I've been trying to get a Target Alpha running. It started out as a basket case with lots of issues including Vaseline in the Ax, Bx and Dx relays. After a ton of work, I have it playing pretty well now. It is down to just two problems that are kicking my butt.

First problem is scoring bonus. Sometimes it gets it right and other times it will be a thousand short or maybe give you and extra couple thousand. Also, it counts the bonus in fits and starts with no rhyme or reason. For example it might step 7 times fast then wait, then 2, then 3, then 3. The next time it will be some other sequence. It never counts up to 15 straight through without some random pausing in there. I have checked all 15 drop switches in both the up and down position, made sure the stepper is running smoothly and is not gummed up, tweaked the adjustment of the rotor, cleaned the rivets, checked/cleaned/adjusted the stepper switches and even looked on the score motor. At this point I am afraid the problem is on the motor because of the counting issues.

The other problem is the thousands wheel chatters on the player two score only. I have checked all of the switches in that bank of reels along with the 10s, 100s and 1000s relays. I also didn't see any problem on the player unit.

Thanks for the inputs guys. I just cleaned and tightened up the 15 position switches on the bonus unit and it fired through all 15 like a machine gun! I am still getting an extra thousand or two once in a while. I've been testing it by knocking down all the drops and checking the count to be correct. I also tuned up the K relay and got it just right. After breakfast I will look at the G relay and score motor switches a little closer. I am assuming something is bouncing and giving extra points from time to time?

I'll also look for a loose point on the player 2 score reels or 1000s relay.

Thanks again for the help. Pinside search is not the greatest or I would have found that other thread. I need to remember to search using google with "pinside" as a search term...

Update:

OK, so I have the bonus counting all 15 in one turn of the score motor as it should be. I am still having problems with it not scoring properly. Mostly it seem to be over scoring. For instance I can knock all 15 targets down and get 17,000 in bonus... I checked the G and K relays again. I shut the lights out and looked for big blue flashes on all the affected switches and saw none. I took apart the 1000s score reel and found a broken off switch blade on the switch down by the plunger and put in a new one from a parts machine. Other than that the other switches and everything looked fine. Still over scoring.

On the second problem I took apart the player 2 1000s reel and found the spring that is internal to the plastic reel at the hub was binding so the reel would not snap and hold into place. This allowed it to move around and let the switches chatter. I put the reel back together properly and that problem is fixed.

Thanks for the inputs. My TA is down at my EM guy's place. He is trying to fix it, but it has been at the end of his queue because I told him I am in no hurry. I will pass this info on to him.

Can someone get me a picture or two of a well adjusted Target Alpha score motor? My EM tech is getting his butt kicked by this and he is pretty sure it is in the motor switches. Some good clear pictures from a couple of angles would be very appreciated!!

The bonus scoring is not accurate. It works fine sometimes. Other times it gives you an extra thousand or two or shorts you an extra thousand or two. It does this on all four players. Seems to do it more on some targets than others. The best EM tech in Florida is working on it for me. He pulled it out of storage and worked on it all day today. This guy has fixed some serious stuff for me, but this one is kicking his butt.

Thanks!

Thanks! I will relay this info.

Well it took many months but we finally found and fixed the problem. Fred Stab took pictures of a Solar City score motor while we were at Florida APE last month. He compared those pictures and found that one of the switches on the score motor on my Target Alpha was broken off at the very end. This extra little tip on the switch was hard to notice, because there is another switch right across from it that is supposed to be that way! You can see this in the second picture below.

Anyway, this extra little tip on the switch holds off the switches that few milliseconds more that it needs to make all the switch closures happen in the proper order and timing. Pictures below.

Thanks to all who posted help in this thread. I wanted to come back and close it and hopefully help people in the future.

The game works perfectly now by the way. The bonus scores correct EVERY time, even on double bonus.

TA Problem.jpg

TA Fixed.jpg

Got lucky - my EM expert Fred had one in his junk pile. It's hard to tell in the picture, but they are exactly the same length to the bend.

If you look at the pictures I posted yesterday above, it sure looks like an A-9349 blade that was the one that was broken.

Sounds like anyone with a Solar City, Canada Dry or Target Alpha should check out this switch. A lot of people might not even notice because of how fast the bonus scores and trying to do the math that fast in your head. As I mentioned above I want this thing to score perfectly so it can be used in tournaments.

Since fixing this problem, I have had a constant parade of minor problems to fix on this Target Alpha. I think this game was built on a Monday morning or something. Two of the recent problems were wires the came free from relays on the bottom board and one wire came off a switch on the score motor. The technician must not have been soldering hot or clean enough that day.

Here are the most recent problems:

1) Very rarely, like once in 100 balls, the ball will simply kick into the shooter lane without scoring the bonus.

2) Last night I had a game that would not end. After the last ball, the ball kept getting returned to the shooter lane every time rather than ending the game. There was no ball in play light nor did it say game over.

This morning, I took apart the player unit and it was significantly gummed up. I cleaned it out really good with alcohol and put in a new coil sleeve. It runs beautifully now. I need to clean out the coin unit but did not get around to it. The bonus unit is already clean as a whistle and adjusted properly.

3) This morning the game was playing great. I played like 20 games because it was so much fun to finally have it playing this nice. Then I played a game where I started a one player game, but after each player one ball player two would get a ball! After the 5th ball on player one, the game ended without giving one to player two. Each time player two came up the player light would light, but only the 1 light below was lit indicating the coin unit has only seen one player start a game.

Oh well, I am going to clean out the coin unit later today and also search for more wires disconnected. This has been the single hardest game I have ever had to dial in. None of my other EMs game me this kind of problems.