CC Sound Stage Tracking Down the Issues

After taking the motor out and looking closer I think the motor armature is not disengaging properly. There are two sets of teeth that engage when the motor's on, and when manipulating them with my hand I can see they wiggle, but don't disengage. From what I've read the CCM motors are very similar to Gottlieb's and there's supposed to be a spring in there somewhere that pulls or pushes the armature apart and prevents coasting. It's hard to tell from the attached image, but there is no spring anywhere on the armature. I can't find any pictures of another motor from the correct angle to see if it's the case. Just an FYI, there is a spring on the shaft of one of the gears in the gearbox, but that's not what I'm wondering about.
 

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3D Printed Cam

After totally disassembling the motor, lots of cleaning, some oil, and minor adjustments, I came to the conclusion that cam 1 was just too worn to stop the score motor where it was supposed to. I first fabricated a metal plate with the proper angles to test this theory, and though a bit clunky I was right. With the proper angles the score motor stopped exactly where it was supposed to. I set out to 3D scan the cam, adjust the worn areas, and 3D print a replacement. It took a couple of months to nail down a buddy with a 3D printer, and I just tested the prototype cam today and it works great. Everything stops where it should and I can start a game without manually tripping switches. I still have the issue where the game goes on forever, but I think that's a ball count problem.
 

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Alright I'm stumped again, but I think this is the last issue. Everything else works correctly. The ball count unit won't step up when a ball drains or the outhole lane switch is pressed, so the games go on forever, kicking out a new ball every time it drains. Here's what I've done: The bakelight and fingers have been cleaned and filed where necessary. I've checked the edge connectors and they're all making solid contact. I replaced the ball index relay coil, and it fires properly when the outhole lane switch is pressed. I've cleaned and checked switches D3 and B2 on the score motor which control 1 and 2 player ball step up. I removed the step up solenoid from the unit and cleaned and tested it outside the machine, it fires up fine. When a ball does drain the motor turns until it totals the bonus and kicks out a new ball like it should. I can manually step up the ball count unit until it reaches the max and trips game over, plus all the ball count lights light up. When I do this and start another game the ball count unit resets to 1 as it should. I checked this with no score as well as with some points on the board. I'm probably skipping some other stuff I did, but that's the bulk of it.

Edit: Traced this back to the out lane switch and the ball index relay. If I hold keep the the playfield runway switch closed the ball index relay stays energized and the game can be played normally. The ball count works and the game plays and ends as expected. Need to figure out why the ball index relay is not staying energized when ball is in play. Checked 100-900 relay, double bonus relay, tilt relay.
 
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100% working

After 9 months I've got this Sound Stage 100% functional, well let's say 99.9% functional, it occasionally skips/adds counting a ball maybe 1 in every 20 times, but I'm willing to let that slide. https://youtu.be/6gYxpN0Zoh8 The final fix was a further modified 3D printed cam with tighter indents, and a second filing/cleaning of the playfield switches, particularly the lane switches. Everything works, balls count, and the game ends when it's supposed to. I can also start a game without tripping the game start relay. Huzzah. Now finally on to cosmetic work. I'm removing the coin door tonight for refinishing, it's still caked with grease and rusted in spots. The paint is cracked and yellowed, cleaning it hasn't helped, and I want it to look nice in the arcade so I'm going to paint it. I have no plans to resell. Not sure what paint it with though I can airbrush it if that'd be best. Suggestions welcome.
 
Follow up

I thought I'd share this follow up. I had her working for the whole month of May, but in an attempt to improve her ball counting I made a slight adjustment to E3 on the motor and she stopped working entirely. I couldn't figure it out. I undid what I had done, replaced the outhole relay coil for good measure and scoured the playfield and backbox for anything that might be wonky. Nothing. I was so frustrated I hadn't touched her for months instead focusing on a Bally Star Trek I picked up. I turned her on today and she was partially working, I literally hadn't done anything. This isn't the first time this has happened.

I took a few minutes and watched her guts move while I turned her on and off, and I noticed a twitch in the start relay. I cleaned a contact and boom, she was back where she was in May. Thought I'd share this as one of those examples where what you think is the problem actually isn't. I had actually done a full restoration on the cabinet back in May when she was working, but don't think I posted here yet. Still working on the back glass. Thought I'd share those now.
 
Thanks Pat, I think I forgot to add the pictures.

One thing I noticed since we must've played a hundred games since yesterday. Every so often The start button won't start a game. If I go in and manually start the score motor so it automatically rotates to the next stop point (1/3rd rotation) the game will start up fine. It doesn't do this all the time, perhaps one in every ten games. I presume it's a switch on the motor that's not completely opening or closing at game over, and rotating it is allowing it another chance to open/close. Just not sure which one, or if it's even worth screwing with at this point. I'm so satisfied with it's performance in every other way, I don't want what happened in May happening again.
 

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Short and Burned Trace

I've clearly been playing this too much. I walked away mid-game the other day and came back to the power off. Of course it was a blown fuse. In searching for the cause I found that the 1000s reel arm was sticking and burned a trace. I'm confident I can repair this if someone can point me to a good thread/post that might cover it and can give me an idea on materials. I've repaired edge connectors with copper tape before, but I have a feeling this may be a bit different.
 

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I've clearly been playing this too much. I walked away mid-game the other day and came back to the power off. Of course it was a blown fuse. In searching for the cause I found that the 1000s reel arm was sticking and burned a trace. I'm confident I can repair this if someone can point me to a good thread/post that might cover it and can give me an idea on materials. I've repaired edge connectors with copper tape before, but I have a feeling this may be a bit different.

You can try copper tape, but the problem is that the fingers ride along it and it needs to be as flat as possible.

I'm sure Chicago Coin score reels are a dime a dozen. Just put a new part on it?

I'm not sure if either of these auctions are helpful but:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CHICAGO-CO...867794?hash=item3f89ebbdd2:g:LpYAAOSwdjdZ6-wO
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Chicag...576919?hash=item2cc8ed9ed7:g:Cl4AAOSwjDZYcxcx

-Pat
 
Thanks Pat, your advice is indispensable as always. I already swapped the burnt reel with one from the second player which we don't really play. I'm going to give the copper tape a go, I think I can get a pretty smooth surface. My soldering's been getting more like when I was doing this as a teen. Soldered an IC for the first time in decades on my NARC player control board. As for replacing the score reels I'd need to find one with the same trace layout, there seem to be some variants, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.
 
The copper tape worked just fine, and I put the repaired score reel in the player two thousands position leaving the original player two thousands reel as the new player one reel. Started her up and right at the 10k rollover the fuse blew again. I took a look at the thousands traces an thankfully nothing burned, I could see some discoloration on the trace but the fuse saved it. On a hunch I pulled the 10k reel and saw the attached. This must've happened last time, but I found the 1k reel trace damage first and figured it was the problem. I've ordered a new solenoid. I assume this was the root issue all along.
 

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Minor adjustment

Everything's working okay, but a seemingly minor issue that was happening before my 10k solenoid burned is that occasionally the 10k player one reel won't roll over, and (I'm sure it's related) the ball count unit occasionally won't advance. I'm fairly certain that after a while of use this seemingly minor issue probably caused the 10k solenoid damage. It's so inconsistent however I haven't been able to track it down. The score reels and ball count unit have been broken down and cleaned multiple times, and when metered everything seems to be making good contact, and the 10k has a new solenoid. It's not persistent, and it's the 10k reel so I don't think it's a stuck playfield switch. I've run through the schematic and cleaned and checked everything in sequence I think would affect this, but my understanding of how the ball count unit relates to the score reels isn't that clear. I've been focusing on section F-14 of the schematic (posted earlier) to try and track this down. Suggestions welcome.

As an aside, my father in law, who saved this from a trash heap in 1985 though he had never played it, finally got to play it properly over Thanksgiving and was delighted.

UPDATE: After fiddling around with the score reels and ballcount unit I came across what I think is part of the problem. The 9 position leads on the player 1 thousands reel read as always closed when the ball count unit is on zero or two balls (not in any other position). However, if I jiggle the ball count unit cam shaft this becomes intermittent. I'm not sure if this is significant or what it means. None of the other 9 position leads on the other score reels read as always closed.
 
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Had some free time and thought I'd revisit the two remaining minor issues with Sound Stage and see if anyone had some ideas. She works pretty well but the ball count won't advance consistently and the score reels sometimes won't roll over after the 9 position. Everything's cleaned and maintained regularly, including the switches and bakelites.

I'll take these one at a time; first the ball count isn't consistent. You end up with ten or more balls a game before game over as it only counts up every few times. You should only get 5. If I put a piece of tape on the rollover switch in the shooter alley the ball counter counts perfectly every time. That switch energizes the ball index relay. When the ball drains D3 on the motor should pulse and step up the ball count and the ball index relay should de-energize until another ball is shot. I posted the diagram previously. I thought maybe the ball index relay wasn't engaging every time the rollover switch was hit, but it energizes every time. Still the ball count unit doesn't always count up.

Any thoughts on what could be keeping her from counting consistently?

UPDATE: After some detailed testing (carefully) activating relays I think the ball count and score relay inconsistencies are related. The 10k reel only rolls over from the 9 position to when the ball count stepper is on ball 2. You can hear it energize before it rolls over when on 2. All other reels rollover fine. I cleaned the Ball Count stepper unit previously. I've included a terrible picture from when I cleaned it, and a very basic diagram from the cabinet, and pictures I took after testing it. I was marking the fingers with bits of tape to indicate which ones affected the 10k rollover while I tested. The two with blue tape are the ones, it's in the ball 2 position. Not sure how helpful these are as you can't see the order of the fingers. Don't know where to go from here. I found at least one of the fingers was at the wrong level, not sure if an exploded view of the stepper exists anywhere but I'm not hopeful. I may be able to fix it with more trial and error. Not sure how risky it is to experiment with the levels the wiper fingers are at and which make contact with each other. Don't want a bad short.
 

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Not to resurrect an old thread, but I wanted to provide a final update on this machine as I've finally tracked down the last issue after nearly 4 years of work. The ball count unit now counts balls every time and it was such a simple fix. The switch at C3 on the score motor just needed to be adjusted to have a smaller gap. I would never have thought this could fix the problem as the gap was already so close I felt it couldn't be tighter without being in an always closed state, but I adjusted it so it was nearly touching but still open. I had literally checked every single thing that affects the ball count unit multiple time and never thought the fix could be so simple.

I couldn't have figured this out without help from the folks at Lyons Arcade in Rock Hill, SC and their YouTube channel. I reached out after watching their Gunsmoke repair video and they provided detailed help and were just super friendly.

I've also finally found a replacement backglass as BGResto completed restoration of another one last year. This is such a satisfying conclusion I just had to share it.
 
Post a picture of the BGRESTO backglass.

I too have had excellent luck with them.
 
Post a picture of the BGRESTO backglass.

I too have had excellent luck with them.
It took six months, but it was well worth it. To Steve's eternal credit, he had an issue with the original reproduction before he sent it and completely remade it which accounted for the extra time. Per the request; here is a photo of the reproduction, and I'm including the original for comparison. I also wanted to share a some pics of how he packed it. Really appreciated the care.
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It took six months, but it was well worth it. To Steve's eternal credit, he had an issue with the original reproduction before he sent it and completely remade it which accounted for the extra time. Per the request; here is a photo of the reproduction, and I'm including the original for comparison. I also wanted to share a some pics of how he packed it. Really appreciated the care.
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Yep. I liked the pipe insulation around the whole thing to protect the bg from chips from postal problems. Mine was packed just as excellently.
 
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