Prospector
Segasa-Sonic, 1977I started poking around the Prospector to start addressing known issues.
First problem - Game will only coin and play a 1 player game.
I found a broken part on the credit unit. It's a williams part and looks like it's a A-7420. Is there anyone that sells these parts individually? It's the arm circled in red.
003.JPGI have the part on order so in the meantime I started cleaning it up. I noticed the bottom of the cab was sagging and breaking the particle board lip underneath. I pulled out the bottom board to find both supports broken. The front one looked like a beetle had chewed through it and weakened to the point of breaking that in turn put more pressure on the back one and it failed. I glued the bottom back in the cab and made new supports. To get them installed I had to make them in 2 pieces and will glue them together when installed. I test fitted them tonight and they will work great. I'll paint them and install them this week.
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004.JPGCan I ask a silly question please? Were all the Prospector cabinets built with particle board? It seems every inch of mine is and is just crumbling away. Just bought this pin along with a Band Wagon (Bally).
All of the Sonic cabs were built with it. At least the EMs were. Pretty bad but cheap. Amazing that they built such great play fields and crappy cabs, eh?
Can you tell me some part numbers please? I posted a topic for a manual but to no avail. Flipper coils, while flipper assy or individual flipper parts including bats/shafts. I'll order a manual from Marco's once I get my full order together, just costs too much to ship here. Thanks.
Decided to get back to the Prospector for a bit. When I got it I noticed the head was sagging on the left side. After removing all the trim the extent of the damage was quite obvious. Used an oscillating tool to cut the broken pieces from the cabinet. I'll work on reproducing the broken parts this week.
You may have seen this but this was my documented restoration of my Prospector. Might help you down the road.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1977-sonic-prospector-rehabilitation
Ken 
Quoted from bflagg:added new carriage bolts
Too bad you could not clean up the original flat head carriage bolts. I never did find anyone who sells them and did an extensive search. The round head ones look really nice though and 80% of folks will not know, except Sonic owners. 
Ken
Quoted from bflagg:I still have the originals I think. May look into having them chrome plated in the future.
Cool. Prospector is my favorite Sonic machine. I played it new back in 1977, had a great game on it one day that I still remember, just not the score, and knew it was a special breed of pinball compared to the big 3 manufactures games of the time. My friend owns it now and it is still running 100% after 6 months now. Can't wait to take a trip to Colorado to play it again and the other 4 other machines I sold him. It will be like visiting my old arcade when I had mainly EM Williams machines 
Ken
This weekend I learned a valuable lesson. Never assume. Since Sonic uses Williams parts I foolishly assumed they would use 28 1/2" legs so I ordered a new set from PBR. It turns out they drill the holes higher in the cabinet and use 31" legs. I should have measured the old set in the attic. Oh well, at least I got my original problem fixed. Replaced the broken part on the credit unit, adjusted and cleaned so now it and the other stepper on the relay board work great by hand.
If anyone local needs a set of new PBR chrome non ribbed 28 1/2 inch legs here is your chance to pay no shipping. I could bring them to the Houston Show this weekend if I know by Thursday.
Quoted from bflagg:I should have measured the old set in the attic.
Are you sure those were the original 31" legs? 
Ken
Quoted from EM-PINMAN:Are you sure those were the original 31" legs?
Ken
Not 100% sure, but with 28 1/2 it sits over 2 inches lower than my Space Odyssey. It seems way low with the 28 1/2 inch legs on it. Maybe someone else with a Sonic can measure their legs for verification.
I went with new 28-1/2 legs myself and yes it sits lower but all the research I did point to those being the correct original length.
Ken
I still need to repaint the neck, but it's a little cold for that. I brought it inside to try and get it running.
The good.
It starts up and plays a game.
Flippers, bumpers, out holes etc all work
Scoring seems to work as it should for the most part (more on this later)
Silver bonus counts up and collects as it should.
The not so good.
1. The gold bonus lights count up but no matter how high the bonus counts it always scores 10000
2. I had a broken coin unit so you could only start 1 player games. Fixed that now you can start up to a 4 player game
3. During a multiplayer game the player unit will not advance. At the end of player 1 ball 1 the advance coil fires but not strong or far enough to advance. If I manually advance it, it will advance and players 2-4 will score as it should.
4. Activating all the number targets lights extra ball, but when collected it doesn't give an extra ball
5. The match lights don't light but I think the match unit need to be cleaned.
I'm not sure how the game knows how the gold bonus is there. The stepper just seems to control the lights and not the points.
So much frustration and fun.
Quoted from bflagg:3. During a multiplayer game the player unit will not advance. At the end of player 1 ball 1 the advance coil fires but not strong or far enough to advance. If I manually advance it, it will advance and players 2-4 will score as it should.
Get new spring sets from Steve at PBR. Re-spring all of your steppers while you're at it. I found the player unit to be especially tricky in that it is a balancing act between spring tension and coil strength. A weak enough amount of tension that the coil can advance it but enough spring tesion that it will return to player one when released. You can help the coil by making sure the connections are solid. Help the spring by disassembling and cleaning the unit and cleaning the contacts. Add a SMALL amount of Super Lube across the contacts.
Quoted from bflagg:5. The match lights don't light but I think the match unit need to be cleaned.
Step one, for sure. Also, all of those lights have a common ground. If it is bad, none will light. Check the bulbs if you have not already. Next, see that the feature is activated in the back board. Lastly, clean the no. match relay.
Everything else is probably relay related. Clean, clean clean. Most if not all of the feature relays are located in the big bank under the play field. Go through them one by one making sure contact is made/broken when the relay is tripped and that it is made or broken when not tripped. A pain for sure, but likely 90% of your problems. The more you play it, the better it will get. EMs like to be played. 
Quoted from Mk1Mod0:Get new spring sets from Steve at PBR. Re-spring all of your steppers while you're at it. I found the player unit to be especially tricky in that it is a balancing act between spring tension and coil strength. A weak enough amount of tension that the coil can advance it but enough spring tesion that it will return to player one when released. You can help the coil by making sure the connections are solid. Help the spring by disassembling and cleaning the unit and cleaning the contacts. Add a SMALL amount of Super Lube across the contacts.
Step one, for sure. Also, all of those lights have a common ground. If it is bad, none will light. Check the bulbs if you have not already. Next, see that the feature is activated in the back board. Lastly, clean the no. match relay.
Everything else is probably relay related. Clean, clean clean. Most if not all of the feature relays are located in the big bank under the play field. Go through them one by one making sure contact is made/broken when the relay is tripped and that it is made or broken when not tripped. A pain for sure, but likely 90% of your problems. The more you play it, the better it will get. EMs like to be played.
I cleaned the contact side, the fingers and applied the super lube. I happen to have a couple PBR spring kits on hand. Installed it and it just doesn't work well by hand or by the machine. I pulled it apart completely and will clean every part and reassemble. It's definitely a balancing act as I can have step up or reset, but not both.
On the match unit, if I gently apply more pressure on the wipers the lights come on. Cleaning should fix it.
Player unit fixed. Many problems. The step,up arm plastic had fatigued over time and was bent. That didn't allow it to advance to the next tooth. The other arm was also a little bent and wouldn't fall into the gear as it should. I replaced them both with donors from a parts stepper. Now it aligns perfectly and allows multi player games.
The match unit has some corrosion so I can't get the plastic wheels off of the ends to clean it. Have some wd40 on the shafts trying to free it up.
A little progress
Hi bflagg
great,You make a fun-looking pin running again !
I'd like to help on the problem "Extraball not working". I do not know the pin. In ipdb.org, http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1871 the flyer: http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1871&picno=3465&zoom=1 says: Making 1,2,3,4 lites "Extraball-Indicator". I believe: A lamp lites-up "on top of the "Right Shooter Lane" inviting You "HERE You can get an Extraball". I believe this works on Your pin.
If (if) the ball enters that "Right Shooter Lane": I believe, the lamp in the middle above / between the slingshots / flippers does light-Up: http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1871&picno=36179&zoom=1 ("Same Player Shoots Again" - question: Do You get this lamp "light-up" ?
You loose the regular ball -> (maybe, I don't know) bonus collected -> playfield-features reset -> a new ball is given -> question: up to "here" it works - BUT the pin gives "NEXT ball instead of "Extraball" ?
Depending on Your answer we must look "here" or "there" or "other place".
Sonic made "clones" of Williams pins - I assume they used "Williams logic (wiring)", so we can look in a schema (ipdb.org) of a Williams pin of the same Year.
For "Faces, Sonic" ipdb.org has a schema: http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=806 - but lets take Hot Tip instead: http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1251 ...
Greetings Rolf
Thanks Rolf, I'll look into that when I get to that issue.
Today I got the match unit up and running. I was able to get it apart with only the retaining clips breaking. Got the corrosion cleaned up and found a clip alternate at an RC hobby store. Had 2 bad light sockets to replace. The knocker is working as well. Everything in the head is working as it should. Now onto the playfield.image.jpgimage.jpg
Got the gold bonus figured out today. Silly me completely overlooked a stepper. Cleaned and lubed and all good. Next issue is extra all which I think is an issue with relay bank. The extra ball will lite but not collect. The extraball relay never trips. Next step is going through cleaning and adjusting all the switches on the relay bank.
So I'm finally getting back to tinkering with this. Decided to strip the playfield and get it all cleaned up. Found a few more broken light sockets on the playfield and the resettable relay bank switches look to have some bent. This may have something to do with my extra ball issue. Anyway a little every day....
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Anna, TX
Aarau