Here we go, down into the hole! Soldering, wiring, praying...

TOK

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Here we go, down into the hole! Soldering, wiring, praying...

Have the first non plug & play type problem with my Pinbot... The drop targets aren't resetting. They're trying, but the coil is just pulsing. I cleaned up the mechanism as best I could without pulling it out of the machine, but it didn't help.

After having vids for so many years, its actually annoying how everything is soldered in a pinball machine, even microswitches that are lugged for connectors. Random little diodes and crap inline too. Seems so haphazard compared to vid wiring of the same era.

I ordered a Metcal soldering station and a few spare coils and parts to have on hand. I don't think I've actually soldered something since building RC airplane stuff 6 or 7 years ago. Even then, it wasn't a lot of soldering, so I'm freaking out a little bit.

I probably should have just started by checking coil voltages, which I'll still do before pulling it all apart but if I'm committing to this mess I'm going to start needing stuff like this anyway.
 
No need to panic.

You haven't soldered in years, sit at your workbench or table and practice. Learn to flow solder good.

There is a lot more connections in a pinball machine, and a lot more vibration, than a video game. Be glad they use solder and not slide on connectors - you'd go nuts running down each of those problems.

The drop targets, if you push them up by hand, do they go smoothly ? If not pull it out and clean the whole mech good, take it apart, be sure you put it back together right - and no telling if it's assembled right now. Over time washers and springs get mixed up.

You'll be fine, a few problems and you'll be enjoying your game soon.

LTG :)
 
The drop targets do seem to move pretty smoothly, and if I push just one up by hand, the coil has enough power to push the other two.

I will do a full teardown as soon as the iron arrives. I want to remove and reassemble it while everything about it is fresh in my mind. I'll definitely do the soldering practice. I've never actually had a decent soldering setup, so I'm somewhat looking forward to at least messing with it!
 
I would check the coil for the drops by taking it out of the game. Look for "mushroomed plunger end", file if needed and replace the coil sleeve inside the coil. File smooth any coil stop where the plunger hits it. Might also check to make sure someone has not put too strong of springs on the drop targets as a quick fix. A combination of worn plunger/coil sleeve and wrong springs might be enough to hang everything up.

Good luck.
 
I noticed the knocker seems to be firing soft in addition to the drop target problem.
 
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