This is a helluva find! Wow.

My ringer/bell hasn't worked since I got the game. Is there something specific I should be looking for? I'll take it apart once this tournament I'm hosting is over, but from the last time I was in there a visual inspection didn't show anything obvious like a broken wire or hammer fallen off the coil.

Diner has a ringer or bell ? Where is it ? I don't think mine has one.

Derp. That’s what I get for trying to do two things at once. Off to the Taxi thread I go.

Still stumped as to why the ball can go under the left ramp, pause, and then register as a drain. Just went into switch test and clicked that switch ~50 times and it registered as the proper switch each time.

my impression is microswitches do not always just fail suddenly, but that it is a slow process. In some cases it‘s best just to replace the switch (assuming the obvious things have already been checked).

btw - I‘m still not clear what you meant with bell or ringer in your previous post.

I had the switch in the cup fail in a similar way. As you know finally getting the ball swirling around should be met with cool sounds and a good score. In mine I could test it manually fine but the ball speed seemed to make it random. Finally switched it out and problem solved. Just need to get better at playing now.

What setting do people use for the outlane spacing? I swear this game dumps more unsaveable balls into the outlanes than any other. I have never narrowed the outlane spacing on any game but on this game I am tempted. I find ball control after ricocheting off the sling shots really tough on Diner and I lose many balls into the outlanes from that alone. This game is hard.

I agree, but the outhole switch is not on the same row or column as the lock, or lower left kickout, or whatever they want to call it. If the switch is failing, why wouldn't it just not register and then have to wait for a ball search?

I agree, registering as a drain is pretty weird.

If it's in fact true that all your hardware checks out good, its likely that you have a logic glitch. Most of those issues are resolved with a simple RAM clear... Turn off, unplug, pull batteries, wait 2-3 mins, reinsert batteries, plug in, turn on, re-adjust settings.

That would be very interesting indeed. I'll have to jot down my settings and do this next time I'm at the location.

Hello All,

If anyone here in the group has time to confirm the wiring connections on the center 3 bank drop target assembly I would greatly appreciate it. I see my connection has been changed. My issue is that I am unable to get the hotdog switch to be recognized when the target drops in test or play, all other switches work. Either I have an opto out on the board or the wiring on the connection is wrong. Opto board has no cold solder joints.

Any ideas or a pic of a wiring harness on a working center 3 bank drop target may help.

Thank you in advance.

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Here's mine.

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Thank you so much. Gives me something to compare. GREATLY Appreciated!!!!!

What sort of extra ball settings are people using? I like to set a scoring threshold where I get an extra ball, the manual seems to say 6,000,000. I would like to have more than one level but my Diner at least will not allow anything larger than 9,800,000 and having that and 4,900,000 seems like it makes the game too easy.

I just got my first pinball machine, Diner, and I am loving it and will have lot of questions. First, when I make the cup shot, it only seems to register a score with every 2nd revolution around the cup. So the first will get 250k, 3rd 500k, 5th 750k etc. I have tried activating the switch manually and it does the same thing, every 2nd switch closing does not advance the score. Is this normal? Also, I see the sometimes the "extra ball" is lit in one of the out lanes but I have not figured out what does it, any ideas? Thanks.

I have the same issue as #1, did anyone reply with ideas? #4 - my play field can rotate to just over 90 degrees and there is a stop on each side of the cabinet that stops it from resting on the backbox. Thanks.

It is supposed to score like that. You will notice that after 2,500,000 it will score on every turn until a maximum of 3,500,000.

great first game.

I have noticed that the E-A-T lights above the cup are only working intermittently on my machine. If I reach behind and jiggle the connector on the board that mounts the lights they will come on but after a bit of play time they are out again. Can anyone advise how to get at that circuit board? It seems like I will have to take a ton of stuff off the play field to get at it.

Tip the playfield up vertical, lift the playfield up out of the slots and sit it back down on the back of the slotted brackets. You can then lower it down but now the playfield can be slid forward another 6" or so when it is lowered. There is a light or two you have to watch when you do slide it forward. Then the back panel is quite a bit more accessible.

The non-obvious part is how to lift the playfield. I stand in front of the machine elbows on the side rails. I pry upward with my arms to lift it.

once you can remove that board, just need to reflow solder on those male pins most likely.

Thanks guys! My first successful solder job! The connector had been torqued and broken the pins free from the solder. Reflowed them and it works perfectly. Cheers!

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after i figured out you have to tin your tip, soldering became pretty easy .

This morning I broke the wire gate above the spinner. I checked the manual and it refers to part number 12-6924 but the wire that broke looks different from the photo on marcospecialties.com, see photos. Mine had one "loop", the marco photo shows two. Can anyone confirm which one is correct? Also, how the heck do I get at this thing to replace it as it is buried under a ton of stuff? Thanks.

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Ok, my observant son pointed out that I was looking at the wrong gate in the manual, it is 12-6565 and the picture matches the wire so that answers question 1. Question 2 still holds - how do I get at this gate?

That is a tough one to get to, you have to remove the ramp which is pretty tangled up with the cup. My machine came with it missing, I cloned the one on the left side which a mirror image. I just used piano wire and pliers.

Thanks for the insight. Once I figured out how to release the cup diverter from the solenoid that drives it I was able to get the ramp off. Conveniently a bicycle spoke is the perfect wire gauge and I was able to Mcgyver a new one that seems to work perfectly.

I am cleaning up the clock on my machine and I am wondering about the start position and how to adjust it. When I start a new game the hand is at about 1:20, I'm guessing it should be at 1:00? To adjust I see a set screw on holding the clock face to the stepper motor shaft, can anyone advise how to set the position properly or adjust it? I see the flag for the opto but it is fixed in relation to the clock hands so I don't know moving the clock on the shaft will make any difference as I expect it is the opto that sets the position? The notch on the clock face sticker is aligned with the notch on the wheel. Thanks.

Anyone know where i can get a repro cabinet for Diner? I just picked one up and the cabinet is shot.

Thanks

I asked above but I think it got lost in the noise. What score setting do people use for getting a free ball. I would like to get more than one free ball based on score but everything has to fit underneath 9,800,000 which is low.

Your assumptions are correct. The hand will never hit every hour dead perfect, but if the hand is equally off on each number, the only way to adjust the clock hand to the backglass is to remove, rotate and remount the entire clock assembly on the insert panel. And there is only a very tiny amount of room to move it.

Anyone have a U42 PIA failure on their Diner? I just did and would appreciate some advice troubleshooting it. I can't imagine it is related but we had some new circuits ran for the machines and it threw it upon restart.

Some friends of mine asked if I could make one Diner plastic for the , this one. I have a couple extras. They’re not perfect but they’d look way better than one that is beat to pieces which I’m told these often are. I can do $12 each shipped in the US for them.

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PM sent

Freeplay40 announced that he is asking anyone interested in buying a repro diner lift ramp to tell him in the below forum. For those that aren’t aware of Mark (freeplay40), he makes reproduction ramps for the pinball community.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/freeplay40-ramps/page/49#post-4468541

I replaced my display board with an X-pin. Any input on what a non-working original display should be listed for in the marketplace?

I can't seem to understand how to get into lamp or solenoid manual diagnostics. I can get into auto burn in. What am I missing?

Sweet. It looks like Diner pf has graduated from the preorder list, and is now being made.

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Now we just need the coffee cup to be re-run. Or if anyone has a spare, let me know.

Wow, that's great news! Considering it's been quite a long time spent on the "gathering interest" stage.

Hello fellow Diner owners, I’m looking for a little bit of help. You can see from the two photos of my ramp that the flexible hinge was repaired; and although functional, it is kind of cobbled together. So I would like to restore it back to one piece of spring steel sheet and riveted, but I don’t have any drawings or a reference to compare against.
Would you be able to help me by providing dimensions of the overall length of the spring steel strip, and the hole to hole spacing (or the distance between bracket and ramp)?

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I recently made a new one from blue spring steel. I don't have any pictures handy though. Your patched version is the right size, you really only need it to rivet to the flap, the bracket and extend a short way into the plastic ball trough/ramp. I madde mine with scissors and riveted it in place. I used the scissors to round the corners like the original. You can do all that, leave the ramp end a bit long and trim it to size while test fitting it.

Hi BJM-Maxx, Thank you for the response, especially your advice to leave the ramp end long and then trim after a test fit.

I should let y’all know that I got a drawing for the spring steel part off of the Freeplay40 Ramps thread. In case anyone is interested...

I picked up a Diner that I am looking to restore. The cabinet is completely shot. Does anyone know if there is another Pinball machine cabinet I can use as a donor cabinet to replace my damaged one. Were there other Williams Pinballs that used the same base cabinet?

Thanks

Any Williams System 11C game cabinet will work (Rollergames, for example).

I’m installing plastics, and there is a plastic that I don’t know where it goes. Does anyone recognize this plastic part?

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It goes:
just to the left of the cup,
behind the ramp,
underneath the plastic that says "sorry the diner is always open"

It is oriented with the large notch pointed towards the backbox.