Twister Problem - Canister Trough (lock) Not Registering

msignor

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Twister Problem - Canister Trough (lock) Not Registering

Hi guys,

Just got my Twister and I realized that when a ball goes into the canister ball lock, nothing happens.

I get no bonus, nothing on the DMD.. nothing.

It DOES pop a ball out if one goes in the canister trough but that's about it.

I have a feeling it's the switch membrane but not sure. I tested the diodes on the membrane board but there was no shorts.

Any ideas???
 
whats up man? i have a twister and i had that exact problem.......it drove me crazy because i wanted to play the game to its full effect. mine was a problem with the membrane switch. i bought a new membrane switch from steve young at pinball resource in new york and it was about $40 dollars. but it plugged right in and repaired my game. when i first had the problem i searched online and found multiple other people that this happened too.

if you replace the membrane switch make sure u remove all the old glue from the old membrane switch in the metal "trough" where the new one sticks to
 
whats up man? i have a twister and i had that exact problem.......it drove me crazy because i wanted to play the game to its full effect. mine was a problem with the membrane switch. i bought a new membrane switch from steve young at pinball resource in new york and it was about $40 dollars. but it plugged right in and repaired my game. when i first had the problem i searched online and found multiple other people that this happened too.

if you replace the membrane switch make sure u remove all the old glue from the old membrane switch in the metal "trough" where the new one sticks to

hey! How did you determine it was the switch? shot in the dark or did you verify it somehow? I actually can't seem to find it in the test screens...
 
hey! How did you determine it was the switch? shot in the dark or did you verify it somehow? I actually can't seem to find it in the test screens...

honestly....i saw soooo many posts on this site and other sites that said that was a common problem on a twister. i didnt go into any of the test screens......mine worked off and on. sometimes it did and sometime it didnt. i tried it so many times while it was broke. i think what i did was when mine wouldnt register ball 2, i would wait for it to roll into place then put a little pressure on the ball (from underneath playfield) and it would work. after doing this a few times (5 or 6 times) combined with the many posts about them being faulty that i saw online i bought a new switch and it worked!!!! but i definetly didnt try to go into tests screens.

i kinda thought it thru in my head.......the ball falls in the trough and sometimes works......so i looked in the metal trough and there was this switch and i put more pressure on it and it worked each time i did that.....try that with yours maybe you will get same results......

let me know what your outcome is!!!
 
So - I finally got around to replacing the membrane switch. I can say that the old one for sure had something weird going on with it. It would not register positions 2 or 3. The new one, all 4 positions worked.

Upon installation, I get the same exact behaviour as previously.

I am starting to notice that perhaps the lock, drop target is not properly registering. I can tell because if the target drops, if you just keep putting balls in the trough, the machine thinks nothing is happening, and then it does the "find the stuck ball" thing...

Crazy part is that the pop bumper does reset (like go up and down) during that "find the ball" phase.

Can someone help me out and point me in another direction. This machine is becoming a bitch to work on considering I just dropped $60 on the dumb switch..

EDIT: Forgot to mention that when I go into the test menu, I am able to drop and reset the target just fine it appears.. There are also no tech alerts or notices..
 
Last edited:
Fixed. The microswitch on the back of the drop target had a diode that was not soldered on. Somehow had worked itself off.

Reconnected and all set.
 
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