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frankenstein all 3 flippers staying up

scottydoesntknow

scottydoesntknow

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10 Years
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,037
Location
Woodley Berkshire
Hi all just received a frankenstein, having an issue with all 3 flippers they go up but won't come down unless pushed down, when looking under the playfield you push the rod in and it just stays in, I'm sure on my other games they usual spring back, is msf different? Thanks in advance for any help scott
 
kevlar said:
Are the return springs missing?
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Hi yeah there there, the bar/metal rod just seems real tight on all 3 andthey don't spring back on there own, not sure if they have got damp in transit, and maybe the sleeves have expanded, ill leave it in the warm for the night and look some more tommor, ill also look at my bmf as I think its a similar set up to compare what's wrong, its a strange one!
 
All sorts of things cause this. Most common. Worn plungers, make sure the open end has a bevel. Pivot nut and bolt too tight pinching link. No lateral play through the playfield bearing, causing mech to bind on it.

If it's an electrical hold up, ie the flippers return when power switched off, then the diodes on the coil are missing or defective.
 
pinballmania said:
All sorts of things cause this. Most common. Worn plungers, make sure the open end has a bevel. Pivot nut and bolt too tight pinching link. No lateral play through the playfield bearing, causing mech to bind on it.

If it's an electrical hold up, ie the flippers return when power switched off, then the diodes on the coil are missing or defective.
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Hi andy, ill check the plungers, the flippers stay up even when you turn the power off so must be the plungers, just weird that its all 3, thanks for the help scott
 
Post some pics of the underneath of the flippers.
 
hey Scotty, this came from me and i'm as confused as you are. admittedly it was wrapped on end for a couple of months in a cold (but dry) garage, but when last played it was 100% working. if they stay up when powered off then yes, it's gotta be physical rather than electrical, but all three? plungers, springs, endstops, all should be fine. sleeves are plastic so they shouldn't expand. and binding shouldn't be an issue that can come on from the cold, i wouldn't have thought, but yes, my best guess is the temperature changes are behind it, so check carefully if any rust and if any vertical flipper movement. is everything else working?

if you need to get someone out to sort it out, obviously i'll pay for that. ****ing pinballs, they're more trouble than they're worth.
 
I've had my own fair share of pain with my Frank. But touch wood its playing okay now...

We need pics of playfield and underneath..
 
No problem dan I know what these machines are like one day they work then they done, here are some pics
 

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It's not something like the red plastic screw "covers" catching on the end of the strip is it? (out of interest, whats the best fix for this, as have seen several times!) ???
 
Paul said:
It's not something like the red plastic screw "covers" catching on the end of the strip is it? (out of interest, whats the best fix for this, as have seen several times!) ???
Click to expand...
Hi they don't appear to be there just appears to be no spring back, I just checked my bmf and tftc as they have similar set ups, they are nice and loose and just snap back, these just seem real tight
 
I wonder if the playfield has swollen a bit.. Is there any play/up-down movement between the shaft and the flipper brushes? There should be a small amount of movement.
 
I was thinking that, but my frank had a pregnant swollen belly and the playfield was okay.
 
cooldan said:
What are they catching on, the playfield? That would suggest swollen wood.
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Just had a check put a piece of card under them, moved them by hand and there's clearence think the play field is fine has to be flipper bat rods or plungers I guess, but will prob be wrong, it's prob something simple just me being silly!
 
Does franks head still work? Ive found the replacement and with a bit of wire swapping it works.
 
Hi all had some luck I checked in detail my tftc and noticed the plungers where the opposite way up, so I went back to my msf swapped the left and right plungers over, now both bottom flippers work, but sadly the top one has now stopped altogether so need to sort that, thanks for all the help, I'll check fuses in a sec a noticed fuse holder f4 appears a bit loose.
 
Oh my god I actualy fixed it! The fuse on the bottom of the flipper board was loose and the leaf thing where touching that connected the 3rd flipper, pulled some wires out reconnected them and, all 3 flippers working now thanks again everyone I couldn't have done it without you all
 
Excellent news. I suspect we will never know what the problem was, but definitely not to do with 'plungers the opposite way up' ：）as I promise I didn't take the plungers out and invert them for transport. That would be extremely odd behaviour.

The old favourite fix of pinheads: detach some wires and reattach them again.... works more often than you'd expect. We should be in IT.
 
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