High Speed Club ~ Dispatch, this is 504. We have a Club now, over.

My kickback was firing intermittently when the ball got kicked out of the right hideout so I replaced the hideout diode and after a couple dozen games that seems to have done the trick. I'm still having a small issue with the kickback itself. It seems like about once a week the ball just rolls through without it activating. I clean and fidget with the switch and it goes back to working. Switch looks original and the little contact nubs look better than some of my other switches. Would changing this diode have any effect with it working properly or should I try a new switch? Not sure what else might work.

Yes, and never reuse a diode.

Hear hear. No point in doing it when they cost practically nothing.

Wouldn't reuse the diode. Still have 19 more new ones.

Wouldn't reuse the diode. Still have 19 more new ones.

Okay, so played a few games today and the kickback was firing with the right hideout again. Could this be related to the kickback diode considering my other issue? Driving me nuts now.

Did you change out the diode on the snubber relay too?

Nope, didn't think about that. Same diode I assume. Will try later or this weekend. Looks like I'm shoveling more snow today.

And again I'm questioning myself. The diode I changed is on the switch for the hideout. I did not see one on or near the coil. Thinking about it I'm not sure the switch diode would really make a difference. It seems more likely to be the snubber diode unless I just could not see a diode on the hideout coil.

This is correct thinking, you need to be concerned with the coil and the relay.

My HS was working last weekend and my daughter has been playing the heck out of it all week. It developed an issue when it gets to the "get away" phase for multi-ball. First I should mention that the ball doesn't always make the ramp from the plunger pull, sometimes misses all together and other times just too weak. When the first ball goes up the ramp and ends up in the left hideout, all is good when second ball end up in the right hideout. But if both balls end up in the left hideout, nothing happens, the game go silent and I have to turn it off.

But if the first ball up the ramp ends up in the right hideout, the left hideout kicker activates until the 2nd ball reaches it. And then sometimes the ball will straight through to the upper flipper. When this happens, no 3rd ball is ejected to the shooter lane.

Is this a timing issue, or something else? I checked all switches and they seem to be working ok.

Did you rebuild the shooter rod assembly?
The ball should be able to easily go all the way around ramp. Do you have the correct spring?

Is your machine pitched more than 6.5 degrees off level?

Is the clear shield on the ramp being pushed down by the traffic light hardware? On my machine i found this was an issue. The clear plastic was too low and slowed the ball down. I melted it and lifted it a bit. The ball rockets around now, to the point of it being a timing issue now. But it easily makes it around either by pulling pin or with flipper.

Check that the plunger is lined up correctly with the ball. Also, if necessary, there is a screw near the end of the shooter lane that adjusts the rail to change the trajectory of the ball coming out of the shooter lane.

I would plunge a few balls while taking a slow-mo video of the shooter lane and the path to the bottom of the ramp. You should be able to see what the ball is doing that stops it from going up the ramp.

For the issue with the hideouts during the multiball sequence, I had the same issue and it was caused by the right/lower hideout switch (the one under the pf) being out of adjustment. Due to its’ location and its’ bracket, I can tell you it’s a real pain to get this switch adjusted correctly!

Thanks I will check all of these things. I haven't rebuilt or did anything to the shooter rod. The spring seems strong enough so maybe the rod and bushing just need a cleaning. What is the correct spring? Do they go by color for the strength of the spring?

I had some issues with the ball not making around the ramp. This post helps with what you should check and adjust if needed.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/high-speed-club-dispatch-this-is-504-we-have-a-club-now-over/page/80#post-5967898

In 2a it says to cut and router, I was able to loosen the screw holding in the side rail and move it over and refasten it and did not need to take a router to it.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/high-speed-club-dispatch-this-is-504-we-have-a-club-now-over/page/83#post-6069630

I made a little progress. I took the shooter rod out, cleaned it and the sleeve since I don't have a new one on hand. Put in a red spring, replaced the front 3/4 spring. Then hit the rod with a dab of white litho grease. Works like charm now. I also adjusted the pitch to 6 degrees. I first set the gauge on the side rail and it was reading 9 degrees, later realized the cab and pf are pitched differently. So I went with the PF reading.

I'm not out of the woods yet. I forced the game into multi-ball and shot the get away ball by the shooter rod and it jumped to the right hideout, When this happened, the left kicker activated a couple of times until I shot the second ball up and it went into the left hideout. By the time the 3rd ball ejected, and I shot it up, the right kicker released, followed by the left which I think is correct. I believe my issue is with the diverter. Is it true that the first get away ball should always go the left hideout first? I also noticed a repair has been done on the diverter under the PF, some kind of glue or epoxy on one of the arms connected to one of the shafts. I will investigate that next.

You shouldn't use grease on the shaft, all you need to do is wax the shaft.

The left ramp switch isn't working. This is why the ball is passing the left hideout. Check the diode first, if good then check the switch adjustment.

If indeed the left divertor arm is not moving in unison with the right divertor the game will not know where the ball is causing a ball search on the left hideout coil.

I have a universal MRS switch to try on my first ramp switch because it's still not perfect and it frustrates the hell out of me when it fails to register. I need to get the rest of the cash I need for metallica so I can bring my HS home. I really want to try that new switch.

Yeah I know, grease is forbidden in most pin applications but I'm only using it until I can get new sleeves. Both ramp switches were working in self test as of last night. So may be it does need adjusting. Also a little while ago I noticed the ramp has some slop. Back I go...

My FP40 ramp wasn't installed right and it was causing the ball to hop. It's better now, but without the cover I think it's still doing it on occasion. Dammit I can't wait until that old girl is home again!

I'm still at it with this ramp and diverter thing. I noticed that the left diverter arm was set back a little. The reason being that the upper screws that hold the ramp down were loose. Thing explains why the diverter was working and then not. I guess the extra play time contributed to the looseness. Not only that, some shoddy repair work has been done prior. The right diverter is missing the bushing under the plastic arm. This is the side where the bottom arm that attaches to the shaft has been spot welded, I originally thought it was epoxy, but no this guy got the welder out LOL. So this piece will never come off if it needs to. Are the upper black plastic arms removable? I don't want to force and end up breaking them.

I contacted freeplay40 and ordering the red ramp. So of course I need to remove the switch assy and brackets. Trying to get the ramp out is more involved than I thought. Aaaaannnnnd to make it more of a pain, somebody at WMS wasn't using their head when they wired the switch harness because the female side of the Molex connector can't squeeze through the slot on the PF, if they were reversed, it would have been a snap. It's nice that they put a connector there but still! A previous tech must have removed and/or replaced the ramp since the switch wires were cut and spliced. I decide to extract the pins and pull it through but my .062 extractor is jammed. I don't recommend the Waldom pin extractor since this is the second one I bought and they don't do such a great job. I found the Philmore on epay and looks promising with good reviews and at a decent price.

ebay.com link: 062 CRIMP TERMINAL PIN MOLEX EXTRACTION TOOL Philmore 61 392 NEW

They also make one for the .093 as well so I got both.

So I have two options, either pull pf out of cab to remove the black board or wait for the new extractor.

Absolutely correct on Williams getting those connectors backwards. There are two options short of the pin extractor... You can remove the switch stacks from the switch brackets or there are 6 phillips screws that hold the back board onto the playfield...3 screws on each side of the diverter mechanism. If you remove the three on the right side of the playfield and loosen the three on the left...then give the back board a little rap as it is probably paint stuck, you will then have enough room to get that harness plug up through the playfield. I recommend popping the backboard loose route. If you go with removing the switch stacks, they will of course have to be reinstalled the same way.... much easier to do a nice adjustment on the switches is everything is removed with the ramp.

I have an intermittent problem with the left hideout firing a what seems to be random times during a game. It always works when a ball is in there, but it also seems to go at other times and I can't find any correlation to activity elsewhere. I've replaced the switch, but that didn't help.

Any ideas?

Flaky diode?

Also check switch gap on left ramp switch. Mine was doing similar left hideout kicks when the ball got passed the left chute due to ramp and diverter needing adjustment. If the gap is too close it's possible that pf vibration can make the left hideout kicker activate?

That’s a good idea. It’s possible that this would do it.

It will do this if the diverter tried and failed to put the ball in a hideout. The ball carries on but the machine expected it to be in the left hideout. It will fire the hideout solenoid twice attempting to clear the ball. I only ever have this happen on the left side.

I would also check the gap on the 2 switches in the left hideout itself. And just to be sure vibration isn't the issue, while in switch test you can hit the playfield with your fist and see if anything registers.

Those are micro switches

They can still have loose parts inside
"Micro parts"

Lol, you're right! I remember (just not very well ) adjusting those switches and my random hideout triggers went away.