I recently completed a full pinball playfield swap of my Bally Williams Scared Stiff machine.  This was the first playfield swap I have ever done and was a little daunted before starting and turned to YouTube to try find a step by step guide  without any luck so thought as i dove into my first playfield swap that I would document my journey of installing the new playfield from Mirco Playfields.

I massively underestimated the effort required to edit all the footage but getting through it one video at a time and the full series will be more than 30 episodes and will add them all below as I post them.  I hope these videos help other learn from my mistakes and possibly give others the confidence to try do their own. 

Here are the first 6 episodes of this series….  if you have any questions please comment on the videos and I will do my best to rely plus if you find them helpful feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel.






This 3 part video series covers a guide on doing a full flipper rebuild to fixing weak flippers on a Supersonic pinball machine which is a  early Bally / Stern solid state pinball machine and is applicable to most games of the same era.

  1. Replacing the Hardware

This how to guide shows the first part of repairing the hardware under the playfield of this Supersonic Pinball Machine’s flippers. Guide shows removal and replacement of flipper plunger, link, coil stop, coil sleeve and end of stroke (EOS) leaf switch on both flippers.

 

2. Replacing Solenoids

Replacing flipper solenoids / coils to fixing weak flippers. This how to guide shows the second where install new coils after repairing the hardware under the playfield of this Supersonic Pinball Machine’s flippers.

 

3. Replacing Button Leaf Switches & Flipper Bats

Guide to replacing flipper button leaf swtiches plus changing out cracked old original Bally flipper bats with new reproduction flipper bats. Last thing done to make the flippers as stong as they can be was to repin the Connectors on plug J1 on solenoid driver board in this early solid state Bally / Stern pinball machines. This how to guide showing all the steps in this the third part of the 3 part series to fix the weak flippers in this Supersonic Pinball Machine.

It is quite a common occurrence e that inline Grave Marker drop targets break off.  Find below the full video of the steps need to remove and replace broken drop targets. 

Here is the full Drop Target Replacement Guide PDF  from Stern plus see below a couple of modifications to the standard guide which I recommend which I have found ensure that the drop targets do not drop un less hit by a ball. 

 

The Getaway pinball machines commonly have issues of with the Super Charger resulting slow ball speed which can often turn what is an amazing innovative mechanism into a bit of a damp squib….

The video below takes you through the diagnostic steps to identify and fix a Getaway Super Charger which was not functioning properly.  The table below is a compilation of the possible issues, how to test them and possible solutions.

 

Fix Difficulty Scale
Very Easy If you can change batteries, work with a screw driver, wrench or credit card you can do this
Easy If you can change a fuse, solder 2 wires together or unplug a board
Medium If you can crimp a Molex connector to replace a plug, know what the band on a diode stands for,
Hard If you can replace a transistor or diode on a circuit board
Very Hard If you are comfortable using Logic Probe or Oscilloscope to diagnose / replace chips on a PCB

 

Diagnostic Steps to follow (not necessarily in order) to identify and resolve the most common issues found on Getaway Super chargers.

Possible Issue
Test
Fix
Fix Difficulty
Balls : Magnetized Run Super Charger Test in Test Menu with New Balls Replace Balls Very Easy
Loop : Dirty Feel the inside of the Super Charger Loop… If the inside of the loop is rough then sand the inside of the loop with 1600 grit sand paper and Novus 2 for lubrication or if the dirt or roughness is not that bad just use Novus 2 or any stainless steel metal polish. Very Easy
Diverter : Loose Feel is diverter moves once engaged Tighten diverter if the diverter rivets or screws are loose then just replace the divert. Easy
Magnet Coils : Damaged Test Resistance from the plug on the coil with a multi meter, it should read 3-5 Ohms If multi meter does not generate any reading then check wiring from plug to coil.

If Coils read below 3 then replace the coils.

Medium
Opto : Not Functioning Open Switch Test of the SC Test in the Test Menu and roll a ball around the loop which will indicate when the switch is open when the ball interrupts the beam between the Transmitter and the Receiver of the 4 Opto Switched (3 by the Magnets and 1 just after the first turn in the loop after the magnet coils See the more detailed Opto Issues Below in order Easy to Medium
Opto’s : Dirty Opto Transmitter (Often White housing) or Receiver (Often Black housing) Opto fail the switch test or registers intermittently Clean Opto Transmitter & Receiver with Cotton Bud / QTip and Window Cleaner fluid like Windex Easy
Opto : Connector or wire from CPU board issues With game off check do continuity test with multi meter from solder joints on Opto boards back to the CPU board connector.

With the game on measure voltage on the Solder Joints of Transmitter or Receiver, which should read ~12V.

Note : Receiver will only read ~12V if it is receiving light from Transmitter….

Replace faulty wire or connector Medium
Optos : Misaligned While in Switch Test loosen the screws securing the transmitter and receiver and twist them back and forth (sometimes easier to unscrew the transmitter mini opto board and place it in front of the receiver) to see if the Switch Test registers the Opto as the beam from the Transmitter makes it to the Receiver If it registers just realign Opto’s and ensure they are screwed in tight to stop them moving and becoming misaligned again Easy
Optos : Damaged Solder Joint on Transmitter or Receiver Opto has been cleaned and continuity & voltage has been tested Re-flow the solder joints of both legs on the back of the mini Opto circuit boards of both the Transmitter and Receiver Medium
Optos : Damaged Opto Transmitter or Receiver components Transmitter opto (Often White housing) can be tested by taking a picture of the transmitter while the game is on with digital camera or camera phone. If the Transmitter is working the picture will show purple glow.

Receiver opto (Often Black housing) can be tested by putting the machine into Switch Test and while blocking the Transmitter opto beam and then shining a strong incandescent torch/flashlight (most LED flashlight will not work) into the receiver opto.

The switch in test should show a change in the state of the Opto switch.

Replace the Transmitter LED

Replace the Receiver component

Medium
Driver Board : Connector J122 & J8 Plugs damaged Check the continuity from the connectors of J122 (Pins 1, 2 & 4) & J8 (Pins 1,4 & 2) Replace damaged plugs Medium
Accelerator Board : Connector Pins Damaged Once you have confirmed there is no issue with the connectivity between plugs J122 (Pins 1, 2 & 4) & J8 (Pins 1,4 & 2)

Check continuity with the connectors plugged in to the respective traces on the back of the Driver & Accelerator Boards

First try re-soldering or re-flowing solder on Pins on Driver & Accelerator Boards

If pins are damaged or corroded replace the Pins on the Driver & Accelerator Boards

Medium
Driver Board : Fuse Blown Check F103 to see if it has blown Replace blown fuse Easy
Driver Board : Blown Transistor Test (TIP102) Transistors Q26, Q24 & Q20

Using the Multi Meter set to Diode check place the the black lead on the center leg (or top lug) of the transistor check the reading when the red lead is placed on each of the outer legs.

The reading should be between 0.5 and 0.7. If the reading is outside this range the transistor is faulty.

Guide for replacing Transistors Hard
Accelerator Board : Blown Transistor Test (TIP102) Transistors Q2, Q5 & Q8

Using the Multi Meter set to Diode check place the the BLACK lead on the center leg (or top lug) of the transistor check the reading when the RED lead is placed on each of the outer legs.

The reading should be between 0.5 and 0.7. If the reading is outside this range the transistor is faulty.

Test (TIP-36C) Transistors Q3, Q6 & Q9

Using the Multi Meter set to Diode check place the the RED lead on the center leg (or top lug) of the transistor check the reading when the BLACK lead is placed on each of the outer legs.

The reading should be between 0.5 and 0.7. If the reading is outside this range the transistor is faulty.

Guide for replacing Transistors Hard