Pinball Test Fixtures
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1 Introduction
Pinball test fixtures were designed to aid in the testing and repair of circuit boards in pinball machines. These fixtures were originally used by distributors who performed repairs and operators who serviced their own equipment. These fixtures are now commonly utilized by individuals experienced with board repair and who perform repairs frequently for games.
Most test fixtures primarily emulate a pinball machine's lamps, solenoids, displays, switches, and sounds. There are also various test sequences available, plus the ability to perform repetitious tests in order to "burn-in" a board.
The downside to these fixtures is that they are big, bulky, and tend to be rather expensive. In some cases, there is little or no documentation for the fixtures. Sometimes, fixtures were modified to accommodate boards, displays, or features that they were not originally intended to support. There is also little or no documentation on these modifications.
Since these test fixtures are designed to emulate the guts of a pinball machine, some collectors/technicians have built their own test fixtures using the guts of actual pinball machines.
Additionally, there are various diagnostic tools available to help aid with testing components, circuit boards, and performing diagnostics while in-game or on the bench.
2 Test Fixtures
- Photos of various test fixtures (elkhartpinball.com)
- Photos of various test fixtures (andysarcade.net)
2.1 Bally/Stern (Classic)
Bally took a different approach than most other manufacturers and built four discrete test fixtures for testing individual boards, which are commonly known as "Bally brown box testers".
2.1.1 Bally MPU Test Fixture
This test fixture can test Bally MPUs, however, the helpfulness of this test fixture in troubleshooting many problems is limited.
- Bally Brown Test Fixture Schematics (Complete Set)
- Bally FO-595 MPU Tester (instructions)
- Bally FO-604 MPU Tester Revision (Test fixture ROM update for -35 MPU boards)
2.1.2 Bally Lamp Board Test Fixture
This test fixture can test both classic Bally and Stern lamp driver boards.
2.1.3 Bally Solenoid Driver Board Test Fixture
This test fixture can test both classic Bally and Stern solenoid driver boards. It can also test early Bally sound boards, but that may require modifications.
- Bally Brown Test Fixture Schematics (Complete Set)
- Bally FO-607 driver board tester modification for sound card AS-2518-32
- Bally FO-613 driver board tester procedure for AS-2518-32 sound card (instructions)
- Bally FO-639 Test Procedure for sound modules AS-2518-32, AS-2518-50, and AS-2518-51
- Bally FO-640 Modifications for solenoid driver test fixture to add capability of testing AS-2518-32, AS-2518-50, AS-2518-51 sound modules
2.1.4 Bally Display Test Fixture
This test fixture can test 6-digit Bally and Stern displays, and can be modified to also test 7-digit displays.
- Bally Brown Test Fixture Schematics (Complete Set)
- Bally FO-516 Display Test Unit Test Procedures (Display Tester Instructions)
2.1.4.1 7-Digit Modification
Modifying the display test fixture to accommodate 7-digit displays involves adding some jumper wire, making some trace cuts, and couple components.
Parts needed:
- 30 awg wire
- 18 awg wire
- 20kohm 1/4 resistor
- SPDT switch
- Heat shrink wire wrap.
First, a couple of modifications will need to be made to the wiring between the .156" board connector and the .156" display connector.
Removed the red wire with the white bands and insert it into the open spot in the connector. Then, add a new wire in the spot from which the red wire was removed.
On the .156" display connector, add the white wire and a jumper wire between the two pins. Two wires will need to be crimped into one of the pins.
On the .100" board connector, add two lead wires. These will be connected to the new SPDT switch. A new 1/4" hole can be drilled in the metal plate to add the switch.
Next, on the board, cut the indicated traces, add the resistor, and add the jumper wires. When adding the resistor, be sure to put heat shrink on both leads to make sure those leads don't accidentally make contact with anything they aren't supposed to.
When using the test fixture, flipping the switch to the wrong setting will not cause any damage--it will simply interfere with the display blanking signal depending upon the header pin arrangement of the type/version of the display being tested and what the unused pins on the 6-digit display are tied to. Other than that, there are no ill effects for this modification.
2.1.5 Bally Sound Board Test Fixture
This test fixture is designed to test some Bally boards (-32, -50, -51, Cheap Squeak, and Squawk & Talk sound boards)
2.1.6 Bally 6803 Test Fixture
This is a complete test fixture with switch and lamp matrices and is able to test the 6803 MPU, displays, and sound boards found in Bally 6803 games.
2.1.7 Stern SAM II Test Fixture
This is a complete test fixture with switch and lamp matrices, which can test Stern MPU-100 MPUs, lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, SB-100 sound boards, and 6-digit displays. It can also test comparable Bally lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, and 6-digit displays.
2.1.8 Stern SAM IV Test Fixture
This is a complete test fixture with switch and lamp matrices, which can test Stern MPU-100/MPU-200 MPUs, lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, SB-100/SB-300 sound boards, and 6-digit/7-digit displays. It can also test comparable Bally lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, and 6-digit/7-digit displays. It can also be modified to test some Bally sound boards.
2.2 Gottlieb
2.3 Stern/Data East/Sega
2.4 Williams
2.4.1 System 3-6 Test Fixture
The System 3-6 test fixture can test the MPU, driver board, sound boards, power supply, and displays. It can also be modified to accommodate 7-digit displays, System 7 MPUs and sound boards, and hyperball boards.
2.4.2 System 9 Test fixture
The System 9 Test fixture can test boards found in System 9-11 games. A common modification is to swap out the P1 and P2 digit displays for alphanumeric displays in order to test System 11 boards.
2.4.3 WPC-89 Test Fixture
There are two main variants of the WPC-89 test fixture. The early variant was designed to test WPC-89 boards with alphanumeric displays. The later WPC-89/WPC-S test fixture was designed to test DMD boards. An add-on was available to test fliptronic boards.
This test fixture does not have a complete lamp and switch matrix.
2.4.4 WPC-95 Test Fixture
The WPC-95 Test fixture can test WPC-95 boards. It has a complete switch and lamp matrix, unlike the WPC-89 test fixture.
2.5 Alvin G
2.6 Atari
2.7 Capcom
2.8 GamePlan
2.9 Zaccaria
3 Diagnostic Tools
3.1 Universal/General
- 64 switch matrix tester (Pinitech.com)
Inquisitor chip tester; for RAM, PIAs, and RIOT chips (Neoloch.com)(Archived Link)- Inquisitor chip tester; for RAM, PIAs, and RIOT chips (lockwhenlit.com), (pinballsolutions.eu)
- Ribbon cable tester (pinballlife.com)
Bulb tester (pinballlife.com)(Archived Link)- "Multi-Function IC LED Optocoupler LM399 DIP Chip Tester" 7400-series chip tester; tests most 7400-series chips (various sellers on ebay.com)
- Atlas ESR70; ESR Meter / capacitor tester (ebay.com, alltronics)
3.2 Bally/Stern (Classic)
- Switch matrix tester, cabinet switch tester, bench display, lamp board tester, driver board tester (Pinitech.com)
MPU FixIt diagnostic test module, Bally only, (twobits.com)(Archived Link)- MPU FixIt diagnostic test module, Bally only, (gameboardsusa.com)
3.3 Gottlieb
3.3.1 System 1
Playfield switch tester (Pinitech.com)(Archived Link)- Driver board test PCB (flippp.fr), Blank PCB (flippp.fr)
- Driver board Test PCB (flipprojets.fr)
3.3.2 System 80
- MPU diagnostic test ROM module (Pinitech.com)
- QuickScan80 Test Fixture, MPU diagnostic tester (GreatPlainsElectronics.com)
- Driver board test PCB set (flippp.fr), Blank PCB set (flippp.fr)
- NEODIAG-80 MPU Tester (flipprojets.fr)
3.4 Stern/Data East/Sega
3.5 Williams
3.5.1 System 3-11
- Switch matrix tester, lamp matrix tester, special solenoid input/output testers, bench display (siegecraft.us)
- System 9-11 MPU tester (edcheung.com)
3.5.2 WPC
3.6 Alvin G
3.7 Atari
3.8 Capcom
3.9 GamePlan
3.10 Zaccaria
4 Custom/Homebrew/Bench Test Fixtures
4.1 Bally/Stern (Classic)
4.2 Gottlieb
- System 1/80/3 test fixture solutions & ideas (flipprojets.fr). Located under The Projects > Materials, The Projects > Displays, and The Projects > Various > Built by our Readers
4.3 Stern/Data East/Sega
4.4 Williams
- System 3-7 custom test fixture, with build instructions (smokingcircuit.com), Video
- WPC-89 bench test fixture, with instructions (pinballrebel.com)
- Video of a custom WPC-89 test fixture (youtube.com, posted by ddstoys)