Dear Lloyd

Our resident pinball guru Lloyd Olsen answers Pinside readers questions!

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F-14 Balls No Worky

Letter received on Tuesday August 11th 2020.

Tuesday August 11th 2020

Dear Lloyd-


I recently picked up a F-14 Tomcat, in really nice overall condition, but suffering from a lack of maintenance. I’ve got it playing nicely now, but I have one persistent issue that I can’t figure out.


At the end of a ball, as the drained ball enters the trough, it will often “bump up” the ball that should be served up next. That ball then sits above the trough switch, but not yet kicked out into the shooter lane. A sharp slap to the side of the machine will drop it back into the trough, and it serves up normally from there. It *only* happens when all four balls are in the trough. If I already have a ball or two locked, and drain the ball I’m playing, it never happens. Is this a common problem? Is there a known fix?


Thanks!


General Yagov’s nemesis

Dear General Yagov's nemesis


Since a slap cures it. When four balls are in there, the issue is one of the four switches. either the weight of the balls is lifting one off a switch enough to make the game think it lost a ball. Or the balls aren't sitting on all the switches right. Or you have a flaky switch.


Time for adjusting, cleaning, or replacing. Should be an easy fix, a bit of a pain to figure out the what.


LTG : )




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