I would not adjust to 3mm.

How far would you go or do think leave it as is. I would of thought the baffles in between each chamber performs the job of stopping light passing to a neighbouring LED.

Also thanks for the photos

Leave it alone. The baffles work perfectly.
The issue is modern IR LED's are longer than the originals. In my one pic, it clear that I had to use washers to raise the board. If you can add maybe 1-1.5 mm to the bottom, therefore washers would not be needed.

Yeah, leave it alone for now.
I can add 3 layers of black tape to make up the needed adjustment.

Later if short LEDs are available I can take off the tape.

Shorter LED's will not happen.

Very sad...
Unless I get them from a time capsule buried in the Nevada desert...

thanks guys, I will leave it alone for now, and hope you guys can sort out the electronics side of things out soon - must be frustrating

Decided to do something completely different for a Dr Who orchestration, Jimi Hendrix. Get ready to rock!

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It was 100 after tax
And shipping I think. I didn’t send any feedback back bc I wasn’t sure if I was the one with problem, not the bracket

bracket or board set?

I'm assembling my Swinks opto carrier right now.

Will post back with the result.

I hope it solves the nightmare. I am awaiting my LM339 chips to solve my issue.

Info coming shorly.

My game is finally working properly and stable.

No flickering LEDs.
No phantom opto switch closures.

No switch closures when flippers are activated.

No drama, puking etc.

NO 3 HOURS OF OPTO BENDING AND TWEAKING!!!!!!!

I replaced my gulf stream boards with pindorabox ones.
Note, no solder blobs on the underside of the boards.

This is critical. Solder blobs will tilt the optos.
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The Swinks carrier is really amazing and excellent quality.

It's a perfect fit and the attention to detail is unsurpassed!

It's really good.

However the holes for the mushroom buttons need to be dressed.

They are slightly rough and drag a bit.

I used a 7/32" drill but and 2 wraps of 600 grit sandpaper to smooth them out.

I just turned the shaft of the bit by hand as a sanding block.
I did NOT use power.

1 or 2 mins per hole is all it took.
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Installation of the mushroom targets was easy.

Plenty of room to access the e-clips.

I used my favorite pinball tool.

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The versitile nylon material is a little grabby compared to the oily slick original carrier.

Mushroom targets can bind ftom an angular hit from the ball.

I added 2 drops of super lube to each target shaft. Rubbed it in via actuation and wiped off the excess.

Super lube dries out and leaves a super slick molecular coating.

This will emulate the oily feel of the original carrier.

The carrier is no longer grabby, mushroom targets are very smooth and an angular hit still depresses the switch.
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Always test with a ball.
It's the only way to emulate side hits to the targets.

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Upon assembly I noticed that the opto interrupters hang slightly over the holes.

Its the same with the original carrier.

It does not affect its operation.
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The reciever board LEDs are too long.

I used 3 layers of black electrical tape as a spacer.

Now the boards will lay flat, unlike with washers.

Washers tend to sink in and distort the opto board, throwing off the light beam.

Plus with washers the board would be on standoffs and will tilt then the scoop assembly is bolted down

Tape works perfectly.

And its way easier to assemble.
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Installing the opto boards was very easy.

There is plenty of room to straighten the optos in case they are crooked.

I just made sure they were very straight across from each other.

I pressed the mushroom target to make sure it looked like the beam was effectively broken.

Note:
Do not overtighten the little #6 sheet metal screws.

They can strip out.

All is not lost though, if you do strip one out, 5 min Epoxy or titebond 3 and a little piece of toothpick will fix the hole perfectly.

Just like any other stripped hole in a playfield.

It will hold just fine.
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I screwed in the 8 screws.

Put the game in switch edge test.

Plugged the opto carrier in and amazingly it was perfect.

All switches worked.

No adjustments needed of any type.

I flexed the open edges, pressed on each opto area.

Flipped the flippers 50 times to see any phantom closures.

There was no change on the screen.

Time to install the paper light-shield.

I installed the paper light-shield.

Suddenly I had failures, serious failures !

The end opto's beams couldn't be broken and the "m" opto was also stuck on.

3 switches are now completely dead, seemingly.
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However the end optos worked fine when I opened the end flaps .
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The problem was light reflection off of the paper I used.
Note:

Use black paper. Black absorbs light. Duh...

I didn't have any black paper fo I just sprayed a little semi flat black on my existing. (Tons of sharpie marker would probably also work)
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This worked perfectly.

I didnt have this problem at all with the gulf stream boards.

But then again the gulf stream boards are garbage. I couldn't get them to work stably.

Evidently the pindorabox boards are sensitive to a different light frequency, or just more responsive in general.

After getting the opto carrier 100% working I installed it onto the MPF.

I put the MPF in the cabinet bottom and plugged in the opto carrier.

AMAZINGLY no change.
Worked perfectly.
Hit the flippers 40 times and no change.

All optos worked perfecly.

This is critical.

This is this exact point that the original opto carrier let's you down, and fails.

Not so with this new carrier!

Its stable.

I doesn't crush or warp.

It doesn't cause the optos to lose alignment.

The better opto boards and the new carrier have fixed all if my problems with this unit.

The real test is will it change over a few days?

I doubt it. This build was the easiest one yet.

No 3 hours of tweaking and adjusting of tricky optos.

I believe its perfect.

My experience with this MPF is you have to be a bit scientific.

Test every step without fail.

If you are careful and logical you get better results.

Now that the optos are working properly, it's an entirely different game.

The time factors have to be earned instead of always being populated 100% lol.

And you have to actually hit a screen dalek to start multiball...wtf?

Before, Hitting the left flipper would fill the time factor squares and actually kill the left screen dalek.

Instant multiball all the time ! Lol

Poor Pinballgoddess , now she will have to work a little harder to get her billion points

I just finished another 10 games.

It's perfect.

Really challenging, really fun.

It explains why these games are seriously beat to crap off route.

They're fun!

The inner bracket. New one is goldishbronze in color.. not that that is the issue

Does anybody have this decal (right ramp, right border on entrance). I think it's 31-1687-4 (can anybody check the number) but I'm not sure. Scan would be appreciated...

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thanks for a awesome update and review of the opto career as I wanted to make sure it helps people get rid of the warping and the light issues

with your bracket I opened the base level black option so it is a little more grainy in feeling hence the need to sand the holes a little.

I am relieved and happy that this new part can help the guys that want it.

I will check back in a few days to make sure everything is still fine.

cheers

Jady

I think that the black is necessary as it absorbs light.

Other colors might be problematic depending on the optos used.

It's really a nice unit. A tiny bit of sanding/polishing doesnt affect its worthiness, its really a good part.

Its lightyears ahead of the brand new carrier at marcospec.

A tiny bit of dressing is to be expected on this type of part.

Literally a tiny bit.

No material was removed, just a smoothing process.

We put another 20 games on it tonight.

So far its rock solid.

If it holds up over the next week, it's a permanent fix.

I have a feeling that this will hold up and be amazing!

I love this opto carrier!

Its the way the original part should have been made.

And its slightly taller. You have to add washers under the cam optos.

It does actually work!
But it takes a substantial amount of rework.

I'm not sure if its worth the $90...
But it's the only game in town.

I made it work.
But it was a struggle, just know that going in.

But in the end it was worth the trouble as it removed all the slop and looseness I had.

I have blue and light is not an issue. Also it looks so much better than black when it is in the game. Nice contrast to the game.

I am 110% satisfied with this new carrier. It definitely solves many problems. Hope more Doctors can be fixed with this carrier.

I do like the blue.
It looks cool.

Have mine in and working, minus 2 switches, 72 and 75, which I confirmed today to be bad LM339 chips on the Opto Board. Other than that, the game plays flawlessly, have the Dalek head moving, Ulf's Linear MPF system in place and this game is challenging and super fun.

Do you have the original 10 opto board?

Socket the chips if the board isnt too toasty.

My homepin replacement 10 opto board seems stable.

I have no complaints about it so far.

My original board is badly hacked otherwise I'd send it to you.

It's really badly ruined.

Opto carrier fixed, now it's time for some serious pinball.
Game plays like a dream!
I love this game !

Day 2, optos are still perfect!
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Day 4 and 5, optos are still absolutely perfect.

My game goes thru temepature changes in the winter from 55 degrees to 72 degrees.

Winter can be cold here.

This was causing major changes in the factory opto carrier.

A great test is to see if the opto's
Flicker in switch edge test when you actuate the flippers many times.

They should be rock solid.

The swinks carrier is thermally stable.

It never warps or alters.

Im calling my game,completely fixed and perfect.

Without the swinks carrier my opto nightmare would go on forever.

Thanks Jady!

Hahahahahahaha winter........hahahaha Cold lmao

Lol.

I feel for those of us that have real winters!

We have our share of sub-zero temps here, but its pretty light by comparison.

I'm from California, the land of endless summer.

I moved to the reno area for the great, mild climate, actual seasons and clean air.

I really like it here.

After 30 years here, snow and mild winters is still a novelty for me.

Did you get those lm339 chips put in?

well I am stoked to here that pinballinreno

and for those curious we are talking about this part - opto carrier (not warped, with strengtheners and light barriers etc all built into one unit).

which you can purchase here

https://www.shapeways.com/product/XLTKWJTQW/doctor-who-mushroom-target-channel-upgraded?optionId=127913521&li=marketplace

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Arriving Monday, install Monday nite.

I have lived all over North America and I love my winters. But when I retire here soon, it is off to Sunny San Diego..

Amen to that...

A doctor who Christmas !
Its gonna be awesome.

Just installed some Mirrorblades on my Dr Who. Is it standard to have the warning lever for the glass installed on the Dr Who? I had to remove this and tape it closed to install the Mirrorblades. Does anyone know if there is a way to turn it off in the adjustment menu? Thanks for the help.

You cant turn it off, but you can just short the wires together.

My switch was broken so I ran a straight pin thru the 2 wires for awhile effectivrly closing the switch while waiting for a replacement.

Then just tossed it behind the backboard.