New Project

Started on a new project this weekend. Virtual Pinball machine, plan on using a 42 inch tv for the playfield, and a 32 inch one for the backglass and 19 for the DMD display.

Have ordered most of the hardware now, just need a few odds and ends like fans for cooling. All the main parts have arrived though, so I began cutting out the cabinet this weekend, plan on making 3 machines in total.

Computer I plan to use is quite powerful, 6 core system running two 6850s. In this picture you see the bezel of the Sanyo 32 inch TV I am using for the backglass. Here I'm just testing the backbox for fit, I used a wobble blade to groove channels into the wood which the TV bezel sits in and will eventually hold the decased LCD in place.

Should have the backbox completed shortly, and then will start on the main cabinet. The board below the TV will eventually be cutout to hold the DMD display (19inch monitor), and a couple of speakers.

Scorpion Pinball Machine

Picked up a Scorpion Pinball machine about a month ago, one of the first early wide body cabinets. Not a bad game, like the drop down targets, but the game play definately isn't as fast as my Firepower machine, and it does lack something without any voice sounds. I do like the dual flippers though, and it does remind me a little of Black Knight with the two almost seperate playfields.

Was a bit of a mess electronically, even had a fuse wrapped in tinfoil, needed a number of repairs. Battery box was defective and needed to be replaced. IC19 5101 was dead, and had to be replaced so I installed a new IC with a socket. Most of the male pins were no longer soldered very well, so I resoldered the 40 pin connector.

Replaced switch 06, was causing poor flipper operation .

Cleaned all contacts using diagnostic tool # 3 and found a number out of adjustment. Now corrected .

The following transistors all needed replacing:

TIP 122 Q33 /10 loose and broken stopped sound number 10

Tip 122 Q37 / Q36 stopped sol 13

Tip 122 Q6 /Q5 stopped top left drop down sol # 4

There were quite a few other issues, but one of the main ones was that none of the displays were operating. This was fixed by replacing the resistors which were out of limits.