I am having the same problem with my left castle door. The issue is related to the placement of the door release mechanism and its proximity to the individual flanges on the door shafts.

If you lift your playfield and have someone balance it so you can see the two door shafts, do a coil test and activate the one for the door release. I can guarantee that the release is not clearing the flanges therefore preventing the door to open.

This is most likely caused by one of two things, A) the door shaft needs to be moved up and tightened so the flange clears the lock or B) the motor has come loose and is "sinking" down causing the flange to not clear the lock. If it is the motor coming loose (like on mine) you need a 2.5 mm hex key to tighten them up which raises the whole door mechanism giving it clearance to clear the lock.

Unfortunately, the right door is almost impossible to access unless you take off the playfield. The left door is easier to get to.

Hope this isn't too confusing.

Hi Jerryr,

This happened to mine.. Twice. So, I'll tell you my fix and it should be done in factory imho. Anyway you will need to take the castle mini playfield out of the pin. Follow the directions in the manual they are perfect. Next if you look at the castle doors there are two (2), hex head setscrews on each shaft. These loosen very easily, they have nothing on them to hold them in place over time, so they eventually work loose again or at least have the opportunity to.

The second time I took them apart I took the screws out of the shaft and put a little Blue Loctite on the end of the screws. Replace them and tighten, note its easy to strip the head on those screws make sure you have the correct tool. You can pickup replacements if needed at any hardware store. The shafts are threaded so don't use anything other than blue. I've not had any more issues I did this about 3 months ago.

Good Luck.

I had the same problem with my left door, but the fix was VERY easy. The spring that pulls the door shut again was simply binding in the plate mechanism. Give me a second, and I'll find the link to a pic I posted. Don't pull everything apart just yet!

image.jpg

Here is a view in from the side. Simply rotating the spring to the outside so it doesn't bind fixed my issue. Perhaps a dab of solder to prevent it from flipping back to the problem side would help??

Submit a ticket even though you are correcting the problem. Maybe JJP will add Loctite on future builds. Otherwise, they may not realize the issue.

Here's the original thread that addressed the issue in some detail...

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/downloading-woz-20-now

I hope this helps. Mine was hard to diagnose, but an easy fix.

Good luck

Had this problem twice. The hex screws vibrate loose from all the hits the door takes. The flanges are too big and there is barely any clearance and no room for error. JJP should make these flanges smaller or at the very least put some locktite on the screws.
ps- before trying to take the playfield off you will have to cut a few zip ties in the wiring harness to get more slack.

My door didn't appear loose either but it had slid down. Loosen the hex screws and pull the door up then retighten hex screws with locktite. Even a few millimeters make the difference in clearing the bracket.

Same here, after only 50 games my right castle door also stopped opening. Loud buzzing noise, same as described above. I removed the castle playfield (not as difficult as I thought) to find that one of the hex screws was rotating freely and I could see the right door was "hanging" a bit lower than the left. I pulled the door up slightly, making sure it was not binding into the underside of the playfield wood, then re-tightened the hex screw real tight. If it comes loose again I'm going to buy and apply some loc tite too. I agree that JJP should be loc-titing these from the factory. I also found that my playfield was missing one of its 4 screws. Ah well, three should hold it I guess.

I am at 160 games and no problem but i think i will pop that playfield off and check it out. Had everything else apart doing Cliffys and stuff may as well do that and check it out.

Happened to me at about 400 games. I cranked it down and fine since but I will use loctite if it happens again. Seems like only one was loose though everything else was still tight.

Motors have been stripping on the right

I am also in the club after 80 games.
Will have a look on the mechanism later on, thanks to the forum for all the hints.
I started also a ticket, not to blame JJP but to show what they have to check before delivery.

I am able to repair a pin, but a person with no skills in this matter would be very pissed after 80 games.

EDIT: Fastened all screws and secured with Loctite, runs again. Mini playfield easy to uninstall and install.

Had my NIB WOZ delivered a couple of weeks ago and yesterday, with less than 100 plays on it, I encountered the same problem with loose hex screws on the door. Pulled the castle playfield yesterday and going to reassemble tonight. The shaft on the motor that the door attaches to really should have had a flat spot machined onto it that the screws could land on. The game is amazing, it's just a little disappointing to have to start disassembling things within 2 weeks of unboxing a $8k machine.

anyone experienced the right door not registering hits to it?? Its a switch buried deep under the doors and in an impossible location to get at. Anyone? Solution? I took the playfiled out and it seems impossible.

looks like taking the springs and motors off of the silver substrate and unscrewing that from the upper playfield. Problem is it would almost be impossible to reattach the springs to put back. Anyone had to replace a non working switch for the registered hits on castle doors? Cheers

IMG_20150511_121022.jpgIMG_20150511_121013.jpg

There's the little sucker there! What terrible access

Question for the Loctite people...

The motor for my right door had come loose so I took everything apart to tighten it, and thought I would use some Blue Loctite. I got the tape (either that was all they had, or I didn't realize there was another kind) and added it to a motor screw. Unfortunately now the screw will not tighten...it gets all the way in and then just turns endlessly. Took the screw out and tried to clean it off, and the same thing happens.

Um...now what?

The sad thing is that it tightened fine before, I was just trying to be extra safe and didn't want to have to take everything apart to fix this again in the future.

Bumping this old thread.

I had a problem with my right castle door not opening. I removed the playfield and neither door shaft was loose. I think the problem might be the door release mechanism not functioning properly. Has anyone had this mech fail?

Can you hear it trying to open?

Double bump

Yes.

Sometimes you have to relocate the spring so that is doesnt interfere with the latch assembly.
If you remove the castle PF you can re-plug it in under the fully raised PF and look at its action while running the latch in test mode.
I think its coil 051. It can be anemic, but should fire consistently in test. If not then something is drawing power like a burnt motor etc.

Old thread but I thought I would bring it back.

My right castle door is only opening about 1/3 of the way. It is not catching on the latch or the door shaft needing to be tightened. The motor was loose but I tightened it again. The motor clearly has power as the door opens a little bit and it holds but it is not opening all of the way. The door is not binding on anything.

Any suggestions? All I can think of is the motor or something weird with the shaft but I don't see why it would only open it a little bit, I would think it would work or not.

Thanks in advance.

My right door also stopped working tonight but it looks like a loose shaft as I can hear it grinding a bit.
In your case I think its a weak motor. I had the same issue early on in my game, both motors had to be replaced.

I would replace both if I did one of them. $17.99 ea from JJP.

Im ordering a couple spares on my next order.

I was suspecting the motor just seemed odd though. Glad to hear someone else had something similar. Anyone else bump into the weak motor thing?

early on there were a few complaints about burned out motors, or maybe bad capacitors across them.
Depending on how many games are on it, its possible that it needs a motor or 2 along with new caps.

The door mechanism is a terrible design x3. Do some more searching on pinside, there are a few more threads on this subject. Take the glass off an listen closely. Yours might be slipping. Be REALLY careful with those set screws. They are the smallest size I have ever seen and easy to strip out. You will also need to learn how to remove the upper playfield. It is not terribly complicated, but it is no fun either. Do it in the order shown in the manual. Get those connectors disconnected before you start taking too many parts off.

I have had that mini PF out about a dozen times now so no problems with that! I am 99.9% confident it has something to do with the motor. It is not the latch, not the set screws, and it is not getting caught up on something. The motor is definitely getting power as it opens part way and holds it just can't open all the way. I thought motors were all or nothing, so I'm just a bit surprised that a motor can get weak as this appears to be. I emailed Frank at JJP to get his take on it. I will post the fix when I have it just trying to confirm what it is before I go ordering parts.

Not quite as bad as it sounds. I find it very easy to remove and I have had a couple times where it has been in and out a bit to fine tune something but to be fair it was not fully installed each time. I had the loose set screws, a switch that needed adjusting, and now I think a weak motor. It was on location a while too so it has gotten a fair few plays. My biggest gripe is not taking the PF out but the overall mech for the doors. It is hard to access and remove. I do know it very well now though!

Im having the exact same issue.

I pulled the playfield out and examined the screws, they are tight.
I removed the lock screws anyway, raised the door a tiny bit, and re-tightened them and re-applied blue loctite.
The door is tight on the motor shaft.

I checked the latch and there is no binding at all.

I setup the castle playfield under the raised main playfield on a box and re-attached all the wires.

I put the game in test and the right door still only opens 1/3 of the way.

During test I visually inspected the door motor armature through its inspection hole, it only turns about 1/3 compared to the left motor.

20 volts is present at both motors.

After the motors are actuated, during test, the left motor holds the door open, you can move it and it snaps back open.
The right seems to have way less power. Not enough to hold the door open.

I cleaned out the motor with circuit cleaner in case of possible debris still it only moves 1/3 of a rotation.

I think the motor is defective or worn, its acting like its weak and needs brushes although its brushless.

Maybe is a short in the windings, these motors run hot.

I wiggled the main harness a bit for maybe a cracked wire but so far I havent found anything.

Problem is that they should have used some sort of gate driven by a hold coil or toggle mechanism. Using a motor in this application with no limit switches makes no sense. I realize that it is a DC motor, but even still no electric motor likes being held at a stop while it is being powered.

The double door motors look to be wired in parallel.

Since the motors are wired in parallel, if the left motor works but the right one doesnt, Its either a broken wire or a bad motor.
They both fire at the same time.

Since in this case the right motor bumps when activated, and its getting 20 volts measured from the motor itself, The motor probably has an open field or winding and needs to be replaced.

I placed an order for motors today at JJP.

Yes its a bad design, but it works.
Yes the motors will get hot and probably fuse/short a winding.

But I have 5000 plays and so far it has worked ok.

The design is pretty simple with a motor, a relay and a shaft with a flag on it.
I agree that a better design would be good, but "hey, its pinball".

I had the binding spring issue when I first got mine but once I fixed that the doors work flawlessly. It's been over three years and still fine so... hope it stays that way!

Mine has about 5k plays on it as well. Let us know if this fixes it. I'm stalling on ordering as shipping always adds a fair bit and it sucks when you get it wrong.

My motor went a while ago too. Did this little clip if it helps anyone.

My replacement motors will be here in 2-3 days.
I ordered some extra screws and door decals.
The lower right door screw is bashed so much the slots are missing for a screwdriver.
Ill just dremel it off and replace the decal.

It looks like a pretty quick fix, I hope this diagnosis is correct and will post results later.

Thanks mate! This is what mine is doing glad to hear it seems to be the right diagnosis. The swap should be fairly easy at least.

I received my replacement motors yesterday and installed the one on the right last night.

All 3 doors use the same motor so I bought a spare, $17.99 ea + shipping.

JJP has flattened the already splined motor shaft for us, so loosening up and spinning will no longer be a problem in the future. See they listen to us! (The old motor was splined but not flattened)

The door works perfectly now.

Some tips on replacement:

When unplugging the connectors for the castle playfield go ahead and unplug the orange connector from the opto board as well as the brown. I think also #12 or #13 light cable wasnt listed in the manual, they both have to be disconnected.

The orange connector is for the left wire ramp opto. With this disconnected you can now remove the left wire ramp as well as the castle playfield to get it out of the way. Just fish it out and push it through its hole.

This is important if you want to re-attach the castle pf underneath while the main pf is raised for testing. It also helps to get it out of the way to avoid potential scratching of the main PF, or break any of the fine wires accidentally.

Removing the doors:

The lower screw to the right door might be flattened from ball strikes so much that you cant get a screwdriver into the head. Use a new #2 screwdriver for the other (non destroyed) door screws it works well.

I tried cutting new slots in the damaged screw head, its a very tight location and the head is so soft the new slots didnt work well.

I ended up just using my tiny 1" jaw channel lock plier, tiny vise grips might also work but also might crush the head more. All of the door screws had loc-tite applied from the factory so they were stuck firmly but not too bad once they start moving. The decal is very tough and didnt get damaged at all from using the pliers.

If you do get a decal scratch a sharpie will cover it easily.

When you order the replacement motor, order a few of each of the screws listed in the manual for the motor and the doors. They are so soft, and need to be very tight, I wouldnt trust them to be good enough for a second repair.

It would be really hard to extract one if it failed.

I also ordered replacement door springs.

Remember to push the orange connector back into its hole before installing the castle playfield.

Motor/door assembly removal:

I marked my motors L and R with a sharpie so I wouldnt get confused with the pf upside down.

There are 4 screws that have to be removed from the "feet" of the door assembly. After you remove both doors of course.

The wire harness intertwines the assembly a lot, cut off as many wire ties as it takes to get it free.

Take a close look or a picture of this harness as you will have to re tie it back up later.

*This is important. If you tie up the cabling too tightly when you are done, you might shorten the length of the cables and then they wont be long enough to re-attach under the main pf.

Remove the wires to the motor, put a "X" on the wire closest to the red dot, Im going to call this positive.
You can either cut them off or unsolder them.

There is a ton of extra wire, I just cut them off close to the terminals, and stripped off about 3/16" of insulation with heatshrink on it. Again make sure you know the wire that goes near the red dot.

Take notice of the gap between the door shaft and the motor. On my game it was about 3/32" if in doubt just match it to the other side.

Remove the 2 allen screws that hold the door shaft in place, remove the door shaft.

Take notice of the red dot on the bottom of the motor.
DC motors are polarized, if you wire them backwards they run backwards.

Look at the replacement motor and check for the red dot under the capacitor.

Remove the 2 M2.5 screws that hold the motor on.
Remove the old motor.

Install the new motor in exactly the same location of the old one, with the red dot in the same location.

Rotate the motor shaft so you can see the flattened area and install the door shaft so that the screw holes are above the flattened area.

Reinstall the shaft screws with blue loc-tite making sure the gap is correct.

Reinstall the assembly through the pf and screw it back down.

Slide a small piece of 3/16" heatshrink tubing onto each of the motor wires.

Solder the motor wires back on with your previously marked wire on to the terminal near the red dot.

Shrink down the tubing to cover the bare terminals. You do not want to ground out the bare terminals on to any metal in the game after or during re-assembly. Its a 20v system.

These motors get hot. If you are tempted to use electrical tape instead of the heatshrink tubing, you will have to wire tie the tape on after you install it, otherwise the heat will cause the tape to fail and fall off.

The rest is just to re-assemble everything in reverse of the way you took it apart.

This whole job took me about 90 mins start to finish.

While waiting for parts I rubbed out some ball tracks in the playfield.
I also ordered a couple adjustable magnet cores from JJP that I can install while sanding or polishing the existing ones.

I hope this helps anyone who is replacing the door motors on their WOZ !
Good luck.

Awesome pinballreno. Thanks!!!