First time ever seeing or working on a bingo machine. Looking for information on the startup sequence for the machine to get it to the point of ready to accept coins. Right now as soon as you power it up it kicks a ball to the shooter lane and the shutter opens so the balls just go round and round.

I am familiar with EM pinballs, reading and following EM schematics and am pretty good with all things electrical, mechanical.

Any input as to where to find information for operation of the machine is appreciated.

Thanks for the information. When does the relay bank motor run, if ever? I have not seen mine turn at all. I am usually stuck with tilt on and the tilt relay is tripped so the machine won't do anything. If I manually reset the tilt relay then I can get the machine to do a little but I don't know if it is right or wrong. Should the anti-cheat relay be energized?

More questions! Is there an easy way to troubleshoot this thing? How do you have the playfiels up and cycle things without the balls shooting out and banging around in the bottom of the game? Are the slam switches and the plum bob tilt switch shown on the schematic? Is the red start button to use credits on the credit meter? I have lots of questions and figuring out some of them but it is complex, and I haven't even gotten to the playing and scoring stuff yet! Fun stuff, I am having a blast with this.

Thank you @binbopodcast, that is the type of information I was looking for as I learn how these games work. The relay bank shaft was seized up. Had to remove the relays, lubricate the top shaft bearing and move it manually for awhile to get it loosed up. Put the relays back on and it works nice and smooth now.

I don't get the anti-cheat relay to pick by itself now so I am tracking that down. Only 3 switches so it shouldn't be too hard, but it always is . Even when I trip the anti-cheat relay manually I can't coin up so there are other problems.

Sooooo....now I get nothing when I turn it on. Tilt light is on, anti-cheat relay energized. Replay meter has some replays on it but they do not reset like it was before. Does not do anything with the red replay button or coin switch. Seems like I keep going around in circles.

Is there a particular state the control unit cams have to be in or does the machine reset itself to a known state?

What is the key thing for and how does that come into play? How does it need to be set for normal play? I did not have a key for it so I replaced the lock and set it like before. Before the lock actuator was not pushing on the switch stack and it seems like it should since when you move the switch clockwise it actuate the EOS switch. Speaking of which someone had removed the brown wire from the EOS switch, cut the green/yellow wire in half and connected the brown wire to one side of the cut green/yellow wire. In the head the brown wire had been moved. I pot the wires back the way they were supposed to be and can now add credits with the key but was wondering if there are any other modifications that may have been done in conjunction with what I have already reversed that I may have missed. Not sure what it was all about but supposed it was for free play?

Thanks @mrbally, I have the instruction manual and the schematic. I am quiet familiar with analog computers as I worked on industrial control system back in the 70s where there were 3and4 bays full of 110volt Allen-Bradley relays. I got to the point I could troubleshoot it just by listening to the relays. But by then I had spent every day for 3 years trouble shooting them and knew what they were supposed to do. This is only my second night with a bingo machine and I am learning and very appreciative to all you folks patient enough to answer newbie questions. I do have to get a bigger schematic since my old eyes have a hard time reading the little one I have.

I found the initial startup problem! The switch on cam 5 of the cu was not making contact and passing 50 volts on the the rest of the machine. It now coins up and plays but only card 1 is lit and it doesn't pay on a winner. Some of the hole swirches light more than 1 number and a couple don't light any. I am slowly learning and figuring it out. Any tips are welcomed.

Thanks again for the explanation of the kum-back switch. Makes perfect sense when you know what it is for. I finally got that wiring returned to normal and it works correctly.

Learning this stuff all over again that I did for a living 40 years ago is fun. I am retiring at the end of April and will be glad to be done with the computer systems of the last 20 years. I have a stack of binges and em pinball machines to get going!

The Dixieland has cleaned up really nice. The instruction card were chewed up so I have to get some reproductions but the wood trim is nice.

Good for you! I worked for a company call Industrial Nucleonics, later changed to AccuRay. Used radioactive sources to measure weight of paper as it is made on paper machines, among other things. Went to work for a paper mill in 1986 and been there ever since. Was going to retire last year but stayed on to help with some new tracking system installations.

I enjoy working on the early solid state pinball machines since they use the same 1970s electronics that I learned in tech school, but the old em stuff is what I cut my teeth on when I started my career and it is what I enjoy the most.

Thanks bingopodcast . The multiple lights are where a ball in # 1 hole will light 1, 6 and 9 lights. I think I got that narrowed down to the search disk not stopping on the rivets properly. I tried adjusting the stop relay like the one beside but it is as far as it will go and it just barely stops where I want it. Have not looked in the manual yet, does it show the home positions for the wipers?

Working on the feature select right, does not seem to step up with coin. I can manually actuate the selenoid and it lights properly on the backglass. I visually checked it as you just suggested and did not see anything obvious. Will try to watch it as a coin is deposited to see if it tries at all.

Exactly what I have been doing. The disk giving me problems just doesn't quite have enough adjustment. I got it working for now but it won't be reliable and it doesn't seat clear down into the notch so I'm afraid it will chew up the boars after some time.

Got the feature selection working, another dirty switch on cam #5. Normally on EMs I will just go through and clean/check/adjust all contacts before I turn it on but for this I wanted some problems so I could troubleshoot and get familiar with a bingo.

Thanks, I may have to go that route if what I did doesn't hold up. I put the bolt in the first hole and through to the back plate and put the back bolt through just the bracket so the back of the relay sits on top of the bolt, then pushed the front of the relay up as high and forward as it would go and tightened it up good. Had really good alignment on the rivets. We will see how that holds up.

Got the game going up to the scoring part. Not sure about the searching stuff, just doesn't seem quiet right. The last game I played I put the balls in the holes so I would have 5 across. After 5 balls I pushed the C button and it did it's search and gave me 2 credits. It then clicked a relay 4 or 5 times and quit but wouldn't start another game. I could keep pushing the C button and it would do the search again but not give any more credits Just keeps doing that over and over. Something not right with the end game. I'll investigate that tomorrow.

BTW - Is there an easy way to remove and get the stepper plates in a good position for a decent scrub down?

Thanks for the details bingopodcast , I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I think I will get it running as well as possible before I start tearing into the search units. This looks like it might have been gone through before in the past so maybe I can hold off of full disassembly, just clean what I can get to easily.

I have a Tahiti machine to work on next and it looks like I may have to try the full disassembly on that.

I use Blue Magic polish to clean discs and pretty much all metal parts. Slight abrasive plus chemical reaction really makes parts shine and after rubbing it out leaves a protective coat that keeps the parts clear and shiny for a long time. Cleans pretty quickly too. I hand polish bolts, screws, nuts and most small parts with it by hand. Much quicker than a tumbler, used to use the tumbler a lot but not anymore. You do want to use rubber gloves and not breathe the stuff but overall the best solution I have found for polishing up parts.

I may have found some of the issue with search and scoring. The relays at the very top left side of the back door are completely seized up, the plastic ladder won't budge at all. The 2 top ones had something dripping on theM and created a bunch of rust. Same thing that seized up the relay bank reset shaft that I found yesterday. I will pull those out today and get them cleaned up and working and see how much it helps.

I will try to post some pictures later so you can see the machine and see what you think of it.

No spare Tahiti parts that I know of. A friend bought a number of bingo games on the cheap, something like $25 per game. There was the Tahiti, 2 Dixielands and I think 3 others but I don't remember the names. There are in storage close to where I live. I can go get the names of them tomorrow and let you know what they are, maybe parts from one of them will work for what you need. He gave me the Dixielands and he wants me to get the Tahiti working for him and has no interest in the others. One is for sure a parts machine, broke up cabinet, smashed backglass and in general just trashed.

Can't get the game to do anything now. Just what to confirm I'm not trying to fix what is not broken. The random motor/disc runs all the time, is it supposed to? The wiper search relay is energized. That doesn't seem correct. The search disc cam switch is open but still has zero ohms across it. When I power up the machine nothing happens except the random motor runs, and the control motor runs and the motor for the 2 search unit on the back door runs. Tilt light is on and no response from coin or start button.

What am I looking for?

Thank you bingopodcast . I am still trying to figure out how to upload pictures. My old iPad 1 doesn't want to connect to my mail account to get pictures from my phone so I will try figuring that out shortly. In the meantime .....

The problem was on search disk 3. That is the one I fussed around with trying to get adjusted. I was adjusting it to stop on the same rivets as #2, I did, but did not notice that then the index switch was then not on the pin and open. I adjusted it back so when the relay plate is in the notch the index switch is open. But now I am back to the issue of the hole switches lighting multiple hole lights, a ball in hole 1 will light 1 and 6 and 9 lights and it scores accordingly. So my question is: what is the correct alignment for the fingers for each search disk?

I will do that again and list them out. I did not see in the manual where the home position is, I am probably just missing it and I don't see any marks on the disks themselves, again probably missing it since I don't know what I am looking for.

The games I have in storage are Golden Gate and Venice. Venice is the one really busted up. Golden Gate looks like it may live again.

I am totally lost on figuring out the search disks and where the home positions is suppose to be. I did figure out the the numbers stamped in the Bakelite are the positions that are in the manual and when looking at the rivet side where the numbers are marked you count counter clockwise and the drawings in the manual are the wire side. That was not all that obvious to me..

Jones plugs look okay. I did not buzz them out but inspected them and did not see any shorts. I have cleaned them before and them nice and snug. Did not see any wires off in the female side and all the sockets look good.

The light test results:

All okay, only lighting the light it is suppose to on all cards are; 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22 and 24

19 is probably okay also but it didn't light on card 4, may be a bad bulb.

18 does not light on cards 1, 2 and 3 but does light on 4, 5 and 6.

1 lights 1, 6 and 9 on all cards.
6 lights 1, 6 and 9 on all cards.
9 lights 1, 6 and 9 on all cards.

3 lights 3 and 5 on cards 1, 2 and 3
3 lights 3, 4 and 5 on cards 4, 5 and 6

4 lights 3 and 5 on cards 1, 2 and 3
4 lights 3, 4 and 5 on cards 4, 5 and 6

5 lights 3 and 5 on cards 1, 2 and 3
5 lights 3, 4 and 5 on cards 4, 5 and 6

23 lights 23 and 25 on all cards
25 lights 23 and 25 on all cards

18 does not light anything on cards 1,2 and 3
18 lights 18 on cards 4, 5 ans 6

The second switch (bottom of hole) for 1, 7, 9, 22 and 25 do not light anything.

A simple question - the manual says the card lights are 17 volt and that is what the schematic shows. I cleaned and checked all the bulbs a couple of days ago before I turned the machine on and they were all #44, #47 and #55s. I replaced all bulbs with #47s and the lights in the cards show up okay. I checked the voltage across lit ones and it is 6.3 volts.

So do people re-wire the games to use all the same bulbs? What was the purpose of having the card lights different? Was it just so they would be brighter or last longer and not burn out as quick?

Thanks. I will work on getting pictures posted now. I'll tahe the shutter bord off and check again. I've had it off a number of times already. Had to fix a couple of solder connections on the plates for the common wires since someone in the past had not done a good repair job.

I am slowly figuring out how this all fits together and works. Many thanks to you for helping me out, I know I ask a lot of questions and I am keen on details.

Not sure what angle you need. Let me know if these are not suffient.

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Still do not understand when you say one of the rivets is marked. Marked how?

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So what it looks like to me is the disk for cards 3 & 4 is one off. It is sitting on 48 which is in circuit. 49 & 50 are unused so the home needs to be on one of those, the other 2 are on 49. Of course it is the hardest to get to the screws to adjust the position of the relay . I ave it set, just need to tightened it down good. In the meantime I will finish testing all the switches since I have the shuttle off.

Switches are fine. Unplugged the playfield Jones plugs and buzzed everything out and nothing shorted and all switches work well.

Got disk 2 adjusted and tightened down. Did not help at all, still the same issue, maybe a few more now. Back to thinking about it some more and studying the manual and schematic.

That is what I thought also but I don't think I have enough adjustment to get them there. I looker closer on disk 1 (cu one) and saw it was on 48 which is in circuit. I adjusted it to 49 and my multiple light problem went away. It does not score correctly though. 3 in a line on single card 1 gives me 70 credits. It acts like it gives the desired 4, pauses an instant and then counts on up to 70. Still lots to do but making progress and learning.

Here it is so far. I will need to get better cards, I just put those on so I would know what it is suppose to score.

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Just noticed in the attached photo I have some multiple lights on again, rats!

I have all #47s in the game. Just wondering about why the schematic says 17 volts for the card lights but it measures 6.3 volts and #47 is a 6.3.volt lamp. Has it been rewired or is that just a mistake on the schematic and it read 7 volts.

So, one last "getting started" question and I will close this thread and open a new one as needed.

Is the search disk on the control unit (cards 1 & 2) supposed to always come to rest at it's home position? I have noticed that it does not and was wondering if that is something I need to investigate. The other 2 seem to always be in the home position and the way I read the schematic they should always be there unless they are searching.

Got it. Thanks to both of you. Strange they desined it that way but I have been around long enough and have done enough software design to know designers pretty much build onto what already exists and then you look at it from a current standpoint and wonder why in the world they did it like that

I checked my parts Dixieland in storage and all 3 of the search disks were set on 49. I fussed around with mine to get it to 50 and then realized that if I did actually get it to 50 then the index pin would not be actuating the switch so I am becoming convinced that they should be set to 49.

So I got them all on 49 okay and the lights all work correctly. The switches mounting plate has long slots so plenty of adjustment room there. Someone in the past bent the lip of the relay plate out when they were trying to get it set right. I made the slots in the relay bracket longer on number 3 so I would have enough room to adjust it but now the plate is pointed into the disk and the relay pull is not strong enough to release it from the notch so I will have to take the plate off and beat the lip back so it will slide out of the notch easily. You can see the hammer marks on it from where it has been beaten on before.

Once I get that set and working properly it will be trying to figure out why it does not score properly. I have not looked at that part of the schematic yet. It gives me between 70 and 73 credits for 3 in a line. It first pulses 4 which seems correct, pauses for and instant the continues to pulse up the credits. I hope this is an easy one to figure out. Getting close.

Scoring will have to wait a bit longer! Back to search problems. Got the 3rd disk lined up and releasing on it's own but now all the search disks get hung up in the middle of theirs scans. Bunches of relays clacking so it is hard to tell yet exactly what is going on. It was working okay before when I released the 3rd disk manually. Back to the drawing board.

Only one turns at a time. What happens is 1 starts, goes a few rivets and stops. If I push it a bit it starts again and completes the 2 starts. Some times 2 stalls and sometimes it does not. The 3 starts and sometimes it stalls and sometimes it does not. 1 stalls every time lately. All the while the relays in the 5 relay and are clattering away.

Looks like it stops on purpose, search index relay pulls in. I will watch a little closer to see if there is a winner but nothing was flashing. Does it hurt to let it sit there while I measure and see what exactly is picking it? I am only playing one card so you think I could figure out if I have a winner or not.

Thank you. It is stopping on a winner, wasn't paying attention, just wanting to them go all the way around and stop where they are suppose to. BTW - I decided it does not have to stop exactly on a rivet. As long as it is after 50 and before 48 it should be good.

So when it pays a winner, say 3 in a-line it pays the 4 credits, pauses and then continues to add credits. It keeps adding credits until something times out and it quits. That is why the disk sometimes does not get back to home. That also explains why sometimes I get 70 credits and sometimes as many as 74, just depends on the timer. Off to try to understand all those circuits. Hints welcomed

Phew, complicated and I haven't even scratched the surface. Got scoring working, at least simple stuff for card 1. Mostly dirty contacts on control unit cams. More testing.

What exactly is the reflex unit and what does it do.

Okay, thanks. Have not gotten to that scoring in my testing yet. Normal stuff looking good up to the diag. For cards 4-5-6. Pretty sure it is a dirty switch but I am trying to Learn the circuits so I am tracking it down through the schematics. Got a good idea of which one but got distracted by basketball.

Cards 1, 2 and 3 seem to work okay now for the straight lines and diagonals. Cards 4, 5 and 6 will keep adding credits and not stop. Trying to figure out how this all works but I just go in circles. Not sure yet what all controls which cards. Need to understand how the credit counters work. They all are snappy, step up manually and snap back. Cleaned then up to make sure there no carbon tracks on them. Verifying and tracing wires will take some doing.

Slip rings are okay, I keep an eye on those since I tend to bump them out of place when cleaning and adjusting things. What is the best way to watch things in the back while playing?

I'm somewhat confused on the sequence of events here. So the individual replay counters don't step up until after the replays are counted up on the repla register? Here is what I observed but I will do it a couple of more times to make I am seeing it right. I set up a 3 in a row winner on a card and push the C button. The search disks turn in sequence. When one detects the winner it stops and Reg or Double flashes. I pushy the R button and the replay register clicks up 4 replays then the replay counter disk for the card steps up one and the system is ready for another game. Once a new game is started the replay counter is reset.

So what does the replay counter do or is keeping track of if it steps up after you have been awarded the replays? Perhaps I am not seeing it correctly or I have something not working correctly. I thought the way it should work would be the search disks would scan and step up the replay counters as it found winners and when it was all done scanning then it would rack up the replays on the replay register.

I am beginning to see how it all fits together. The replay counters keep track of what has been paid as each win is paid off when found so this is the way it only pays once for the highest win per card. I was playing with card one. On a five in a row it paid 100 correctly and then for some reason put on another 12. Fun stuff to figure out.

This thing is all messed up! I have reverted back to just checking card #1. Scoring is just not correct. If I set it for 3 in a line without any magic number in the line it gives 5 credits instead of 4. If I set it for 3 in a line without magic number except 9 it gives 5 credits. If I set it for 3 in a line with 9 in the line it will give 16 credits. I am going to do a little more testing to see if I can find a common fault but I believe I will start my systematic cleaning and adjusting on all the contacts. All the relays and motors are working good so it has to be just a matter of dirty contacts or alignment.

I keep going back and forth on tearing it down. Wish there was an easy way to get to the search disks to inspect closely.

I am only playing 1 coin so I shouldn't be doubling, right? I tried the same thing on card 2 only playing 2 coins and got like 17 credits for 3 in a line. Replay steppers look to be doing what they should. For the one on card 2 only replay stepper 2 had moved and it was only 1 step so that seems correct.

So could I have clutch problems on the cu where the replay cams are not stopping like they should? I need to figure how all that works I guess.

I did buzz out some of the switches to the 5 & 6 search disk just to convince myself I was reading the schematic correctly and they were okay. It will be amazing when I figure this all out. It seems pretty complicated and over whelming when you first look at it but starts being much more simple once you start understanding how it works and what each part does.

Is there any documentation of theory of operation on these machines or detailed sequencing, something like that? Something telling you that when you push the C button such and such relay(s) energize, etc. step by step of what happens to what would be very helpful in troubleshooting. Some type of logic flow diagram? I have to write that kind of stuff all the time at work for my software programs. I write it and then never use it because I am so familiar with it that I don't need it anymore but it is really useful for someone not familiar with the program (or machine) to understand how it is supposed to operate and then determine if something is not working right and where to look.

Enough rambling, back to learning this beast!

I think I would have trouble with just one @terry1! lol.

Did some more cleaning and of course changed how things are working. 3 in a line seem to work okay on card 1 & 2 but the other cards are still messed up. I did notice when things are messed up the replay counter it is going to has the selenoid energized, which is not correct. It should just pulse right?

What is the "missed trip" relays all about? Are these for no hits on the search disks?

So how would you recommend cleaning the search disks without tearing it apart? There seems to be lots ob black drag marks between the rivets, looks to be mostly congealed grease of some kind. What do you use to clean the slip ring channels?

My hand looks like I've been picking raspberries as banged up as they are getting, lol. I think I will glue sandpaper on a stick and see if that makes reaching all the rivets easier.

I really don 't know if it is the disks causing the problem or not. Seems like something else going on. The search disc stops on a win, I push the R button and it racks up the credits, pauses, then keeps on adding credits. During that time the step up selenoid for the replay counter stays energized and never releases. So what is supposed to happen to release that? It works for cards 1& 2 so it seems like it has to do with the search disc but I don't follow the logic.

Thank you baldtwit for the detailEd description. I will check all that once I have digested it. What you describe if much what I have deduced but I am missing something. The search disk does not move after the initial credits are given. The replay counter step up stays locked on. I keep checking cam 7 but I get correct action on cards 1 & 2, the rest do as described.

Thank you both for all the help you have been assisting in learning Bingo games. I think I will like it even better if I ever get it to work! Lol

I have checked the switches on pg 10 a couple of times and they work just as described. I have taken off all the switches on top and back of the control unit, cleaned and polished then, checked the solder tabs, put them back on and checked for alignment and gaps and made sure they open and close as they are supposed too. Since it's midnight here I didn't fire it up though. Tomorrow morning I will polish the contacts on the front of the cu unit and try it out to see if anything changed.

The search disks are as clean as I can get them without taking it all apart. They all seem to operate correctly but if I still have issues tomorrow I will buzz out all the wires to make sure of the contacts. I did notice some blue sparks here and there as the disk searches, is that normal or an indication of dirty contacts?

I have inspected all the other contacts on the relays and filed them all very lightly and checked for proper operation. If it is still not working then the only thing left is to do it all again and see if I can find what I've missed.

Thanks again to all for sticking with me and helping me out. I truly appreciate it.

I have not tracked this down on the schematics yet but was wondering if anyone knows of the top of their head. Found this while cleaning switches. Is this a broken switch blade or just a tie point?
It is the bottom leaf of the switch stack of the search index coil. It has 3 orange wires on it and looks like it has been worked on before. One of the wires goes to the coil it self. Since it is a NO contact with the red and orange/black wires above it it doest not nake sense fot it to have another leaf there.

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Nevermind. I tracked it down and also verified with the ones on the other search disks, it is just a tie point for the orange wires.

Got all the switches cleaned, polished and adjusted on the control unit. Still have the same problem on cards 3, 4, 5 and 6 where the replay counter step up and selenoid locks on. The replay counter steps up once as it should and none of the others do so it is back to try and figuring out why the selenoid does not release. It is not mechanical as I cannot pull it down and release it, it has power to it. I'll have to take my colored pencils out and trace the schematic to see where it could be coming from.

Some improvement on cards 1 and 2 though. Before I would get 1 more credit than I was supposed to get, I. E. 5 instead of 4 for 3 in aline. Now I get 4. But on card 1 I get 20 credits instead of 16 for 4 in aline as the instruction card says i should get. I get 100 for 5 in aline, which according to the instructions is correct. I'll worry about the extra 5 credits later.

So I am becoming a bit more observant as I become more familiar with the game. The replay counter selenoid energizes but does not step. So perhaps it is mechanical. Will do some more checking comparing them to 1 and 2 to see if they operate the same.

I did go through all the wires on all the replay counters and verified them to the manual. Found one wire different on # 6 and moved it to match the manual.

So it is not mechanical, replay counter steo up has power holding it. Search disk does not step off winning rivets so is that the problem?

Impulse cam switch is good and works fine. All switch screws tightened and contacts checked. Cards 1and 2 score okay which leads me to believe control unit itself is okay.

Replay counter step up selenoid energizes and do not let go for #3,4,5,6.

Cleaned and checked selection disk. Did find a problem with it and corrected but it did not solve issue.

I am not liking bongos so much anymore, Lol

Thanks for the help and hints.

1. Yes, only the replay counter for the winning card is sticking and only the search disk for that card is powered.
2. That is correct. Pays 4, a pause and then takes off. I have noticed that the pause is not consistnt, sometimes it is quiet noticeable and other times it is just a slight hesitation.

The replay counter step up selenoid stays energized and vibrating/buzzing not allowing the plunger to fall and completing the step. I just pull it down to go on. All 6 of the replay counters have 6 or 7 large washers on the plunger to help them fall down which with power off and manually actuating them they work smooth.

I'll try the finger in the hole tomorrow.

I forgot to answer your other questions. Yes, I have checked Cam index switch A several times but will check again.
Yes, I understand the note, it is a self hold contact until something else happens. But if that was holding too long why does 1and2 work? I guess I have not grasped exactly how it counts. I thought it was from cams on the cu but have not figured out what breaks the circuit after 4.

Thank you for the detailed description of hw this works and possible causes of the problem. I will try those things tonight since I actually have to go and do my normal job today

I wii look closer at the gaps as you and MrBally suggest. I probably do have them set closer than they need to be.

I have ran out of time tonight to get everything tested. I did chech the cu switches and all seem to be working as they should. Checked search discs for cards 3 & 4 again and it seems to be okay.

I would like to understand the exact sequence/operation of the replay counters and the purpose of the wieghts on the step-up plungers. I've observed a couple of different behaviors in them but I don't know what is correct and what isn't.

Hat I thought should be happening is when the search disks find a winner they stop and power should be going through to the replay counter and energize the step up coil and the as the cam comes around on the correct replay cam on the control unit power is interrupted, the replay counter step-coil is released and the plunger drops down stepping up the counter and moving it off the powered trace while at the same time the search wipers are released thus removing power from the replay counter step-up via the search.

What I see happening is that power is applied to the step-up but the plunger does not get pulled in, just sits there vibrating a little. Just the slightest push up on the washers allows the plunger to pull in and things progress as I thought they should as described above. So my question is should the plunger pull all the way in when power is applied through the search relay or are the washer weights there to provide resistance enough until something else happens to overcome the weight? That makes no sense to me but I've never seen one of these games work so I don't know what operation to expect.

Maybe I'm not getting full power to the selenoid through the search disk or maybe I have weak coils. I did clean the tilt trip contacts but that did not help.

So some testing it is back to what it was doing before where the step-up coil pulls the plunger in and I get 4 credits, pauses and the adds credits continuously. There is power still applied to the step up so I need to find out why. Seems like a chicken and the egg thing. If the cams break power but the search wipers haven't moved then I get what I am seeing so it has to be either bacdoor power through the search disk or a timing thin that only affects 3, 4, 5 and 6 and not 1 and 2.

Drinking my coffee now, and yes, I understood pretty much all of it. I had pretty much figured what you described but there were a couple of things you pointed out that I had not realized and will need to check. Thank you for the detail. I know it took some time to do it and I appreciate it. I use colored pencils on my schematic but that gets messy. I need to find a schematic I can blow u and print. I have a .png one but have not figured out how to print it large in Windows.

The other part of the circuit I do not completely understand yet is how the 5 search relays are picked by the search disks. They pick and drop and clatter while the search disc is spinning. I assume that is normal. I understand the logic with the contacts themselves just not what rivets on the search disk that activates their coils.

Thanks again for your detailed description, exactly what I needed.

I will double check the home position for 1 & 2, it should be 49 but I have looked at these so much I could be just assuming. Slip rings are okay, I look at those every time I fiddle with something because I tend to bump them out of position.

All 3 search disks home positions is 49. Slip rings are in correct positions.

Okay, I need to know how I get the wipers home position to be 50 then. bingopodcast had told me that before but there just is not enough play in the bracket slots to get them there and I did not understand the significance of the other 2 wipers on the back that I never see, now I know. Is there a trick to it that I am missing?

I found a free on-line convert to go from .png to .jpg which worked great then used Adobe to print it out at 500% over 12 11"x17" sheets, taped them together and now I have a huge schematic that my old eyes can see.

Could someone post a picture? I have fiddled with thesr enough and there is no room to adjust them to 50, or perhaps I don't really know where 50 is. I have filed the slots in the brackets to be as large as possible and still barely get to 49.

Thanks all. It is interesting that when I got the machine 1 was on 49 and 2 and 3 on 48. So just some fast fiddling before I had to leave and I think I can get 1 to 50 with just a little bit fuss. 2 and 3 are a different story, they are going to take some work. 3 is the worst both they both have some slop in them. When the disk with the cam locks you can move the wiper arms almost another full rivet, 2 has about half that slop. So, it looks to be a job to get to the inner part to see if tighening screws will fix it or if there is something else going on. Not sure I really want to disassemble the whole thing.

My disks don't have dots, just the 0, 5, 10, etc. marks around it. I was sure of the 50 but a little baffled by not being able to adjust to it.

Thanks to all of you, finally have Dixieland scoring correctly for regular win! Getting search disk to 50 for home position did the trick. I ended up taking the whole thing apart so I could polish the disk good and get to the relay. Enlarged the holes in the relay latch bracket to give more room for adjustment. Put it back together only yo find I had the latch cam 90 degrees off. Took apart, fixed that and put together only to find I now had the index pin on cam 11 off so took it apart again, fixed that and put it back together only to find I had something else wrong so took it apart again fixed that but broke a wire off for one of the wipers so fixed that and put it all back together and finally got it correct. Whew, that was fun, lol.

Still have search disk 2 and 3 sitting on 49, I just cannot get enough adjustment to get them to 50 no matter how big I make the adjustment slots in the bracket. But all disks score correctly for a regular win for 3, 4 and 5 in a row. Magic number works okay also.

The D button does nothing so that is what I will investigate next. Also try to figure out what lights the 4 corner light and when.

Thanks again for everyone's help. I have learned a great deal from you and I appreciate it all.

Duh, 4 corners lit by the rollover button. That works too.

Thanks for the info. I don't think I will be bored for a couple years with the 3 bongos and 30 some pinballs to get going but would like to help out. Now that Dixieland is working I am just going to do a little more testing and then button it up and play it awhile.

I do have a second Dixieland in storage though. Have not yet decided to dig it out and get it going or just keep it for parts. I could take the disks off that and take pictures if that would be any help to anyone.

The double not working issue was simply the regular button was not adjusted correctly and the NC contact on it was open. Adjusted that and it works fine, although it doesn't pay the double very often so far, lol.

I only have 3 more working days left before retirement and those are in the middle of April so I can grab the disks just about anytime. I will try to get that done next week.

So what is the best way to get the pictures to you? I took a number of photos hi-res. BTW, the spaghetti wiring is a mess, I tried moving some around but it is just a big mass, I am sure you will have questions and need some verification so I left it all apart.