I finished putting together my project paragon recently, and the left flippers have this weird, intermittent "stutter" behavior. It happens every 7-8 flips or so. Basically, the flipper starts its stroke then sort of stops and finishes it's stroke. (see link to video). New EOS, transfer, and cabinet switches. I tried running some sandpaper through all to make sure good conductivity (for some reason new switches have some sort of coating on them sometimes). I tried replacing the coil. All switches are properly gapped.

I'm at a loss. What should I try next?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdg5bo8cd0a2loi/IMG_0992.mov?dl=0

#2 5 years ago

AMR

BigAl56

Pinside+ Frequent

Palatine, IL

7y 64,800 1,654

I hope you are not running sandpaper through the playfield switches. Those are gold plated and should be cleaned with paper like a business card.

Possible the eos is not adjusted properly and is opening too soon. The EOS should open at about 80% of the stroke. The EOS should also open before the upper flipper activation switch closes. (Break Make). Check the EOS adjustment by pushing in the flipper link with your finger and not by turning the flipper itself.

#3 5 years ago

ZAC

zacaj

RPC

Rochester, NY

11y 158K 10,385 85 122 1

Quoted from BigAl56:
I hope you are not running sandpaper through the playfield switches. Those are gold plated and should be cleaned with paper like a business card.
Possible the eos is not adjusted properly and is opening too soon. The EOS should open at about 80% of the stroke. The EOS should also open before the upper flipper activation switch closes. (Break Make). Check the EOS adjustment by pushing in the flipper link with your finger and not by turning the flipper itself.

All the switches involved with the flipper (eos and cab) are high voltage, not gold plated

#4 5 years ago

CDY

cody_chunn

Inactive member

Mobile, AL

9y 64,800 4,520

I'm not downloading anything to be able to watch the video...

#5 5 years ago

PJG

Spraynard

Pinside member

Houston, TX

12y 59,300 1,141 3

Quoted from cody_chunn:
I'm not downloading anything to be able to watch the video...

You should be able to just stream it on Dropbox, you don’t need to download it

#6 5 years ago

PJG

Spraynard

Pinside member

Houston, TX

12y 59,300 1,141 3

Quoted from BigAl56:
I hope you are not running sandpaper through the playfield switches. Those are gold plated and should be cleaned with paper like a business card.
Possible the eos is not adjusted properly and is opening too soon. The EOS should open at about 80% of the stroke. The EOS should also open before the upper flipper activation switch closes. (Break Make). Check the EOS adjustment by pushing in the flipper link with your finger and not by turning the flipper itself.

I’ll check the break/make timing, thanks!

You are correct DO NOT file or sand gold plated switches. These are not gold plated switches though.

#7 5 years ago

JAY

jrobinso99

Pinside member

11y 63,950 494

EOS gap and break timing is where I start on issues like this. I've also had it happen with coils that had partial shorts in them. If you lift the playfield and watch what happens while you are replicating the issue that can help pinpoint the issue.

#8 5 years ago

ZAC

zacaj

RPC

Rochester, NY

11y 158K 10,385 85 122 1

Could try just disconnecting the secondary 'make' switch that powers the upper flipper to see if the lower playfield stops having issues

#9 5 years ago

PJG

Spraynard

Pinside member

Houston, TX

12y 59,300 1,141 3

alright, so it was indeed the EOS/Transfer timing. The EOS was opening then there was a small delay before the transfer switch would engage. I adjusted so the EOS breaks and Transfer switch makes at about the same time. No more flipper stutter. Still don't understand why the problem was intermittent before, but I'm glad it's now resolved. Thanks for the help pinside!

#10 5 years ago

AMR

BigAl56

Pinside+ Frequent

Palatine, IL

7y 64,800 1,654

Glad you have it. The important thing to remember here is to always adjust flipper switches by pressing the link in and not turning the flipper.
While flipper switch contacts are high voltage and can be cleaned aggressively such as filing them, low voltage switch matrix switches are gold plated and should be cleaned only with paper. A business card or, as we old timers used to do, sliding a dollar bill through them.

#11 5 years ago

BIL

dothedoo

Pinside member

12y 106K 7,265

Quoted from BigAl56:
The important thing to remember here is to always adjust flipper switches by pressing the link in and not turning the flipper.

I second this. If there's any wear in the bakelite flipper link there's a chance the EOS switch will not open at all if it's gapped tight and you adjusted it by turning the flipper. And we all know what happens when the EOS switch doesn't open and you trap a ball.

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