(Topic ID: 70838)

Pinbot Fans and Owners Club!

By wayout440

10 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 6,055 posts
  • 462 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 16 hours ago by RCA1
  • Topic is favorited by 233 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

PXL_20240327_233803509 (resized).jpg
PXL_20240304_030924874 (resized).jpg
diode (resized).PNG
PXL_20240304_005552435 (resized).jpg
IMG_0445 (resized).jpeg
20240112_135819 (resized).jpg
20240112_135811 (resized).jpg
IMG_5901 (resized).jpeg
IMG_5902 (resized).jpeg
IMG_7922 (resized).jpeg
IMG_7923 (resized).jpeg
IMG_7921 (resized).jpeg
541EBD6A-2CA4-43E0-AB4B-B18C7FF31AF0 (resized).jpeg
Pinside_forum_7003307_0 (resized).jpg
IMG_1351 (resized).jpeg
IMG_1103 (resized).jpeg

There are 6,055 posts in this topic. You are on page 116 of 122.
#5751 1 year ago
Quoted from Cariba:

I did notice there was two actuators arms/eject mechanisms if I am not mistaken, one shorter than the other,

Pinbot has:
1) Three eject hole kickers that should have the same angle tip weather left or right.
2) One eject trough kicker that has a shorter/blunt tip as compared to the other three.

#5752 1 year ago
Quoted from GRUMPY:

Not angled down, turn it sideways.
[quoted image][quoted image]

ok, so you would suggest to just do this, not try to bend ejector arm(s)?

#5753 1 year ago
Quoted from Cariba:

ok, so you would suggest to just do this, not try to bend ejector arm(s)?

The screws and the holes in the kicker mounts are not the same size. They can be moved slightly. But moving the base even a half mm will move the way the ball moves by much more than that due to the length of the PF. Just loosen all 4 screws, torque the mounting in either direction and tighten it. Then test it, if its not better do it again in the opposite direction. This will probably fix the issue. Also check to make sure that the parts themselves don't have too much slop in them. Don't go bending parts that you might screw up and not be able to easily replace until that is the only option left.

#5754 1 year ago
Quoted from Cariba:

ok, so you would suggest to just do this, not try to bend ejector arm(s)?

If the ball is popping out of the saucer when the ball is hit into to it,then do what I pictured. If the ball doesn't pop out of the saucer when it should, then adjust the ejector arm.

#5755 1 year ago
Quoted from GRUMPY:

If the ball is popping out of the saucer when the ball is hit into to it, then do what I pictured. If the ball doesn't pop out of the saucer when it should, then adjust the ejector arm.

Ok thank for the suggestions here, but I am not experiencing neither of those issues, my issue is that the ball is ejected in a straight trajectory down to drain in between flippers.

#5756 1 year ago
Quoted from pinballizfun:

The screws and the holes in the kicker mounts are not the same size. They can be moved slightly. But moving the base even a half mm will move the way the ball moves by much more than that due to the length of the PF. Just loosen all 4 screws, torque the mounting in either direction and tighten it. Then test it, if its not better do it again in the opposite direction. This will probably fix the issue. Also check to make sure that the parts themselves don't have too much slop in them. Don't go bending parts that you might screw up and not be able to easily replace until that is the only option left.

Ah ok, good idea never thought of that - Ill give that a try first.
Do you happen to know why there are to eject arms btw?

#5757 1 year ago
Quoted from Cariba:

Ah ok, good idea never thought of that - Ill give that a try first.
Do you happen to know why there are to eject arms btw?

There is only one eject arm. Its the same setup on the eyes and the trough. If you look the one that actually contracts the ball isn't really connected to the plunger on the coil. It's mounted to the smaller metal piece that is attached to the plunger at a pivot point. There is also a spring that attaches the 2 pieces and the actual eject side can be pulled against the spring and pivot in relation to the one attached to the plunger, This is the reason for the slot in the one side. Why they used this setup, I can't say. It does offset the location of the ejector slightly, but I'd lean more toward there being more power delivered to the ball to make sure that it does get ejected, but the longer arm might not have fit it it was the only one there. The pivot and spring also keep it from being over powered. Some of the power gets absorbed in the spring.

#5758 1 year ago
Quoted from pinballizfun:

There is only one eject arm. Its the same setup on the eyes and the trough. If you look the one that actually contracts the ball isn't really connected to the plunger on the coil. It's mounted to the smaller metal piece that is attached to the plunger at a pivot point. There is also a spring that attaches the 2 pieces and the actual eject side can be pulled against the spring and pivot in relation to the one attached to the plunger, This is the reason for the slot in the one side. Why they used this setup, I can't say. It does offset the location of the ejector slightly, but I'd lean more toward there being more power delivered to the ball to make sure that it does get ejected, but the longer arm might not have fit it it was the only one there. The pivot and spring also keep it from being over powered. Some of the power gets absorbed in the spring.

Yes you are right...I looked over this assembly again and realized that there is only really one ejector arm and other seems to be like a shock absorber of some kind as I had originally thought.

But I am happy to report that I did adjust it at the base screws as suggested and was Indeed able to have ball now eject properly where it now does bounce off to right and ultimately comes down to either right flipper or right sling (not draining down the middle)...which is much, much better than before....would give me anxiety when the ball got elected lol.

Thank you all for the help...now I can play this machine properly, especially given that I have the PEMBOT patch and that hole is fairly important in the rule set.

Thanks.

#5759 1 year ago

How many degrees in play playfield slope do you have your machines set to? I about to get mine ready and would like some feedback. Thanks

#5760 1 year ago
Quoted from Skidave:

How many degrees in play playfield slope do you have your machines set to? I about to get mine ready and would like some feedback. Thanks

Pinbot OEM had back leg support bushings. With a 3" leg leveler about 2" of the level
was encased with the bushing... add the nut, then the new leg design with builtin screw
thread assembly. In all, not much room to adjust left/right position.
I would check the photo morgue above and you can see a few photos from
intact Pinbots.

#5761 1 year ago
Quoted from Skidave:

How many degrees in play playfield slope do you have your machines set to? I about to get mine ready and would like some feedback. Thanks

6.5°

#5762 12 months ago
Quoted from Skidave:

How many degrees in play playfield slope do you have your machines set to? I about to get mine ready and would like some feedback. Thanks

whatever way you prefer it, it's your game. Most people will say as steep as the legs will go so the game is faster. This also makes the game easier since there is less side to side chaos. It's a tradeoff. do what you like.

#5763 12 months ago
Quoted from pinballizfun:

whatever way you prefer it, it's your game. Most people will say as steep as the legs will go so the game is faster. This also makes the game easier since there is less side to side chaos. It's a tradeoff. do what you like.

I'm at 6.5 and I have a problem where the balls bounce out of the eye sockets on a strong shot. Also, the same happens on the alley where you collect the 25K, 50K, 75K & Extra Ball. The flippers are the factory coils and very strong. I didn't rebuild them, but they seem fine. The balls did the same at 5.5 degrees. All the plastic saucers under the playfield were replaced with new units from Marco. Everything was torn down and cleaned too.

I'm also adjusting the shooter rod and Vortex ramp. Not perfect yet.

#5764 12 months ago
Quoted from Skidave:

I'm at 6.5 and I have a problem where the balls bounce out of the eye sockets on a strong shot.

The brackets need some adjustments, they are likely too close to the saucers. You can either bend them up a little bit or move them back.

#5765 12 months ago
Quoted from Skidave:

I'm at 6.5 and I have a problem where the balls bounce out of the eye sockets on a strong shot. Also, the same happens on the alley where you collect the 25K, 50K, 75K & Extra Ball. The flippers are the factory coils and very strong. I didn't rebuild them, but they seem fine. The balls did the same at 5.5 degrees. All the plastic saucers under the playfield were replaced with new units from Marco. Everything was torn down and cleaned too.
I'm also adjusting the shooter rod and Vortex ramp. Not perfect yet.

that's a pinbot issue and even worse in the jackbots that used the same setup. The changed the setup on jackbot mid-run to fix it. Try adjusting the metal in the back of putting a bit of foam on it to kill the energy.

#5766 12 months ago
Quoted from slochar:

The brackets need some adjustments, they are likely too close to the saucers. You can either bend them up a little bit or move them back.

Quoted from pinballizfun:

that's a pinbot issue and even worse in the jackbots that used the same setup. The changed the setup on jackbot mid-run to fix it. Try adjusting the metal in the back of putting a bit of foam on it to kill the energy.

Thank you. I'm spending time adjusting various things. I'll mess around with the brackets. I did see somewhere else where someone said to put foam tape/weather stripping on them. I'll do that as a last resort.

#5767 12 months ago
Quoted from jibmums:

I use those in the chest grid on Jackbot and (when I have it back together) Pinbot. Regular blue is just too dark next to the other four colors in the chest grid, ice blue brightens those inserts and looks so much better.

Just put in ice blue in the chest grid and agree it looks better than the blue. I also switched the yellow in the chest grid from warm white to natural white - really helped get a nice better yellow (IMO) to differentiate more from the orange. I tried doing natural white with the yellow inserts in my Attack From Mars and the result was hideous - a garish pea green.

#5768 11 months ago

Does anybody else have this on on their topper?
It’s in the left-front corner. I have no idea what’s it for.

1288685E-E243-4E0D-88C5-ACC7F4C12CEC (resized).jpeg1288685E-E243-4E0D-88C5-ACC7F4C12CEC (resized).jpeg4A444412-22A2-48C2-913A-BF1DBB9A989C (resized).jpeg4A444412-22A2-48C2-913A-BF1DBB9A989C (resized).jpeg
#5769 11 months ago
Quoted from MadMaxDad:

Does anybody else have this on on their topper?
It’s in the left-front corner. I have no idea what’s it for.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Looks like a foot pad.

#5770 11 months ago
Quoted from MadMaxDad:

Does anybody else have this on on their topper?
It’s in the left-front corner. I have no idea what’s it for.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Obviously, that's a good place for a Stick Up.

#5771 11 months ago
Quoted from MadMaxDad:

Does anybody else have this on on their topper?

Not me! Is it glued on?

///Me

#5772 11 months ago

Has anyone done the "reduce display voltage to 91 volts" mod on a game with a Rotten Dog power supply installed? I'd like to do it to my Pin*Bot, but can't find any information on how the process would differ with an aftermarket power supply.

#5773 11 months ago
Quoted from Tux:

Has anyone done the "reduce display voltage to 91 volts" mod on a game with a Rotten Dog power supply installed? I'd like to do it to my Pin*Bot, but can't find any information on how the process would differ with an aftermarket power supply.

That's going to depend on how they are regulating the +/- 100vdc on the display. If they are using the Zeners like the original boards did, you do it the same way. Look at the schematics to see.

edit, schematics:
http://www.rottendog.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DPS005.pdf

Totally different way of regulating (and maybe an error on schematics, as they show -100v and -110v....)

https://www.homemade-circuits.com/how-ic-lm337-works-datasheet-application-circuits/ explains how the values are set. If you look at that page it seems like the max voltage it's supposed to handle is -37 volts, so RD is driving it way out of spec?

You might just want to live with it. Or if/when your displays finally bite the dust, just get LED replacements.

EDIT (again)....

So, the +68v output I originally thought was solenoid voltage is likely the other display voltage, so the voltage swing looks like it's designed to be 168 volts, or 178 volts, so no need to do the mod.

#5774 11 months ago

My bad. I had said 6.5 degrees for the pitch, but looks like the manual suggests 6 degrees. I realized I was wrong when I leveled my game recently. I found that even with the back levelers all the way up and fronts all the way down I still couldn't get to 6.5.

#5776 11 months ago

Any idea what could have caused a high score reboot/reset after an issue and power restart requried? I was playing and locked a second ball in the right eye socket, but nothing happened, waited to see if it would execute ball find, but it didn't, and then noticed flippers were not responding either...turned off the machine and it had a few switch errors messages on boot up AND high scores were wiped/reset. And then after some testing etc, seems no issue with switches and warnings went away.

I am also running PEMBOT fyi.

Similar issues happened before (but not frequent), where the machine needed to be turned off as if it was stuck.

#5777 11 months ago
Quoted from Cariba:

Any idea what could have caused a high score reboot/reset after an issue and power restart requried? I was playing and locked a second ball in the right eye socket, but nothing happened, waited to see if it would execute ball find, but it didn't, and then noticed flippers were not responding either...turned off the machine and it had a few switch errors messages on boot up AND high scores were wiped/reset. And then after some testing etc, seems no issue with switches and warnings went away.
I am also running PEMBOT fyi.
Similar issues happened before (but not frequent), where the machine needed to be turned off as if it was stuck.

Most likely a low 5 volt.

1 week later
#5778 11 months ago

Ok, wondering if anyone else has experienced this phenomena.

I had gotten to the point that on launch, I could hit the 100,000 hole on the corkscrew ramp about 95% of the time. Lately, the ball has been acting different on launch. Sometimes it will act as if it gets slowed down as it hits the ramp (or shortly before). When I try to compensate for that, it flies up to the 20,000 hole.
What it comes down to is, it's not consistent. Months ago, it was great. Now, I can get it to the 100,000 hole about 30-40% of the time. Any ideas?

#5779 11 months ago
Quoted from Wizbangdoodle:

Ok, wondering if anyone else has experienced this phenomena.
I had gotten to the point that on launch, I could hit the 100,000 hole on the corkscrew ramp about 95% of the time. Lately, the ball has been acting different on launch. Sometimes it will act as if it gets slowed down as it hits the ramp (or shortly before). When I try to compensate for that, it flies up to the 20,000 hole.
What it comes down to is, it's not consistent. Months ago, it was great. Now, I can get it to the 100,000 hole about 30-40% of the time. Any ideas?

I would start with looking at the plunger rubber. It may need replacing or just resetting. Definitely vacuum and clean the lane and the ramp. Also, check the shooter rod and make sure it's contacting the ball directly in the center. Sometimes the assembly needs realigning

#5780 11 months ago
Quoted from dq13:

I would start with looking at the plunger rubber. It may need replacing or just resetting. Definitely vacuum and clean the lane and the ramp. Also, check the shooter rod and make sure it's contacting the ball directly in the center. Sometimes the assembly needs realigning

Also (if not above issues) check the rubber along the inner right side of the playfield, where the ball travels upwards before entering the ramp, IF its off placement or rubber is too slack etc from say loose post, the ball will rub with the rubber and slow down, but still stay on trajectory.

#5781 11 months ago

Great suggestions, will check on those things this weekend.

#5782 11 months ago
Quoted from Wizbangdoodle:

Ok, wondering if anyone else has experienced this phenomena.
I had gotten to the point that on launch, I could hit the 100,000 hole on the corkscrew ramp about 95% of the time. Lately, the ball has been acting different on launch. Sometimes it will act as if it gets slowed down as it hits the ramp (or shortly before). When I try to compensate for that, it flies up to the 20,000 hole.
What it comes down to is, it's not consistent. Months ago, it was great. Now, I can get it to the 100,000 hole about 30-40% of the time. Any ideas?

Add a metal wire ball guide to the left inside travel path just above the top bumper assembly
area. The ball can nick the outside wall of the plastic spiral.

#5783 11 months ago

Here, from Jackbot, has the amendment.
Item #16
Jackbot wire part ref (resized).jpgJackbot wire part ref (resized).jpg
Jackbot wire part ref-01 (resized).jpgJackbot wire part ref-01 (resized).jpg

#5784 11 months ago

vec-tor ... there are no words to describe the joy of someone finally pointing me to the actual solution to this problem that has plagued my Pinbot 30 years from the day I bought it till today, this very moment in time, when someone has actually found and shown me the reason AND the Williams super secret solution which has been sitting in my own book and manual collection for over 27 years...

Some 27 years ago I bought a Jackbot service manual when Jackbot came out so I would have a "modern" listing of Jackbot parts which might be employed to fix or repair my Pinbot sometime in the near future, and that NOW (1995, some 27 years ago) was the time to get replacement parts if they existed. Little did I know they (Williams) had known about this problem in Pinbot and actually changed something in Jackbot to fix it, and that now, at last, I will be able to (hopefully) get mine working reliably for the first time in over 30 years. When I shopped him out and several attempts since then, I tried to get it to work reliably by doing all the things everyone has suggested, and even replaced the spiral ramp three diffent times (I have 3 spiral ramps, 2 original unbroken orange/red ones and a black Jackbot), two different spiral ramp covers, and I don't remember the amount of rubber and post combinations along the right wall I have tried. I adjusted the ramp flaps, the rollback limitter (yes, the original has a little wire that prevented rollbacks into the pops) shooter spring strength, (tried three dfferent ones soft medium and strong), changed the shooter rod assembly twice or three times, plus tried 10 different rubber tips, and centered the shooter on the ball. Yep tried all of that... and still you get "Ring around the collar"

Thank you for a little peace of mind finally. BH

#5785 11 months ago

Solid Pinbot for sale in south central PA- $2350.

#5786 11 months ago
Quoted from vec-tor:

Here, from Jackbot, has the amendment.
Item #16
[quoted image]
[quoted image]

Mine works fine, but this is interesting to see. good info.

#5787 11 months ago
Quoted from Bublehead:

vec-tor ... there are no words to describe the joy of someone finally pointing me to the actual solution to this problem that has plagued my Pinbot 30 years from the day I bought it till today, this very moment in time, when someone has actually found and shown me the reason AND the Williams super secret solution which has been sitting in my own book and manual collection for over 27 years...
Some 27 years ago I bought a Jackbot service manual when Jackbot came out so I would have a "modern" listing of Jackbot parts which might be employed to fix or repair my Pinbot sometime in the near future, and that NOW (1995, some 27 years ago) was the time to get replacement parts if they existed. Little did I know they (Williams) had known about this problem in Pinbot and actually changed something in Jackbot to fix it, and that now, at last, I will be able to (hopefully) get mine working reliably for the first time in over 30 years. When I shopped him out and several attempts since then, I tried to get it to work reliably by doing all the things everyone has suggested, and even replaced the spiral ramp three diffent times (I have 3 spiral ramps, 2 original unbroken orange/red ones and a black Jackbot), two different spiral ramp covers, and I don't remember the amount of rubber and post combinations along the right wall I have tried. I adjusted the ramp flaps, the rollback limitter (yes, the original has a little wire that prevented rollbacks into the pops) shooter spring strength, (tried three dfferent ones soft medium and strong), changed the shooter rod assembly twice or three times, plus tried 10 different rubber tips, and centered the shooter on the ball. Yep tried all of that... and still you get "Ring around the collar"
Thank you for a little peace of mind finally. BH

I'm willing to give this a try. Does it require new holes in the playfield though?

#5788 11 months ago
Quoted from vec-tor:

Here, from Jackbot, has the amendment.
Item #16

Any chance of getting a close up pic of the actual game with this? I too have been banging my head against the wall over this issue. Thanks!

#5789 11 months ago

Yep, I've spent a shameful amount of time playing with the shooter rod mount, one-way gate, etc.
The skill shot was so dialed in before I put in a CPR playfield. Almost makes me wish I'd just left it alone!

#5790 11 months ago

It would but it now makes me want to remove that rubber ring under that tiny triangle plastic and see what happens... if the left side is the culprit, I just looked today and my rubber ring there bows out ever so slightly due to the size of ring called out to be used there.

I think the wireform fits in front of it keeping the rubber back because if it touches there it has a tendency to deflect the ball AND rotate it in the opposite direction of the curve of the spiral, causing it to slow down due to higher force and reverse direction of ball spin which causes it to "skip along the wall instead of naturally trying to climb it when spining in the other, correct direction that the right rubber causes as the ball rides along it out of the one way gate.

Worth trying to tighten up that left rubber before drilling holes for the guide.

#5792 11 months ago
Quoted from vec-tor:

Add a metal wire ball guide to the left inside travel path just above the top bumper assembly
area. The ball can nick the outside wall of the plastic spiral.

Awesome. This has got to be it. Sometimes it will travel perfectly and smoothly up the ramp, but I'll bet it hits and deflects at times, causing it to slow down.
Is there a guide for making this? Or do I just freehand it?

#5793 11 months ago
Quoted from Wizbangdoodle:

Awesome. This has got to be it. Sometimes it will travel perfectly and smoothly up the ramp, but I'll bet it hits and deflects at times, causing it to slow down.
Is there a guide for making this? Or do I just freehand it?

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/12-6469-4

#5794 11 months ago

Gotta try it right…

#5795 11 months ago

Wow. That’s such an easy addition! Wish I’d known when I was doing my playfield restoration, but still very doable even with the playfield in the cabinet.

I’ve had issues for years with this. Currently, if I make sure the shooter is jammed to the upper right as far as it will go, it tends to work properly. But I shouldn’t have to instruct people who visit on how to pull the plunger.

I’ll be curious to see if this eliminates the problem of the ball bashing into the pop bumper instead of making it into the ramp entry. I’m guessing that yes it will.

I remember playing a JackBot at a show years ago and marveling at how consistently the skill shot worked. Looks like I have my answer now.

Probably the very first question I ever posted to Pinside back before I knew how *anything* worked was related to fixing this issue. What a welcome piece of information, damn.

#5796 11 months ago

Pinbot has a few design flaws.
The ball can loft when leaving the spring loaded gate.
The ball shooter needs to hit the ball on the left side, so has to make the
english of the ball force it to go right.

#5797 11 months ago

The plastic Spiral Assembly Ramp #31-1402-8
needs some extra material added to the base lip of the outer
side of the first hole drop. By adding a bit of martial to
shore up the hole gap floor wall, it makes the ball have a greater
chance of smoothly going up the spire.
If all parts are aligned, then the game should work with the Blue
ball shooter spring as intended by the OEM.

#5798 11 months ago
Quoted from Skidave:

I'm at 6.5 and I have a problem where the balls bounce out of the eye sockets on a strong shot. Also, the same happens on the alley where you collect the 25K, 50K, 75K & Extra Ball. The flippers are the factory coils and very strong. I didn't rebuild them, but they seem fine. The balls did the same at 5.5 degrees. All the plastic saucers under the playfield were replaced with new units from Marco. Everything was torn down and cleaned too.
I'm also adjusting the shooter rod and Vortex ramp. Not perfect yet.

Is the target bank level with the playfield? If it isn’t (either lower or higher) the ball will skip up in the air a little and not reliably go into the eye hole socket on a hard hit. The screws under the playfield will adjust the height of the target bank.

#5799 11 months ago
Quoted from Mrg50:

Is the target bank level with the playfield? If it isn’t (either lower or higher) the ball will skip up in the air a little and not reliably go into the eye hole socket on a hard hit. The screws under the playfield will adjust the height of the target bank.

Yes, everything is dialed now. It just took some time to get everything adjusted. Thanks

#5800 11 months ago

I've had the ball get stuck in several spots on my machine, but never like this. Anyone ever have it stop here?

20230425_214230 (resized).jpg20230425_214230 (resized).jpg
Promoted items from the Pinside Marketplace
$ 54.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Lighted Pinball Mods
Shooter rods
$ 54.99
Cabinet - Shooter Rods
Lighted Pinball Mods
Shooter rods
There are 6,055 posts in this topic. You are on page 116 of 122.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

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/pinbot-fans-and-owners-club/page/116?hl=pinballizfun 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.