Well if the colors still match, you can easily but tediously reassemble everything and from there see what symptoms are showing up.

Be sure that patience will be rewarded with this terrific games. Impatient people usually hate it

Still working on my funhouse before finally starting my Dr Who big maintenance/small overhaul!

Btw thx for this pic. Loved it, and as the seller only ships to US, had my brother to order it for me.
I’ll get it when he visits. Can’t wait!

Thanks dude. The wires are all connected albeit with the white blocks. This may also be the reason why it won't boot.

Good luck with your Funhouse. Lovely game

I would remove each block one by one and solder each of them. Using heat shrink tubing. (Clear tubing)

That pic is crazy. Good luck with that task. Oh and welcome to the club.

Thanks for the tips and good luck!

Good grief! Who let 'The Master' in there?!? Grab your sonic and have at it!

Good luck!

Awesome! Can’t wait for ours

I'd like to join the club.. just got my first pinball machine, you guessed it, a Doctor Who! The shop I bought it from spruced it it and got everything working. It stood up to 8 hours of continuous play on it's first night in what is now my game room. I've also added a brand new mortal combat cabinet with over 1000 classic arcade games.

Been a fan of the show since the early 80s, and have been a casual pinball player off and on for years. Since I seem to be more and more of a kid as I age, I figured why not! Oh, and Tom Baker is my fave. Probably David Tennant next.

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Here's one for all of you to think on.

My machine had a catastrophic gearbox failure time expander, so I duly bought a new unit. All fitted fine. However, now, when ever I put the board down, it stops working. If I lift the playfield to try and track down the fault, it's fine again. I have removed it all, checked all the connections, checked the new motor, then re-installed it. Put the playfield down VERY gently, then played for one game, then, motor stopped again. I have wiggled every possible wire and checked every connection so many times you wouldn't believe. I would be tearing my hair out, but I don't really have any anyway!

Any suggestions chaps?

At this point I’d check the electronic parts that control the motor. It’s getting send 12V or -12V depending on the way it goes.

Try your motor this way:
Find a 12v adapter, remove connector.
Disconnect the motor engine from the connector.
Put (through crocodile plugs or whatever you want) the cables from your adapter to the motor.
Put back down the playfield so that it lies as when you play

If it behaves as it should (meaning going up and down as these are the ibly things you control with this test) when receiving power this way, then I’d say the issue is on the board or logic and not the motor.

If it does not then you received a faulty motor, or your 12V is screwing them up.

Maybe something with the switch that detects the glass. That switch shuts down power to that motor I think

Yes it does.
You have to keep it closed for testing. Good point.

I had a rather similar situation that Faz Helped me out with - the MPF motor shares a power wire with a random flasher in the backboard. I think it’s the flasher behind #5. It can easily come loose from the connector which joins it. The loss of this connection can lead to a low power situation for the motor, where it can’t reliably raise and lower the MPF. Be sure to check on that ..

If u remove the mini playfield and it will raise and lower when powered from a 9 volt battery, but fails in the game, it is probably what I described ^^^

I'd suggest you pull this into it's own thread. That's the problem with these generic game threads... yes, large audience but really hard to track when several tech discussions running concurrently. As for your issue: lots of good ideas above. Let us know how those tests work. Also, you test the connections but it might be the connectors themselves. Specifically the two wire connector for the motor and the other end of that connector on the bi-directional board. Given your description it sure sounds like a bad connector, broken wire or cold solder joint.

faz

Just joined the Club!

My game will be here in 10 days, Im so excited!

Now, for improvements: do I get the colorDMD in LCD or LED.....

Does anyone sell a doctors led strip for the colorDMD mod (Like the IJ and TAF ones...) or do I have to actually do some work and modify the existing, ugh... ! lol

I need to re-decal the cabinet touch up a bit, cliffy's etc.

Now, about alternative translites? What seems the best?

Picked up a nice Doctor Who the other day and I am having some issues with the red Dalik targets in the time expander. The center and left targets aren’t resetting after I hit them so the only one that is standing straight is the right one. I tried to pull them down manually but that didn’t do anything. Any idea how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

Oh yeah they do register hits when they go through the holes however the targets just aren’t in the straight upright position after the shots are made.

I did not even know there was a colorDMD LED. I have the LCD version and it's AWESOME! Really adds a lot to the game. Do the strip yourself... it's easy. The hardest thing to do is finding some fine wire. I cut up a CAT5 cable... worked great.

faz

That's odd. Do you mean the flips just flap back down or are always up? The switch that registers the ball is in the subway below.
faz

Get the LED one. Direct install, it still looks great, very bright. No need to fool with the doctor lights at all

I have a box of cat5 lol
What color/source for the LED's if I go that route.

The LED version of the colorDMD is smaller and fits better with the existing light bar I guess?

My only question is:

does the LED version look too bright. The game already has some sort of LED upgrade on it. I bought it sight unseen, so I imagine a bit of work to do on this.

The LCD version has high res? I have the LCD version on my ToM and I really like it.
People say the LED is much brighter. But is it too bright? Id have to see them side by side I guess.
does the LED version not have the high res?

I know. so many questions... lol.

Yay! Ok that answers that, other than the reliablilty of LEDs. But I can tackle that later if I have the energy...

The flips on the center and left daliks stay up like they’re stuck and won’t come down.

So It looks like people prefer the colorDMD LCD for the most part:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/colordmd-led-vs-lcd-poll

Still though you cant beat the clean installation of the LED version, and its cheaper.

Im still on the fence but oddly swaying towards the LED version due to absolute laziness... lol

Thanks eyeamred. Please send pics thanks so much.

Maybe you need to adjust the roller under the playfield. A horizontal movement is what releases them. Never try pulling them straight down

This is what the LED looks like installed (make sure it’s HD when you play)

I really like the bright colors, I'm sold!

Now where do I get that translite.
awesome!

I know there are several out there but I really liked the interaction with the lights.

Took me a while to find; I didn’t like the other alternatives - I believe I found it on EBay UK.. ill see if I can find a link

I've seen a few of them now and nothing made me buy it now lol.

But I really like the one you had.

Way cool.

What about these:

ebay.com link: 0

that's it! the first one. By the way, it came and was slightly too large for the translite glass - you will need to cut it. Make sure you measure several times off of the original translite - I cut mine a bit too small and had a hard time fixing it to the glass with the little translite clips; had to get it just right. be careful! The material isnt' as thick as a real translite, but the colors are good, and you can't tell once installed.

Did you have the interactive lighting kit installed?

Not sure what kit specifically you're referring to? I had the ColorDMD LED and a LightedPinballMods lit speaker panel, and a bunch of other mods

Are you doing blue armor and legs too?

Looking forward to seeing all this on the machine...

Well... I suppose it depends in part on if you really want some of the optional video modes that the LCD version offers.

When I was trying to make up my mind on the LED/LCD issue I was struggling until I got to see a couple of machines next to each other, one with LED one with LCD. Decision made! The LED unit just "felt" right. Something about the physical pixel appearance vs. the LCD drawing them in. And I suppose it could be more than a little dependent on the particular machine. Doctor Who has more of a "classic" vibe to it, so going with a more "classic" if colorized display just made sense to me.

The size issues are obviously a consideration with the LCD version on things liek Doctor Who, Addams Family, etc... But I leave that one up to you and what you are comfortable with doing to your machine. I always try to err on the side of completely and (reasonably) simple rollbacks if/when the need arises.

I've had the ColorDMD LED unit in my Doctor Who for a couple of years now and have never questioned the choice.

YMMV! (obviously)

I agree with you on this.

Doctor Who is sort of a retro, rough and tumble, kinda game.

Smoothing the display may not fit the feel of it.

I put the LCD version on my ToM and and am using the smooth font. It matches the game IMHO...

I heavily swayed towards the LED for this title.

Its bright. I has dots. It looks great. Its way easier to install.

Pretty much sold on it.

Now...What Alt translite to get.
Again Im swayed towards the one Rdoyle used. It looks really perfect and totally modernizes the game

Pretty inexpensive on Ebay right now.

I finally have some time to look at this again this weekend. This sounds a good idea that I haven't tried yet and I'll give it a go. Thanks.

I must admit that that one had come to mind. I even bypassed the switch in case it was going wrong, but alas, to no avail. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Excellent, I haven't tried that at all. Much appreciated.

I'm hoping to have another go this weekend. If I have success I'll report back. If not, I'll try the separate post. Thanks

Do you have some photo's of this all in place now? Thanks