I'm in the process of restoring a Little Chief machine. Cabinet was in rough shape due to some damage to the back part. This has been sorted out and the cabinet is finally where I can install the head and connect all of the Jones plugs. This is where my issues have started. I'm stuck in the reset cycle. Looking at the Reset Cycle in the manual, it states:

Step 1) Credit unit reset coil is energized by switch on reset relay thru score motor index cam switch A, credit button, zero switch on credit unit, and switch on game-over relay or coin unit last position break switch.

Step 2) End-of-stroke switch on credit unit reset coil will energize coin relay.

** I think these two steps work. After turning on the machine, if I press the Credit Button, the credit unit decreases the number of credits by 1 and with the playfield open, I can see the Coin Relay energize.

Step 3) Switches on coin relay will run score motor, trip game over relay, and energize reset relay.

** This is where I'm stuck. The coin relay energizes, the score motor runs for a little bit, but the game over relay and reset relay don't do anything.

Looking at the schematic, the Game Over Relay trip coil should lock when power is turned on to the game, right? (red box below) Then once the NC Lock Relay opens, the trip coil is already engaged, right? Or am I understanding this schematic and manual completely wrong?

Thanks for the help

_Schematic_GameOverTrip_Coil (resized).jpg

Maybe that is the first problem, when I power on the game, only the Lock relay energizes, no other relay changes states. The game over relay is not locking in

I made it through the Reset cycle. It was the two NC switches (one on Game Over, one on Reset) that were not letting power through that section of the schematic. The NC on the Reset switch stack was not making contact. With this sorted out, the game makes it through the reset cycle and kicks out a ball and the playfield scoring switches are all active. I also set all of the steppers to their reset state.

Now it's stuck in a scoring motor loop. After the ball kicks out, the outhole relay keeps firing, trying to kick out the ball. The match unit is also actuating, but I think this is just from the scoring motor turning. If I manually step up the ball count unit until the last ball is "drained", the Game Over light comes on and the scoring motor stops turning.

I'm going to start going through all of the steppers, make sure they are all clean and aligned. After that it will be the scoring motor switches, also clean and make sure they are in the correct state. Then the playfield switches and scoring reels.

This is my first four-player game I'm shopping out. It's definetely a challenge.

_Schematic_GameOverTrip_Coil_Fix (resized).jpg

The springs on the Bonus Stepper and the Coin S.U Stepper have been stretched out or are missing. If someone here who owns a Little Chief could post photos of what the spring configuration on the Bonus Stepper, Coin Stepper, Ball Count Stepper, and Player Stepper is, it would be great. This will also let me know if I need to get the regular grey springs or the stronger red springs that Williams used for some of their steppers.

Thanks,

Alberto

Thank you, one less issue to worry about. Now to focus on the scoring motor loop.

Cleaned and rebuilt all of the stepper units but the scoring motor loop is still happening. The motor starts turning as soon as I turn the power on. Even if I take all of the credits off the game, the motor still runs non stop.

Next I disconnected the motor and turned the power on. Lock relay comes on, game over relay locks (this is supposed to happen) but then then Coin and the Reset relay energize.

Since the machine is out of credits and the Coin relay is energizing, could this be a short somewhere on the Coin relay circuit?

Newbie question - as I was looking at the Little Chief scoring motor, I noticed the top two switches on a stack were not moving. Looking at the schematic and at the motor, the small plastic spacer that would have moved those two switches is missing - broken probably.

PBR sells spacers that I could use to replace this. Is this the correct approach or am I better off getting a whole new stack of switches?

Thanks in advance,

Alberto

HowardR,

Thanks for referring to the PBR catalog. The switch stack is missing one of the nylon separators. I will follow your advice and stock some switch repair parts from PBR as I will surely need them. This is only the 3rd game I've restored. The first two required alot less to get running again. This one has been a challenge.

Alberto