I just purchased a TOM and have a few issues. Please note that I'm very inexperienced to pinball mechanics...

Upon testing the game out, I noticed immediately an issue with the Trap Door Ball Popper Assembly switch whereby when a ball goes into the Trap Door, the software doesn’t know the ball is in the Popper Assembly. In turn, the game stalls as it can't find the ball and goes into its all fire solenoid routine. After three (3) iterations of the all fire solenoid routine, the ball popper assembly then correctly fires and releases the ball back onto the playfield.

I've tried adjusting the Ball Popper Assembly Switch but based on how the Ball Popper Solenoid is traveling in the Assembly I'm either placing the switch in the wrong place (underneath the ball cradle at this time) or it's because the Solenoid is traveling too far down on its own due to gravity.

The result of each of my attempts to fix either:

1. The game doens't know when a ball is in the Ball Popper (Open position)... symptoms noted above ....OR
2. The game always thinks there is a ball in the Ball Popeer (Closed position) and starts the open trap door ball popout sequence over and over upon starting a new game.

Note that with gravity the Solenoid is completely down in the rest position... so there is no space between the bottom of the Ball Cradle and the metal gard that stops the Ball Cradle from retracting further. My assumption is that the Leaf Micro Switch is to be placed underneath the Ball Cradle; however with gravity the Solenoid itself is pressing down on the switch (closing the circuit) without the ball (See symptom #2 above).

The only other assumptions I have are that I have the wrong type of Micro Switch in that the end of the switch itself should act as a spring (keeping the Solenoid up without closing the switch) until a heavier object (the ball) presses down on both the Solenoid and Switch spring to close the switch.

The other assumption is that the Solenoid is not working properly and should not retract completely by gravity alone.. the assembly should require the ball on the cradle to move the Solenoid down onto the switch that rests below the ball cradle.

Anyone that has a TOM or has worked on one and knows how the Ball Popper Assembly is supposed to interact with the switch, I would be grateful for some guidance..

Respectfully,

Aaron

LTG,

Yes, when in doubt, read the manual.... the troubleshooting and repair section was worthless but per your suggestion went to the parts section and discovered that this assembly is supposed to have a spring that is missing...

I appreciate your input.

Aaron