I got this DIY claw machine kit some years ago. Today the claw coil started firing as soon as the power comes on and never shuts off. I tested the serial port pins that lead to the claw coil on the board and they read 51 volts, so the problem must be on the board somewhere. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with all of these components to guess with any more precision where it must be shorting or failing. Does anyone have any idea what I might need to do to fix it so that the claw coil only fires when it's supposed to?

I really want to avoid buying a replacement board.

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Thanks. It does look like it's shorted so I guess I'll try to replace it. I don't know what would have caused it to short. Do these things just give out sometimes?

Thanks. That's a good question. I tried testing some of the diodes on the board and it looks like the two pictured here have the correct voltage going forward, but more voltage going the wrong way (0.6v VS a little over 1v on the meter). So that means these are shorted? How can I find out what kind of diode I need to replace them?

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I got a new transistor on ebay and swapped it in. It seems to be working OK now. Thanks for your help!