My Shopping project 1993 LAH (DE)

Hello I am going to start this repair and thought before I did I would share the before pics to see what type of feedback I can get to the issues that are specific to my pin. This is my first pin and my first shop. I read the sticky's and tutorials from flippers.be. So I thought I would save the $400 to get the thing shopped and put that towards my next pin! So here is a link to the pics and please be sure to read the captions as well and let me know! Thanks!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69703700@N06/

#2 12 years ago

SMK

DrAzzy

Inactive member

Cambridge, MA

12y 18,400 870 2 15

Close those blinds more or you're going to get cabinet fade.

PF looks strangely good except for the wear around the scoop, considering the condition of the drops and left flipper bat. Get a cliffy for that scoop if one is available.

Switch you're pointing to, is missing a mounting screw. If it's behaving intermittently, check in switch test with your finger - if it works when you press it manually, just not always with the ball, it just needs to be adjusted a bit.

Switch that's not working at all, check that it works with a multimeter on the switch itself (between the end of the diode that doesn't have a wire on it and the other wire) to make sure the switch is okay - it also may just need to be adjusted, sometimes the contacts on those leaf switches get bent farther apart than they should be.

Get new socket+reflector assembly for light with reflector that falls off. Reflector is supposed to be affixed to the socket.

#3 12 years ago

MSY

Dr_Gonzo

Pinside member

Loveland, CO

13y 54,050 962 7

Looks pretty decent, just dirty. I'm in the middle of shopping mine, and the same standup target (CAT) isn't working. Under the field the wires had torn away from the switch. A little solder and they will be all fixed up. Maybe a common problem being yours isn't working either. I wouldn't tear it all the way down, there's some tricky things to get apart and back together. Mainly under the ball lock area. I would clean best you can, and only dig into it if you absolutely have to fix something. Good luck!

#4 12 years ago

B R

BLACK_ROSE

Pinside member

Lexington, NC

14y 116K 8,818 3 60

Good Luck Slingshot on yr LAH shop job.. I've only owned LAH 1-Time so far , but the 1 i had was in Perfect shape.. It's got Alot of Great Feature's that other Pin's Don't offer.. B_R

LAH.jpg LAH_12.jpg 103b5140.jpg

#5 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

First off thanks for all the replies!! Now here's a status update:

@ Dr. Azzy, Blinds--check, Cliffy protectors on order, switch is working now you were correct in the alignment it was off and therefore not triggering the switch when needed. But I would like to know where I could get some more switches and the hardware (screws, bolts, etc.) for the pin. I only saw one place online that carried the switches (Witch Dr. but in the UK). Also looking for where I can pick up that reflector and socket.

@ Dr. Gonzo, I hear ya on not breaking this thing down all the way to parade rest--and I agree. However, the left turbo bumper's light is out and that is the one that goes you guessed under the ramp... GRRRR. So it looks like if I want that light I gotta get the ramp out of the way if not at least a little the whole thing. The cat switch was a broken wire!! How bizarre, soldered and gtg now.

@BR, Nice pin!

So now after getting the major pieces that were broken or degraded back up today, I found that the ripper coil or laser coil is not working. I connect a multi-meter and it showed that the coil is good and I couldn't see any compromised wires so I may need some help on troubleshooting coils. Also the magnets I don't think are working either cause when I run the test under diagnostics and put the ball in there I see no deviation from the balls trajectory. Otherwise I got in contact with cointaker and Chris is going to help me piece together a LED kit for this pin too! But definitely having a blast doing this!

#6 12 years ago

???

Atomicboy

Inactive member

I'm in the middle of a full shop on my lah now.

While you have the PF stuff off, **do all the GI in frosted lights now**. You can't get to GI from underneath on DE, and this game has many visible bulbs, so use frost "warm" whites.

There is a cliffy set for the scoops, all three, but the main one is usually worn to hell. You should rebuild this first with bondo or wood filler first.

If you have any broken/missing plastics, BAA has quite a good and cheap selection.

As for the kicker coil. This commonly locks on. If the coil tests good, and everything else looks good, it's likely the driver or pre-driver transistor for this, which can be tested as well.

As for the magnets, another common issue. The magnet board is under the PF. This board is a piece of crap. There are factory hacks done, the traces are not enough, and the pads for the components lift almost immediately when desoldering. Clay’s guide notes the three mosfets I think and one IC (with socket) that needs to be replaced. Do them all and jumper any suspect pads with wires. Mine worked perfectly after this.

Not sure if this is over your head of not.

Also the crane switches, where the crane stops on both extremes usually need adjusting, as they crane will wiggle during shaker motor times, and will allow the switch to go open, making the crane move across intermittently.

The game is great, but is another great theft of Stern from all the previous Williams winners (F14, T2, TAF, TZ).

Also, for some strange reason the reinforced CAT target switch piece, that is the rear part of the switch that stops the target fact from bending back to far and projecting the ball upwards has been removed on all three lah’s that I have seen. This allows for air balls, but also causing the right entrance of the ramp to break. If yours is gone, order one, I believe PBL sells them. Mine, and my friends were loose in the cab. I still to this day can’t understand why they were removed, as it functions perfectly with it, and crap without it, nothing is close to shorting… very strange.

#7 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

Quoted from Atomicboy:
...Clay’s guide notes the three mosfets I think and one IC (with socket) that needs to be replaced. Do them all and jumper any suspect pads with wires. Mine worked perfectly after this.

Do you know where I can find Clays guide? Also I do have under diagnostics a crane switch and captive ball trigger coming up. However the crane doesn't move unless it needs to (triggered) and same goes for the left captive ball it seems to be working fine.

Also where can I find the driver or the pre-driver transistor to test? Thanks again for the help!

#8 12 years ago

???

Atomicboy

Inactive member

PM me your email, and I'll send what you need there. There are two captive balls, have you checked but switches in the test and makde sure they both register closed when you close them and open when you don't?

As for the crane, do the same thing for both switches where the crane stops in both directions.

As for the transistors, the guide will explain this, as there is much detail to learn before getting there.

As the the magnet board, if you haven't soldered boards before, this board may be better sent for someone else to do for you, as the traces and pads lift so easy on it. The info to repair it though is in the guide, send me a pm, do a lot of reading, and figure out how you want to deal with it from there.

#9 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

I've got a diode that didn't make it onto the replacement kicker and I think that is the reason why I have no flipper control and none of the coils on the right side of the playing field are now working. With that being said I did hold onto the diode but I'm a little unsure which way it needs to go if anyone has a DE pin or LAH that could tell me which way it needs to go onto the kicker coil that would be most appreciated!

BTW like the new Avatar? "Pinhead"

#10 12 years ago

???

Atomicboy

Inactive member

Hey sorry man, I got your emails, just busy. Email me tonight and I'll check for you, and send you a photo of it. After 5pm eastern. Busy week...

#11 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

Hey Brotha no problem.. I'm just kicking myself for not taking a pic of it but, I thought that since the part came from Marco that they knew what they were doing when they shipped it out with no diode. For all I know maybe that's the way coils are shipped ... either way lesson learned!

#12 12 years ago

TDA

The_Dude_Abides

Pinside Moderator

Northern California, CA

14y 137K 9,468 151

Sure seems like a fun pin with a lot of features I haven't been lucky enough to play it yet. Congrats on the first pin!!

#13 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

Quoted from The_Dude_Abides:
Sure seems like a fun pin with a lot of features I haven't been lucky enough to play it yet. Congrats on the first pin!!

Thanks TDA--In the Bay area I see. You and Cliffy get together often? I would definitely call that lucky!

#14 12 years ago

TDA

The_Dude_Abides

Pinside Moderator

Northern California, CA

14y 137K 9,468 151

OP
Quoted from Slingshot:
Thanks TDA--In the Bay area I see. You and Cliffy get together often? I would definitely call that lucky!

Will be meeting him for the first time this weekend actually. Very much looking forward to it. There definitely are a lot of very cool pinheads in the area that's for sure.

For my first I hired a good tech to come out and work on it a bit. I helped and asked a ton of questions it was like a class of sorts. A bit expensive but in the long run it was worth it. Good luck with the restore keep us posted on the progress.

#15 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

I will be posting more pics up on my flicker account. My HD camera takes some awesome photos and the are almost always too large to get them into the post. I hear ya on the pin Dr. I do have one in the area but like you said rather expensive but if this fix ends up coming short of my expectations then that may be just what I'll do next.

#16 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

ok so I got the diode on the ball launcher and that is not the problem either so atm I have no working flippers, almost all the coils on the right side of the PF are not responding. I started to check the fuses on the flipper board and wouldn't you know it when I took one out I heard a slight *ping* and there went one of the fuse clips. So I tried to get the old clip off don't know if it is the issue of my iron (40 watt) not getting hot enough or the type of solder being used on the PCB. But I couldn't even get the solder onto the wick nor the clip off the of the PCB. To say the least my issues have now exacerbated and I now have a new flipper board on order from BAA. If this doesn't work (which I'm not sure if it will) anyone have any idea's?

It was just one of those things it was up and working fine then it was turned off and when I turned it on again viola--issues.

#17 12 years ago

???

Atomicboy

Inactive member

It sounded like a fuse issue before, but you said you checked them. Are you saying you broke the fuse holder clip when taking them out again, or did it break as if it was ready to go previously? If the clip wasn't holding the fuse tight enough, that could have caused a poor connection. You only need to replace the fuse holder.

If your iron doesn't work, it's likely due to a black or dirty tip. Also add some new solder to the joint as well, to heat up the old stuff faster.

#18 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

ok here is a pic of the old and new flipper board, better pics are the flicker site referenced at the top of this post. But after replacing the board I still have no flipper function. I saw that when I press the left flipper button I get a LED on the board lighting up but no action. However when I press the right flipper there is no LED on the flipper board. So I took my DMM and went to the left flipper switch and tested fine but when I went to the right button it showed "short" even though the button was not depressed and I could see daylight on the switch itself it wasn't making any contact. I took the reading right from the solder points under the switch. Any thoughts I feel that I am getting closer to getting to the issue maybe it is a bad switch?

Also Big thanks to Atomicboy for all the help!

6383787409_2fc0966359_m.jpg

#19 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

*Update* Left flipper working but like a machine gun when I hold down the button. Right flipper still OOC. I'm now also Blowing F5 and F8 fuses on the PPD board.

#20 12 years ago

???

Atomicboy

Inactive member

Do all the other coils in the game work now, and it's only the flippers that are the issue? Have you checked the EOS switch on the left? Could also be a wire no connected firmly from the coil for the low voltage "hold" side of the coil. Check all the coil lugs for a good solid solder job.

For the right, you are getting continuity for the flipper switch with no depressed flipper button? I’m not sure that the short indicator is that you are referring to, as continuity doesn’t necessarily indicate a short per say.

There should be a continuity or diode setting on your DMM. You can also use the smallest resistance setting, and look for 0 resistance to indicate continuity (a closed circuit with voltages is travelling through).

#21 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

Quoted from Atomicboy:
For the right, you are getting continuity for the flipper switch with no depressed flipper button? I’m not sure that the short indicator is that you are referring to, as continuity doesn’t necessarily indicate a short per say

Correct. The Left flipper when I use the DMM is showing contnuity when I depress the button and is "open" when I let off. Also I see the LED light on the flipper board illuminating. The right one though without depressing the button is showing continuity. The LED though on the right flipper is not illuminating.

Quoted from Atomicboy:
Do all the other coils in the game work now, and it's only the flippers that are the issue? Have you checked the EOS switch on the left?

No the Ball launcher still isn't working nor the ripper or vuk. As for the EOS switch those are the leaf switches near the coils correct? If so I did DMM those and when closed I have continuity and when I open it no continuity.

And then there is the issue with the F5 and F8 blowing on the PPD there is 5AMP S/B on there but I will recheck and make sure that those are the correct fuses and not something a little higher like a 8A.

Also just to be double sure I could use a good pic of the ball luancher diode and which way the band needs to go.. Which makes me wonder if we had no pictures how do we know which way is common and thus the band needs to go? No rule of thumb? I do have the schematics but there is nothing that I can find for launcher.

#22 12 years ago

???

Atomicboy

Inactive member

Sorry for not getting back to you. There is a short somewhere then as the right flipper switch is clearly closed all the time. This could be a bad flipper switch. If you replace the fuses, does the right flipper, or any other coil lock on briefly before the fuses blow? ALSO, the magnet board doesn't work, but is it still connected? I had all kinds of issues with the magnet board before I fixed it. It was even doing the wackiest stuff to my DMD, which I could not figure out, and resolved after I fixed it. Disconnect the connector to that, and deal with that after.

Since you asked before, if you still want to call me so we can try to figure it out, I'll pm you my cell. I know the frustration, and there are more issues than writing on here can resolve.

#23 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member

*Update* Magnets are NOW working! I replaced the Mosfets only, as Atomic said with IRL540 Mosfets gtg there. Also I replaced the fuse clips that were weak / broken on the flipper board and the PPB and now my old flipper board is good as new and there is no rapid flipper on the left and the right flipper is working again. The other weird thing is now the ripper kicker coil is working which leaves only the ball launcher, extra ball, and the vuk coils that are not working. I am also down to only one fuse blowing on the PPB which is the F8 (PF).

When it comes to PCB repair Solder suckers rule BTW

#24 12 years ago

GTG

Slingshot

Pinside member