Gummed Up Diverter Arm, how to best handle?

Tighe

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Please see the video link below. One of the diverter arms in the subway of my TNG is gummed up and I think lead to the solenoid melting the sleeve.

I know you aren't supposed to use lube on pinball machines, I am looking for advice on how to best handle this. Do I just take the arm out and clean it? Is there a sleeve for the shaft like there are sleeves for flippers? I was looking at the parts list on Marco and if there is a sleeve I wasn't sure which one to use.

My first thought is to buy a new solenoid and sleeve and clean up the diverter shaft.

Symptoms when powering on the machine are that it keeps looking for balls and popping them up the in-lane VUK. I think it is trying to load a ball in the left cannon VUK. If I take a ball it will let you start a game.

Also, is there a switch for the diverter to know it's position, or is it just energized or not energized?

 
I'd take apart the moving parts and clean with alcohol, then reassemble and make sure there is no binding. Correct, no lube. Then, IF you can get the sleeve out, put in a new sleeve. Should be good to go. If you can't get the sleeve out, that is a sign that the plastic coil bobbin itself has also melted and you'll need to buy a new coil (which should come with a sleeve) . As you indicate, it should operate as smoothly as your other diverters.

I'd also inspect/test operation to ensure that the coil is not locked on. I'm not familiar enough with STTNG to know if those diverter coils are supposed to be energized for long periods of time or not. But the melting is a bit concerning. Did it melt due to gumminess, or due to ... ?
 
the inner ring on the non-wire side is the end of the sleeve the part sticking out of the wided side of the coil is the other end. Push the end sticking out. if it does not come not easy you melted or at least severly overheated the coil. and will need a new coil and sleeve. If it comes out easy just get the sleeve. measure it and go to pinballlife.com or marcopinball. Both are easy parts to get. Dissassembe the divertor and clean everything. If there is a bushing you might want to replace it. just see where is it binding and make sure its clean. If somehting is physically damaged it should be pretty obvious. There won't be a switch to detect divertor position usually. A switch, that likely is used for other things also, downstream will let the game know to release it.
 
If the coil has had any heat for an extended period of time, the sleeve would be an issue. Just take it apart, get a new coil/sleeve, clean it up. Best to bite the bullet then chase the problem later. If someone has filed the sleeve the walls will already be thinner and therefore compromised.

Really you are playing with time, and less than $30 in parts. Just jump and replace it. You will know its correct then.
 
Thanks, I had already ordered a new solenoid before making this thread. My major concerns were preventing it from happening again and how to free up the arm.
 
You have more problems. A purple wire with green stripe ( almost lavender color ) broke off of the two purple green stripe wires on the drop target. It's a diode tie back. So besides the coil, you burned up some stuff on the small driver board near the top right inside the backbox.

When you put the back together. I'd solder the three wires to one new long wire. Then solder that single wire to the drop target coil. That way if it breaks off you don't burn up stuff.

LTG : )
 
You have more problems. A purple wire with green stripe ( almost lavender color ) broke off of the two purple green stripe wires on the drop target. It's a diode tie back. So besides the coil, you burned up some stuff on the small driver board near the top right inside the backbox.

When you put the back together. I'd solder the three wires to one new long wire. Then solder that single wire to the drop target coil. That way if it breaks off you don't burn up stuff.

LTG : )
Wait you saw a broken wire in my video?
 
I looked quite a bit and the purple wire with green stripes looks good, I don't see any broken connections. I will look again when I get the replacement solenoid.
 
I see two potential issues.

The coil sleeve is DEFINATELY a problem. But something caused that problem.

I'm guessing either Playfield gunk or miss-alignment.

For the playfield gunk, I agree with the others. Remove the moving parts, clean all parts which go through something.

I use car wax on the shafts in lieu of oil. It doesn't accumulate dirt, and provides some anti friction properties. Wax on, allow it to set, wax off, install.

If you have ANY sticking without the solenoid installed, look for bent parts or parts that are miss-aligned / binding. Signs of miss-aligned parts are wear on parts (shiny where the rest is dull) or on the playfield / tunnel. Correct the miss-alignment. I'm betting your sweeper may be bent and coming into contact, or a ramp is messed up.

Find the problem and fix it, or you will damage the second solenoid.
 
One other thing: make sure your solenoid slug is not warped. You can do this by pulling it and rolling it on a flat surface. That would cause binding in the coil sleeve.

Note: I have never run into this, and don't think it's credible.
 
I looked quite a bit and the purple wire with green stripes looks good, I don't see any broken connections. I will look again when I get the replacement solenoid.

I looked quite a bit and the purple wire with green stripes looks good,
Did you check all three of them to the one lug ?

LTG : )
 
Just a follow-up to the repair.

The shaft cleaned up nicely, the manual actually does recommend lubricant on some of the parts, I didn't do that though.

Turns out that the TIP102 for the solenoid was bad and tested as 2 diodes leaving the solenoid on all the time.

I replaced it and did the diode tieback mod. I used jpin1 109 on the driver board as it's unused on TNG and ran it to pin 1 on J104 on the 8 driver board.

IMG_20220612_181030.jpgIMG_20220612_181041.jpgIMG_20220612_185533.jpgIMG_20220605_194836.jpg
 
Good job resolving the issue. That transistor must have shorted out.
 
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