I just listed my Bad Cats cor sale. Going to miss it but I don't play it enough to justify what I paid for it. Going to miss it but I also need space.

Are the 5 left drop targets supposed to pop back up after knocking all of them down? Noticed that mine remained down and only popped back up after a ball drain.

Yes, that's how you gain BADCATS letters to activate the Fishbowl-jackpot

That is what I thought. What could be causing the drop targets to stay down after hitting them and only popping up after a drained ball?

Perhaps one of the optos for drops isn't registering?

Do the drops individually register when hit? If not, the opto board may not be getting power. The board is powered by a separate small connector that tends to come loose because it's only two or three pins. At the beginning of each ball the game automatically resets the targets regardless of if the board is working.

So they do register. The targets do tend to go down a little slow. The right drop targets (milk) operate as they should.

I am not that good at fixing things...how do I check (if you dont mind) lol

You need to rebuild the drop target assembly, which is pretty easy.

Going down slowly means (usually) the targets need cleaned and/or the springs are weak.

Any guidance or instructions on how to do this?

It's something you kinda just have to get in there and do.

I usually remove the coil from the assembly first with a hex driver. Then unscrew the whole assembly from the pf. I leave the coil attached to the wiring and usually just prop it up somehow in the wiring.. or leave it hanging.

Once assembly is removed, you'll be able to remove various e-clips to get to the parts you want to clean and fix. I usually use a drop of wd-40 on the sliding side of the drop target too.

Take a bunch of pictures so that you know how things go together. This is key. And be careful with the tiny eclips when removing them. They can go flying to never be seen again!

It's not a bad chore though. Just take pics and go slow.

Just to echo what Blackbeard said since it goes for anytime you're working on a pinball machine. Once you think you've taken enough pictures, take more.

Drop target mechs of this generation are really easy to rebuild once you get them out of the machine.

Just for fun / demonstration, one time after removing the coil I simply sprayed some Purple Power on the still assembled mech, followed by a liberal water (spray) rinse... and it went back to near-new operation without further grief. But OF COURSE you should disassemble, clean, and dry thoroughly! The point was to see if "removing the gunk" was all that was needed, and that was proven. So, to that end, I personally don't use any lubrication on the mechs. They're designed to work without lubrication and the manuals don't specify or recommend any. As lubricating agents wear, and/or attract dirt and coil dust, they can cause more trouble than they're worth.

Go to Harbor Freight and get the $1 Pittsburgh pick set - it's your best friend for dismantling these (and other) mechs, as you'll be able to remove E-clips and springs without launching them to the ether.

oooohhh What's this?

EDIT: just found it on their website. Must buy. I hate trying to find those damn eclips.

(harbor freight also sells an eclip assortment)

The HF assortment isn't really that useful, sadly. Too much quantity of ridiculous sizes... like, have you ever seen an e-clip the size of a quarter? No? Well here's 10 of them! And just in case that didn't blow you away, have 10 more the size of a half-dollar!

But in fairness there's a few sizes that might be handy as replacements. And where else can you just grab them off the retail shelf, I don't even think my local mom-n-pop hardware store has many in the Hillman bins.

The pick set though, that thing's the best $1 item HF sells after the magnetic LED lights. Can't believe how many times I've used them, and wonder how I got along without them: removing clips, scraping gunk, unclogging squeeze nozzles, replacing belts on audio gear, reaching into finicky mechs, etc etc etc...!

So I figured out the problem with the drop targets, but do not have the solution. Looks like the first drop target in the line is not registering when going down (closest to the front of the game). All other drop targets are registering. The game thinks that only 4 targets have been hit (instead of all 5) which causes the targets to not reset. Does anyone know what to do in this case? What makes the drop target register? Not sure how to fix this issue. Appreciate any input!

Very simply the opto either needs:

1. to be cleaned. Rub a q-tip with a little windex through it; or
2. the opto needs to be reflowed. Cold solder joint; or, and less likely,
3. the opto needs replaced.

For a newbie, all options SOUND difficult, but in reality it's all very basic.

Keep asking questions. That's how you learn.

The optos are sensors that read the target dropping. They look like little black horseshoes.. or maybe more like the letter "U". They're located on the green circuit board attached to the drop target assembly. Each target has it's own opto.

I am a newbie to this type of repair unfortunately. I cleaned the inside of the black U looking opto, but this did not seem to change anything.

Make sure the connector running to that green board is making contact well too. Make sure those wires are inserted into the connector well. THEN:

The next thing i'd try is pulling the assembly and reflowing the solder where the solder attaches the opto to the green circuit board.

Those solder joints become "cold" and wont work over time. Reflowing (basically heating up the joint and adding a little more solder) will reconnect the opto.

Okay, one question...how do I test the opto? When I go to the switch test mode, what do i need to do to test it (press the drop target or something else)?

Go to switch levels and just knock down the target. If working correctly, it will register

Having an issue with my 3 target assembly. The assembly scores randomly after one or more of the targets are dropped. I think it mostly happens when the target nearest the pops is dropped. I removed opto board and gave it a bath with scrub bubbles and reflowed all connections. I even tried tapping mech and wiggling wires while in game play. Even wiggled wiring on boardset to see if I had an issue there. I cant duplicate issue and only during game play this happens. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Get a new opto anyways. On my Whirlwind single drop target, it looked to be working perfectly fine in test mode but wouldn’t do anything during gameplay. Replaced the opto and it’s working flawless now.

I never saw it listed. Was it listed outside of Pinside?

Never made it that far. I listed on FB and sold.in an hour.

That doesn't surprise me. Was it in good shape? If you don't mind me asking, what did it sell for? If you'd prefer not to say I also respect that.

Chris

It had CPR playfield, new ramps, new plastics, original painted cab and powdercoating. it went for $4800

It’s good to see BC getting some respect. Congrats on the quick sale. Also, probably a good move to put it on FB. At that price you certainly would’ve been price policed to death on Pinside. This place is brutal!

I replaced the opto and the two caps ( 1uf 100v & 100uf 40v ). They were both weak and had high ESR values. Works fine now. Thanks for the advice!

Question about the fish bone-us target. The one I am working on is stuck and won’t move. What do you need to take off to get to it? Does the tiger ramp need to come off? Would like to see if I can get it working this weekend if I can. Also need to put in half a dozen bulbs or so.

I’ve already fixed the issue with it saving the settings and the spinner in the playfield. Someone must have removed it and installed it 180 degrees off since the plug was off and the connector was on the wring side. Cleaning the opto and turning around the assembly fixed it.

The target is stuck because the original rubber traction rings have turned to goo. Easy enough to replace to restore that mech to operation. The hardest part is getting to it: IIRC, you do have to remove everything over it. I could be wrong, as I rebuilt mine as part of a comprehensive full-machine restoration so maybe there's a shortcut, but as I was putting the pf back together I remember thinking "oy, I hope I don't have to take this thing back out". I'd plan to replace everything else that looks suspect (bulbs, rubber, etc) while you can.

Thanks for the reply. I went through the whole Bad Cats thread and in one of the early posts saw a picture where the rubber rights sort of melted into the mechanism. I expect to find something similar. I looks like I may need to take off both ramps to do it. If so I'll just wait until I bring it home. I'll need to do a full tear down on the top to clean, wax, and re-ring anyway. Just wanted to see if there was an easier way to pull out that whole mechanism to go through it. At the moment I think that is the only part not working.

This evening we took care of the rest of the lamps. My son helped. One had a broken solder connection on one end of a diode. After that all bulbs appear to be ok.

Got in a few games and it seems like a really fun machine! Will be a surprise for the wife. I think she will like this one!

Of all the pictures in the image gallery for this Bad Cats thread I didn’t notice any that showed the underside of the playfield. Anyone have any for reference?

I have some in my Flickr album -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/91696572@N00/albums/72157695702485011

If you need something specific let me know and I can snap a pic of mine.

Chris

Hello Chris,

Those pictures are awesome. What a great reference. One thing I was curious about was the single lamp boards. Mine are red too. I was wondering if they were all like that or if mainly the early ones had them.

I've got my machine running well. Just need to rebuild that linear target for the fish bone-us, clean/wax the playfield, and find 4 plastics. One to the left of the fishbowl ramp is missing and on the right side I have 3 broken plastics to find.

CPR makes a preproduction plastics set. I got a set but the machine I got already had repro plastics and new ramps, so I am saving the CPR set for spares.

https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-plastics/badcats/

Chris

What size rubber rings are needed for the linear target? I’d like to order some so I can have them here before trying to get into that assembly.

I just got an original manual in the mail today and saw that assembly diagram. The illustration is great but it doesn't say what size rubber rings are on assembly #1. From pictures it looks like two regular rubber rings. While I probably have a couple left over rings I'd rather order a couple fresh ones to have before I start. I'd rather not tear off all the ramps, etc to get to it then let it sit for a week waiting on a couple parts. Worst case I can just order a couple each of the small rings just to be covered.

According to the repair log here the rubber rings should be 3/16” in that assembly.

http://www.jeff-z.com/pinball/badcats/repair/repair.html

Does anyone have one of their games apart that can test out a 3D printed drop target stop for the 5 bank drop? Friend made me one and would like someone to test it as I don’t currently have one to test. Obviously no charge but I’d it works it will be an option for others in the future.

Those banks aren't hard to remove, if you still need a tester I'm good, let me know.

Nobody has contacted me so if you can try it, please let me know via PM.

D1BB2865-6F10-42D4-8364-16614682EDD8 (resized).jpeg

What version is your Bad Cats? When I check my game the display shows LA-2 and the sticker on my game ROM shows REV 2. On IPDB.ORG it mentions L-5 so it looks like mine may be running an early version of the code. My game is all orange with the painted cabinet and head and seems to overall be an intact unaltered original early game.

Does anyone know what fixes and updates are in L-5 ?

Just rebuilt that linear target assembly for a customer. Used 2 white titan post rings for grip. Cleaned all the sticky old rubber residue from the entire assembly and put new target and bad cat sticker on the target. Working like a champ now!

George and I feature Bad Cats on our latest The Classic Pinball Podcast (Episode #44) :

http://pinballdoctor.com/the-classic-pinball-podcast/
https://podbay.fm/podcast/1469743456
Accessible to stream via any of the links below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-classic-pinball-podcast/id1469743456
https://www.breaker.audio/the-classic-pinball-podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/6JGvAzDFwCSJUwwWgBMCDd
https://radiopublic.com/the-classic-pinball-podcast-WR95kj
https://overcast.fm/itunes1469743456/the-classic-pinball-podcast

Hello everyone, just thought I'd post here in addition to my want ad. I'm looking for a Bad Cats within reasonable driving distance of Knoxville TN. I'm ok with cleaning, and mechanical work, but working boards are a must. So, if anyone is considering selling, give me a yell please. I have cash in hand, or a very nice No Good Gophers we might work a deal with. Thanks!

Find one is like finding a needle in a hay stack. My wife and I looked for one for 3 years that was in ok shape and the boards were clean and it became a bidding war for the one we purchased. Needed new plastics new ramps and a playfield

Unless the MPU board is completely trashed by battery damage all the boards can be rebuilt. There are several people that work on them. Just redid the boards on mine, removed the battery holder, added NVRAM, and upgraded to the latest ROM set.

They don't seem to come up that often so you may want to widen your net a bit. If you want the machine and it has board issues that shouldn't hold you back as long as you factor that into the price.

Thanks for the help everyone. I see theres one in CA currently listed, but shipping just scares me. Plus, the seller apparently had a disagreement with a buyer on another machine and both claim the other is a scammer, so I'm hesitant to even consider that one. I should ad that "reasonable driving distance" for me would be 8 or 9 hours, maybe more. I like a good road trip

Thanks to those on this thread who listened to #44. Highest #’s ever!