I have an Amazing Spiderman. Purchased from an arcade in Sault St. Marie, Ontario back in 2002(ish). Love it... playfield is near mint with just some wear around the popouts at the top. Backglass was touched up a bit by the dealer before I got it, and then clearcoated... very nice. I've only had one incident with it where a path through the powerboard got fried, but I was able to fix it. Aside from that, very little maintenance except for changing light bulbs and waxing the playfield.

Big caps like that are to help control spikes on the power lines on powerup and powerdown or if you get a surge in your house voltage. As the transformers magnetic field collapses it can cause a voltage spike, so they put the capacitor to control it, and to slowly power off as it discharges. Surprised it's been removed, since it is a level of protection and stabilizes your voltage. If it didn't just break off, it may have been disconnected if there was a short in it as it would essentially short out your powersupply. Check that there's no short before you connect it up again.

My spiderman board looks a little different than the board in your picture. I will try to take a look this evening and see what my big blue cap is connected to.

I checked my big blue cap... it is a system 80 and looks very different from yours... assume yours is system1? Anyway, my cap is on the + line (DC) of my 12V supply diode bridge (which is to my solenoids). So... contrary to what I said yesterday, the cap is after it's been converted to DC, and I'd assume it's to give an extra whack of current when solenoids are engaged so your voltage doesn't collapse.

If "all the fuses are good" means the new ones you added, if the fuses aren't blowing then there's no current going through them... unless they are the slowest slow blow ever.

Sort of implies the short is before the fuse unfortunately. Smoke doesn't come from the lug... it's either coming from the winding behind the paper or the wire insulation. In the photo the wire from pin 8 looks really tight to the metal frame... is the insulation cut so that it's shorting to the frame? Is the lug bent and touching the frame or another wire in any way?

desolder the wire from the lug and check if the transformer still heats up. If it does with absolutely nothing connected to the lug then it's likely the winding shorted out in side ... insulation on the coil wires breaks down and they short internally.

New Topic: Revamping my Amazing Spiderman Flippers.

Moved this over from the ASM group as I got no responses.

I purchased an Amazing Spiderman (Gottlieb series 80 not Stern) in early 2000's, and it's been my only pin for about 16 years. Recently I purchased my second pinball machine (Bally Paragon), and realized that my Spiderman flippers are really not that strong compared to the Paragon. My project for 2018 will be to try to get some better flipper action out of my Spidey. So... wanted to provide a bit of what I've looked at already and ask a few questions on the best place to start.

A) Voltages to the coils look good, and don't seem to drop off much when the flippers are activated.
B) All of them seem to be similar strength... none really stronger or weaker than the others... just all more sluggish than the Bally
C) EOS switches appear to be working correctly (leaf switch sparking so they're disengaging... which means they also engaging)
D) I've used jumpers to bypass the EOS switch in case they are disengaging too soon, and that doesn't seem to make the flippers any stronger
E) Some looseness in the mechanicals, which posts indicate can cause flipper power loss.
F) I'm assuming that everything is original parts (1980ish), but even if reworked before I bought it, everything is at least 20 years old

Questions
1) Are Gottlieb flippers, in general, not as strong as Bally's?
2) Although voltages seem good, is there anything that could be limiting power to the coils?
3) Lots of postings about rebuilding the flippers... relatively cheap investment... is that the best place to start?
4) Several posting about coils themselves not really getting any weaker over time.. is that correct? If not, would it typically be just one flipper coil "going bad" or would they all sort of get weaker over time. My Bally had some old coils in the cabinet, so I assume they were replaced... should I replace flipper coils if they're not obviously dead; or not?
5) Anything simple and obvious I should check that I haven't already? Experiments I can try?
6) What sequence of "improvements" would you recommend?
7) point me to prior postings or sites if this has all been covered lotsa times!!

Thanks!

Stephen

I had already cleaned the contacts for the flipper buttons and EOS switches and didn't have much effect. I also found the slingshot kickers a bit weak so I reviewed the schematic again since they are powered by the same source.

I found two more switches in the 24v path... "T" normally closed and "Q" normally open. It took me a bit to figure these out but they are switches in the Tilt and Game Over relays that cut power to those solenoids. I cleaned those up as well and think that the power has increased a bit... possibly just psychological cause I wanted them to, but it does seem to be an improvement. Three flippers seem to have improved and the fourth I think has legit mechanical issues with things being a bit more loose and seeing more play than the others.

So... if you're cleaning contacts to improve flipper strength, don't forget the Tilt and Game over switch contacts as well.

Next will probably look at getting rebuild kits in the new year.

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Has anyone ever added a large capacitor to the 24V DC power supply to the solenoids (similar to the one on the 12V line), to provide more instantaneous current when flippers (and bumpers too I guess) are activated? Just wondering if that might add any kick to the flippers. If you have done it, what size capacitor would you need to make a difference? Any risks to the coils or surrounding circuitry? If you tried it and it didn't work, what problems did you run into? Just wondering. I'm working on cleaning up the circuitry to get my resistance path down, and rebuilding the flippers, but was thinking that some extra current when the coils engage would be helpful too. Enquiring minds want to know... Thoughts?

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I've gotten parts from this guy in Montreal. Very reasonable prices and shipping costs. Haven't been disappointed yet. Canadian eh!

https://thedhtsstore.com/

Initially found him on eBay, but often just email him directly now. Not all of his parts are on eBay so I just ask if he has something I need. Usually get a pack of 5 for future needs because his prices are so good.

For more Canadian connections you can also check with Astill in the Toronto area. I got some proms and other chips for Paragon from him.

Also pinballmedics.ca in Ottawa. Mike got me chips and flipper rebuild kits.

Both are great guys!

Yes.. but I was just looking for the same thing today online and there are alternatives out there... the cheapest of which is using two staples... go figure. Google it. Probably a good investment to get the right tool though.

I got fooled once with something similar. I thought a signal was toggling with my logic probe but it actually wasn't. Compared to other pins the bad pins made the logic probe beep but only one of the hi lo leds were flickering so it looked and sounded like it was toggling. For full toggling both of the hi and lo leds should go on and off clearly . Mine are red and green arrow leds for hi and lo. Only the red one was flickering on and off hi... the green one wasn't clearly on when the red was off. Fooled me and I replaced the next chip unnecessarily.

Are you indicating you don’t have segments a and g... or none of the segments?

Some things you could check.
Shorts between pins... maybe some fat solder joints?
Are any of the ABCD signals tied together?
Are the ABCD signals toggling fully as discussed in prior post... leds toggle both red and green?
Check the other static pins that should be tied off to power or ground especially across top of z21 on schematic (3,4,5,16)
Capacitor c27 compared to c26 and c28.
Check the non-inverted signals of Q1-Q4bon z20. what are they doing compared to the inverted ones?

Try removing connectors at each end of the harness and see if Z21 outputs are still stuck low. Rules out connector and harness problems.

Is Z21 the correct chip... it’s not a ´variant’ or ´this chip should also work’?

Be sure to let us know... enquiring minds want to know.

I used to work in a semiconductor company and “things happen”. Branding happens at end of assembly so if the lot got mixed up they could be branded as one chip but have something else inside. Die oriented incorrectly inside, wirebonding error... All stuff that should have been caught at some kind of sample testing. Were these NOS or used? Are they even manufactured anymore? Branding may have a date buried in the lot number.

Curious now.

Internet pinball database Amazing SpiderMan has its S80 manual and schematic... I assume it’s mostly the same?

Pm me. Thought it was open. Must have been another machine .

Can you follow the wire to see where it’s going ? Or does it go back into a bundle. If you’re having a hard time finding it in the schematic check the colour numbers associated with what’s on the physical wire. Looks like white with purple and red stripes... a table on the schematic will tell you what the three number code for that is... eg 137 and then you can find it on the schematic... square boxes annotated on a signal line.

Or... what stops working ehen the fuse blows

I have a Spider-Man and believe I have some fuses to protect the slingshot coils in case the switches get caught under a rubber or contacts too close and it just keeps firing. Can you not tell what isn’t working when the fuse is out? Something must not be firing.

That’s where it’s going then. You may want to check if the coil gets locked on occasionally. There’s not likely a constant flow of current that’s borderline and eventually blows the fuse. More likely something accidentally gets locked on, so the fuse blows before it burns out the coil.

Is there some kind of eos switch on the bank reset coil that should be releasing it but isn’t? I don’t look at those much so dont know off the top of my head what tells the coil to stop energizing. Direct from mpu? Or something mechanical like in a flipper.

Also... 3 wires so likely going to some other places too... maybe to reset all banks at start of new ball?

So... need to figure out what’s keeping the coil locked on.

I just checked my Spider-Man and there’s no obvious mechanical release of the coil like an eos switch. So assuming the mpu tells it when to release.

It you think it’s truly locking on you’ll need to dig deeper to find out why.

Also thinking you may have a short in one of the diodes across the coils. That could draw a lot of current even if it’s only temporarily on, it could blow fuse... but if coil is occasionally locking on, then that’s what’s blowing the fuse.

Not sure if this is already in the thread but if someone is looking for sys80 manuals there is a pdf of Gottlieb Amazing Spiderman user manual here:

http://www.gametronik.com/site/fiche/pinmame/Spiderman/

I knew there was one out there somewhere, 'cause I have a copy. Unobtanium from ipdb due to the blue meanies.

Looks like it’s time to get rid of that washer and dryer to make room for pins!!

Do you have schematic ? On my SpiderMan there are 2 relays in line with power to flipper coils (and possibly others... don’t remember). They are in an assembly under the playfield on the end near the flippers. One is tilt and one is something like “game on” . One is normally open and the other normally closed. Check that they are both clean and making contact when they are supppsed to. I’ve have problems before with them preventing power to coils.

Check power at bridge source for the coils (12v or 24v I think) if you have it then follow the line through power board connectors (not sure it goes through board or directly to coils) and relays etc until you find where it drops out.

Edit: if bridge rectifiers are good and you see power on all of them then transformer is good since they are further back in the line.

I have Amazing SpiderMan, read the same thing. You can set up the dip switches to credit max of 8 games per quarter... where else you gonna get 8 games per quarter nowadays !!! Don’t be cheap! Maxes out at 25 credits.

You can rig up a switch to add credits... makes you drill a hole for extra switch though (heaven forbid!)

Pull the plastic insert out of the coin mech in the door and the leaf switch is right there. For years I’ve just been opening the door and touching the leaf switch 3 times to add 24 games... then good for quite a while. Just bought a pushbutton recently though and will connect it across the leaf switch contacts.

For what you want to do, it’s essentially the same thing but you stack a double leaf switch behind the game button (so you don’t drill a new hole), and make sure spacing is such that the credit switch triggers before the game switch. You give yourself a credit just before you use it.

Given the diode connection option, which is essentially triggering both the credit and game at the same time, I would think it sort of becomes a race between whether you give a credit before you use it. If you give yourself a couple credits in advance though you should never run out... use one and get one back right away. Or set up dip switches to give you 2 or more credits per quarter. Each press of the button will give you more credits than the one you use.

Try it with alligator clips like cheddar recommends ... connect two alligator clips to the game button and across a coin leaf switch... sounds like it should work if you start with a couple credits.

I’m gonna try this one tonight! May save me drilling a hole!

Kewl! A second Gottlieb Spider-Man in Ottawa! I got mine in about 2002, and would never part with it. Pm me if you ever want to compare notes or are debugging something. I’ve got a few extra ic’s and transistors from past fixes.

Probably a page with just the harness wiring.... buncha lines with A7 stuff on one end and A6 stuff in the other. I’ll check my spider man schematics

When I rebuilt my Spider-Man flippers I needed a few tweaks.

If you replaced the plungers you likely needed to pound out the set pin that goes through the nylon end of the plunger, and pound back in later. I found mine a little tight after and not as free moving. So I needed to use something to spread the metal holder a bit away from the nylon piece at the end of the plunger (I can add photo it it’s not clear from the description). I used a metal chisel... couple taps on both sides of the nylon to push the metal out a teeny bit.

Also, while there are multiple references to NOT put lube in the plunger itself (into the coil sleeve) I put a small amount of lube on the vertical flipper shafts where they go through the nylon sleeves. Others can chime in if they think that’s good or bad.

Also check the gap on the flippers above the playfield and nylon sleeves per Vids guides.

And of course the gaps on the eos switches.

Hope any of those help.

Looks like they disconnected it to prevent accidentally locking it (did it have a key?) then strapped it to the other part so it wouldn’t get lost until someone wanted to repair (like you!)

Gut feel it that there shouldn’t be any sine waves anywhere. Hard to tell from the picture but looks like the “sine” wave is rectified... ie bottom half of the sine wave is flipped up to positive (by the bridge rectifier) and its a series of bumps... not a sine wave. Anyway, that signal should be relatively flat. A capacitor should be in the path to hold the bumps at the top end of that voltage with only a little ripple across the top.

So I’d say your bottom two photos look more like what I’d expect to see... flat signals with no oscillations superimposed .

If you are applying an oscillating level to the bulbs, then from “dc” point of view it will see the average of that voltage level somewhere in the middle... what is the voltage level on the dvm when you measure it when on and off?

I’d need to dig or maybe someone can chime in but I would expect all levels to be flat dc levels. Maybe not general illumination, but certainly all the stuff controlled by circuit board electronics (and I really think GI is dc too).

So... I’d check caps that are on the voltage supplies that are supposed to turn your rippling rectified voltage signal into flat dc.

If for some reason they are really applying oscillating levels to lightbulbs then I’d check ground connections between boards because the ground level will determine where the average voltage of the oscillating signal will level out at.

Hope that helps

Sounds like a good strategy... someone would shove a quarter into it just to get it to shut up I guess

Made this faux comic book cover for a light switch I have controlling half of the electrical socket my ASM is plugged into. I leave the machine on and just turn the switch on and off.

Just did this with PowerPoint and cut and pasted stuff ... played with the size until it fit the faceplate then printed on a sticker sheet of paper.

Looked for a spidey faceplate but couldn't find one, so made my own.

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It’s not just mechanical is it? With all the small leaf switches stacked together I found it difficult to adjust all the normally opens to be open and all the normally closed to be closed...

If you can see/hear that the relay is actually electrically on, pulling the switches, then check around the various tilt switches to see if any are closed... there are several... around the tilt ball and bob, slam switch on the panel, some under the middle of the playfield for if you jiggle the machine sideways... check schematic.. should show you how many tilt relays you have.

Try High Power Transistor Washer Bushing spacer

Bushings are probably what you can use, that gave me the most image hits. The picture you have is really just two bushings attached. Just making sure the leads don't touch the heat sink metal.

I needed to replace mine in my Spidey... I think they usually provide them with the Transistor and heat sink insulator. There should have been one on the board you're replacing it on? I kinda deja vu about that part, but don't recall if I was able to reuse the original one, or used separate bushings.

usually something like this...

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On my ASM I replaced all my metal acorn nuts with white rubber barrels (but saved to originals for the die hards). For the ones that were just screws I got some white plastic screw covers at the local hardware store. Two pieces... you need to remove the screw and put the bottom half under the head, then snap on the top piece. Really happy with the results.

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Swapped displays 1 and 2 with 3 and 4 already? Just to be sure? Or izzat what you mean by tries with working displays ?

My Spider-Man randomly reboots within a few minutes after starting up. After it restarts sound doesn’t work. Checking it out tonight... voltage levels seem pretty good. 5V sitting around 4.8V... wouldn’t think that’s low enough to trigger a reboot. When I push the test button on sound card a few times it eventually triggers the restart and test button doesn’t trigger any sound. Anyone have something similar before and point me in some direction... sound card triggering restart on mpu? Or mpu restarting and messing up sound card?

I disconnected the sound card and the game seems to play solid without resetting.

I’m expecting more than connector problems. But will clean them again.

For many years i would occasionally get a random small sound play, (Not the attract ditty) but it wouldn’t trigger anything else like the recent reset. Is that another symptom of something wrong with the sound card?

Can the sound card generate tones on its own or will it always be sent what to play from the controller board?

I’ve been trying to avoid touching that pot as people have said you should replace it. I adjusted and it seemed pretty smooth. I bought my pin in 2002 but maybe the original owner (arcade owner) changed it before he sold it to me. He had done all the ground mods so maybe replaced the pot too.

Adjusted up so that TP on power board is 5.1v and power at circuit boards are 5.0v. Reinstalled sound card and played a few games ... no reset. I’m leaving it on in the middle of a 4 player game for a couple hours to see it it resets.

Looking good! Thanks.

Since I never tried it before I also switched sound modes... idk... too robotic for me after listening to the other mode for 17 years