More money than sense wins again

I posted to rgp about the board but didn't get a really coherent picture of what was wrong. Most of the suggestions didn't pan out. I did scrutinize the board carefully in preparation for the post and found that the high voltage section of the board looked like it was repaired by a 5 year old. Crappy soldering, there are scorch marks all over the board, and some of the diodes are actually 2 diodes soldered together.

The answer I wanted out of rgp was is this board worth saving? I think the answer is yes, if I could repair it myself (which I can't, currently). I considered getting a high voltage add-on board for $40-50, but then I'll have a crappy board with a good high voltage section, plus I can't see spending that much more money on this board -- it would put me into the $130 range, which is way more than a new board cost.

So yesterday I gave up on my current display driver board and ordered a new PinLED version from Bay Area Amusements for $95 including s/h. I figure I'll save what little hair I have by spending the extra $$$, plus the adjustable voltage feature of the PinLED board should help if it can't deal with the transformer delivering 5 volts too much for both high voltage inputs. I think I'll be a lot happier with the new board... I'm hoping it will arrive Thursday, because I'm off work that day for my wife's birthday (the perfect gift! It will go well with that baseball glove I got her).

I was thinking about testing the under playfield switches and maybe seeing if the W ramp is unplugged, but decided to wait for the new board to show up.

I also posted my first WTB (Want To Buy) to rgp for the mini-playfield motor/cam assembly, and at first I was disappointed with the results. Most of the offers came to my email address, and they were either too expensive ($179!!!), too little (a guy wanted to sell me just the motor for $70 when Pinball Resource sells them for $73), or too much (pinballchuck, who seems to acquire more Doctor Whos in a year than I've seen in my life, had a complete mini-playfield which he wanted to sell me for $250 -- I think that's a little steep). But then a guy showed up who wants to sell me the cam for $35... I'm waiting on pictures, and he says that something's missing, probably one of the things that attaches things to other things. We'll see how that goes. One of the posters suggested I make one, which appealed to the DIY nut in me until somebody mentioned bushings... I don't even know what a bushing is, much less how to make one. Probably buying one will be less painful.

I made a rare foray into The Home Depot Sunday and picked up rust remover for those crappy legs I got at the last Allentown show and alligator clips so I can forge a more permanent temporary connection between my buttons and the coin interface board.

I'm also getting a serious itch to try the Pinmame-HW thing. I found the box of parts I ordered from GPE. I've thought about buying one of those cool playfield mounts (sorry, I can't find a link!), but was daunted by the $275 price tag -- especially if this doesn't work out, I don't want to invest hugely in it. But then I found this site where the guy basically puts the playfield up on blocks... it's definitely a low cost alternative.