Mr Pinbologist Pinball Restorations

Mr Pinbologist Pinball Restorations Pinball machine repairs and restoration to most brands of machine. I do repairs and restoration to most brands of pinball machines. No job too big or small!

Set up in late 2011 from a hobby, with the intention of saving pinball games from ending up in landfill, and to bring them back from the dead. If you have an old pinball gathering dust and not working in your garage or shed etc, i can most likely save it!

Another game in for some work; 1979 Stern Meteor. I did this game five years ago, and it was put into storage four years...
10/02/2026

Another game in for some work; 1979 Stern Meteor. I did this game five years ago, and it was put into storage four years ago while the customers were getting ready to move house. I was called a few days ago and asked if i could transport it to Newcastle.. I suggested it should be checked over after having been stored for four years... so here it is again at PBC for a quick going over before it goes to Newcastle!

Lamp socket day at Pinbologist Central! Spiderman and Nugent playfields getting their lamp sockets repaired. New wood ra...
09/02/2026

Lamp socket day at Pinbologist Central! Spiderman and Nugent playfields getting their lamp sockets repaired.
New wood rails were made for Spiderman playfield a few days ago to replace the crappy looking originals, used Tassie Oak to make the new rails, cut to size, drilled and routed to fit the top arch guide and clearcoated.
Nugent's bumper mechs have been rebuilt, ready to be fitted back the playfield once the cleaning is complete.

Service call this afternoon in Port Macquarie; 1992 Williams Getaway. Main issue was the ball shooter lane feed mech not...
09/02/2026

Service call this afternoon in Port Macquarie; 1992 Williams Getaway. Main issue was the ball shooter lane feed mech not loading balls into the shooter lane (realignment of the eject arm fixed this). Another problem noticed when the game was powered up was the ball launch solenoid continuously firing, the shooter lane switch was stuck closed causing this, removing the switch and readjusting the switch actuator solved that problem, which had the game playing again!

To finish up I did a quick inspection of all mechs, boards and connectors etc to be sure everything was good, fixed a few non working lamps (LEDs), replaced the balls as they were starting to rust, and a new memory battery to finish up what was a pretty easy service call overall!

Star Trek Next Gen; having been fully reassembled and tested, minor tweaks done. Ready to leave the building!
23/01/2026

Star Trek Next Gen; having been fully reassembled and tested, minor tweaks done. Ready to leave the building!

Star Trek Next Gen; flipper parts arrived, mechs fully rebuilt and ready to be refitted back into the game.. new bats, s...
20/01/2026

Star Trek Next Gen; flipper parts arrived, mechs fully rebuilt and ready to be refitted back into the game.. new bats, sleeves, bushes, EOS switches coil stops and springs.

Only minor details to be done once the flipper mechs go back, in so should be ready for testing prior to sending home soon!

Overdue Spiderman Update; Still working through issues with the playfield, Flipper mechs installed, new posts and lane g...
20/01/2026

Overdue Spiderman Update; Still working through issues with the playfield, Flipper mechs installed, new posts and lane guides fitted previously. Over the last few days, drop target banks rebuilt; These, like everything else on this game were in terrible shape, and had probably THE worst wear on some of the parts I've ever seen!

Still have a few things to do to finish with the playfield; lamp sockets, full LED treatement (as requested by the customer), also have to sort out some butchered wiring, and come up with a plan for the wood rails which look like garbage!

Service call done this afternoon; 1979 Bally Kiss in King Creek (5 minutes away from the workshop!) Main faults I was ca...
15/01/2026

Service call done this afternoon; 1979 Bally Kiss in King Creek (5 minutes away from the workshop!) Main faults I was called in for was for some display issues (bad solder joints on header pins on 2x displays) and some lamp problems (again connector related for some lamps, the rest, dead lamps that needed replacing).

Another problem found was the loss of memory/high scores, initially tried replacing the batteries (they were at least five years old.. luckily they had been relocated off the MPU), ended up having to replace the 5101 RAM chip to restore proper operation.

Stern Nugent; Backbox repair progress; artwork masked off and shot a few coats of primer/filler. Will probably do a coup...
13/01/2026

Stern Nugent; Backbox repair progress; artwork masked off and shot a few coats of primer/filler. Will probably do a couple more coats tomorrow to ensure the end grain of the timber is sealed properly before the white base coat is applied.

Progress on all current projects has been slow lately, due in part to construction of the new spray room which as been a...
12/01/2026

Progress on all current projects has been slow lately, due in part to construction of the new spray room which as been a work in progress for the last several months (had electricians here last week installing the electrical circuit for the spray room)!

Another game here for some TLC, 1978 Stern Nugent; This game has been here for a while, and only getting around to posting pics now due to the aforementioned delays.

Main things it's here for are some cabinet/backbox repairs (delaminated ply, backbox front backglass surround replacement), some electronic/board repairs and some playfield work (mechanical refurbish and a strip and clean/rerubber.

The game has already had some board work done by a previous owner (new Alltek MPU, solenoid driver and power supply board work). So far some lamp driver and display issues have been sorted, delaminated plywood repaired and the backbox repairs done.. backbox glass surround replaced.. almost ready for primer/paint.

Star Trek Next Gen update; playfield has been cleaned/polished, stainless guides regrained, LEDs added to the G I lighti...
07/01/2026

Star Trek Next Gen update; playfield has been cleaned/polished, stainless guides regrained, LEDs added to the G I lighting.. and sorting out problems as I find them; had a couple of switch and opto problems that had to be addressed (short on one of the standup targets and a bad IC and capacitor on the opto driver board).
Overall it's coming along nicely.. still have flipper mechs and a couple of other mechs to do under the playfield but shouldn't be too much longer before it's done if all continues to go well!

Better late than never; Service call done a week ago after delivering Pinbot in Lansdowne, called in on this Williams Ri...
07/01/2026

Better late than never; Service call done a week ago after delivering Pinbot in Lansdowne, called in on this Williams River Boat Gambler in Tuncurry. Had this one here about a year ago for a full refurbish... only issue was a couple of insert lights (LEDs) out on the playfield that the customer was unable to fix.. ended up being bad lamp matrix diodes on one of the lamp boards.
Pretty good that that was the only problem he's had since i delivered his game back over a year ago!! The owner looks after the game well.. keeping the playfield clean and even replacing the memory batteries (which not many people bother to do!)

30/12/2025

Pinbot ready to go home; repairs done, plus it was given an upgrade to LEDs!

Address

Wauchope, NSW

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