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.

Firepower Pinball Fixed

Everything is working great now on the pinball machine. Pretty amazed with how complicated the play scenarios are. Quite impressive how the multi ball countdown works, and also the control of spelling F-I-R-E by using the right flipper.

Last remaining issue to fix was a previous repair that had been done to the driver board. After removing the wires that were connecting pins on IC5 and IC4, repairing the traces that had been cut, installing new transistors and replacing one of the 7408s chips controlling solenoid 7 everything is now working.

Glad the shield is working again, tough game without that.

Next I'll be buying some acrylic paint and touching up a few rough spots on the play field, will also try to find some new targets and order new stickers for them.

Shield or Solenoid 7 not working on Firepower Pinball

I have a 1980 Firepower Pinball machine, wouldn't go into attract mode but replaced IC19 RAM and resoldered the 40 PIN connector and everything works great now. There were a few issues with the playfield but mostly contact points. Couple transistors were also missing, but replacing these restored sound.

Only thing not working now is Solenoid 7, for the left shield. The driver board has been played with, not sure why someone would do this, but pin 6 of IC5 has been connected to pin 1 of IC4. Pin 1 of IC4 has been stripped so no longer connected to pin 17 of IC5. Could this be related or why would someone jumper pin6 of IC5 to pin 1 of IC4?

Testing Solenoid 7, it seems when I check the transistor in the diagnostics mode, it never gets a ground and just has a constant voltage, if i ground it the solenoid works fine. For the solenoids that work their transistors get an alternating ground.

Considering replacing the solenoid peripheral integration connector PIA IV (8620), or one of the 7408s chips that control solenoid 7. Not entirely sure if IC2 is the 7408s chip that controls solenoid 7.

Pinball Switch Testing

Pinball machine didn't want to come out of attract mode, some research on the internet suggested that the three switches that detect the pinballs in the ball trough are often the culprit.

Tested the switches and found that 2 of the 3 were not working. Cleaned them with some switch cleaner and now the game would start.

Tested everything out going through the diagnostics modes, see firepower pinball for a how to. Most of the game is now working, there are a couple of solenoids though that aren't firing. One unfortunately is the solenoid that kicks the ball onto the ramp, this one is pretty crucial, and the other is solenoid 7, that acts as a shield, and stops the ball from going out of play on the left side. Not sure how a player activates the shield, but it looks like the diode there is bad.

Will try replacing the diode on switch 7, and also the transisters for these two solenoids on the driver board.

Firepower IC19 RAM replaced

The RAM chip at IC19 has now been replaced, game boots into attract mode now and no longer gets stuck in audit mode. Not entirely sure if it was replacing this RAM that fixed things, or re soldering the 40 pin connector between the boards which is also frequently sited as an issue with these machines.

Game will display credits now when coins are inserted, but for some reason won't start. Pressing the start button seems to do nothing, suspect that the problem rests with the three switches that detect the balls in the trough. Have read that the machine must detect that all three balls are in the trough before starting, and that issues with these switches frequently cause the game to not start.

There is some test mode that will allow you to trouble shoot those switches, so next steps are to read up on how that diagnostic mode works, test the switches, and go from there.

Super Mario is more fun with the Retro Arcade Stick

Super Mario played great using the arcade controls. The games that ship with the Super Joy are definitely an odd lot, they are all pretty close to the originals but if you look at this title screen you can see a few of them are just ever so slightly different. Pretty sure royalties were never paid, and thus some of the names of the games in the title list are also quite strange, like Galaza instead of Galaga for example. Oh well nothing like a bootleg game controller.

Overall though pretty happy with the list of games, nice to have several times more than what shipped with the Retro Arcade Stick.