I misunderstood, I thought your flasher bulb had a color changer in it.

Nah, flashers don't stay on long enough to flip through the colours.

Odd one here, guys...

My f14 looks super clean in and out... I dont see any hacks if at all but I just started noticing.. the flssher bulbs in the lower right and left corners don't work when the slingshots fire... the slings work good and count points but I don't see the flash bulbs ring off on ball strike.

The flashers work normally in all other in game and attract mode sequences....

Any ideas?

Is there some relay that has this solenoid in a different mode during game play and is triggered by the kicker scoring switch? The kickers score normally but I dont see any other switch attached that would trigger a flash bulb..

So, kicker behaves normally
Kicker scores normally
Flasher 1 &2 work normally in all other flash modes.

Just doesn't work when the kicker is triggered.

K guys, easier questions today..

Do your inlane flashers go off with your slingshots ?

If anyone has a shooter lane wireform ramp for sale let me know... Popped a weld on my original adjusting its shape to try to rectify the air ball issue I'm having

Why on earth you don't go to a local welding shop to repair the ramp?
Easy job with laser equipment... I also had the problem and it's fixed now.
Later you can galvanize the ramp with chrom then it's better as new.

How tight do you guys make your leg bolts? My F-14 seems to be too solid. Nudging is too difficult. I must have them too tight. What say yous guys?

You want them fairly tight. Otherwise they will gouge the cabinet. Nudging has nothing to do with how tight the legs are.

Yes, I had to bring mine to a welding shop. Cost me $10.00. The left side or the shooter lane habitrail broke right at the entrance.

Added over 6 years ago: FYI, I did try soldering it first and this did not hold for very long.

OK, so how come the new arcade in town which I just came back from has 4 machines: Metalica Pro, Ghost Busters Pro, Star Wars Pro, and Guns & Roses and they are all by far more wobbly and easy to nudge?

Nevermind...Seems you already have your answer.

I've got a new shooter lane ramp on the way (and will the the original repaired as a spare, don't worry it's not going in the trash!), but I also found the solution to my airball problem. It wasn't the ramp at all! I adjusted the position of the shooter lane assembly itself and was able to completely eliminate airballs even with the ramp damaged as it is. It came down to re-positioning the shooter rod to match the alignment of the new PF shooter lane. Before, it was way off to the right and I'm assuming putting some odd spin or bounce on the ball. Once I got it into the position you see here it started launching the ball consistently with no failures or airballs. Before, it was often hitting the right upper part of the wireform or bouncing violently enough to launch into play or onto the top of the wireform ramp. You can see by the paint wear on the cabinet in the pictures how much adjustment it took, around a quarter inch the left from the original position of the shooter assembly. I was able to accomplish this just by loosening the shooter assembly screws and moving it over before retightening them, no drilling required.

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Awesome! Glad you found a solution.

Looser legs mean more sway in the cabinet mean a more active tilt bob... Sometimes you see it on location to keep machine abuse down (in my experience). Again, it'll damage the corner cabs - but if you're worried about people wailing on your equipment it might be worth it for some ops.

Thanks for the answer. This is what I suspected. I would probably do the same if I was an operator.

I’m still sorting through all the issues with my F14 and I think I’m almost there. Just played a full game after replacing two more diodes and everything worked.....

Until the game ended. After the game, as my last ball drained, it kicked two balls to the shooter lane. I can’t do anything about it unless I take the glass off and put the balls in the trough by hand.

I had this same problem almost every time I drained. The outhole kicker was sending a new ball into the lane. If you watch it closely, it created a bit of a swirl on the next ball (hard to explain). Anyway, I found that tightening up these two walls fixed my problem.
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Actually, now that I read this again, I'm not sure we had the same problem.

I’ve played it some more and it’s not very consistent. Sometimes 1 ball, sometimes 2, other times none. Sometimes it happens during the game- I had a never ending ball 3 one time. It would drain and kick it right back out.

I think there are still a couple other mysteries as well. I got random tilt a couple times.

Just a shot here but take a look at the trough switches. Are there any connectors with pink housings ? If so, cut them off and solder direct. Im not at home so i cant take a look at mine. Not sure if system 11 has these or not.

Agreed, some of the switches use pink reddish crimp connectors.. id do switch tests on these.

They do have them. These can cause lots of strange issues.

Could it cause the fuse to blow for the top right kick-out ?

Not fuses blowing, but they will cause flaky switch closings.

Amen to this. My Getaway had some pretty wacky ball trough issues going on and Grumpy told me to remove that connector and solder direct and the problem was solved. The reson i mentioned it. Thanks again Grump...

I believe this solved it. I think the ball was being kicked hard enough to knock others in front of it over the ball that was next in line into the shooter lane. I straighten those sides, which were bent pretty wide, and had no more issues.

On to the phantom tilts. My tilts seem to occur when hitting the slingshots, but I haven’t been able to recreate them outside of playing the game.

Do you have enough gap on the playfield tilt switch? Its in between both slings.

I thought the playfield tilt switch was below the left flipper. That’s where it appears to be on mine. The gap is about a mile wide on it, so I don’t think it’s making contact.

Just checking every possibility. Did you change SRC-6?

Nope. From what I've read, that's a pretty common reason for random tilts. Seems easy enough to swap out, too. I guess that'll be my next step.

Anyone happen to restore their cab and have a template of the warning label they could send me? I started doing it in Illustrator, but there is so much to trace its going to take forever. I would be eternally grateful.

Which one you need exactly - Nr.?

The big one on the back. This one:

I see... it's not a decal, it's silkscreen printed.
This Version is rare to find, but I can send you a decal-file to print, I use on all of my machines right edge on the top of the backbox.
It's a official decal Nr. STD-880.

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I know its silkscreened, but I just am going to paint it on. Im not paying $250 for a silk screen stencil. I figured someone must have made one by now. Maybe most people just say forget it.

Yeah, if you could send me the file for that one, that would be great! Mine was gone so I didn't get to scan it. Would appreciate it greatly

Yes no problem, please send me your mail address.
Here in Germany we have a few shops that offer decals as replacement for the silkscreen print, but not that version you need.
Mostly they sell newer versions from WPC-Series and these in two Version - small and big.
I never saw a decal with the content you have... and my F-14 shows a different print, too.

got a question for the group... I'm between houses and have my F-14 in a buddy's house, and my tools are mostly packed. I'm having issues and wondered if anyone on here had a similar issue.

- Kickers are not firing (middle two, upkick, kickback, and, yagov, and right lane)
- All other solenoids are firing fine
- A/C relay is fine

I'm told there may be a faint smell about the machine... Not sure if this could be a burnt coil since I haven't een there to check it yet... Trying to determine if I even have access to some basic tools to make a repair or if my friend inherited a 300 pound paperweight until I close on my new house in two months. Any help greatly appreciated.

sounds like the 2.5A SB fuse in the backbox with the vio-yel wires attached to it

I just purchased an F-14 Tomcat as my first SS Pin. I've been wanting one of these or a High Speed and this one came up locally a couple of weeks ago.

Its in good condition with very minimal PF wear and only a little mylar bubbling over a couple inserts. Currently its completely stock but I am planning to go fully LED within the next few weeks. I am also contemplating installing a PF protector but haven't decided on that one yet.

Man I love this game!!! It makes all of my EM machines feel super slow!

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My concern with the PF protector would be removing the mylar first which is likely to pull up the inserts or other art-work, I don't think I'd put one over the mylar. Fun game and very anti-EM like other than it can have some short ball times. Good luck!!

Wait until you see the light show in LED!

Super fast and fun game for sure.

I recommend also installing an OCD led controller. I did, and the lights are liquid smooth just like incandescents. Very easy to install and worth it for F14. Just be sure you do not use non ghosting leds. You can, but this somewhat defeats the purpose of the controller. They will be smoother if they are standard rather than non ghosting leds. I used Pinballife Ablaze 4-SMD super brights for all the cpu controlled lighting. Regular frosted for GI lighting. Don’t worry about it being too bright because the OCD led controller by default cuts the bulb brightness level to 85% to prevent ghosting. Just awesome compared to stock lighting!
http://ledocd.com/

As for the play field protector, I installed one of the original thicker ones and wound up removing it a few weeks later. It sucked. Crap keeps getting under it and is really annoying. You can lift it in spots and blow out debris with high pressure air but I got tired of that and also, the underside of protector can get scratched up by the playfield itself. I had to do a lot of trimming to make it fit and that is not fun. The new ones out now are thinner and easier to trim however. But I would just wax first and install Mylar if you are concerned about high traffic areas. Spend that money on the led controller. More better!

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Thanks for all the tips folks I really appreciate it. I was on the fence about the PF protector but figured in a home environment its not likely to wear much more than it already is and its not like I'd be protecting a mint playfield.

I am planning to purchase my LEDs from Comet and was wondering what everyone used for bulbs so thanks for the tips StylesBitchly. I didn't want to buy a kit since there are so many variations to F-14 lighting sockets.

Remember to use warm white lights if under a colored insert if you want to maintain accurate insert color. Also be sure to use warm white frosted above play field if it is really exposed to your eyes. Cool white is hard on my eyes unless under an insert or hidden from direct view. I also recommend using warm white flashers (if you’re going with led flashers you need to remove warming resistors). Warm white looks like incandescent bulbs. Of course blue frosted GI looks great under blue plastics and red and blue leds look great under same color inserts. Comet is good! You will def get ghosting if not using a led controller, so if not, get non ghosting leds for all cpu controlled lights. You have to decide before dropping the cash.
** Remember, there is no need for non ghosting bulbs for GI lighting.

Wait - So you use the cheap LEDs with LEDOCD?

hmm... methinks I might re-evaluate the cost of that board. i built up a stock of Non-ghosting just a few months ago when I bought my F-14 and getting like 50 of each type/color in was painful as hell.

Huh, I thought cool white was recommended due to the blue tone.
If you can, try one of each in some different locations and see what you like.
I agree about any light that is above playfield and visible. The last thing you want is a blinding light!

This is fun, right?!!!

No, warm white is like sunlight. That cool white has more blue like you said which is unnatural and makes color look like shit! This is why they don't recommend that you use them in your house unless it's like the kitchen or basement. Your eyes evolved to see color in sunlight, not fake cool white.

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Yes, this explained here on the OCD LED site.
http://ledocd.com/faq_led.html

That's why it would suck to decide to go OCD after investing in expensive non ghosting leds. Trust me, this controller corrects all the problems with ghosting and flicker and that jagged on-off look. My Sharkey's is next to my F-14 and it has all non ghosting LEDs for the CPU controlled, but has no OCD controller and the difference is very apparent. Without the controller, the light show is jagged and harsh by comparison. F-14 has too awesome of a light show to not exploit the best you can IMHO.

Currently at work replacing several IDC connectors with Molex connectors and Trifurcon crimps. Slow somewhat tedious process, but with a little practice I'm humming along now just fine. I bought this open barrel crimper at:
http://pinrestore.com/Tools.html

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