Brought DW to Pin-A-Go-Go, removing head
Josh Lehan - Krellan
enjoyed it. Much thanks to Martin for fixing it!
Did something I haven't done before: remove the head of a modern
game. This was necessary in order to fit it in the car I used for
transport. I'm going to do this more often, because it also lessens
the weight of the game, which makes it easier to move. Also, it can
fit through narrow doorways, which lessens the distance the game must
be carried/skated. It may open up another room in the house for me to
use to hold more games :)
The disadvantage is the time it takes to remove all those connectors
before detaching the head, and to connect up all those connectors
after reattaching the head. The good thing about this is that it is a
single-person job, so if you have people helping you move the game,
you don't need to keep them waiting.
I learned these tips, which will pass on here, in case they're useful
to others:
1) Use a sticky label to label EACH connector that is removed, near
the connector, using the jack number such as "J101". Fold the label
around a wire and stick it back onto itself, so that it stays on.
Include orientation on the label, if it isn't obvious. Make a system
that works for you, and stick to it. For me, I always looped the
label around the leftmost wire in each connector, and for vertical
connectors, the topmost wire.
This was the best tip by far, as it saved me a lot of time. I just
plugged away, not really having to worry about where the connectors
went, as there was no confusion at all. After connecting everything,
turned on the game and everything worked the first time!
2) Keep a list of weird connectors written down, so that you don't
forget any. I'm glad I did this for the replay knocker, the single
connector near the audio board, the grounding screw, and the weird
dangling connector at the far bottom of the wiring bundle at the
bottom of the backbox.
3) Put straps around both of the big hoses of wires coming through
from the playfield, at the area where the wires exit the hose, to help
keep the wires bundled together and reinforce the hose so it doesn't
split further.
4) After removing all the wires, put removable Velcro straps (loosely)
around the rat's nest of wires from each hose, so that each hose's
contents are held together in a bunch. This makes them much easier to
fish out, when they inevitably fall down into the body of the game.
Remove these straps when it's time to reattach the wires, of course.
I like Velcro straps because they're easily removable, which is good
for temporary holding like this. So that you don't lose your straps,
loop them around a wire in the backbox when done with them.
5) Avoid putting stress on the connectors! Don't depend on the
connectors to bear the weight of the wire hoses coming from the
playfield. Those Williams connectors are already fragile enough. Use
large twist-ties, from a trash bag, to loop around the area where the
original factory cable tie was. Between the head and body, there
should be a little plastic mount with holes in it, near each hose.
Thread the twist-tie through here, and around the hose. Make it
tight. It will grip through the ribs in the hose, so it will hold the
hose in place, and bear the weight.
6) As for the circular wiring guides in the backbox, only route the
wires through them that permanently stay in the backbox. For wires to
the playfield that you will be connecting/disconnecting, just let them
dangle, without using the wiring guides. This will make it visually
easy to see which wires you'll need to remove and which wires will be
staying behind.
7) When reattaching each strand of connectors, work in order, from the
bottom (close to the hose) to the farthest away from the hose. This
will ensure you don't miss a connection.
With this, I can make another attempt to bring Congo to CA Extreme
later this year :)
Josh
seymour-shabow
>
> 1) Use a sticky label to label EACH connector that is removed, near
> the connector, using the jack number such as "J101". Fold the label
> around a wire and stick it back onto itself, so that it stays on.
> Include orientation on the label, if it isn't obvious. Make a system
> that works for you, and stick to it. For me, I always looped the
> label around the leftmost wire in each connector, and for vertical
> connectors, the topmost wire.
>
I used to do the sticky label thing too until TOP#3 where Clay just
labels the connector itself with a sharpie. So obvious, but never
thought of it until then. The labels tear, fall off, etc. - also tried
wire marking tags but that interfered with the fit of the bundles.
I'm glad it worked out for you - I think it stinks having to take the
heads off WPC era machines, truly a pain in the ass. Had to do it a
couple of times with a buddy when he was picking up some games from a
basement.
-scott CARGPB#29
someotherguy
wrote:
>Josh Lehan - Krellan wrote:
>>
>> 1) Use a sticky label to label EACH connector that is removed, near
>> the connector, using the jack number such as "J101". Fold the label
>> around a wire and stick it back onto itself, so that it stays on.
>> Include orientation on the label, if it isn't obvious. Make a system
>> that works for you, and stick to it. For me, I always looped the
>> label around the leftmost wire in each connector, and for vertical
>> connectors, the topmost wire.
>>
>
>I used to do the sticky label thing too until TOP#3 where Clay just
>labels the connector itself with a sharpie. So obvious, but never
>thought of it until then. The labels tear, fall off, etc. - also tried
>wire marking tags but that interfered with the fit of the bundles.
Dammit. I never saw TOP#3 but that's how I do mine. Can I whine about how Clay
stole my idea and is taking credit for it? ; ) Actually I don't label jack
anymore; wires have a "memory" and tend to stay in the area they want to be
plugged into. Most are keyed anyway, so it's kind of overkill to label
everything. I'll grant you though, that if you're not tearing down machines on
a regular basis, it is still a pretty good idea to label the connectors.
>I'm glad it worked out for you - I think it stinks having to take the
>heads off WPC era machines, truly a pain in the ass. Had to do it a
>couple of times with a buddy when he was picking up some games from a
>basement.
Even worse is beheading an older system 11 game. There's several things that
don't have a connector; you gotta clip the wires and solder them back on. If I
thought I'd have to do it more than once to a particular game, I guess I'd
install some connectors for next time. :p
Richard
seymour-shabow
>
> Dammit. I never saw TOP#3 but that's how I do mine. Can I whine about how Clay
> stole my idea and is taking credit for it? ; )
I'm sure he's willing to pay you a license fee for your idea ;)
> Actually I don't label jack
> anymore; wires have a "memory" and tend to stay in the area they want to be
> plugged into. Most are keyed anyway, so it's kind of overkill to label
> everything. I'll grant you though, that if you're not tearing down machines on
> a regular basis, it is still a pretty good idea to label the connectors.
>
Yeah I don't have a lot of need to behead machines anymore, but I label
them so the next person receiving the machine doesn't have an issue. I
never label early solid state machines because of the keying and memory,
it's just not necessary.
>
> Even worse is beheading an older system 11 game. There's several things that
> don't have a connector; you gotta clip the wires and solder them back on. If I
> thought I'd have to do it more than once to a particular game, I guess I'd
> install some connectors for next time. :p
>
I'd assume you mean before the interconnect board, I have done a couple
of the interconnect board ones and I don't think there were any that
didn't come off.
It's funny when I get a classic stern shipped to me though, almost no
one realizes you don't have to remove the whole harness from the head
because you can take the 20 pin connector off the rectifier board and
pull it up into the head.....
Early WMS solid states are a breeze with the fat connectors - I think
there's 3 or 4 to remove.
I want the elevator or a winch system like pmwolf has, that would make
it so easy to bring stuff to shows.
-scott CARGPB#29
John Wart, jr
I remember mine required some desoldering to behead, dang thing having those
'wider than a standard doorframe' width backboxes!
One of the biggest annoyances I found last year was when I worked on a
project Laser Cue I bought - someone had decided the game was better off
without one of the big connectors connecting the cabinet to the head - just
cut the plug out, twisted, soldered and taped! I added it back, but found it
was a royal PITA.
"seymour-shabow" <seymour...@excite.com> wrote in message
news:g0ufgv$2e0$1...@aioe.org...
tbmi
I do this all of the time - I remove the playfield as well (its still
amazing how heavy just the cabinet is). It's the only way to get
games in my basement. Another thing I do before I remove and mark the
connectors is make a note (in the manual) what pins do not do not have
connectors going to them (there are always a handful on every game).
It takes away that "gee, I wonder if there is suppose to be a
connector here" feeling when everything is put back together.
Tom
someotherguy
floor deck using a 6400 lb capacity dually forklift (overkill, anyone?) then
having to bring it through a super-narrow doorway.
This is the same forklift and deck, but with Firepower coming up:
http://www.someotherplace.com/forkpin.jpg sure don't miss that old shop; the
place was way too small in the office/living area.
Richard
On Tue, 20 May 2008 08:43:34 -0400, "John Wart, jr" <johnw...@johnwartjr.com>
wrote:
Josh Lehan - Krellan
> I do this all of the time - I remove the playfield as well (its still
> amazing how heavy just the cabinet is). It's the only way to get
> games in my basement. Another thing I do before I remove and mark the
> connectors is make a note (in the manual) what pins do not do not have
> connectors going to them (there are always a handful on every game).
> It takes away that "gee, I wonder if there is suppose to be a
> connector here" feeling when everything is put back together.
I know what you mean. That's a great idea. I'll do that next time.
Doctor Who has quite a few unused sockets on its various boards.
Josh