My pinball machine has developed a fault, I have proved the fault to be a burnt out coil and a few tansistors, but I have a slight problem.

I have suspected the PSU board has been causing problems for a while, and now I have to order in some parts from the US anyway I figured I'd order a band new replacement PSU board too, along with a few other improvements (to try and solve a ground loop!)

Here is the problem, a previous owner has also had problems with the PSU board, and when on of the PCB connectors burnt out, they just cut the connector off and soldered straight to the board! This is not something I want on my shiny new $90 PSU board.

I use this guys guides for most of my Pinball related problems, but now I have to buy the tools to do the crimping of the pins I have got a little stuck. Does anyone know which of the tools I need?

There seem to be several different tools listed, and all of them do different things! I would rather buy them here in the UK, Farnell is best for me as I live almost next door. I have searched all over for a ruff guide to what you need, but they all assume some knoledge of what is needed

I know it may seem silly to buy an expensive crimper (I'm thinking £40), but the parts for the pinball are hard to come buy and I want the job done right. Burnt out Molex connectors is common in pinball machines, and I have been lucky so far I have not had this problem.

Any help would be great.

Cheers

Cris.

I can't help you, but let me just say that reference site is impressive, indeed. The thoroughness reminds of Tony's FAQ!

Did you see this ?

Whenever I've had to do crimping in the past I've just used a pair of snipe-nosed (radio) pliers to do the crimping, you can do a perfectly good job of it, it just takes a little longer. If you were going to be doing hundreds of them then I'd say buy a proper ratchet crimper.

Yes I saw that

But I don't know the difference between the models, so I don't know what to buy

I want to use the correct tools, as the connectors are working near their limit and I don't want to risk another burn out of the connector.

I guess I will just have to bite the bullet and order one from Farnell and see what turns up.

Cheers

Cris.

If they're burning out then they're probably not the right connectors for the job.

RS do a proper Molex crimper but at £160 it's a tad pricey, although I'd be surprised if anything priced £40 is likely to be better than a pair of pliers.

Pinballs are designed to last 3 years, mine is 12 this year. The IDC connectors used are for ease of production so the length of time they last wasn't important.

It also gives the service industry for them something to do

Another reason for using the proper tool is the machine can be very difficult to work in sometimes, the last thing I need is to be messing around with pliers on tiny components.

Is Mouser any good? Never used them before and they seem to have a much wider selection of Molex stuff, maybe worth importing the stuff after all?

Cheers

Cris.

I bought a Molex crimp tool from Digi-key, which works fairly well. It wasn't too pricey either, only about €30. Part number is WM9999-ND. It's like one of these cheap crimp tools, whthout ratchet function...

Stig

Is Mouser any good?

My experiences with Mouser have been 100% positive -- instant shipping, items exactly as described, excellent follow through after the order (notifying of shipping date and method, etc.)

YMMV

tanstaafl.

According to the digikey website the model number is 63811-1000, looking at the molex website it looks just like the one I paid approx £5 for from Maplin, that's not to say they're the same, the Digikey one could be better made, the one I've got has a tendancy to flex under strain.

Never dealt with Mouser, if RS, Farnell/CPC or Maplin don't have it then more often or not, it doesn't exist.

I can't find any cheap ones at maplins etc... They are all just for the insulated crimps (you know red, yellow and blue types), also the UK stores don't seem to stock the right pins and housings anyway, so it looks like an order may have to be placed with Mouser anyway.

This is all very confusing, and expensive too!

Cheers

Cris.

Even RS? I would've thought you could get the stuff quicker and possibly cheaper from them. You could even save on the postage by letting me pick it up from the Stockport Trade Counter, it's only over the road from work now!

EDIT: Take a piccy of the housing and the pin and I'll see if I can find a suitable product.

I placed an order with Marco Specialties as they were the only people that had every part I wanted, even the correct pins and housings, they are a little cheaper than UK prices anyway, and I had to get some parts from them as no one else stocks some of the stuff needed.

All I need is a pair of crimping pliers to match

I will do a before and after when it's done, not much of a connector to take a picture of at the moment

Cheers

Cris.

Forgive me for butting in on something I know nothing about, which is why I hadn't looked at this thread before, but, in an idle moment....between chapters in "The History of the Col. Stephens Railways".......
don't the .1 & .156", as stated for Molex on your link site relate almost exactly to blue and yellow automobile connector crimps. Don't tell me otherwise, because I took my 6" school ruler to B & Q yesterday, and measured their crimper at £5.99.
Surely if you're not commercially repairing pinball machines, but hope to make each connection only once, it would be worth trying that and saving the expense, you can then as Andy suggests use thin nose pliers for the restraint, which is all i've ever used.

The crimper is for the terminal pin itself, the cheap one from B&Q etc.. crimp down on insulated crimps only.

I am reluctant to use pliers as I won't be able to get the pin out again if needed. I can't really understand why they are so much more expesive!

Cheers

Cris.

Depending upon the type of Molex you use, you can remove pins easily using a needle or a straightend paper clip. I should know, I've cocked up enough of them in the past.

Much more difficult to remove if they have been mashed up with a pair of pliers before they were put in

Most of the other non-PCB connectors are round male and female types, so a special tool is needed, but that isn't that expensive really, it's just the bloody crimpers themselves that you need to take out a personal loan for

Cheers

Cris.

did you have a crack at ebay? Once you're past pastry, hair & RJ45, their seem to be loads of more specialist crimpers if you persevere.

The ratcheting crimpers more expensive because they bend the metal clamping tangs in a heart shape around the wire strands, curling the skinny edges back into the wire. This gives a much better clamp on the wire than simply folding the broad flats down on the wire strands, which is what you get using needle nose pliers or the simpler crimp tools. The tool also similarly crimps the insulation/strain adjust tangs in a similar fashion at the same time. They also have a ratcheting mechanism and small spring clamp for holding the pin/socket housing while you fit the wire to it.

I'd equate the difference to using a can of spray paint versus a pro air gun to paint a car. Both get color on the car, but one does it much more smoothly and consistently.

-Zeke

There has been 2 small (ahem!) additions to the games area of the house....



They are keeping my busy until the parts arrive for the pinball, I suppose you are right boxer

Cris.

...and before anyone says it, it WAS a lot of fun getting them into the Smart....



I love that car

Cheers

Cris.

Damn, my first thought was "how did you fit in there to drive", until I remebered you've got your steering wheel on the wrong side.

Matthew

Ah yes, i heard all about them from a slightly bewildered Nicola. Something about dealings in a shipping container in Hartlepool with a strange man.

Yea, the guy had 200 shipped in direct from Japan. Pretty cool, I got them much cheaper than they are going on eBay in the UK. US prices are wwwwwwaaaay cheaper

Here are a few links for my 2 machines...

Popeye Pachislo and a video clip

Beast Sapp Pachislo Video Clip

I wish I had room for more

Cheers

Cris.

So is the plan to give BT the two fingers, move to Scarborough and open an Arcade? You really need a Ridge Racer cabinet, i fscking love that game.

That sounds pretty good

Although I have my instructions, my next purchase has to be an Air Hockey Table, it's a bit big, but an Air Squash table would almost fit

I would like a Pachinko machine, but when I got there I didn't like them. Well not for the money anyway. I had gone for a matching set of Popeye machines (one Pachislo, and one Pachinko). I am happy with my new toys, I don't even have a games console and I can't ever see the need for one now!

Cheers

Cris.

I wonder if you can get an all weather air hockey table that you could keep in back garden? That would be cool.