Repairing the Power Supply - Bally's 1979 Future Spa Pinball Machine! 

These are the crimpers we use when we repin the connectors to fix these Bally games! amzn.to/3aLST7Y Atari ANYTHING! you buy on Amazon after clicking that link doesn't raise your prices but gives us a referral tip, thank you!

Kudos to your one-handed camera and repair skills to show us all of these step by step repairs!

There is something about 'Future Spa' that is quite hilarious. OOOh, the spa of the future! I've dreamed of that!

Thanks for posting videos.. I nice to see you not give up on anything. Keep up the good work 👍

Oh, the woman in blue on the backglass looks like a young version of the actress Wendie Malick with braids. That was worst backbox mess I've seen in any of your videos. That spark/fire was a trip too. But man, you've been doing this for so long and know how to be safe. I can imagine you've possibly seen crazier things in a backbox or cabinet. After all that work you're darn right it's worth saving.

I like the way you break down the repair process. I'm a rookie and appreciate the attention to detail and explanation. Thanks for making these videos.

Watching you struggle with your multimeter reminds me that they DO make camera tripods you know? Lol! Love the videos brother👍🏻

I laughed out loud t the fire extinguisher gag :) Good stuff, looking forward for the next part.

Unusual wide pin, will be a good addition for someone's collection. Thanks for working on it and showing the process.

God Dam Batteries and Capacitors, The nemeses of vintage electronics.

The alien mystery music cracks me up everytime XD

I love the "da da duummm" type of music, it's like a pre-spoiler alert for things that are going to come. I usually pause the video and go get my popcorn. LOL

Hell yes it's worth saving! It's a fantastic table. All the old tables are worth saving, in my opinion, where possible within reason. They're going to become fewer and fewer as the years go by anyway, so it's great that to see every one that gets resurrected

+1 Love your systematic approach and attention to detail. Can't wait for the next part.

Great video again. Your videos get an unfair share of what little spare time I have. Thanks!!

For a 1st time pin owner and little electrical knowledge, very helpful, thank you, very informative! Liked the historical bit of Stern and Bally, didn't know that. Looking forward to next video, keep it up!

I picked up a Future Spa and it’s a really fun pin.

I love that you're saving this machine. It's such an odd one!

Nice job !… waiting patiently for the next part =) Great vid , as usual !

I've always said oxidization, not oxidation - so you're right either way you say it. Screw what other people say!

3 in 1 oil trick worked wonders on a pesky flickering socket on my Hot Shot - thx!

Awesome teacher...thanks

This rectifier board was used in games with an auxiliary lamp board. The extra lamp load was too much for the standard bridge and transformer to handle so instead of the square bridge we used 1/2 bridge rectification configured to handle the increased load.

Great video!

Love your work good job

Hey RonJoe interesting story. I'm a material handling equipment tech and learned on stuff almost identical to EM pins. Old pins would be perfect training platform. Wish I could sell the idea to management. Train students in relay logic, save $ on building trainers, and have sweet pins to use/sell. Sadly, they're not visionaries like us...

Nice its a half way alive 😎👍

On aluminum and copper, I think Barkeeper's Friend (acid-based scouring powder) can clean up metal. In worst cases, hydrochloric acid might be needed. It reminds me of toilets. Generally, you want to use bases (bleach, lye) to clean those so you don't damage the enamel, but in worst cases, you'd use an acid-based cleanser (like sulfuric acid).

I'm working on a Spy Hunter pin right now - my first ever. I struggled all day yesterday to try and drill out the back box lock (previous owner lost the key). I need to get inside so I can inspect, diagnose and repair. Have to admit, I'm already having a lot fun tinkering around with this thing. Can't wait until I manage to get it running! Thanks a lot for the videos - they're really helpful. 🤙 How do you swap out play field bulbs without unsoldering connections? Haven't sought out that info yet. New bulbs coming in the mail.

Most nostalgic channel ...where in the world do you get all these repair manuals for each machine.

The solenoid board mods look like good stuff. Noticed your link to crimp tool. Which contacts do I need for a 1979 Bally for MPU connectors?

As a Bench Tech we would get these Epson boards back from the field and then be burned up all way is 1 of 2 areas the boards where the cheap press cardboard boards 1 side. there where 2 ic used to drive the pin on the print head (9 pin Dot Matrix printhead) I have to cut out the burnt area fill it with epoxy and put a 14 pin ic holder and rebuild the runs - using 22 AWG solid core wire (Bell telephone hookup wire) - took 2 days to fix them because i had to let the epoxy dry overnight.. it got so i could do 20 to 25 in 2 days - cuting out the burned area took the most time along with the epoxy.

Good call in checking the fire extinguisher expiration date.

To stiffen up the bulb holders you could cut a piece of a fabric washer out so its almost a C shape, just slide in place, then a bit of glue to keep it there maybe.

[spoiler alert] I lol'ed at the sparks flying.

I'm an em guy but wanting to expand my horizons. Can you do a quick video on what I'm looking at when you open these backboxes? How to tell what board is which

I'm following

Watching this made go buy circuit breakers for fixing my pinballs. 3amp to 20amp. Do you use them for testing or do you have another trick for troubleshooting (instead of fuses).

General questions. and something extremely interesting for anyone that would like pinball and Lego. First are those look like meter seals are those just use for a serial number the boards. Second of all on that main board there are components that look like a smaller maybe quarter watt resistor? But have I think an orange stripe and look very different than the color coding of a resistor. My guess is those are through hole fuses. I've seen them before and Equipment something some more than me not quite the same long time ago . They may be half an amp or 1 amp? I've seen them used in logic circuits and controls of various types. Once I saw them on the board that had solid state relays. And input output modules. I used it for project it was something I got used from someone else that didn't need it. And a bunch of extra goodies. Including a pinball power supply. . Kind of looked like something in that was in that machine? Also how many volts amps all that type of specs on the average pinball power supply for the older ones. It's been many years since I had gotten hold of one. Might be a good option for some projects. I'm a Electronics enthusiast and a maker. Also has anyone out there ever played a Lego pinball machine. I've seen a few and actually have played a few. I even played one that was a full-size machine. And 99% Lego. The only thing that wasn't was the controller but it was driving like a hardware to operate it. Most of the room inside was the actual Hardware. It was being run by some sort of computer type controller. Which I believe was customized. This was before raspberry pies. I do know the controller was running Linux though. There were quite a few of the old interface A's and also interface b's What I was saying about quite a while ago is that the hardware was not up to date. It also some Mindstorms Hardware. And a few of the old 12 volt Lego train Transformers. And even 9 volt speed regulators. I mean this thing was a full-on pinball machine. Scoring was mechanical. Used change and had number plates that would go past the Windows. But I did have her score and the displays would reset after each game automatically. And some of the logic was actually mechanical and electrical operated by Motors. and some of what we've been originally relays were using Motors And Lego switches of various types. This was some why I knew that had built this. Also by the way it was not on legs as usual cabinet would be. For good reason. almost all the inner workings controls mall or in the bottom of the cabinet. Heck even the cooling fan for the whole thing was Lego. Probably will the most awesome technical uses of Lego I've ever seen. in the only other non Lego thing I remember on it in the only other non Lego thing I remember on it was the ball. What I don't remember what they used. I don't I think it was metal as far as I can remember. Wood or solid plastic Maybe? Very dense rubber?

@Joe's Classic Video Games Is There a Way to Upgrade Machines like this From Bulbs to LED ?,,,,, Make a Video please

Shame about the corrosion from the battery. This machine has so much crammed into it. Looks like it would be a lot of fun to play. The power supply probably has the extra power transistors just because there is so much going on.

About that transistor: Unlike other parts like resistors and capacitors those are sold by manufacturer's part number and not specs.

JOE's CLASSIC, I'm confused what the "heatsink Bar" that is underneath the rectifier board is used for, why was it shorting out the circuit board when you first powered on the rectifier power supply board? Another question I have is that when techs have added that "Jumper wire" to the +5vdc wire because the voltage had some type of "time delay" because the +5 volts has to loop around to other circuits. This "time delay" is some type of +5vdc problem on the pinballs regulator/driver boards?

I've been subscribed some time to your channel,but the last couple of weeks i've been more into your videos than before and i really enjoy them! this pinball raised my curiosity cuz i own a bally mystic the same period that future spa is. the problem is that after some years i got it,one day it just stopped playing! i mean you flip the switch and it just light up like a christmas tree.no coils banging,no self check,nothing. just lights up. the battery was removed and there was no corrosion there whatsoever. what you think could have caused that out of the blue? will it be so hard to fix it?

I am horribly immature but it really says "transformer ass" on the board :)

In regards to testing and results of tests of diodes also applies to bridge rectifier of course. A lot of the time but not always to most of the time of course it depends on conditions and what causes failure. I've heard this from others as well as from my own experience diodes have a tendency to fail Short Circuit we're very close to it. I've seen this a lot in reverse polarity protection circuits weather protection circuit soldiers on the output of the power supply such as a bench power supply. Some people even say that the diodes have jumper Envy. And that when they go bad they become a jumper instead of a diode. AKA fell short circuit or very close very very little resistance write down to zero ohms. Danielle it's like he says a lot of components don't just feel over time little by little but it's all or nothing is the way I phrase this. Yeah sometimes you'll have some weird where it degrades and just seems to lose some characteristics or just gets worse over time and then finally gives up the ghost but that's not as often with solid state not passive components Such as where a resistor is starting to give up the ghost because of either being just plain bad or just overloaded or abused in circuit because of other failures I've seen resistors change value but was there a loss as to why. And then again those can go all or nothing too Doesn't take too much of a overcurrent or otherwise bad conditions to cause an open circuit and usually you pretty much know it when seeing the resistor or even smelling it. By the way worst smell ever I've run across in in my life with an electronic device had got to be a failed selenium rectifier! If people remember those and what happened when they went out when it happened. And that in burning bake a light as well. Have had weird smells in a room and we're not recognize what was it smelled like I'm like okay time to check all my fixtures and lamps and I couldn't track it down. Essentially one sentence have you checked any light sockets. Was asked why and I said trust me. Sure enough one of the plastic Elite sockets that look like kind of Bakelite stuff but may not have been may have been one of the other things that similar. There was your mysterious odor cooked bulb socket. When the more annoying things is having something let out the blue smoke AKA Magic Smoke oftentimes for some reason it's something that cannot be readily fixed or parts not readily available it always has to be that part that's going to be the hardest to get ahold of or otherwise to fix seems like Murphy's Law also applies to electronics! I've got a weird fuse that was clearly blown but acted weird afterwards ever since it would test fine but would not pass current I've got that in something since it's one of those Weird Mysteries and no one's been able to figure it out. I heard about someone else having the same problem once years ago before the internet both me and the other person Also something interesting sometimes every once while you'd hear of a device picking up radio signals even in areas where there is not a tower in the vicinity close enough that things that are not properly shielded or poorly designed pick up the radio signal. Owen how do I know about this. About things that are not designed to pick up radios signals picking up and amplifying a signal. Used to live in an area that was essentially right next to a fairly higher power radio station approximately very much less than a quarter mile away. You'd hear the radio station on the most anything with a speaker depending on how bad the design was. Even the kids toys with an amplifier you'd hear the radio station in the background! And oftentimes even pick up the landline phone you'd hear the radio in the background but not always. A lot of people would have the toy record players in the older ones all these would usually have the same problems. By the way I remember years ago at the church family member worked out and I used to go to when I was much younger. Essentially anytime an emergency vehicle pass by you'd actually hear the vehicle radio if there were transmitting is there the PA system. It was said it was actually for some reason regarding the output wiring but I doubt this but if anyone could chime in on this please do so. I'd love to put this one to bed. But I do know that things were not shielded well on this system as it was. I do not know the power rating of this transmitter but I believe it was one of the higher power transmitters regarding when living in that area where you could hear the radio on almost anything. And I do know that sometimes it seemed to swap out other stations but it depended on the radio itself as to this effect. And also I've always heard about people saying that oh it must be music on home sometimes or thought even when we are calling from that place that there was music on hold and we had hold at home. Which we did not in our phones that we had didn't even have the hold function. Just at radio station playing on there due to the aforementioned effects. By the way there was a place that visited sometimes at hand an old fence that had once been electrified but no longer had been since no longer an active area of a farm war was no longer used as a farm itself forget unfortunately so many years ago. However I use the electric fence as a large antenna worked fairly well essentially in the middle of whole length of the fence was where I was able to connect for antenna. Do they have had then fence grounded for safety apparently they said they had add lightning jump from the fence to other things prior and this was done to help protect other equipment and people. I think I was even using the original fence grounding rod for my radio ground even if I remember correctly the fence Energizer was in a little shed just off the house by the way they had cut out switches around the farm for the electric fence. Complete with a pilot light in each one some of these were in a little quote unquote weather resistant overhang. Even some outdoor telephones and even in the barn had a phone. Sometimes if you're trying to Jerry bring an antenna if there's old unused electrical you know is open both ends are all low voltage wiring or even on the TV antenna any of this is worth trying to get some reception especially if it remote areas. Even when I was younger living on a hobby Farm my room actually had access to the old TV antennas and more Adventure got permission to put up a radio antenna. And of course always have yoused some type of protection against lightning. And other electrical faults but this is not for the faint of heart or those that were not be qualified to do something like this not recommended unless you know what you're doing!

Joe I have a couple of questions for you. Given the nature of this particular machine where it might have had some overheating issues, did you worry about the wiring integrity? The heat would cause the wire sheething to become brittle thus exposing the copper (or aluminum). Like myself I love everything original to a machine, but given the power consumption generated by traditional incandescent bulbs, have you considered replacing them with LEDs (the type that replicate a fading/dimmable effects like incandescent do)?

Working on a FS and just found this! Do you work on the left outlane diverter at all? Mine's acting up

Oxidation causes oxidisation.

The solenoids are cheap but there are lots of them. Otherwise you'd just slap a more expensive modern one into it.

Electro-mechanical pinball machines; mostly just lights and servos

Do they even make left handed chopsticks???

You can see if a diode is shorted by seeing if the diode gives you a reading both ways it should only get a reading one way on diodes. You can also blow up a diode by putting it in wrong. Heck just a simple diode put in wrong could fowl up the whole game have heard that happen to some repairmen and the diode was in wrong from the factory. So what you doin factory worker putting into one diode wrong and making us pull out our hair over one little component? xD

Future Spa is an awesome game. Love it. You can get a 'hardtop(reproduction playfield)' Here. www.outsideedgeproducts.com/store/p75/Pinball_Playfield_Hardtop.html

That lady in the middle of the playfield keeps on distracting me... wonder why...

"pedantic" but also "pedagogical"

That board is trash. Its not the damaged components that make is unrepairable. The entire edge ground strip is corroded. No one will save that board. Its only value is any hard-to-find parts.