Any word on the right ramp reproduction being discussed about 6-9 months ago?
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First pin. Just bought a month ago for $900 (playable/home use for last decade/ clearly routed before that) and decided to go all out with the repairs/upgrades. Loved this machine in the 90s and never imagined having a pinball machine in my home. New topper, new glass, new translite, rebuilt flippers, led's throughout, led flipper buttons, speaker lights, new plastic for dmd, new flipper fidelity speakers, new knocker, replaced all rubber(black), new rottendog power, new rottendog play field power, new rottendog flipper board, pin sound upgrade, side mirrors, new yellow plastics, polished field, repaired ramps (Mylar/super glue/bondo), replaced several sockets, leg protectors, wire gate for skill shot area, replaced several coil bushings, replaced broken arm mech on skill shot, cliffy protectors, new post protectors at ramp entries (my mod to protect my fragile ramps), cleaned all plastics, and new John Williams Return to Neverland music after "what would the world be like without Captain Hook?". Could never sell for what I've got in it now, but learned so much from the experience. This one's never leaving the future collection. Previous owner wouldn't recognize it.
Thanks. If only the rottendog and pin sound boards were more compatible, I'd be over the moon. I'm getting some sound cutout during multiball, but it's tolerable.
I've sent a message to Rottendog. Everything on the forums seems to be about the DPS004 board. It appears to me that the newer DPS005 board has resistor in the jumper position to be unregulated without making any changes. I don't know if they made the change with their newer revision because of the problems that people were reporting with the DPS004. However, I can't say for certain that it is already set to unregulated because the schematic that they send with the DPS005 board is the DPS004 schematic and I can't find a DPS005 schematic.
Other troubleshooting issues. I'm open to any suggestions.
1) I initially installed a Rottendog MPU along with all of my other changes and the Pinsound board worked initially. Then after turning the machine off, it would only work randomly. It appears that the Rottendog MPU and the Pinsound board don't always communicate. I contacted PinSound and they are working on a firmware update to make the board more responsive to recognizing the Rottendog MPU each time since I wasn't the only person with this problem. So, I repaired my Data East MPU board and switched back for the interim. That board works with the PinSound board every time. So clearly there is a compatibility issue between the Rottendog MPU and the PinSound board based on that troubleshooting. Just mentioning that here in case anybody else runs into the same problem.
2) I've noticed that my rope lights don't work exactly as they should when I go into test mode or when the machine is running. They operate as OFF/OFF/1/2&3 SIMULTANEOUSLY instead of OFF/1/2/3. I've seen posts about this that talk about a short between two of the strands causing this problem in addition to posts about the driver board for those lights getting fried. However, this is the strange part. When the Rottendog MPU board was in the backbox, the rope lights worked exactly as they should OFF/1/2/3 without doing anything to the lights or to the special board for the rope lights. As soon as I went back to the Data East board, it was back to OFF/OFF/1/2&3 SIMULTANEOUSLY. That makes me think that there isn't a short or a problem with the special board but instead there is a problem in my Data East MPU board.
3) When I received the pin, the knocker had been disconnected and the coil was sitting in the bottom (without any of the rest of the knocker mechanism). The coil had a melted coil sleeve in it. I purchased a new knocker and installed it and it worked fine. Of course, I had already replaced my power supply with Rottendog and the playfield power supply with rottendog before I ever tried this new knocker. However, since I've been having the sound cutout problem with my pinsound board, I decided to put my old data east power supply back in to see if the cutout problem went away. This would tell me if there was the regulated/unregulated 12v issue causing my sound problems. However, with the old power supply back in, the knocker went crazy and started pounding away nonstop from the moment I hit the start button to try it all out. I turned the machine off and on and had the same problem again, so I just took the data east power supply out and put the rottendog back it and then the problem was gone.
What do you think?
That sounds like a very logical answer. That will keep me from spending time fooling around with the buffer/driver board or with the rope lights. I don't think that the rope lights on there right now are the originals since the connectors from the rope to the coaster ramp aren't original. But, that might just mean that the coaster ramp was replaced before with the same old rope lights. Regardless, the fact that they were working with the new rottendog MPU makes me think there isn't a short there any longer. Let me know if you think differently.
Hopefully, pinsound can figure out the communication issue with the rottendog MPU and I can just switch back to the new board to solve the rope light problem.
If not, is there something on the original data east MPU board that I can replace to correct the problem?
Yes, I've been swapping the roms between the boards. Unfortunately, no logic probe or scope. I'm okay soldering coils and lamp sockets, and I did solder a new battery box to the board, but I don't know that I've got the skills to pull and socket the chip. Hopefully, PinSound can correct the compatibility issue with the Rottendog MPU and then I'll have someone else take a look at the Data East board.
Sounds well thought out and within all the rules of the play field. Super excited to see all of these changes.
Advice? It appears that when the correct rope light strand is supposed to light that the output for that pin from the MPU board changes from 5v to .1v
My pins do this:
Off: 5v, 5v, 5v
Strand 1 logic: .4v, .4v, 5v causing strands 1 and 2 to light
Strand 2 logic: .4v, .4v, 5v causing strands 1 and 2 to light
Strand 3 logic: 5v, 5v, 0.1v causing strand 3 to light correctly
I traced this back across capacitors and RA3 back to pins 10,11,12 on the 7segment PIA chip which is putting out the same erroneous voltages during strand 1 and 2 logic
I put a new 7 segment PIA chip in and have same problem. Not sure how to trace further back from here.
Figured out my stupid rope light problem. I pulled my MPU board to reflow the battery holder that I must have done a bad job installing (because it started telling me to open the coin door again), and while I had the board out, I noticed a shorted connection that was combining 2 of the outputs such that if either one was on, they were both on. Now it's all fixed. Hopefully, there isn't some problem that is actually draining my batteries too quickly.
This sounds much better to play. The timers are too short since they start before you even get a chance to score and scoring in general is so hard in this game. I don't have any idea how the default high scores are so high.
Chad, I've noticed that sometimes when the right scoop tosses an unplayable ball straight down the drain, it lets you shoot again and other times it doesn't. My scoop is erratic and throws right down the drain about 30% of the time even after I cleaned it and put a new sleeve in the coil. I doubt this was the intended design but I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem. Is it possible to make it always let you try again if the scoop drains it down the middle with no other sensors getting activated?
Thanks Chad,
I think the added time would help. In the meantime, I need to figure out why mine is so erratic.
As long as turning off attract mode keeps the sound from playing for LW3 then I'm fine with that. Otherwise, it created a problem if you have a pinsound card.
If attract mode is on when you have a pinsound card, it plays the last music when the game ends in an endless loop unless you set a sleep timer. But attract mode sounds including the LW3 promo reset the sleep timer. It's really a pinsound problem, but I can't find a solution other than killing attract mode.
Getting them from another pinsider, but it was all he had after selling his machine. Unfortunately, not a supplier for me to provide to you.
Are we saying that skill shot 1 will no longer be the start of 2 ball multiball? That doesn't have anything to do with the gate being there. I know it only comes up if you are playing poorly, but I think it's worthwhile. You can even turn it into 3 ball multiball with a lock shot followed by a ramp shot. I never have to deal with the other scenario of a ball stuck and waiting for ball search because I added the gate.
I vote for keeping skill shot one as multiball instead of trying to fix the gate problem. Clearly the machine is supposed to have a gate.
Instead of being a pity ball how about just making it appear a random 10% of the time. Same with skill shot 1.
So, I finally got the angle right on my playfield to speed up the game at least to where it's designed to be and now my drains are worse than ever coming from the power scoop. I know the new code from Chad will help, but I also want this to work better. I've removed it, cleaned it, replaced the coil sleeve, replaced the arm, and ensured everything is tight on reinstall and problem persists. Any recommendations? Only thing I can think is replace the coil and consider purchasing a more powerful one if I do. It drains 50%, just catches the edge of the left flipper 20%, and goes to better spot on left flipper or to left slingshot 30% of the time.
I'll double check that the coil is correct. I tried the adjustment and didn't see any improvement, which makes me think a stronger coil may not be the answer. I'd like to replace the power scoop itself, but can't find one online.
Haven't tried the lower power. I wish you could adjust the power to just one coil. I don't want to slow down the rest of the game.
Whirlwind is another story. That scoop is just poorly designed, but your right that at least it doesn't send it down the drain when it barely pops out.
Maybe, but it is also limited by the subway ramp coming from the skull. I'll work on this some more tonight and give an update.
NeedHelp....I'm getting a popping sound through my speakers that is synchronized to the rapid flashing of the LEDs. Not the flashing that makes you think your going to have a seizure from the GI lighting but instead the flashing of the skill shot lights or the flashing of the scoop target lighting. I have flipper fidelity speakers and a pinsound board. I used to have a similar problem related to the rope lights but I fixed a short and then the popping sound went away. I'm not talking about the data east hum either, this is a distinct pop with every flash.
Thanks
The newest rottendog is good. They fixed the the inadequate voltage problem that people were having to fix on their own. Works well in my Hook.
The flipper coils are supposed to be different. It's a stronger coil used on the right for the wind coaster ramp. I don't have the manual in front of me for part numbers though.
When I had a problem with the ball launcher under the skill shot ramp, it was because the actual arm itself was broken and all that was left to hit the ball was a nub. Much better after replacing the arm.
No idea. I have the same loose plug in mine. It's so close to the flipper connectors that maybe it's generic for another flipper. However the machine does have a ticket option so that makes more sense. And you are correct about the knocker.
Thanks for trying to make this happen. I've asked around for vacuum forming before but not had much luck at reasonable prices
The match the lane lights. I suppose it might be too difficult for some people to see the lanes directly
Tired of your old busted Rufio ramp?
Mark (FreePlay40) asked me to send him my good condition Rufio ramp for reproduction. I know the interest is here, so if you haven't already done so, go over to his ramp feed and let him know you are interested in one if he produces them. That will allow him to gauge real interest and may have an affect on timing and availability. I actually have new Rufio ramp decals that I am willing to reproduce at low cost primarily to cover expenses since he doesn't do decals with his ramps.
I have already purchased and received the Whirlwind lift ramp, a Wabac ramp for R&B, a DE Star Trek Subway ramp and a Hurricane center ramp. His ramps are excellent quality and improved over original design flaws.
Show him your support because Starship Fantasy isn't going to get around to any of the low production volume ramps for "decades". I know someone in Australia is making ramps for Williams games but I only see them pop up on eBay occasionally. Mark is single-handedly helping to keep these machines in better than just playable condition.
Thanks
Shawn
I don't think anyone has asked for the windcoaster since they still pop up occasionally. I've got a good skill shot for him to create a mold with as well, but he has to get his new machine up and running before he can do that length.
As long as your MPU board is original and not rotten dog then you should be fine. However, the pin sound card and the rotten MPU don't communicate with each other well
My sound board was fried so I bought the pin sound as my replacement. I think the speakers make more difference than the card. I think the card is useful for customizing more than anything else. Of my 10 machines, my hook machine has the best sound, even better than my WOZ ECLE in my opinion. I wish I hadn't bought the speakers that were specific to the pin sound though, because now I can't just take out the card, I'd have to also take out the speakers.
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