Man, it's a shame these videos don't get more attention. I love seeing the way these classic machines work! The engineering and electrical knowledge they needed to have to make all of that work is amazing! I love seeing it, even the 31st time!
You might not be getting the amount of views you want but you are helping people big time. I started earlier this year and now have 10 machines. It’s one thing to read a site and see how to clean each component, but it’s another thing to diagnose problems and show how you figured it out. You helped me understand how to read and understand the schematics as I was tracking down my own problems. Believe me, the more of these you do the better. I am working on a target alpha right now and will be going back to watch your episodes on that machine once I finish cleaning it and start fixing problems. You are one of the reasons why TH-cam is a good thing and other people like you that make how to videos for car repair. You are doing it because you want to pass that knowledge along to others.
I very much like these games left in the original factory condition. The light behind the building, however is an exception the wheels on this machine is one of the silliest things I’ve ever seen somebody do to a really cool machine.
"This is a high scoring game" he says as the ball drops immediately. 😂 Love watching your videos. Your method of troubleshooting helps me out a lot, even though my only connection to games is playing them. Keep it up!
I love the videos where you show how to fix any and all problems, and show how to read and understand what the schematics are saying….There’s a reason why you’re the #1 You tube channel for fixing EM pinball machines….You know how to fix them and you know how to explain how to fix em. Thanks heaps for these videos Ronnie. …. Worldwide you are the best channel for pinball, whether EM, solid state, and even the modern games. You’re TNT …. Dynamite!
I'm interested in the troubleshooting aspect of EM issues. I have some experience with schematics, and it helps to keep the tools fresh in my mind. It's also helpful that someone like you, Ron, has experience with similar issues in the past that tells you where to start looking as opposed to the overwhelming task of tearing apart wiring harnesses to get lucky and catching a glimpse of crossed wires. That's my biggest fear. I'm working on a Gottlieb King Pin as my foray into the hobby of pinball repair, even though my favorite games are the early/first generation SS games. I look forward to the content on your channel every Tuesday and Friday, even the boring "let's rebuild a monitor" arcade stuff with Joe (lol, j/k. It's informative too). Keep it up, guys. And even though Bingo games aren't necessarily my interest, I may just come across one cheap that I can't say no to. I'm gonna need to know something.
I find the EM repair videos a pleasant mixture of interesting and relaxing. I’m pretty sure there is a small, but solid, audience that enjoys them for that.
Thanks for sharing these videos. I'm retired now, but I have had hands-on in a few repair positions. I somewhat regret I did not think of looking into a pinball repair position even after being an avid player in my high school years. I remember using machines that had the ball push-up lever, yet I do not see videos of machines from that era. It would be interesting to see their schematic layout, compared to these later models.... I just wanted to let you know, I watch all the pinball and jukebox videos, not so much of the video game shows as I never did like repairing TVs, they were just a bit too complex for me.
I have a Grand Prix machine and watched every YT video on this game. Fixing these EM games is challenging, and very satisfying when you get it tuned perfectly. I have to work on the spinner lights and the match isn’t awarding a credit, but other than that it’s working great. Great troubleshooting on the score wheel issue. My machine was purchased from the original owner who had it in their home since new. I got it cheap and wanted it to look pretty, so I painstakingly repainted the playfield with an airbrush and cleared it with automotive clear coat. It really pops. Great video, Joe.
Don't watch as much as I used to, but just to let you know I do still drop in now and again, as I find your repair karma good for my soul. Keep up the good work..
I enjoy seeing the troubleshooting and thought processes while you're working. You're the only channel I bother to watch and admire your patience. Especially with those horrible wire colours that just look like brown/brown or white/white
Sooo good. For anyone who’s ever had an inexplicable gremlins in an em this gives us an idea of what can happen and cause these types of bugs. And some trouble shooting methods to discover them. Sooo. Sooo. Sooo valuable. Thank you sir. I’ve had one particular EM I was convinced was possessed by the devil before. Wish I’d seen some of these videos years ago.
What a great machine! And what troubleshooting! Ronnie, you have the patience of a saint to hunt down these bugs. Personally I could watch you clean score reels all day: each one is always different and interesting to me somehow. I’d love to see a bingo machine come back to life one day too. Or one of the old EM rifle games in the back of shot. Thanks for sharing as ever. Regards
If he insists that the machine be on wheels, just roll the back legs up onto a 1" piece of plywood. Also, I think you missed the smoke and flames at 46:51!
I'm glad that someone commented in that one. At least EM machines use real smoke, not the magic smoke that SS machines use. Once the magic smoke gets out of a transistor or a chip, the component stops working.
Nice repair. I am thinking there was supposed to be fish paper between the leafs on the score motor switches. I am interested in seeing a bingo machine repair for something new.
I know that one of the pop bumpers was glitchy at the time but you can see the difference in how it plays flat vs on the angle. you never saw the ball popping around the top of the playfield for 30 seconds when you get gravity in the mix.
What a great machine. I dig all your EM repair videos. Maybe some day I will own one. If the customer wants to use casters on the legs maybe add very large ones on the back legs and very small on the front legs.
I've got one of these and it is not only complicated it is also the heaviest machine I can recall ever moving. MIne was well kept and only has 24K plays. I worked at a Bally/Wms/Gottlieb/CC distributor in the 70's and was in the business through the video game craze. There is so much stuff packed on the playfield that whatever it is you want to work on you'll find something in the way.. Good series/new subscriber
I used to repair the Bally Dixieland bingo pinball machines. The company I worked for in the mod 1980's bought 100 of them. They had been sitting on the docks for a while and had a lot of contacts corroded by the salt in the air. I look forward to seeing you repairing one of them or any of the bingo pinballs. I spent many hours with Testors model paints restoring the playfields on the pinballs. When they went electronic, I feel a lot of class went out of the games.
Love your videos, this was my first job after leaving school. Would be terrific to see you do a bingo game, we had some & they are a true nightmare but love em Keep em coming, you are always a first watch
The wipers weren't working because you had too much of that dye lectric insulatin grease and you shoulda put one of them new fangled leds behind that new building mod.😂 Seriously now, I think I like that mod and it was worth the effort/price. That was some seriously nice exorcism and laying on of the hands. I like how you were able to show the score motor switch stack melting live! ❤ Merry Christmas Ronnie
Stumbled on the channel and have been watching a few restorations. Excellent work! You're very well spoken on camera Ron! Maybe even talk a little too much ;) Sound like you have teaching experience in front of a class. I still really want to get a pinball machine at some point to restore. I haven't played many in my life but as someone who loves to tinker and learn new things --plus practice/expand my electrical skills, these look so challenging and unique, but fun. I'm a car guy and would love something related, plus I live over near the TN/NC border (about 5 hours from you guys) by the "Tail of the Dragon" and I could move it up to the gift shop in the off-season for friends to play. I think a custom pinball machine based on the "Tail of the Dragon" would be so cool as well.
I had same issue on right spinner switch relay. That plate developed a divot over time. It comes off pretty easy. I use a dremel with a pink chainsaw sharpening stone to smooth out the divot. Tip I learned from EM guru Timme.
A non-destructive option for the light mods: Use some fiberoptics/light pipe to channel some light from existing bulb over to the building area. (look up PMMA Plastic End Glow Fiber Optic Cable)
If nothing else, get a piece of plastic rod to use as fiber optic and cut a 45-degree angle on the end to redirect the light forward. So, no bulb is added; just leech some light from another bulb. No need to tear out all the support, one can just notch it. And you could put an individual LED there, and maybe a diode and an electrolytic, maybe a resistor. But half-wave rectification through a single diode might drop the average voltage enough to be in specs with the LED. I'll watch what you do.
I get that the casters are weird but not getting how it messed up the slope. Adding casters to all 4 corners would add an equal amount to each leg. So they swapped the legs out with wrong ones?
On the older machines, the leg levelers on the bottom of the legs are adjusted out further on the back to make it have slope. On more modern machines they're designed so the leg levelers are all at the same height, so on a more modern machine you could probably get away with the casters, but you can't on an old one because you can't adjust them out in the back to make them taller.
George might be the reason for all these minor inconveniences in these machines… Anyone who’s ever watched the Bally Circus videos with the ghosting score reel will know what I mean.
Well the kids don't eat And the dog can't sleep There's no escape from the music In the whole damn street 'Cause he's playing all night And the music's all right Ronnie fixed the chime box Joey never sleeps at night
The best reasinin I can think of is the owner didn't have a great deal of space for his machines, so has to move it around when he wants to play it. Nudging the machine is too easy when it is on wheels!
Get a 1x4 or 2x4 and put it under the back wheels, depending on the slope you want. $3 of lumber could fix it temporarily. Use ratchet straps if you're scared it will fall off.
I got an interesting idea for this machine or other sports related pinball games. On utube, look up NBC chimes. It would be cool to have a chime box that has the correct bars to recreate the NBC logo sound in reference to televised sports. Just thinking.....
Easy way to light up those extra backglass pictures is simply use a LED bulb with the extra plug connector in one of the original sockets,then simply ad an additional light or LED strip and stick it to the board, whole job done in 1 minute 👍
Seems like surface mount LED tape would be the win for the added lights. It will place anywhere, no holes to drill, and since the backglass is colored and these don't flash, variances in color and on/off time would tend to be irrelevant.
Those of us that are trying to keep a stable of old EM’s running, appreciate you.
Man, it's a shame these videos don't get more attention. I love seeing the way these classic machines work! The engineering and electrical knowledge they needed to have to make all of that work is amazing! I love seeing it, even the 31st time!
I don't own a pinball machine and never worked on one, but I love watching the troubleshooting process. Thanks for what you do!
I love it when a machine throws curve balls like this one does. It can drive you crazy but it's so satisfying when you fix it at last.
You might not be getting the amount of views you want but you are helping people big time. I started earlier this year and now have 10 machines. It’s one thing to read a site and see how to clean each component, but it’s another thing to diagnose problems and show how you figured it out. You helped me understand how to read and understand the schematics as I was tracking down my own problems. Believe me, the more of these you do the better. I am working on a target alpha right now and will be going back to watch your episodes on that machine once I finish cleaning it and start fixing problems. You are one of the reasons why TH-cam is a good thing and other people like you that make how to videos for car repair. You are doing it because you want to pass that knowledge along to others.
I very much like these games left in the original factory condition. The light behind the building, however is an exception the wheels on this machine is one of the silliest things I’ve ever seen somebody do to a really cool machine.
I avoid your other videos just to watch your E/M videos. Keep up the great work!
"This is a high scoring game" he says as the ball drops immediately. 😂
Love watching your videos. Your method of troubleshooting helps me out a lot, even though my only connection to games is playing them. Keep it up!
Ron, I always look forward to seeing your next "cool" pinball repair video. Thank you for taking the time for filming it for us.
Thanks for filming Ron. You didn't have to do that. I enjoy all of your pinball and game repair videos.
I love the videos where you show how to fix any and all problems, and show how to read and understand what the schematics are saying….There’s a reason why you’re the #1 You tube channel for fixing EM pinball machines….You know how to fix them and you know how to explain how to fix em. Thanks heaps for these videos Ronnie. …. Worldwide you are the best channel for pinball, whether EM, solid state, and even the modern games. You’re TNT …. Dynamite!
That's very nice of you to say Mark... the check is in the mail :)
You’re very welcome Ronnie. You deserve any praise you get.
I'm interested in the troubleshooting aspect of EM issues. I have some experience with schematics, and it helps to keep the tools fresh in my mind. It's also helpful that someone like you, Ron, has experience with similar issues in the past that tells you where to start looking as opposed to the overwhelming task of tearing apart wiring harnesses to get lucky and catching a glimpse of crossed wires. That's my biggest fear.
I'm working on a Gottlieb King Pin as my foray into the hobby of pinball repair, even though my favorite games are the early/first generation SS games. I look forward to the content on your channel every Tuesday and Friday, even the boring "let's rebuild a monitor" arcade stuff with Joe (lol, j/k. It's informative too).
Keep it up, guys. And even though Bingo games aren't necessarily my interest, I may just come across one cheap that I can't say no to. I'm gonna need to know something.
I find the EM repair videos a pleasant mixture of interesting and relaxing. I’m pretty sure there is a small, but solid, audience that enjoys them for that.
I'm 70 and grew up loving the EM tables. It sure is nice to see some of these old classics. And *very* nice job on the repair of this one!
I find the EM machines to be fascinating. The engineers of theses machines to me are the equivalent to mad scientist!
Best spinners on a pinball machine. Never gets old
Thanks for sharing these videos. I'm retired now, but I have had hands-on in a few repair positions. I somewhat regret I did not think of looking into a pinball repair position even after being an avid player in my high school years. I remember using machines that had the ball push-up lever, yet I do not see videos of machines from that era. It would be interesting to see their schematic layout, compared to these later models.... I just wanted to let you know, I watch all the pinball and jukebox videos, not so much of the video game shows as I never did like repairing TVs, they were just a bit too complex for me.
th-cam.com/video/GFlehsYnCpc/w-d-xo.html
I have a Grand Prix machine and watched every YT video on this game. Fixing these EM games is challenging, and very satisfying when you get it tuned perfectly. I have to work on the spinner lights and the match isn’t awarding a credit, but other than that it’s working great. Great troubleshooting on the score wheel issue. My machine was purchased from the original owner who had it in their home since new. I got it cheap and wanted it to look pretty, so I painstakingly repainted the playfield with an airbrush and cleared it with automotive clear coat. It really pops. Great video, Joe.
Those 24:00 spinners would have me sitting there with compressed air making those lights spin like mad. ha ha ha.
I'm already ready to watch a Bingo video. I like EMs, there are so many intricate details and you ace at explaining te schematics. Thanks again
I watch every Tuesday and Friday. I love the pinball videos!! I troubleshoot right along with the you( I look up the schematics when possible)!
You're the man, markdano75!!!
Don't watch as much as I used to, but just to let you know I do still drop in now and again, as I find your repair karma good for my soul. Keep up the good work..
EM repair videos should get more views. There is little justice in this world.
I love all of the videos on here, I've never worked on pinball machines only arcade machines but I still find it very interesting. 😎
I enjoy seeing the troubleshooting and thought processes while you're working. You're the only channel I bother to watch and admire your patience. Especially with those horrible wire colours that just look like brown/brown or white/white
Thank you for watching thebmac!
Good job Ron. Especially on the extra light mod on the back box. I like it👍
Hi Ron. The mod was a good idear looks nice and keep working on the EM I do not have a Flipper but I like your work keep going from Brian w.germany
Sooo good. For anyone who’s ever had an inexplicable gremlins in an em this gives us an idea of what can happen and cause these types of bugs. And some trouble shooting methods to discover them. Sooo. Sooo. Sooo valuable. Thank you sir. I’ve had one particular EM I was convinced was possessed by the devil before. Wish I’d seen some of these videos years ago.
I love watching your videos especially the EM's. Your videos are extremely useful in helping me to repair my own games. Keep up the great work!
I really enjoy and learn a lot from your em pinball videos
Thanks! Enjoyed this series
The power of Ron compels you!
What a great machine! And what troubleshooting! Ronnie, you have the patience of a saint to hunt down these bugs. Personally I could watch you clean score reels all day: each one is always different and interesting to me somehow. I’d love to see a bingo machine come back to life one day too. Or one of the old EM rifle games in the back of shot. Thanks for sharing as ever. Regards
If he insists that the machine be on wheels, just roll the back legs up onto a 1" piece of plywood. Also, I think you missed the smoke and flames at 46:51!
I'm glad that someone commented in that one. At least EM machines use real smoke, not the magic smoke that SS machines use. Once the magic smoke gets out of a transistor or a chip, the component stops working.
That was interesting , amazing what was done with stack switches back then
Nice repair. I am thinking there was supposed to be fish paper between the leafs on the score motor switches. I am interested in seeing a bingo machine repair for something new.
Nice repair on that EM 😎👍
I know that one of the pop bumpers was glitchy at the time but you can see the difference in how it plays flat vs on the angle. you never saw the ball popping around the top of the playfield for 30 seconds when you get gravity in the mix.
great EM game and excellent troubleshooting as always...thanks Ron and Joe
Nice work
Im 23 and i just watched cause i love em machines and how they work
What a great machine. I dig all your EM repair videos. Maybe some day I will own one. If the customer wants to use casters on the legs maybe add very large ones on the back legs and very small on the front legs.
I've got one of these and it is not only complicated it is also the heaviest machine I can recall ever moving. MIne was well kept and only has 24K plays. I worked at a Bally/Wms/Gottlieb/CC distributor in the 70's and was in the business through the video game craze. There is so much stuff packed on the playfield that whatever it is you want to work on you'll find something in the way.. Good series/new subscriber
The EM machines are my favorite! Thanks for filming and posting.
Great job. I'm working on a grand prix machine right now and your videos are helping a ton. I love the EM content!
Whoa,did this take me way back. Thanks for the memory. I sure did spend a lot of time and quarters on this particular machine😁
Love the EMs! Thanks Ron.
I used to repair the Bally Dixieland bingo pinball machines. The company I worked for in the mod 1980's bought 100 of them. They had been sitting on the docks for a while and had a lot of contacts corroded by the salt in the air. I look forward to seeing you repairing one of them or any of the bingo pinballs. I spent many hours with Testors model paints restoring the playfields on the pinballs. When they went electronic, I feel a lot of class went out of the games.
Awesome! Thank You! love these repair vids.
Great video, it makes me wonder how long it took someone to design that circuitry and switching. Would be amazing to get the chance to work on one.
One I never played, but what a cool old machine.
Love your videos, this was my first job after leaving school. Would be terrific to see you do a bingo game, we had some & they are a true nightmare but love em Keep em coming, you are always a first watch
The wipers weren't working because you had too much of that dye lectric insulatin grease and you shoulda put one of them new fangled leds behind that new building mod.😂
Seriously now,
I think I like that mod and it was worth the effort/price.
That was some seriously nice exorcism and laying on of the hands. I like how you were able to show the score motor switch stack melting live! ❤
Merry Christmas Ronnie
Stumbled on the channel and have been watching a few restorations. Excellent work! You're very well spoken on camera Ron! Maybe even talk a little too much ;) Sound like you have teaching experience in front of a class. I still really want to get a pinball machine at some point to restore. I haven't played many in my life but as someone who loves to tinker and learn new things --plus practice/expand my electrical skills, these look so challenging and unique, but fun. I'm a car guy and would love something related, plus I live over near the TN/NC border (about 5 hours from you guys) by the "Tail of the Dragon" and I could move it up to the gift shop in the off-season for friends to play. I think a custom pinball machine based on the "Tail of the Dragon" would be so cool as well.
Thank! Ron! Looks great! That was a lot of work!
Customer won the lottery taking it to you.
Yeah I think a lot of people wouldn't have been able to repair it completely.
Keep it up I loved to see it you are a master electrician 🤘🏼😎🤘🏼
awesome job, I could never figure something like that out. great job!
I had same issue on right spinner switch relay. That plate developed a divot over time. It comes off pretty easy. I use a dremel with a pink chainsaw sharpening stone to smooth out the divot. Tip I learned from EM guru Timme.
A non-destructive option for the light mods: Use some fiberoptics/light pipe to channel some light from existing bulb over to the building area. (look up PMMA Plastic End Glow Fiber Optic Cable)
The playfield is in nice shape, cleaned up[ nice.
Great video Ron !
The right bonus isn't advancing when you get in the top kick out hole it should advance two steps or three depending on how it is set up.
Damn, I'll have to watch it twice to get the views up!
I love this game!!!
If nothing else, get a piece of plastic rod to use as fiber optic and cut a 45-degree angle on the end to redirect the light forward. So, no bulb is added; just leech some light from another bulb.
No need to tear out all the support, one can just notch it. And you could put an individual LED there, and maybe a diode and an electrolytic, maybe a resistor. But half-wave rectification through a single diode might drop the average voltage enough to be in specs with the LED.
I'll watch what you do.
RON, what does the masking/blocking circuit purpose and used for in pinball EM games?
3:02 could you run an led strip down there instead?
Yeah, if you wanted to
I’ve never owned a pinball machine. For a complex one like this, is it a constant battle to keep everything working?
I shouted "I got you sucka!" for you.
Aw thanks!
Lights with difficult areas can use surface mout leds. You can even make them light up when features are made.
Yeah but then you'd have LED's in your game. Yuck
Fiber optic cables to add light in tight spots?
I get that the casters are weird but not getting how it messed up the slope. Adding casters to all 4 corners would add an equal amount to each leg.
So they swapped the legs out with wrong ones?
On the older machines, the leg levelers on the bottom of the legs are adjusted out further on the back to make it have slope. On more modern machines they're designed so the leg levelers are all at the same height, so on a more modern machine you could probably get away with the casters, but you can't on an old one because you can't adjust them out in the back to make them taller.
George might be the reason for all these minor inconveniences in these machines…
Anyone who’s ever watched the Bally Circus videos with the ghosting score reel will know what I mean.
I believe you're correct, GEORGE HAS RETURNED!!!!
Liberty Bell baby! 😁
Well the kids don't eat
And the dog can't sleep
There's no escape from the music
In the whole damn street
'Cause he's playing all night
And the music's all right
Ronnie fixed the chime box
Joey never sleeps at night
I don't think that's what that son'gs about!!!!
@@LyonsArcade come on now... I try to keep it PG in the comments. ... Well at least ambiguous 😉
COB LED, dropping resistor recessed in a shallow forstner bit pocket?
You could try that, but I'd stick with regular bulbs.
I cannot think of a valid reason for putting a pinball machine on wheels. Tell the customer the pinball police confiscated the wheels. 😂
Ya shouldn't need wheel chocks on a pinball machine, smh 😕
And for my next trick: playing a pinball machine on wheels while wearing rollerskates! 😲
The best reasinin I can think of is the owner didn't have a great deal of space for his machines, so has to move it around when he wants to play it.
Nudging the machine is too easy when it is on wheels!
Get a 1x4 or 2x4 and put it under the back wheels, depending on the slope you want. $3 of lumber could fix it temporarily. Use ratchet straps if you're scared it will fall off.
I got an interesting idea for this machine or other sports related pinball games. On utube, look up NBC chimes. It would be cool to have a chime box that has the correct bars to recreate the NBC logo sound in reference to televised sports. Just thinking.....
Never heard so many hells, damns and shits in your videos hahaha. That's mild compared to what I would say around the 40 minute mark!
Hey Ron, Joe said it’s broke.
@9.10 mark.. I have perfect pitch and can confirm the chimes are in tune with each other!
Easy way to light up those extra backglass pictures is simply use a LED bulb with the extra plug connector in one of the original sockets,then simply ad an additional light or LED strip and stick it to the board, whole job done in 1 minute 👍
Then it would look nothing like the rest of the glass and you'd have a shitty looking LED bulb in it. I only use real bulbs.
LED's in an Electro-Mechanical game is utter garbage. 🤮
There available in vintage warm white , you can hardly tell the difference, if I put one ☝️ behind a backglass I guarantee you won’t pick it
I have a GRAND PRIX I never notice that before.
.. finicky bit of kit ..
whipped “black and blue” by that wire
Still had to “step up”.
EM rules! What's wrong with people?
Looking forward to your self-torture working on the bingo.....
Does anyone else think it would be fun to implement one of these using a PLC?
Please, show us bingo machines!
We will eventually...
Atari pinball repair video = more views
who is playing super mario world
👍👍👍😎☕
The name Grand Prix is orange not red
All I see is Rudy... LANGUISHING... in your shop. RRRRUUUUUUDDDDDDEEEEEEE!!!!
Obviously they are new to pinball he probably thinks he did something smart in reality he did something stupid.
Seems like surface mount LED tape would be the win for the added lights. It will place anywhere, no holes to drill, and since the backglass is colored and these don't flash, variances in color and on/off time would tend to be irrelevant.
But then you'd have shitty LED's in your classic pinball machine. I can see why the customer didn't want that, very cheap looking chinese crap.