Roku Remote is In

Finally got the remote control for the Roku. I am now able to configure the unit to connect to my wireless network and get stations that broadcast over the internet. Pretty cool stuff!

Bullwinkle - No cleaning today

Was tired of cleaning so that was out for today. However, I was tired of trying to figure out what the display was saying as it was in Spanish. So, I was determined to get the thing to display in English. Thought there was a switch that would change the language. Nope...none to be found. Nothing in the manuals. Hmmm....perplexing. Finally figured out that it is in the code located in the e-proms. Downloaded some new code, burned some new proms, and away she goes. Now the display is a little easier to understand!

Rocky & Bullwinkle - Day 2

I now have most of the playfield torn apart and cleaned. Have a little more cleaning yet to do. Then 2 or 3 coats of wax before reassembling. I will order a rubber ring kit for this game as most of the originals are cracked or broken. Starting to shape up nicely.






So that I can remember where everything goes, I take lots of pictures of the playfield and then I lay parts on two different tables. Here is where most of the metal guides are.










On this table is where most of the ramps and plastics are.










Upper half of the playfield. Almost done cleaning it.














Lower half of the playfield. Done cleaning but needs waxing.














Full view of the playfield. Looks a little less crowded now...doesn't it?

New Project - Rocky & Bullwinkle Pinball

Now that the SeaWolf is out of the house, I was able to start on the next project. I was looking forward to this as I love working on pinballs. As I started to open things up, I noticed a few things that I missed when purchasing this game. I already knew the game was dirty due to the playfield glass being gone. I was told that the CPU board was missing. Ok...so I bought a spare cpu to repair for it. Turns out that it was a power supply board missing...not a cpu. Ok...had to find a replacement power supply board. Done. This was all before I had even opened up the game. I finally open up the game and see that there are a bunch of cut wires. Nice. Thank God for schematics. Found where the wires were supposed to go, crimped on new ends, and placed them into a new socket. Plugged the socket into the proper board. Discovered a missing transistor on the driver board. Ordered the part. Ok...other than the transistor, everything looks proper and in its place. Time to power up and see what happens. Unbelievably, the pin sprang to life! Sweet! Time to disassemble the playfield and clean it up. I always take pics as I go along so that I can remember how to assemble everything..... Lots o' parts! As I am taking the playfield apart, I find that there is a missing motor to an important section. Dogs!!! Will cost me around $75 to replace. Looks like everything else is there. The flippers and assorted kickers don't work. Probably due to the missing transistor. Not worried about that yet. Overall, I am very happy with this pin. Time to continue on cleaning.








Cut wires... New power supply board on the left. You can also see the missing transistor on the board at the lower left. You can click on the pictures for a larger view.

















Pin powered up!


















Stopping after disassembling about 3/4 of the playfield. Time for dinner. You can see how dirty this thing is. Not for long!

Bon Voyage Seawolf

The Seawolf arcade game is now on its way to a new home in California. North American Van Lines pulled up in front of the house mid afternoon. The driver, Dennis, has been with the company for 15 years and has made stops here off and on for the past 5 years. He still remembers the Guzzi's!

Farewell Seawolf....enjoy California!

Roku Lives Again!

Finally got the parts in that I needed to finish repairs on the power supply for the Roku Soundbridge Internet Radio. I ordered the parts off of Ebay but didn't notice they were in Bejing, China. So, it took a little while to get here. The return address is from Ding Dong Feng. I swear...you can't make that stuff up! After working a bit and replacing parts, I finally powered up the radio. It lives once again! The only downside is that you need a remote control to program the unit. Fortunately, the Roku company sells them for $20. Not a bad price....so I ordered one. In the meanwhile, I will be able to listen to AM and FM stations just using the radio panel controls. Sounds pretty darn good! Thanks again to Chris "Kid Guzzi" Galardi for pulling it from a neighbors trash and giving it to me!

At Home Sick....But Still Busy....

Thursday night I came down with a nasty cold / flu bug that has really hit me hard. However, today I am starting to feel a little better. So, whilst I am moving slow I am still able to do some work on arcade boards. I have a few that will be going up for sale on Ebay this weekend. So far I have a Ms Pacman boardset, a Phoenix boardset, and a Popeye boardset. Tomorrow I hope to have a Donkey Kong boardset and a Gunsmoke boardset ready to sell as well. Maybe more...we'll see.

Also have to pull out the snowblower from the shed in the backyard as we are to expect some 2" - 4" of snow tomorrow and upwards of 8" on Tuesday. Not looking forward to that!

Sea Wolf finds a new home

Ever since I sold a Sea Wolf video game to a friend it has haunted me (see January 29th post). Came back to me after a week and has been here ever since (3 months now). I give up. Every time I fix one issue another pops up. Only the 2nd game to ever defeat my repair skills! I had it close to working and my friend finally said, "Just sell it". I put it on ebay not expecting much and a prospective buyer offered a nice sum of money to buy it direct. So, It will be on its way to California shortly. I wish it a fond farewell. My next projects are a Ms Pacman cocktail arcade game fresh in from Clermont, Florida (already fixed and working...just needs cleaning) and a Bullwinkle pinball machine. Looking forward to some pinball work....always fun for me! I will post pics of both soon.

New Project

My good friend, Chris Galardi, has finally moved back from Florida. Welcome home Chris...good to have you back! One of the things he found while unpacking was a non-working Roku Soundbridge R1000 radio. Pretty cool device. It connects to a wireless network to bring you free internet radio stations. Chris told me that it simply doesn't power up any longer and that it was mine if I wanted it. After graciously accepting this radio, I took it home to look at it. I did a little research on google for problems pertaining to this model of radio. Most of what I found pointed to a power supply issue. I was not able to find any schematics for the power supply so I was going to be flying by the seat of my pants with this. I opened up the unit (no easy task) and after an hour, I finally got to the power supply. I did find some puffed up capacitors. Those are definitely bad and can be caused by too much power or just faulty manufacturing. The google search said to replace them all. I have all but two in my stock and will need to order them. I will replace them with higher voltage rated caps. Hopefully, that will be the fix. Here are a few pics:







The Roku Soundbridge Radio



















The power supply to the radio











A couple of the "puffed" capacitors

Windows 7

I have been using Windows 7 enterprise version at work for the past few weeks and really like it. Recently, I purchased a refurbed pc from Dell and it came with a free Win 7 upgrade. Got the upgrade yesterday and installed it last night. The more I play with Win 7 the more I like it. Once I move all my apps over to the new pc, I will give the old one to my dad. Then I will take his old one and give it to my daughter. Cripes....I should open a freaking computer store!

And so it begins....

Early October and the flaky Nebraska weather holds true...flaky...
I am not ready for winter. Summer went by too quickly this year. Didn't
get nearly enough bike riding in.

Current events

Well, lets see what's been happening....
Found that I had a wasp nest in my back yard. Discovered this as I ran over it with the mower and got stung 11 times. Had the pest control folks come out and take care of that. Removed a bunch of bushes from my front yard. What a pain! Big stumps remained until this past weekend. Rented a stump remover (didn't even know those things existed) and took out all the stumps. Yard looks a lot different. More spacious now. I like it! On the game front...
I was getting ready to start working on a Bullwinkle pinball game until a friend of mine asked that I work on his submarine game. So...working on that now. Torpedo's keep shooting to the left or right but never centered. Found that one or two ic chips keep frying within a minute or two of replacing them. Trying to trace down that issue.
I will be getting some new neighbors soon. Current neighbors sold their house. Very nice folks that I hate to see go, but will not miss their 3 yapping little dogs. Always, always barking. Fun to see my dog go over to the fence, the little yappers come over to bark, and my dog pee's on them.
I will have some pic's soon to add to the blog!

Neat High Tech Toy

My friend Chris is always getting neat toys. Check out this one on his blog!

New Toy

Bowler Sold!

I put the bowler up on Ebay last Monday and it sold today. Very happy as I got the price I was hoping for! Been a little busy lately so it's been awhile since I've updated this blog. A game operator from Arkansas sent me 5 Galaga boards and 4 Ms Pac Man boards to repair. Word of my skills is getting around!

Bowler Update

Well, it's almost done. The mechanical parts are good to go. However, I did find that the previous owner removed a coil and wired things around it. I have one ordered and on the way. Other than that, I just need to remove rust from some chrome rails and polish it and it will be done. Here are some pics:

Buzz Kill....

Saturday morning I was mowing the lawn minding my own business, when all of a sudden I felt this sharp stabbing pain in my right leg. Down by the achilles tendon. I looked down and there was a little yellow and black wasp stinging me. It hurt, but I kept back the tears and kept on mowing. Then I felt another sharp pain on my left leg by my knee. Same little booger stung me again. Now I've had enough. I flick the thing off and it comes back and stings me again on the same leg. I smack it. It flies off and comes right back to try again. Landed on my shorts. I try to squish it between the material. Doesn't work and he flies off and lands on my leg again. I flick him to the ground and stomp as hard as I can. Sucker flies up and tries again. At this point all I can think of is "If my neighbors see this, I probably look like a little fairy dancing around". I give up and head towards the house. The mighty wasp has won this battle. I tried to figure out what pissed this little guy off. The only thing I can come up with is that I must have run over him with the mower and he didn't appreciate it. I hit the internet to find out what kind of wasp he was. Appears to have been a Yellowjacket wasp. They can attack if agitated and can sting multiple times. Lucky me.... Here is a few pics of how my legs look now:

Two stings on this leg..........................................................and one major sting on this one.

Profile pics you can find in the Post Office and the Police Station. This is now a wanted wasp!
If you see him....don't approach him. He is considered armed, dangerous, and has rage issues!

Still Working on the 2nd Arcade Bowling Machine

Finding more broken things in the game I had intended to keep. There are 2 fluorescent lights in the game that weren't working. Turns out that each one had it's own circuit for electricity and both had transformers that were fried...literally. One was charred black from the heat. I bought some cheap replacement fluorescent light fixtures, ripped them open, and stole their transformers to replace the fried ones. Ta daaaaa! Lights are now working. Replaced all the burnt out light bulbs and have come to find that the strike and spare lights are not working. Time to trace down that issue. Possibly a broken ground wire someplace. Then, the only thing left will be to wipe it down, polish the metal rails, and throw a quick coat of wax on the play field. Up for sale she will go. I will be sure to take a few pics and a quick video once all this is done.

What a conundrum....

After fixing up the bowler I've been working on for the last two months, I've come to realize that I like it better than the other one I had intended to keep. So, now I need to clean up the other one and get it ready to sell. Just fixed it's bad motor as well and am very happy to have it working. Just some minor adjustments and a little clean up and it's ready to go.

Been a great week to work on games.....

I was on call this week which kept me home most of the week and gave me the time I needed to work on the bowler game. I finally fixed a broken motor on the game and tonight I finished all the mechanical work needed to make it playable. Just need to clean the exterior and put it up on ebay. Pictures and or video will be following shortly. I also picked up a new project pinball machine.....Rocky and Bullwinkle. Once I get the bowler sold I will start working on that. Just happen to have a link to some pics of that game. Rocky and Bullwinkle Pinball Project
This game has all the characters from the original cartoon show.... Snidley Whiplash, Mr Peabody, Sherman, Dudly Do-right, Natasha, and Boris Badenov to name a few.... Pretty cool! If you wish to wax nostalgic, you can go to this website: Rocky & Bullwinkle Show It has some neat videos there too.

Busy week

I am on call this week for work so I have to stay near home in case I get any calls. However, that works out well as I have 14 Ms Pacman / Pacman boards to work on. Word of mouth has been getting me a little more business. This gentleman was referred to me by another person I had done work for. I started working on them last Friday night. So far, I have 10 out of the 14 repaired. Most likely, that is as far as I will go with them. He wants me to go as cheap as I can on rates so I have done what I can as fast as I can. He should be happy with 10 working boards.

These boards came from another company that specializes in fixing Pac boards. Kind of neat to know that I was able to fix what they could not. Average price from them for the repairs was $250 per board. I think I am not charging near enough! Average fix time for me was a little over an hour per board. I only charged $35 /hr. plus parts. ;>)

Brother's New Toy

Got a call from my brother this evening saying to come over and look at the family's new toy. Went over and look what was there.....

Click on the pics for a larger view!

Captain Kaleb making sure the boat is seaworthy!

Looking for his skipper hat

At the helm

Bowler progress

I thought I would show a quick video on how the game is progressing. It is coming along nicely!



Also ran into a small snag. There is a motor that runs the "Flash" series of games that is not working right now. Trying to figure out why. I found that the company that made motors for most of the old ElectroMechanical bowler games is still around and claims they can fix the motors. Might be an option if it isn't too expensive.






Here is a pic of the Flash motor.

Bowler Update - Day 17

I finally got the assembly clean that controls switching from player to player. The game would only play the 1st player no matter how many players you coined up. Now all six players are functioning. Time to clean the assemblies that control each players strikes or spares.

The score reels look exceptional from the front of the game now that they have been cleaned. I will take pictures in a day or two and post them for all to see.

Bowler Update - Day 10

Ok....making progress. Tonight I finished cleaning the score reels and score reel assemblies. Look very clean and work great. Now I have to start cleaning all the other assemblies. They all seem to be gunked up too. Little by little......

Day 2 on the shuffle bowler.....

Wow...I didn't realize how dirty this thing was. I literally have to take apart every score reel, remove the old grease, put on some new lubricant, carefully clean the dirt off the reels, clean and adjust the switches, and reassemble the unit. Takes about 35-45 minutes per reel. There are 26 of them to do. Tonight I have done 4 of them for a total of 6. To the left is a pic of a dirty reel compared to a clean one. Big difference, aay?

My Current Arcade Project

This is what is known as a shuffle bowler or a puck bowler as it is like bowling and shuffleboard combined. It is a United's Embassy bowler made in 1962. Up to 6 players can play with a variety of different games. Truly lots of fun....when it is working! My goal is to get it back up and running in top condition! This should not be too difficult is it is mostly working in its current state. I think that all I will need to do is disassemble anything with a coil on it and clean off the old grease. Most things are just gunked up with old grease and won't turn any longer. Sometimes the contacts need to be cleaned and adjusted as well. Once complete, this baby will be put up for sale cause I could really use the space back in my house! If anyone is interested in purchasing, please let me know and we can discuss pricing.




** Click on the pics for a larger view **


Front view


















Lower front view



















Other end of the playfield














Looking inside from the back. All the score reels on the left will need to be disassembled, cleaned, and put back together. Replace any burnt out bulbs too. The picture below shows all the other coils & switches that will also need to be cleaned.

Here they are at last . . . Surgery Pics! (**warning ** graphical**)

These are the pictures taken during my arthroscopic shoulder surgery. They insert a camera attached to a tool during surgery so they can see what they are doing. They made 4 small incisions about a quarter inch long around the shoulder area.


Here you can see the suture of muscle to the bone anchor. The red pic indicates an area of arthritis.












Don't recall what these represent.

















Here the red pic is where they shaved down some bone to give more cushion to the joint and to remove some arthritic areas.

Congratulations Kourtney!

My niece had her First Communion today. No pics yet...but soon! Congrats again Kourtney!

Goofiest weather ever.....

Where else could you have a severe thunderstorm warning, tornado warnings, and a blizzard advisory ALL IN THE SAME DAY? That's right...here in the paradise known as Nebraska. Normally, we say if you don't like the weather...wait a few days. Now we can reduce that to, "wait a few hours". I love Nebraska cause I was born and raised here, but now I understand why my friend Chris (aka cwga.blogspot.com) moved away to Florida. There you only need to be wary of humidity, hurricanes, and now....pythons. Yep, you heard right...pythons. Apparently, people have let their "little" pets loose in the wild and they are mating better than rabbits in spring. Getting to be quite the problem. Which is worse in your opinion...snow and cold or snakes and hurricanes?

Small break for Stal

My shoulder surgery went well. My arm is a bit weak and the shoulder very tender so typing is still a bit difficult. I won't be posting as much for a while until the shoulder starts to get a bit stronger. Got some neat pics of my shoulder from the doctor as he was performing the surgery. I will post those shortly. Thanks to everyone that checked up on me after my surgery!

.....More snow.....

Mother nature is toying with us! Once again as the weather was getting nicer (40-60 degrees) and the snow had melted off, we get another 3-5 inches last night. I am so ready for the warmer weather!

Well, good news and bad news... Good news is that I am taking off work all next week. Bad news is that I am getting shoulder surgery in order to do it. I'll be laid up most of the week recovering. Yup...life is good.

Just when spring was in sight.....

Mother Nature decided to remind us that winter is not quite over yet and dumped around 6 inches of snow today. Two days ago it was 60 degrees and all snow was gone. Typical Nebraska weather... if you don't like it...wait a day or two.

For once, the weather forcasters got this one correct and were calling for this a couple of days ago. Rare occurrence when they are right.

Summer Project

I have this in storage but will most likely drag it out and restore it come summertime. (Not the woman....the game! How about that hairdo and outfit?) It's an old electromechanical game that is a lot of fun when working! I believe it was made in 1976. I also have a lead on an old electromechanical shooter game... another project for when I get bored.

UPDATED W/PICS Just when you are about ready to give up hope.....

SALVATION!! I found a way to repair the Midway Sea Wolf game board (mentioned in my previous post). I have done so much to this board that I really don't know what the fix was. Just very glad to be done with it. I am going to let it run for a day or so to make sure it stays working. Then my friend will either come over this weekend or next to pick it up and take it home. Game is a little dusty but will clean up nice. This is a very fun and addictive game!