection of the back box looks like the original lock has been cut out as there is some sort of plate and lock type thing there instead.
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Some backbox keys are housed inside the coin door on a hook next to the coin mechanism, try having a look there first....!
 
Tom (or was it Tim?) Cahill from Williams used to recommend separating the two backbox keys once a machine was unpacked. One could keep the wire ring and be kept on the back of the door, while the other could be fixed to the rear of the cashbox crossmember - out of obvious sight but handy if needed. Though the lock mounting plate that WMS started using in the late Sys 11 era only needs a tamper-resistant Tx driver to remove the plate & lock. Unless one of the hidden fasteners slips.
 
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