Terminator 2 ball actuator under skull problems

happy4444

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Hey Guys,

Those of you that have this machine I am in need of your help.
What first happened was the other day i turned on the machine, and automatically i kept getting the popping from the back ball popper behind the skull (no ball in it). Just that popper would pop about 4 or 5 times then stop. Then i would be able to hit start and load a ball and play a bit but my black drop target actuator directly under the skull was giving me issues. I removed the glass and would hand roll the ball into the skull and eventually the black stopper would drop and then id be able to roll the ball all the way back into the popper. But then again it would go through the lost ball initiation until it eventually would pop it into the cannon.

I opened up the machine and found the bracket that held my actuator switch broke. I ended up making an exact replica out of sheet metal (shown in picture). I put everything back but was unsure what the lever was supposed to hit to be activated. On the inside of the machine I was unsure if it went where the black ball stopper drops down once hit under the skull on the playing field or further below where the piston comes out the bottom.... i have pics attached of where its located.

However i tried several angles of where to place the switch arm but i kept getting almost the same results with the back popper going off several times when i turn on the game...AND when a ball eventually makes it behind the skull. I'm more or less confused at how the broken bracket affects the popper behind the skull unless A solenoid is busted and the actuator switch both breaking at the same time is a coincidence. I did however hit the actuator switch in the pic and it DOES work but I am unsure of what its purpose is.

If i lost you please let me know lol

Any help would be great before a call a pinball repair guy up.


Thanks and happy new year

Nick






Side view of switch


Back view (you can see the switch and the arm and where its positioned to hit.) I'm not sure if its supposed to hit the black part or the metal tab further below to be activated... i tried both and the problems weren't fixed.
 
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See the tab on the drop target ? When the target is down it should push the arm on the switch so the switch is closed. When the target is up, the switch should be open.

LTG :)
 
The bracket holding the microswitch is bent.

It should be parallel to the main bracket it is attached to so the long switch blade is actuated by the plastic tab on the back of the drop target.

Does the switch reliably register in switch edge test mode?

Not with your finger, by allowing the drop target to drop and manually resetting it.

Bend the switch bracket back to it's correct position.

RussMyers
 
Mine was all wonky when I got it. I fiddled with it a ton and ended up buying a bunch of parts to rebuild it. That metal arm on the micro switch did get bent a lot when i was messing with it. After putting in new parts I needed to adjust the arm on the micro switch to get it working good like said above.
 
See the tab on the drop target ? When the target is down it should push the arm on the switch so the switch is closed. When the target is up, the switch should be open.

LTG :)

The bracket holding the microswitch is bent.

It should be parallel to the main bracket it is attached to so the long switch blade is actuated by the plastic tab on the back of the drop target.

Does the switch reliably register in switch edge test mode?

Not with your finger, by allowing the drop target to drop and manually resetting it.

Bend the switch bracket back to it's correct position.

RussMyers

Mine was all wonky when I got it. I fiddled with it a ton and ended up buying a bunch of parts to rebuild it. That metal arm on the micro switch did get bent a lot when i was messing with it. After putting in new parts I needed to adjust the arm on the micro switch to get it working good like said above.

I'll mess around with it more when i get home. You think the position of the arm is my only problem? No selenoids or any serious shit?

Thanks guys!
 
As an update, i fixed the problem. The lever sensor for the drop target i have pictured, i messed with that more and bent the bracket i made at a better angle.

My main problem was that if you take apart the entire assembly, the black plastic drop target that slides down has a black plastic wedge shaped slider about a 1/4 inch long, held in by two rivets. Well one of the rivets popped through so the wedge was hanging down, not allowing the drop target assembly to slide down correctly. Once i fixed this i still had problems with the ball popper under the skull... it wasnt picking up that there was a ball in it. I ended up bending the copper sensors in the ball popper cradle and it ended up fixing the problem. I guess they just got pushed down over time.

The machine no longer continuously pops when i turn on the machine. And everything works as normal. Thanks for the help guys. Now i gotta find a fix because the left flipper corner of the machine is coming apart a little bit and needs to be rejoined/reglued?.... (i have to search to see what guys did but any experience let me know guys.)

Later
 
Great to hear you have it working correctly.

This is essentially the same B/W single drop-target assembly that I had to rebuild in my BSD because it continually tried to reset itself.

Was a combo of issues - I replace the rollover drop target, the spring, the target stop, and the microswitch and arm. It just gets so much play and worn parts over it's time on location it was better to just rebuild it completely.

The cabinet separation is no big deal. Fixing it is just basic cabinetry/joinery repair - about a million resources available. If you have a buddy who is into woodworking/cabinetry/joinery that would help a lot, but really it's just:

Carpenter's wood glue
A couple of pipe clamps

Probably best to get the machine up on sawhorses and take the leg(s) off
Spread the joint open and get the glue in there
Clamp the joint with the pipe clamps under pressure, making sure it's all square
Wipe off all excess glue - it's water soluble
Wait 24 hours
Make sure you have some padding or shims or something under the pipe clamps so you don't scar the cabinet art
You're done

An advanced repair can involve adding a corner block and using a compressed-air crown stapler and glue to make it really tight, but that's beyond my skill level.

It's a piece of cake for anyone that does cabinet repair

RussMyers
 
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