Hi y’all, picked up a Vector (my first machine!) about two weeks ago. It’s in pretty decent survivor condition with the two front doors. There’s no bill validator in the left door, just a blank.

I’ve replaced the rubbers and all but one bulb (I didn’t know I needed 444s for the chase lights). Next is wax and new balls.

I had a couple questions for anyone who may know…

1. My posts around the thumper bumper have various sized spacers - one missing, one 7/16 and I can’t remember the other one. What are they supposed to be?

2. I need new locks. It looks like the left coin door uses a 1 1/8” lock with a straight cam, which is different from the right door which uses a 7/8” lock with an offset cam. The backbox uses 1 1/8. Sanity check?

3. In the three kickers in the upper right corner, the topmost one sticks (kicker stays extended) and the bottom one is too weak to launch the ball. Any ideas?

4. I know someone asked about this years ago, but does anyone have the middle plastic with the Addam’s Family for sale?

5. Favorite playfield angle?

6. Anything I can do for you? Need any pics? I’ve seen lots on here already that both look worse and better than mine so I didn’t see a reason…

Thanks. I’m missing (b). Is (b) plastic, and do you know how long either (a) or (b) are? Mine are mismatched and I don't know which is correct.

Here are some including the double coin door. I have more. I am new to pinball ownership but I think it’s a reasonably clean survivor.

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That is excellent. Thanks. I recently replaced all my rubber and tried playing tonight. The ball got stuck here. Any opinions? Maybe because I have the wrong post? Shallow playfield angle?

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Ok, went to take a look.

0) The rail guide does not look damaged or moved, and the post has not moved, so I’m not sure what to do except maybe get thinner rubber for that post. This isn’t the one that’s supposed to be the tall gray post is it?
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1) OK, but then why is there a hole in the plastic? Screw should go through it or it should use a post and rubber nut, no? Or am I looking at the correct screw? Even though I’m confused, good news. I found my missing spacer behind the adjacent plastic! Are we talking about the same screw (circled in red, second photo)?
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2. I added the second ring on the XYZ bank. Looks right? Good idea about the colored lamps. But I think I’ll get red to replace the color they were behind the shades and put the shades away for safekeeping.
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3. I will order more of the 1” rings. I only bought a single kit.

Thanks @vec-tor, nice clear pics. I will work on those tonight. I was looking at the wrong fastener, but I thought it was funny that when I went to look at what you were talking about, I found the spacer that I thought I was missing.

This seems, uh, pretty intense for a neophyte. Is it easier than it looks?

Yeah, it's not in the owner's manual or the parts manual. But it does explain why the parts manual says you need qty 4 2" rubber rings for the game. Now if I could just explain the 1-1/2" that came with my kit. It's in the parts manual with no source or qty.

I haven't tried this, but you're really selling it. I should give it a whirl.

Are you saying it skips over all three saucers? There is no way I can hit that shot hard enough to do that. But, I'm still trying to dial in my game -- I'm fighting a little bit with playfield angle and the power of that right flipper.

Thanks for the link.

Oh, that was another thing, having to jumper the main board in order to install new ROMs. I am a little hesitant to modify original hardware in good shape just to run the home ROM. I considered getting the Weebly board with the home ROM selectable by DIP switch, what do you think of that?

Ok, so I got the little stuff done that vec-tor recommended. Now I'm working on the double sided saucer. First, does anyone have a good reference for me on how to clean and adjust the saucer? It's doing two things:

1. Not retracting after kicking the ball out
2. Kicking the ball through the gate incorrectly, such that it bounces back into the saucer (could be the gate or a post as well).

Note that when the ball falls back into the saucer, it seems to kick with less force and make it out of the gate. Kicker still sticks though.

Thanks. I did notice the three positions and left it in the position it was when I got it.

Back position means to the right side of the machine, correct? Like the gate entry side?

Is the wire supposed to be parallel with the bracket? Mine appears to have gotten present at some time in the past.

Curious, are things like this (gate position) published anywhere? Didn't see it in the owner's or parts manuals.

Okay… got the gate fixed. It was a combination of the wrong hole plus a bad bend in the gate wire. I did a sloppy job bending the wire, still need the correct tools for that, but it's well-behaved enough to continue. Now I have discovered that the lowest saucer on the top right ("captive saucer, bottom") is activating, but is too weak to eject the ball to start multiball, and the three balls just pile up on that saucer. I checked and resoldered the connections to the coil (admittedly I am not a skilled solderer), but it did not make a difference.

What's my next step? Coils either work or don't, right? So am I looking at rebuilding the mechanical parts, troubleshooting the board, or am I wrong and I should replace the coil next?

PS, it took my nephew and I about an hour to figure out the secret combination of removing and replacing the gate wire. Whoever designed that was a diabolical genius.

Not having this problem yet. Maybe some pics/vids?

It did have resistance. Coil stop was fine which is good because I couldn't find a replacement. Sleeve was dirty, replacing it didn't fix it. Armature was slightly bent, tweaked it dead straight, and removed some traces of dried grease with diluted Purple Power and a toothbrush. It is now functional but not 100% smooth. I think there's still gunk I can't get to. Should I drive out the roll pin to disassemble it completely, or is there a simpler way to clean it thoroughly?

Got myself an ultrasonic cleaner. What solvent do you use, how long, and which oil to re-lube it with? I have a precision oiler around here somewhere. Or just leave it dry?

Should I do every mech in the machine or just the two that are sticky?

As a new owner, I've been wondering the same thing. My playfield is set at 4.5*, which is about the steepest I could physically adjust it to and still be level in my garage. It still seems a little floaty, but also seems well-matched to the power of the flippers and making the vectorscan shot. I have not done any flipper maintenance to see if the machine is capable of more speed. I'd love to hear a few others' takes on it.

Done. Went with Zoom spout oil. I found that the spring washer on the plunger end of the coil needed a lot of adjustment to keep the assembly from binding. Is this common?

My newest problem is a drop target switch that won't register. I removed the drop target assembly for inspection (mechanically only) and found that the diode connection had broken.

I had to physically hold the assembly with one hand to inspect it. I can't figure out how to physically support the assembly in the game in such a way that I can access the switch and make the repair because the other drop target bank is in the way. This seems like it would be a problem peculiar to Vector. Any ideas?

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Where are our pics?!?

I didn’t know this! Now I can stop trying to fix it.