Oh god, what have I done.

FireSlash

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Flash Gordon restoration

So, on a whim, I went to check out a local ad for a pin "for parts or repair", listed at an absurdly low price.

It's now sitting in my apartment, in pieces. Not sure if I should be proud of my find or start crying. I love messing around with electronics, but this is a pretty big jump from the small kits I've messed with in the past.

Anyway, it's a 1981 Bally Flash Gordon. Lets start with the good:

Backglass looks good for it's age. At worst case, I can ebay the backglass for more than I paid for the machine. probably.
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The bad:
Playfield is uneven... looks like decals were placed in various spots to cover up chipping. Due to this, there are several seams in the field. Not entirely sure how to attack these yet.
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The ugly:
Previous op had his own, special way of doing things...

SBA coin op mech is a bit rusted and doesn't work. So the op was kind enough to snip this wire instead of just pulling the bulb
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Slam tilt sensor was just too much of a hassle
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Op just couldn't spring for a grounded plug.
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So, as it stands I've yet to power it up. Op informs me that it's blowing 20A fuses (F1). Upon testing, BR1 has somehow shorted diagonally.
The poor old power module looks like it's seen better days. Ordered a rebuild kit.
The rear screw behind the transformer connector is stuck so solid I might have to drill it out. Fun times ahead.
 
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That is a really fun pin! There are lots of great resource sights to help you. Definitely get familiar with www.pinrepair.com. Its pretty much the first place I go to when I am troubleshooting stuff.
 
Thanks PDX, I'll check it out. So far I've just been googling and working off the schematics.

Congrats on your find- is it your first pin? Have you played Flash Gordon before?

I've played flash in vpin, but never the real machine. As for this being my first; kind of. My dad owns a pin so I had an idea what I was getting myself into, but this is the first I've owned myself.
 
Congrats on the find and welcome to the group! The playfield is actually in very good shape for a FG. Most are worn down to bare wood right above the flippers. I believe that the "seams" that you feel are the edges of mylar that have been applied to help protect it. You are on the right road by replacing the power cord and rebuilding the power supply first. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.
 
Nice pickup, looks like you will have some fun in store for you.

CPR have a pre order open for a new playfield if you want to upgrade it one day.

Cool game for sure. I am a fan of the movie so would add one to my collection for sure.
 
I believe that the "seams" that you feel are the edges of mylar that have been applied to help protect it.

yeah, this makes sense with what I'm seeing.

The edges of a few of these are starting to lift up, is there a good approach to resealing them? Also a one of the light covers between the jet bumpers has sunk a bit, is there a way to repair this?

I'll take some better shots of the PF once I strip and clean it. Right now there's a pretty nasty layer of crud that needs to be cleaned off. I've been able to source most of the parts I need already, but I'm having trouble finding a bally lockdown bar that works for an 81. (It's missing).

I'm also finding more and more fun surprises from the previous owner. One of the drop targets was broken so he filled the hole with polystyrene and taped over it. Not sure how I missed it until just now. Also about half of the targets are from different games.
 
OT but the title of this thread makes me think of that Talking Heads song "Letting The Days Go By"
 
This is going to be a fun project to watch! Please keep sending us pics and give updates as you go.
 
yeah, this makes sense with what I'm seeing.

The edges of a few of these are starting to lift up, is there a good approach to resealing them? Also a one of the light covers between the jet bumpers has sunk a bit, is there a way to repair this?

Jeri Ellsworth put up a video on mylar removal that might help you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvHvW5Yci34

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3lTvWgDjkQ

There are several others as well. Just go to google videos and search for pinball mylar removal.
 
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Will this trick work on electrical tape too? Two targets were taped down on the PF, I removed one of the tape strips and it took some of the paint with it, the second strip I've yet to touch is taped on much better.
 
MPU doesn't boot. Solid light with no flashes. +5 and +12 test points are 1v low at the MPU, .5 volts low at the rectifier board. Waiting on a rebuild kit. Nice to see an MPU that's not covered in corrosion though.
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That dinky old cord has been replaced. It's a bit overkill, but it fits.
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Rollovers have seen some serious abuse. Not sure if these can be properly fixed.
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Plastics are yellowed a bit, but otherwise cleaned up nicely. It's interesting to note that a majority of the dirt was on the underside. Probably due to dirt being carried off the playfield due to the heat.
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the playfield is also cleaning up decently, and should look ok after a wax.
 
Ok, rebuild the rectifier. F1 is no longer blowing, and the feature lights appear to be lighting.

However, the MPU is still not booting. Same symptoms: low voltages at the test points, no flashes, dim solid light. I tried shorting Tp5 to u40, the light just went out while they were shorted. Once the short is removed, the light comes back on. MPU is AS 2518-35. If I short 40/39, the LED brightens up properly, and seems to start flashing.

To be exact, Tp5 is 4.19v at the mpu. Rectifier voltages look good and err on the high side of the range.

Edit: Voltages are low at the solenoid driver board as well. Someone posted online that C23 has a habit of causing this, so I'll swap that out and see where that takes me.
 
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i reeeealy need to start doing before and after pics on my stuff, so i dont get so ocd about making it better no matter what i did already lol
 
It's also handy during playfield reassembly. It's nice being able to strip the whole PF down and having reference shots as to where everything goes. I took shots at fully assembled and a second set with the plastics off, so I knew what screws to use on the posts, what rings to use where, etc.

A few spots have paint coming off while i clean it (using novus 1 and a soft cloth atm) so I suspect water or heat damage. So far only one section like this is on a playfield area though: the upper right corner, mostly centered around he bulb under the plastic. Most of the loose paint has already come up, but I'm hesitant to clean the tracks now that I know more paint could come up.
 
I just got the replacement solenoid driver board in the mail. Installed it and..

ITS ALIVE!

So, status from here:

- Sound works now. J3 wasn't connected. The connector doesn't match up with the header, but after some googling, I found the correct way to hook it up. S&T fully functional. Yay!

- Lights are in a sorry state. A few bad sockets, and a whole lot of bad bulbs. I ate through the 40 I ordered, and there are at least 20 more dead ones.

- Fixed two stuck switches. I noticed however that several other switches don't close. I tried cleaning the contacts, but nothing seem to get them to trigger. This includes the ball return sensor, right drain, right jet bumper, and those are only the ones I've seen so far. Not sure what's going on.

- All solenoids work except #3 (Kickout). Resistance across the coil is 14.3 ohms, and it doesn't seem to bind at all. Seller assures me that all transistors worked when he shipped it out, and it was tested in a bally test fixture. Not sure what to think, but I can't think of any other tests to do.

- All displays work! Even after riding the 280v train of abuse, all displays are still 100%.

At this point I'm thinking I might have a damaged harness or bad ground somewhere. I can't think of anything else that would cause non-firing switches. Maybe the solenoid is related, or maybe it's bad in some new imaginative way.
 
- Lights are in a sorry state. A few bad sockets, and a whole lot of bad bulbs. I ate through the 40 I ordered, and there are at least 20 more dead ones.

I would replace all of the lamps in the game. Otherwise you'll be chasing old ones all the time.

- Fixed two stuck switches. I noticed however that several other switches don't close. I tried cleaning the contacts, but nothing seem to get them to trigger. This includes the ball return sensor, right drain, right jet bumper, and those are only the ones I've seen so far. Not sure what's going on.

I would consider pulling the switch matrix connector from the MPU and manually ensuring that the MPU can register all of the switch closures. Then I would check through the playfield wiring. Or you could do that in reverse order.

http://www.pinrepair.com/bally/index3.htm#smatrix

- All solenoids work except #3 (Kickout). Resistance across the coil is 14.3 ohms, and it doesn't seem to bind at all. Seller assures me that all transistors worked when he shipped it out, and it was tested in a bally test fixture. Not sure what to think, but I can't think of any other tests to do.

Manually ground the metal tab on the driver transistor for that coil. If the coil fires you have a board problem. If not you have an open coil, connector problem, wiring problem to that coil, etc...

I can't think of anything else that would cause non-firing switches.

You're going to have to start thinking harder :)
 
You can buy replacement rollover inserts from the Pinball Resource. Since, originally they were glued in, then the entire playfield was ran through a sander before art being applied - you may end up having to flip the new insert over on sandpaper and take some thickness off, then glue in. Not a hard fix at all.

Once you get it going, do all of the recommended fixes/upgrades in the Bally/Stern guide. Any connectors or pins that are dark/burnt - replace from the header and connector pins in the housing.
 
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