Hi guys. This applies to both the above posts.
There's not much traffic at all here anymore. There are a couple guys who would be an excellent source for advice but I don't know if they even check this page these days.
Your best bet for some answers is to post your questions on the Rec Games Pinball newsgroup (RGP), which you can access via Google if you don't already use a news reader.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.pinballBe sure to check Marvin's repair site if you haven't already. It's awesome.
http://www.pinrepair.com/gp/index.htmMy opinion on your board:
First and foremost, read, understand and follow the Marvin's guide first. This will take a good chunk of time, but depending on your temperament it can be a lot of fun.
Since you're new to it, there's no harm in giving it a shot. I would recommend that you use a good soldering iron. Don't even try it with a Radio Shack junker. A good Hakko or Weller (or the like) with temperature control (not just a wattage rating) makes a huge difference when doing board work. Repairing a board is difficult enough even with good equipment. Don't make it worse by using a cheap iron. I speak from experience - my first game was a Game Plan and I tried rebuilding it with a cheapie iron. I did OK for what I had to work with. My attempt was a failure, which may or may not have been any different if I had a good iron. All I know is that once I got my good soldering equipment, the ease and quality instantly shot up many times over.
The reason there is "no harm" in trying it yourself is that Echo Lake pinball makes a new replacement which you can buy if your luck runs south.
http://www.gameplanpinball.com/forum/index.php/topic,40.0.htmlRepairing a board isn't easy, but if you're careful and are good with working on small things, it can certainly be done. If you don't have soldering experience at all, I wouldn't recommend that you start new by trying a board repair. There are tricks and it takes a certain touch and you can almost guarantee dong more harm than good if you haven't done any board soldering before.
What I would say is the bare-bones essential tool kit for board repair:
Good temperature-controlled soldering iron.
rosin paste flux for electronics (not acid flux)
a visor magnifier (
awesomely easier to do this stuff with a magnifying visor)
Either desoldering wick (inexpensive but very time-consuming) or a solder sucker (also cheap and somewhat time-consuming, but another option that works) or a desoldering gun (
much more expensive but much easier, faster and does higher quality work)
A nice, bright work light
Marvin's repair guide.
A bit of luck.
There ya go. Good luck.
Author
