Funhouse - Rudy's eyes stay closed

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/funhouse-rudys-eyes-stay-locked-shut

Hi,

I have the same problem as the member here

He found a workaround where I would like to find a proper solution.

The problem is the following: Rudy's mechanism to open and shut eyes is ok. The only problem is that the shut eyes plunger goes too far when released. The open eyes plunger, in release position (high), is bend at the max against the metal. When the coil is triggered, it can cannot attract the plunger. Even manually, I cannot lower the plunger into the coil.

If the horizontal plunger (eyes closes) was not going that far, it would work fine. I checked it by pushing it back a little bit. And the vertical plunger moves down easily.

I noticed the following : I guess there are two open positions for the eyes, widely open, or normally open. When Rudy needs to widely open eyes, the coil manages to open them, but after that it goes back to closed eyes, instead of staying to the normal open position.

I do not want to make a trick to stop the eyes shut plunger. Is there any solution that you could provide ? Is this issue kown by more than 2 people now ?

Thanks for your support
Rudy2 (resized).jpg

#2 5 years ago

LUK

tlukka

Pinside member

Jacksonville, FL

7y 35,900 42 10

I am having the exact same problem. The plunger moves too far out of the coil to get pulled back in. I did this horrible hack until I can figure out how to fix it proper.

RudyHack (resized).JPG

#3 5 years ago

SEF

practicalsteve

Make sure you have the centering flange installed in the bottom coil for the eyelids. A part that’s small so when it breaks it often falls into the cabinet unnoticed

#4 5 years ago

JMY

jimy_speedt

Pinside member

Thank you for you replies.

Regarding the centering flange, is a sleeve which length exceeds the coil length and that keep the plunger in the vertical position, not bent ? Or is there a separate centering part ?

#5 5 years ago

SEF

practicalsteve

This is it. It keeps the plunger straight. If missing it will never properly open and close the eyelids. Do you have a better pic of the head open with the coils showing? The I can show you better where it goes, but to describe it goes under the bottom coil between it and the bracket

B5EC7D88-549A-481C-9578-77A0D664F355 (resized).jpeg

#6 5 years ago

JMY

jimy_speedt

Pinside member

Indeed, no flange. That stuff is strange. Was this part made to cope with the game issue ?

Thanks a lot for your help

I am still a bit sceptical. My "open eyes" coil is firmly stuck between the two brackets. This part will not help me much, I would have expected a longer sleeve that maintain de plunger straigth vertical.

9182CB79-5342-49F5-819D-652B76AAC4FC (resized).jpeg

#7 5 years ago

SEF

practicalsteve

This part is 100% for your problem. I know you are skeptical, but when I rebuilt a Rudy head I had this exact same problem and was missing this part. The plunger will not go straight up and down without it and will not fully engage or disengage. See the schematic below, circled in red is the part and where it goes. I also circled in your picture where it goes. You 100% need this part if you ever want the eyes to open and close correctly. Here is my blog post from five years ago where I talk about it http://practicalsteve.blogspot.com/

Capture (resized).PNG

Inkede9a47df2952a337361e5b5248bf4c54104ec1d3e (1)_LI (resized).jpg

#8 5 years ago

JMY

jimy_speedt

Pinside member

I have had a look in Marco's shop. 2$ for the part, and something strange 50$ for shipping to Europe. Usually with them, they put it in an envelope, it comes in within one week, for a few bucks.

Waiting for news from Steve.

Thank you very much for the time you spent

#9 5 years ago

SEF

practicalsteve

happy to help! Good luck with that, that shipping is ROUGH

#10 5 years ago

PWN

jahbarron

Pinside member

You Bet, CA

12y 69,050 1,464 8

If it helps, my FH just has a plastic washer there & not the flanged part shown above. Works fine and I don’t suspect it was added by a previous owner.

#11 5 years ago

PWN

jahbarron

Pinside member

You Bet, CA

12y 69,050 1,464 8

Also, that coil stop bracket is bent upward. Probably to try & compensate for the missing flange/washer. Might not be helping the travel of the plunger.

#12 5 years ago

CMO

Scroat

Pinside member

6y 31,550 121

Quoted from jahbarron:
Also, that coil stop bracket is bent upward. Probably to try & compensate for the missing flange/washer. Might not be helping the travel of the plunger.

I noticed that too... that bracket is also readily available and should be changed when you’re in there tearing things apart.

#13 5 years ago

RAV

TheRave

The Sanctum

Westerly, RI

12y 74,900 874 15 8

I just went through this. Make sure you take the whole mech apart and clean each piece. Especially the plunger ends of the mech pieces. Be gentle taking it apart as you can easily break any one of these. Clean and realign everything and it should work again. It's also worth checking coil resistance just to make sure all the coils are good while you're in there.

#14 5 years ago

JMY

jimy_speedt

Pinside member

Thank you, coils are good regarding similar resistances

#15 5 years ago

JMY

jimy_speedt

Pinside member

Hi,

I purchased the missing ring and have installed it. Eyes open mechanism is now perfect. Thanks

#16 5 years ago

SEF

practicalsteve