Couple of problems with my Fish Tales pin

Gambeno

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I just picked this machine up the other day and I'm having 2 problems. One is the Reel, for some reason it never lines up right to except the ball. Also, it will kick the ball out sometimes when it turns which I'm guessing is because its not lined up right. Another problem Im having is with playfield. I'm not sure why but the ball rolls off the left flipper. I have leveled the machine but its still doing it. Is the playfield warped perhaps?
Any help for a novice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Kane
 
Start by cleaning the optos that are in the reel. Use a qtip and some isopropyl. Also check that it has the proper belt installed and not a playfield rubber. They are fairly easy to get at.

Sometimes this little pulley wears out on the reel as well, the middle hole should be D shaped.
http://mad-amusements.com/product.php?id_product=168

Here's a link to a new belt if needed
http://mad-amusements.com/product.php?id_product=167

I don't understand what you mean by rolls off the flipper. Please explain...

I just picked this machine up the other day and I'm having 2 problems. One is the Reel, for some reason it never lines up right to except the ball. Also, it will kick the ball out sometimes when it turns which I'm guessing is because its not lined up right. Another problem Im having is with playfield. I'm not sure why but the ball rolls off the left flipper. I have leveled the machine but its still doing it. Is the playfield warped perhaps?
Any help for a novice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Kane
 
Thanks for the link, mine has a playfield rubber on it for sure. Also, what I mean by the flipper is if I catch the ball per say in it, it just slowly rolls out like its not leveled. I literally can put the ball in the flipper and it still rolls out... This is with the flipper up of course.
 
Holy freakin moly! It'd have to be the playfield warped/bubbled/seperated. Take a ruler/small chunk of wood or anything small with a straight edge and lay it across that area. If you see daylight you've got issues which from your desciption ... man I hope I'm wrong. PF's aren't cheap and they really suck to replace. Congrats on your first pin though!
 
wow, and wtf..

ok 1 wow..
2. how the hell would a playfield warp?
not questioning it being possible just curious on how this could happen..
not something I would want to discover after buying a pin..

Holy freakin moly! It'd have to be the playfield warped/bubbled/seperated. Take a ruler/small chunk of wood or anything small with a straight edge and lay it across that area. If you see daylight you've got issues which from your desciption ... man I hope I'm wrong. PF's aren't cheap and they really suck to replace. Congrats on your first pin though!
 
5099580570_bc647761f1_b.jpg

^ captured from Fish Tales manual from ipdb ^


Have you properly leveled the machine? There are leg levelers on the bottom of all 4 legs. Easiest way is to use a small level and put it right on the playfield, not on the glass.

You might also want to make sure your slope on the playfield is set correctly. This is done with an angle finder or a smart phone with a level application. The stanley and bostich ones for the iphone is amazingly accurate. In below pic it is on the glass just to show how accurate it is. You would want to be on the playfield to get the slope right.

4583853361_4f1e3e55f2.jpg


I usually just get down on all fours and lift the machine up with my back to adjust the levelers.

Another thing causing the flipper problem could be that the flipper is not using its full range of motion or is not aligned correctly when at rest. Below the tips of the flippers there should be a hole with a roll pin in it. They sell a little tool that you can stick in the hole and the flipper should rest on it. A toothpick works just as good. And a flipper rebuild might be in order and most often will make them much stronger. Plus it is a fun and pretty simple project to start with to learn about working on your machine.
 
I was thinking about this on the way into work today. I forgot you mentioned you were new to this and I made an assumption that you'd know the basics.
So as the previous poster mentioned (he did level it already) that it's possible your flipper isn't positioned properly in the rest position?
Compare it to this photo. http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=861&picno=12487&zoom=1
It's possible that someone used too long of screws that could be causing the PF to lift in that area .... while I highly doubt it .. just check if there are screws in that area.

I'm very curious as to what you actually have going on here.
 
Thanks for all the input I really appreciate it. I'm going to check this tonight after work and see what I come up with. Luckly I didn't pay too much for the machine (less than $900) but I didn't know what to look for when purchasing a machine but I know now.
Thanks,
Kane
 
Also, just a quick question that could possible be the problem as well.... Does it matter how you put the legs on? I assumed they were all the same but after looking at the machine last night maybe I installed the legs wrong.
Thanks,
Kane
 
The reel is pretty picky about the "level" of the game... it works best when its leveled properly and if your playfield is too steep... forget about it... the balls will never come out of the reel.

The problem I had with mine was the motor controller board connection... after I cleaned the reel, re-belted it and cleaned the optics, I still would have an issue with multi-ball. I had to clean and re-pin the motor controller connector.
 
looking at the manual my playfield is not leveled right, its too steep. Maybe this will help a bit, I'll see tonight. Thanks again for all the help.
 
OK so I took some pictures
1. Level right on the left flipper
2. Level on the playfield
3. Pic of the reel not Lining up properly
4. pic of flipper in the up position. I notice they are not lined up and also I could, "push" the left flipper up a little more and could barely push the right one up at all. not sure if that matters.
5. The back up of the playfield. Looks to me like its leaning to the right like its not in correctly.
 

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I am not familiar with how the newer williams playfields mount in the cab, but I agree with the 5th pic it does look like it is leaning.

I would lift the playfield up and examine how it is resting on the piviot points. Seems there are some bolts it hinges on and maybe one might be wonky.

Would also check the levelness of the playfield in multiple places on the lower and upper playfield. I know that machine is pretty busy in the middle and it prob is not possible to get a level up in the upper area.

It it level on the glass?

There has to be something not sitting right. Your flippers look to be traveling all the way, so that rules that out. Thanks for a vid. That is not right for it to be doing that.

Are you sure the playfield is hooking correctly where the lock bar covers it? On both of my machines I have to tug a bit to get both sides to lock in and lay flat.
 
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Seems like its not level and the playfield seems to be leaning back and to the right. That last picture doesn't look like its mounted into the cabinet right. Something is definatly not sitting correctly. Weird that the bubble level is showing it so dead on from left to right. I mean the ball is governed the laws of physics. If it was really all level it wouldn't roll. It MUST be warped or something.
 
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Well somehow I fixed the flipper problem though I don't know how I did it. I pulled the playfield out, messed with the leveler and flipper. Now I'm cleaning the sensors on my reel and i was wonder when putting the reel back on does it matter how it goes on, or does it find its home when you restart it? I notice that the reel has numbers one it I guess for the pinballs.
Thanks,
Kane
 
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