Halloween (Blood Sucker Edition)
Spooky Pinball, 2021My Upper playfield (house) drop target won't drop, The spring is still intact under the playfield, I did a test of all solenoids and switches, nothing was failed. The drop target test only raises it if it is down, does not test for if it goes up and down. Which I think is a useless test. Any suggestions?
Quoted from alicedagoon40:My Upper playfield (house) drop target won't drop, The spring is still intact under the playfield, I did a test of all solenoids and switches, nothing was failed. The drop target test only raises it if it is down, does not test for if it goes up and down. Which I think is a useless test. Any suggestions?
If I recall correctly, on Halloween and Ultraman (I have an UM) only the bottom and middle drop targets have a separate drop relay solenoid, and the top one has only a reset solenoid, IOW, the top one has to be hit by something to drop, it can't auto-drop itself.
If it will reset OK, and the switch correctly tests Up/Down (Inactive/Active) then it is working correctly.
RM
Quoted from TheLaw:Unless the drop an extra coil for dropping it the test won't effect it; the test us resetting the drop, which us the purpose of it.
Its a mechanical operation so what happens when you push it with your finger?
I hold it firmly and I can get it to go up and down, the solenoid moves freely under the playfield . the spring is fine as well. I was told by Spooky it may be an opto located in a "small black box, similar to the one by the extra ball" I don't see an "extra Ball" light anywhere on the playfield. It's just been a rediculous Back and Forth with emails. I even sent a video on what it is doing. (today)The Popup will be in the up position, but sound and pulsate like it wants to popup like something is stuck. any ideas?
Yesterday when the popup was stuck in the up position during game play. I would hit it with the ball hard and it would NOT drop.
Quoted from alicedagoon40:Yesterday when the popup was stuck in the up position during game play. I would hit it with the ball hard and it would NOT drop.
Yes, but can you get it to drop by pushing back on the target like TheLaw said? Not to overexplain the basics, but... drop targets have been used in pinball since before electronics and they are pretty simple. The plastic target is usually just held up by a small lip right below the target face. This lip should just barely catch on the top of the metal mounting bracket (just below the playfield surface) to hold it up. When the target is pushed backwards, the lip slips off of the bracket and the spring is able to pull the target down. It's all mechanical.
The solenoid is only used to push the target back up in most games. So it should only fire when the target resets. IF the solenoid is energized all of the time, holding the target up, that's a more major problem. I wouldn't leave the game on until that is resolved if that's the case. You may need to start a game with the playfield up and the coin door closed to see what the solenoid is doing if you suspect this may be the case.
Disclaimer: I do not have a HWN/UM, so I do not know the details of this specific drop target assembly. If Spooky is talking about optos, it sounds like maybe they think your target is still dropping, but just not registering hits. (The opto will probably be a little U-shaped black box on the drop target assembly with wires going to it.) If the physical plastic target is sticking up and it's not the solenoid holding it up, and the spring is good, it could be that the plastic target is warped slightly or otherwise binding in the bracket. It should move up and down pretty effortlessly.
The upper house drop target has an opto that registers when the target drops down. It almost sounds like the opto is registering the drop target as down even when it’s up?
I’m a newbie to this hobby but I had an issue with this opto myself. You can go in the switch test in the menu and hit the target up and down to see if the opto registers the change in the screen.
ok, but be more specific....Where's the opto?, what side of the drop target IS the opto, I don't see one. the only one I see is when the ball goes across the bridge thing and that opto Is way off center of the hole it's supoosed to be in. what am I looking for. I appreciate the feedback. I did a switch test ( which I didn't know you had to do manually move everything you wanted tested that WASN'T a flipper)
learned that today, I did the Stuck switch test, than did a coil reset switch, It works kind of as of now, but during gameplay it did the repetitive POP UP even though it was up, also when I was up in the House when it was red the pop up stayed down, It's supposed to keep popping up until you get the spinners to make it white. Make sense?
Quoted from alicedagoon40:ok, but be more specific....Where's the opto?, what am I looking for. I appreciate the feedback. I did a switch test ( which I didn't know you had to do manually)
learned that today, I did the Stuck switch test, than did a coil reset switch, It works kind of as of now, but during gameplay it did the repetitive POP UP even though it was up, also when I was up in the House when it was red the pop up stayed down, It's supposed to keep popping up until you get the spinners to make it white. Make sense?
Flip the playfield up and knock down the drop target with your finger. The drop target will drop down between a very small, black, U shaped optical switch.
When in switch test you can get a thick piece of colored paper and run it through the optical switch and see if it sets it off on the screen etc.
Also, the bottom of the drop targets has a little rubber cover (see below). Mine fell off which was causing issues so I painted it with black nail polish to make sure it blocked the laser.
You can look at the center drop targets as guidance for what it should look like.
EEDE86DB-E04D-40BF-91D1-A3B9BBB97FB8 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from alicedagoon40:...also when I was up in the House when it was red the pop up stayed down, It's supposed to keep popping up until you get the spinners to make it white. Make sense?
Correct, it should be up always until you complete the house and open that ramp.
Well I did see some kind of black thing fall off, bet that was it. Now i need to retrieve it somehow in the playfield . Maybe ill empty my shop vac. and than try to vaccuum it out?
Quoted from alicedagoon40:Well I did see some kind of black thing fall off, bet that was it. Now i need to retrieve it somehow in the playfield . Maybe ill empty my shop vac. and than try to vaccuum it out?
If it’s the black thing like in my picture don’t bother. Get black paint and paint that part instead. You’ll never get it back on.
Just go slow and be careful. It’s tough to reach.
I totally got ya.....Was gonna try to get a piece of black tape over it. You are 100% correct of what happened. Thanks!! You are the hero of the day!!! I borrowed some of the step kids black nail polish!
Quoted from alicedagoon40:I totally got ya.....Was gonna try to get a piece of black tape over it. You are 100% correct of what happened. Thanks!! You are the hero of the day!!! I borrowed some of the step kids black nail polish!
Somebody in the Halloween owners thread helped me with this issue, glad I could pass the solution along!
A million thanks again!!! This was a great learning experience, hopefully it can help others out as well. SeeMs like just yesterday I was ducking around with my Guillotine on my ACNC. Never heard the word "servo" before . Than voila!!' I know how to fix the guillotine, and an old skool guy that fixes pins for a living wouldn't even touch a "newer era" machine
Hey - hope this helps someone. I had an issue with the drop target refire-ing over and over again. During house attack mode it was very prominent, as the drop target would just click and never stay up properly. This was an easy fix.
I purchased .99 black nail polish off Amazon, lifted the playfield, and carefully painted the black "fin" on the base of the drop target. This did not require me to unscrew or remove anything, I was able to just paint it.
Of note, the "fin" already looked black, but apparently light was getting through.
I've attached a picture to show exactly where I painted. You'll see the opto is a "U" shaped black piece. In between the opto is the black "fin" that I am referring to. This is the piece that needs to be painted.
20221209_230134_3 (resized).jpgWanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
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Centerville, MN