Speaking of number plates look who I have to work with...

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What was he thinking?!?! You can't tow a Dalek with a Class-2 Hitch!

Sheesh!
faz

I'm wondering if someone in this club could help me out? I recently disassembled and reassembled my Dr. Who for a restore. When I put it back together it now keeps instantly blowing fuses F106 & F110 and giving me a message on the DMD "check switch mini opto 5 bank 71, check switch mini opto 5 bank 72, check switch mini opto 5 bank 74, check switch mini opto 5 bank 75". Does anyone know what I've done and how I can fix it? Thank you so much for your help.

The opto error messages are referring to the bank of 5 round targets in level 2 of the Time Expander. Off-hand I'm not sure if that correlates to your fuse issues or not.

As for the 5-bank, there are two optical LED sensor boards, each with 5 LEDs. One is the transmitter and the other is the receiver; the switches themselves break the signal between them. It's common for these to fail but often the fix is as simple as reflowing the solder on the LEDs (I've had to do this on mine). Curious that your #73 opto did not flag an error, so hopefully that's a sign that your boards and connections are good and you just need to dial-in the other sensors. Did you have all this apart when you restored your machine? Maybe some of the LEDs flexed and broke some cold (aged) solder joints.

If you didn't have it all apart then, removing the 5-bank for service is not terribly difficult, but it does take several minutes. You don't need to remove the entire time expander but you do need to be careful.

Thank you so much for the response! A quick update. I reflowed the solder to all the wires and optos on the 5 bank opto boards on the mini playfield and I still get the errors. It's actually switches 72, 73, 74, and 75

tech question for you guys: what would cause the multiball mode to almost immediately complete at the start of multiball. Sometimes it goes straight into the second jackpot wave or even 2x and goes to Davros.

I should add that it doesnt do this all the time and the optos seem OK in switch test being normally open and non of the switches stick.

Hi, newcomer here. I've got my fourth pin machine in the presence of Dr who.
I'm working on it to get the mini play field working. I've fixed the gearbox but I'm still facing a canting issue. The left side of the MPF does not raise as fast and smooth as the right one. Therefore, when it goes up, it gets stuck and the motor is forcing..
I've seen the addendum but did not get totally the c-clamp things. Can anyone advice me about that?

Thanks

Have you gone into the switch test menu to see what the opto switches are doing on the time expander? Could be one or both of the lock saucers having opto issues (I had a problem like this on one of my DW's that I've had).

I think most of us here have benefited from Pinsider "pinball_faz" document titled "The Doctor Who Mini-Playfield". His last post in this thread is #1102 above. You can either search on his posts to find the link to his document, or PM him if he doesn't reply to you first. Using his document as well as the Mini-playfield Cant addendum should help you see what needs to be done. Essentially, the main support bracket should be squared-up in all directions. You can adjust the position by first loosening the 2 screws on the Adjusting Bar that have the slightly elongated holes on the same side. Next place a single large C-clamp or woodworkers clamp across the vertical arms of the Support Bracket to bring the arms into a straight up and down position and then tighten the Adjusting Bar screws you loosened previously to hold it all in place. The goal is to have straight parallel tracks for the rollers to follow and be tight enough to eliminate play, but not so tight that you prevent smooth travel. Good luck. As others have said, you are still a Dr Who newbie until you've removed the MPF at least 100 times.

Thanks Herm!

Here's the link to my white paper.... see the link at the bottom of the website.

https://sites.google.com/site/pinballfaz/

The canting procedure is here:
http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/738/Bally_1992_11_04_Doctor_Who_Manual_Amendment.pdf

How about some photos/videos of the issue?
faz

I've already unmounted the play field three time.
The issue is quite hard to catch in a movie as the MPF is going smoothly when unmounted.
When I putted it back , the MPF was working flawlessly, I made one full game with no issue(I love that pinball! The gameplay rocks)
Then suddenly, when moving up, I saw that the left side was going slower, like a bit stuck. And with the motor pushing strong, that went to hard pressure and my gearbox fixing broke.
Since, I've found a way to fix it better but I'm a bit worried to have the MPF stuck again while moving and something would break definitely..

THAT is "the" problem for this mechanism. If the assembly gets loose, it can catch on something then: Grrrrerrrerch (tech term).

Can you please restate what was happening and what is still happening? I'm confusing the story. Is the catch resolved?

First... Is the mini-playfield moving up/down 100% free (no catching at all)?
Next... is the gear box in good shape?? What "broke" and how did you "fix" it?

faz

Thanks faz , I appreciate your involvement in this issue
My gearbox had the classical disease of Dr who, with the biggest gear no longer able to rotate the shaft.
I've drilled through the ring , the shaft and the gear, and fixed the whole thing with screws.
Now, the motor turns perfectly the shaft even with a strong resistance, it's really OK.

But the MPF is not smooth. It's catching the guide on the left. I bet that is also a common issue, as they wrote this addendum, but it don't get its substance.
What is the role of the wooden piece or the c-clamp, what do we want to achieve at the end?

Edit, if I'm correct, the idea is to get the outside guide more close to the bearings, that's the idea?

Hey, you handled a very tough fix. Drilling the gearbox and putting in a set screw on that collar is not for the weak hearted!

Nice Job!

Using the clamps is to alter the shape of the bracket while the adjustment brace is loose. You can also rehape the sides of the bracket if they are starting to splay.

If the bracket does not move smoothly up and down something is wrong.

I recommend you pull the MPF out;
Inspect the components, make sure all the brackets are there. Some people hack the rollers with washers (not optimal). And, or the rollers are not mounted properly.
Get some photos of all four of the side rollers and the roller contact from the cam. We're looking for any "chew" marks in the brackets / rollers. Weird warps in the brackets too.

If it passes the visual inspection, I'd like to see you gently clamp the base of the bracket in a bench vice;
hook a power source to the motor (12V -20V DC wall wart works well.)... I like 12V because it does not move as fast.
get some movies of the action up/down.... without the optos working, it will just pump up / down... it's really good to diagnose bracket issues like this

faz

Thanks a lot for your reply, in fact i've spent my all night doing exactly that

My issue is indeed linked to a not perfect alignment of the vertical parts when moving up.
I made a lot of cleaning and the old grease was dry as sand, which could be a good reason why my brackets kept scratching during the moving up.
I made a lot of trials and i thought i was ok after minutes of seeing my brackets moving up and down smoothly.
But when i put it back with the mini playfield, this was not that much better..
this issue is tricky to fix..

Meanwhile, i'll also ask a colleague of mine to solder the gears to the shaft, to ensure that the gearbox is definitively rock-solid.

Holidays are coming and i won't be there to fix it before, but i hope to make it working in september..

EDIT : i'm using a 9V battery MN1604, perfect for this work

Hello, 422 million is my first high score !
I finally managed to fix the time expander.
A full cleaning with acetone and a good lithium grease helped a lot.
My gearbox is safer now with a big layer of cold solder and the playfield goes perfectly well

I am happy !!

I just got a doctor who recently and put an alternate translite on it. Looks great lit up.

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Wow! I don't think I've seen that one before. Looks great!

Fits the theme much better than the production translight.... even though I can tell those are Peter Capaldi's eyes

faz

Cool alt translight! Where is it from?

And if we're really picky that is eccleston and tennants tardis aswell as the design of the daleks. Yet the only thing correct to the period is davros(unsure can't tell), the logo and the shuttle (which I can't remeber what type and the episode origin). Plus I can tell the translite is photoshopped onto the machine due to the reflection on the playfield glass shows the original translite

Does it come with an alternative insert-board ? Doctor Who has a great GI lightshow on its logo.
the-doctor-has-escaped.gif

insert-board:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/doctor-who-general-illumination-memo#post-1281347

Just joined the club The good Doctors should be with me on Tuesday

Great, you'll enjoy!
I initially got mine to exchange quickly with a RFM.
Finally, i'm keeping my doc

Just joined the club today. Nice example.

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I just joined the DW owners club, this past weekend. Took me 5 years to find/buy one. Prototype game with the original working moving Dalek topper. Very happy with the machine and in excellent condition (typical cabinet fade). Photo shows the original prototype Dalek boards.

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Hi everyone.

I am currently shopping out a DW machine whose Dalek topper was vandalised. The plastic dome is destroyed, the Dalek's entire head is missing, but the lower half of the body and the flasher assembly are still intact. I'm thinking of replacing the whole thing with another Dalek toy from somewhere else but have not been able to find one the right size.

If anyone could suggest a replacement, I'd appreciate it!

Thought I should mention these here. After being very impressed with my White Water decals from Retro Refurbs I ordered a bunch of other stuff from them and they just came. Here are the Doctor Who cabinet decals:

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Do you use the wet or dry method when putting on decals?

Dry. Always dry. The wet method is stupidity.

Yeah, dry. I did wet once, the first time I ever did decals, and swore I'd never do it again. Too many things can go wrong with wet. If your cabinet is not perfectly sealed, some fluid can get in and raise the wood grain under your decals, which is not good. Especially if you've blocked and sanded your cabinet nice and flat. There's some good videos on Youtube that have been mentioned here and on RGP that shows some good dry methods. It's actually pretty easy. It's the prep work to get a nice and smooth cabinet that's the more time consuming part, but worth it.

Yep! All about the prep. Something really handy that I discovered is after you've sanded the cabinet silky smooth, spray a coat of filler primer. It's thicker than regular primer but once you sand it the cabinet will be glass smooth.

I prefer that to decals straight on wood.

I picked up a doctor who in a trade recently. It was a basket case. Located a topper and a new set of boards. Been working on it off and on over the last couple of days. I had to repin about ten connectors. It is pretty faded but should be a pretty nice player when done. I'm sure I'll be needing a ton of tech advice dialing this thing in as I go.

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It's time I joined the club. Looking for a nice Doctor Who in NJ, NY, PA or surrounding areas.

Thanks,
George

Hey guys I am in need of bidirectional motor board. I realized after putting the entire game back together last night that I don't have one. If anyone has an extra they'd be willing to sell I'd be interested. I'd take one working or not. I appreciate it

Is there a way to turn off or shorten ball saver / second chance? I cannot find it in the menus. Also what exactly does the "ball time" setting change?

What are the recommended settings for DW in a tournament? Here is what I was planning:
Tournament mode: Yes
Extra balls: off
Special: points
Everything else default (I considered hard but in general I find hard settings don't shorten games, they just skew scores downward).

I am blind I guess because now I found A.2 43 to adjust second chance. Don't know how I missed this the first time. Still interested to hear what people think about settings for a tournament and what "ball time" does.

May I join the club also please? Just aquired 2 x DW machines, Prototype #2 (confirmed by Phutz) and a late production machine. Unfortunately the Proto has had the dalek head board removed as the seller wanted to modify a better condition regular DW machine.

The proto is also autographed by Barry Ousler and Phutz

Does the Proto #2 have the older style cabinet or the production one? Just curious.

I just joined the club a couple weeks ago. Been wanting one for several yrs, finally snatched one up
The pinballtoys uk dalek servo motor kit is in the mail, can't wait to get that installed

Got 1.2B Grand Champion on video too

Congrats on getting one, but ICK on the LEDs and the lame Dalek kit. Sorry, it's personal to me on two levels.

There's definitely 2 camps out there on LED, but why is it lame to upgrade the Dalek to the original intended design?

A servo was NOT the original design. The action is very different.
faz

But the kits to change the Dalek are impossible to get.

A friend of mine created the original replacement that actually uses the software in the game to control it. It also uses a motor like the original. Unlike the original, the motor is adjustable so you can compensate for the proper gap between the head and the body. The person with the servo attaches to the light and the motion is jerky. So it is nothing like the original. And LEDs, to be even close to what is right, all GI should be white. Colors under inserts. The attack and decay of LEDs is still wrong so the light shows look bad. I have LEDs in my speaker panel so I could put in a ColorDMD. It's the upgrade I hate the most. I'm thinking of buying a new ColorDMD LED panel so I can go back to incandescent bulbs in there...

I know of at least 10 new kits made available this past year. They happen kinda randomly. PM me if you're interested, they are on the expensive side.

If you have a newer bracket with mounting holes near the bottom of the bracket, you can mount the LCD higher on the speaker panel and still have room for the lamp board along side it. It's a tight fit and you may need to adjust the position of the lamp board but it does work.

The downside is the display stick ups more and blocks the backbox door so you need to lower the speaker panel to open/close the door.

Too much work to do what I've already done. ColorDMD is clearly the best Doctor Who upgrade, followed by PinSound, and then Original Wobble-Head.

This was how I did mine: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/doctor-who-owners-clubtime-lords-welcome/page/7#post-1894975 - If I did another one, it would be the same way. I'm just not a LED fan.