Thank you all for the inspiration

I made this we’ll see what happens

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Final presentation of my TZ before I send it over to it's new owner. Took me some time to install all mods, of course at the last minute. I was not planning to sell it, but I got an interesting offer, so...

What do we have in this machine:
- Pinvision (interactive screen on the back, replacing the original backboard)
- PIN2DMD
- Mini playfield with low profile switches and aluminium cliffy on the edge
- WS2812 ledring bumper, controlled by a specific control board below the playfield which reacts to bumper triggers (stumblor mod), configurable over wifi
- Custom apron (from Italy), with adressable led below on a custom 3D printed support, for nice lighting effects, also controlled by Stumblor lolly board
- Spiral ramp

Toys:
- Robby
- Small scale car
- Plasma disc
- Rocket
- Piano mod
- Camera and sign mod

Inside the machine:
- Afterglow (for led control)
- Pinsound + shaker + speakers

All in all, quite happy with how it turned out

Looks amazing mate, great work!! Don't think I've ever seen a sexier apron than that.

Where did you get those inside cabinet art blades? I love how they match the playfield!

Love the apron too! I wish that were something I could find. Nice work!

And of course.... Something broke....

Where are the power ball detectors located? The power all is not detected anymore'... Except from the tunnel from the left...

Tiny eddy sensor sticking up at end of the ball trough. Switch #26 if you want to check in test.

LTG : )

I must admit... No idea. They were installed when I originally bought my TZ

Thanks, found it. I reseated the connectors, all good now (might take the opportunity to rewire them with new connectors)

I get errant #26 errors just enough to annoy me. It’s always the little 2 pin connector that shakes itself loose. Has anyone ever just soldered the wires directly to the board, or is that considered a hack?

^^^This. This is most definitely a known issue, and the recommended fix is to solder the wires directly to the pins. In my experience, this is the only way to completely eliminate the detection issue.

Some of the replacement boards even come directly wired, due to this known issue

I'm about to embark on a TZ restoration. If any of you have any extra parts that you might be interested in moving on, including mods, please send me a PM! Looking for a new plastic set, new plastic ramp, side blades, backboard decal, etc. I know most of this is generally available, but wanted to check here first.

The pickup is an inductor, extremely low impedance. Those small connectors exhibit high resistance by nature, because of their design, so it's a given they'll cause a problem, even if you replace with new.

Solder the two wires directly to the pins, and never look back. They should have done that from the start.

I am having an issue with the one-way gate at the outhole on my TZ. Upon a ball drain, the solenoid fires and kicks the ball as per normal. However, the one-way wire gate, more times than not, spins counter-clockwise a full rotation so that it ends up on the opposite side of the metal guidepost and thus acts as "wrong-way" barrier for any subsequent ball that drains so that the ball just bounces back onto the solenoid actuator at the outhole and otherwise cannot move into the "rest" in order to be loaded back into the shooter lane. Anyone else ever have this issue? It just cropped up and I'm not sure as to what the best fix is... Thoughts from the group?

TZ - Outhole Area 1 (resized).jpg

TZ - Outhole Area 2 (resized).jpg

With the apron installed it should not be possible for it to spin all the way around. The one-way gate arm should be sitting on the right side of that metal tab and be prevented from spinning all the way by the bottom of the apron itself.

I reinstalled the apron and it seems to be fixed... I will keep my eye on it. I cleaned and waxed the playfield the other day with the apron off so maybe I accidently screwed up the one-way gate. Thanks!

You aren't the first to do that

Probably not the last either...

Sigh...

I just dropped the TZ at the buyer place, all was working fine, thoroughly tested for two hours.

But... On the way back home, I receive a phone call, all solenoids do not work anymore.... Even in test mode, there's nothing working.

In principle, given that the trade is now complete, I could just walk away, but it's not very cool and not in my nature. So I'm trying to help him debug, which is really not easy given that he's about 2h drive away, and he does not have any electronic skill...

So anyway, some questions:
-on my TZ, there is no safety lock on the door, all power is always on even with the door open. At least I could trigger the auto plunger without pushing the button There's just one switch. Am I right in assuming there is no safety return wire next to the backbox?

- the only logical explanation for simultaneous solenoid failure would be the high voltage missing. Is it a single voltage for all solenoids, and is there a master fuse controlling it? Is it driven by a single rectifier, or multiple rectifiers?

Any other suggestion?

Thanks

F112 on the driver board. Pull and check with a meter.

LTG : )

Thanks, I just figured that one out by reading the schematics

Believe it or not, he does not have a multimeter.... Oh well

And... The story goes on.

Fuse replaced, game is working. But burns F112 again, when reaching powerball mania stage.

Otherwise before that point, works fine...

Something shifted in the move. I'd start by looking at coil lugs too close to metal.

Then crap behind the board.

LTG : )

Also found these two leads:

https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/twilight-zone-fuse-issues.40995/?amp=1

And

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/0GAY2tUWVnA

Is 10A really recommended on TZ (see first link)?

Yes. Williams upped it a time or two because so much was going on in the game.

LTG : )

Need some help with my recently aquired TZ. When balls get locked behind the clock they dont kick out at the end of the game. They only get kicked out if I turn the game off and turn it back on again. Can someone point me in the right direction to fix this. Thanks.

This is how the game operates as designed. There’s nothing to fix.

Addams Family does the same thing with balls locked in the swamp, and BSD does the same thing with balls locked in the castle. Not sure why designers chose to keep balls locked game-to-game, but they did.

This.

Anyone know how to best adjust the gumball diverter? My diverter gets stuck periodically behind the inner rail (red arrow) and I have to take the glass off, get a long screwdriver and pop it loose again. Does the diverter have play left-right in its mounting? I want to move it a little right (green arrow) so that the arm will always rest on the inner rail and not be able to go behind it.
Thanks for any advice!
Richard

diverter (resized).jpg

Next time you have the long screwdriver in there. Bend the pole the diverter is mounted to over a little so it goes over the lane guide more. This will last a long time.

LTG : )

Thanks Lloyd - is it safe to bend the diverter pole from above the playfield with a screwdriver? Won't that stress the mechanism?

Did you see if you have some play in the entire mechanism under the PF? I.e. can you loosen the coil assembly mount screws and push it to close the gap and tighten them back up?

Any of you upgrade to this speaker set: https://pinballpro.net/shop/williams-wpc-89-speaker-kit/

Is it worth the $200? Is it really a noticeable difference in sound quality? I wish there was an easy way to make this game stereo quality.

You’ll probably get a ton of opinions, but mine is that it’s not worth it. My TZ has all new upgraded speakers, and the quality isn’t $200 better sounding than the white water with stock speakers sitting right next to it.

I did it, worked great. Only need a little. Not enough to stress anything.

I looked it all over. Top and bottom. Was thinking of moving mech below, lane guide above. Dancing naked at midnight doing the sacred diverter dance.

Then as long as I had the screw driver in there anyway to unstick it. I thought, what the heck. Gave the shaft a shove near the top and was done with it.

LTG : )

Nice. Thanks for that image of you dancing naked with a screwdriver
I'll give it a try (bending the diverter with screwdriver - not dancing naked)!
Richard

Yea, this was about what I figured the answer would be. Any way anyone could ever remaster audio in? A pipe dream I’m sure sadly.

Did you go with the upgraded sub also?

Pinsound is your best option for this. Allows true stereo with rewired speakers and you can edit or change all of the audio files.

They should make a kit…specific to this game, people would buy it.

I agree. Must be licensing issues why they don't.

Back in the club. Got back my restored TZ. Life is good.

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Looks great. Who did the work?

Sorry, don't know. But it's fully restored including original playfield that was clearcoated.

Here's the full "family picture book" and videos of this beauty:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0rJ0DiRHJujABv