You know you have a friend when he’ll let you help junk up his garage. Jeff’s garage is slap full but he will make room for one more when needed. I came across an SMC1 priced right that I couldn’t pass up and with my garage full Jeff is nice enough to let me store it there. If I ever get done with the SMC2 it’s next up.

I took both SMC2 MCU’s and a PCC over to Jeff’s Saturday morning to test them in the SMC1 and see how they acted. That was quickly nixed when I saw all the wires ripped out of one of the MCU connectors. I switched gears and took that harness out, the mechanism, the CPA, and the PCC. I will have the capacity now to swap out parts now with the SMC2 to narrow the problem I’m having with it down. The mech is filthy, someone over-oiled it religiously. I’ll have to repair the harness of course.

After extending the wires on a C speaker and wiring in a new plug I sat down with the SMC harness. This harness goes from the PCC to an amplifier plug-in near the coin mechanism from the mechanism, then on to the amp, the CPA, and the MCU. I’ve repaired many MCU connectors over the years. Battery acid damage usually was the reason. These SMCs would get stored with the memory batteries still in place. They would corrode and the acid travels. Just like on the old Bally pinball machines with the CPU board. There are a couple methods I use to inspect these pins. The first is for signs of corrosion. With battery acid damage it’s pretty easy-there’s green stuff. I will put a light behind the connector while holding it and look for flattened connectors from the front while peering through the connector as well. If you see one it is obvious. They have either lost their tension or broken off. I used to use the brown Bally .100 headers for the MCU but haven’t had those around for some time. Now I order the correct .100 headers from ebay and trim as needed. It took me a little over an hour to replace all three plugs and connectors. After crimping the connector I like to add a drop of solder for a bullet-proof connection.

Some days it’s one step forward, one step back. I had to take the cashbox enclosure off for the third time. The first time was when the SMC2 cabinet was torn down for cleaning. I re-installed it. The second time was for when I found out it is impossible to put the back screw in for the coin cup with the enclosure in place. I pulled the mech, the cashbox door frame, took the enclosure out, put the one damned screw in, then put the enclosure and all back on. Since I’m at a loss on the MCU problems I’m taking time to do small stuff to the SMC2. One of those was to put the coin gear back in. There is a frame that the coin mechanism holder slides in and out of. It fit so tightly it was a fight to try and slide it out. So I removed the holder-weeks ago. Today I found out it is impossible to install the holder with the enclosure in place. By now I knew what to do and what curse words to use and when to use them. The enclosure came off quickly. So after a few judicious hits with a hammer and punch to weaken the clamping on the holder ( jukeboxes are not rocket science ) I installed it and put the blessed enclosure back on. The coin mechanism holder now gently slides in and out as it should. Another small step for a man….

This batch of gray boxes got their final test, new security stickers, and added to stock. I spent the evening putting up tools and parts and re-organizing a couple of the parts drawers; something I’ve put off for too long. I used to repair a lot of arcade games and pinball machines. Now that I do just Seeburg jukebox work a lot of the electronics components I have are not needed and I’m slowly winnowing them out. It always feels good to get better organized.