York Show

Sorry this is a bit late. Some photos from the York (PA) Pinball Show, also known as the White Rose Show. (Oct 12, 2007)

Laura and I really enjoyed this one--plenty of good games, most showing a bit of wear, but the kind of wear that shows a game has been played. Not many HUO games at this one, but that's OK. Those Home Use games always seem so fragile, like I'm playing with a museum piece.

Embryon (one of my faves from the show. A good-playing wide-body game):

Star Trek:
Astro: This was next to the Star Trek game. And in the middle of the Astro playfield were the words "Star Trek"

Gnashing of teeth! Rending of garments!

I lost my high scores! I may have accidentally hit the reset button inside the door, but the high score reset has happened twice now. Last winter, I noticed that the machine had trouble starting some mornings (especially if its been cold). The game seems slow (even the music seems slowed down) until it warms up (generally after a single game). I suspect the big capacitor on the power supply board may be failing.

I checked and replaced the motherboard batteries just in case (I have an external battery holder, but I haven't soldered it in yet--I'm leery of getting my shaky soldering hand anywhere near an irreplaceable motherboard). And I went looking for a 12000mf axial capacitor. I couldn't find one (I didn't look that hard because I'm not sure that's even the problem. And again, shaky soldering hand, irreplaceable circuit board)

But it isn't irreplaceable. I found a power supply replacement board from RottenDog Amusements. It was much cheaper than the stock boards I found on eBay, and it's new, not 20 years old.

So my next foray into the pinball guts will be the power supply board replacement. Stay tuned!

Repairing the Shaker Motor

OK, so Earthshaker has a motor in the cabinet that shakes the machine when the player drops a ball into the capture targets. The motor is he same used in Williams' Harley-Davidson game; it uses a set of eccentric (unbalanced) weights to cause the shaking. The motor uses two carbon brushes, and it seemed these were getting worn out.

Often, the machine wouldn't shake at all until I banged on the bottom of the cabinet (beneath the shaker motor), or opened it up to spin the weights around a few times.

Somewhere I read that the briushes are the same as Ford Escort starter motor brushes. So I ordered some (I figured 1985, since that's the machine's date). Well, they don't fit at all. Not even close.

So I found a place online selling Earthshaker motor brush kits (Steve Young's Pinball Resource). The kit includes two brushes already mounted in the housings with springs and everything.

Getting the shaker motor out was a more difficult job than I thought. I knew that sucker had to be in there pretty good or it would have shaken itself loose by now, but the housing is very tight, with a bar across the top, and two metal sides. I basically unscrewed everything that could be unscrewed (including the weights, held on with counter-sunk allen screws). After about an hour, I had the motor out.

Before I replaced the brushes, I checked the old ones. One was pretty badly worn, but the other was fine. Upon further inspection, I noticed a bent lead on the worn brush. The brush had been jammed up against the commutator by this lead. Simply unbending it allowed the spring to pull the brush back, and it seemed there was plenty of brush left.

I figured I'd just clean and reinstall, but I knew the brushes (one at least) was going to wear out soon, so I installed quick connect terminals to the motor and the lead wires. Now, when I need to replace the brushes, I can just disconnect the leads, pop out the brushes and put the replacements in!

Here it is, after installing the quick disconnects. They've held for a few months now, so I think it'll be OK:

I have been unmanned

Laura and I went to the beach for a week, and had a friend come by to feed the cat and look after the place. We said she could play the pinball machine. We didn't think she'd do this:




Congrats, Daynah.

High score dance!

I now have all four high-score slots. So I did a little dance around the pinball:

Seawitch

Seawitch
Originally uploaded by dtaciuch.

There were two Seawitch pins at the festival. I though maybe the first had been set up for fast play, but both were surprisingly fast. The ball shoots rapidly around the top and down the left side, right over the flipper and down the drain if you're not paying prepared.

This is a fun pin.

Funhouse

Funhouse
Originally uploaded by dtaciuch.

This pin was clean; I mean, it looked brand new.

I swear, though, that the dummy swore at me while I was playing. It was awfully noisy in the convention center, so I suppose he might have called me "Bucko."

And he might have said Laura was "rich" or that she should go to the "beach." That's what gets me; not just the foul-mouthed dummy, but the gendered nature of his curses.

Texas Pinball Festival 2007

IMG_2952.JPG
Originally uploaded by dtaciuch.

The Texas Pinball Festival was a blast. Our backs are sore from leaning over the machines, our fingers have flipper-ache, and our ears have just stopped ringing.

I think we played most of the pins at the fest. My favorite was Funhouse (the only game I managed to score a replay on).

I didn't buy an parts, mostly since I was worried about brings such obscure devices onboard the plane. Wires, coils, PCBs, springs, and oh, yeah, some metal balls. Step this way sir . . .

Texas Report-I HAS A LANYARD

pictures/movies from the texas pinball festival coming soon, but right now our fingers are sore.

munchausen's by proxy, Earthshaker! style

Now that our home is beginning to grow cluttered with--erg--components, I grow suspicious of the thrice weekly alarm: "open her up! the 6 switch isn't working!"

High Score!!

I have achieved Earthshaker nirvana. Immortality is mine (unless I forget to change the motherboard batteries):





And JON, whenever you are: I wonder if you can feel your pinball karma draining as I get closer to eliminating you from the high score tally:

Replacing IDT connectors

The connection to the PCBs in Earthshaker use Insulation Displacement Terminals (IDT). Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum explained how these connectors work, and why they should be replaced. Like mine, the General Illumination connectors often overheat and burn. You can see in the photos how bad these looked:


(and you can also see the part number of the backbox interconnect board. Anyone reading this, if you have one of these to spare, let me know. I'd rather buy a spare to work on than try to replace all the connectors on this one).

So I bought several .156 molex connectors and a bag of .156 trifurcon crimp terminals from Marco Specialties.

And when I got up my courage, I cut the old connectors off. But first I took photos and made notes so I knew which wires went to which pin. Here you can see one repaired terminal, and the second about to be:




When I finished, I could get back to this:

First major repair

Before I tried to replace the upper playfield general illumination terminals (the subject of a later post), I decided to try a simple solder repair on a broken flipper. Earthshaker has three flippers: the standard left and right, plus an upper left flipper. It was the upper left which had broken. I thought it might be a bad switch, but while examining it, I noticed a wire had come loose. I took a few photos before I started to make sure I could at least get everything back the way it had been.




I wanted to solder the flipper in place, as removing it would be even more difficult. I wasn't sure where the connection needed to be, but there was a suspicious clean break behind the coil. I placed the wire onto the lead, and used the continuity tester. On the other (working) flipper coils, all three of the leads tested open in any combination. On the broken flipper, the center lead was closed. When I placed the wire where I suspected it needed to go, the continuity tester buzzed. So that seemed to be the right connection. Unfortunately this was just behind the coil.

I did manage to flow enough solder onto the wire to attach it to the lead. I'm not sure how long this will hold, since this connection takes a lot of vibration. But it works, and this gave me the confidence to try my next repair: replacing some PCB terminals.

Welcome!

Welcome to our pinball blog.

In January 2007, we purchased a 1989 Williams Earthshaker! pinball machine from Amusement Depot in Manassas VA. This was supposed to be Laura's birthday present, and, while she certainly enjoys the game (I'm sure she'll post her own thoughts), I have at least as much fun with this as she does. It is the best gizmo I ever had.

Laura got the idea from Issue 8 of Make magazine. I wonder how many pinball owners read this magazine? You're all makers, I'm sure, since as this blog will show, owning a pinball means fixing a pinball.

So I spend my days up to my elbows in pinball guts.