Apollo Computer Pachinko

[Wayne-Ooo]

Yes, I picked up another Computer Pachinko Machine.

Thanks to member Silverballs, who gave me the "heads up" on this machine, that was posted on Facebook Marketplace. This one is different from the other computer machines, I have, but basically operates, plays and the object of the game is the same.
The others use the original parts and are modified to work. This one uses none of the original parts. It was originally a Three Star machine. Rebranded as a Sammy brand machine from Satomi Co.. The same who made my Arrange Ball machine.

It is one of the best machines I have gotten, as far as being clean and minor rust. The playfield has no water stains and the playfield pieces have no yellowing and need minor paint touch up. The nails are even in good shape and can probably just polish them up in place. (This one may just remain original.)

The only thing that needs fixed is the PACHINKO marquee. It has a piece broken out of it and the hole is covered with black tape.

When I went to look at it the machine powered up but would not work/play correctly. It just looked like to me that just about everything was out of adjustment, plus balls were jammed up in it. Things were trying to work, but just couldn't. For $50, I couldn't pass on it.

Once I got it home and got everything adjusted, it now works perfect.






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[MrGneiss]

That is a cool playfield and center feature!!

I've seen several of this type of Computer Pachinko over the years with the green sign broken, I hope you can fix it!!

[Silverballs]

Gnarly!!

[sparky kilowatt]

Wow, nice score, that machine is in superb condition.

[takethecastle57]

Another save !! Many thanks and biscuits

[phurst]

Very nice! Would you be willing to measure the DC voltage coming out of the power supply? I'm having a little trouble with the same machine, and think that might be part of my problem.

[Wayne-Ooo]

Mine shows:
18V and 11.7V on DC side
123V on AC side

[Wayne-Ooo]

I removed the marquee to see what I could do about fixing the hole that was covered with black tape.

I guess I got lucky, because once removed, I discovered that 2 of the 3 pieces needed to fix the hole were inside the cabinet.

So, I glued the 2 pieces back in and made the 3rd piece. To help disguise the cracks of the glued in pieces, I covered them with some stickers. Still not the greatest, but better than a large hole covered with black tape.







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[MrGneiss]

Much better than the hole!!

[Silverballs]

Shazaam! Lookin good!

[sparky kilowatt]

Barely noticeable at all, I don't think anyone would spot it unless you pointed it out to them, nice job.

[Wayne-Ooo]

So, I removed everything from the playfield, except the rails and the nails. It was easier to clean everything once removed. I was going to pull all the nails, but the playfield is not just paper and laminate. It is a harder surface and I was afraid of chipping it if I removed the nails. It's probably why the playfield has no water stains or fading.

You can now play the machine using tokens. There was no adjustment needed to the mechanism for tokens to work, but the slot in the faceplate wasn't large enough for a token to be inserted. But, all it took was just a little filing to elongate the slot. I also de-pinned the lock, so you don't have to remove the back to gain access to the inside.

I did decide to change the theme of the machine by changing the center feature. It is now a Airport Computer Pachinko. I liked the airplane center feature better than the spaceship. As far as the ball channels on the back of the playfield, they all worked with this airplane center feature and nothing had to be changed or modified. I just had to drill some new mounting holes for the screws and nails to attach it to the playfield.






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[Moparformances]

such a simple change really made a huge difference..

nice looking..

i keep hoping someone gets one and has to recreat the computer board.. i have two that are not working correctly.. would love to get them replacement boards

[Wayne-Ooo]

The cabinet got some customizing with an old metal airplane, that had a broken tail wing and a custom made runway sticker.



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[Silverballs]

I'm moving back to Indiana, primarily your game room Wayne..

[takethecastle57]

Very nice mod and again a Masterpiece

[Wayne-Ooo]

Thought this might help others if they are having a problem of the machine not giving 3 payouts to start a game.

This is the issue I was having. At the start of a game, when you deposit a coin or push the Replay button. I had the issue of the machine only paying 1 or maybe 2 times, instead of 3 payouts to get you started.

What I ended up figuring out was that the inside of the cabinet didn't have enough light for the photo sensor to work correctly. The machine always worked correctly when I played the machine with the door open, (trying to figure out why it wasn't working correctly). I thought the only difference between the door open vs closed was it was dark inside the cabinet.

I mounted a LED light strip inside the cabinet, closed the door, and the machine worked perfectly. Been playing it for 2 days now with no issues. It always gives 3 payouts at the start of a game.

Having the light strip inside the cabinet also illuminates the pay pockets and front tray window/chute. I covered the light strip with some green painters tape to give it a different color, rather than a white light.




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[sparky kilowatt]

Looks good Wayne-Ooo! Excellent troubleshooting skills. I never would have guessed that a photocell needed to be triggered by light in order for payouts to work properly.

[Wayne-Ooo]

Thanks, I had set in my mind that it was probably some sort of issue with the circuit board.

But, I could play with the door open for hours without any issues at all, it worked perfectly.

I know absolutely nothing about electronics, but this was the only thing I could think of that was different.

[Wayne-Ooo]

When the see-saw dumped balls, it really didn't ring the bell. The bell is so close to the see-saw, the balls really didn't hit it, but just rolled over the top of it, not making any sound at all.

So, I decided to put in a 12v bell. Since the solenoid for the see-saw is 12v, I thought I could just wire to it and when the solenoid activated the bell would ring.
Which it did, but also caused the score display to go "haywire". Know nothing about electronics, I guess it needed something to keep it from back feeding through the system.

So, I decided to put the bell on it's own electrical system, completely separate from the machines electrical system. I wired in an outlet for a 12v transformer to plug into and power the bell. Put a leaf switch, that the see-saw turns OFF and ON, as it tilts.

Now, there is a bell for payouts, not just the sound of balls rolling down the chute.

Works with no issues at all.




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