Robotron(/Williams) Slam Switch... point?

Scucci

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Got some parts in yesterday to rebuild my coindoor on Robotron... while messing around in the switch test, I was reminded of something that's been bothering me for a while now... The slam switch in Robotron (as I remember, Defender too... probably all the others as well)... it's wired in... reads in switch test... ... but what the hell does it do? It sure as hell doesn't reset the machine, to do that you either have to reach behind in and flip the power switch, or reach through the machine, break your arm in 3 different places and hit the reset switch on the main board...

So... what is the slam switch supposed to do? Doesn't do a friggin' thing on my machine beside add 5 mins to the wiring time and use a connector pin in my harness.
 
So... what is the slam switch supposed to do? Doesn't do a friggin' thing on my machine beside add 5 mins to the wiring time and use a connector pin in my harness.

On my Joust the slam switch on the coin door resets the game. I know this because I had a good game going once (160K for me is good) with the coin door slightly open. I hit it with my knee and when the coin door banged shut I was treated to the rug screen. Took me 2 months to get another 150K plus score again.
 
On my Joust the slam switch on the coin door resets the game. I know this because I had a good game going once (160K for me is good) with the coin door slightly open. I hit it with my knee and when the coin door banged shut I was treated to the rug screen. Took me 2 months to get another 150K plus score again.

Then it works perfectly :).

It is there to reset the machine causing vandals to lose their games and any quarters they have pumped into the machine. It is sort of like an appendix, except that is is just left over from the pinball days. They didn't feel the need to port the tilt bob from pinball but having a sensor on the coin door made sense.

ken
 
Then it works perfectly :).

It is there to reset the machine causing vandals to lose their games and any quarters they have pumped into the machine. It is sort of like an appendix, except that is is just left over from the pinball days. They didn't feel the need to port the tilt bob from pinball but having a sensor on the coin door made sense.

ken

... that was covered in the original post, it doesn't do anything... and it's not just my machine. I've seen another Robotron, and it does nothing on that machine either.

Reads fine in switch test, but just doesn't reset the machine... figured it was just something they left in to keep using the same coindoors, but didn't bother putting it into use.
 
... that was covered in the original post, it doesn't do anything... and it's not just my machine. I've seen another Robotron, and it does nothing on that machine either.

Reads fine in switch test, but just doesn't reset the machine... figured it was just something they left in to keep using the same coindoors, but didn't bother putting it into use.

You might want to get out the schematics and trace down where it goes from the harness to the CPU board. Might be that it goes nowhere, but it might also be that it goes to something that fails and no one ever notices (who the heck tests the slam switch on a video?) I'd love to know if it's supposed to do anything (i.e. is it wired up to anything on the main PCB).
 
My MAME cab (which was originally a Robotron, but had been converted several times and gutted when I got it) has a slam switch on the coin door. Looks similar to the ones you see on Midway coin doors. It's got a piece of cardboard or something glued to the door to disable it though, and no wiring to it (does yours have soldered wires on the lugs, or slide-on connectors? Mine looks like it never had wires soldered to it)
 
If you check the cabinet wiring diagram you will see that it is attached to the coin door PIA on the ROM card.

Like many other operator hacked items the slam switch is frequently disabled or disconnected.

ken
 
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