Ever wasted time trying to "fix" something that is perfectly normal?

[kevlar]

Fresh back from holiday I thought I would tackle a recurring issue with my Getaway right flipper(s) this morning. Every now and then the flippers don't activate when they should. Usually its just the switch contacts need cleaning, for some reason this particular triple stack of leaf switches needs cleaning regularly....anyone know why?

Anyway looking at the switch matrix while activating the leaf switches revealed that both right flippers were activating together on the first pair of contacts coming together, the 3rd contact seemingly doing nothing except highlighting an un-assigned input on the switch matrix. This sparked some serious head scratching, wire tracing, checking wire colours against the schematic, reseating of fliptronics board connectors etc but to no avail. I know they worked seperately before!. Finally a thread on pinside came to the rescue when I googled the right search terms, on L-2 rom there was no staged flipping!! ...I installed L-2 a few months ago as its supposed to be better than L5 but I never knew it changed the way the flippers worked. Well that wasted an hour or 2! .

 

[Spandangler]

I've gotta say mate, Roms is one of the last things I'd have considered!!

 

[BigIan]

I remember having an intermittent problem with the upper right flipper on the getaway and considered wiring it together with the lower right one. Decided in the end it wasn't the right thing to do, had I known they did it the roms anyhow i would have lashed them together....

 

[Jay Walker]

Kev, are the contact points of the flipper button switches the same size? I talked to someone from 'Bicks' automatics once, who reckoned that for a low-power situation like this, it was better to have unequal sized points. Changing the switches on works' almost new Getaways seemed to cure intermittent problems like this.

 

[pinballmania]

The contacts are low voltage and should be of the gold plated variety. If anyone has installed high power contacts , or has destroyed the gold plating then the contacts need to be replaced.

 

[kevlar]

Kev, are the contact points of the flipper button switches the same size? I talked to someone from 'Bicks' automatics once, who reckoned that for a low-power situation like this, it was better to have unequal sized points. Changing the switches on works' almost new Getaways seemed to cure intermittent problems like this.

Thanks David, I believe they are the same size but will double check. I have replaced this switch myself but its has been replaced a few times by previous owners judging by the machine gun pattern of holes in the cab.

 

[kevlar]

The contacts are low voltage and should be of the gold plated variety. If anyone has installed high power contacts , or has destroyed the gold plating then the contacts need to be replaced.

I replaced the switch stack with a part supplied by you Andy so its probably the right one. I use one of those really gentle contact burnishing tools, so smooth it feels like it shouldn't do Anything. Are they recommended?