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Ball stuck call service person

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shark
  • Start date Start date
S

Shark

pinball probelms..
freddy, nightmare on elm street.

1st problem.. i am not a competant service person and have no experience and will likely make things worse if i try to fix this.

2nd problem.. im getting the ball stuck call service person message. there is a ball stuck i think in the tunnel between the boiler room and freddys head.

from my understanding, there is an upkicker inside freddy's head and a similar device to make his jaw move up down to allow the ball to be spat out (and for him to laugh at and tell you your getting done in).

his jaw is moving up and down repeatedly as if he's about to spit a ball out, but no sound form the upkicker. i think the upkicker in his head has stopped working and the ball(s) is trapped in the tunnel that leads to the upkicker.

i have been in test mode and fired all the upkickers and switches. the upkicker in his head does not seem to fire (also, the glove flipper is not firing either).

as above i have very little experience, to me the underside of the playfield is as scary if not more terrifying than the horror theme above! so many wires and things i dont know about- i know enough to stay well away..

any help appreciated!
 
sorry, i forgot to add my location..

thats the third problem lol.. im in central Scotland between Stirling and Glasgow. not far from JohnBud..
 
Then that is who you need to speak to. If you don't want to explore yourself then get a local person to pop round when they get a chance. Either John Higgins or John Bud are both great guys and very helpful also they are close by to lend a helping hand.
 
johnbud is a good mate of mine, though im not familiar with john higgins. i'll see if johnbud can hook us up..
 
Once fixed will it be at the Scotish Open at the end of next month ?
Looking forward to driving up for that.
 
Your problem does not sound like anything major, its going to be either a fuse or maybe a wire off the coil for the VUK.
 
Had exactly the same problem with a Freddy I had stored here for a while. Clean the opto switches and/or replace them unless you see something obvious like a detached wire to the upkicker coil.

Also check the cap is fitted to the upkicker post of Freddy's head. Ours was missing and stopped the ball getting out of his mouth when the switch was sorted.
 
this is the very machine you speak of JMP. it was collected from you by martin and delivered to me last month, i bought it from luke. im still having trouble beating your highscores lol (JMP).. i have beaten your souls saved score though!

so its a recurring problem.. thanks for the tips, i'll have a look.
 
JMP said:
Had exactly the same problem with a Freddy I had stored here for a while. Clean the opto switches
.
Click to expand...

sorted! thank you kindly! he's all working again.

after a few other checks (fuse, wiring, coil moving freely), i cleaned the opto switch and as soon as i powered up, freddy spat the missing 2 balls out.
i did a good bit of googling last night and it seems to be a common issue with this machine. but as long as i know what it is i'll make sure its done every month.

big learning curve.. enjoying every minute.
 
Good stuff. It's a small world eh? :) I have to clean the opto switches on my JD fairly often too, just general maintenance with these things.

Good luck beating my HS !
 
damn..
..and now an outer post has sheared off the lower left pop bumper (correct terminology?) under the strain of the rubber band.

bumper-1.jpg

..appears to be a straight forward fix? looks like i'll need a new post... where to get, is it pin specific or a standard part? i would also like to replace the rubber band on the opposite bumper as it looks very perished and about to crumble...
 
Send a pic of the metal post you need, I 'may' have one.

Luke had only one of those pop bumper rubbers in his box of spares..... they're easy enough to source and replace.
 
that would be brilliant, very kind of you.
i will remove the post and broken part tomorrow and take a pic.


thanks again for your help!
 
The posts looks like it should push tight into the hole, have a threat on the bottom which a nut is done up to on the underside of the table. Therefore the bit that is left on the bottom should turn and just need to be eased out. I say that because the post doesn't appear to have a hex shape near the head to tighten up from the top. Check for a nut on the one to the top of the picture.
A post like that broke on a Jurassic Park at the Northern Lights Pinball extravaganza last weekend and it showed me that not all posts are the same. But we did find one at the stall selling parts and had the table working again quite quickly.

Well done for fixing the opto issue on your own. I start to understand why the tables we still find in arcades have parts that don't fully work but we can keep our tables at home working in tip top condition. :thumb:
 
thanks calimori..

heres a pic of the broken post..

Image0010-1.jpg

it has a nut at the top, it separates easily from the red outer plastic.


here is a pic of the underside of the playfield. #6 is the base of the post, it appears to threaded into the metal washer. very tricky to remove as i dont feel i cant put too much pressure on the playfield from above with it propped open like a car bonnet.. i'll keep fiddling, maybe someone has a better solution...

thanks for your help..
 
As that post tightens from the top of the pf into that t-nut and it's sheared off below the level of the pf it's going to be pretty difficult to get out. I think the easiest way to sort this is to remove the t-nut (the metal base bit that the post is screwed into) with the sheared post still in it. You can then replace the t-nut before screwing a new post in.
 
this is my understanding, but its proving more difficult than i thought. there is not really any room to get a tool in for leverage, the wood surrounding the t-nut will be damaged in the process. maybe i'll try from the top..
 
Shark said:
this is my understanding, but its proving more difficult than i thought. there is not really any room to get a tool in for leverage, the wood surrounding the t-nut will be damaged in the process. maybe i'll try from the top..
Click to expand...

screwdriver, punch or something similar from the top side - give it a smack with a hammer.

You may get a little damage on the underside removing T nut but it will be no biggie, and the new T nut will tighten into the wood anyway.
 
GrizZ said:
screwdriver, punch or something similar from the top side - give it a smack with a hammer.

You may get a little damage on the underside removing T nut but it will be no biggie, and the new T nut will tighten into the wood anyway.
Click to expand...

thanks..

got it from the top, small screwdriver and (gently) punch it out with a hammer..

Image0006-1.jpg


there it is.. i need to find a replacement now. the post appears to be 55mm long with a fixed nut at the top. i'll also need another t-nut.

thank you for your help guys.
 
Thanks Darren for sorting. I had one that looked similar but don't think it was exactly the same.
 
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