HOOKED, I'll have my restored one at SFGE. Can you post a video of your scratchy sound?

I can see if I can get a vid but after listening to that other posted vic it might be normal.
I just got new art work ordered so next would be a PF. Cant wait to play a restored one in Atlanta.

Hey guys, I've been working on reconditioning my F-14 and saw something under the playfield that doesn't seem right.

This is the lower lamp socket for the right side stand up targets, next to the 3 flashers. It looks like there should be another wire soldered there, but I can't find any hanging wires like it was detached. The bulb was not illuminated when the rest of the GI was on, so I'm guessing I must connect it somewhere.

Can someone check under their playfield to confirm or let me know where I should connect a new wire to?

Thanks.

socket.JPG

That's not the yellow disconnected wire right next to it?

*face palm* Yeah your're right, it is. Helps to have a 2nd set of eyes. Thanks

Also the socket / tabs are leaning dreadfully close to the target switch tabs. I 'd suggest bending to reposition or seal up one or the other or both with some electrical tape to prevent your switch and lamp matrix from being fried should they touch.

Close? It looks like it's putting the moves on it. I'm surprised it hasn't shorted out already.

Thanks for the tip, I'll do that. ..mental note to check all other lamps while I have the playfield out.

lol. Probably would've if the wire was still attached!

I have a question for all the F-14 owners. Occasionally a second ball will launch out of one of the ball locks, essentially creating a 2 ball multiball. This happens very rarely, but often enough that I thought I would bring it up. Is this part of the gameplay or is it a malfunction?

Unfortunately it happens so rarely that I don't have many details. I don't know which of the ball locks it fires out of or what is triggering it. When it finally happens I'm usually in the middle of the game and I'm focused on the main ball and don't see the 2nd fire onto the PF.

Anyone else?

I just got rid of mine but I don't remember that ever happening

I've not seen this.

Take all the balls out and go into switch test.

See if the same number comes up for 2 switches, or if any switch does not work.

Test the ball trough with actual balls, not your finger.

How do I take all the balls out? [EDIT] - Figured it out

FYI...My player 4 display is broken. I'm also a newbie when it comes to putting a pinball machine into any test mode. It took 10 minutes of fiddling around with the machine before I figured out how to reset it to factory default.

[EDIT] I fiddled with this some more. I managed to get the lamp tests going, but my kids were asleep so I didn't go any further. I will try this again tomorrow.

I should have a new PinScore early next week. Maybe this will help me figure out the menu for tests?

So I take it this is not normal? I'd say out of 50 games this has happened maybe 3 times.

This is a post or rail problem, because there is no 2-ball mutliball. When a ball is launched from the center locks, sometimes the rail pops up and causes the incoming ball to land onto the playfield. This is due to a loose or broken post that holds down the center rails. Make sure those rails are nice and snug, and that should fix your problem. Also check if the rails are sitting on top of the ball lock, and not in the ball lock.

check-post.jpg

I had this problem with mine, ended up being a bad coil diode. When the coil fired, it was sending voltage upstream to the ball release coils and actually activating them. Look for a bad or de-soldered diode.

I'm trying to understand what you are saying so bear with me. The center rails are both secure. The posts are snug and neither rail moves. I don't see how the rails could sit in the ball lock, but mine are not. Please excuse the mess of this area as I have not shopped it yet. Broken jet bumper cap, non-existant foam on targets and the homemade left/right roll under gates are all gifts from a previous owners. Please notice the piece of metal on the top left launch which has been bent upwards. Why? I have no idea.

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Since I'm posting issues… I shopped this area tonight. After comparing photos with others on the internet there are a few clear problems here;

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1) Broken plastic
2) There are two many screws.
3) The screws are all incorrect. The screw furthest to the left is seized in the post.
4) There should only be one full size post on each end of the plastic. The middle one I have no idea what it's supposed to be. Full post? Half post?

I want to get this pin back into original factory default condition. If you have pictures of this area could you please post them to help me out? I know many of you have torn down playfields. Thank you!

+1 to Vids comment about the switch matrix and checking it out. If a ball is locked on F14, and then the machine thinks that the switch on the ramp that feeds the lock is closed, as far as I remember the machine will kick out the locked ball to avoid getting 2 in there. So it could be that one of the ramp switches is faulty and closing when it shouldn't, or a bad diode somewhere else is causing a "phantom" closure.

My dad's machine has the two ball multiball problem on occasion as well. It isn't consistent, but does happen from time to time. It seems to happen more often during multiplayer games. I will check out the diodes.

I have a full sized post, but it is not screwed into the plastics. I was just working in that area last night, so here are a couple pics of my set up...

sling2.jpg

sling1.jpg

Yes, this is what my pin is doing. Sounds more and more like a diode issue.

Thank you for the photos. This is perfect. So it's just two standard bumper posts. The F-14 manual lists them as 02-4008 posts. I see them on BayArea here; http://bayareaamusements.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=baa&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MP-02-4008

I'll try to get them through my local supplier. Worst case I could dremel the top of the screw head off the seized bumper post and use that one in the middle.

Now I just have to find a replacement plastic.

Well the other guys may be correct about a diode issue, but this fixed my problem.
On the left side, look at the little gap between the rail and the ball lock. IMO, the rail needs to slide over to the left and sit on top of the ball lock. The righ side looks correct. Also, make sure the ball launch does not hit the bottom of the rail.

I had a broken post that caused the rail to be unstable. Whenever a ball was locked and a second ball came into the same lock, the launch would hit the bottom of the rail and cuased the incomming ball to jump out.

rail-gap.jpg

This is an easy thing to check so I'll take a look at it tonight. I think it may be the angle of the photo, but we'll see. If there is a gap, how the heck am I supposed to slide it to the left? The post holding it in place already looks like it's as far over as possible.

I had the same problem, mine had to do with the shooter lane switch - best to go into the switch test and verify the switches (use a ball to activate them).

One thing I learned from Tomcat is the switches need to work consistently and accurately - every time & all the time. The switches monitor locations of all the balls - shooter lane, trough switches and locks are extremely important. If one of those is even the slightest bit flaky, this game program will lose track of the balls and weird things begin to happen. Making certain that your Tomcat passes the switch test and switch edge test repeatedly is important for troubleshooting these kinds of errors.

Turns out there was a significant gap between the rail and the ball lock. I loosened the screw and managed to move it down and left quite a bit. Enough that I don't think it will be a problem, if that was the problem. Unfortunately I didn't test it yet as I was so disgusted with the mess in this area that I started tearing it down. All 3 rails came out, a set of clear plastics, both ball locks, and the jet bumper.

I really hope my parts come in this week.

Will do once re-assembled.

Thanks. Switch test it is. It's been driven into my head enough.

With replacement playfields coming out soon, I plan on doing a full restore. Has anyone tinkered with different colored side rails, lock bar, and legs? Possibly chromed out? I'd love to see how it looks with a combo of black side rails and lock bar. Please post some pics if you've done anything other than stock.

Thanks,
Steve

Those target decals are cool. Did you buy those somewhere or did you make them yourself?

Tom.

Check out Snux's "second sortie" thread. I kinda like the red.

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I might be saying goodbye to my F-14 this weekend at SFGE. I have this itching feeling that I'm going to regret it.

Thanks. I made them myself. Did the graphic, printed on an adhesive vinyl sheet, then I laminated it.

I cut them out manually at first, but then FiftyQuid gave me a good suggestion to use a scrapbook hole punch to get a nice clean circle and that worked well.

Happy to share the graphic file to you and anyone else, just PM me your email.

Here are some more pics...

targetsCenter.jpg

targetsTom.jpg

targetsCat.jpg

Looks great. Thanks for posting!

Anyone know where I can get the F-14 spinner or have any ideas to mod a different one?

I'm helping an arcade friend shop out his newly purchased F-14, but one arm of the spinner is completely broken off.

Sorry if this has been mention earlier . . .

Thanks.

In Yagov voice: NO... NO... NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Spinners are hard to find. Took me forever after mine broke. It's the same one for a Bugs Bunny or Harley Davidson. Looks like it is out of stock on Marco and Bay Area right now.

Ok, so I'm missing the sound at the very beginning when a ball is waiting to be plunged, the jet revving up sound. And i'm also missing the sound when you first hit the lock shot when its locking a ball. Right before he says "I'm locked on". Any ideas anyone? I've already taken the sound board off and looked at it and it looks totally fine.

Hmmm. I'm not at my game now, but for some reason thinking this particular sound might be triggered by the plunger lane rollover switch. If you get to it before I do...run a switch edge test, set the ball in the shooter lane.

Yea, I have a few issues with my machine right now. And I've been slowly getting things fixed and getting it going again. I haven't had the chance to get that switch off and looked at yet. Take a look here at my original post with a few issues I'm working on if you don't mind and see if you have any thoughts. Thanks.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/f-14-switch-57-error

I was thinking there is a second switch for the "blast-off" sound, maybe #20 Ramp Entry?
So you have gone through switch test for no stuck switches AND switch edge test to test switch activation with the ball. Absolutely zero switch errors before we proceed further?

By "looked at" do you mean visually? ...or did you check all your data/audio paths with meters and logic probes?

Reflowed solder to the sound board, checked all connections and reconnected everything. If you looked at my earlier post, I can't get into switch test mode. This is my headache. If I can finally get into the mode, I could figure out where all of my main problems are.

That would be the way to go. Have you tried to use an alligator clip lead, wire or paper clip to short pins 2-3 of 1J14 to get into the audits & adjustments menu so that you can get into diagnostics?

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I know.... I'm actually more nervous than anything about people looking at my work. I made some decisions like leaving off some of the clear plastic pieces because I think it looks better. I have all of them, brand new, just didnt like the way they looked. Worried how people will react to stuff like that. Also, the LEDs. It's really bright.

I'll do some work and checking this weekend and the following week and report. Thanks for suggestions. Much appreciated.

All,

Joined the club about a year ago, and have slowly refurbishing my machine from what was sold to me as a "shopped player" to a reliable working machine. So far I've:

- did a playfield swap (good times...)
- went full LED except for flashers
- rebuilt all flippers
- rebuilt the pop bumper (thanks for advice again Snux)
- Installed a playfield protector (no one wanted to clear coat the NOS playfield I had)
- had the MPU board overhauled

The game plays great--it's amazing what a good pop bumper will do for your scores. Now I'm down to last few problems. Both flashers #6 (blue covered one on the lower right "C-A-T" bank and flasher #7 (under the carrier center plastic in the middle of the playfield) are inop. In the coil test menu all working flasher make an audible "click" before flashing. Flashers 6 & 7 don't. I have continuity/power to both which makes me think it's a snubber board/relay. Before I go buying a few of these, I was hoping to see what opinions all of you may have. Thanks in advance...

Just got mine back after 9 months in for some board issues (only $400 tab as they worked on it in spare time basically), "C" in cat was dead on both sets, it was hitting game over after 3rd ball drain in multiball and the VUK was very unreliable....any way back home now and from looking underneath at the new parts the tech went above and beyond doing a few extras I'm pretty impressed! Pics on Monday after she's set up and a few finishing touches done.....after pouring over it for a couple weeks it had to go in, but nice to have it back! LEDS, new rubbers, plastics, flipper rebuild, flashers added back in and a few other things should have it back together and up by Monday afternoon, sitting beside Mr Ritchie's other Sys 11 wonder High Speed.

Looking for confirmation on a working machine... After you start a game, before the ball is launched, if you press a flipper button do the flashers light up?

There are 6 boards under the playfield with 4 resistors. Make sure the resistors have not fallen off. It is common for the resistors to fall off and cause god flashers to stop working.

And if they haven't fallen off, check the solder. They can indeed get hot enough (or rattled enough) to desolder themselves but they don't always fall off.

The click you are hearing is the A/C select coil, switching over to allow the flashers to fire instead of the coils. Odd you don't hear it on #6 and #7, but check the resistors first. There are no other relays involved with those flashers, snubber boards are only used on coils....

Yes, and you should get explosion sounds.

Confirmed. Engine revving/idling sound effect is constant until ball is shot and moves off the rollover (Switch #16) . The second switch 3/4 up the playfield in the wireform (#20 ramp entry) triggers a blast off sound effect. Your sound system could be entirely working correctly - if these switches are not working right it would falsely appear to be a problem with the sound system.