1001 top that!
BTW more Hardtops coming soon
Hi all. I'm chasing two problems with my new game and am wondering if you can help.
The first involves the right flipper. When it is energized and the ball hits it, it dips ever so slightly. I have heard that this can be a problem with the EOS switch, so I took a look. My left flipper has a normal looking EOS switch. My right flipper (the one with the issue) has a strange looking one. It has two contacts and almost looks like a flipper button switch that controls both an upper and lower flipper. I wonder if those two switches got swapped. Here is a picture of the normal left one followed by the weird right one.
IMG_1035 (resized).JPGIMG_1034 (resized).JPG
Can someone tell me if their right flipper EOS switch looks like this or if it looks more like my left one? If you can post a picture of your right one that shows the wiring, that would be great! Also, does your right flipper button have two contacts so that if you press it a little, it engages the lower flipper but not the other, and if you press it more, it engages both? Mine doesn't do that, so I'm wondering if things got switched around (no pun intended).
My second issue involves one of the upper drop targets. When it resets, at times, it goes up a little too far and doesn't go back down unless I take the glass off and manipulate it back down. I traced the problem to the linking arm on the drop target assembly -- that metal thing that has an elbow that hits the switches. When it goes up a bit too far, the elbow slides out of the slot in the back panel, and the whole target gets stuck in the up position. I've had this issue with another machine, and the cause there was a metal bracket that had a slot in it which broke. But, this assembly doesn't seem to have the same metal brackets. Any ideas on how to fix this? My two ideas are to somehow attach something to the sides of the slot in the metal plate to prevent the elbow from slipping out, but I'm not sure how to do that. Or, to drop something into the plunger coil so it doesn't move quite so high up when it resets the drop targets. The trick there would be to get it to move high enough that it can adequately reset them but not so high that the elbow slips out of the slot.
All help is very much appreciated! Thanks!
Quoted from Nokoro:Hi all. I'm chasing two problems with my new game and am wondering if you can help.
The first involves the right flipper. When it is energized and the ball hits it, it dips ever so slightly. I have heard that this can be a problem with the EOS switch, so I took a look. My left flipper has a normal looking EOS switch. My right flipper (the one with the issue) has a strange looking one. It has two contacts and almost looks like a flipper button switch that controls both an upper and lower flipper. I wonder if those two switches got swapped. Here is a picture of the normal left one followed by the weird right one.
[quoted image][quoted image]
Can someone tell me if their right flipper EOS switch looks like this or if it looks more like my left one? If you can post a picture of your right one that shows the wiring, that would be great! Also, does your right flipper button have two contacts so that if you press it a little, it engages the lower flipper but not the other, and if you press it more, it engages both? Mine doesn't do that, so I'm wondering if things got switched around (no pun intended).
My second issue involves one of the upper drop targets. When it resets, at times, it goes up a little too far and doesn't go back down unless I take the glass off and manipulate it back down. I traced the problem to the linking arm on the drop target assembly -- that metal thing that has an elbow that hits the switches. When it goes up a bit too far, the elbow slides out of the slot in the back panel, and the whole target gets stuck in the up position. I've had this issue with another machine, and the cause there was a metal bracket that had a slot in it which broke. But, this assembly doesn't seem to have the same metal brackets. Any ideas on how to fix this? My two ideas are to somehow attach something to the sides of the slot in the metal plate to prevent the elbow from slipping out, but I'm not sure how to do that. Or, to drop something into the plunger coil so it doesn't move quite so high up when it resets the drop targets. The trick there would be to get it to move high enough that it can adequately reset them but not so high that the elbow slips out of the slot.
All help is very much appreciated! Thanks!
Your right flipper EOS switch on a FG has an energization switch in place for the upper flipper. Instead of putting two flipper switches on the right side of the cabinet Bally put one on the flipper button to energize the lower flipper, and then the other flipper switch was stacked onto the EOS switch to engage the upper flipper mech.
Quoted from Nokoro:Hi all. I'm chasing two problems with my new game and am wondering if you can help.
The first involves the right flipper. When it is energized and the ball hits it, it dips ever so slightly. I have heard that this can be a problem with the EOS switch, so I took a look. My left flipper has a normal looking EOS switch. My right flipper (the one with the issue) has a strange looking one. It has two contacts and almost looks like a flipper button switch that controls both an upper and lower flipper. I wonder if those two switches got swapped. Here is a picture of the normal left one followed by the weird right one.
[quoted image][quoted image]
Can someone tell me if their right flipper EOS switch looks like this or if it looks more like my left one? If you can post a picture of your right one that shows the wiring, that would be great! Also, does your right flipper button have two contacts so that if you press it a little, it engages the lower flipper but not the other, and if you press it more, it engages both? Mine doesn't do that, so I'm wondering if things got switched around (no pun intended).
My second issue involves one of the upper drop targets. When it resets, at times, it goes up a little too far and doesn't go back down unless I take the glass off and manipulate it back down. I traced the problem to the linking arm on the drop target assembly -- that metal thing that has an elbow that hits the switches. When it goes up a bit too far, the elbow slides out of the slot in the back panel, and the whole target gets stuck in the up position. I've had this issue with another machine, and the cause there was a metal bracket that had a slot in it which broke. But, this assembly doesn't seem to have the same metal brackets. Any ideas on how to fix this? My two ideas are to somehow attach something to the sides of the slot in the metal plate to prevent the elbow from slipping out, but I'm not sure how to do that. Or, to drop something into the plunger coil so it doesn't move quite so high up when it resets the drop targets. The trick there would be to get it to move high enough that it can adequately reset them but not so high that the elbow slips out of the slot.
All help is very much appreciated! Thanks!
check and see if this is your issue because i had the same thing. I could flip the ball and if i held the flipper powered up and the bal came back to hit that same flipper it would slightly rotate the flipper.
Thank you both for responding. I’m glad to know the EOS switch is normal. I’ll check soon for any play in that part and report back.
Quoted from wolffcub:check and see if this is your issue because i had the same thing. I could flip the ball and if i held the flipper powered up and the bal came back to hit that same flipper it would slightly rotate the flipper.
Ok, I just checked, and there is some play there that seems to cause the flipper to drop slightly. How did you fix it?
Quoted from wolffcub:i put a new one in but the one i took out will just get a little spot weld.
Do you remember where you bought a new one?
Thanks guys. I just took that linking arm off my right flipper to check and sure enough, I have the same issue as shown in the video posted by wolffcub . It could have come undone during transit. Parts ordered!
Getting back to my drop target issue, in case it was hard to visualize from my earlier description, take a look at this picture. Occasionally, when the target resets, the arm (shown with the green arrow) goes up just a little too high and slips out of the slot, making the drop target stuck in the up position. Anyone ever experience this?
Quoted from Nokoro:Thanks guys. I just took that linking arm off my right flipper to check and sure enough, I have the same issue as shown in the video posted by wolffcub . It could have come undone during transit. Parts ordered!
Getting back to my drop target issue, in case it was hard to visualize from my earlier description, take a look at this picture. Occasionally, when the target resets, the arm (shown with the green arrow) goes up just a little too high and slips out of the slot, making the drop target stuck in the up position. Anyone ever experience this?
[quoted image]
I've had this problem with one of the drop targets in the 4 target assembly. I replaced the reset spring with a new one and haven't had the problem since. Drop targets manufactured later than FG employ a little rod which prevents the drop target from resetting too high and popping out of the channel. I just went through a drop target assembly from Mr and Mrs Pacman and it was manufactured with the rod. See https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-drop-target-pops-out-of-the-channel.
If my spring replacement doesn't cure the problem for good I'll try to add some sort of rod like found in the MMPM drop target assemblies.
Quoted from rack-em-up:I've had this problem with one of the drop targets in the 4 target assembly. I replaced the reset spring with a new one and haven't had the problem since. Drop targets manufactured later than FG employ a little rod which prevents the drop target from resetting too high and popping out of the channel. I just went through a drop target assembly from Mr and Mrs Pacman and it was manufactured with the rod. See https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-drop-target-pops-out-of-the-channel.
If my spring replacement doesn't cure the problem for good I'll try to add some sort of rod like found in the MMPM drop target assemblies.
Oh cool. Thanks! That is the exact issue. I’ll try what you suggest. I may also try what I put in my first post to see if putting something in the coil itself to stop the plunger slightly before full height might help.
Hi again. I'm trying to diagnose a switch matrix issue that has me baffled. Can you please check out this thread and if you have any ideas, let me know?
Thanks!
I also posted this on the flight 2000 topic but its happening in both of my games.
Anyone else running the weebly setup? I was having issues with my boards so i got all new ones for my flash Gordon and flight 2k from weebly. Im running all his stuff in my Lectronamo with no issues but when powering up both machines the mpu fails to boot fully when the J2 connector is plugged in on the driver board. Im drawing a blank as to why this is happening.
IMG_6532 (resized).JPG
Found a solution for the issue that was happening. Weebly indicated that some caps on this latest revision board were the issue. I removed them as directed and everything boots and works.
Fonts, fonts, fonts. Just joined the club! Pretty excited to have purchased a Flash Gordon. This one needs a lot of work, and I plan to do a full playfield restore & clearcoat. I've done this on an Eight Ball Deluxe, and I used a cutter to make masks & get my fonts exactly correct. Does anyone know the name of the font or fonts used on the playfield of FG? I need the font for the inset numbers as well as for the lettering ("CLOCK SECONDS", "WHEN LIT", "SUPER BONUS"). I tried using some of the font search tools online, but no luck so far. Does anybody know the name of the font?
IMG_0312 (resized).jpgQuoted from BJM-Maxx:My FG sometimes turns on the High Score light while I am still playing. It works properly during attract mode after a game finishes and is off during the game as it should be. Just sometimes I will notice it is on during a game, I have only noticed it happening on Ball 3. Is this normal?
@BJM-Maxx
Did you ever resolve this? My Meteor does this too. It is not specific to ball 3 though. It flickers and sometimes even stays on during gameplay, but works find during attract mode and in between balls when the game flashes the HSTD. Never thought about a SCR though. I'll swap lamp boards with another of my games to see if it goes away.
Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:BJM-Maxx
Did you ever resolve this? My Meteor does this too. It is not specific to ball 3 though. It flickers and sometimes even stays on during gameplay, but works find during attract mode and in between balls when the game flashes the HSTD. Never thought about a SCR though. I'll swap lamp boards with another of my games to see if it goes away.
I have not found a solution. Hard to understand how it could be an SCR though. The SCR is turned on by the game every half electrical cycle (120 Hz) to simulate a bulb that is on. Anything that fails to trigger the SCR should leave it off all the time.
Quoted from BJM-Maxx:I have not found a solution. Hard to understand how it could be an SCR though. The SCR is turned on by the game every half electrical cycle (120 Hz) to simulate a bulb that is on. Anything that fails to trigger the SCR should leave it off all the time.
Fantastic news. Swapping my known working lamp driver from my Harlem Globetrotters into Meteor eliminated my issue. I played 4 games and watched that light. With the Meteor lamp driver, it would flicker when a drop target was hit, when the spinner got ripped, random other times. With the Harlem lamp driver, that light behaved as it should. I have several Bally/Stern games that use this board, so it was easy to test. I wish you luck. Now I'm gonna go over the LDB in Meteor. Also gotta do the one in my Magic, as the Harlem LDB resolved some lamp issues I was having with it's original board.
Added over 4 years ago:BJM-Maxx
I replaced the SCR that controls the HSTD light and my issue stopped. Hope you fix yours.
I think I need more than fonts.... here’s a few pics of the play field that had been touched up by a previous owner. I think I’ll start my own thread to document this. It’s gonna take some time to rescue this game!
9D1F1876-3746-414C-A47C-3E467111164C (resized).jpeg3FA04289-0E17-423C-A3ED-40F8F0A4F070 (resized).jpeg27FC434B-314C-4AED-A946-044A95680183 (resized).jpegQuoted from solderboy:I think I need more than fonts.... here’s a few pics of the play field that had been touched up by a previous owner. I think I’ll start my own thread to document this. It’s gonna take some time to rescue this game![quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Hardtop!!
Quoted from solderboy:I think I need more than fonts.... here’s a few pics of the play field that had been touched up by a previous owner. I think I’ll start my own thread to document this. It’s gonna take some time to rescue this game![quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Ooof. That looks terrible. This is a case where I would have preferred a worn original, vs this awful "touch up" job. This may be one case where I would actually go with a hard top, in lieu of what you have there. I'm still holding out for a CPR digital print or rerun.
Quoted from FatPanda:Ooof. That looks terrible. This is a case where I would have preferred a worn original, vs this awful "touch up" job. This may be one case where I would actually go with a hard top, in lieu of what you have there. I'm still holding out for a CPR digital print or rerun.
Yeah, depends. I won’t know for sure until I tear it down completely, cleaned, and maybe hit it with a sander. It needs to be flattened otherwise a clear coat would need to be way too thick to make it flat. I guess if I ruin it, it’s pretty much already gone anyway. Most important to me is playability, and if you look at the pictures closely you can see that the ball will not roll straight with all that touch up on top of the wear. And that’s a problem.
Quoted from solderboy:I think I need more than fonts.... here’s a few pics of the play field that had been touched up by a previous owner. I think I’ll start my own thread to document this. It’s gonna take some time to rescue this game![quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
That’s a perfect example of why I’ll never attempt to do my own touch ups.
Quoted from Nokoro:That’s a perfect example of why I’ll never attempt to do my own touch ups.
I dO mY oWn ToUcH uPs aLl the TiMe! AlWaYs TuRnS oUt GrEaT!
No problem with touchups, i repainted those playfields 80% for EBD 95% for F2K and Fathom 90% of the top portion
Removed inserts, sand them flat, reglue, redo the artwork
Perfect colors match, very precise hand painted artwork, no friends can tell by naked eyes where i repaint them.
I usually also customize artwort a bit as you can see for 8BD ( colors of the balls, no dithering) and F2K ( i prefer to remove wood effect around switches, improve the artwork in my opinion)
IMG_6351 (resized).JPGIMG_6352 (resized).JPGIMG_6354 (resized).JPGIMG_6355 (resized).JPG
Quoted from HPR:No problem with touchups, i repainted those playfields 80% for EBD 95% for F2K and Fathom 90% of the top portion
Removed inserts, sand them flat, reglue, redo the artwork
Perfect colors match, very precise hand painted artwork, no friends can tell by naked eyes where i repaint them.
I usually also customize artwort a bit as you can see for 8BD ( colors of the balls, no dithering) and F2K ( i prefer to remove wood effect around switches, improve the artwork in my opinion)
Looks like beautiful touch up work - especially on the Fathom, I can't pick anything even with these close up shots.
Quoted from HPR:No problem with touchups, i repainted those playfields 80% for EBD 95% for F2K and Fathom 90% of the top portion
Removed inserts, sand them flat, reglue, redo the artwork
Perfect colors match, very precise hand painted artwork, no friends can tell by naked eyes where i repaint them.
I usually also customize artwort a bit as you can see for 8BD ( colors of the balls, no dithering) and F2K ( i prefer to remove wood effect around switches, improve the artwork in my opinion)
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Some people have the knack for it. Some definitely dont! You belong in the former group. Beautiful work!
Now that I've gotten my new FG running pretty well, having sorted out a few issues both electrical and mechanical, I can really say that I'm loving this pin! It completely has that "just one more game" thing going with it. I haven't felt this way in a while.
So, what are some good scoring strategies? Right now, I've been concentrating on building up my bonus multiplier. I want to get it to 5x and then combine with 5x playfield and shoot the ball past the drop target into the shooter lane for 25x bonus. I'm sure that'll be easy to do. What are some lesser goals that are lucrative for points but more realistic to attain? I'm digging trying to light the spinners and then just hitting them over and over again. Anything else?
Quoted from mwiz:Anybody have an extra playfield bracket or know where I can buy them? It seems a little longer than most brackets (3.5 inches).
The deep brackets are used on games with upper PF's and Xenon. I should have one. Will PM.
Is anyone using the Siegecraft Aux lamp board led flicker eliminator? I have a set installed and it seems to not be working. I do have the single wire connected to the correct power also as per instruction and as per other led flicker eliminator kits. I do have a new main lamp board installed from Weebly and everything connected to that board works properly and gives me no flicker.
Quoted from Nokoro:Anyone know the exact part number for the bayonet lamp sockets used for the inserts and GI in Flash Gordon? The parts manual lists four or five different types and doesn’t seem to specify which are used where.
It all depends on were they are located on thr game...
1) lamp socket E-120-127 {lens}
2) lamp socket E-120-99 {lens}
3) lamp socket E-120-81 {GI through payfield hole :low mount}
4) lamp socket E-120-84 {GI through payfield hole: high mount}
5) lamp socket E-120-162 {coin door}
6) lamp socket E-120-176 GI {staple type mounting}
Note: the game might not use some of the lamp sockets listed above.
Quoted from vec-tor:It all depends on were they are located on thr game...
1) lamp socket E-120-127 {lens}
2) lamp socket E-120-99 {lens}
3) lamp socket E-120-81 {GI through payfield hole :low mount}
4) lamp socket E-120-84 {GI through payfield hole: high mount}
5) lamp socket E-120-162 {coin door}
6) lamp socket E-120-176 GI {staple type mounting}
Note: the game might not use some of the lamp sockets listed above.
Thank you! It would be nice if they mapped it out for you in the manual, but I can probably figure it out from this and by looking under the playfield.
Quoted from Nokoro:Thank you! It would be nice if they mapped it out for you in the manual, but I can probably figure it out from this and by looking under the playfield.
You want the e 120 127 for the inserts for FG and most all Bally Stern games. Marco has them for 99 cents if you buy 10 or more
Quoted from Lovef2k:Marco has them for 99 cents if you buy 10 or more
.$92 cents at PBR! No Minimum!
Quoted from QuietEarp:.$92 cents at PBR! No Minimum!
I hope none of us are paying 92 cents per LED unless they are flashers. I generally buy the bulk 100 packs from Comet for about half that.
EDIT:
Whoops, you guys are talking about sockets. Phew!
Quoted from QuietEarp:.$92 cents at PBR! No Minimum!
Yeah I'd rather buy them from PBR also but the last time I ordered sockets he only had the double solder tabs for adding a diode as used on Wms games. But that was years ago so maybe things changed?
Quoted from Lovef2k:Yeah I'd rather buy them from PBR also but the last time I ordered sockets he only had the double solder tabs for adding a diode as used on Wms games. But that was years ago so maybe things changed?
That's all PBR is selling, double tab sockets. For the price that what I use. If the 2nd tab bothers you, clip it off.
Quoted from tomdrum:That's all PBR is selling, double tab sockets. For the price that what I use. If the 2nd tab bothers you, clip it off.
Or if you're gonna use LEDs, since you'll be doing the soldering anyway, use the 2 tabs to install a resistor to eliminate flicker.
Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:Or if you're gonna use LEDs, since you'll be doing the soldering anyway, use the 2 tabs to install a resistor to eliminate flicker.
Great point!
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