Ben Cox
David HonessCan anyone identify this type of mains switch (left pic)? It's inside a Jaleco Arm Champs 2 arcade machine that I am working on repairing. I've already serviced the power chain and measured all the correct voltages (right pic). It looks like there's a block that will come free somehow and I guess those are smoothing capacitors on both sides #arcade #arcaderepair #retrogaming #retrocomputing
Ari [APz] SovijärviI've seen these failed QR code readers elsewhere, but this is the first one to fail of mine. I'm tempted to take it apart to see if there's some obvious failure. Anyone else diagnosed this issue? #pinball #pinrepair #arcaderepair
Mister Bond is no longer dirty, he's actually so shiny you can see the perfect backbox reflection off the playfield! #pinrepair #arcaderepair #pinball #arcade
The lamp tests have become a lot less eventful when the games went natively to LEDs and there's virtually no lamp sockets to mess up things either. #pinball #arcade #arcaderepair #pinrepair
I let it run in the test for a while and could not repeat the issue. Before it had like maybe 1 in 10 chance to get stuck in up position. Naturally the test alone won't recreate the conditions it receives when played, but I'm hopeful. I'll order the worn out part next time I'm ordering stuff from a store that carries it. Or it'll be one of those things that got hacked and it works another 10 years.
Can't believe RFM turns 27 years this year! I still remember seeing one freshly unboxed in the summer of '99!
I suspected the solenoid, but it was this sliding surface that was deep grooves in it. The mechanism has enough play to cause it to stick because of them. I'll replace it, but as I don't have a spare at hand, I'll dremel down the worst of it and see if it lasts until a spare arrives. #pinball #pinrepair #arcaderepair
Last time I had to deal with this issue with vice grips, but this time there was not enough screw remains left to get a grip. Alternative approach was to use the Dremel tool to cut a slot at the end of the screw and use a flathead screw driver to get the remains out.
After checking the coil stops (a really weak part in this platform!), I used better quality screws to put this thing back together. I really need to check my other Sterns, I think most have the factory screws replaced with something that isn't made of wet toilet paper, but fishing these screw remains is so annoying I might as well replace the rest too.
Well would you look at that, a new failure mode for me. This Spike 2 game has blinking optos in the ball trough, causing it to be confused mid-game. After observing the ball trough board LEDs, I don't see this blinking effect with bare eye, but it's very visible in the ball trough test. I wonder if I'm looking at a communication issue between the node board and this thing or if something's failing internally on this board. #pinball #pinrepair #arcaderepair
I rebuilt Mando's flippers last spring. Now a player reports the left flipper is dead. I still have in fresh memory the times where the plastic plunger links had the structural integrity of wet toilet paper and was surprised that the actual failure was the tiny spring pin that was so loose it fell out.
I tried reinserting it but it didn't want to stay. I didn't have the pins as spares but had a boxful of the whole plunger+link assemblies, so I just replaced the whole thing. Normally I replace wear parts from both sides, but the wear was so minimal on the right side from 6 months of use that I left it. But do notice how dirty they get in that time! #pinball #pinrepair #arcaderepair