Just finished my "shop" job. Replaced a lot of parts. It's almost like new again. Flippers are strong. Almost too strong. But have a couple issues that developed after I did my shop job, and wondered if you guys could help me out. Maybe I need to start a new thread?

The machine worked before I started working on it, so I know I must have bumped something loose.

The Right VUK and the Autoplunger don't work. I tried to look in the manual to see if I could track down some points of contacts. It appears that they both share a common cable. But I really don't know where to look for the issues. I reflowed solder on both coils, but nothing.

Could someone take a photo of their VUK coil? Or tell me which wire goes to which end. I may have put the wires on backwards. It was the only coil I forgot to take a photo of before I took it off to rebuild the VUK.

I'm guessing the VUK and autoplunger is a connected issues.

But as I was testing out the game, the left flipper died on me. It was almost like I wasn't pushing the flipper button in far enough, or was making very weak connections. Visual inspection shows the flipper button leaf switch is making full connection. I reflowed solder on the coil itself. But was acting like the batteries dieing in a flashlight. Is this a sign of a coil going bad? Or could it be something else?

If you put the wires on the wrong way on a coil you probably blew 1 or more transistors on the cpu. I think you need to replace Q45.

I had a similar issue and have a thread in the tech section, just got mine all back up and running this weekend

Check the "eos" switch and make sure it's clean and making good contact when the flipper is at rest.

They will stop working if that contact gets dirty.

It's brand new. Will double check it, but pretty sure it looked to be in good order.

do you have a DMM? You need to check your transistors as if you in fact wired a coil backwards it will almost without a doubt blown 1 or more. I would start at Q45. Use TIP102s to replace the TIP120s as they are more robust.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/TIP102

How do I check to see if I wired it backwards? I don't understand the schematics, and the direction it needs to go.

Read this website for some good info: http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/desega/index3.htm

You can force ground to the coil to see if it will fire by hooking it up to the ground lug in the cabinet by the prop rod and see if you are getting power to the coil. if so its wired correctly but you have a transistor most likely out on the board. also check your fuses if you havent.
I can take a picture of mine later today but im at work.

I found this post of someone that had the exact same problem. And I did put the wires back on the coil properly. I think I need to check the L/R relay. But odd that it stopped working after I rebuilt the VUK. But if that relay is close, it's possible that I might have tugged on the wire and broke the solder joint.

Any idea where this L/R relay is? I have one in the center of the underside of the playfield. It doesn't have a plastic cover on it though, like the other ones. Wonder it that's the culprit? Now this afternoon will drag on too long, cause I wanna fix this.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jurassic-park-snipped-coil-wire-tech-help

visit that website i linked and it explains the l/r relay. it is a transistor on your board. you can short it to the ground on the cpu by i think cn8 connector that will jump it and tell you if its working.

are you testing everything in the diagnostics? if you do what i said and jump the coil to ground and it fires you have a board issue. if it does not fire you probably have a wiring issue.

i thought i had wiring issues forever and it was board related. cost me a lot of wasted time.

I found a blown fuse. Now how do you tell what it is? Don't see anything in manual, and the diagram back box doesn't go up to F8.

Any idea on the Amp and what it's a fuse for? Should solve one issue I'd think.

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Stuck in a 5amp temporarily to quickly test it to see if anything worked. The auto plunger came back to life, but VUK and left flipper are still dead. Drats.

Do fuses commonly blow due to being worn out, or does a blown fuse symbolize a short somewhere?

This would probably be: F8 = 4a slo-blo (+50 volt playfield coils. )

usually the fuse voltages and ampere will be noted inside the backbox, but also in the schematics. It seems the manual on ipdb.org is not complete with the PPB schematics, but I have the manual in our club and can check if necessary.

That'd be awesome if you could check. I was thinking it was a 4a as well. But couldn't find it in the backbox or manual. Backbox only went up to f6 for that board.

I found this reference on http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/desega/index1.htm

F8= 4a slo-blo +50 volt playfield coils.

Thanks.

I'm going to have to read up on that site bleacher bum and infinite lives posted. Apears that I really need to make sure everything is correct. That F8 fuse has obviously been blown before fairly recently. The blown one hasn't oxidized like the other ones have.

Makes me think there's more going wrong. With that, the VUK, and the left flipper.

Really wish I knew more about electronics like this.

2 down. One more to go. Fixed the flipper issue. Found someone 2 years had the same problem. Lots of suggestion, so I tried the easiest one first, and that was the issue.

Kinda feel ashamed, but glad I fixed it at least.

The flipper button leaf switch and EOS switches were brand new, so why suspect them. Ran a textured business card between the contacts, and back in business again.

So I guess new switches may have a film or oil or grease blocking full connection.

Of well. Now just the VUK. And the lots and lots of air balls. Balls hit the posts in the back and fly up over the cross over ramp and pop bumpers.

I bought a faulty JP in October last year, had two dead transistors due to raptor coil burn etc, and didnt know shit about electronics before that so the learning goes fast when you have to learn and fix because you wanna play keep it up!

Glad you got it working. Sometimes it's the simplest of things

I installed a Marco black rubber kit and have a couple of questions.

1. Is the left orbit supposed to be stupidly hard to make? I'd say 90% of my shots there are rejected because the ball hits one of the rubber rings on either side.

2. The left slingshot rubber juts out slightly into the left inlane and causes the ball to slow down. From what I can tell, the rubber is making contact with the upside down U shaped metal rail. Is this normal?

3. The post sleeves I received for the raptor pit, egg, and ramp are shorter than the old posts, and now they have a good amount of up and down play. Has anyone else used a Marco rubber kit and experienced the same thing?

I can only speak to the first question but this is the same way it plays on mine. I think it is a common complaint with the design of the game, but maybe there is an adjustment that I don't know about.

2. I just replaced all my rubber. I noticed the slingshots that were on it originally were much thinner than what I put on. And now I know why. I had a ball get stuck in the lane because of the rubber. So I'll be looking for thinner slingshot rubbers.

3. And I bought 4 new super band post rubbers. They were shorter too. I'm going to have to measure the old ones, and get new ones the correct size.

But also, the manual is incorrect on some rubber placements. And noticed that a lot of kits follow the manual, and not the actual playfield. You probably got a 3rd slingshot rubber. The manual shows that it's supposed to go right in front of the t-rex. But I've never seen any there before.

I did get a 3rd slingshot rubber. I remember reading another thread where somebody mentioned the rubber beneath the T-Rex. I didn't worry about it. I also got a shooter tip rubber which isn't even listed in the manual.

I got this kit for free so I'm not really sweating it, but I'm going to look into getting the Titan rings as I have heard good things.

Do you think they will ever Color DMD JP? It's got awesome dots IMO and would look amazing in color.

Somebody is supposedly working on it. As far as I know they dont currently support DE games, but they have been looking into it. If we make more of a stink, or even get a list going, maybe they will get serious about it. I know if this game has all these awesome mods its gonna be out of control awesome.

Color DMD
New Trex
New rules
Gate mod
Jeep mod
Etc etc

Turning into an epic game.

Think maybe you just need a smaller rubber? The more it stretches, the thinner it gets.

I hope this comes out some day!

Is there a more accurate rubber list? I know some of mine are incorrect, as I ordered per the manual, but putting them on, realized that changes had been made post-manual creation.

Would love to see someone who knows theirs is correct, post placement and correct sizes of the rubbers.

Unfortunately, I think that's very common. Titan was trying to compile that sort of thing and I think incentivizing in some way. Keep your eye out there.

Titan doesn't make 2 3/4" ID silicone rings for the slings, so the closest option is 2 1/2". This may stretch the rings enough so that it doesn't interfere with the inlane.

A little warning if you are dumb like me. Don't try to clean your Amber with alcohol. It will melt and get sticky.

Luckily it wasn't too bad. I had done the smart thing and hand washed it with a soapy cloth. It was crystal clear. Spotless, except for that one tiny spot on the front, directly in the center. I rubbed it with the cloth, and whatever it kept smudging more. Maybe some sticky residue that got on it from a previous time cleaning the machine?

So I thought to myself, rubbing alcohol will wipe that right off. I got my magic eraser out, cut an inch triangle piece and started rubbing. But I noticed that the Magic Eraser started to turn orange. I looked at the Amber, and it was getting all gooey. A touch of the finger, and yeah, it was sticky and I left a nice finger print in it.

I panicked. I ran it under water to hopefully stop the alcohol from eating away at it more. The stickiness became solid again. But was left with a nice big smudge in the center of it.

Not sure how to fix it, I started sanding with 2000 grit paper to see if it would polish right up with being how soft it was. It wasn't doing too much. Then I got the bright idea that it might work just like the flame polish. Nope. It burnt the raised portions of the hardened sticky goop area.

Fearing that I would have to resort to asking for a replacement here on the market place, or finding one I ebay, I spent more time sanding with the 2000 grit paper. I would sand for about 30 seconds, and get a fresh piece, and continue that process. I got it fairly smooth again. Then I got out a toothbrush and my Colgate toothpaste, the super low grit white kind, and started brushing it.

The final result is livable. Not perfectly crystal clear like it was before, but very close. I can still see a slight haze. But really, no one else will ever really notice.

So lesson learned. DONT USE ALCOHOL ON THE AMBER!

I had this issue on my game

^ This. I've had a few games (JP included) that had issues with the ball being pinched by the slingshot rubber at the inlane. A smaller slingshot rubber ring solved the issue every time for me.

I suspect it is a combination of slight variances in the thicknesses of rubber rings from the original factory spec, and slight variances in the placement/forming of the slingshot and inlane guide parts on the PF.

I'm going to try very hard to remember that. Thank you!

I was going to try to do the grounding test on the VUK coil to see if fires, by putting a jumper on the transistor and touching a ground.

Never done that before, so was a bit hesitant. With the power off, I put one alligator clip on the transistor. I had the other end hanging in the air, making sure it didn't touch anything. As soon as I powered it on, the F5 fuse blew. So I powered it off, and didn't try any more tests because I am out of 5amp fuses.

Did the fuse blow because of the alligator clip on the transistor, or was it just chance that it was going to probably blow the next time it was powered on? Like I said, there was nothing else connected to the other end of the alligator clip.

Lets talk strategy

I have yet to finish all the modes and go into system failure. My Highscore is : 757,647,990

Do you guys go for modes and try to score during them or time them out to finish them all?

Do you just try and light tri-ball then get into chaos multi ball?

When do you try and hit your smart missile?

My strategy typically goes like this:

* Try and hit as many of the spitter targets to turn on "tri ball is ready" for ball 1 or so it automatically is available for ball 2 when it spots you the free targets after you drain.

* Start Stampede: Aim for the Power Shed so I can keep activating game modes
Try to get thru as many game modes but besides the Feed Trex I typically just try and access the power shed or rock the ramp to get Dino DNAs.

* Once Tri Ball is activated get into it. Hit one of the jackpots. Start spelling CHAOS. Here if I am about to drain down to 1 ball I hit Smart Missile and it will spell the rest of CHAOS and get me into 6 ball multiball. Try and clear this and get the jackpots.

When I am in game modes trying to hit the shots I typically drain from missing a shot so I just try and hit the Power Shed. I've never gotten thru them all and havent finished most of them so Im not sure if the points for completing them is worth the risk. You get 30 Mill for feeding T Rex so I try and complete that but the rest of the time im just focused on power shed to light control room and getting into Tri-Ball/CHAOS

Interested if I'm missing anything or if this is typically what people do

Woah! I had no idea you could start CHAOS with the SM if you were missing one letter...very good to know.

My high score right now is only in the 200 millions, Ive only had the machine since spring.

From the papa video I watched the guy hold his smart missile until ball 3.

I usually go for the control room, start stampede, then shoot for trex to get him to eat the ball for the 30 mil, then since the ball goes down the right lane it lights control room again so I shoot for that, start another mode, etc.

I tend to stack as many modes as possible and if I get tri ball before ball 3, sweet, if not, no biggie.

This could be my downfall though.

Thanks for the run down, really helps!

I turned buy in on in mine, I like to see all the features and system shut down is cool. If I get a high score on a buy in I will put in different initials because I only like my scores to count for the standard 3 ball mode.

Smart missile would give you ALL the CHAOS letters if you needed them, as long as you've gotten the first Jackpot. If you're draining out of multiball after getting the Jackpot, hit the SM every time for Chaos mb.

Ignore the powershed if you're going for modes. Going through an inlane lights the control room temporarily, so just Ramp > Control Room > repeat. I've gotten to two System Failures in the same game that way. Unfortunately, you're still nothing without Super Jackpots. I think that game only ended around 500m because I didn't get the SJs.

By the way. After the first System Failure, the inlanes no long light the CR, so you have to use the Shed.

oh wow i didnt know that. I knew something else was lighting it cause sometimes I could get 2 modes without going in the shed. Nice. I will try this next game

Technically its just the right inlane. The left inlane lights the dock to collect a dinosaur towards multiball.

when shooting the dinosaur that comes across the screen net you anything? is it worth taking a hand off the flipper button? I don't think its worth many points

Does anyone reproduce the following small strip of a sticker circled in RED in the T-Rex Paddock? Just curious as this seems to be a very common issue for these stickers to get chewed up with JP's.

DSCN3367_w_circle.jpg

Gord

Yes this is definitely the way to go!

I really struggle to last in multiball long enough to get the Super Jackpot so my highest score was around 550mil. I'd reach System Failure quite often. Many of the modes are worth doing actually. Escape is particularly lucrative, so don't avoid that. Feed T-Rex of course. System boot is also a safe one to shoot for. And Bone Busters is easy. Just keep shooting the ramp and control room and stack-em-up!

The Smart Missile is one of the best features of the game IMO. Typically I use it to score either the first or second set of CHAOS letters when I'm about to drain.

Successfully shooting the dinosaur is worth 3 million and activates Super Pops. That is how it scores in version 5.x.

I don't think that's right. Left inlane lights dock and CR and right inlane lights Advance X and CR.

Hmmm...pretty sure it's not like that on my game. I'll have to check now. You might be right.

Quick update to my problems. I think it's now all clicked. I know some of you pointed out the transistors. And I think that's what the issue is right now. It just doesn't sink in until I am able to fully understand it and am able to see why something doesn't work.

So I think I blew a diode. I put in a new coil that came with the VUK kit. But didn't realize that the new coil had the diode installed backwards compared to the one that came with the machine. So I installed the wires the same way they were on before. Which blew the diode. Which made the coil test bad.

In the process it blew F8. Having figured out the diode was bad, and actually figuring out from the schematics how the diode is supposed to go, I re-installed the new coil with a new diode. Put the cables back on. Turned on the machine, and the coil was locked on until the F8 fuse blew a few seconds later.

Tested the transistors, and confirmed that the transistor for that coil was testing MUCH lower than the others.

So hopefully will be picking up a new transistor today and replacing it. And fingers crossed, will have a working JP again. Then I can show you all the cool photos of my "Shop" job.

I searched. The closest I found was Bay Area Amusements that were pretty much sold out of all those stickers. I ended up just removing mine, and polishing up that piece to a nice smooth shine.

Bath time!
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Best feeling in the world, next to coitus! Unless its bad coitus. Then clean ramps instead

Who on here is reproducing the T-Rex with teeth? I think I saw a comment awhile back with prices around $400. Thanks