Hey guys,

Got a strange one with the front bank of drop targets. Sometimes everything works fine, and other times not.

In Diag/Switch test mode, they all register fine. I lifted the playfield up for an inspection, and all of the switches are activated fine, when the targets drop. When the targets drop, the light for that target is activated on the play field…that’s how it’s supposed to work.

The weirdness is that sometimes when a ball is lost and the drop targets reset, or if the targets are all hit and the targets reset, sometimes all or a few of them bounce up and down 2 or 3 times before they are all upright. I’ve even had one bounce up and down to reset, but it stays in the down position, and the light is not lit on the playfield…strange. I’ve even done a factory reset to see if that would help. No change. I disconnected the molex and hit it with DeOxit, no change.

One thing that looked strange, but I wasn’t sure, was the coil spring that lifts the drop target bank. Looks blown out at the bottom. Would this create this kind of issue? See photos.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Jason

Thanks,
Jason

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Ok sounds good. My biggest fear is a logic related problem, so hopefully a mechanical fix will do it. It actually started as the result of the drop targets sitting too low under the playfield, and the ball was always getting stuck. In the service manual, Stern mentions that there are a couple of height adjustment nuts that raise the drop targets up a bit over the playfield. Ball isn’t getting stuck anymore, but now this issue started.

I lowered it back down, but the issue still persists. I’ll play around with it more and report back.

Jason

Would installing new springs and drop targets in resolve it if it keeps up?

Jason

Thanks, will do. All I did was turn each of those little nuts at the bottom of #22 and #12…they were both really loose. I just tightened them and that seemed to raise the DTs over the playfield just a hair, but something isn’t right. Was that all I needed to do?

Jason

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Well, I think I have it resolved. It was late last night, and I started getting a bit punchy. The large nut at the bottom of the coil shaft between 9 and 10/11 was super loose. Tightened that up and now everything’s right as rain. Ordered parts from Marco…good to have on hand for later down the road. I’ll still replace that coil sleeve and spring though. Thanks for the help guys!

Jason