Early Morning at Work

Happy Valentines Day!!

I had a dozen roses sent to my mom and to my daughter. Both did not expect it and were happily surprised when they arrived Saturday morning and afternoon. I am now a #1 son and a #1 dad.

I am here at work at 2:30 in the very dark AM. I am a Distributed Network Engineer for our company. Today we get to move all of our data circuits from our site in Denver to a new Omaha site. Fun stuff!! Very big move. Hopefully, all will go ok and I will be home and back in bed around 7 AM.

Avatar 3D

I've heard nothing but good things about this movie. Finally decided to go see it with Kid Guzzi. Oh man.... left me speechless. One of the best movies I have seen in all my years! Excellent graphics and a wonderful story line. 3D just made it that much better. I see lots of awards to happen for this movie! I am definitely going to see it again...this time in Imax. I can hardly wait....

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!