White Water in the (my) house

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
985
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So yeah, it seems I've crossed the final frontier.

Not only did FarSight's games manage to finally, after literally decades in the darkness, manage to properly introduce to me to pinball, it has gotten me totally hooked!
So what does one do, when one sees an awesome sales ad for a White Water at a bargain price. One of the top most rated pinball tables ever, with a big focus on one of the things I love the most about pinball: Ramps.

I asked for some pictures, and sure enough, it wasn't in the best state, and had some errors. But also judging from the pictures, everything on the playfield was in a good state, and it was mainly the cabinet that had some wear and fade.
I've always been adviced against buying a faulty table as the first pinball purchase, but this was too good to pass up, and the problems it had seemed to be fixable, from the little experience I had.


Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly got a call from a delivery guy, shortly after arriving at work. I did not even know that the table had been shipped, so I suddenly had to take a few hours off, and gather (read: wake up) a couple of friends on a very short notice, to push a huge pinball table up the stairs, all the way to my apartment on the 4th floor (5th floor, using American terms) without a dolly.
And sure enough, the table was hardly working, but a friend and I have been working on it for a while now, and that quickly spawned another interest - pinball repairs.
At first I just wanted to fix the few things that didn't work, and give it a quick and dirty cleaning, but right now I've found myself disassembling every part to clean all the plastic parts thoroughly, and making sure everything looks new and shiny. It's really amazing how different the table already looks from the day it arrived.
It's just fascinating going from receiving the thing, and seeing tons of wires and various things stacked and screwed on top of eachother, and an innumerable amount of PCB spread throughout various locations in the cabinet, to actually understanding how everything works and why things are made as they are.
Through learning the design of the table, and heavy use of google, I've been able to map every single part that's missing or needs to be replaced, and currently have two orders of spare parts on their way. Just this Saturday I got a new IC chip (one of the ones that handle the switch matrix) to replace the old broken one, which fixed the last few errors that I was experiencing with the game, which would mean the game is now playable (though still with missing slingshot kickers), providing the ramps weren't lying all over the floor next to the machine right now.

I don't think I'll ever grow tired of messing with the game, fixing up little things here and there, and I can't wait to truly get started on playing and learning the game. Now I understand why people with cars love spending time with them so much, even when they aren't driving. :)


Without further ado, here are some pictures, I know that's what people would want to see:

playfieldlights.jpg

What the table looked like when it arrived, picture showing which lights aren't working (simple matter of missing or burned out bulbs or actually missing sockets)

ramps3.jpg

What the ramps looked like at that time. There was an almost incredible layer of dust covering them entirely. Right now they are almost entirely clear!

sideart.jpg

Faded sideart. Also old pieces of packaging tape are stuck here and there. If anyone knows of a safe method for removing that without damaging the paint and artwork behind it, please let me know!
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
985
0
bigfoot.jpg

Bigfoot before cleaning his face

bigfoot2.jpg

Bigfoot after cleaning his face

rubberbands1.jpg

A lot of the rubbers on the table look like this. Got a kit on its way, for replacements.

powerdriver.jpg

The power driver board looks entirely fried (which makes sense, because a 10A fuse was sitting on this column where a 3 or 5A was required). However, every solenoid and flasher that's connected to this column seems to work perfectly, with exception of the left slingshot. Even so, the components that are fried are all cheap and easily replacable parts.
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
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0
sofar.jpg

The latest picture I have of the entire playfield. Ramps have been partly cleaned at this point (but have since been taken off entirely, and cleaned thoroughly)

playfield.jpg

A ball on the playfield. :)
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
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Hah, it's coming. :) I've been recording videos of us working with the table once in a while. Both as a document, but also personal reference, in case I forget how to re-assemble certain parts.
 

Kolchak357

Senior Pigeon
May 31, 2012
8,102
2
One of the best tables ever made. This and Cylone have the best ramps out there IMO. Congrats on getting a great pin. Looking so much better already. Hope we see this on TPA in the near future. Thanks for sharing with us.
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
985
0
The picture from shutyertrap's visit to FS clearly shows a White Water in the background, so I'm actually really looking forward to seeing a faithful recreation of this table. :)

Well done. I wouldn't mind a WW as my next pin.
Which do you have?
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
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Oh yeah, I saw that! Should have guessed anyway, from your avatar. :p
That's a great table, too. I love the supercharger ramp, and the general look of the table!
 

karl

New member
May 10, 2012
1,809
0
Very good choice. You have chosen wisely. This table is a lot of fun. I've had it for 2 months. (my first one also) A tip. If your lock targets don't have the mantis protections get them as quick as you can. My lock targets loosened after a couple of weeks and caused fuses to go also.
Here is a link: http://www.mantisamusements.com/wwprot.htm. Another tip is to always have some of the most common fuses, rubbers, lights etc in spare. Did you get one with a working waterfall on the topper? Sadly mine was a reproduction without the falling water effect and it seems to be almost impossible to fix this. So if you have an original topper take good care of it. They are rare
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
985
0
If your lock targets don't have the mantis protections get them as quick as you can. My lock targets loosened after a couple of weeks and caused fuses to go also.
The ramps are already beaten up at that location. How does not having them cause your fuses to blow? What happened? I think they are a tad expensive for what they are, but if they can save me from expensive repair jobs...

Did you get one with a working waterfall on the topper? Sadly mine was a reproduction without the falling water effect and it seems to be almost impossible to fix this. So if you have an original topper take good care of it. They are rare
It has an original topper, but the plastic is totally beat up, and the image is completely faded leaving only some blue and yellowish colors. I'd say it's pretty much worthless.

Congrats! So how much $$$
Around $1000 :)
 

karl

New member
May 10, 2012
1,809
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The fuse got blown when the connections for the lock targets under the playfield loosened. The protectors makes for a much tighter fit for the targets and that makes them not move around so much. My right side "No way out" end of ramp was pretty beaten up and this prevents any further damage (+ hides what is already there) and it protects the holes for the target also. A must if you ask me.(but buy a couple of spare green lock targets just to be extra safe) I have also bought this http://www.passionforpinball.com/wh20.htm but not installed it yet. I have a nice little bump on the playfield from the vertical up-kicker ball drop and that means shake the machine every time the ball gets stuck up there so better to fix this sooner than later even if your playfield is not damaged up there yet.
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
985
0
I have a nice little bump on the playfield from the vertical up-kicker ball drop and that means shake the machine every time the ball gets stuck up there so better to fix this sooner than later even if your playfield is not damaged up there yet.

I'm having the same thing, though it doesn't get stuck that often.
I'm planning on removing the mylar there (only the mylar is damaged, which is what the ball gets stuck in), and applying a fine layer of lamination instead.
 

karl

New member
May 10, 2012
1,809
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1000$ ?? I paid 3 times that and mine was far from perfect. Lots of scratches on the cabinet etc. It was working 100% but still :( I think you did a hell of a deal there. God job!
 

shutyertrap

Moderator
Staff member
Mar 14, 2012
7,334
0
Love living vicariously through you guys.

Should the time come I actually have some spare cash lying around, I know I'm gonna get myself into some trouble with one of these tables!
 

Sumez

New member
Nov 19, 2012
985
0
Got not one, but two packages with spare parts yesterday. Bunch of new lights, replacement switches, new flipper buttons (I just can't get the top flipper to stop sticking, so hopefully that will do the job), parts for my broken slingshot, and a complete rubber replacement kit.

I guess I should have ordered some more screw-in sockets for #555 lights, cause apparently all the places I was missing a bulb, the socket was busted as well. I should have checked that before ordering. Also, I got some new flipper bats (my game came with yellow lightning flippers), but apparently they come without a shaft, so I have absolutely no way to attach them to the flipper solenoids. Waste of money, and means I'll have to place a new order somewhere. :(


Any way, with the new switches and rubbers, I could finally reassemble enough of my table to play my first complete game of White Water with all the rules working, and while it wasn't the best run, I at least managed to get multiball and reach Wet Willy's, score the replay and get a high score for yet another replay. Still better than I do on most other real pinball tables the first time I play them. :)
 

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