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Complete Creature from the faded lagoon

Good news:
So my cliffy's have arrived!

Bad News:

I've managed to throw my back out ><

No pinball progress for me today.
 
HUGE Thanks to @stumblor who sent out, what can only be described as the best Decal goody bag ever!

I wasted no time applying the decals to the apron.

The absolute legend also sent me a back playfield decal, new manfacturer stickers and apron cards!

I was going to mark this shop log complete but the replacement translite I ordered arrived and wasn't cut to the correct size... Once thats sorted its all done!

What a journey and a bloody expensive one!

Would do it all again though I learnt so much on voltage tracing, cap replacements and clear coating on this one. Let alone the experience of basically replacing the top playfield!

BEFORE:

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AFTER:

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Next up I need to sort the Line filter.

I've been putting it on the back burner with all the other pins I have on at the moment.

@stumblor can you do me a favour and take a picture of the line filter assembly? I need to see how its supposed to be setup inside the box.

At present mine appears to be real jank and explains why It can sometimes trip my circuit breaker.

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Next up I need to sort the Line filter.

I've been putting it on the back burner with all the other pins I have on at the moment.

@stumblor can you do me a favour and take a picture of the line filter assembly? I need to see how its supposed to be setup inside the box.

At present mine appears to be real jank and explains why It can sometimes trip my circuit breaker.

View attachment 176596
OMG.. lets just bypass the Fuse holder and hard-wire a fuse!!! Least there's one there i guess.....
 
If you're going to remedy this, consider adding a 'thermistor' or inrush limiter in the live connection*. WMS began doing this later on in the Wpc or Wpc/S era. To reduce the (quite frequent) occurrence of the main fuse blowing as the machine was switched on.

* instead of a wire from the fuse holder to the line filter, another disc-like component is fitted in series. As I understand it, this has a high resistance when power is first applied, but rapidly (i.e. in a few ac cycles) warms up and changes to a lower value, preventing a large initial current from being drawn before the transformer builds up resistance from its own magnetic fields. The manual for Star Trek Next Gen seems to be the first to actually show the filter box components, and does so a little better than others, on page 2-29 (it's the same type of filter box, rather than the later one). The description given is thermistor, 8A, 2.5 R 25, part number 5016-12978-00

The filter housing has lost the black plastic plug that blanks off the location for a power socket, too.
 
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If you're going to remedy this, consider adding a 'thermistor' or inrush limiter in the live connection*. WMS began doing this later on in the Wpc or Wpc/S era. To reduce the (quite frequent) occurrence of the main fuse blowing as the machine was switched on.

* instead of a wire from the fuse holder to the line filter, another disc-like component is fitted in series. As I understand it, this has a high resistance when power is first applied, but rapidly (i.e. in a few ac cycles) warms up and changes to a lower value, preventing a large initial current from being drawn before the transformer builds up resistance from its own magnetic fields. The manual for Star Trek Next Gen seems to be the first to actually show the filter box components, and does so a little better than others, on page 2-29 (it's the same type of filter box, rather than the later one). The description given is thermistor, 8A, 2.5 R 25, part number 5016-12978-00

The filter housing has lost the black plastic plug that blanks off the location for a power socket, too.
Yup I bought some with that specifically in mind. Just need to ensure I copy how its supposed to be wired up. Don't want to blow anything up ><
 
Looking again at your picture, that fragment left on a fuseholder terminal may be a remnant of a thermistor originally fitted. I added a mains lead and trailing socket to so many games, but I can't recall when WMS introduced it.
 
Looking again at your picture, that fragment left on a fuseholder terminal may be a remnant of a thermistor originally fitted. I added a mains lead and trailing socket to so many games, but I can't recall when WMS introduced it.
Yup think you're right.

Will fix it as soon I figure out where I put the fuse holder 🤣
 
Does this help Scott?

Fitted a new power lead on my Taxi so had the power box open.
 

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Does this help Scott?

Fitted a new power lead on my Taxi so had the power box open.
Thanks mate.

Ant sent me his Addams Family in case anyone ever searches this they can have this picture to help put theirs together. The only thing I need to check on is whether or not these have a positive and negative leg.

I've been busy with JD this weekend. Once JD is done I'll get onto creech again. I want to to do some final touch up to the front.

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Re. polarity of the thermistor; since it's used for ac power, I think it wouldn't be polarity-conscious. If it is, I'd expect there to be a marking on the component.
 
Re. polarity of the thermistor; since it's used for ac power, I think it wouldn't be polarity-conscious. If it is, I'd expect there to be a marking on the component.
I figured that may be the case but wanted to be sure before I start messing around with any direct power feeds :D
 
Did you spot the mistake Scott, my photo is of a varistor not a thermistor, I didn't know that at the time 😬 thankfully you had a more accurate pic to go from. 👍
 
It's been a while and I finally am in the position to finish this pin. The bad news is I committed to selling it to fund another pin. It's bitter sweet finishing this.

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I used the bank holiday plus a day of annual leave to get most of the machine done.

I've learnt a lot since I first began this pin.

Also have a lot more tools!

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Day 2 consisted of metal cleaning and documenting the underside. Some population onto the new playfield.

Typical things like TNUTS and burring out holes ready for screws etc.

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