My car seems to currently be more unreliable than a pinball machine 
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Pinball info
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Is anything more unreliable than pinball machines ?
- Thread starter Sgt GrizZ
- Start date
I picked up a Frankenstein yesterday after playing many games on it got home unloaded out of the truck got legs on and upright and when lifting the back box into place the DMD panel fell forward and snapped one of the earth braidings!!! Luckily plenty of it so a quick solder of the frayed bit and back in place all working again! I officially have no more room!!!
One of us!
One of us!
One of us!
My Shadow went mental the other day and started firing balls out left right and centre then the DMD went off. I thought here we go..... Turned out to be a fuse on the Power board. I can deal with those sort of problems 
What are you driving these days a Gottlieb ?My car seems to currently be more unreliable than a pinball machine
hahaha yeah but i need that space to get them in and out but my garage is getting knocked down and rebuilt wider and longer so might just make a games room at the back of it!!
Judge Dredd!!
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Sonny_Jim
That's because WMS ballsed up opto board design on a few of their machines, specifically this, the TZ clock optos, DM claw opto etc. If you want 100% reliable optos on BSD I can recommend one one of these bad boys:
http://www.homepin.com/bsd.html
Did WMS use the wrong components or just a bad design?
Williams run optos at higher currents than those specified in the component data sheets in order to increase the range / decrease susceptibility to dust and dirt, but this results in excess heat and shorter component life
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Sonny_Jim
You have to remember that WMS only designed their machines to last ~3-5 years, otherwise operators would just keep on operating old stock and not buy new ones (as the theory goes). It's one of the reasons why DiamondPlate made upper management go apesh*t because it meant the playfields would last 'too long'.
Bit of both, really. The TZ clock optos were wired straight into the switch matrix and consequently they needed optos that had a very specific tolerance. Really they should of had some buffers/level converters in there as well but this meant more hardware which would cost them more.
J
JohnnyChaos
If they're more unreliable than arcade cabs then maybe I don't want one lol
What the hell do you want from a machine ?
Like what's already been said, these machines were only designed to last a few years nowhere near the amount of time they have lasted. And I have machines still with all their original parts working fine, these machines are a credit to the people who designed and built them and the parts that were used have lasted way past the point anyone would have thought they would. Try doing that today with the cheap components on the market today.
Any thing goes down on a machine then I just get it sorted and think how well said part has lasted. Its just the age of these things of beauty that nothing lasts forever and for these machines to still be here giving us all the pleasure that they do is a small miracle.
Don't forget , we are just the custions for these beautiful machines and its our job to look after them so future generation can enjoy them as we have.
Like what's already been said, these machines were only designed to last a few years nowhere near the amount of time they have lasted. And I have machines still with all their original parts working fine, these machines are a credit to the people who designed and built them and the parts that were used have lasted way past the point anyone would have thought they would. Try doing that today with the cheap components on the market today.
Any thing goes down on a machine then I just get it sorted and think how well said part has lasted. Its just the age of these things of beauty that nothing lasts forever and for these machines to still be here giving us all the pleasure that they do is a small miracle.
Don't forget , we are just the custions for these beautiful machines and its our job to look after them so future generation can enjoy them as we have.
But cars from the 90's have lasted much better. No wait, that is complete rubbish. There have degraded metal parts, brittle plastic and dying electrics. I agree, these machines are amazing to still be working as well as they do given the abuse and environments they worked in.
Didnt you see Top gear on the weekend??? Golf GTI, Nova SRI and XR2i.... (check it on iplayer - it's a classic 
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