I just purchased my first pinball machine, Magnotron, and being somewhat versed in EM machines from my youth I thought this would be a great project but I hit a sort of dead-end and I need help.

With saying that this machine is in almost perfect condition. I bought a kit to replace all the rubbers, lights, springs balls, etc. The only remaining issue I have is some of the lights are not engaging when activated. Specifically the ABC lights above the rollovers and throughout the playing field, pop bumpers, and special lights. Scoring works great but the lights are not being activated. I have the schematics and I have located the relays for each. I haven't gone any further than cleaning the switch contacts with IPA with no luck.

I have noticed when engaging a rollover the relay does energize though it does not de-energize when hitting it again or any other rollover. From my experience with other machines when hitting the same rollover these lights tend to deactivate. I'm not particularly familiar with this game so I'm not completely sure if this is typical or not.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Mark

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This post is an ongoing thread containing any and all issues related to the pinball machine Magnotron. Could also include issues with Doutron since it is closely related.

Studentprince thanks! Any idea where I could locate the 3D motor? Also good to know about the lights. Though I watched some gameplay and I thought I noticed the lights turning on and off during. Either way thanks.

@studentprince, paulace thank you both!

So even though there is no issue with scoring this 3D motor could and does affect lighting? Interesting. I'll take a look and come back with nay new findings.

paulace Studentprince found the issue! The very top switch (3D) on the motor never makes contact or closes. What do I do in this case, bend it back a little?

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paulace thank you so much for your help. I was able to fix the issue. Everything is working as expected.

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paulace @studentprince, turns out there is still one small issue I did not catch the first time around. When the ball drains and hits on the right side rollover of the playing field and the C light is lit I do not get the whole bonus. In the photo, I should get 3k points but I do not get any points when the ball drains on this side. I don't believe it's the switch of the rollover because when the light is not lit you do receive the 500 points plus bonus. I checked some of the switches on the motor and some of the relays but reading these kinds of schematics is new to me. Plus I am not sure what the correct name is for this rollover. I was thinking it was the bonus booster but turns out that is the ball in the middle that you hit from one side to the other. Not at all correct.

I've attached the playing field annotated and the full schematics.

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pinballdaveh thanks I will take a look at that switch. After I figure out the below issue.

Turns out now I have a larger issue. After playing the game for a while with my girlfriend now the machine won't reset. It's stuck on the fourth player resetting the tens of thousands value. Gets stuck there and just repeats. I have no idea what to do.

Thanks @howardr. It is stuck and I was able break the connection for it to reset all the way. I also opened up the reel and was able to get it unstuck and reset it back to zero. However I dont think this is going to be a permanent fix. Any idea why it would have been stuck in the first place?

It seems to be related to some other function that is not allowing the 10 thousand value to reset.

HowardR how do I fix this issue then? What's happening now the 4th player ten thousands reel is not activating when being reset it then forces the switch contact close and it repeats the cycle on the motor until either I manual cycle the reel or stop it by other means.

HowardR thanks and sorry for all the pronouns and horrible writing skills, it never was my forte. So bare with me, this is all new.

Yes, it does have 4 switches and I am sure they are all the ones you mentioned above. From what I can see, all four switches on the 10k reel are either open or closed at one time. So if there is nothing else mechanically wrong with the reel. What is keeping it from continuing the runout/reset process and letting the 10k reel reach zero? The 10k reel advances just fine when scoring but the coil does not seem to be engerized during runout/reset. The coil doesnt make any noise, does not appear to be stressed, and is not functioning during this phase nor is it jammed in anyway.

Could it be some other switch on the motor or on a relay like you mentioned above, perhaps Z2?

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Here I am referring to the motor in this instance and it repeating because the 4th player tens reel is not advancing. Could possibly be the coil or some other switch. That I don't know.

Here I am referring to the issue at hand but clarified with more context to allow others to understand more of why I am asking for help.  

Listen HowardR I appreciate your help so far but I'm just looking for help. If you want to beat me up about pronouns and not being clear enough you can do that. It won't get us anywhere besides you having some sort of enjoyment out of it. Instead, you could ask me to be more clear and I would be happy to do that. I'm sure others in this community have worse writing than I do. If that's what you want, find someone else to pick on.

The end goal here just like any other community is to seek advice from others that have the same passion as you do. If you don't think you're willing to share your knowledge with me that's fine. I can wait for the next person to lend me some of their time and help with the issues I am facing.

Also, I believe this quote explains the issue. Maybe you didn't catch this or it wasn't clear enough that the tens reel was stuck at a value and I had to manually reset it.

I have not compared the reel to any others yet. Thanks for the idea and suggestion. I will take a look at this later today.

Thanks Howard, again I do appreciate your time and knowledge as I do anyone else that lends any bit of advice. It was clearly a communication breakdown in this instance. This happens almost all the time in my career when we communicate over text/email. It can be solved rather easily by jumping on a quick call but unfortunately we don't have that option here.

pinballdaveh There are a few local EM techs that I have reached out to that are willing to help. I thought since I have some experience in electronics that this could be something I could take on myself as a project. Just like any other project, there is a learning curve, a set of new skills to learn and that comes with time and help from others. I am no expert, I know this thats why I always ask for help.

I don't want to burn any bridges here because without all of you I honeslty wouldn't have gotten this far.

Quick update:

I've compared reel with other tens reels. The positions seem to be functioning as normal. I filed all 4 contacts on the reel. Cleaned the pcb and greased everything based on the video below. Dave if thats you in the video thank you. The reel advances fine manually. But still is stuck during reset at the last number it was on. Almost like the coil is not even being activated as I mentioned before.

The only option I have left is reading the schematic closer. Unless anyone else has any advice. Thanks.

Found the issue it was in the Z2 relay. One of the make break switches was really mangled. I'm not sure how it got that way. I've played quite a few 4 player games in the short time that I've owned this machine. But I guess that's the nature of EMs. Thanks everyone for your help and advice.

Now on to the last small problem I have with the bottom right rollover and bonus associated with it. pinballdaveh suggested where to look I am going to investigate that this weekend when I can find some time.

Thanks again!

bonzo71 thank you! I was able to locate the switch on the CX relay that is associated to that rollovers feature when lit and it was barley off adjustment. I adjusted the switch and now all is good. The Magnotron is now fully operational!

Thanks again to those that helped me get this machine up and running. Let's hope it stays that way for a little while.