The crappy flipper buttons, don't get me started on those! Since the beginning of the time everyone used the kind where the moving part of the button was secured by an e-clip. Then something happened (early enshittification?) and a model where the center was just pushed in place surfaced. It had a small collar to prevent the center from just jumping out of the button frame, but that wore off from normal wear and tear, leaving surprised players with the flipper button center in their hands mid-game!

The Mandalorian seen here is just from the era where the good old model had made its comeback and in this case the button wasn't a total loss, the e-clip had just come off for some reason. Oh and the black ones are relatively rare, I think the Mando is the only one of mine to have those.

#pinball #repair #pinrepair

Elvira had this really weird rattle in all the menu button sounds. At first I thought it was the speaker or amp going bad but then...

#pinball #pinrepair #repair #mysterysound

Well okay.

#pinrepair

Speaking of Road Show, its DMD has seen better days. I'll probably have to look into having Pin2DMD manufactured at some point, as my last real gas discharge displays are on their way out.

#pinrepair #dmd

Contact's upper right flipper started sticking. It has worked so well that I have never needed to do anything about it. On closer examination, turns out someone had used WD40 or similar oil in the plunger, which had now gunked with pinball dust and started causing issues.

Some brake clean later it works again. RIK also got to take a look how different the Williams system 3 flipper mechanism is compared to anything else solid state.

#pinball #repair #pinrepair

Mando's right ramp design if a bit iffy. The tiny ramp is so steep it sends the ball flying even at moderate powered backhanded shot and without the cover the ball just flies somewhere on the playfield. The original plastic is not very hardcore stuff and usually breaks within a year or two, mine was lucky to last to this day.

The replacement was made of transparent polycarbonate. Our design is single piece unlike the original, which has a small flap on top of the ramp entrance, attached to the main part of the plastic with metal parts. Naturally we lost the graphics, but I think I'll scan and print it at some point. To be honest, in most cases you really can't even see the graphics on that specific plastic thanks to all the reflections to the glass and the plastic itself.

But Mando is playable once again.

#pinball #repair #pinrepair #arcade #diy