Flight 2000 Shop Log

[tinyrodent]

Craig brought back a nice Flight 2000 working project from Allentown. I will use this thread to keep track of the items done while it's visiting here.

• Replace power plug
• Fix sticking flipper button
• Juice the spinners
• Test all lamps in test mode
• Review dip switch settings
• Diagnose no controlled lamps in backbox
• Replace nasty leg levelers
• Check rating of all fuses
• Ensure all exposed metal is grounded
• Test all switches in test mode
• Diagnose intermittent boot failure
• Diagnose missing playfield GI
• Acquire a proper printed manual with large format schematics & wiring diagrams
• Get rid of weird box wired into the harness
• Clean up wiring hacks
• Replace drilled backbox lock
• Polish & adjust tilt mech
• #2 drop target dropper not working
• Sometimes 2 balls served to shooter lane
• Occasional runaway scoring
• Install all new flipper parts
• New balls
• New flipper buttons
• Clean and adjust rollover switches
• Replace beer seal
• Replace rectifier board
• Clean underside of lamp inserts

[tinyrodent]

The game basically works, and is in decent player condition. A decal has been applied over the bonus area to cover some wear. The rubber is clean, the drop targets are correct, one of the spinners looks like it came from a Gottlieb. There is a cracked plastic or two, the cabinet is a bit rough, and the backglass is flaking badly.

[tinyrodent]

At least 50% of the games I encounter have a mutilated power plug and/or cord. In this case the cord itself appears to be undamaged but the plug has got to go.

All the stuff needed for this job (plus multimeter):

Done.

I discover that even though there is a continuous path for ground, it is interrupted in some cases by corroded bolts. For example, the right side rail and right front leg are not grounded. A job for another day.

[tinyrodent]

Sticky flipper buttons totally ruin the game, so that had to be addressed immediately. For this game the button is very simple, two cylindrical plastic pieces which slide together. Over time, they get dirty, and a bit rough, and don't move as freely as when new. But usually a bit of TLC will solve the problem.

[tinyrodent]

Any ideas what the heck this thing is?

When the game is powered on, the little window lights up as if something should be displayed there. But it is blank.

The gray cable comes from that box and is spliced into several conductors of the harness.

In general the cabinet wiring is a hacked mess, with some wires simply cut at the connector, others taped together, an inline fuse...

[tinyrodent]

Under the playfield, things aren't too bad, but someone really didn't grasp the concept of how these coil stops are supposed to be attached. Every one of them is missing lock nuts, has sheared off screw heads, or both.

[HPR Pinball]

Nice pinball thread in a pinball forum very interesting!

[tinyrodent]

I spent a couple more hours on this project tonight, cleaning, adjusting, replacing bulbs and so on.

• In the backbox, all of the GI lamps were fine but all of the feature lamps were blown. Bulbs replaced, all good.
• On the playfield, several feature lamps were blown. Bulbs replaced, all good.
• One of the circular lamp inserts fell out of the playfield. There are probably a bunch in need of re-gluing.
• After giving the spinners some TLC, they rip about twice as long as before. And this game is all about the spinners.
• Still haven't achieved the 3-bank sweep award yet. It may be there is some adjustment needed to make that possible.
• In switch test mode it shows 01 closed (left coin chute) even when I disconnect the coin door. A short somewhere, possibly related to the weird box and wiring hacks. But it prevents proper testing of the rest of the matrix.
• Dip switch settings reviewed; mostly factory 3-ball, but I disabled the ability to carry over locked balls from one game to the next.
• This game doesn't have a dedicated extra ball award, it appears to be only available via Special. I left it as Replay instead.
• There is no credit knocker - only a sound effect. Seems unusual for a game of this era.

[tombiosis]

Firepower also has a sound effect instead of a knocker when you win a credit for match.
Enjoying following along with your repair log! Keep her going!

[tinyrodent]

Firepower also has a sound effect instead of a knocker when you win a credit for match.

Not true my friend! Though your machine may be missing a knocker I can't recall... also on freeplay I don't think it ever fires.

[tinyrodent]

After a busy weekend of paying attention to machines other than Flight 2000, I tried to power up the game and it refused to boot. This is an intermittent problem where the boot tones don't play at all. It had been starting up pretty reliably until this brief period of neglect...

Then after a day of being in that mood, it would start up ok but in-game repeatedly fire one of the slingshots. Even when I pulled the rubber and made sure the switches weren't touching.

Finally I decided to give her some new shoes instead of trying to play.

Now it plays perfect and I got a new high score on the first attempt.

[Espo1713]

Cool thread. I have the same machine. the playfield is in a lot rougher shape and have alot of similar issues w/ sticking flippers etc. I have the same drop target issue with the #3 target. It wont register when a ball hits it but the bonus will advance if you hit the "F" inside lane switch. Would like to see how this can be fixed if thats the same issue your having with the #2 switch on yours.

For the 2 balls in the shooter lane. I was able to fix this with just adjusting the lane switches a little. if they were stuck low the balls usually rolled through.

Also recently i dont get the 7 test beeps when the game boots up. It will usually start if i wait long enough but the game will usually crash. any idea what this could be?

[tinyrodent]

The problem with the #2 target is cosmetic only and doesn't affect the gameplay. When the game resets the 1-5 target bank, it then automatically drops the targets already completed for the countdown. The #2 just doesn't drop in this case.

The two balls in shooter lane problem occurred frequently at first, but has not happened for a few days. Perhaps as you found it was just a matter of cleaning/adjusting switches, which I've been doing all around.

Not yet sure about the boot problem, but I'm definitely suspicious of the wiring hacks and mystery box which hopefully you don't have.

[uberhare]

Fun game! Kind of regret selling mine. I bet I had 80-100 hours into it with the new PF.

[Craig]

New CPR back glass has arrived, I think it was a worthwhile purchase!

[tombiosis]

Firepower also has a sound effect instead of a knocker when you win a credit for match.

Not true my friend! Though your machine may be missing a knocker I can't recall... also on freeplay I don't think it ever fires.

I am going to take it off freeplay and check that out! I know it makes a cool sound effect, (while on free play) when you match...but I much prefer knockers!

[Espo1713]

Where did you order that backglass from? Wondering if theyd carry a playfield overlay

[cap]

Where did you order that backglass from? Wondering if theyd carry a playfield overlay

CPR is classicplayfields.com
They currently have the plastic set and the backglass for Flight 2000.
They do high quality playfield reproductions but they don't list Flight 2000 at the moment.
They also sell toppers but they don't sell playfield overlays.

[tinyrodent]

Some parts arrived today, looking forward to making this machine tournament-ready. Still missing: NVRAM chip, backglass lift channel, head lock.

Oops! The red buttons are for a different project. The correct ones for this machine are white.

[tinyrodent]

It's been a while since the last post about this project. I never was good at keeping up with a "blog". For a few months Flight 2000 gathered dust after my work area got demolished. But recently Craig brought two more games, and so it became necessary to get organized properly once again. Since then all of the games have been getting incremental fixes and tweaks.

For this game, first I replaced the backglass and trim. Then I found and fixed the GI fault (bad connector), and replaced all of the GI bulbs with warm white frosted LEDs. It looks pretty nice now.

While the backglass was out, I thought I would install the NVRAM. So I cut off the rotten battery (probably the second or third one which has gone bad on this board, lots of old damage) and plugged in the chip. However there are actually two RAM chips on this board so it won't work properly until the other is replaced as well. It's playable, just doesn't remember its settings.

Today I took advantage of the mild weather to setup a work bench outdoors, and do all of the soldering for the new flipper assemblies. They will be installed with connectors so there is no need to solder under the playfield.

The old flipper assemblies were attached with a typical mess of stripped out, missing, and oversized wood screws. To repair, all of the holes get filled with wooden toothpicks and carpenter's glue.

New assemblies installed.

[steamfitter]

These 40 year old game need a lot of love and tweaking , there like a 40 year old car if you never do a tune up eventually she'll run like shit.

With that much attention i'm sure it's going to play like it did in it's glory days .

Great job

Denis

[HPR Pinball]

Great job, yeah those Stern Bally are very reliable when completely restored.

[tinyrodent]

I took advantage of the nice weather again today, to replace the rectifier board. The original is badly damaged, hacked, bypassed, etc. First, remove the entire power assembly from the cabinet. It's much easier to work on a bench, and all of the soldering can be performed outdoors.

After soldering complete:

It probably took twice as long to repin the connectors as it did to replace the rectifier board. But finally it's all done. And very satisfying when it works perfectly on the first try. The feature lamps are much brighter now, and the flippers feel stronger too.

Numerous wiring hacks removed.

The mystery box is still installed and patched into the coin door wiring. However it is no longer powered, perhaps next time I will finally remove it.

[tombiosis]

Great work!

[tinyrodent]

If anyone has a lead on where to obtain classic Stern spinners please let me know! I would like either or both of these part numbers 14A-7-1 and 14A-7-2.