Fixing the Robocop spinner.

I was watching a youtube video with Jack Danger playing Robocop and he was having problems with the spinner. So I got to paying attention and saw my spinner was not acting so hot, either.

I had to tweak the pivot rods to get the spinner rebalanced but there was still another problem to deal with.

The first part of the problem is that spinners come in one-size-fits-all. Other than the offset pivot rod used on the spinner in Stern's classic Nine Ball pin, I believe all other spinners have pivot rods bent and formed to the same dimensions. And what you run into is that the spinner is not centered in its chute.

Look at the Robo spinner. See how it is not centered in the spinner chute. It sort of hangs over to the left. If is offset but it spins. And that is all Data East was looking for. This offset, by itself is not a problem as long as you are not anal about everything needing to be symmetrical.

IMG_1533 (resized).JPG

The problem is on the backside. My spinner was having some interference issues with the play field plastic. The corner of the plastic was in the way of spinner movement. If you use your imagination, you can see where the plastic would interfere with the spin.

I just reached for my wire cutters and clipped of a small corner of the offending plastic. With this small bit of surgery completed, along with rebalancing the spinner, I am getting some great spinner rips. At 3000 a spin, the points really add up.

You might want to have a close look at your Robocop spinner and plastic.

IMG_1537 (resized).JPG

Sweet i love a simple fix

20190707_191339 (resized).jpg

My robocop,had it for awhile now and loving it

Screenshot_2019-06-21-10-18-59 (resized).png

I love both your titles..Black out is way underrated title as well. Its back when 1 million was allot of points. Robo had 9 years of increased tech so more bells and whistles.
Cant imagine parting with robo or blackout

Thank you,im trying to make wise choices so im not constantly flipping these things.I dont plan to part with eighter,gonna save til xmas or maybe a little longer and would really like to get something with some modes next,im not sure tho,kinda want a black knight pretty bad too lol

topkat Man you got a insane collection,DH and FH are two dream games for me but i gotta say i love so many of your titles,its nice to see guys who dont just have newer sterns

You have two nice pins for lots of fun play action.

I got to play a Blackout at TPF a couple of years ago; Unfortunately, it was not set up correctly (leaning to the left) and I did not enjoy it. I would like an opportunity to try one that is set up correctly someday. In the youtube videos it looks like my kind of game.

Robocop is simple. Lock 3 balls. And play the hell out of it. It is unforgivingly fast and that is what keeps me coming back. I can't walk away. I just keep standing there hitting the credit button for another beating. I'm very well satisfied wth my few other pins ( I feel like I chose wisely) but if I had to go down to one pin only, Robocop would probably be the last to go. The play action and sound set (of strange sounds) it provides suits my personality perfectly.

Sometimes I feel like I was in a dream and the factory called on me and said they would build a pin to my liking. And Robocop was the result.

Thanks,blackout when set up right is very fun and looking at your collection i would say youd have fun with it,i love all the early sterns you have,quicksilver,seawitch and a le munsters,thats just awesome man,i am with ya on robocop,its simple but man i just love everything about it,creep

How many are you aware that Robocop has a skill shot?

How many of you are aware that Robocop has a skill shot and found out your Robo will not let you make the skill shot? By that, I mean that no matter what you do, the plunged ball is always going to fall into the inlane for the 9 in the 2-0-9 numbers up top?

How any of you would like to fix your Robo so you can start going for the skill shot? Sometimes that skill shot is worth 300,000 points! And it is a satisfying shot to make.

I noticed that problem on mine. It would go straight down the 9 lane, so I adjusted the outlet of the wireform so the ball bounces around above the 209 rollovers. Then you can nudge it into the flashing lane.

Yes!

I stumbled onto moving the wire form when it happened accidentally when I was removing and replacing parts. But that movement did not hold so I had to tweak my wire form to deliberately make it happen.

I also installed a red shooter spring for more push. The red spring is the stiffest one you can buy. This offers lots of different pulling options to use along with nudging skills.

It does take skill. It is not a slam dunk. And adds to the dimension of the play.

I know about the skill shot but didnt know ot could be worth more than 100,000 so thats cool(learn somethin new everyday),luckily i can get it to drop in any 3 lanes but its a tough shot for me to make consistantly,does the skill shot value increase by the number of times youve made the shot?

Progress will be slow for this Robocop ramp mold, but with encouragement from freeplay40, I think I can make it happen.

It will not look exactly like the factory ramp. That's all I know for now. Still lots of work to do.

IMG_1559 (resized).JPG

Do you have the tools to make the ramp? It seems like its not an easy process and certain items are needed...but thats just from me looking at threads

Not yet. But I'm working on it.

The hard part is going to be getting to completion of the mold in the picture you are looking at. I get it built in my mind and then something unforeseen steps up that makes me alter my plans. I'm 5 steps mentally ahead of what you see in the pic. Those 5 steps will surely change as I progress along.

anyone parting one out? looking for speaker panel and backglass

Nice,luckily i have a good ramp but i see where they could get pretty beat up over time,looking forward to seeing the end result

I made an order with Marco the other day for $30.00 worth of parts and $9.00 worth of shipping (sigh). Anyway, I ordered 3 of the springs that were talked abort several months ago. It is a good news, bad news, good news story.

Here is the spring. It is not very big and it is a very light weight spring. It does not take much pressure to be active. That is good news.

IMG_1579 (resized).JPG

The bad news is that it is not formed correctly. And depending on your point of view this can be bad news. But it works and that is good news.

Here is problem #1. The anchor hook on the "bottom" side of the spring is too short to reach the post that it is supposed to lock under.

IMG_1589 (resized).JPG

Problem #2 is that the spring is wound too tight. The active side of the spring is supposed to sit in front of the pop bumper and be a barrier to keep the ball from getting caught between the pop skirt and the main anchor post. Instead the active part of the spring is pointing towards the rear of the pop.

IMG_1580 (resized).JPG

The good news is (if you do not mind drilling a hole in your play field) the spring works and does what you need it to do. You need to position the spring into the position it needs to be in to keep the ball from getting caught. You can see in the pic that I drilled a new hole in the painted red line by the pop bumper. I played several games tonight for testing and this spring will work and is what you need.

IMG_1591 (resized).JPG

But this is not the correct spring for Robocop. This spring is for The Simpsons and Checkpoint. This spring is wound into a 90 degree angle. The correct spring for Robocop needs for both sides of the spring to be at 180 degrees.

I did manage to find a pic of The Simpsons that gives a view of the affected area. You can see there is an added hole for a light that does not exist on Robocop. This explains why Simpsons, which postdates Robocop, has a different spring part number than the part number for Robocop.

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 10.09.31 PM (resized).png

You can go to Marco Specialities and find the spring for all three pins. But for Robocop you are going to have to make adjustments if you want to use this spring. I figure we are lucky enough to just get this spring. Beggars can't be choosers. And the hole you to drill will be hidden.

Can anybody help me with figuring out what a few items mean?

The manual speaks in terms of several different rules but I cannot find what the rules are.

1) Easy Rules are turned off.............................What are the Easy Rules?

2) Factory Rules are on....................................What are the Factory Rules?

3) Hard Rules are off........................................What are the Hard Rules?

4) Novelty Rules are off....................................What are the Novelty Rules?

5) How about the Addaball rules? What are the Addaball rules about?

There are several other items I have highlighted in pink. I cannot find anywhere in the manual where these rules are defined. For example, what should I be expecting if I turn off Factory Rules and turn on Hard Rules?

DE The Phantom of the Opera's manual is printed like Robocop with several rules listed but no definition of the rules.

Any ideas? Are there some other DE publications beyond the Robocop manual that explain things in more detail?

Thanks.

Scan (resized).jpg

Great question,hoping someone knows as im in the dark on all those questions myself,i wanted to keep it 3 ball but add ball saver but not sure if supported,no ball saver sucks when trying to hit targets for the ed-209 shot as its tough not to brick it right back sdtm in a hurry

I know hard setting makes you have to hit the green & yellow targets in order left to right. Normal setting lets you hit them randomly to complete. You just need to set Adj 6-11 and it'll automatically adjust the other settings. I set mine at

- 3 balls, add a ball (shuts off the match and gives an extra ball instead of a replay)
- Fixed replay at 2.5 million (you get an extra ball instead of a replay)
- And shut off the damn buy in!
- When the league crew are over, it gets set to novelty (takes away the extra balls, match & replays)

I like that Robocop can be a brutal grind. Makes it much more rewarding when you hit that Jackpot during Multi Ball!

Thanks for the info

I'm sorry, but I don't completely understand. There is no "normal" setting. There is "Easy", "Factory", "Hard" and "Novelty".

So, all you are saying is all I have to do is something with Adj 6-11 and all of the other items you list will be set up automatically? I find the buy in annoying, too. And Adj 6-11 will make that go away?

While I don't completely understand and need to study it a bit, thanks much for your answer.

The Factory setting is the normal or medium setting.

And yes, you generally only need to adjust Adj 6-11 to get it set up the way you like. It adjusts the easy - hard settings of Adj 45-53. And the Buy in is separate, you'll need to shut that off by itself.

Great Game!

I have obtained a copy of Service Bulletin #23 that addresses the Robocop flipper board. This SB deals with the issue of flippers double-flipping, or the flipper dropping back down when you push the flipper button, or the flipper having little power and can't hit the ball very hard.

The instructions are to replace some transistors with different part numbers, cut some traces, add some jumper wires, and change some resistors.

My Robo is experiencing these flipper problems so I am going have to make these mods. I don't know if replacement flipper boards are even made to be bought so I don't want to make any mistakes when doing this mod.

Has anybody else here addressed SB #23 and made this mod to their flipper board?

Thanks.

I have found a link to SB #23 showing the mods for the flipper board. Has anybody ever made this mod?

http://files.spilledilla.com/Manualer/Stern/Stern%20Service%20Bulletins/sb23.pdf

Is there a rottendog flipper board for data east? Be nice to have something as backup

Yes, there is a Rottendog board for replacement for $80.00 to $100.00 if you look around. Part number is FLP-023.

I want to try this mod and now I know there is a back up option I’m getting more willing to try.

But the instructions have a couple of items that lack clarity. I don’t want to spend money if I can avoid it but I for sure do not want to try without the backup option

I guess I was thinking get the nw board and see if that solves it? Or is it a certainty that’s the issue

The link I provided gives three symptoms

1) weak flippers. etc.

Mine display all 3 symptoms sporadically. I cleaned the flipper contacts and that was no help

I have been playing Robocop hard the last 2-3 weeks. It has been getting a workout. I experienced a new and different problem a couple of days ago.

I had ED-209 lit up for the 1 million point ramp shot. I made the shot within 1-2 seconds of getting ED-209 lit up.

And my pin froze. All lights were frozen. All of the switches went dead. The only things that still worked were the flippers. It was like a hard freeze on a computer. I had to turn the pin off and back on to clear the issue. And then the pin played fine again.

I am lost as to what happened. Any thoughts on the cause will be appreciated.

With these two pics you are seeing exactly what I saw. All lights were frozen. The only items working were the flippers. And I have no idea at all what happened. I made the ED-209 ramp shot and the "million" of points lit up in the display with a "0" below.

IMG_1634 (resized).JPG IMG_1636 (resized).JPG

Hey guys does any one have a set of the ramp stickers for sale or know if anyone reproduces the ramp sticker kit?

Cheers

Hey! I'm working on an ED 209 mod for my Robocop pin. I'm going to replace the existing papercraft looking one with a small snap together model that I got on eBay. I've installed 2 micro LEDs into his guns so it will light up like the original one. My question is: these LEDs (https://tinyurl.com/y3pdu5n2) are 3-3.5 dc and from what i can tell from the manual the lamps are either 6 or 12 VAC - i know i need a resistor but do i also need to convert ac to dc here or am I over thinking it?

IMG_20190819_201233 (resized).jpg

Not sure but did you just get your robocop?

I bought this project from Boltronix a couple of months ago and just got her started today
Got a LOT of tweaking and color-changing to do and hopefully will be on route in the next week or so!

IMG_5399 (resized).jpg

IMG_5402 (resized).jpg

IMG_5406 (resized).jpg

If anyone has any NOS plastics let me know (not reproductions). Thanks! Need the long one for the Red captive ball and the one below the pop bumpers, above the targets.

Thank you.

Hi Everybody. I am searching for the Robocop apron decals. Has someone scans or maybe vector graphics? Thank you!

Unbenannt (resized).png

It has been quite some time but I finally found some sheet metal that I could hand form. Some sheet metal that helps keep my costs down. Sheet metal for free.

I have the outer wall for my mold close to completion. I hope this will allow me to make a mold so some Robocop ramps can be made.

Progress is slow but I am still working on it. I should have the inner wall complete late next week. Key word is "should".

IMG_2335 (resized).JPG

IMG_2336 (resized).JPG

IMG_2337 (resized).JPG

IMG_2338 (resized).JPG

Brought a nice robocop home today! It plays really good, everything is in order. Problem is that the music and sound effects are a bit off. Sometimes the music stops and its only effects. Any thoughts?

I've just rebuilt the flippers on my Robocop, after owning modern Sterns, that's the first bit of proper maintenance I've really done. I've found getting them aligned 'just right' is a bit of a pain, but they're a lot better than the originals.

Now that's done, I've got two further issues I need to fix.

1) I think a common one of the ball sticking on the pop bumpers - anyone know a pre-formed wire/plastic I can use to stop this (available in the UK)? I've tried a small piece of mylar on the play field (no use) and a bent paper clip which worked initially, but after a few games, that deforms and allows the ball to settle again
Robocop Stuck on Pop Bumper (resized).jpg

2) The ball won't eject into the shooter lane fairly often (about one in three times). Video here - I can't see anything especially wrong with the kicker, it moves freely enough - anyone got a suggestion of what would be causing it?

Go to Marco Specialities. Search “Robocop”. About 30 items down you will see “ball catch spring”.

It is for Simpsons and Checkpoint. You will need to drill a new hole to use this spring on your Robocop.

AFAIK, this is your only option. And it will work.

For UK, if you get some .030 (mm?) polycarbonate and bend a sharp angle you can make an angle bracket that will work OK.

For your shooter you are probably going to need to remove it and see.

It might need a new plunger and coil sleeve.

Anyone have a solution for the crazy strong flippers. I want to be able to still jump the ramp, but they are way too powerful.

I assume it's just like the flippers, if coil sleeve is hard to remove, probably distorted and replace it? When I manually press the mechanism, there's a little play but it seems to push a ball out each time OK. Any idea of the part number - in the Robocop manual I have, all I can find is a list of play field parts which shows the entire "Ball Trough Eject Assy." mechanism as PN 500-5012-00 but I can't seem to find a breakdown of the part numbers for that coil sleeve/plunger?

Thanks for the suggestion on the ball catch spring!

Yes. It is a coil and plunger. Maybe it is just dirty.

I have to Robocop manuals in my house and right now I cannot find either one When I do I will take a look.

About the ball catch spring: It works great. But.............

It is for Simpsons and Checkpoint. It will work but you have to drill a hole. The Robocop spring is a "straight" spring with out any 90 degree bend.

This is the Checkpoint spring.

IMG_1578 (resized).JPG

This pic is me trying to figure out how to make it work on Robocop. On Robo, the spring locates around two play field posts. As you can see the spring is too short to reach the 2nd post hole. Plus the 90 bend kills you. (NOTE: the spring is sitting backwards in this pic.

IMG_1581 (resized).JPG

The solution is to rotate the spring and drill a new hole. To position correctly, imagine you are working with a real Robo spring and see where the active wire sits in relation to the pop skirt. Positioning the spring anchor leg in the red between the pop and the stand up targets has worked well for me. I bought 2 extra springs for safety back up.

IMG_1585 (resized).JPG

On a tip, I installed these red WPC flippers. They seem a little softer and have no problem making the ramp.

B2B9FFDB-8005-400D-91F4-3821D66146A4 (resized).jpeg

How about when going up the Robocop chute? Does the ball stay in the saucer or does it still bounce out?

I repositioned the deflector to get mine to stick better. It still bounces out, but not as much as it used to. As you know, the deflector is a hassle to get at and I’m going to revisit it sometime to make it better. Set mine up last night after a 6 month break and am lovin’ it!!

I'm looking for a factory DE flipper board for my Robocop. If anybody has an extra and wants to sell please let me know.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/88612

Got around to looking more today

Coil and plunger seem fine but it looks like the part of the mech that strikes the ball has snapped off, not sure if that’s available separately?
04754AFE-2D30-403D-B6F8-95C06DC1F392 (resized).jpeg

I’ve got a temporary solution for the pops issue until I can find a spring in the UK

98180B73-9033-4AF5-A174-FBF7692EA8C5 (resized).jpeg