(Topic ID: 181961)

Pinbot right eye won't eject

By Brijam

7 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 17 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 7 years ago by GRUMPY
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 7 years ago

Came to play my PIN BOT today but found a ball stuck in the right eye that wouldn't eject. The solenoid test failed, so I started looking around, didn't find any loose wires and the DMM indicated that the coil should be working.

I took the coil and assembly apart, replaced the coil sleeve and cleaned the kicker as it was kind of binding and felt harder to move than the left eye. Didn't fix the problem. Everything else seems to work, although the test is reporting a couple of switch errors (40 and 54 I believe).

Any ideas?

#2 7 years ago

You can start by briefly grounding the metal tab of the TIP for this coil and see if it fires then. If it fires you have a board problem, if it doesn't fire you have a wiring problem.

#3 7 years ago

So the switch passed in switch test? Did you test it with a ball, or your finger. I would try with a ball incase you are pushing it down farther with your finger. Should be 26. also what Grumpy suggested.

#4 7 years ago

GRUMPY I can't seem to fire any coils at all that way. In attract mode I put one end of a lead on the ground braid in the cabinet and briefly touched the lug without the diode band, and nothing happens.

Insane yes, the right eye switch is fine. Switch 40 had a loose wire that I'm resoldering today.

#5 7 years ago
Quoted from Brijam:

GRUMPY I can't seem to fire any coils at all that way

Your ground braid maybe broken somewhere and not ground anymore or there is no power to the coils because a fuse is bad. Now I said to test by using the metal tab of the TIP transistor because it checks both wires and the coil at the same time from the power supply to the CPU board. Also you can't make a mistake and touch ground to the wrong side of the diode causing the fuse to burn.

#6 7 years ago

GRUMPY ah, now I understand. I tried what you suggested and the coil won't fire when I test the TIP. I guess that means I have a wiring problem somewhere from the coil to the board, but I'm not sure what to do next. It also looks like the Sun flasher isn't working, and that shares the same transistor.

I fixed switch 40 (wire had come loose) but I can't figure out switch 54, the left slingshot. The left slingshot fires when either left slingshot switch is closed, but neither switch registers in the switch test.

#7 7 years ago

Are you sure the resistor board for the sun flashers is in good shape? Very common for those to need reflowing or replacement.

It's worth verifying this first because otherwise it sounds like a bad transistor or related board issue, if both of its controlled features are nonfunctional.

#8 7 years ago
Quoted from Brijam:

I can't figure out switch 54,

This is the score switch which is under the p/f.

Quoted from Brijam:It also looks like the Sun flasher isn't working, and that shares the same transistor.

CPU J11 pin 9 grey/black wire goes to B8 on the diode board under the p/f. Check this wire for good connections on each end and for continuity.

#9 7 years ago

goingincirclez how would I check that the resistor board is in good shape?

GRUMPY so the score switch is different from the slingshot switch that goes through the playfield?

I'll check the connections on J11-9 -> B8 and report back.

#10 7 years ago
Quoted from Brijam:

GRUMPY so the score switch is different from the slingshot switch that goes through the playfield?

Yes it is under the p/f and is activated when the kicker arm moves.

#11 7 years ago

GRUMPY awesome, I found it. Thank you! It just needed a little tweak of the leaf switch to fix that one. Now on to the eye...

#12 7 years ago
Quoted from Brijam:

It just needed a little tweak of the leaf switch to fix that one.

Every ten points counts for that high score!

#13 7 years ago

GRUMPY hah, I'm looking at slingshots in a whole new way now.

Unfortunately it looks like there is no continuity between J11 and the diode board. The connections looked good on both ends. What now, run a new wire?

#14 7 years ago
Quoted from Brijam:

goingincirclez how would I check that the resistor board is in good shape?

Sorry I got caught up the last couple days and couldn't double-check the specs.

The flasher resistor board is the small board with four ceramic / cement resistors. Sometimes these get so hot they desolder themselves. They can also vibrate loose. They're a known trouble spot on Williams games of the era. They are found throughout the game for the various flasher circuits; the one for the sun flashers is conveniently right next to them.

The board has two (physically) smaller 7 watt resistors which are 330 ohms. The two larger resistors are 10 watts, but 5 ohms.

So after verifying that the physical connections are good, use your meter on its resistance setting to check the ohm rating for each resistor. Replace any that are out of spec; you can get them from GPE.

#15 7 years ago
Quoted from Brijam:

Unfortunately it looks like there is no continuity between J11 and the diode board

Make sure the wire your checking the same color at both connections. Should be a Grey/Black wire if so then sometimes a wire will break internally but not break the insulation. You can take a needle and pierce the wire about 6 inches from the end and retest for continuity until you find the break. Other wise you can run a new wire.

#16 7 years ago

goingincirclez I did find one of the ceramic resistors had come loose on the board and resoldered it. Would replacing those flashers with LEDs stop that problem from recurring?

GRUMPY I ended up running a new wire, problem solved. Thanks for helping me solve this one!

#17 7 years ago
Quoted from Brijam:

Would replacing those flashers with LEDs stop that problem from recurring?

Yes, but this doesn't happen that much anyway.

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