Quoted from algum123:

I had the same issue with my Flash, the center flash insert really is not much. I originally went to brighter LED replacements, and even added a 3rd one, but still not enough. I then added a strobe light on the top of the machine to fire at the same time: This was something I occasionally saw on location back when Flash first came out, but that was still not enough. I finally after a fair amount of hacking wired in an EnerGI Maestro, and now all the GI flashes.

Quoted from algum123:

I know back in the day when they first came out I occasionally saw a strobe on top; I think one of the amusement bussiness related magazines had a circuit described, not sure if it was ever officially supported by Williams, nor was I ever able to find out the details, but I did come up with something that works.
Originally I though of putting one together from individual parts, or modifying an of-the-shell unit to trigger it internally, but I was not comfortable dealing with the high voltages present and potentially exposing the rest of the electronics to damage. I suppose if you went with an LED strobe, rather than xenon, the risk would be much lower and easier to connect.
I eventually kind of cheated, but it works quite well: I got one of the old classic style box strobe units, and directly switched 120v line voltage to it on and off using an SSR (Solid State Relay), the top device in the photo (the lower regular relay is for the GI flashing). I hooked the bulbs under the flash insert to trigger the SSR, and ran 120v through the switched side to an outlet that the strobe lamp plugs into. Even though the 120v pulse is very short, the strobe charges up and fires so fast that even a brief pulse is enough to flash it several times. Not sure if all strobe units will work, but the simple one I got does. The unit has a dial to adjust the flash rate, and you can easily set a point where it almost always flashes just once, although you can change it to flash several times if you want a different effect.
The SSR I used requires a 5v supply to activate, since I wanted to only drive this when the game was active, not strobe all the time during atract mode. I don't remember the exact details how I did this, but I think I hooked up to the flipper relay somehow so that only when the flippers are active during a game is the relay enabled. If you want to always have the strobe flash, even in atract mode, you can use a simpler SSR that does not require extra 5v power.
A bit of hack, but it works quiet well. Not sure if this approach will shorten the life expectancy of the strobe, but I have been using it for years without trouble. At some point I need to record a video of how this looks and possibly wired up, including how I got all the GI to flash as well...

Quoted from clodpole:

When I raise the playfield and support it with the metal support built into the cabinet, my playfield crawls up on the right side and leans to the left. If I ignore it, it will actually fall on me.
Anybody else have that problem? Solve it?

Quoted from reconsider59:

Hey y'all,
Finally got my Flash PLAYABLE, and it's a blast to shoot!
I do have a couple weird things that aren't working, though, and I'm not sure why:
- the blue Flash crescent never goes off
- the ascending tone never happens (I've seen it in videos...it doesn't happen on mine)
Any help appreciated! Thanks!

Quoted from reconsider59:

Thanks for this! Going to get a couple of LEDs for the bulbs, and I'm ordering the 1 ohm resistor in case that's jacked up, too. Does anyone know, is there a schematic somewhere for that board on the underside of the playfield that controls these lights?
I'll look into the tone setting, too, thank you; I didn't realize it was a setting!

Quoted from reconsider59:

Hey again, everyone—new problem developed...
The right flipper is strangely weak, and will often do a "double-flip" kind of reaction when activated (I have a video I could share, if that doesn't make sense; basically, it'll quickly activate/deactivate/reactivate).
I've read the Vid thread about adjustments to the leaf switch gap, and how they should be set up, but setting the closed switch to open to exactly 1/8" when the plunger is fully depressed upon activation of the solenoid hasn't helped. Any recommendation on what ELSE could be wrong? Or is it possible the new switch that I put on is bad, in some way?
Not sure if it means anything, but there's a noticeable hum when the right flipper is activated that isn't there when the left is activated. It's not always the same hum, either, from flip to flip. Unsure if this is relevant, but thought I'd mention it.
Attaching a couple photos, in case they can shed any light on what might be wrong.
Thanks, as always, y'all.

Quoted from reconsider59:

Yeah, I've replaced that switch, too; brand new, seems to be making the connection fine!

Quoted from clodpole:

Hi, mine doesn't have the second pair of switches at all. That's not to say mine is original in configuration, but the flippers work.

Quoted from clodpole:

Yeah, lower right flipper. This game is a relatively early System 4 game, and that second set of switch blades is a "lane change" switch. I wonder if System 6 games got "lane change" and earlier games didn't?

Quoted from Pizzaman13:

I have had my Flash for years. Always felt the flippers felt weaker than my other games. This weekend I finally did a flipper rebuild.
My flippers still feel weaker than my other games. Bummer.

Quoted from Pizzaman13:

Thanks for the suggestion. Is there a pic or Vid post that shows what “right” should look like?

Quoted from pinengineer77:

Thanks joydivision that is excellent input. The Flash I am working on has both horseshoes installed. I should try tensioning them further, but am concerned they won't drop quickly (or reliably) if I go too far. I also used a thin film of PBR grease (Steve Young recommends it for EM style PCB/rivet contacts like this). Thanks for your feedback on the capacitors, it is really too bad they cause extra scoring as they solved the problem 100%.
slochar Interesting idea - Raising the voltage to 12V would help to eliminate false triggers like those you see in early Bally SS games when you press the flippers. Gottlieb, Bally and Williams all used 5V scanning in this era of games and every one I have worked on (other than this Flash) has scored reliably with the exception of Bally games with bad/missing capacitors.
The fundamental issue with this is that the targets are "EM Style" which have a target down park position (this is the series wired center solder points which triggers a bank reset) and a temporary "target falling" contact set which triggers scoring (these are the two outer solder points which are uniquely scanned for each target). If the target falls too fast for the scanning matrix to catch it, or if there is "contact bounce" where the contact is unreliable while the target is falling, the target won't score. On this Flash if I manually drop the targets with the PF vertical (pressing them with my finger to drop them) they score every time, but when the playfield is horizontal and the target is hit by a ball, they are falling faster and they won't score.
While researching this I saw a project in a different thread where folks were experimenting with two reed switches and gluing a magnet to the bottom of the target. Both reed switches would be closed when the target was in the down position and they tested this and found it worked. I don't own this Flash game and I don't feel comfortable with such a radical modification on a game I don't own - however I am tempted to layout a PCB if others want to have it fabricated and experiment on their games. I figure this had to work at one time from the factory - and replaced the horseshoes, guides and PCBs in frustration without success. Attaching a picture so you can see the Pinball Life PCBs and solder / wiring
The other aspect to this is the 1-2-3-4 are not 100% reliable either. If the ball is flown through the switch from the lower pop bumper then it often won't score. These switch stacks have all been cleaned, polished and I even reversed the incorrectly assembled contacts too. Which has me questing if this game has some problem in the MPU switch matrix like the 14xxx receiver.
Would enjoy discussing other ideas on this forum, this seems to be the biggest weak point (other than properly fusing BRs and solenoids and connector issues) on these games so whatever we can learn will help us all!

Quoted from pinengineer77:

Thanks for the generous offer koji I am located in the Boston area. At this point I have an extra set of guides, PCBs and Horseshoes after purchasing a new set to address this issue and finding the new parts perform identically to the original parts!
I have restored a dozen Gottlieb DT games and 100% agree with you their DT mechs are fantastic and by far my favorite. A Gottlieb EM set of DTs would work in this game (SS won't work because of the separate series wired "all drops dropped" switches). I have read of at least one Flash owner who installed Gottlieb DTs out of frustration and went back to the Williams DT because it changed the play so much for him and he missed the Williams feel (even though it is a pathetic design). Have read the same thing on FP - Steve Richey would have used DTs but they were so unreliable during testing that they used standups instead which was probably a good decision giving the parts Steve had available at the time.
I'll disassemble this again and add even more tension to these horseshoe pairs and see if that improves things and report back. My gut tells me there is something mysterious going in within the solenoid driver board (PIA, 7406 driver or 14xxx CMOS receivers) but I am trying to avoid touching the boards and causing more potential issues. Thanks again everyone, I appreciate the guidance and discussion!

Quoted from pinengineer77:

When the glass is off the targets will score if I drop them with my fingers every time, but if I hit them with a ball, then they don't reliably score. My guess is that it drops slower with my finger than the ball due to the difference in friction between the target face and the ball or my finger. It is good to hear these can be reliable which was one of the reasons I reached out to the Flash group - have never worked on a Williams game like this and was wondering if it was even possible to have reliable scoring .

Quoted from pinengineer77:

I spoke too soon, after playing about a dozen games last night, Flash is back to scoring maybe 30% of the time on the drops. It is crazy, it was scoring nearly 100% with the glass off and flinging the ball with my hand! This thread has excellent recommendations so it is relevant to your game, but this Flash likely has a board set issue as some here have speculated. I'll be comparing this board set to a known working set soon and hope to find the root cause (interrupt trigger differences for switch scanning, etc). If I find a board issue, I'll report back here so others can learn from it. Stay tuned, it may take a few weeks. Good luck with your DTs!

Quoted from caseydanger:

Hi there! Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so please let me know if I need to move it!
I picked up a Flash about a month ago that was mostly in decent condition. I cleaned and waxed it, put on new rubbers, new ball, cleaned the drop contacts and got them working correctly, reset the shooter rail angle to send the ball the right way, and last but not least replaced a busted rollover insert.
Anyway, after all that, I just don’t feel like the game is setup right? Perhaps it’s me just not being good at it? I understand the rule set and I can make the shots I need to make but it just feels like the game is designed to send the ball screaming down the drain or the ball is magnetized to the outlanes so most games last a handful of minutes. It’s super frustrating and I kinda regret buying it most nights I’m playing it.
I guess what I’m getting at is, what exactly is a “properly setup” Flash supposed to be? I see people throw that phrase around and never explain what it means. I have the shooter rail set according to the manual specs (half pull sends the ball up the figure eight path), table angle is at 3.5° like the manual says, the outlane posts are in the “conservative” position, and the flippers don’t feel particularly weak. Am I missing something?

Quoted from pinengineer77:

Thanks for sharing that tip! Cool idea. The Flash game owner located someone who reproduced the guides with 3D printing and I installed those, but it would have been nice to use your idea too.
Today I was playing with the game adjustments (advance/manual switch) on the coin door and all of the sudden this Flash scored 100% for the for 10 games in a row, never missed one switch or drop target drop. It still has the Rottendog MPU327-4 in it. I can't explain how moving the toggle switch a few times would fix this game, it makes zero sense but it is scoring correctly every time now. Much more fun to play when it actually scores correctly. Did not remove the glass, move the PF or touch anything since the last time playing where it was not scoring reliably. Very mysterious, if I figure out the root cause I'll post back here. Enjoy your game!!!

Quoted from clodpole:

Do you know of a source for a new shooter lane ball guide (i.e., the curverd metal strip which guides the ball from the right shooter lane to the left upper playfield)? Mine broke its weld.

Quoted from clodpole:

Wow, this game had been in service 15 years at that time! The one we have was thrown out by its operator after 8 years of service, and was thoroughly used up.

Quoted from jeffc:

Anyone else soft plunge into the 5-bank for lit, roving target? Reminds me of T2 skill shot.

Quoted from clodpole:

I asked Lloyd Olson (of "Ask Lloyd" fame on the Pinside front page), and he said: "Boards sound good. I'd suspect aging connectors next. Might be time to replace them."

Quoted from nogoodnames222:

Picked up Rodent's game this weekend and happy to have another solid state in my small lineup. This is my first time really putting some time in on Flash and I love the layout, trying to get repeat upper loops gets addicting.
I may take a stab at writing new code for it in the future (using DickHamill's hardware + OS), if I ever get started on that I'll post up in here for suggestions/feedback.

Quoted from mof:

that's how I have mine set up with the dipswitches -- quite an unsavory sound.
mof