I’ve got a lot of tips on adjusting the lock down bar but mostly it has to do with adjusting the brass screws. The problem is the play in the silver latch. There is a lot of play and it’s too low. I tried to make a video to show what I mean. Not the best video but I think it shows what I mean.

It should move up and down with the screws as needed.

Glass off, playfield up and leaned back, put lockdown bar on and then adjust as needed, when you can watch what is happening.

LTG : )

Discovered another issue: my motorized target bank sits cockeyed when it's in the up position - the whole thing leans to the right. I'm guessing there's not much to be done about this? Looks like the whole bank just balances on the crank pin, and the bank itself is a loose fit in the side rails that guide it. I'm a bit concerned that the right side of the "lip" on top will eventually get smashed by ball hits.

Equally concerning is the fact that in the down position, the back is higher than the front, so that it's not possible to get the whole thing level with the playfield. Have other folks noticed this? For now, I'm making the back as flush as possible, but if feels like that front lip is going to get chewed up down the road.

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I had the same issue with my drop bank. I posted a possible solution somewhere around here. Let me find it and post the link.

Found it: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/attack-from-mars-remake-afmr-owners-club/page/13#post-3963410

If you flip up the playfield, you can see the source of the slop. Adding the padding as described above, provides a little resistance and holds the bank a little more horizontal, though not quite perfect every time.

Let me know if you find any other ideas...

I too have this issue, and in fact filed a ticket w/CGC. They sent me a new target bank assembly, but I'm having the same result with the new parts. I tried the foam padding suggestion, but no noticeable improvement. I think its just a bad design with the slop in the pieces. The metal shaft that goes into the molded oval in the drop bank sits just left of center when the target is up, causing it to dip to the right. I think that is that source of the problem. CGC's position is that this is the same design as the original AFM and these are the same exact parts. I guess I just need to get used to it as it is. I too would be interested if anyone else has other ideas.

My two originals had slop too and leaned to the right.... no big deal.

Mine leans a bit going up and down. Doesn't
bother me.

What about front-back? Are your target bank "lids" even with the PF on both edges?

EDIT: I got a note from CGC saying that the back-front height difference of the target bank in the down position is part of the original design.

Anyone else seeing split wood at the points where screws have been driven in? I've got a few. The worst one is pictured below - it's the right-hand target from inside the saucer area. That target takes a lot of hits, and the crack already extends right up to the edge of the hole in the playfield... It feels like something that's going to get worse.
This is my first NIB game, but I've fixed a fair number of old games (and own three 90s Williams titles myself), and I don't feel like I've seen a lot of cracking, except maybe in cases where the playfield was pretty beat.

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Added over 6 years ago: EDIT: WackyBrakke's comment below is correct, according to CGC. The cracks are in the maple veneer (first layer) of the plywood. The interior layers are ash, which is slightly softer, and they don't expect the cracking to spread vertically through the board. Rep said that if they'd caught it at the factory, they'd have puttied the cracks, but just for the sake of aesthetics.

That does not look good. I would open a ticket on that before it gets worse.

It’s plywood, just the first layer is cracked. No big deal. Big reason why playfields are made of plywood.

(New to this website so apologies in advance)

Brand new AFMr out of the box (#747 out of 1000). Anyone had an issue with a right flipper being energized as soon as power is turned on, blowing fuse F115? Left flipper has no issues. To help in troubleshooting, we removed the J119 "Lower Flipper" cabling from the Solenoid Power Board and that helped; powering on did NOT energize the flipper and blow the fuse.

We visually inspected for any shorts around the coil and back and found nothing. As per CGC, we then replaced the coil with a brand new one, still occurs. At this point, we are thinking it's a transistor on the Solenoid Power Board but given this is a brand new machine, we are going to request an entirely new board.

I also find it interesting that the manual states F115 is the fuse for the Lower Flipper Left but ours seems reversed; it is supporting (and blowing) the right flipper.

On a side note, we did update the 40pin PIC2 chip to fix a Topper issue (in hopes it would solve the flipper issue but no luck). Thanks for any advice.

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I had the exact same problem. Replacing the fuse didn't help. My board was blown. CGC replaced the coils/board and then the replacement blew (which is when I gave up on the situation...I don't like spending my time servicing new machines).

Is your board actually functional after the fuse blow? I'll be surprised if it is. I also noticed the same manual inconsistency.

Something is seriously wrong with their Solenoid board if you had the PIC2 installed and this BS is still happening.

Sorry you are having to deal with this.

snaroff

Did you update the PIC to 2.0 before or after the issue with the flipper? If after, the damage may have already been done. It prevents the damage, not repairs it.

yeah knowing the order would be helpful, going to suggest that the pic 1.0 blew it and pic 2.0 with a new board will be fine.

Neil.

Thanks for you guys jumping in.

The flipper/fuse blew and had problems BEFORE going to the new PIC. I was hoping the new PIC might fix this given we had the Topper issue, but the new PIC only fixed the Topper. The flipper/fuse issue was original out-of-the-box and remains.

Unless something comes up, we're going to ask for a new board and try that.

Had exact same issue on Metallica once. The transistor controlling the Flipper had died. Was a relatively easy to swap in a new transistor for someone with board soldering experience. Fixed it instantly and haven’t had a problem since. But given the game is brand new, I’d ask for a new board.

Sounds like the old PIC may have caused it. New pic won’t fix it once it’s alreay fried.

Correct. A new board with PIC 2.0 and you should be all set.

Make sure you have an open ticket with CGC and this will be taken care of.

Marc

Have not installed my new pic2 chip yet. Does swapping the chip loose the previous settings and scores?

Thanks Martin

Anyone else notice in the manual on page 2-40, (lamp table) that column 6, rows 1-3 and row 6 reference Medieval Madness named switches....interesting is all.

Also on page 3-3, ..

No. It’s just solenoid strength.

Are they fucking serious??? They can't be this fucking dumb. The driver board is finished. They know what needs to be done: Send you another driver board, the PIC chip, and you're done. Why are they wasting time again with flipper coils?

I'm so blown away by AND furious by this post.

No.

They Aren't.

Because according to psivo's post, it happened right away. He tried a new coil ( no idea if CGC sent one or he had one ) then psivo hoped the 2.0 PIC would fix it. No mention in there in letting CGC know what was going on, so they could send a new driver board. I'm sure CGC never knew about hoping the the 2.0 PIC might fix it part, they would have informed him no.

If he opens a ticket, or adds to an existing ticket, they'll get him what he needs.

LTG : )

If the flipper blew at default settings maybe the PIC wasn’t the first thing you’d check...

The PIC is only required when you change from the default settings. The bug is in the code to alter default power.

Nevertheless, this will be sorted.

I apologize for my reaction in advance to anyone that may have been offended by it. I have been personally effected by this issue, and felt like our diagnosis was ignored. All along it had zero to do with the flipper coils, which they harped on for the LONGEST time.

Just understand my frustration, and i apologize again for my over reaction.

It’s all good. I would be bummed if my new game didn’t work! Hopefully you get it sorted out quickly and can get back to destroying ships.

Thanks everyone again. Just some quick background because I believe when we DID reach out to CGC, they were very responsive and sent us anything we needed quite quickly (PIC and now the new Solenoid board).

I purchased the brand new pin through a local distributor in the Bay Area whom I have worked with for years with my other pins. He found the AFMr #747 elsewhere, purchased it for me, and had it shipped to my house. After that, we had the issues I outlined. BTW, as soon as we powered up the pin out of the box, the paddle energized and blew the fuse. After I learned all these details, I checked and the flipper was still set to "Default". The Topper also had issues but the new PIC fixed that. Given the flipper was always set to Default, I wonder if there was a Transistor issue already with my unit and/or something fried on that Solenoid board.

He worked with his contact to get it working (not directly with CGC but was told they were taking input from CGC). I don't want to guess "who said what to whom" but according to my contact, when he was told to open up a ticket with CGC, they responded immediately and sent out the items he requested. He was very impressed by their customer service.

New board should be here this week. I hope this pin will be up and operational by this weekend! On a side note, my contact still has 2 brand new units in a box (he purchased previously) so he also learned a lot! He going to make sure NOTHING is powered on until the PIC chips are replaced.

I totally understand...same exact story on my end back in December. I even asked to speak with one of their techs to explain the flipper coil theory (since it made no sense to me). They also speculated my home AC was faulty and could be causing the overzealous flippers and board blowouts! (despite all my other pins functioning without error). They also said I was unique and no-one else was having this issue (which was false, since I knew other collectors experiencing exactly the same issue).

CGC was responsive, but the defensiveness and early lack of insight/precision didn't inspire confidence. I'm relieved they finally got to the bottom of it and was able to fix everyone's machines. Hopefully, they learned from this experience...they are a new company and seem to have their heart in the right place.

snaroff

Unfortunately its the first line response from most tech support these days - assume its the consumers fault first.

Lets hope so! I guess we will see.

At the time you talked to them, it was an isolated incident. They didn't know until other collectors started having the same issue and opened tickets. On the support desk it started and snowballed within a week. And that is why the ticket desk. CGC sees a trend, knows somethings up, and figured it out and came up with a cure.

Also at the start of this, there was at least one bad flipper coil popped up, and the first thought was some bad coils got out.

LTG : )

Lloyd, this is incorrect. I won't air the dirty laundry here on Pinside with names and timeframe, but you don't have all the data on this one. Trust me. I am happy to discuss privately, but I'm not sure it matters at this point...

snaroff

I don't have access to those who called and talked to Doug or Arturo. I did follow along on the ticket desk.

So if you are referring to direct calls, I apologize, I didn't have that data.

LTG : )

I did have one more question on the flipper strength and 2.0 PIC if I may.

With the original PIC, the flipper strength was set to DEFAULT. I noticed when we installed the new 2.0 PIC (which again, fixed the Topper issue), the Flipper strength was set to -24. I was a bit nervous given all the chatter so I reset it back to DEFAULT. Is there guidance that this is the way to go or is -24 (or another setting) better suited for the game? I read about balls launching way too hard/fast so I wondered if I -should- change the setting to something more "friendly".

Thank you.

Try -4 to start and see if you like it. A lot of folks have been happy with that setting with the new PIC.

I just installed my new PIC last night. I've only got a few games in, but I can confirm that at -3 I was still getting balls flying off the right wireform. With -5, no flyaways so far...

Though -5 is creeping up on the edge of feeling not strong enough to me. Question to those familiar with the original AFM: should the ramp shots be "backhandable"? i.e. shoot the right ramp from the right flipper, and left from left? At -5, I don't think it's doable. But it's been a long time since I had regular access to a clean AFM for comparison.

While I want to try this to fix my popper, I'm terrified of damaging the playfield by doing so (stress of the screws/bolts on the wood, chipping the clear coat).

How much force does it take to bend?

Not much at all.

I don't recall seeing that when I installed mine - I'm certain it was still at default. I set to -4 and it seems pretty good, but I'm thinking I'll try -3 as every now and then certain shots feel a bit weak - but it could just be that I'm crap at pinball!

Apologies if this info is to be found elsewhere, but casual searching didn't turn it up. (I seem to remember some issue with MMr flippers too, and whatever new tech they're using to drive them.) Anyway: if you put a stiff finger in front of a flipper and flip, the game will cut the power back to the "hold" level at some point before the end of the stroke, even though the EOS switch isn't closed - presumably so as to not burn the coil. The problem I'm having is that this also seems to happen periodically while playing... the game underpowers too early, resulting in a limp flip and a ball that just barely bounces off.

Is there an adjustment for this? Alternatively, can anyone point me at a thread that explains it and offers a fix? It's happening enough to have a noticeable affect on gameplay. Again, I seem to remember a similar discussion around the time that MMr came out, but as I didn't buy one, I didn't follow it closely.

I don't recall any big issue with MMR flippers other than the one that was proven to be a bad test setup.

I've not experience this on my AFMR either but I note another chap reporting he couldn't do multiple orbits (and I definitely can) Have you got the SOL2.0 chip? have you tried glass off to repeat and video (sometimes with slow motion on iPhone or something it can catch ver useful info).

Haven't heard anyone mention that - I'd open a ticket with CGC and see what they say.

Are you sure this is happening before the EOS triggers? Usually this is the result of an EOS that is not adjusted properly.

Sounds like the eos is closing early. Are you sure the stroke has completed before the switch closes?

I'm not sure if I should post this here or create a new thread. If a new thread I'm not sure what sub-forum. (the newbie-ness is strong with me).

I installed my topper and can't plug the "input" wiring in because a pin is closed (blocked) on the plug but the "input" pins on the board are all intact.

The manual just says to match the cabling to the right part of the board... Am I supposed to clip the pin?

Also for the artwork on the back box where the Martian is holding the girl, are both of the Martians eyes supposed to light up? Only one does.

Pictures attached and also a video where I was installing the topper and couldn't figure out what to do with the "inputs" cable.

I have also experienced the under powered flippers thing once or twice. I can't say for sure but it seems like it was because I was playing with the flippers during the power on boot and testing sequence before playing. Powering the machine off then back on seemed to make it go away. It would write it off as placebo effect but it was very obvious when it was happening. I was actually worried the flippers had gone bad or burned up.

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Clip the pin is best. Remove plug from connector second best.

LTG : )

See if you have the 2.0 PIC on the board in the head. If lower number, leave flippers at default setting and get 2.0 PIC from who you bought the game from.

LTG : )

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Mine came with 2.0 pre-installed.

Kinda hoping to see what someone else’s LE board/cable looks like before I do something I can’t undo.