No Good Gofers
Williams, 1997The gophers in my NGG are too sensitive. When they come up for the ball locks they immediately register as "hits" about 90% of the time. I lifted the playfield and looked for switches but it doesn't seem that they operate on switches. So how do I make them harder to register?
I'm not able to figure this one out.
Quoted from Stack15:The gophers in my NGG are too sensitive. When they come up for the ball locks they immediately register as "hits" about 90% of the time. I lifted the playfield and looked for switches but it doesn't seem that they operate on switches. So how do I make them harder to register?
I'm not able to figure this one out.
You need to check the optos that are under the PF.
Quoted from Stack15:I did see those. I'll tighten them up and clean them off. But would they cause the gophers to fall too easily? I was thinking the optos were for knowing when they were up or down and not for sending them up and down.
Not the opto's that detect the up and down movement of the gophers. There is a sensor attached under the pf that detects the ball being present right in front of each gopher. The ball doesn't even have to touch the gopher to register a hit.
Are they popping back down, you may have an issue with the locking mechanism for the gophers . They slam up too hard and then kick back down. If you go into test mode and test the gophers does the same thing happen? Those eddy sensors aren't on in gopher test .
These must be the mystery optos. I am not sure how to clean or adjust them. I touched them and visually inspected that wires are there. This is a sensitivity issue that just started today. So how do I make adjustments here?
I checked the menus and didn't see anything about Gopher sensitivity.
In seloind test, the left gopher works fine. The right gopher pops up and goes back down. On the second try he always stays up.
Underneath the playfield I see the locking mechanism. It is held with two nuts. One nut on the right gopher was very loose and I went ahead and tightened all four up.
The problem remains unchanged.
Do I need to start bending things? It seems to be all plastic.
Quoted from Mando:Are they popping back down, you may have an issue with the locking mechanism for the gophers . They slam up too hard and then kick back down. If you go into test mode and test the gophers does the same thing happen? Those eddy sensors aren't on in gopher test .
This is exactly the problem. I just can't figure out how to fix it.
Do your self a favor and remove the gopher assembly completely from under the machine. It is like 6 screws and 2 connectors. The gophers have a pivot at the top of their heads (a bolt) there is a spring inside the head (wire spring) that pushes the bottom of the head forward (towards you) and helps it latch on the bottom shelf. If that spring is broken or that shelf is worn it can cause your problem. Take the entire thing apart. If you have any mechanical know how it will make sense once you take it apart and look at it.
Quoted from Stack15:These must be the mystery optos. I am not sure how to clean or adjust them.
I called them opto's, but they are actually Eddy sensors.
Sounds to me like your issue is with the locking mech. Question: you talk about their sensitivity, but when the gopher goes down (or up) when the ball isn't around them, do you hear a sound indicating that they are being hit by the ball? If not, it has nothing to do with the Eddy sensors.
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Macon, GA
Gophers is a great game I should not have sold mine. I had to tweak my Gophers too.