Chicago Coin Sky Rider. Previous owner did many questionable repairs which I am wanting to correct. Bringing this machine back from a long, dirty slumber and one of the first challenges is the Player Control Unit. The circuit board was repaired with a bare copper wire which cannot be doing the wiper any good at all. Any better repair suggestions or should I try to find a used unit and resolder in a replacement board?

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The player control has two layers. It has a full reset, not incremental.

Wrong position? Please explain.

Hey, good point! The operation is so gummy I had to help it along. But after a full reset to player 1 position, the spider advances only 3 positions to player 4. That position is shown in the photo in the initial post. In no instance of operation do any of the fingers of the spider run over the wire patch! So as long as the connection in the patch is good, it may still be operational! Thanks for the question.

Thanks so much for the input! I have 14 of the 16 gummed up score-reels to restore, then onto the player unit. I will check back when I get into it!

This way more of a challenge than the Bally EM ever was!

Additional issue: first off every moving part has been cleaned and reassembled. During reassembly the spring loaded reset was tested at each step and worked great. However, once I tightened the top spider (unit #2) the spring loaded reset would not work. Additional turns of the spring did not help.

PCB is clean as are the fingers of the wiper. There’s a very thin film of Super Lube on there so I don’t think there’s drag from there. If I eliminate the split washer, and don't tighten the main nut excessively, I can get the reset to work. Is that normal and OK to use that way?

Nice to know. Just finished a Bally redo where stepper torsion springs were usually 2-3 turns at most. I’ll crank the CC units to 4 and see what happens! Just in case, are these springs available anywhere? The ones on there now seem to bee too large a diameter for the wheel shaft. I see the Bally ones offered on Pinball Resource, but never see Chicago Coin units listed anywhere.

The ends are nothing special, it’s the internal diameter, gauge of wire, and number of turns that are the issues. The one on there now is way bigger than the shaft requires.Sloppy at best.

The Sky Rider is a 4 player game with double wiper boards on the player control. I disassembled and cleaned the entire unit. The torsion spring looked to have been through the war, so I did my best to correct the ends. Vec-tor recommended a lot more turns in the spring than I had, and was used to from previously working on a Bally EM. After making 5 turns on the spring, the wheel, and both wipers, finally and completely reset as designed!

Thanks for all your input and suggestions! I think the backbox is all done. Now to reinstall the playfield and do some inevitable troubleshooting.

Sky Rider status: something seems weird in the wiring because the backbox general illumination lights are dark unless the Player Control unit is advanced to player 2 or 3! Then they are nice and bright. Some wires crossed methinks. How might I go about finding a solution to this? Checked all the solder joints on both Player Control PCBs, and all bulbs have been replaced.

This machine has never worked for me, so the previous owner could have butchered this thing. I’ll keep plugging away. I guess you fix an old Chicago Coin like you eat an elephant; one bite at at time...

Thanks! Will do! I’ll report back and let you know what I find. Appreciate your input.

Now I've developed a middle chime solenoid that’s stuck on and buzzing and the change relay is also humming and looking charred. And if that’s not enough, while it’s making noise all the remaining general illumination bulbs flicker and dim! Resistance tests out fine but she’s getting warm!

Told you I would report back on my Player Control issue, so here goes. All lamp sockets were checked and none were shorted. But it did give me the option of reflowing some questionable solders on the Player Control and backbox lighting. While the lights were on, unplugging and reinserting the far right jones plug woke up all the questionable lighting. I will not pretend to explain or even understand the bizarre GI behavior, but all is now well. Thanks for all the input everyone!