Bringing up clock boards (again)..

Does anyone have Ingo's board? (http://www.german-pinball-modular.de/final-tz-clock-pcb-english.html)

If so, how's it handle GI dimming?

_{Post edited by Coyote: Fixed copy & paste of URL. Sheesh..}

I have one on preorder. Haven't gotten it yet. Unfortunately, when I DO, it'll still be a while before I can play with it, since my PF's coming out to get restored.

Honestly, I'm not at all interested in any of the advanced features. I'm a sucker for the original, and hoping that the board does good with the original sounds. Unlike the actual soundboard, this one uses WAV files recorded from the original board. This means, too, that there's "more channels" than the original board. (i.e. Restarting a game as you shoot the ball. Serling says, 'You open this door with the-' and gets cut off by the slot-machine sound. With this board, it's entirely possible (and likely) that now both sounds will play over themselves.) This means that, agian, in theory, you could have two different characters ('The Power' and Serling) talking over one another.

And, again.. I'm not interested in the 'remade' sounds. (I'm not a big 'mod' guy, either..)

I thought the clock lights dimmed during the Jackpot animation as well? (Oddly, during gameplay, I'm more interested in than attract mode, since I like watching all the light-shows.) I'll play my game tonight and verify this. If they don't, then I'm not too worried about it.

Okay, I'll admit, I'm new to this site (but not pinball in general, nor my TZ).. I'll have to search this up and read about it..

Yup! I knew my memory wasn't fooling me. Played a handful of "ehh..." games, but noticed it. Good to hear then, I'll be getting one of his!

That. Is. Awesome. And someone made a comment about that different main-play music, and I agree - that would change the 'feel' of the game <b>considerably</b>!!

There's one for the TZ?

Once my playfield is sent off and returned, I'm just going to bite the bullet and get the OCD board.

Why?

Because my power-driver board over-drives the LEDs, burning them out withing a few games. (Anyone else have this? Or is my game 'special'?)

Actually, the Cointaker's are the only ones I've ordered. And they're the ones burning out. They've offered replacements, at their cost (hey, that makes them good people, in my book), but I didn't take them up on it, as it's obviously an issue with my game.

Lamp voltage is 17v at the feed, and using a scope, I get a pulsing 17v, which I believe is correct - the 6.8v is an averaged out reading of the on/off pulses? (Which also causes the flicker in the LEDs..)

I didn't try any of the GI sockets, just the controlled lamps. (I do have some of the blinking "545" replacement LEDs in the backbox - those are fine.)

D'oh - I forgot to mention - my power driver board is a PinLED, as well - NOT the standard WMS board. (Another reason I didn't accept Cointaker's offer to replace them, as as far as I know, it could be the 3rd-party board causing it.)

Correct - the only LEDs I have in GI are the blinkers, and they work fine; no burnouts.

Congrats. It's a hell of a game.

... Is it still a mod if it came from the factory that way?
IMG_20141107_212240.jpg

Me too - I (we?) are probably in the minority, but I don't care for mods. The only non-factory one on my game is the laser-cut streetlight over the powerfield.

I unfortunately lost my left spiral sign, I may have to make my own, and yes, once my playfield comes back, I'll be getting Ingo's clock as well, mine's just about had it.

Early change?

So, this is something I've always wondered about, but haven't been able to ask anyone about.

My TZ's made in early April, but my playfield is dated early March, and had the door flashers, magnet, and optos wired from the factory. Bumper posts weren't installed, but neither were the plastic plugs.

Now, if you look at the PR photo of the playfield, if you look at the plastic to the left of the bumpers (where the flasher is), you'll see that the top plastic is red. (In samples and prod games, it was re-colored to the purplish roof tiles design.) You will notice, however, it's larger than the plastic underneath. While the coloring was changed, the shape was never modified.

Now, while the shape/size of the plastic is odd, the one underneath doesn't seem to match. However, the top one - the one that changed - does seem to line up to an unknown, patched hole in my playfield. (See attached picture.)

I'd hazard a guess that the middle star post for the plastic (the T-nut in the pic) used to be over some, more towards the pop bumper, but was moved.

Thoughts? What's your playfield have there? Anyone have a different lower plastic that would give any hints?

IMG_20141109_113849.jpg

--M.

Honestly, I'd look into getting a small piece of metal (from like Home Depot) and bending a new bracket. Would probably be your cheapest bet. (Alternatively, keep an eye out on eBay for someone parting a game?)

My replacement boards - from WMS, years ago! - also came without a bracket, so at least current makers are following in WMS's footsteps.

For those that have LEDs in their game, a question -

I purchased a Warm White (anti-ghosting from Cointaker), and have been testing it in various inserts. On white ones, it looks fine. The white's a little.. well, whiter. However, when I put it in an amber-colored insert (Super Skill, Door Panel, etc), it made the insert look *yellow*. So yellow I questioned if I should even worry about LEDs then..!

As far as I know, no TZs were ever sent out with leaf switches for flipper buttons.

See the manual, page 1-31. It's a setting to make score *in the same game* more representative/balanced. It won't do a thing for you if you're comparing your scores to other owners'.

Me personally, I don't care how my scores compare to others - mainly because for me, the condition and feel of the game can alter my score hugemongously. I like playing more than hitting the start button, so I set Replays & Specials to Extra Balls.

PB Erie - He has blue LEDs in GI, which washed everything out.

Hey guys -
After recreating the 'removing mini playfield' cabinet decal, I decided to recreate the 'leveling mini playfield' decal as well.

A couple questions for everyone -
(1) Where was this mounted? On playfield? In cabinet?
(2) If I recreate it, would you want the shaded 'dots' in the wood playfield to be exact, or should I apply a better halftone?

Cheers all - I'll post them here once they're both finished.

If you don't mine, thanks!
My "Removing the Playfield" is in the bottom of the cabinet, but my leveling label fell off many years ago.

Well, here's one for you to print out, and put.. uhm.. wherever it's supposed to go.

I attached three versions of the Leveling Mini-Playfield - One with the original 'dots' from my label (which is in bad condition, some dots may be missind), one with an even half-tone, and then one with a simple 'grey' in the elevation of the playfield.

The other one attached I had attached in another thread, it's the larger label for removing the Mini Playfield.

They're all free to use, but before making and selling them commercially, contact me.

Level Mini-Playfield (original dots).pdf

Level Mini-Playfield (shading).pdf

Removing Mini-Playfield.pdf

Level Mini-Playfield (even halftone).pdf

Really? Huh. I'd originally say that this must have been dropped in production games - HOWEVER, Sample/Prototype Games didn't have adjusting screws..!

You're real close to me. I may have to come up and compare your game to mine.

Me neither! That's why I asked. I do have a location on the underside of my playfield that is discolored and about in the size of the decal - when I get home tonight I'll get a closer look..
Since the label has an arrow surrounding the text, I figure it had to go somewhere that the arrow pointed to, but that's not really possible since the arrow is pointing to the right (meaning the decal would have to have been on the mini playfield?!)

I'll send you a PM - maybe if/when I do come up to take a look at your games, I'll bring my blue powerball, and see how good you are with it.

Well, considering how many of us had loose stickers - or stickers not in the game, at least - it's looking more and more likely.

Hey guys -
If someone can look at their game - Does your Start or Extra Ball buttons have a molex plug in the wires, about 4 inches from the button? (i.e. Crimp terminals onto the switch/light housing, and then straight into a 4-pin Molex plug?)

If so, can you grab a shot of that, and let me know which wires are in which pins? The molex plug on mine (I do have one) wasn't done properly, so at some point messing with the wire harness, all the pins came out. D'oh.

Thanks!
-Mike

Oh, can one of you scan yours for me? I lost mine in a GA -> MD move, and want to get it back on the game! It means making my own, of course, but I need a scan first.

Thanks!!

That was exactly why I asked for a scan, actually! However, Matt offered his since he's not using it.

Interesting, his does not have the text on it - I can honestly say in all the research I've done that I haven't seen that before.

Edit: Now I see that piece in Marco's catalog, without the text. Huh!

I have the font, so I'll likely print out a water-slide decal and place it over top.

Unrelated to the sign, I'd like to point out -
In relation to GLM's new Door Panel PCB, which has the flashers in all four door panels, the flashers aren't "factory" correct. After talking to him about it, I was able to confirm that the bottom two just mimick the top two, but flipped. (BALL & LOCK 1, GUM & LOCK2).

Originally, the lower two flashers were wired to:
Lower Left - Solenoid #17 (Pop Bumpers)
Lower Right - Solenoid #37 (Upper Right Flipper)

--Me.

I'm getting 90% of my stuff from PBL, as they were cheaper. Some of the items that PBL didn't carry I had to/will get from other places.

Yeah, my game has horrible ghosting and strobing. So bad, I had to change it back - once I get it back together I'll be getting the LED OCD board to try.

Note, however, I'm using PinLED Power Driver board, so that may be part of the problem.

Personally, I'm one for a more 'stock' look.. I dislike the bright blue 'glow' everyone seems to put in their game - to me it washes out some of the artwork and seems to scream 'look at me, I'm lighting everything up!'. (No offense.. it's just not a look I like.)

Now, when I get my PF back, some of the GI lights will be converted to LED, specifically the ones near the back of the field, and other hidden ones. For visible lights (under slingshots, under bottom lane guides, etc) I'll leave those incandescent. Undecided yet on insert lights..

Replace your bulbs, don't use #47s. #47s run cooler because they're dimmer. Bulbs with silvering will appear yellower and dimmer. Replace 'em. With new, good bulbs, it looks fantastic.

*facepalm* Yeah, sorry, jeez. That's what I get for not having my caffiene in the morning.

Note that he ahs the boards on backorder - won't be ready until first week in March.

Check with Kruzman, OR, strip yours down, send it off to get done, and then when you get it back, put it in!

One of the suppliers has a 'reinforced' version of the target. Unsure how well it works - Back in the mid-90's I put a pivot to a slot-kicker arm behind min, and it worked just fine for the last 15 years at least.

.. So..

Anyone with a PinSound think about hiring Mark Silverman to record some new lines for the game?

Okay, I had to laugh at this:

ebay.com link: itm
Title: Twilight Zone Pinball Clock Housing Clear Mod

..Who knew that this was .. a mod? This means that my game's been modded since it came form the factory!

I may be selling my cut "street light".. Won't know yet until I start reassembly. If you are interested, drop me a PM.

Ted was quoted (though oddly, I cannot find it at the moment) that the flyer was incorrect.

Regardless, I like arranging them so if you get the skillshot, the corresponding pop bumper is lit. (Yellow - Yellow. Orange - Orange & Yellow, Red - All three). But honestly, you can do it any way you want.

Interesting, have a pic?

I'm not into mods on my TZ, but the one thing I DID do was change the skirts to match the cap color.

Check for broken slash lose or incorrect switches.

When the game has flagged a switch bad in relation to the right ramp, the flippers well stay activated "in case" the ball didn't make it to / out of the mini-playfield. (Because if it did, and the game didn't know, the ball would re-enter the plaplayfield without the user being able to flip.)

SAMPLE. Not Prototype.

It sounds like a very late sample, or (more likely) very early production field.

Picture request!

Could someone grab a close-up shot of the Rocket Kicker switch actuator showing through the playfield?

Thanks!

Huh! Thanks! That wasn't what I was expecting..

That's what my game was doing when it was returned to me. The playfield on mine was very soft, and the rocket kicker arm had the 'catch' on top for the rubber (slingshot) - so over the years since it arrived at my arcade, the rocket kicker was adding slight downward force onto the ball. I left the arcade, the game stayed there for 2 years, and was never even opened. By the time I got it, the pit was so deep - about 1 inch from where the ball normally rests - that it was getting flung up into the crossover habitrail, hitting it, and rolling down the middle of the payfield.

Nothing could be done to fix the huge depression in the playfield, so I kep the game the next ten years with the rocket kicker banded off.

HEP has the playfield now, and he says he can save it. I should be getting it back soon, I'm anxious to get my game back together.. whew. But in preperation, I was going through my switches, and saw that my rocket kicker switch was cut - so wanted to see what it should have looked like.

Hey guys -
Quick question!

For this game would ya'll recommend the metal leg protectors, or the plastic ones?

Alright, thanks. Mine aren't perfect (after 20+ years..!) so there are ripples around the edges of the legs. Would like to protect it from getting any worse.

Yeah - My works fine as well, but since my game is in millions of pieces, I decided to order one of Ingo's. My clock's now assembled, but the game ain't. I have my original boards in a baggie, in case I ever need to reference them. I can NOT wait to get my game assembled.. Just for the friggin' clock!

Info Request -
Can someone check their game and look at the wires feeding to the Autofire Kicker?

There's ..
Black
Grey
Orange / ?
Grey / ?

Can someone gimme the ?'s?

Thanks!

Thanks!

What the hell is up with the apron?

Ah! Interesting!

Here's a pic, and a test for folks -
Can you find the one insert that's not correct, or has something wrong to it?
57_G.jpg

..It shouldn't be TOO hard.. And it's not the Lock - that's green.

Sorry for the pic quality - it was taken while the field was being cleared. I posted a better picture below, and you should see it *right* away. The 'End' looks like that because when this field was printed, the black was too thick - it's a lot thicker than other playfields I've seen. Some finer/smaller letters are kind of run-together.

Look on the *ahem* right side of the playfield.
55_G.jpg

I'm NOT a big LED guy, and like colored GI's even less.

However, I DO like how the hitchiker is lit up, and could seriously consider that. What LED did you use there?

Yup. Hah, said it was easy. Back when the game was delivered to our Arcade, the insert still had 'Gumball' on it. The tech that WMS sent down to get readings and make changes scraped the 'Gumball' off, and then realized he forgot the 'Spiral' decal to install. He asked me if he could mail it to us, and said that we could put it on.

We never got it, so I left the insert blank. When the game finally made it to my home, I figured it was a neat enough piece of history that when HEP worked on the playfield (that picture there is from him), I asked him to leave it blank, but clearcoat over it to protect it. (Before, since it was scraped off, it was rough..)

Hour hand can be off. The hour hand does not break any optos - the disc it's connected to in the back of the clock does, so that's fine.

I would check your motor wires, like others have mentioned, then check the motor driver board under the playfield.

Sample games had two 7-opto boards.
Production games had *1* 10-opto board.

One of your trough switches is not working. Check ALL trough switches in Switch Test.

Nice! Who did yours?

It's still odd to me to see the 'proper' colors on the ramp. I'm so used to mine -
colors.jpg

Mine's already being worked on by Chris. Was wondering who you had down there in Brazil that did restorations! Nice!

Which switch? Exit? Entry? Popper?

Ah yes -
Then what's happening is that the game is compensating for it - instead of stopping the motor when the Geneva switch is activated, it's stopping when the Gumball Exit switch is activated.

I would get it fixed, as if your Gumball Exit switch misses a ball one time, or goes bad, then you'll get multiple balls out on your playfield unintentionally.

For the record - The "-SP" designation on plastics does NOT mean it's a "sample plastic". The -SP came from the printer of the plastics. (Sun printing, I think? I'm not 100% on the name.)

The only difference was artwork changed, and this did not constitute new part-numbers on the plastics.

Ah! That rings a bell, yup! (I had to rant because of an auction I saw, and had to clarify for anyone considering purchase..)

Not sure about other games, but TZs had this standard. The 3-hold plates aren't made anymore (that I know of?) so when I replaced mine I had to line the holes up with the new plates before screwing them in.

That's a sample manual, yes. Not all that rare, as hundreds went out before the April version was typesetted and printed and then put into games.

You will see some notable differences, though, including the 4 door flashers, and removed optos.

Yes, there's a spring there. It's a very light one, but it's there none-the-less.

For the early ROMs, P was sample/prototype code, L was release code. Then the numbers - i.e. P-1, P-2, P-3, L-1, L-2, L-3, and so on.

Once TZ was moved over to the new version of the OS, they moved to the new numbering, 9.2, 9.4H..

My official notes don't have L-5 listed either. If you want, I can send you a version of your choosing, if you send me your chip - would like to grab a copy and see what (if anything) is changed in it. .. Of course, mailing time may be slow.

Actually, 9.2 is last on-location version.

If you keep it in play longer, the 'Power Payoff' (the initial award for getting the powerball BACK into the gumball) is higher. But, then, you risk losing the ball, of course.

It should always.

If the gumball diverter doesn't open in time, then it'll continue the powerball mode.

Yup! Shoot slower.

No, there's no real way to make it open faster. THe MPU can only run at such a speed, and depending on what else is going on in the background, it may not read the switches, and then read the EEPROM to jump to the memory to look up what to do.

When my game was clean and shiny, I could often shoot the loop and miss the diverter.

This setting really does not do much, if anything. The game will work fine with however many you have in there. It may be used on end-of-LITZ reloading, as well as 'virtual powerball' mode, when you have the gumball turned off. I've left mine on 3, but have 4 in there, and never had issues.

I personally keep 4 in the gumball, 3 in the trough - 6 steel, 1 ceramic - since my game was originally shipped with that. The game will ALWAYS keep 3 in the trough, regardless of how many are in the gumball. (For example - if you take a ball out of the trough and try starting a game, it'll ball search a few times, then spit a ball out of the gumball, load it into the trough and then let you start a game.)

Sounds like the ball's stopping on the gumball diverter, for some reason. Make sure that the diverter is closing fully. If it IS, just wait for a ball search then, and the diverter will kick the ball around. (Instead of trying to nudge it and tilting..)

Go grab FreeWPC, and get to work! Make it yourself!

What the heck happened to your autofire gate?!

The poor thing! Hey, it works, so you don't HAVE to fix it.. I was just wondering what happened to it.

Anyone know the screw size/type that holds the Power mini-playfield to the wireform ramp?

I lost the screw for my game back in 1996. It hasn't had once since. However, since I'm rebuilding it, I figured now was the time to finally get one.

For those that have LEDed your games - what TYPE (not color) did you use in the lightning bolts? (Power Payoff, mini-Playfield lights)

Okay, yeah - I was wanting the whole bolt lit up, not spotted.

Thanks!
-Mike

If the setting is enabled (A.2 48), then hold the Ex Ball button. The game will play the 'Twilight Zone' da-da-da-da, and light Piano and Slot (if not already). Then shoot into either one, and LITZ will be awarded.

Alternatively, for fun in tournaments, set A.2 14 to '4'. Hilarity ensues.

Note -
You have to press the Ex Ball button while the game's already going.
Start a game.
Hold down the Ex Ball button for a long time, until you hear the TZ sound.
Then shoot the piano or slot.

And yes.. your Ex Ball button has to be working.

Well, f*ck.

When uploading some new images of my completed playfield, I accidentally wiped *all* of my shopout pictures.

So, I have pictures to go by. This isn't a problem for assemblies (I mean, slingshot brackets can only mount one way..!) It IS, however, really difficult to get all the GI sockets in the right places.

If anyone has a few moments and can grab some shots of their wiring harness - specifically the rear of the playfield, showing the left and right strips of lights, it'd be appreciated. I'll send you $ for a beer, if you can continue to help as I go.

Many, many thanks!
A couple of them were confusing, since the 'wire memory' wasn't matching the locations. Once I saw your pics, I got it. (For some reason, an extra amount of wire was used for two close sockets, which had thrown me.)

I'm surprised that I hadn't seen any other games - especially ones that owners name as being 'blacked out' use these -
IMG_20150818_201413.jpg
Locknuts, used to hold down plastics (and hold posts under the playfield), but in black.

I have been missing some for a while, so decided to order a bag of them, and saw that McMaster offered them in blackened chrome. Be curious to see how these look.

There's a fantastic and MUCH easier way to tell..

It's called the 'Switch Test'. In fact, it's the first test in the Test menu. A lot easier than starting a game and playing three balls to find out.

You'll have to remove the Clock and the Right Ramp, *possibly* the left ramp (I don't remember if that got in the way.)

But like was mentioned, don't bend - insert a few washers under the *rear* two legs - this will lift it up and help a LOT.

..I mean.. unless you WANT to play a game.

Admittedly, that's odd. There's not much there to fail. I'm guessing some wires between the button and the CDI got cut or unplugged.

Idiot question..

Some of the posts are #8-32. Some are smaller than that, however. What's the smaller size? #6-32? Some other size?

--Mike

Thanks!

Yeah, that would help!

Anyone know of a source for a Cliffy Gumball protector? CHEP recommend one on the field he did for me, and .. apparently they're all out of stock?

Heck, thanks! PM sent!

Like all resets, follow everything here:
http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_WPC#Game_resets

Hell.. I got started in '92. There was no internet, and I didn't know a THING about reading schematics. Thanks to several books bought used, I taught myself all these tricks and tips. Of course, this was back when you had to know what a command-prompt was on a computer, because there WAS no Windows 3.1.

Yeah, I'm old. If I had a front yard, and I had neighbors, I'd be telling those kids to stay off my lawn!

Yeah, but wasn't it on like, Compuserve or something? (Back then, I only connected to local BBSs and communicated via FIDOnet. Hehe..)

Hey guys!
Okay, another picture request. (I've gotten a lot done without pics. While I haven't needed them, I feel like I'm running blind without them - even though I haven't really needed any! )

Can someone grab a shot of the underside of the playfield up at top (bottom of PF; top when lifted up) showing GI and Lamp and flipper mechs?

Thanks!

Thanks, that answered my questions! (I had two - specifically the GI string on the right side of the PF, which side the tie-in wires were at, and where the EB light was mounted.) I got both right!

Hey guys -
Sorry to bug everyone again! Need one more pic - under the playfield, just above (with playfield up, 'below' with playfield down) the gumball - showing the metal bracket for the camera / gumball, and the metal stop/bracket for the dead-end.

My dead-end stop isn't lining up where my memory says it should.

And I don't know if this was a sample change, or not, but the gumball protector I got (thanks @Invader!) seems to not mount the way it's supposed to. If I align the screw tab with the only screw it'll fit over, it's far too far to the left, and not protecting where the ball drops down through. It won't go far enough to the right for the screw-tab to engage the screw, so I'm leaving it in the middle, where it's protecting the playfield where it needs to (It's not fully installed, hence the uneven line..):
IMG_20150830_092232.jpg

And the screw tab underneath -
IMG_20150830_092217.jpg

I'm guessing that either - (1) I installed it completely wrong (..possible!), or (2) A change was made mid-run of the camera scoop that changed the # of screws on the top side from 2 to 1. (..also possible..)

Cheers!
-Mike

Interesting! Thanks guys. Apparently, yup, I'm an idiot. I was trying to protect the ball rolling out of the gumball. D'oh.

Still could use a pic, too, of the dead-end scoop!

Thanks!
Somehow I either messed something up, or again, it's another sample change. My dead-end scoop only has one screw hole on the top-right side, and can't figure out why. D'oh.

Pop Quiz!

So I noticed something today while assembling my flipper mechs. Some unused drill holes! Upon further study, apparently when my machine was assembled, the upper left flipper mech had to be moved - or the assembler was lazy.
IMG_20150905_104352.jpg
If you look closely, you can see two sets of holes at the tip of the Camera insert, and at the Super Skill insert.

Now, with my really early playfield, there are quite a few unused dimples and holes (including two meant for a switch bracket at the top of the Spiral loop).

But, I'm wondering - where is your UL flipper mounted? Which set of the above holes is yours mounted to?

Quick question guys -
The single-rubber post that's between the left outlane and inlane - is it attached to the playfield with a nylon locknut or a t-nut underneath the playfield?

Thanks - I figured it out -