Baby PacMan flipper issues

marvins_dad

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Need some pinball folks advice.
Take a look at my youtube video of my flippers. The right flipper seems to be not firing all the way when it hits the ball, but all the way when not hitting...then at the end it actually fires all the way when it hits the ball.
The left one has acted gimpy as well, but not as frequently.
It seemed to have started doing this recently...I don't remember the action being this bad a couple weeks ago.

Is this the indication of a flipper rebuild needed...or something else?

http://youtu.be/whv4EkURm8M

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Antoine
 
coil or switch would be my guess. There are two power phases of the flipper, high power for flip, low power for hold so you don't fry the coil. Check to make sure the switch is hitting HIGH then LOW just by looking at the switch, then check the voltages with a meter over several times to see that they are both registering correctly.
 
This is only a guess but in my experience flipper problems can be caused by many different problems.
If you push the flipper by hand do you feel any binding in the motion. I have seen people put grease on the flipper shaft and it will get hard. Also I have seen worn out linkages cause binding.
Most of the time it's the plastic sleeve in the coil that the steel plunger runs in and out the coil when energized and the end of the plunger will mushroom from striking the stop which will cause binding in the sleeve and if the EOS (end of stroke) switch is burnt or broken then if someone holds the flipper button too long the coil will over heat and cause the plastic sleeve to melt causing it to bind. It could also be a broken wire going to the coil and the heat shrink is still holding it on barely making contact. Grab the wires and give a slight pull if you cant see the solder joint. Check the flipper button leaf contacts too. Could also be a voltage problem.
Good Luck
 
So - here is what the flipper assemblies look like. They don't look too bad. Didn't disassemble them to look on the inside of the them or for mushrooming...I had the right shaft out and polished it when we first got the unit and don't recall any deformations on the shaft.

I used contact cleaner on all contacts and checked the fuses, pulled them, cleaned and wire brushed the sockets and fuses so they would have perfect contacts...they were kind of scaly looking.

I took readings across each of the coils 3 wires using the closest ground for the ground and read about 42 volts across all 6 of the connections (both sets of 3). I might have had my meter set wrong and it could have been 4.2 volts...not sure what the range should have been that I was looking for. I guess I checked the the proper way?

When I tested...still no good. Both of them act the same...full flipper rotation when there is no contact with the ball, when the ball hits them they either do a half or quarter rotation. :(

I did notice a plastic bushing that is cracked on the right flipper (polished one).

I guess I should just bite the bullet and get the rebuild kit and new coils and just replace everything...but wish I knew what exactly was the issue before spending all that cash.

Anyone see anything physically wrong with the assemblies?
 

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Ugh!
I swapped the Coil Stops to see if one was magnetized or mushroomed. No change. They are both copper looking and the stop seems to be a black plastic.
The Coil Sleeves look straight, just a build up of graphite or something on the inside and out, I guess I could clean these with rubbing alcohol or something just for grins to see if that is causing some resistance.
The Switches are in decent shape, no charring and they aren't bright, but the contacts make contact and seem to be spaced properly.

I don't really see anything physically wrong. I am not sure what is still wrong unless it is the coil itself. I really haven't been able to find how to check the coil itself. It has 42v coming into all three leads...but after that, I'm not sure how to test them since the game has to be in the playfield to allow them to fire.

It only seems to not fire fully when there is resistance... ie weight of the ball against the flipper. It flips full power when nothing is in contact with it.

Any ideas?
 
Both flipper coils are the same #AQ-25-500_34-45 ,3 terminal, dual winding flipper coil
If the problem is only with the one coil then try swapping the 2 coils and see if the problem moves with the coil or stays on the same side. Or you could just replace the coil. You could have one of the windings in the coil bad.
 
Thanks for the quick response!

I'll chalk this up to me being an idiot noob!
My 6 year old kept telling me that I needed to tighten the flippers...that that would be the way to fix it. Well, that - in a nut shell did it!

Basically, when I first got it the right flipper was dead...after pulling it apart I finally noticed a loose wire...soldered it and it worked fine. Apparently, when I set the flipper up I didn't pull it all the way down and might not have tightened it all the way down...so I think it has slipped over the past month to a point that it had too much play in the flipper.

I cleaned the sleeve, then reset the flipper and tightened it down all the way.
Works like a charm now!

I guess that's how you learn....right?:eek:
 
At least I know the other components are in pretty good condition and I have a deeper understanding of how the coils and flippers function.

..now if I could figure out why 12 of my lights don't work...
 
I'm seein rust all over one of the plungers.. that will need to go - the flipper sleeve wont last long with it that way. You will still benefit from a rebuild.
 
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