What classes should I take to learn more about repairing pinball machines?

Steelhorse

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What classes should I take to learn more about repairing pinball machines?

Have been researching some schools to where I can learn to repair pinball and arcade machines and make a living as well with a company. Basic electronics or electric technician class? I'am looking at my certification then go for associates degree. The repairing pinball and arcade machines is for home use, as I will be getting into restoring machines for personal use and to flip'em for profit, but mainly so I can do ALL repairs on my machines myself. I'am learning from you guys here but I want to know circuit boards, to work on mother boards, opto, etc. everything about repairing any problem that arises from any of my pinball or arcade machines and PC computers as well. I got the bug of owning machines and I want to know how to fix'em. I told my wife not to get in my way of my hobby as I can save and make good money at this. What would my basic tools need to be for restoring a say pinball machine? I figure if you have the right tools and the know how why the hell not. I'am serious guys so please respond positively. I found something I truly would like to do for work and for a hobby! I just need to find some cheap machines. Last Friday (I still can't believe it) there was an add on Craigslist in the "free" category list for Free Pinball Machine" needless to say when me and friend went there , no pinball machine. I thinking it was a small kids or one of those "Zizzle" machines. But that right there would have been a good project to get my feet wet into this hobby. Jeff
 
Honestly, I think the best way to learn how to fix pinball machines is to get a machine that you can work on and jump right in. Buy some This Old Pinball and Life After Death DVDs for visual teaching and read up on pinrepair.com.

Pinball machines can be intimidating if you take them in as a whole, but if you take them bit by bit, there really isn't anything too complicated with them.
 
Your local community college should offer a program designed for electronics technicians (sometimes called an electronics mechanic). The certificate usually only includes the electronics courses and the two year degree adds in the core classes like math and english. I don't know too much about the trade schools like ITT tech, but I do know that I work in this field and we don't hire grads from those schools.


Of course, you could always join the military in the 'Advanced Electronics Field'. They will give you the same basic electronics training (many of the colleges base their training off of the military standard) and experience...
 
Have been researching some schools to where I can learn to repair pinball and arcade machines and make a living as well with a company. Basic electronics or electric technician class? I'am looking at my certification then go for associates degree. The repairing pinball and arcade machines is for home use, as I will be getting into restoring machines for personal use and to flip'em for profit, but mainly so I can do ALL repairs on my machines myself. I'am learning from you guys here but I want to know circuit boards, to work on mother boards, opto, etc. everything about repairing any problem that arises from any of my pinball or arcade machines and PC computers as well. I got the bug of owning machines and I want to know how to fix'em. I told my wife not to get in my way of my hobby as I can save and make good money at this. What would my basic tools need to be for restoring a say pinball machine? I figure if you have the right tools and the know how why the hell not. I'am serious guys so please respond positively. I found something I truly would like to do for work and for a hobby! I just need to find some cheap machines. Last Friday (I still can't believe it) there was an add on Craigslist in the "free" category list for Free Pinball Machine" needless to say when me and friend went there , no pinball machine. I thinking it was a small kids or one of those "Zizzle" machines. But that right there would have been a good project to get my feet wet into this hobby. Jeff

While I appreciate your enthusiasm... I feel like I should warn you that it's all but impossible to make your sole living from restoring arcade games and pinball machines. Especially pinball machines. If you want to provide even a half decent product it's going to be hard to make any real money. This is assuming you're already a good tech capable of fixing most problems using short and efficient methods.

There is no better way to ruin a hobby than try to make money from it. I'm not saying you should abandon your ideal completely. Far from it in fact. It's definitely possible to make money "flipping" games but I wouldn't expect to make enough to support a family. Just breaking even on the hobby is hard enough.

As far as learning to restore games is concerned... your best teacher will be experience. There's no substitute for it. I like to say that "experience is expensive" and it really is. There are so many disciplines involved in restoring pinball machines so there's not likely to be a single source that will teach you everything you need to learn. The aspect that will likely take the most time is board repair. Digital electronics is not something you're going to learn overnight. Just dive in there and keep going. That's all you can really do.
 
While I appreciate your enthusiasm... I feel like I should warn you that it's all but impossible to make your sole living from restoring arcade games and pinball machines. Especially pinball machines. If you want to provide even a half decent product it's going to be hard to make any real money. This is assuming you're already a good tech capable of fixing most problems using short and efficient methods.

There is no better way to ruin a hobby than try to make money from it. I'm not saying you should abandon your ideal completely. Far from it in fact. It's definitely possible to make money "flipping" games but I wouldn't expect to make enough to support a family. Just breaking even on the hobby is hard enough.

As far as learning to restore games is concerned... your best teacher will be experience. There's no substitute for it. I like to say that "experience is expensive" and it really is. There are so many disciplines involved in restoring pinball machines so there's not likely to be a single source that will teach you everything you need to learn. The aspect that will likely take the most time is board repair. Digital electronics is not something you're going to learn overnight. Just dive in there and keep going. That's all you can really do.

My fault no..no... I dont want to restore and fix pinball and arcade machines for a living. I want to learn about electronics, get a job at some electronic tech job (career), and be able to have the know how at home whether I need to repair something on my own pinball machines or household appliance, pc computer, etc. I just want some electronic hands on with circuit boards, solenoids, how to read and understand schematics. Sorry I did not mean I want to restore machines for my sole living, just a hobby like you folks. Thanks
 
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