OK. So in testing I should be able to get it ready to lock, hold a ball near the magnet, trigger the switch and see if the magnet fires. I will try that later today.
Maybe the magnet is not strong enough? Although I haven't notice the magnet sound like with the magna save. But can't say it hasn't played for sure.

A related lock question. I checked the lock switches and they both seem to register fine, but two balls often come out in multiplayer games when only one should.
Is there a common issue here? Clean the mechanism?

Bad switches can trigger correctly if pressed multiple times in test, but if they are in rest for a while, they can miss a shot. Especially on a faster moving ball.

But you need the ball lock magnet sound. Next to that: correct nr of balls in the game?

So I tried, with a game going, lighting the lock and manually hitting the switch and no magnet buzz sound audio. Tested again in switch test and the switch (78) registers when I roll a ball through or hit it with my finger. So it seems like the switch isn’t registering while lock is lit. If it was and the problem was with the magnet I would get the magnet buzz audio after the switch hit. Or is the audio played when the magnet is activated? Kind of confused on where this lies.

There's a setting for how long the magnet is activated. Long shot but you might want to check that.

Remember waht setting#?

/mima

Adjustements Menu -> Feature Adjustmens -> Lock Magnet Time (A.2 31)

In my case the magnet isn’t activating at all. In my test I lit lock, held the ball over the magnet and hit the switch. If it was a strength or time issue I would have at least felt a little pull and heard the magnet kick on but nothing happened.

Is the magnet part of the diagnostics? Can you test that magnet specifically? Does it come on then?

And the switch that is right above the magnet registers fine? What about the ramp switch at the corner of the left ramp where it hoarshoes and comes back down the left side of the game?

Not sure if this is the case or not, and does it take more than just activation of 78 to trigger the magnet for lock? That is, does 71 and 78 have to be triggered within a certain amount of time to have the magnet activate for lock? Maybe to prevent false positives or if 78 gets stuck closed?

I had an issue with a LOTR once where two switches needed to be activated in quick succession for the event to be triggered (Destroy the Ring); just hitting the "downstream" switch (in the backbox trough) wouldn't do it, even though there was no way to trigger the downstream switch without hitting the upstream switch (center ramp spinner) first. The spinner switch was broken, and there was no way to get Destroy the Ring to start without it.

I know you had said that all the switches worked in test mode, and maybe just double-check that as you travel up a ramp, all switches are registering (looks like it should be 72, 71, and 78 if your are going up the left ramp).

So, here's what happened.

Tested again the switches and magnet and OK.

I would get an error at power up but nothing in the test report so didn't know where the error was from. (Had a post about that I started) I had also found the shooter lane switch was disconnected. When connected, the switch would cause the ball eject to fire all the balls out one by one. In switch edge test, with the switch connected, activating it would register itself but I noticed the trough ball stack opto would blink slightly on the matrix. I replaced the diode and removed the spade connector on the shooter lane switch. Tested again and the ball stack did not flicker. Powered up and no error. Good. Started a game and manually rolled the ball around to light lock. Rolled up the left lamp and magnet grabbed it and held for a second and dropped it in like it should. Started multiball and let it drain. Lit lock again and hit right ramp and magnet grabbed. Great.

So it appears the shooter lane switch not working caused the magnet not to kick on in the program. I guess a ball count issue since it never saw it in the lane? All other aspects of the game worked ok so I was focusing on the magnet and switches. Thought I'd switch gears to the other issue and seems to have resolved it at least for a game. Which is better than I had. I'll test more later since I'm technically "working" from home today and I should show some production.

I'll update later. Thanks for the suggestions.

Weird game behavior is almost always due to a CPU ball count error, and it's the trough opto board (or switches) 99% of the time.

It doesn't require the ramp entrances to lock. My girlfriend has a knack for air-balling directly up to the ramp.

Now that I’m through the lock issue, for now at least, back to an original question. Any suggestions for the center ball decals? Skill is gone and others are coming up a little.

Check out posts starting around #3210 and #3211. I think there are some users out there with scans that may be able to help you out (e.g. Hammerhead , @coyote, @boiydiego).

pinphila did his own slip-on decals for the center ball, too.

I have an intermittently weak right flipper. Per the recommendations in this forum, I removed the right opto board and cleaned the two u-shaped opto switches with isopropyl alcohol and dried them with the other side of the Q-tip. After re-installing the opto board, both flipper don't work? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Switch test shows a problem with switches 17, 37 and 77. I see in the switch matrix that they are in the same line. Any help in resolving would be greatly appreciated. I don't see any loose wires, so far. Thanks

nice. enjoy, brah.

Just installed side decals from pinball center, cleaned and put on a fresh coat of wax. This game is so awesome when playing fast and fresh!
GOAAAAL

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36BE3742-A480-440B-AFEC-84B88E8EF490 (resized).jpeg

38E0DFE2-15D2-4D05-BC2D-A0C8610047C4 (resized).jpeg

What kind of wax are you using?

Looking for a really nice one .... PMme if anyone wants to sell one.

Just some generic paste car wax from a local pinballshop.
http://www.pinball.center/en/shop/maintenance-service/tools/8446/platinum-coating-wax?c=2193
Works great!
Meguiars stuff is so expensive here...

Marco replacement ball motor broke after about 150-200 games. Pinion gear stripped out.

What's the typical lifespan of these? Anyone have any info on replacing just the gear? Motor and gearbox are fine.

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I just purchased my WCS94 and haven't done a tear-down yet, but looking at the pic, is there a radio-controlled car gear that may work? I remember racing them when I was younger and there being a ton of different gear sizes and shapes.

That's exactly the sort of thing I'm hoping someone knows something about.

What does Marco have to say?

Expected life? 23 years on my original

That needs to be refunded

Question, what was the reason you replaced the original motor? Should have lasted more than 200 games. I still have my original in my game. If gearbox is starting to fail it could cause this to.

That does look like a cheap pinion gear.

Marco is going to replace it.

Same problem - a gear stripped out within a week of shopping the machine out. When I pulled the part I noticed someone had put washers between the motor and gearbox to change the point where the gears mesh. This one appears to be an original part.

Too bad no one offers a rebuild kit for these!

I would make sure inside that box nothing is damaged.(tooth gone or misalignment). New gear n motor on old worn or broken parts you'll be back in the same boat.
Good luck

What’s the plus/minus in going LED versus LCD on the color display? Besides $30?

Explained here:
http://www.colordmd.com/led.html

LCD has a "HIRES" smoothing mode and upscaling dots modes that some people prefer. I use DOTS XL on my LCD display and it looks good.

LED is more vivid and (IMO) it all just fits a little better when installing. It also feels a little more authentic to me. But as it's a real DMD it's all dots, all the time.

I own a LCD and 3 LEDs now, so I'm kind of on team LED, but if you think you might like the smoothing and upscaled dots modes, the LCD will do everything the LED does, just a little more less-vivid.

Here's the LED in my WCS. Looks great! WCS_CDMD (resized).jpg

If you like dots, LED no question. If you don't mind breaking the tradition and having it look more modern, LCD all the way b/c it offers that option and it offers dots. I'm an LCD guy as it gives me both.

Any chance someone out there can take a video of an LCD in HiRes mode with WCS?

I bet it looks really good actually, the flat colors and bold outlines probably lend itself well to HIRES. If so, I'd considering swapping my LCD into WCS and putting the LED into TZ.

I never really liked the smoothing effects mode. I prefer dots, so if I was going to get a ColorDMD, I'd go with the LED. All personal preference really.

But with LCD you get all those options including dots. With LED you’re stuck. That’s what make me nervous to gonthat route unless I have to.

Yes I have thought about this as well. But with a LCD I would probably keep it on dot mode, and really never use the other ones. So I'd just go with the LED (save a few bucks too.)

That's what I usually suggest too for people who just aren't sure, but that said, if you're a dot man (like me) the LED dots look better, warmer, more vivid.

Good points. Forgot about the price difference too.

LED all the way.

LCD looks washed out and the blacks are grey. The backlight makes it "dim" around the edges too.

Here's a HIRES vid from YouTube. Looks good but yeah, I'll stick to the dots.

Thanks for posting! I’m a big dot fan, but that hi-res looks better than most of the others I’ve seen! I’d probably still lean towards LED to keep it a bit closer to DMD...

Yeah no. A 90's game should have dots. It doesn't look right otherwise.

Yeah I agree, the upscaling is just weird to me. I much prefer just the regular dots. But of course, there is no right or wrong, it's all based on personal preference.

word of wisdom

Did you ever figure out how to get those posts out? I removed the bolt from under the playfield and tried every deep socket I could (11/32, 9mm, 3/8) but nothing worked. Those round posts with the fat bolt-like bottom need to be removed for several Cliffys - two bottom saucers and the scoop. Thanks!