Assessing The Work

So, I've finally got the machine unpacked. Right now, it's sitting on the borrowed dolly as attaching the legs to it will put it too high in my basement to open and close the playfield. I've got the dolly lowered to about 19" off the ground. Tomorrow, I'll have to build two little saw horses to hold the machine at that height so I can return the dolly.

Turning It On

So, I had taken a look at the guts of my machine, and to my untrained eye, I didn't see much wrong with it. I decided to turn 'er on and see what happened. Well, it booted! The sound sprung up, the lights turned on, and it seemed to start. The riverboat even turned a bit. Opening the coin door caused it to "moo" at me. Apparently my machine is alive, and it's a cow. It's not fully working, the flippers seem busted (I think it's a fuse), I don't have any balls to test a lot of it, etc. But, it's not dead.

Displays & Parts

Typically, when you put a pinball machine into diagnostics mode, it uses the displays to guide you through the tests. Maverick is no different, but my machine uses something called a Dot Matrix Display (DMD), and mine is broken. I was supposed to have a working spare display, but it's no luck. As color and black and white displays are about the same price, I've bought a color replacement screen for mine. Hopefully with a working display, I can begin tracking down the parts of the machine that it knows are broken.

In addition to the display, I've started putting together a list of parts that my machine needs. So far, I've gotten a number of totally replaceable parts, and one unreplaceable one: 550-5038-01. This is "G3 Ball Guide Upper Left Return":

Note the big crack in that. I think I can 3D print one, so that'll be a fun little project. (Didn't catch the sarcasm on that?) I think I can make it in translucent plastic. It'll require a fair amount of support material. I'll see.

But otherwise, I've started down the path. She's going to need some work, but I'll get it done.