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Fathom restoration battle at Grasley Garage involves sabotaged boards and parts cannibalization from Centaur.
The playfield technician who swapped Fathom and Centaur playfields did substandard work, causing extensive electrical and mechanical problems.
high confidence · Mike Dimes intro and ongoing troubleshooting discussion with Dutch; Mike explicitly says 'he didn't do a very good job' and discusses widespread issues throughout the video.
The solenoid expander board on Fathom had its traces deliberately scratched off, making it unrepairable.
high confidence · Dutch and Mike discuss examining the board: 'he scratched off all of the traces so you can't even repair it' and joke about submitting it to 'Pinball Degenerates Hack of the Year.'
Removing the third ball from Fathom's trough allows it to boot, but adding the ball back causes the solenoid expander to activate and lock up the machine.
high confidence · Dutch demonstrates this repeatedly: 'remove the third ball...we're booted up. Perfect...the ball back...solenoid expander clicks.'
The Centaur was the only machine Mike had successfully played since the swap work began.
high confidence · Mike says: 'I played a game on this...when it first came in and I have no idea how you managed to do that. This thing barely boots up. That was the most and only functional game since you've had this here.'
A physical short circuit in Fathom activates when the playfield is latched down, causing solenoid expander issues.
high confidence · Dutch and Mike discover: 'As soon as it's latched, it starts activating the solenoid expander board. So, we just got to find the short.'
Centaur has a rare tilt warning feature built into its code, one of the first (possibly first) pinball games to include this.
high confidence · Dutch: 'there's actually a warning built into this game...Not only is this maybe the first game with a warning.' The warning triggers before tilt ends the ball.
The Knight Rider restoration is a full cabinet job with new playfield, extensive part replacements, and custom drop target decals.
high confidence · Mike and Kevin discuss: 'that is a full cabinet job and new playfield' and show new parts including rails, pop bumper caps, coin door bits, and I-75 custom decals by JC.
“he scratched off all of the traces so you can't even repair it...This is done very well by a professional. That's amazing.”
Dutch and Mike Dimes@ 6:00 — Sarcastic commentary on the sabotaged solenoid expander board, highlighting the extent of damage from the original playfield swap technician.
“I played a game on this...I have no idea how you managed to do that. This thing barely boots up. That was the most and only functional game since you've had this here.”
Mike Dimes@ 2:36 — Emphasizes how broken the Fathom machine is, with only one successful game played by chance.
“It's a total [] show right now, really.”
Dutch@ 6:27 — Expresses frustration with the cascading problems in the Fathom restoration.
“We found the short. As soon as it's latched, it starts activating the solenoid expander board.”
Dutch and Mike Dimes@ 14:21 — Key diagnostic breakthrough identifying the source of intermittent solenoid expander activation.
“Not only is this maybe the first game with a warning...if you turn on conservative, switch 23 off. Tilting occurs first time and player may keep on playing.”
Dutch@ 26:06 — Discovery of a rare early safety/warning feature in Centaur's code before full tilt.
“We're going to fudge around with this for a little bit and see if we can figure something out.”
Dutch@ 6:20 — Pragmatic troubleshooting approach to cascading electrical gremlins.
product_concern: External technician performed substandard playfield swap on Fathom and Centaur, resulting in cascading electrical and mechanical failures including sabotaged boards, corrosion, and physical shorts.
high · Multiple references to poor work quality; sabotaged solenoid expander with scratched traces; extensive corrosion on MPU; intermittent switch failures; physical short in playfield.
restoration_signal: Complex troubleshooting process involving board swapping from donor machine (Centaur) to isolate root causes; methodical elimination of variables (MPU, solenoid driver, lamp driver, solenoid expander).
high · Systematic swapping of All-tech MPU, lamp driver board, and solenoid expander from Centaur into Fathom to isolate problematic components.
design_innovation: Centaur appears to include early tilt warning feature in software, allowing player to recover from near-tilt before ball ends, claimed to be possibly the first game with this safety feature.
medium · Dutch states: 'Not only is this maybe the first game with a warning' and demonstrates warning triggering before final tilt with dip switch 23 configuration.
venue_signal: Grasley Garage is actively acquiring machines, struggling with space constraints, and selling machines to clear room while continuing to buy more.
high · Mike notes: 'You guys do need to um Sell a few things...You guys just keep buying like crazy, too, so you guys are your own worst enemy.'
restoration_signal: Knight Rider restoration involves extensive parts reproduction and refurbishment including new rails, pop bumper caps, coin door decals, and custom drop target decals; parts are being sandblasted and powder coated/spray painted.
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The Centaur and Fathom restoration work will be brought to Ontario Pinball Fest (upcoming event).
high confidence · Mike announces: 'Ontario Pinball Fest is coming up in a few days. And this is all coming to the show.'
“I don't expect anything different's going to happen. But you never know.”
Dutch@ 12:11 — Reflects the unpredictable nature of pinball restoration with multiple unknown variables.
“Centaur is 97.2% done. And it's actually pretty damn awesome.”
Mike Dimes@ 25:41 — Summary assessment of the Centaur restoration progress after extensive troubleshooting.
high · Detailed inventory of new parts visible in garage including I-75 decals, rails, pop bumper caps, coin door bits, plastics in shipping, chimes being sandblasted.
event_signal: Ontario Pinball Fest is upcoming (within days of recording); Grasley Garage is bringing Fathom and Centaur machines to the show for exhibition/sale purposes.
high · Mike announces: 'Ontario Pinball Fest is coming up in a few days. And this is all coming to the show.'
operational_signal: Restoration technicians use systematic approach to diagnosing intermittent failures: switch matrix testing, solenoid test mode, playfield latching analysis, and physical manipulation to identify shorts.
high · Dutch and Mike systematically test switches, manipulate playfield angles, toggle connectors, and identify the specific point (playfield latched position) where short manifests.
product_concern: Evidence of intentional sabotage on solenoid expander board with deliberately scratched traces to prevent repair, suggesting malicious work or extreme negligence.
high · Mike and Dutch examine board and discuss scratched traces: 'he scratched off all of the traces so you can't even repair it'; proposed for 'Hack of the Year' award.
restoration_signal: Knight Rider requires full cabinet replacement of bottom and back panels; original cabinet had structural damage (giant hole in bottom); extensive woodworking and refinishing required.
high · Kevin discusses replacing bottom, replacing particle board back with plywood, sanding, and overspray cleanup; estimates 100+ hour job.
community_signal: Pinball Shenanigans maintains extensive video archive (1,400+ videos) and regular content schedule documenting restoration work; community engagement through detailed machine documentation.
high · Mike references '1,400 of them' videos at channel start; entire video structure documents restoration progress in real-time.
gameplay_signal: Centaur features sophisticated multiball rules with out-of-order bonus multiplier system and multiple rule paths; described as 'very free form how the multiball works.'
high · Mike discovers spell-out mechanics that work differently in order vs. out-of-order; power orbs system; ability to release multiple balls with different scoring.
product_concern: Fathom exhibits significant corrosion on MPU and other board-level components, complicating diagnostics and potentially contributing to multiple failures.
high · Mike and Dutch observe: 'evidence of some pretty significant corrosion on here' during board inspection.