Fire Escape (Mech-Tronic) Expert help needed (please)

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Fire Escape (Mech-Tronic) Expert help needed (please)

Hi,
Picked up a Fire Escape (Mech-Tronic) and was sold as "working" (no funny business, I had agreed to the condition) and it did play for a bit.

The voltage was low (+4.82vdc) but there is no voltage adjustment on the PCB, (AFAIK) so I eventually swapped out the LM7805 and replaced the filter cap. Voltage is now great at +5.02vdc but other issues have materialized.

The most troubling is that a ball no longer discharges from the top as it should. As I do not have any real operation manuals, I am learning as I go and it appears that there should be more balls. The reasoning behind this theory is that I can see a ball just below the eject level on the left side top chute as I crank the eject lever clockwise, if there was one more ball on the stack, it would come out.

Whats very strange is that it was working and then just stopped, so where did the ball go!?!?!??!

I checked everywhere that I could and have not located it.

Also the chute solenoid is not energizing although there is power going to it when it is supposed to, checked with a DMM, so that needs to be replaced as well.

Here's what I got so far, from observations and guesstimates, you credit the game, the game goes through the start up theatrics, the ball "barrier" at the bottom of the game opens via the activation of the solenoid and allows the ball to go into the stack, thereby allowing a ball from the top to be discharged as the handle is cranked? This cycle is repeated until all balls (as paid for) have been exhausted and then the Game Over and High Score lamps cycle?

Can anyone please shed some light onto this for me as I have no operations manual and would like to get this going again.

BTW, how does one add a ball, (if this is necessary), is there a secret method or do I need to disassemble the mechanism, it does not look like fun......

Thanks in advance
Jeff
 
Once the game has started, the bottom gate opens to allow a ball to enter. You turn the water handle to allow a ball to enter from the top. If you do not turn the handle, the game is playing its tune and continuously opens the gate. The bonus and balls left display will alternately switch as the gate opens. If it is doing this, you have a ball stuck somewhere.
 
I searched for that ball..........
Guess I have to look better, it HAS to be there somewhere.
Thank you for the response, that is how I thought it should work.
I'll update once I check again, thanks.
Jeff
 
I "fixed" the solenoid. It was too far out for the magnetic field to grab it so I adjusted the stroke and it now functions correctly.

The game works perfectly, cycles correctly but that ball is gone.......

I checked the inside base, I checked the play field, checked the fire escape chute...... I do not know were the heck it went!?!?!?!

Is the ball the same size as the Ice Cold Beer? If so, I have a spare and I could slip it in somehow......

Almost there......
 
You said that you can see the ball on the bottom left. Does it move up and down as you turn the lever? I went down to test mine and had a ball stick as it went down the left drain. I tapped on the back and it fell down. From what I can tell, the ball starts by being stopped by the gate. The gate opens, the ball enters the bottom of the stack. Somehow by operation of the handle, the stack is pushed up by one ball, which causes the ball on the top of the stack to enter for gameplay.

A good tap might be in order to find that missing ball. I took my playfield off a while ago to check for proper movement and a cleaning. It was not hard, just time consuming. I did not have that stack apart at that time.
 
Yes, that is how (ASAIK) the game functions, chute opens, ball goes to the bottom of the stack, the plunger pushes the ball through that check lever and then the top ball runs out onto the play field.

It's not stuck at the bottom, I checked that at the least - 20 times!

It's like it "ESCAPED"!!!
 
Resolved!

Holy C--P!
I got back to troubleshooting and went through the game again and still could not locate that ball......
I started tracing out the system and found that every time I "started" a ball, it would be over just as quick, which led me to believe that a switch was stuck somewhere but looking down the chutes, still could not find the culprit.
Finally with the help of my son, I found the *#%@ ball! It was stuck, kinda wrapped up in the wire of the microswitch all the way to the left, the ZERO scoring chute, down just enough that it could not be seen from the front of back but when looking into the slot where the wire goes, THERE IT WAS!.
I took out a skinny screw driver and needed to "untangle" that damn ball, it was really wrapped up in there.
Anyway, I am very happy to be able to report that this has finally been resolved, it was really twisting my brain.
Thanks for all the assistance and feedback, much appreciated.
Jeff
 
Another problem has now surfaced!

It appears that the previous owner had mixed up the wiring for the microswitches so the scoring is not what it is supposed to be. Zero for 100 and visa versa..... and I am not getting a "free ball" when that chute is hit so now I have to figure out that.

Arg!
 
Jeff - glad you found the missing ball. The game comes with 30 or more balls that stack on top of each other inside the left chute. If you are -1 it ruins everything.

Hope you figure out the free ball issue. I'm no expert on Fire Escape, but I did take my machine apart for the restore so I figured out a few tricks......shoot me questions if you have them and maybe we can solve stuff together.
 
Thanks man!

Yea, one ball down is a bummer and it was strange how long it took me to actually find it, although I walked away for a few weeks, it was really getting me crazy.....

I guess what I am going to have to do is try each microswitch and try and take notes as to what each one does (score etc.) then mark each lead and then correctly attach to their respective switches.

Thanks and I will post once completed.
Jeff
 
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