Alberta Mata Hari

Make sure you work through those boards a little more, do some of the mods on pinrepair.com ... with just a little bit of work, it'll bulletproof the thing where it'll last for years. And fix that damn rectifier board!
 
A brief update after playing it for a large portion of the day. :)

Tweaked a couple rollovers that weren't sensing right. Next up I'm gonna see about cleaning the drop-leaf targets and adjusting them.

Also, sometimes when i power on the machine the solenoid board doesn't fire up properly, and no solenoids fire at all, but turning the machine off and on a couple times (with varying amounts of time between) well get the board to fire up. This leads me to believe it's either a problem on the rectifier board (possibly low voltages?) or on the solenoid board itself (caps?).

Any tips?
 
I agree it sounds like connectors. Just work those two boards over and get them where they need to be, plus the plugs that go to them and you'll be 100%. Doesn't cost much to do.
 
*bump*

Getting ready to place an order for a ton of parts for this, this weekend. Gonna rejuvenate the whole machine!

Novus (1,2,3)
Wax (Suggestions?)
Rubbers (Including Rebound)
Lights (100x Eiko #47)
Shooter Assembly (Both Springs, Shooter Tip)
Leg Levelers
Bridge Rectifier J2 Repair

To Do:
Touch up Cabinet
Touch up Playfield
Polish Coin Door and Legs

Before I worry too much about the Bridge repair, what commonly causes pins to burn on the connector?

DSC00983.JPG


From the looks of it, Pins 1, 2, 10, and 11 got torched. These would be the General Illumination and the Return lines for General Illumination. Is the repair as simple as replacing the connector and re-terminating the burnt lines? The bulbs are all working fine (wires soldered to test-points). Should I also replace the pin header while I'm at it?

Also, any of you locals have a spare leg for a Bally Early SS machine? One of mine looks a bit bent and twisted?
DSC00928.JPG
 
The burnt connectors are caused by the crappy IDC (insulation displacement connectors) that were originally used failing. The reason that the molex connectors are burnt up is because the headers were not changed when the molex connectors were installed.

Replace both the headers and connectors and they should never burn up again if it is done right.
 
DillonFoulds said:
*bump*

Getting ready to place an order for a ton of parts for this, this weekend. Gonna rejuvenate the whole machine!

Novus (1,2,3)
Wax (Suggestions?)
Rubbers (Including Rebound)
Lights (100x Eiko #47)
Shooter Assembly (Both Springs, Shooter Tip)
Leg Levelers
Bridge Rectifier J2 Repair
Click to expand...

Novus #2
Wax - Mothers california gold pure carnuba (canadian tire)

I would rebuild the rectifier board too. New everything. It's cheap.

what commonly causes pins to burn on the connector?
Click to expand...

Too much current flowing through them for too long. Those being the GI connectors it doesn't surprise me that they're burnt if the game was left on for long periods of time. That would have happened regardless of the connector type used (IDC or crimp). The heat will be generated between the pin and the header. Not between the connector and the wire. There's a reason Bally redesigned that board for later games.

If you rebuild the rectifier board with good quality headers and crimp connectors you shouldn't ever have a problem again in home use.

From the looks of it, Pins 1, 2, 10, and 11 got torched. These would be the General Illumination and the Return lines for General Illumination. Is the repair as simple as replacing the connector and re-terminating the burnt lines?
Click to expand...

Replace the headers AND the female connector housings and install crimp style molex connector pins. Most people will recommend the Trifurcon pins. That's what I use but I wouldn't hesitate to use the standard pins if that were all that I had.

There are plenty of power supply upgrades mentioned on pinrepair.com. If you want to go all out on the game you should consider doing a lot of that stuff.

The bulbs are all working fine (wires soldered to test-points). Should I also replace the pin header while I'm at it?
Click to expand...

I would. Unless I were just shopping it out to sell as a working project. Then I would probably just leave it the way it is and tell the buyer about it.
 
Just placed a nice big order at Pinball Life for a whole mess of parts. Starting to see how this hobby can get real addictive real fast! Turning out to be a fun project so far, though!

I told the girlfriend she can't play it until I have it all waxed up and all the new parts in, she didn't seem thrilled about waiting much longer!

Also, should that Mother's California Gold run me about 30$ for a tin? Seems a bit steep to me. I'm gonna call a couple auto shops tomorrow, and see if they've got it for a more reasonable price, unless I'm just being cheap? :p


Edit: Just looked it up on their website, there's a 16oz Liquid wax bottle for 8usd, or a 12oz Paste Wax tin for 12usd. 30cad seems really steep for that now. :/

Also, Paste or Liquid? I've never used this before, but I'm guessing if I went liquid wax, poured onto a chamois and buffed onto the playfield, I'd be fine? Any tips?
 
Last edited:
I got my order from Pinball Life in today. Hoping to get in my order of electronics components tomorrow; it's going to be a great weekend elbows deep in my machine! :D

Went through my parts to make sure I had everything. Grabbed some general stuff from Wal-Mart to clean up the playfield and...

WOW!

I just took a magic eraser and some rubbing alcohol to a patch of the playfield...

Here's a couple shots of before:
Before.JPG

Before2.JPG



And here's an after shot.
After.JPG

There's no camera blur here, the color actually came out that solid! Looks like I'll have to touch up some of the black parts. Nothing a good old sharpie can't fix up.
 
DillonFoulds said:
I'll check the bottle when I get home after work. Didn't know the difference, but it's a house brand bottle, so I wouldn't be surprised if i was just using the name wrong.
Click to expand...

Rubbing alcohol is usually about 70% isopropyl alcohol. You want as close to 100% isopropyl as you can get (which will be 99%). That stuff is usually called isopropanol thought it's just 99% isopropyl alcohol.

You can usually get it at a pharmacy but they may have it behind the counter. Alternatively you can definitely get 99% isopropyl at an electronics store but it will be pricey (by comparison).
 
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