Me, got home early from work today, thought I’d play some TZ. The opto for the left orbit has been acting up, but really started going tonight $&#*%!. Easy left side emitter that is accessible? Nope, reflowed, still intermittent, take of right ramp and a bunch of other crap, opto pads for right side of opto look suspect, reflow, working again. 2 hours gone (dicked around with everything not wanting to remove the ramp...).
...then I get a reset. *&$#%&@&#@&@*! 4.6v instead of 5. Already changed out the caps and bridges a couple years back, but knew I had been losing voltage from the driver board to cpu. Replaced both connectors and the Z, 4 in total, consistent across the board. Sweet back in business, 3 hours at this point.
...then I notice the lower gumball flasher is locked on &@@&*#@&$&@*#*#*#&$&@! Tested all tips and everything else on the driver 8 board, eventually noticed there is no voltage output from the J4 for this flasher. Tip good, but eventually (long time) find a suspect pad for a resistor, reflowed, no longer locked on. Ok, can I finally play now? Almost 5 hours at this point.
...no sooner do I turn the machine back on, sound is f’ed, realize left speaker isn’t working, are you serious – bloody hell !!!!!!!!. After investigating notice little wire from lug to inside cone is broker free at the cone... no way to fix that, swap it out with another new better speaker, but it’s not as loud as the stock one (still haven’t figured out that whole replacement speaker thing yet). Go back to the old, desolder the wire from the lug that is broken off, run a knife along the inside of the cone where the wire is rubber glued in, free it up, solder them back together, thread through the cone and solder back to the lug, reconnect, hot glued the wife on inside of cone back tight and boom, good sounds back. Over 6 hours in total at this point...
...thinking maybe luck is not on my side, and I should turn it on again tomorrow, but decided to brave it, three games played and every f’ing ball drains down the left outlane asap after plunging. Sweet 5 min of play, and it’s almost bedtime. FU TZ!
Perth - West Aus
Battle Creek, MI
Old Colwyn
