Hi all. Just joined the club (refurb needed) and waiting for it to arrive to do a proper assessment. Does anyone know where i can buy a playfield decal set including tornado? I see the only place doing plastic sets is out of germany. Cheers. Steve

Hi again, I am planning to do some artwork repair around the spin plate. Does anyone already have or would be willing to take a high resolution picture of that area to act as a decal of sorts between clear coats? Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi guys, I am looking at running a high power fan using a solid state relay and different power supply for the fan. From experience, can anyone confirm the output on J8-6 (brown/green) for Twister is 20V DC to drive the motor relay board? I had assumed AC was used. I have only ever worked on older Data Easts.

Has anyone put a plug and play shaker motor in their Twister? Seems like it would be a great upgrade for the theme but wondering if over time the vibration may cause wear to the spinner disc/motor/gear assembly.

Hi all, if anyone has a Twister and get the time could you please confirm if this is an original part or a mod? Looks like a spring wire added to a post to stop a ball being caught/resting between a post and a pop bumper? Thanks.

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Cheers, thanks for letting me know. Seems odd as the design seems to lend itself to scratching the play field!

Hi all, another question if anyone can answer. Did Sega make there Super VUK assemblies out of galvanised sheet metal? Looks well made but out of place from all of the other's. Thanks in advance for any info.

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I have mine out at the moment. Looks like the shaft has worn through the casing on yours?

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It could be a slipping retaining screw for the plate or freeplay/slack in the motor shaft assembly due to wear over the years. One is an easy fix, not sure what can be done with the freeplay if that is the issue.

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Hi All, hoping anyone out there can confirm if there running the 520-5137-00 I/O Power Driver board? I am bringing a scrapheap unit back to life and not sure if this board is compatible? The manual states the Twister uses 520-5137-01 not the 00. Appreciate any confirmation their Twister is running the older 00. Thanks.

Hi all, Does anyone have one of these on their twister machine? It was in the cabinet loose when i started the refurb. Cheers. Steve.

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If anyone has technical knowledge on Twister and can help, I have magnet question. I am unsure if the top magnet pin located in the orbit is supposed to be exposed level with the playfield? Or if it should be positioned underneath a thin timber veneer in the playfield like in Goldeneye? Also unsure how that magnet is supposed to behave? I.e. does it just catch and just drop the ball or launch out of the orbit? It looks like the playfield i have may have been modified as i see a rough cut and years of wear on the magnet pin from sitting slightly proud. If anyone can let me know that would be great. Steve.

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Just noticed the stainless ramp protectors actually stop shy of the end of the ramp. Has anyone ever modified these to completely protect the ramp? I would say I might make all the difference. Too late in my case!

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If it helps I checked on a new motor. There is zero slack in the shaft/gear so technically the spinning disk (if fastened correctly) should not move up or down during operation regardless if the C clip there or not. Wear on the spacer located between the gear and the housing will introduce slack "up". Wear in the bushing for the shaft will cause slack "down".

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If anyone is thinking of giving a tired and worn playfield a spruce up, i was able to air brush a very small amount of createx black around the worn timber and it came up great.

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Yeah i have spoken with Cliff. A worthy addition to any Twister although i don't have it perfectly flush yet. I may need to do some more work and waiting to see how it actually plays when running. I was also looking at options to blacken the stainless steel so it isn't as prominent.

Hi all,

Hard to find much information on Twister out there! Guess that's what happens when only 1600 units were ever made. Hopefully someone here can help. Trying to identify what the yellow cable pictured is for? Seen them in some pictures of other machines but my machine does not have one. Also would appreciate a picture or just confirmation of what way the looms are fed into up into the back box from the main cab. Both on the right hand side? Thanks in advance for any help.

Not far off powering this one up! Was a mess when i got her, so hopefully it still works.

Steve

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Thanks O-din.

Thanks Toyota.

I have powered up for the first time since posting and cannot get the dmd to work at all. Can't see anything to turn the sound down! She must boot on 100% volume.. so LOUD...

Thank you for confirming. Sounds like a stupid question but the lack of a grounding strap shouldn't result in the DMD not working? I have set up some shielded braid like the Data East's.

Luckily i have a working DE and a few spares eliminate possibilities. I have tested the voltages to be good for the 3 pin (+5v ground) connecting to the dmd controller. When using a known to be good old DMD, I get a glitchy display when the ribbon cable is disconnected. When using the ColorDMD i get nothing. I can replicate the glitchy screen using a working Data East machine by removing the ribbon cable.

When the the ribbon cable is connected on the Twister board i get nothing on the display.

It feels like there needs to be a signal of some sort to allow the DMD to display. This goes against some of the advice however, that a dmd and controller will display on boot-up even if the ribbon cable is removed.

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Hello all,

Testing the waters to see how many would be interested in a new Twister ramp?

It may be possible to have a new batch made if the demand is there.

Cheers

Nice one Carl.

So close to completion..... almost time to go underground!

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Working on some custom toppers

Hi all,

Can anybody confirm if they are running the newer 520-5300-00 CPU board in Twister without any sound issues?

Thanks,

Steve

1600 is the number i have heard a few times unofficially

The fact the music remains on but the display and targets go back to normal makes me think it's a logic based problem, might be a corrupted or poorly mounted IC? Spinner problem could be your magnet board (assuming the diode upgrade has been done). The IC might be bad, I have read those can be corrupted from time to time.

Sega Service Bulletin 91

Has an additional zenner diode added to the magnet board. Although the symptoms listed are not what happening to your game. Intermittent activation of the motor during play.
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Twister topper in progress.. running 3v at the moment but can crank to 12v for full speed...

Nice! Well done getting your hands on one.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. The pinball version isn't massively different! Was fairly surprised. Looks like the lower half of the sphere is reflective finish in the real thing?

I modified a cow toy I found on the internet. Originally it was quite annoying, a loud tinny Mooo! Mooo! Mooo! every 2 seconds and glowing red eyes as it walked.. I think Amazon may have some? Dismantled to change the front legs and tail position, disabled the speaker and eyes leaving the just mechanical kicking. Slip ring used for the 3v wiring to rotate around the motor. Plastic repair putty and a threaded hex post to help secure the cow to the motor and presto... Twister Cow

Hi all,

I am still on the lookout for a ramp that is in salvageable condition to use for a mold. I am sure there are plenty of Twisters out there in need of a new ramp, she is a fast game and the original ramp was not as thick as some of the other Ramps out there from that era.

Unfortunately Twister doesn't seem to be on anyone's "to do" list as far as ramp reproductions go. So if anyone has any ideas on who to contact it would be appreciated?

I will use mine if the damage gets worse but as it isn't garunteed molding will work, I don't want to take the risk of being left with a ramp-less game.

Still looking/learning as to what options are best for a mold. Maybe making a cast from the right material.

Thanks Carl. Will. Follow it up.

I went with a mix of clears for slingshots and black titans elsewhere..

Hi all..

I am wondering if anyone knows a common cause why the diodes in the Twister magnet board keep desoldering and dropping out. There the right ones and doubled as per the update. The board is working perfectly but after a while the diodes desolder and fall off. My obvious conclusion is it's drawing a heap of current for some reason but have no idea why or where.

Any advice for this problem is appreciated. I have finished the refurb and want to have her working 100%.

Cheers

Steve

Yep. I got a whole bunch of diodes out of Israel of all places. I have upgraded it 3 times. Once professionally and 2 times off my own bat. Also tried the upgraded board that's on offer from the UK. The upgrade board doesn't work at all. The old board will work until the diode drop off. I'm stumped.

I got mine out of Pinball Centre in Germany and was initially dissapointed as the quality of the decal as it seemed really thin compared to what retro arcade refurbs put out BUT really happy with the end result. I chose the Pinball Centre ones as the pics looked to be a bit better.. the artwork looked slightly more detailed. I could be completely wrong but that was my impression
The quality is actually quite good just need to make sure the surface prep is 100% blemish free otherwise it will show up any flaws. Also noticed Retro Refurbs are thicker which I like but the cost for that is some stretch so the seem to shrink by a few mm in the months after applying. Again this may be because of the way I apply the decals but the Pinball Centre decals did not shrink and look great.

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Hey all, would appreciate it if someone could measure the back and front legs on Twister. Mine is definently wrong! Would like to confirm what it's meant to be before sourcing some. I have approx 600mm from bottom bolt to floor for both legs. Thanks.

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No worries. Thanks for the reply. It's appreciated!

I never got your replacement magnet board working in my Twister unfortunatly. I ended up replacing the diodes in the original board but only get a few games in before they de-solder themselves from the board. Do you have any documentation for troubleshooting with your new board? I would much rather use a newly designed board than the old.

Can't comment on price but the quality of the marcos ones was fine for me. I completely removed the old sticker, cleaned with isoprop and got good adhesion with the new sticker. It does the job perfectly. The ball will spin and arc as per the original sticker. I removed the disc and spent plenty of time on prep. I had the same style pitting on the original sticker. I believe this was just wear.

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone else has come across the factory wire loom color coding being different to the manual for the diverter and magnet disc?

Unsure if it's a printing error or a wiring error from the factory at this point. Would appreciate if anyone can confirm the coloring of their magnadisc and diverter magnet wires?

I have white/green and white/brown to magent disc and blue and blue/white to diverter magnet however, the opposite is specified in the manual.

Tha manual has Disc as MAG1 and Diverter as MAG2.

Also wondering if either magnet will register the "skill shot". At the moment, only the diverter magnet is registering the skill shot.

Cheers for any info on this.

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Thanks for that. Looks like the Twister manual is wrong.

Thanks for the photos. Appreciate you taking the time. I think mine was registering the skill shot because of incorrect wiring so the "impossible shot" isn't really a thing now

Thanks for confirming this. The Sega manual could certainly lead some people astray that's for sure!

Has anyone ever had the magnet board large diodes desolder and fall off mid game?

Its the old board but it had the upgrade to 2 zenners and the resistor added. All was working fine for a while but then for whatever reason the diodes got so hot they desoldered. Twister

I have that one too. Doesn't run unfortunatly.