I am working through the last of my issues after fully restoring my TZ. Playfield swap and all. I have one issue that is really got me stuck. If a ball is hit softly to the tunnel above the pop bumpers but below the camera shot, it gets stuck up there. The only way I can unstick it is by raising the playfield. It gets stuck pretty darn far up that path. Then the weight of the ball releases it. At first I thought something on the mini playfield was sticking down there. Like a wire or something. I pulled the mini and made sure everything was good. Problem didn't go away. Then I thought it may be the switch it rolls over was bad. I then shimmied the switch and lowered it. Still no-go. Then I took the switch completely out. No-go.

I really don't know what is causing this. When I had the playfield off I didn't see any obstructions.

Thoughts, ideas? I am about to defenestrate this machine! If you don't know what that word means, look it up. Great word to have in your vocabulary!

Thanks in advance for any ideas on this one!

Dave
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I did try the flashlight/camera idea. The problem is that tunnel curves hard left and goes towards the gumball machine. That is the area it is getting hung up. Pretty far up there for sure.

I did try the flashlight/camera idea. The problem is that tunnel curves hard left and goes towards the gumball machine. That is the area it is getting hung up.

I know it isn't the bashed part. The clearance there is fine. That bashed part is just cardboard from airballs. I should have fixed it though the last time I pulled the mini playfield. BUT, your comment on the spring is interesting. I wonder if that is cranked too far down and creating a more angled mini than it should be? That slight amount may be enough to contribute to the mini playfield being lower than normal. I will check that out.

Looks like I will be pulling the mini again. I think I will do what you are suggesting in that you can't even see that plastic under there anyway.

I think I am going to 3d Print a new panel with PETG. I will get em done and offer the STL up to the group when I am done making it.

Well, I figured it out. As it turns out, the canal that the ball had to go through was too small. All I can think is the pre-drilled holes for the metal guard rails were off just enough to make the ball get stuck. After moving some of the guards around, the problem is solved. I do appreciate all of the theories and the next time I take the mini off I think I will make the 3D printed version of that piece of cardboard. When I do that, I will share the file with people.

I have a couple more issues to work out, but this by far was the most serious one in that it just stopped game play cold.

Thanks again!

Dave

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Update. Thought I fixed the problem by putting pressure on the metal dividers and that worked for a while. Then the ball got stuck AGAIN!

This time I did some more serious work. I took out the middle screw of that metal divider and drilled a different hole (see pix). This really opened up that gap and now all is good. For anyone that buys an aftermarket playfield, lesson learned is that the pre drilled holes are not all perfect.

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