Satomi Arrangeball Restoration

[tbonneau]

Well as luck would have it a non-working Arrangeball showed up on Facebook marketplace. Has some balls + tokens, lights up, but game doesn't play. Playfield and payout tray are in pretty rough shape but I've fixed a few Pachinko machines how hard could it be?
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[MrGneiss]

Good luck!!

[sparky kilowatt]

Congratulations on your new machine. Keep us updated as you go.

[emmadog]

check the fuse(s) and carefully unplug and plug back in wire headers, look for broken traces, etc. hopefully that cures the prob because there are no spare parts in terms of any proprietary components.

[lotsoballs]

It might just be a bit harder than you might imagine! regular vintage pachinkos are all mechanical (easy to fix) with no troublesome electronics to die on you and render the machine a dud.

If one or more or the components in the boards is bad; it’s pretty difficult to find any old school electronic repair people that want to bother fooling with an arrange ball anymore; we live in a throwaway society. Every local electronic repair shop (a dying profession) shot me down when I brought a similar machine with a likely bad capacitors asking them to troubleshoot and repair (no schematics available either); finally a friend of mine suggested a guy he knows who repairs boards from old arcade cabinets in his spare time for fun; he’s had my board for months now Who can tell if I’ll ever get it back….

Plus side was i didn’t pay much for it; and already have several working arrange balls.

IF this guy ever fixes the board I’ll fully restore this one. I restored an Isuzu arrangeball but luckily the electronics worked on that one; just had a few mechanical issues to fix; the other issues were all cosmetic.

[tbonneau]

Thanks for the comments so far, I have made some progress on my first day.

-Unit turns on, I can start a new game by manually hitting the coin mechanism (unit is pretty dirty/rusty so coins can't make it through)
-I replaced the front glass with a square I had on another Pachinko machine, maybe needs an additional cm at the top but will do for now
-Way less than 16 balls, and they weren't in any good shape either. Replaced with 16 fresh ones.
-Handle feels very stuck and doesn't have the right fling of a vintage machine yet.
-Playfield is coming apart easy and clogging the machine, otherwise I think the computer board appears to be functioning correctly

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[emmadog]

verify that the machine functions properly before tearing it down to do a restoration. over the years i've had a few arrangeballs that power but didn't work on so i'd turn it on, and place balls in the pockets in winning combinations to see if the payout solenoid activates the proper number of times. do that for every payout combo. this model is the same as my first arrangeball and while still rare, it's the most common one, fyi.

[tbonneau]

I tried "playing" a round. Balls get stuck inside the machine and the glass isn't close enough to the nails so some balls get stuck in-between. I lined up a horizontal row (my 11 light is out) and the "2" light at the top came on. I have maybe one or two tokens in the machine and nothing came out but it's a start.

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[lotsoballs]

It won’t payout with not enough tokens in the coin tube dispenser; you need at least 10 or so normally to not trigger out of tokens light 30-40 minimum is needed as some machines payout up to 10 a game.

The presidential series $1 coins might work about the same size as the real arrange ball tokens I’ve used them in my Isuzu arrange ball.

[tbonneau]

A few good days of work here. I started by working on the firing handle, which was so sticky the spring couldn't reset it. WD-40 and about 20 minutes of working it it now has the proper fling of an old vintage. I had noticed it took more than 1 ball in a pocket for the number to show up, this ended up being the solenoid and metal bar not being completely reset due to how rusted the mechanism had become. No problem WD-40 couldn't handle though, and eventually got that working.

I cleaned out the coin mechanism (filled with dirt and dead leaves) and readjusted to accept pachislo tokens since I have a good amount. Payouts including the 7s tulip is all working which is wonderful. Last issue I found (other than bulbs being out) was my 2 light was always on due to the plastic back piece being broken off. I built me a suitable replacement out of duct tape and a cut up business card and that too is now fixed. I played some rounds and I have to say the game is quite enjoyable and well worth my time so far. I am getting some new bulbs in, which should confirm that all the electronics are good and then I will be stripping down for a repaint!

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[emmadog]

wd40 will ultimately gum up the works. it's a great cleaner but is not the best lube. i use dry lube on arrangeballs and all my EM pinball machines.

[tbonneau]

Well lots has been going on, I have managed to disassemble the machine and start working on the individual pieces. Probably have another month left of work, there was a decent amount of rotting in the wood and I am having my time with the wood glue and clamps. Hope this sneak peek will suffice until my next post.

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[sparky kilowatt]

Like your new playfield tbonneau.

[Wayne-Ooo]

The playfield is awesome.