Space gun and solenoids...

in99flames

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Hello all....solenoid question.....one of my space gun solenoids acts funny. Wondering what i can do to fix or replace it. I opened it up and saw the caked up grease that was 26 years old. After cleaning, i used white lithium grease and relubricated the cylinder. It now fires but it is not as strong as the other gun. Also...it seems when the machine sits for a bit ill turn the game on and the solenoid barely fires the piston. After it seems to "warm up" it eventually goes to normal pulsating...but still not as strong as the other gun. Is there something I should be looking for to fix? Or does it need a replacement? I have no idea where to find a replacement so i hope thats not it. I also am in need of the red plastic space gun marquee. Thanks for any help guys :)
 
know nothing about space gun but perhaps its a thumper coil thing .... if its a typical solenoid coil / plunger set up grease of any sort is exactly not what to apply to it

cleaning all dirt & grease from it with rubbing alcohol is the best bet for improvement in performance

if nothing improves you may need to replace the coil

of course i know nothing of space gun
 
Oh so no grease? I see. I saw grease from before that dried out. I assumed adding new grease would work. I will clean it out again and test the result
 
Hey there, thanks for posting this as I have a similar issue where the solenoids on my guns are very weak. I also re-lubricated the cylinder, and that worked for a few days. I also spoke to someone else on the board who said that the recoil PCB would need to be checked as well. The last fix would be to replace the solenoids for newer/working ones, but in looking for those for the past 1.5 years, they are impossible to come by.

Please post any progress you make on this so we can all learn the answer to fixing these guns. Thanks!
 
Ok i cleaned up all the grease and used rubbing alcohol and swapped it all. This is what it looks like now
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So i tried something different. I cleaned up the plunger. No grease. Worked great but still a bit weaker than the other gun. So i flipped the solenoid around and put the plunger in on the reverse side.....works as strong as the other gun now. Would i be hurting anything by doing that? I would think not....but im curious as to why that seemed to work :p
 
I wouldn't think so either, but can you check the way your other stronger gun is set up? Is the solenoid backwards on that gun? I think cleaning up the plunger and solenoid is really a great starting point, but I know that these solenoids take a beating over years of use. This will be the next thing I start working on to see if I can make any headway on it.
 
I do grease my guns. I have a dialectic lithium grease. Never had a problem and they work great.

Swapping the guns would be a good test to see if it is the gun or the game.

Sadly, in Space gun, the recoil is driven from the main PCB. So, if it isn't the gun, you have a minor main PCB problem.

The voltage from the aux power supply is shared across the guns. The second aux is for the sound amp. (Many people mistake the second as left/right guns.)

That all being said, of the many used guns I have, some are stronger than others.
 
Interesting.thanks for the info about the board and the recoil. Ill keep an eye on it and see how the behavior develops after this fix. So Zmatt, here is some info for you and let us know if you yield similar results as me. As for the other gun, the solenoid there is positioned the original way. So...in order for me to illustrate, ill use side A as original front and Side B as original back. The problematic gun i was talking about (left gun, player 1) had the solenoid issue. After cleaning i removed the piston from side A, flipped the solenoid around and put the piston back into side B(all innuendos aside :p ) and side B is now the new front on the left gun. On the right gun, it was working no problem but i cleaned it up anyways. That solenoid was not flipped and side A is still in front. I can tell based upon the top solder points positions. Hope this helps. If my left gun starts to behave that way again ill post again.
 
Ah ok, thanks for reviewing what you did for your guns. I am going to try to disassemble, clean, reassemble and then see how they work. As Runaway stated, the guns are connected to the PCB, so there could also be something to look at there. If I find the problem and fix it I'll post it here.

Also, I know you're still looking for a Space Gun Marquee. If I find one around I'll be sure to let you know.
 
Ah ok, thanks for reviewing what you did for your guns. I am going to try to disassemble, clean, reassemble and then see how they work. As Runaway stated, the guns are connected to the PCB, so there could also be something to look at there. If I find the problem and fix it I'll post it here.

Also, I know you're still looking for a Space Gun Marquee. If I find one around I'll be sure to let you know.
Thank you!! I have been looking for that marquee since i got space gun in August. I havent had any luck at all :-(
 
Lol, just rebuilt/repainted my space guns a couple months back. They share the same parts as terminator 2 essentially. Redid the pots and put new makeshift recoil buffers as well since the old ones were destroyed. Hey, can you do me a favor and take a pic of your side art? I had mine scanned and am in the process of restoring them in photoshop and having them reprinted for fresh artwork. Mine were faded badly as the red was white and my bottoms were water damaged so I had to rebuild the cabinet and pull my artwork off.
 
I can....but mine are also a bit sun faded haha. Let me know if you get a good reproduction. I would buy a set. How about the marquee??? :-D
 
Any idea what type are the pots or where I can find new one?
Also what is the dimensions of rubber ring and the spring on the plunger for the coil?
Any source?

Between the parts must be same like Operation Wolf 3
 
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the coils and plungers are pretty much a copy/version of what is used in a pinball machine and do not require any sort of lubrication at all since any sort of lube would actually increase resistance between the plunger and the coil

clean and dry is the way to go, i use 70 to 90% alcohol to clean coil sleeves and plungers in pinball machines with good results

not saying saying the spacegun op manual doesn't say to lube them just saying what works best in a coil plunger set up in a pinball machine

its tough finding replacement coils for these gun machines
 
Replacement pots I bought at Frys Electronics for $1.99 and we're 5K pots if I remember. Certain Radioshacks sell them as well if you don't have a frys. The buffer orings I bought a box of computer case seals that are the exact dimensions needed since they don't sell those anywhere. If you want some, PM me your address and I'll ship you a bunch. They decrease the recoil sound but also make it smoother running and softer hitting.
 
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