Be careful, not all Ballys have the displays in the same position. I had my Skateball backglass temporarily in another game (Medusa?) and the player displays were offset one digit.

Does this work?

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Nice. Thanks Panda. Find me at MGC, I'll buy you a beer. or Whiskey

Question: How do y’all “find” each other at these events? I’m only three years into the hobby, and have attended both MGC and Expo, and it’d be nice to meet some of the guys here with whom I’ve bought/sold stuff and from whom I’ve gotten valuable advice/tech support. Not easy to do when all you have to go by is an avatar or a screen name.

Usually pick a spot and time and meet there at given spot and time. Describe yourself if you haven't met before. I've met a few people this way. I know that someone made badges for Pinsiders to wear at one point, but not sure if that still happens. I haven't been since 2019.

JJ from game exchange has a meet and greet that he prints badges for. Don't know when the last time he did that. Still have my badge though.

As far as a meet up. Figured Panda would say something like sounds good or I'm not going this year and then I would send him a PM with info.

Not to turn this into a local discussion, but kinda still up in the air, but we have plans to be there on Saturday. Will arrive right before doors open and head out probably around dinnertime. We'll have the kids there so we'll see how long they last but yeah, I'm definitely up for a meet n greet!

To bring this back to Skateball, just ordered new drop targets and flipper rebuilds for all 4 flippers. Just realized that after having this game for about 3 years, that I haven't had to do much work on it. The upper right flipper started to stick and I found a burr on the plunger that was catching. So new Drops and flipper rebuilds it was. Also needed a new mini flipper with shoe and shaft...$170 to PBR.

do me a favor again please. gimmie a shot of the GI wiring on the backside of the board

Rockstar!

Anyone got a line on a new spinner or decal by any chance? Just put in brand new plastics (with protectors) and purple rubbers and would love to change out my spinner.

I know it's pretty unobtainium but worth a shot!

Hey buddy, a skateball spinner is pretty much unobtanium, but they do occasionally pop up on Ebay, none on there currently, would love to see pictures of the Skateball with the new plastics and rubbers, thanks George, Trainmonger

Ok, thank you for the heads up! I'll put an alert on Ebay and send you some pics once I take them. I added a new Alltek MPU and Bally Rectifier board because it wasn't booting. Turns out the rectifier was causing some issues and I figured why not do the upgrade

I'm gonna add LEDs too eventually.

Best bet is trying to get a good scan and making your own decal.

Curious on this, if i remember correctly (too lazy to walk downstairs to check), the spinner graphic is painted on. If so, would you sand all that off then apply a decal? And does anyone have a good scan?

It's painted on. If you have an ultrasonic cleaner, it'll take or loosen the paint off and you can clean it off pretty well after. Then get some vinyl sticker paper and an image and print it off. Did this with Flash Gordon as mine came with a Harlem Globe Trotters spinner and a worn original.

Never thought of using my ultrasonic cleaner. Good tip. Now to get a good scan of it.

I will scan mine for everyone here. It's not that bad and I bet a redraw is very doable.

Couple questions:

I've started my first CPR playfield swap ('78 Playboy, going slow and wanna get it right), and I'm interested in an ultrasonic cleaner. I just got a vibratory tumbler for the metal parts, but for the ultrasonic, where/type/quality to source?? I'm not a the king of restoration, so I really wouldn't need a PRO model.
And when cleaning up a spinner (my Skateball could use the new image), what would I include in the cleaning solution? Then, after printing and applying the image to the spinner, would I just use Triple Thick or another rattle can clear to seal it??

A buddy of mine got one from Harbor Freight and says it works great.

I have a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner too and it's totally competent. It'll fit most pinball mechs (the drop target mechs tend to be the biggest and if they don't fit, at least they'll fit one half at a time so you can still clean the entire mech). Should be enough for anything you'd throw at it.

For general cleaning, I use a 50/50 mix of water and concentrated degreaser. You can get cheap degreaser at the dollar store (orange stuff) or I have 30/70 simple green and water right now since I didn't want to run out to get the orange stuff.

When you get a new image sticker/decal on your spinner (or drop target) cut out a piece of mylar the same size and stick it on and you should be set for life, if not a good long while.

I've had my harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner for a number of years and it gets the job done. I've used it for car parts, pinball machine parts, and even hardware on musical instruments. I've run it for fairly long periods of time and I've never had any issues with it overheating.

For cleaning solutions, the above suggestions are good. Depending on what you are cleaning, a water and vinegar mixture can work as well. There's also an ultrasonic cleaner powder that harbor freight sells. I know they caution about using it on aluminum as it can discolor the metal.

Picked one up today at HF in Menomonee Falls. Planned on a buffing wheel too, but I had a 15% coupon good for only one item per day (until 04/02). I'll go back tomorrow for that.

I know HF isn't the be-all-end-all for quality machinery, but I figure it'll be good for this playfield swap, and then maybe one other. All my other games have been swapped out by others, thankfully. LOL

Wrapping up a refresh to hold me over until i can swing a new playfield. Would like to swap out my speaker. Anyone have any reccomendations?

Also the "spot" lamp by the upper left drop bank seems to have a break in the line somewhere in the bundle. Looked but can't find it. Thinking of just adding a direct wire from that light to the board and zip tie it along with the rest of the bundle. Any reason not to?

An 8 ohm automotive speaker of similar size will give you a better sound. Make sure the minimum wattage matches the old speaker.
You can try running a temporary wire from the board connector to the lamp to confirm you have a wire problem. On my Skateball I had numerous lights out and most proved to be bad crimps on the connector. Repining cleared all but a few up that were found to have open SCRs. Once you solve the problem I would definitely NOT leave the temporary wire in place, if anything, just for the appearance.

According to the parts manual it's a 3 watt 8ohm speaker. Don't see many speakers rated that low wattage wise.

This is almost definitely a break in the wire. All connectors re-pinned along with a new lamp board from Weebly. Will pull that pin this afternoon to double check.

Marco pinball and most of the parts companies have a pretty good speaker selection at all different price points and if you want to save time to diagnose a lamp out, and since you have a weebly lamp driver, they are pretty much bulletproof, then all you need is a radio shack battery box that everyone was using before nvram became available, with 3 aa batteries they put out about 4.5 volts and all you have to do with the machine off is run the ground wire to the controlled lamp bus, you can pick that up on the back box lamp board and a t pin for the positive wire, run it to the lamp driver connector and see if the lamp comes on, it will save you the time of running a wire from the lamp driver to the socket, i will include pictures of doing this on a paragon, i sold both my skateballs over the summer

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Trying to wrap my head around your approach.

Wouldn't direct wiring the battery pack to the socket confirm bulb and socket work?

The bare positive appears to be working fine as neighboring bulbs/sockets on the same wire are working.

Isn't what your doing basically a temporary version if replacing that wire?

Appreciate the feedback

With the game on, ground the lamp to a bare price of metal (like the side rail) if it lights, then the lamp and socket are OK.

This usually points to a bad SCR on the lamp board. If you have a weekly board, it might warrant checking other things first, such as connectors.

Oftentimes, I will directly solder the lamp wire to the "nub" of the socket. Sometimes the tab gets loose and doesn't make good connection. I would start there before running direct wires to the connector.

The spec for the sound boards TDA2002 audio amp has it rated up to 15w, (with heat sink attached). You want to be sure whatever speaker you use requires similar or less power. The original 3W speaker admittedly is very tinny and cheap. The 8-ohm speaker used in Xenon was of much better quality. Marco sells them.

So I jumped the socket tab to another controlled lights tab. The socket and bulb are good.

I went back and looked and pulled the pin on the board and it looked good. Re-pinned it anyway. Bingo bongo light works again.

Glad you figured it out!