Newb question - TZ rocket shot alignment

[Durzel]

Have a feeling this is one of those "this is pinball ownership 101" questions again...

The rocket shot on my TZ has started to become a little unreliable. The issue is not power - it fires it very quickly every time, but alignment. I am aware that there is a metal guide that can give some adjustment, but I don't think that is the root cause of the problem in my case.

Basically it has gone from being 100% true to occasionally clipping either the target on the left, or the black spring post holding up the mini playfield on the right. In either event when this happens it slows the ball down enough to make it drop back out and down the playfield, rather than into the Hitchhiker zone and down onto the pops.

I did remove & reinstall the plastic and guide plate whilst installing a Cliffy protector, but the game worked ok after that so I don't think they are necessarily related. However the metal guide plate is designed to have some control over the angle as well?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the newb question

 

[Jay Walker]

Maybe the kicker arm itself has too much variation, from wear in the pivot base attached to the playfield. It's not meant to be a perfect fitting between the arm and the pivot, but wear does occur, and the pivot 'axle' can also come loose from its bracket.

 

[aaronhicksuk]

I'm pretty sure you'll find that adjusting the metal plate is all you'll need to change to make it work reliably. I fitted a Cliffy protector to the rocket kickout on my TZ too and it made enough difference to require adjustment afterwards. It may also be worth checking that the ball reliably sits right back in the kicker slot and not getting caught on the switch and excessive play in the kicker mech itself.

 

[Durzel]

Thanks both. How would one examine and resolve excessive play in the kicker mech / too much variation in the kicker arm?

 

[aaronhicksuk]

Have a play around with the mech by hand to check for excessive play. There should be a little bit of play so it doesn't bind up but if the arm moves left/right loads at the top then something must be wrong. The pivot axle should be firmly attached to its bracket and not rock around. If it does depending on the design (can't remember exactly what they are like on that kicker) they can be fixed with a hammer and a punch otherwise it will need replacing. You'll need to take the bracket out of the game to do this though. There could also be excessive play in any part of the linkage and if there is part replacment is probably the only course of action. The mech itself is really simple so if there is something out of whack it should be pretty obvious.

 

[Durzel]

Thanks, that's very helpful.

 

[Durzel]

I'm pretty sure you'll find that adjusting the metal plate is all you'll need to change to make it work reliably. I fitted a Cliffy protector to the rocket kickout on my TZ too and it made enough difference to require adjustment afterwards. It may also be worth checking that the ball reliably sits right back in the kicker slot and not getting caught on the switch and excessive play in the kicker mech itself.

Turns out you were spot on.

The screw that held the adjustable part of that metal plate down was loose, so the plate must've been moving ever so slowly out of whack when the ball had struck that area during play.

When I removed the plastic cover I could see that the balls entering the rocket shot recess weren't coming to rest properly on the curved kicker "head" (I'm not good with pinball lingo), hence the variable shots.

Adjusted plate, screwed it down more firmly, and back to 100% true rocket shots again.

Woop! Pinballs sure are temperamental things.

 

[Monkeyboypaul]

Pinballs sure are temperamental things.

And TZ is one of the all time star Divas. I’m about to start tearing down the one I’ve got here.... but it might spoil my Christmas.

 

[Durzel]

You're not wrong. I don't know how any operators managed to run this machine for long. When it's on song it's peerless, but you're so on the money calling it a diva