American Pinball Backbox removal

American Pinball·video·6m 10s·analyzed·May 14, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.010

TL;DR

American Pinball tech walkthrough: how to remove backbox for narrow doorway installation.

Summary

Dave Brennan, Tech Service Manager for American Pinball, provides a detailed instructional video on how to remove the backbox from an American Pinball machine. The process is designed for owners who need to fit their machines through narrow doorways by separating the backbox from the cabinet body. The video covers step-by-step procedures including removing the playfield glass, disconnecting internal wiring, and safely lifting the backbox away from the cabinet.

Key Claims

American Pinball backboxes are 28 and three-quarter inches wide, the same as Harry Williams Bally games from the 1990s
high confidence · Dave Brennan, American Pinball Tech Service Manager, stated this as a technical specification
Some customers need to remove the backbox because their doorways are too narrow even after removing door hinges and the door itself
high confidence · Dave Brennan explaining the reason for the backbox removal procedure
American Pinball games use roto latches to secure the backbox to the cabinet
high confidence · Dave Brennan describing the unlocking procedure near the end of the video

Notable Quotes

“Our back boxes are 28 and three-quarter inches or 73 millimeters wide which is the same as a Harry Williams Bally game of the 90s.”
Dave Brennan@ 0:30 — Technical specification showing American Pinball's backbox dimensions match classic pinball cabinet standards
“Take lots of pictures so you know how that goes back together.”
Dave Brennan@ 3:30 — Best practice recommendation for complex reassembly procedures
“If you do end up cutting any zip ties, remember that you'll need to put those back because that is your strain relief. So when you move the back box up and down, you're not tugging on these connections.”
Dave Brennan@ 4:16 — Safety and technical best practice to prevent damage during backbox removal/reinstallation

Entities

Dave BrennanpersonAmerican Pinballcompany Harry Williamsperson Ballycompany

Signals

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community_signal: American Pinball providing detailed technical educational content (Tee'd Off Tech Tips series) demonstrating commitment to operator and owner education and support
high · Dave Brennan produces instructional videos on machine maintenance and setup; contact information provided for follow-up questions

Topics

Machine Maintenance & ServiceprimaryInstallation & SetupprimaryTechnical DocumentationprimaryCommunity Support & Educationsecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0)— This is a technical instructional video delivered in a professional, helpful manner. No controversial or emotionally charged statements. Tone is informative and customer-service focused.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.018

Hello and welcome to American Pinball Tech Tips. I'm Dave Jeff Brenner, the Tech Service Manager for American Pinball. Today we're going to be looking at how to remove the backbox from your pinball game. Why would you need to do this? Well, some people have really narrow doorways that they want get their machine through and they've exhausted all of the methods of removing the door hinges and taking the door off and it's still not wide enough. Our back boxes are 28 and three-quarter inches or 73 millimeters wide which is the same as a Williams Bally game of the 90s. So if you've exhausted all of those methods to try and get the game into the location that you need it. I'm going to show you how to remove the backbox so you can just take the body and the backbox in separately. So let's take a look. First thing you want to do is open up your coin door. Inside you'll see the backbox keys hanging from a hook. Take those out and while you're in here unlatch the lock bar by pulling the lever to the left and remove and remove the lock bar. From here you can slide your glass out. Once your playfield glass is removed you need a quarter inch hex wrench to loosen the bolt inside on the left and right at the back of your playfield Once this is loosened, it will free the head from the cabinet. So it's the carriage bolt and then the receiver on the inside. So do this on the right and left side of your game. The next step is unlatching the lock in your backbox. And then to remove your back glass, put your palm on the glass, push in and pull up, get your fingers underneath the lift channel and pivot the glass out. From here, set your glass off to the side so it doesn't get scratched. Now with your back glass removed, the next step is to remove the monitor. First thing you'll need to do is pull down on the connections, your power and your HDMI cord to release it from the monitor. And then there's a bracket on the left and right side of the monitor. You'll need to loosen these screws and then once it's loosened you can lift up on the monitor and set it off to the side. Behind the monitor you'll see a metal box. Make sure the game is off for this procedure. Unscrew the metal box plate and remove the cover Now that you gained access to the circuit boards in the back of the backbox take pictures of all the connections so you know exactly where they go These should have markings on them already, but if they don't, take a sharpie and write on the connector where it goes or take a piece of tape wrap it around the wire and you can write the name of the connection there. Take lots of pictures so you know how that goes back together. Now that your wires are free you'll need to get at the wiring harness. So in this case there's an LED board that's in the way. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to unplug this and I'm going to unscrew it from the backbox to give myself some more room here. Inside you'll notice some strain relief and some nylon ties. What you're going to need to do is pivot this around the tie to release it. If you do end up cutting any zip ties, remember that you'll need to put those back because that is your strain relief. So when you move the backbox up and down, you're not tugging on these connections. Now that the wires are free you can carefully feed this down into the cabinet Be careful not to pull on any of the plugs and drop it down all the way. Next you'll need to go to the back of the game and use the hex key that came with your game unlock the roto latch. Now that it's unlocked remove the key and your backbox is now free. Now with your backbox free from the cabinet this might help to have some assistance with this but you can get at the back of the machine and and now tilt the head or the backbox towards you and lift up on the head to remove it from the game. And that's how you remove a backbox from an American Pinball game. One thing of note, when you go to put the backbox back on, pivot it from the back and have somebody help you line up the hinges so you don't scratch your side rails. If you have any questions as you go along, there's the email and phone number at the bottom of the screen where you can always reach me. Hopefully you found this informative and we'll catch you next time.