Customer Said "Don't Remove My Flipper Repair" - Williams 1983 Firepower II Pinball Machine Repair

[@litz13]

I gotta admit, I fixed games for 10+ years at the main WMS distributor here in Atlanta (if you're in the biz you know who that was) ... Of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of machines I touched in that time, I never once saw one with THAT ... So, I dunno who your owner is, but they should be proud (?) ... they've outdone even the craftiest, wiliest North Georgia game operator. I had no idea that was even remotely possible.

[@LyonsArcade]

It kind of looks like one of those old Jorgensen wood clamps but it's home made :)

[@litz13]

@@LyonsArcade 🤷‍♂️

[@bradwilliams1691]

1:06 Those two outlane island plastics are actually from another Williams pinball called Flash.

[@curtismanley3459]

Honestly confused as to why a machine would be brought in for repair, and then be told not to fix what was thrown together as a "patch job". Love the repair videos as always Joe and Ron. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thanks Curtis! I think he did that back when he didn't know where to get parts and so he kind of wanted to keep it in there another 20 years or whatever :)

[@briank.3629]

Ron, you really need some sort of warning to let people know how addictive these videos are! Informative and incredible fun to watch you with these machines (and jukeboxes, and arcades etc.)

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Brian, that's nice of you to say, we enjoy doing it so glad to hear you enjoy watching them. We record them well in advance and have quite a few 'in the can' you'll be seeing soon!

[@naytch2003]

It's definitely not a bad thing to be addicted to Ron's videos..Donnie has some really addictive videos too..that truck he's working on sounded sweet when he fired it up

[@simondempsey1]

Nice to hear your cold has gone Ron. I dont think i know this machine at all. Look forward to the rest of the videos

[@michaelflynn6163]

Looking good keep up good work have a nice day

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

Have I mentioned that upside down Motorola logo? Oh yes, I have! LOL Great video!

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Donald!

[@Petri547]

Nice video. I've played this at real life. This pinball was planned after their Hyperball project was screwed up and Williams had a ton of unused cabinets after it was abandonned. Williams made also Defender and Time Fantasy to this very same cabinet.

[@MegaSpambox]

cheers for another cool guide Ron & Joe :)

[@MegaSpambox]

You guys are literally making history! doing this and it must be saved for future generations .

[@LyonsArcade]

I'm glad people enjoy them, I think it's cool to make a record of the games we see through here, like you said eventually there won't be many around.

[@HarryManI3ack]

16:00 I believe that is Midland Michigan.

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you man

[@memyopinionsche6610]

Your brother has a good point.

[@fred_derf]

First time seeing a Firepower II, looking forward to seeing it functional and see how it plays.

[@LyonsArcade]

It's a pretty cool game!

[@MikesArcadeMonitorRepair]

Nice work. The cabinet speaker appears to be missing.

[@madbstard1]

Love the MacGyver flipper fix! If it works, don't fix it.

[@LyonsArcade]

He seemed happy with it :)

[@VaxxedStories]

Before I was a teenager, I used to ride my bike over to Radio Shack just to browse.

[@LyonsArcade]

By the time I used to go there in the 90's, they were already starting to turn into a cell phone store but they still had the catalogs and things and those drawers in the back with the cool stuff in them....

[@walkingdude7286]

Oh yeah! I remember playing the hell outta this one back in the day; I rolled the 10 million mark quite a few times from a single two bits LOL Additional features than FP1; the only thing that initially bugged me regarding this design is only a 2-ball multi-ball, yet still an awesome sequel.

[@frankgagliano9677]

Great video, Love the flipper fix, if it makes you happy. I own the original Firepower, it sounds alot like that one. The spinner looks the same too. When you re-solder did you solder over the old solder or do you clean off the old solder, then solder? Looks like this might be a long series. See you on the next video. Thanks Ronnie

[@LyonsArcade]

Hi Frank, when we resolder we just add a little bit of new solder... you don't want to add too much because it'll make the solder joints so big that they may short to the one next to it.... thanks for watching Frank, see you on the next one :)

[@GreenDemonMan]

Dear Mr. Customer: NO, Just NO! it's in the shop, HAVE THEM FIX IT RIGHT! Take that clamp and wire abomination off and have them do it right for you!

[@PinBallReviewerRepairs]

I agree I noticed when they first flipped the flipper that it was sticking. :|

[@pl5624]

Got to love the firepower/alien poker sounds..

[@kenabi]

have to admit, the quasi-time capsule factor of the RS find is.. pretty cool.

[@waynegram8907]

JOE, Do you know what type of "Coil Wire" is used for pinball coils and Solenoids? because its a type of wire that can handle heat like for the flipper coils the coil wire has to has a stronger or higher heat specs.

[@adamdavies163]

I used to work on equipment that had those yellow Sprague capacitors. If memory serves me correctly, they have a vent at one end under the rubber insulation disc. In most cases you could see a swollen part sticking out, I always assumed that to mean the capacitor was starting to fail, i.e. pressure release. I could be wrong. We used to replace them all and that was 20 years ago.

[@CNKayutube]

My gottlieb big house has a long diverter, as far as that guy being proud of that repair, I would have outright told him I would not let it leave my shop in that condition. Come on people!!

[@dennistowne457]

I’d like to get that mod for my Firepower II also! Does he have plans for it?

[@justlookin20101]

There is a fuse holder on the power supply board missing a fuse (solenoids)

[@LyonsArcade]

Some of these had an extra fuse holder that doesn't actually take a fuse if you can believe that...

[@viscountalpha]

What are the chances their mod is causing issues given all the solenoids aren't working?

[@LyonsArcade]

Might be!

[@alos18]

Hopefully I get time to bring my bank a ball to you this week.

[@LyonsArcade]

That sounds good Christopher, we'll be here!

[@naytch2003]

4:15 I know nothing about electronics nor do I pretend to..but that sure as heck looks out of place

[@LyonsArcade]

It's a mod :)

[@DrewberTravels]

I had a really cool electromechanical machine called Go-Kart. It had some sort of issues with the score mechanism and it would lock up anytime I tried to play it. I regret getting selling it off instead of figuring out the issues. When I googled the machine it just seemed like it was an uninteresting machine from an unloved manufacturer.

[@PinBallReviewerRepairs]

Oofs that pinball flipper it might work but then it will need to be worked on still as it is already having problems with the flipper sticking. :| And that is interesting that Stern tried the pinball conversion thing. Williams did that with there Pinball 2000 pinball machines that it was going to be setup to convert the playfield and backglass into a new game but Pinball 2000 did not really take off and Williams closed down there pinball division and makes boring slot machine stuff now. >.> And I don't remember seeing that kind of diverter on a Tee'd Off but I have only played that game not seen it up close. And chuckled a little when you said No Good Gophers as that was a Williams/Bally game. :) Which has a up down ramp to try to get the Hole in One. ;)

[@ljmike1204]

Yep a fuse holder with a blown fuse would be con-FUSE-ing indeed

[@BradfordTaylor]

He customized his machine.

[@LyonsArcade]

It's a Mod!

[@b.o.353]

Red flag when he keeps the backglass. Sounds like a perfectionist... (cut to his repair of the flipper).... ohhhh

[@LyonsArcade]

ahhaha I think he just didn't want to break the backglass moving it.

[@NotsureOk]

What the.... Lol n I thought my name was maguyver:)

[@Titanic4]

Apart from the game not kicking the ball out from the trough, there seems to be no bass whatsoever, as if the woofer located in the cabinet was either disconnected, or broken, assuming that there was one installed.

[@senilyDeluxe]

nah it sounds more like either a dead capacitor in the preamp section or the volume pre-set potentiometer makes no contact (we have a Williams Time Warp - the one with the banana flippers - where that pot is bad and it sounds exactly like that, if you jiggle it, the sound comes back)

[@carlperkins1452]

Another great video Ron. Personally, I'd rather have a kick in the nuts before putting on that makeshift wood clamp. But hey, it works I guess!

[@LyonsArcade]

He was very happy with it :)

[@slothsquatch5023]

The flipper repair makes it custom. Oh yeah, the Radio Shack receipt was from Midland, Michigan not Montana.

[@LyonsArcade]

I didn't know where it was :) Thanks for watching Sloth!

[@hugobars9493]

I concur Ron, I recognized my old zip code there Midland, Michigan. Keep up the great work!

[@vincediesil]

I have this to say about the wooden repair: Jesus was a carpenter, and look what he did :)

[@LyonsArcade]

That's true!

[@rkgaustin]

If it looks stupid but it works it ain't stupid.

[@gallimead]

"People.. come ON!!"

[@NotIT]

c'mon now....Midland is in Michigan. I live not too far from there.

[@WreckDiver99]

Same here...

[@kennethsherman9132]

Me too

[@LyonsArcade]

I've always heard of a Midland here in North Carolina, and the famed "Midland-Odessa Texas" I didn't know there was one in Michigan!

[@kennethsherman9132]

@@LyonsArcade Yup. Midland Michigan is the home of Dow Chemical.

[@kennethsherman9132]

@@LyonsArcade But it isn't surprising that you never heard of it way down there in the Carolinas. I mean I would never have heard of Jefferson if it wasn't for you and Donnie.

[@PlumGurly]

So he put some telephone receiver cord inside. Wow.

[@timitbiscuit3620]

I'd save the wooden clamp thing and burn the rest of it. LOL. That playfield is just plain gone. But to each and their own I suppose. : ( My policy would be to charge the same price to do hack work or correct work. Thank you for the video!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess it not all that bad if the thing gets played. Probably better to look worn than to just sit somewhere looking perfect and never being played.

[@fred_derf]

@Timit Biscuit, writes _"That playfield is just plain gone."_ Huh? What? Were you watching a different video than I was? This looks like one of the better playfields Ron's worked on.

[@timitbiscuit3620]

@@fred_derf ok marginal. yeah joe could have made it look really good. I should not have commented not my game. LOL. And if thats the way they want it so be it. :)

[@LyonsArcade]

At first glance, I thought the playfield was heavily worn... but after inspecting it closer it's actually in very nice shape, it just has a weird art design where the white areas are designed that way, it looks like the paint is worn off but it's not :)

[@timitbiscuit3620]

@@LyonsArcade exactly my error as well. I went and looked at another machine, one actually for sale and it looked similar. So I had to recant my dumb comment. :)

[@senilyDeluxe]

Sprague caps usually seem to outlast whatever you replace them with. There are exceptions to the rule and these usually apply to... the orange ones. Like the one you had. Gottlieb used orange Spragues in their early 80s pinball machines and they're almost guaranteed to be bad, leaky or vented already (or even bubbly, foaming and cooking themselves).

[@roryvonbrutt7302]

As a former union projectionist IATSE, There was a saying at the hall which we've all heard before but some guys just didn't get it❗️they'd have to take something apart to see why it works, always a big no-no..... "if it works, don't fix it"‼️®™️

[@andymouse]

Charge more if he wants you to leave it alone, letting it go held together with blocks of wood and phone wire aint gonna be easy, lol !...cheers.

[@lileveretteyoakumiii]

Yodelayheehoo

[@LyonsArcade]

Yodelay Hee Hoo Lil Everette

[@arcadesurvival8469]

Why wouldn't he want that fixed?? this has to be a joke lol

[@PlumGurly]

That part he applied his hack to, well, it worked and he was proud of that. But he likely had enough knowledge to know he lacked the patience or skills to fix everything that was wrong with the machine, so then he took it to an expert.

[@markjackson1444]

Why would someone leave a machine with you to repair, …. and then tell you NOT to fix it?? I don’t get that at all. ….

[@LyonsArcade]

He was an engineer he was very happy with his engineering :) Thanks for watching Mark!

[@fred_derf]

@@LyonsArcade I hope his engineering is better than his wood working skills :-)

[@myob214]

You can't be trusted with a back glass?

[@LyonsArcade]

I think it was more, he thought HED break it, moving it. Not that I'd break it. He'd rather just leave it at home so it doesn't get broken by either one of us, I didn't mind or feel offended about it...