Pinball machines have a lot of switches, and they fail a lot. What’s this? Another Johnny repair article so soon? Well, like many complex electro/mechanical systems (cars, robots, robot [more]
Sometimes a simple repair gets all kinds of weird. A couple of months ago, a good friend was over and wanted to play some pinball. “Great,” I said, “I [more]
A glove, a drop target, and a matrix, oh my! Pinball machines operate in a special realm where the normal laws of physics don’t apply. In this realm, complex [more]
To make progress, sometimes you have to make tools. My scores haven’t been great on Johnny lately. An outside observer might suggest that perhaps I suck at pinball. I, [more]
Making Johnny smooth and suave once again. Back when I converted Johnny over to LEDs, I mentioned that there are some downsides to putting LEDs in an older pinball [more]
Now we’re getting serious. This article is gonna be a long one, so grab a beverage (careful, man!), and put your feet up. I decided it’s time to tackle [more]
A problem waiting to happen is no longer waiting. I recently cleaned up and relocated the battery box on Johnny, because some previous owner had let it go to [more]
All your base are belong to us. Every aspect of a pinball machine is a compromise between durability, cost of manufacture, serviceability, and the limits of technology. The seemingly [more]
Let there be light! An increasingly popular modification to pinball machines is to convert the lighting system to LEDs. These machines typically have 100+ incandescent bulbs in them. In [more]
Pushing Johnny’s secret buttons. Every pinball machine from about 1980 onwards (the solid-state era) has a diagnostic control panel inside it. This is a set of buttons used to [more]
Getting Crazy Bob open for business once again. I recently diagnosed and repaired a flasher lamp on Johnny Mnemonic. It was a simple fix, but illustrates the basic process [more]
Somebody give this man a hand! You just knew I was going to make that joke at some point, so we might as well get it out of the way [more]
From boat anchor to booting game. When Johnny arrived at my house, he was a 325lb plywood boat anchor. He didn’t boot up at all. The main reason is [more]