Medieval Madness
Williams, 1997Left flipper gets weaker and becomes mushy compared to the right one after about 20 minutes of gameplay. The flippers were rebuilt with new parts in the last 6 months, the game does not get that much play. Both flippers are strong at beginning of game and during short games but the left one becomes progressively weaker and kinda mushy during longer games. Any thoughts, comments or ideas what I should check in systematic way to determine cause of problem?
Check up/down play on shaft. Maybe a bad end of stop switch allowing coil to stay at high voltage. If all else fails put new pawl, link, sleeve, and stop on it. Pretty simple fixes each and any one could cause this. My first bet is the up down clearance or EOS.
Chris Kruger
Does the coil get really hot, compared to the right one?
That game has flipper button opto boards doesn't it? Try swapping those and see if problem remains with left flip or follows board to the right side now.
Definitely check to see if the coil is getting hot. If it is, then I would suspect End of Stroke or flipper button opto. Go into switch edges test and try hitting the flippers a few times. If you get any flickering on the switch closures for that flipper, your optos need cleaned or replaced.
Do the basics - clean the flipper button optos. Be sure you have a tiny bit of up and down play on the flipper so the pawl isn't binding below the playfield on the nylon bushing the flipper shaft runs through.
Remove the coil stop, slide the coil off. Feel the end of the plunger - mushroomed or sharp edge ? If so time for new coil stop, new coil sleeve, and new plunger assembly. Do both sides.
Be sure the pawl/plastic link/plunger move freely and the hole for the bolt on the pawl isn't worn egg shape.
And last but not least, look at the bracket and coil stop holding the coil. Should be kind of in a straight line, and not leaning in or out. I've seen misformed coil stops not straight up and down from the flipper base plate.
If that doesn't do it, then the next full moon dance naked in your yard and pray to the flipper gods for guidance.
LTG : )
Thanks for the advice and suggestions. I cleaned the optos on both flipper opto boards with alcohol and a Q-tip. I measured resistance on both flipper coils and got same reading of 4.1 ohms on the high powered windings. the flipper pawls, sleeves, plungers and links, coil stops and flipper bushings are very new. The up and down movement on both flippers is about the same on each. Using the flipper gap gauge, they are correct, no binding or tightness. Switch edges test shows both flippers lower and upper optos and flipper EOS switches registering correctly with no intermittent or jittery behavior. Played several two player games and both flippers seem to be o.k. with no noticeable loss of power. I will have to play some longer games to fully test but so far, so good.
Quoted from LTG:If that doesn't do it, then the next full moon dance naked in your yard and pray to the flipper gods for guidance.
I have tried this and it does indeed help.....also gets the neighbors to close their blinds....
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/medieval-madness-flipper-becomes-weaker-after-about-20-minutes and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
New Braunfels, TX