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.