Just joined the club, picked up a project machine yesterday. Currently non-working with decent cabinet, topper, nice playfield.

Current status: won't boot up...I get the steamboat whistle and the GI comes on when the game is powered up, after that nothing, just hum in the speakers. Diagnostic lights on the board show 5v and PIA lit, Blank is not lit.

No nothing on the DMD. Checked on pinball repair site and it looks like if could be an issue with one of the eproms.

I needed new coin reject button inserts for my Maverick coin door, so I made some that I think fits the theme of the game.

They're sized to fit right in the reject button, about 1.17" x 0.63"

Here is the image file in case anyone else needs some.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4v11BwvP9WoY2ZGRnpOSi03Z1k/view?usp=sharing

Maverick_CoinInserts.jpg

Hi guys. Having issues with the DMD on my Mav.

Voltages check out and I have the updated connector. I flipped the ribbon cable, but the display was pretty much the same. I twisted the cable a little to see if it changed the display and it did, but not much, still garbage on screen.

I recently put a rottendog board in that had the latest game code eprom in it. Could having a lower version of the display rom cause this? Any other thoughts?

Thanks

DSC04130.JPG

Thanks, that's what I've read, but wasn't sure if that specific problem would show up as seen in the pic. I'm getting some updated display roms and a new connector from Marcos, so hopefully that will take care of the issue.

Another question for you Maverick owners. Do you have extra, unused connector in your cabinets? Specifically nead the coin door and power switch? I have 4 connectors that are just sitting there unsused and wasn;t sure if that was "normal" or not. Here are some pics...

cab2.jpgcab1.jpg

Awesome, thanks for clearing that up Wayout. Was hoping I didn't get an incomplete game.

Can't wait to get mine up and running, want to play it!

No, only did it with the smaller one since from what I've read that is what sends the signal for the dots to the display.
Still, good point and I will try when I get home later. Thanks.

Updated the display ROMs, no change in symptoms. The new ribbon cable I got from Marcos was damaged and didn't work at all. I got nothing at all on the screen when I tried to use it.

I reversed the connectors on the cable from the mpu to the display driver board, but that didn't change anything. So my next step is to try a good working, new 14 pin ribbon cable and see where that gets me.

Open to any other thoughts or suggestions too.

So, I'm still having problems with my dmd. I have +5v at the dmd driver board and the display board. Have the latest game and display roms. Also have new ribbon cables. Still get this on the screen.

dmdwoes.JPG

Also have a video or the symptoms:

Not sure what else to try do. Would be great if I could find a working local machine to try my dmd in before I give up on it and go with the dmd extender.

Yeah, thanks, that makes sense. And if it is the controller board, then switching to an lcd with dmd extender won't correct the issue...

Also, I noticed on the 14 pin connector at J2 on the controller board that some of the gold platting was worn off and not as smooth as the other pins, like on the 26pin connector from the mpu.
Do these pins need that gold platting?

Okay, thanks for the info on the pins.

I agree this would be best. Unfortunately I don't know anyone locally that has this game or one of the other 4 games that used the large dmd. Might be time to send the board out for diagnosis and repair...

Thanks I sent him a PM.

Re: LEDs. I tried some behind the translite (wanted to change gears after trying to get the dmd working).
As mentioned above, most of the colors are on the edge with the sunset and creepy gallows scene.

mavled.jpg

Have you guys put white leds in the playing card inserts? I was thinking that would look better than the yellowish of incandescent bulbs.

Thanks. Here's a $1 version

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4v11BwvP9WodmtmSURSUkVJc0E/view?usp=sharing

Connected with 2 'L' brackets riveted to the topper and screwed into the head.

DSC04106.JPG

My dmd is working now. I had to have the display driver board serviced by Clive. CoinopCauldron is great and I was very happy with the service. Now I can get into diagnostics mode.

Next issue is the upper flipper coil is firing on it's own periodically and none of the flashers work when trying to test them in diagnostics.

Thanks Warlock, I'll start there the next time I venture into the cold garage.

The manual says green, but yeah, I think you want the stiffer red.

So now that Spring is here and there aren't freezing temperatures in the garage, I've been able to resume the shopping out of my Maverick. Yea!

While working on the right ramp assembly yesterday, I thought it'd be neat to try and light the "welcome" sign. So I went ahead and set that up using a 3 SMD LED strip from Comet.

The plan is to tie it into the GI circuit. Pics are of it still on the bench, but I think it will look nice once I have everything back in the game.

Strip Mounted on ramp

Close up of strip

Illumination test

Has anyone replace the ball lock opto, before the paddle wheel, with a standard switch as seen in this video at the 1:32 mark? (This is not the reed switch option...)

Thanks guys. That connector has a wite tie around it holding it in place, did yours have the too? All my opto boards have wire ties and they look factory...

Good suggestion, thanks. I have my playfield torn down right now so, I wanted to take whatever preventative measures I could with the optos to keep 'em working.

A little modding while I'm shopping... took a cue from the JP guys and illuminated the back board plastic.

back1.JPG

back2.JPG

Thanks. I'm going to try blue leds for the water part. I did a small test with a Comet 3 led strip and it made the water look better.
Also using a DK Pinball GI Buddy to light the mod. Just built the kit and tested it out using my F-14...

DSC04632.JPG

Special thanks to Ross (rviguet) helping me out with this mod when I had questions.

Hey guys. Is anyone using any type of DMD glare eliminator on their Maverick?

I checked with Art at Comet Pinball and his product won't fit the larger Sega displays. I see Marcos has a shield you can attach to the upper part of the playfield slide channel, not sure how that would look tho...

I'm in the process of a full tear down and shop job right now and did this recently...

I wiped the really grungy areas with novus 1 to get the initial dust, dirt, grim off. Then I used a pre-wax cleaner (not Cleaner Wax). Finished up with Carnauba wax.

For the mylar areas I used Novus 2, then Novus 1.

Worked well for me. I'm sure there are other methods, though.

I used Mother's California Gold Pre-Wax Cleaner. I didn't wax the Mylar since its a plastic and the Novus is better suited for plastics. However, waxing the Mylar shouldn't hurt and I'm sure others have done it.

Here is an additional resource to check out...

http://pinballrehab.com/1-articles/pinball-101/routine-maintenance/139-cleaning-playfield

Very excited...Finished getting my Maverick back together. It was great to finally get some games in on this machine. Fun game.

While I was shopping it out, I did some extra mods -
Lighted topper (linked with Royal Flush insert)
Lighted back panel plastics
Lighted Lauren Belle ship
Lighted right ramp "Welcome..." sign.
Lighted flipper buttons
Lights ball trough/gutter
Black vinyl on the inside-sides of cabinet
DMD-Saver board to help prolong the life of display.

Here are some pics...

Maverick cabinet

Translight and lighted Topper

Playfield

Lighted backboard, Lauren Belle, and Welcome sign

Flippers with Blue silicon rubbers

Video:

Thanks! The game seemed a little too dark in the back, so these mods helped to brighten things up.

Stand up targets for the "pair" were custom made by me. Printed on inkjet label paper and then laminated. The center circle for the rivet was cutout with an x-acto knife. You could also print them on inkjet vinyl paper if you have it.

Here's a link to my image file, feel free to use it.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4v11BwvP9WoY3BtQVBoN09hVlE&authuser=0

pairStandUps.jpg

Also, here's a link to the DMD saver thread for more info on that.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dmd-savers-from-german-pinball-vids-review#post-2341331

I used a Comet 7 SMD strip to light the Lauren Belle. Ran the wire down the back, then tied into the GI.

DSC04922.JPG

DSC04924.JPG

Thanks, cuz. Sure, I used some left over black vinyl I had from working on my arcade cabs. I had a roll from Rich at This Old Game.

http://www.thisoldgame.com/products/36-matt-black-vinyl

For the Maverick I didn't paint the entire inside of the cabinet or go all out with the inside restoration like I've seen some guys do ... I painted the sides down to the playfield guides using exterior semi-gloss black. After that I cut enough of the vinyl to cover those sides to give it a nice smooth appearance and add protection against scuffs and tears.

The vinyl is 3.5 mil think so it has some toughness to it and it cleans up nice with Novus 1. I also grinded down and polished a sharp edge on the left wire-form to reduce the chances of it catching. For some reason these Maverick seems to get torn up pretty good on the sides from the playfield, especially on the left side near the Lauren Belle ship. The wire-form on that side has a sharp edge which adds to the problem...at least if did on my machine.

I wasn't too big on the brown color anyway so I thought about what I could do there. I considered doing a custom image that would tie in with the art on the plastics, then getting it printed out. However, the cost and likelihood it would get torn up again made me decide against it and just use what I had on hand.

I agree that the mirrors would make the playfields seem wider.. same effect in a room with a mirrored wall I would think.

Do you have mirror blades on your Mav?

Now that I'm able to start playing and tweaking my game I have a couple of questions/issues...

What's the best way to adjust the optos for the ball lock? Just experiment with bending the LED until the line up better?

In switch test mode I can activate the opto switches by breaking the beam with my finger, but when an actual pinball gets queued up for multiball, the opto switch doesn't seem register it. To be clear it is not the opto at the entrance to the Lauren Belle, it's the two in the shoot.
Also, the lock light is lit, so the game is ready to lock a ball.

Another question related to the left kickback. It seems to only work about half the time, the other half it fires too soon and the ball doesn't get saved. Is the adjustment for this setting #46 (Laser Kickback Criterion)? Currently it is set to "Hard."

(Sorry if I missed these being answered earlier in the thread)

Thanks

Great, will do. Thanks for the quick response.

Following Atomicboy's advice, I adjusted the transmitter led for the ball lock optos to get them working properly. The method with the small piece of paper worked good to help line up the beam with the receiver.
I'm sure you could use the same technique for the first opto before the Lauren Belle. That one mightl be a little harder to get to, though.

Is it possible some dried wax is blocking the hole on the metal ball guide where the opto led is?

I'm afraid it will take a bit of effort to get down to where those optos are mounted. To remove the metal ball guide pieces where the optos are connected you'll have to remove the the right ramp, center habitrail, vuk, Lauren Belle, left habitrail, and any associated plastics.

Also, those metal guides are attached with nuts under the playfield as well as a screw or two on top.

This pic is from my recent tear down and you can see one of the optos you'll need to get at.

opto.jpg

Has anyone added anything to try and protect the Lauren Belle from air balls?

My ship plastic was cracked and broken at the bottom when I got the game. It's difficult to find a replacement for this plastic, so I was able to repair mine. That being the case, I wanted to try something to mitigate any future risk in it getting damaged. I cut a piece of clear acrylic and mounted it under the ship. Time will tell if it helps protect the ship, but for now it seems to be working.

Just wondering if anyone else did something similar or came up with a better way?

shipShield1.JPG

Oh, I also did the service bulletin suggestion and raised the drop targets under the ship so that the ball can't settle in the trough when the targets are down.

http://arcarc.xmission.com/Pinball/Stern%20Service%20Bulletins/sb/sb71.pdf

Nice score! Better than anything I can put up...yet. Glad you got the optos back online, here's hoping they stay that way for a while.

As far as sounds, there seems to be some randomness to them. For example, on my machine sometimes the pop bumpers make a lot of noise like trickling money or something...but sometimes they don't. I'm thinking what you're hearing on your machine is normal.

Yeah seems to be a common problem right there. Mine had it too.

When I did my shop out I used my grinder to cut and polished the one part of that habitrail that stuck out the most. Its been fine since. Also be sure the end of the trail at the curve is pushed all the way in the connectors on the plastic ramp.

edit- to clarify, here's a pic of the side and habitrail as it was when I got the game. I circled the outer edge that I ended up grinding down.

sample.jpg

Maverick club bump! Still lovin' this game.

Maverick is available to stream on Netflix now so, I watched it again the other week with my kids. It was fun to pick out the call outs and scenes/characters from the movie that are on the playfield. I had forgotten who that Russian guy with the bow-and-arrow was.

I agree, gotta light those toppers. Looks great!

Thanks! Just finishing things up with it.

Sure thing, here's what I have so far...

For the display I used a 1.5" lcd with composite video out.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/83-14397

micro lcd

Raspberry Pi Model B (version 1). Version 1 has composite rca jack video out. The newer version 2 doesn't have an rca jack.

Raspberry Pi B Version 1

RPiLooper is what loops the video.
http://curioustechnologist.com/post/80836603897/rpilooper-creating-a-seamlessly-looping-video

The video I made using clips from the movie. I ripped scenes that are represented on the playfield and/or game mode.

For the frame I cut out a piece or acrylic to fit on the LCD. The graphic I made in Photoshop, printed on adhesive label paper, then covered with laminate for durability. I also hit is with a little matte spray to tone down he glossiness of the laminate. I used hot glue to adhere the frame.

micro lcd with frame

micro lcd back

Also, thank you to Toyotaboy. I saw how did a similar Raspberry Pi set up in his Freddy pin and he answered some questions I had about it.

test rig

micro lcdi nstalled

I put the Raspberry Pi in the cabinet, to the left of the coin box. For power, I tapped into an unused plug for a printer option. I was able to get +5v for the Rasp Pi and +12v for the LCD display

Installed Raspberry Pi, left of coin box

Power for the RPi and LCD

To piggyback on the dmd upgrades, I would suggest checking out Ingo's dmd extender board, too.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dmd-savers-from-german-pinball-vids-review/page/2#post-2754480

Welcome to the club new members! Have fun working on and playing your Mavericks!

Nice!

As far as your #2, it should be locking the ball on the first skill shot hole. At least that's been my experience with my machine. If the ball isn't locking, then you might have an issue with your Lauren Belle optos.

Yeah sounds like cold solder joints on the opto boards.

Nothing readily available, at least, that I could find when I was doing my shop job.

I think Wayout440 used poker card wallpaper for his? I ended up just using black matt vinyl I already had for the sides.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/maverick-fan-thread-we-play-till-we-drop-winner-takes-all/page/8#post-2484560

I had that same issue with the one locked ball being released intermittently during game play.

For mine, it was the upper boat lock opto switch that was faulty. The game thought another ball had entered the boat and the second lock wasn't active so it released the first ball.

I replaced the opto switch with one from that guy on eBay and that did the trick.
You could try to reflow the solder on the switch or just replace it.

Has anyone put an LED OCD in their Maverick?

I put on in my JP and it is awesome, so I'm considering getting one for my Maverick too. According to the LED OCD site, it has not been tested to work in a Maverick, but it should.

Just an update on this...I went ahead and installed the board and it looks great and works just fine with Maverick.

Yeah, it looks hand painted, too.