I do like basket case projects - Williams Black Knight

I am loving this thread, can't wait to see more. The care that you take in the restoration of this machine is amazing and artful! It reminds me of watching the @LyonsArcade videos where a dilapidated, almost destroyed machine becomes whole and playable again.

- jon

Thanks!

I've not had time to work on it lately.

I did replace the flipper button leaf switches and adjusted the EOS switches on the upper flippers and that helped with the weird & weak upper flippers.

I still need to figure out what the ball kickout doesn't want to work and then finish removing all the red paint splatter off the apron.


The displays started acting flaking the last time I was 'playing' it and it resolved when I pushed on the display connectors on the MPU so I'll need to repin that connector.
 
You should slap some removable mylar to that spinner, otherwise in six months it's going to look like every other used, worn spinner.
 
Clear automotive paint protection film would probably be best. It's extremely durable and self healing if it gets a scratch, and removable if needed.
 
I've had zero time to work on Black Knight lately and its bumming me out.

I still need to try to clean the paint splatter off the apron and get it installed.


I also need to trim some of the hardtop around the ball trough, I think that lip is why the ball doesn't want to kick out.


I probably already posted it but one of the last times I had it on the displays were getting flaky so I need to crimp a new connector on the display header connections.
 
I had some free time over christmas to work on finally cleaning the apron.

I worked on getting of as much of the red paint splatter as I could. The yellow paint is so fragile that any where the red was on the yellow I wasn't able to get it off without starting to remove the yellow.


It looks a little better, at least I got all the tape residue off.

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I'll print up new apron cards and it really look good.

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I also worked on the ball not kicking into the shooter lane issue, I can't figure out what is causing it to not have enough power to kick it up...
 
I also worked on the ball not kicking into the shooter lane issue, I can't figure out what is causing it to not have enough power to kick it up...

You didn't mention the basics like validating the proper coil, replacing the sleeve, binding of the plunger, crappy pivot joint, and the wrong plunger. I've seen a bend on the lifter arm cause this. I also don't recall what work you've done up to this point.
 
The coil fires but the ball just hops in the trough.

Everything has been cleaned, new sleeve, new diode on the coil, that solenoid connector replaced on the driver board and it just doesn't have the umph to kick it all the way up.

At first it looked like maybe the plunger wasn't going down far enough, as if the plunger was replaced with one that was too long in the past.


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I compared it to what is in my Space Shuttle, the plunger is the same, the spring seemed to be a flipper spring and the kick out arm seems to be bent in a little bit, I think this was an issue before this game was put in storage back in the day.

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I completely temporarily swapped everything over from SS and no difference. That's when I decided to repin the connector in the back box with trifurcon pins to make sure it was making good connection.

The driver board pins were already reflowed.


The weird thing is if I push the ball slightly further back in the trough it kicks it right out, but everything is mounted where it should be on the bottom of the playfield. I can see the indent through the 4th unused screw hole of the pivot bracket and I compared its location to Space Shuttle.

The only other thing I haven't checked is the backbox connection at the neck, to make sure those pins are good and clean. Everything else is working great though...

I'm considering making a crescent shaped spacer to hold the ball back in the trough but I don't think I should have to do that.
 
The only other thing I haven't checked is the backbox connection at the neck, to make sure those pins are good and clean. Everything else is working great though...

I'm considering making a crescent shaped spacer to hold the ball back in the trough but I don't think I should have to do that.
A resistance check without the coil attached should tell you all you need to know. You could compare to the SS. No the spacer shouldn't be necessary.

The weird thing is if I push the ball slightly further back in the trough it kicks it right out,
Probably because it doesn't have to overcome the wood "lip" and it just arcs up and over.

If the reset coils on the drop targets are working I'd assume the power supply is up to snuff.
 
Can you pull the apron, put it in coil test and just keep repeating the kickout coil. Then just drop balls in and see what's happening?
 
The 2 things I see are an alignment issue (is the angled point of the arm hitting the center of the ball)? Otherwise it's too far back, regardless of where the OEM holes were. (You might be able to loosen the screws and twist or push it forward.

The 2nd thing I see is this piece needs bent back. (down in the pic).

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I had this same problem... Check at about 15 minutes into this video:


Thanks, I knew I had seen a similar thing somewhere.

We both had the same thoughts on the plunger length.

Weird thing is mine is correct.

I solved it by adding a spacer above the coil bracket and that increased the plunger travel by just enough to get the ball to pop up.
 
YMMV ...

BK_flippers.jpg
 
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