I'm back for more!

Posted about this in the TSPP owners thread a while back but didn't get a response. It's happening a bit more often now and annoying me, so I thought I've start a thread. Something's happening with the coil that operates the plunger that releases balls from the couch.

Upon locking a third ball, the multiball animation starts as it should, but now and then, one of the balls gets caught as it's being released. Like the coil pulls the plunger back enough for a ball to fall, but then releases it again and wedges the ball in place as it's dropping out of the couch. If it happens to the first ball released the game will go into ball search mode and it will try again. The first time I ever noticed it, it had happened to the third ball and it just held it in place until the other balls drained. If I remember right I had to manually remove that one.

I also have the game set to drop all balls out of the couch at the end of a game in order to start with zero locks for the next game. If a ball gets stuck at that point, starting a new game gets you the missing ball message and it's then released.

Any ideas on what's going on or what to adjust?

I've got the couch weld fix in place - It's not that the couch frame is bent or anything. And to my knowledge the weld fix helps prevent the plunger from no longer holding balls at all.

All three of the couch switches seem to be working fine. There's never been any problem with it knowing how many balls are in there at a given time.

If there's something to adjust - any pointers? It seems like getting the coil (And hence, the plunger) back a little bit might do it, but I don't see any way to do so.

Other easy thing would just be to replace the coil, but I'd rather not bother unless that makes sense to do.

Thanks for the responses.

Yeah - I have the weld fix in place. Don't think that really has anything to do with it though. I think the issue there was the coil bending the back of the weldment so much that the plunger would no longer align with the hole on the other end - making it not catch the balls at all.

My issue almost seems to be the opposite. I think the issue wouldn't exist if my coil was actually a quarter inch or so further back, but didn't see any way to adjust that. Everything is pretty snug.

You know, the more I think about it - I'm wondering if pinaholic might be right.

I installed the weld fix a little over a month or so ago after getting the table. The prior owner (ugh) had done a stop gap fix that involved a wood screw directly into the upper playfield.

I'm wondering now if maybe the weldment isn't bent just enough that while the plunger is still alligned with the hole, perhaps it's rubbing on it just enough to slow it down and causing it to catch the balls. And expensive thing to buy on a hunch though - think I'll check the couch when I get home and see if th e plunger is rubbing along the edges of the hole at all.

Thanks for the info, mot. (Running 5.0 as well here.)

Think I'll just go through it when I get home and see if there's anything loose, or if the plunger/coil are misaligned at all. Like I've said - I do have the weld fix in place, but a prior owner/operator had used a wood screw, so I assume the weldment has given problems in the past. If they were willing to wood screw it, I doubt they replaced the weldment. Will have to check to see if the stop is still at a decent 90 degrees or not.

Intermittent issues are so annoying. This has just cropped up in the last two weeks or so, but seems to be getting more frequent. Thinking about how things are assembled, I have to think the coil is slightly loose, or not quite aligned. I mean, it just doesn't make much sense that it would be retracting the plunger and releasing it faster as time goes on, right? At least I think that makes no damn sense.

Edit - well Hell. Shipment tracking shows a load of cliffy's due to be delivered to me today anyway. Tonight is explode the table night I guess.

I'll give it a shot. I set things to dump scores 2-5 every 100 games as it is. Any my grand champ score is nothing to write home about anyway.

Just frustrating, as I've only really seen this happen while playing a game. Glass off, in coil test and it drops balls perfectly every single time.

Please forgive the self serving bump, but an update of sorts for anyone that ever has this happen. I *think* I know what's causing the issue.

Installed a set of cliffys on my machine this week and while I had some things apart I tried to trouble shoot this a bit more. (Problem still happening. And still maddeningly inconsistent - previously suggested reset didn't do the trick. )

So, as mentioned above, I do have the couch weld installed, but my machine was previously routed and used to have a wood screw in the upper playfield as a cheap fix, so I assume there was some problems with it in the past. The plunger is lined up right with the weldment though so I don't think there's really any issue there.

For what it's worth there is a little play with the coil. Not really sure if that's normal or not.
Short video (That I swear I turned my phone for!)

Like I said though, the plunger is aligned just fine.
On the other hand, I noticed something else while poking around.

There's a little nylon spacer that lines the hole in the weldment that the plunger goes through. A part of it is broken on the coil side of the hole.
plastic-washer-1.jpg

Looks broken from the other side as well, but that's actually by design.
plastic-washer-2.jpg

I'm assuming that it's supposed to be in there snug, but it's not. Video two of some coil tests. Notice that it's rattling a bit and occasionally seems to stick out further - the third time the coil fires in particular.

Ran a load of balls through there, and I'm pretty sure it's actually this little nylon spacer that's causing the issue. Catches the ball just enough to hang it up and get stuck by the plunger when it returns.

So that's where I'm gonna try. Now where to find the part. Marco has them for an obnoxious $2.10 - $9.09 after shipping. And of course I ordered a new couch and center ramp from them earlier this week. Gonna search a few places and then just bite the bullet.

Edit - 85 cents at Bayareaamusements, free shipping. Awesome.

Well, I ordered the nylon thing. (I had misread - there was shipping, but whatever.)

Will update if that takes care of it. I really think that's it though.

And for the record, this is my first table. Only owned it 10 weeks or so. I've come to find that I kinda like the random putzing around and repairs. It's just that while it might make up 5% of the fun, it's roughly 110% of the frustration.

Part came in the mail today. If by chance this happens to someone else and they stumble onto the thread - it appears that the little nylon washer thing was the culprit. Ran dozens of balls through the couch - the nylon part stayed snug, and all balls were released without issue.

Will do. (If I'm brave enough to play it - can't notice any issues if I don't play, you know?)

Didn't actually play any games last night - just tested things with the glass off since I had to take off to league night shortly after getting the part installed. Will bump the thread again if it turns out not to be the issue.

For anyone else coming along this was the part. I had misread though - it wasn't free shipping.

http://bayareaamusements.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MC-545-5485-00

Actually turned into a $5.67 piece of plastic, but what can you do? Everything still working great - not a single issue since.