I installed the ocd board and have it in there just as it is set when it ships. I stopped short of installing the fishtales file because I'm not real "techy", I found I structions on their site, but any tips from someone who has done it?

Hi guys,

Have started to disassemble mine for a good clean. The fish is really sticky; any known way to solve this?

Not that I know, I think it’s the material and age. Mine is kind of sticky also

I recommend the GI OCD board as well to get the full fade effects. I've put the ocd board in three games and have not noticed any difference loading the game specific file. The software does allow you to customize things but I see no need for that. Things look great right out of the box.

Glad to hear that. I rememt seeing that I could change each individual bulb and even on quarantine I don't think I'd want to spend that kinda time on it

I got a problem that I cant seem to figure out.
My start button doesn't light up.

Here's what I have done to try and figure out the problem.

1. New bulb , and socket. Bulb tests good
2. Checked wire harness from coin interface board back to the board. Tests good.
3. Check harness from coin board to switch. Tests good.
4. Check the yellow wire(column wire )with the other wires in the colum. Tests good. ( also checked the red_grey wires ) tests good.
5. Check the plugs on the coin board to the diode on the board. Both plugs have continuity to the diode both ways.
6. Replaced the diode. Tested good but replaced anyways.

No other lights are out on the row or colum that the start button is on. I really don't know what to check next. Game is on freeplay. D-6 rom. Any ideas. Maybe I am missing something obvious.

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My start globe was out because when I installed cast angel eye LED/button , I unknowingly removed circuit for start light. It is looped through Yellow/Grey wires at cast button feed. They need to be connected together.

My FT has been for sale a couple of weeks now
Kinda glad it has not sold
Dialed in so well FT is a ton of fun !

I have a GI OCD board but that’s going in CV, lots of dimming of the gi in that game.
I watched FT papa video to see how much the gi dimmed/faded in FT with incandescents but didn’t notice hardly anything, maybe the camera didn't catch it that well?

I have a White Water Right next to FT and white water definitely needs the GI OCD as well as the LED OCD. My Fish Tales just has LED OCD in it and it works great. I don't think the GI OCD would really make a difference for FT.

FT fades after ball ends and during attract mode. Probably other times but cannot think of them off top of my head. Like the inserts, the gi fade effects are subtle and just have a better visual quality. Hard to notice in a bright room like they often use for videos. It's debatable if it's worth the cost but I figure if you are going to fix the fade effects for the inserts might as well do the gi. That way the game plays exactly as designed.

I put in an LED kit and the only thing I noticed was it's brighter . Man , pinball can be technical .

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to give a big thumbs up recommendation to Pinwoofer.com and their powered Super kit. I've always been the guy that leaves the stock speakers in the back box, and puts a powered 10" sub in the floor under the game. That works, but I always hated having to move the sub around if I pulled a game out to work on it or whatever. Anyway, when i recently got my Fish Tales machine, the family agreed we all love the music and the callouts, but the sound quality was less than impressive. I took advice from some other threads and decided to give the Pinwoofer super kit a try. Holy hell man!! This kit is awesome. If anyone is looking to upgrade their Fish Tales sound system this is the way to do it. I couldn't be happier.

I also have a PinWoofer in mine. He’s local to me, good stuff. Here’s my new product and a new color I just had made. P-cups.
Pretty good color match for the water color on cab art

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What’s the consensus if LED’ing a Fish Tales: warm white, or sunlight white?

GI and inserts.

I’ve omitted colour-matching and cool white as I’m not keen on those options.

Incandescent is also valid, but I prefer LED!

I have the Purple Passion below by Monster fish inserts, love em

I did the comet fish tales kit. Came out great. He has it in YouTube to see what the kit looks like

Pinks, not purples? Does that work?

Just did a quick tally for my personal tastes (i don't always use Green LEDs under every green insert)

9x Red 555
5x Yellow 555
2x Purple 555
2x Purple 44/47
3x Green 555 (might use white instead)
3x Green 44/47 (might use white instead)
39-45x White TBC 555
3x White 44/47

+ 46 White TBC 555 (backbox)
+ ??????????? Playfield GI (anyone know the number?)

This is what the Pinball bulbs kit looks like with spotlights and blue LED strips in the trough and up the back . It looks lighter and brighter in person .

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Everyone has their own tastes. I prefer 2smd frosted sunlight for gi. Everything else is custom but for the most part color matching inserts except warm white for yellow/orange. Backbox depends on the art. FT has a lot of bulbs in the backbox so I left some empty. I'm not a fan of the kits. It doesn't take much time to inventory all the inserts and count the gi/backbox bulbs. Get exactly what you need and exactly how you like it.

Warm white for gi in the playfield for me, mixed it up in the backbox though.

Got about 60 Warm white wedge LEDs but only about 25 Sunlight... think an order’s due!

Sunlight would be sweet, one day I will do a Comet order!

Thanks. I’m leaning towards sunlight white, and i used to do the total colour matching thing but it was a pain to assemble the order only to find 1 item out of stock, add to that the fact we’re in the U.K. so delivery takes longer, costs more and we get hit with customs duty too, so now i just order bulk bags of approx 75% wedge sunlight whites and 25% bayonette, with the odd colour for good measure (and topside bulbs).

Quick question. I'm having some slight reel alignment issues. Upon inspection, I noticed the reel was able to spin freely by hand about 3/16 of an inch. The belt felt tight, so I dug deeper. What I see is the lower pulley that slides over the motor shaft has a "D" shaped hole in the center that is a bit loose. The lower pulley is free to wiggle on the motor shaft. So, should the lower pulley be nice and snug? Or have a bit of wiggle? Any help is appreciated.

I believe they should be nice and snug.

Been a while since I had my reel apart, but it does not seem normal to be loose. You can get a new pulley. Check in the parts list to see if this is the lower one:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-8086

I was just working on mine this afternoon and it has a little bit of play but not much. I think 3/16 is to much.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I replaced the lower pulley and belt with new ones from Marco. The new pulley also had play in it. The belt did need replacing as the old one was hard and had lost its elasticity. Replacing these 2 parts seemed to help a little at first, but after playing for a half hour or so, I had multiple malfunctions. I guess its optic replacement time tomorrow.

Have you done any mods lately? I installed a mod and shortly after had reel issues. Turned out, it was a wire not seated properly in a board connector so the optos weren't getting power. Maybe a loose connection?

I had some spinner decals made up, really find the prismatic decals plain and boring...rip that spinner!!

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Come to think of it, yes.... I installed a full set of Titan rubbers, and I DID have to remove part of the casters club and the wire form that feeds the reel. Sheeeesh.... if that's all it is. Wow, just wow. Perhaps it's a simple matter of adjusting the wire form that feeds the reel, not the reel itself. I'll keep everyone posted.

Go into switch test and manually check your optos and switches. If more than one opto is out, it may be .

I hope your problem is not what I had happen, similar symptoms.
After a full tear down and reassembly, I had reel problems, I had new band, new pully, cleaned optos, re flowed the solder on reel board, still bad. I had a new "homepin" mpu in there, and I had a spare original mpu that had blown out chips, that had been repaired. I swapped out to the original board and everything has been fine for the last 1500 plays. My board repair man said the brand new homepin board was worthless, some of the worst factory soldering he had ever seen.....

Went down the same road. My reel wasn't working great so replaced both pullies, belt, and optos. Worked better but still acted up. One of the problems was I could see the belt slipping on the pulley. The pulley plastic was very smooth so I hit it with some fine sandpaper so belt could get better traction. Second problem was same as yours. The "D" pulley had play in it even with a brand new one. I wedge in a small piece of paper into the flat part of the "D". That removed the slack and have pulley has worked flawlessly since.

Looks like the wireform adjustment may just fix my issue! I've only played a few games, but so far so good. We shall see. I now have new optics, new belt, and new pulley. All the boards look clean and original to the game. I'll know for sure in a few days

I guess you could look at it that way yeah but a lot of machines of this era had a prismatic decal on the spinner/s and most have no reference to fishing. BOP being one that comes directly to mind.

OMG..... My reel alignment issues. So, after playing a friends machine tonight, I notice his reel is spinning "away" from the player and works flawlessly. Mine spins "towards" the player and works mediocre at best. What direction does everyone else's spin, and how can I reverse it?

Got it swapped. That was 100% the problem. What the hell man. This machine supposedly played perfect according to the seller. But anyone who played more than a game or 2 should have experienced the problem. All it took was switching the red and black motor wires at the plug, and boom, perfect alignment. On the bright side, I now have new belt, pulley, and optics. So I should be set for a while.

Hello friends ... I have these topics ...
issue kickers, change the whole kit and then throw me that

switch theme, replace it, and keep it up. It has a new CPU board. check cables. I don't see anything strange ..

and the club door is open down .. is it normal? that ? Does the coil have a spring? I think so, but you don't have mine.

If I solve this, I will finish my work ... jajajaj

greetings from from Argentina !!!

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Sorry, I did not follow, but will try to help -

The Left EOS (end of stop) switch is attached to the left flipper mech, and is activated when the flipper is up. Does the switch look OK? Are the wires attached?

The switch status should normally look like this with 3 balls in the trough:

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With default settings, the drop target at the casters club should be down at the start of a game. There is a coil to push it up and a coil to knock it down. Sometimes you need to adjust the arm, so it is a little closer to the coil, so the coil can move the arm to knock it down.

I just have to fix the 64 switch I can't find where the problem is. control the wires white/yellow green/blue
but I don't see anything weird. also change the switch and follow the same Open.
I'm asking for your help.

Sorry my english but I'm not good ..

Can someone pass me pictures of switch 64 from below (playfield), to see the connections ..
maybe there is the error.
please..

Here is a photo of SW 64. (upper left loop).

There should be 2 white/yellow wires and 2 green/blue wires attached like shown with the diode attached like shown.

Maybe the switch is failed? You can check the switch operation with a meter in continuity mode. (measure between terminals for the green/blue wires and the striped end of the diode and confirm it opens/closes reliably)

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I already changed the switch and nothing remains the same. Do I have to put something special?

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You've got your diode on backwards.