Another new project ready for the PCB factory!
It is a WMS Triac Driver board used in many Williams/Bally DMD machines. It is used to drive things like the rotating beacon on trhe backbox of HSII and the shaker motor in some machines. It has often been removed from machines for ??? reasons?
I noticed that the usual suppliers all seem to be out of stock AND worse, the ones they stock for replacement are built using surface mounted components. This makes them VERY hard for hobbyists to repair in the future and, in my mind, is completely unneccessary. There is ample board space for through hole parts, the original was built using through hole parts and to me it is just a cost cutting excercise by these other suppliers.
I would urge caution to anyone contemplating buying ANY aftermarket board that is built using 'new technology' like surfae mount - it isn't needed, warranted or worth it for pinball applications (in my opinion). As proof I see people complaining all over the USA forums about single drop target boards not being available for a three year old Shrek (parts no longer made by Stern so it seems?) - these are built using surface mount parts and 'lead free' solder. This spells BIG trouble for these late model machines.
Anyway, this new Triac board should be available in about a month. It has beefed up tracks, higher rated triac, larger resistors in the critical places (spaced away from the board), 3AG or 205 fuze options and a smaller heatsink as the original (used on SOME, not all, boards) was overkill.
If anyone would like to suggest a board we should re-make please say so.
