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In Progress Rocky & Bullwinkle Shop Log

Wiredworm

Registered
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
2,373
Location
Grimsby
It's a week today since I took delivery of my first ever Pinball which is a Data East 'Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle'. Matt told me that it wasn't a Rolls Royce before I took the plunge and decided to go for it and although he's partially right I have to say I was surprised at the quality of the playfield, especially for the money paid.

It doesn't need anywhere near the amount of work that some of the other Shop Logs here do but hopefully some might find the few bits of work I am doing of interest and hopefully at the same time I can learn more about Pinball maintenance and repair.

I've decided to start off with a few simple jobs that will hopefully both improve the look of the table whilst also ensuring that any problems the table does have don't get any worse.

The first issue i've decided to tackle is the Hat Trick mechanism. It's a known issue that the 50v delivered to the Lion Coil causes the plastic to take a severe bashing. As a result of this there's a massive number of tables out there where this plastic is smashed to bits and it's no different here. One of the previous owners had done their best to patch up the plastic but the tape on it was causing it to stick. I was also having problems with both the Rocky and Rhino plastics so figured it was worth pulling the Lion out and disabling the mechanism until I get a replacement sorted.

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I therefore removed the Lion and also the crank arm and the section that dropped into the Coil. This leaves it looking like this.
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As you can see the Lion plastic is in a bad way. Someone has done their best to repair it but the additional thickness means it's binding in the slot and not raising or dropping correctly. I've also noted that the Rhino seems to travel up and down much more freely than the Rocky plastic. Not sure why that is - my guess is possible a coil sleeve issue?

I also spotted a couple of missing #44 bulbs that should be sat behind the coils for two of the plastics.

I'm also going to do the coil mod once i've moved the table. It's position at the moment makes soldering at the rear of the mechanism a bit tricky, but once it's shifted i'll drop the 50v feed to the Lion coil and heat shrink and tie it out of the way. I've then take a 32v feed from one of the other coils. This should have the effect of reducing the power with which the Lion gets whacked upwards and hopefully prevent any new plastic I fit from being smashed to bits.

I'm on the case with regards the new Lion and despite being told they were unobtanium i've almost managed to track one down. Hopefully i'll have more news on that next week.

Another job i've done is to go around the table and do a lamp check. Almost all of the main playfield lights are working apart from a couple of bulbs that are out near the top lanes and one which seems to have a fault whereby it's very dim until you apply pressure and then it's fine.

Finally, one strange thing I have noted is the table has a GI lamp fitted that shouldn't be there. It's mounted on a post with a surround similar to those i've seen on the Stern Elvis table. There's a picture shown below. No idea who fitted it or where the power feed for it is taken from. Need to investigate that one and see if it's a light that's been pulled out from somewhere else.

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I quite like the idea of that little spot light too.

Good luck with the Lion mate, hope it all works out for you.
 
Thanks deathrow. The table is generally pretty much complete - but the two missing items are an absolute nightmare to track down. There's also a torsion spring for the Nell Log Assembly i'm in the process of sourcing, but I know Dan tried previously and didn't have much luck.

Fingers crossed.

Whilst I wait to get those parts i'm going to get a Cliffy Protector fitted on the hole and ramps, although longer term i'm going to need a new WABAC ramp as i've spotted the plastic is cracked at the bottom. At least if it's got the protector on there then it won't get any worse.
 
I put the spotlight on, I have a bagful of them and am now sticking them all over where games are dark and where I can fit a raised post. They are great, they make playing in the dark much more fun
 
Thanks for confirming that Dan.

It looks great and i've no problem with it being there at all - it was more that I hadn't even noticed that it's not present on the original table.

Pay day this week so i'm hoping to either grab the replacement Lion (once they're available) or the Cliffy Protector. Or possibly both. Will have to see what funds allow. The Lion is probably the more urgent as they're in short supply. Fingers crossed.
 
Just to the nearest GI bulb, the come with wires.

Just be careful adding to the GI as they may overload the connector leading to burnt out connectors/connector pins and melted PCB's. On Goldeneye Stern issued a service note telling operators to remove some bulbs from the GI string to stop this from happening. The GE that I had, I found that this hadn't been done and that the GI connect had indeed borne the brunt. Plus we know that pretty much all the B/W games come a cropper over time with GI connector problems.
 
I had the playfield lifted this morning and spotted where the additional lamp had been added. I've also been reading this morning about the toasted connector issues you can sometimes see on DE tables. Have to say that when I stripped the head to get it into the house I didn't notice anything untoward but i'll probably check it over again just to be sure it's not hammering things too hard.
 
Just be careful adding to the GI as they may overload the connector leading to burnt out connectors/connector pins and melted PCB's. On Goldeneye Stern issued a service note telling operators to remove some bulbs from the GI string to stop this from happening. The GE that I had, I found that this hadn't been done and that the GI connect had indeed borne the brunt. Plus we know that pretty much all the B/W games come a cropper over time with GI connector problems.

Where would you suggest adding it to?
 
I stripped the Nell Log Assembly a few days back but now I want to break down the components within it so I can take a few measurements. I'm pretty sure the Meccano pully wheel is slightly too small and that's why the belt is loose.

Now here's a conundrum.

The grub screw holding that metal meccano piece in place is rotated round to a position which means I can't get my screw driver in place.

No problems I thought - i'll just temporarily hook it up to the machine and use the test menu to pulse the motor until the wheel is in a position where I can get to it.

Except there's no menu option for testing the Nell Log Assembly, despite me reading elsewhere that there should be. Most odd.

Any clues on that?

Of course other options I can explore are:

1. Just buy a 24v supply to use for testing
2. Fire up the game and tap down the drop targets so the mode activates that way.

Both options would be fine, but i'm a bit confused why i'm missing the menu option.
 
has the nell log been deactivated? I had that on my shadow with the knocker someone had deactivated it so it wasn't even coming up in solenoid test
 
I take it you mean in the adjustments menu? Have to admit I've not looked in there. Will check it out tomorrow.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Well it doesn't appear that there's an option to disable the Nell Assembly so perhaps the option is missing due to the revision of ROM i'm running.

No problems. I'll hook the motor up tonight and try to get it running by just manually triggering the drop targets.

In other news my wife actually commented last night that she hadn't got to play because she wasn't sure if I was still working on the Pinball or not. It sounds like someone might be getting addicted. Aaaah, my evil plan is maybe working.

I've told her in future she can play unless i've specifically put a note on the Pinball saying not to use it.

Not much more work has been done recently. I've been checking out the lamps and what bulbs they use but work has come to a bit of a halt until next payday when I hopefully can grab a few more items I need before continuing.
 
I've been looking over the schematics for the table today and it came to me in a blinding flash why I can't find an option to test the Nell Log Motor.

It's because the motor is driven by a relay which in turn is triggered by a coil. I suspect I need to be looking in the coil test menu.
 
Tonight I fitted a few of the cool LEDs that I received today. I'm not going to fully load the table with LEDs just yet but as there were a few bulbs out it seemed to make sense to buy a few different types of LED to see how they look in different positions.

I've also lifted the playfield and managed to find the appropriate coil test that should trigger the Saw Motor. I haven't tested the output as yet because I think my meter must be on the fritz; doing some simple voltage checks all yielded a big fat 0 on the meter so I think it's time I picked up a new one. To be fair this one has been away in the cupboard for a while so i'm probably overdue a new one.

I did, however, manage to hear the relay clicking so power is getting at least as far as that. Looking at the schematic seems to suggest a 28v supply is actually fed to the motor but a 65 ohm resistor is installed in series to drop the voltage to the 24v DC required by the motor. Just to confirm my electronics theory (which i've not used for quite some time) - when testing current for a DC circuit I should place the black probe onto the grounding braid (or other suitable earth point) and the red probe to one of the two power connectors for testing?

Whilst I had the playfield up I also spied these two bits.

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Shouldn't the rubbery bit with the hook on the end be hooked onto that eyelet on the playfield? It might explain why it's such a pain in the **** lifting and then dropping the playfield down again. Theres a massive amount of tension in the rubber and i'm a tiny bit concerned about whether the floor of the cabinet and the playfield will withstand the tension, but it would (to my mind) make lifting and lowering the playfield much easier.

I also ran through a coil test and most things seem to be working fine, apart from one of the diverter gates. I'm not quite sure where the fault lies but here's a video showing the issue.


I'm kinda new to this stuff so I can only guess it's either an issue with the coil sticking or the spring is weak. So is it possibly worth dropping the coil off the stop and check the sleeve? Or possibly replace or exchange the spring and see if that makes it return ok?

Suggestions greatfully received. :)
 
regarding that hook and the eyelet, i don't know, but your suggestion sounds good to me

regarding that coil, yes it's not coming back to it's starting place after it fires, so either the plunger is sticking in the sleeve (easy to check by replacing the sleeve - let me know what it looks like, i have loads and can post you a new one) or there's a spring sticking somewhere to the plunger link, or the return spring is weak. try taking it all off, cleaning it, and putting it back together - i find that's the best way to determine the potential weak spots in any mechanism.

regarding that darned spring, i had a revelation today while watching the tombliboos in the Night Garden with my one year old - the exact same torsion springs are used in good old clothes pegs :) maybe try buying a selection of different sized clothes pegs off ebay and see what you get?

good luck with it. it's fun, isn't it?
don't forget to take the sign off the game so your missus can play and become one of us .... one of us ..... one of us ... ONE OF US! ... ONE OF US! etc
 
Haha, thanks Dan. I think she's slowly getting hooked - she made the sad face earlier tonight when she saw me start working on it. She'll have to get her fix tomorrow.

I'll give your suggestion regarding clothes pegs a try. Funnily enough our purchaser at work has given me another contact number to try today, although i've still not heard back from the first guy I mailed the photos off to. There's no huge rush - the game is playable without the Nell Log in place and in the meantime i've got other stuff to be working on.

I've finally got the table moved into a better position so I hopefully can do the coil mod at the weekend. I'm contemplating stripping the head and removing the playfield before filling the chomp that's been taken out of the cab. It'll be much easier to fill if I can put the cab on it's side and remove the leg at that corner, and having it on it's side will prevent any slump. From what i've heard i'll be better off using an epoxy rather than a regular wood filler as it'll give a harder finish.

I'll probably get that coil stripped and cleaned up at the weekend too. Finding it immense fun learning about the inner workings of the table.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and help so far. It's appreciated.
 
Take the coil off, strip it down and clean the mech, sleeve is probably sh*t up.

When it comes to cleaning these things is there anything specific recommended for cleaning? Isopropyl?

I've read elsewhere that lubricating this kind of component is a BAD idea and generally just leads to it becoming full of gunky crap (TM) which then makes it stick even more.
 
When it comes to cleaning these things is there anything specific recommended for cleaning?

The mech will be made up of various metal and plastics parts. Take it to bits and sling them all in the sink with some warm soapy water, just like washing the pots :) The only exception would be the coil itself or any electrical bits (pcb's etc) if there are any as part of the mech.
 
Thanks for confirming that Carl. :)

On another note the rubber bit and the eyelet I mentioned earlier is actually not meant to be hooked up under normal circumstances. A fellow owner informs me it's a safety measure which is intended to be used when you have the playfield lifted. It puts tension at the bottom and is meant to stop it from dropping and being damaged whilst you're working on it. Although in actuality most people don't tend to use it.

And to be fair I can understand that. With the playfield fully forward and lifted it's pretty stable.

Work has come to a bit of a halt because i'm waiting on a couple of tools to be delivered. Should hopefully get a chance to look at it again this weekend. Plans are to do some experiments with LEDs and also clean the diverter coil and perform the coil mod on the back box.

No word on the replacement Lion as yet but i'm trying to be patient as I realise the people involved have lots going on.
 
I think that's a good idea - although I could probably also do something similar with the one i've got as the artwork is actually ok. It's just at the base where it's smashed to bits.

I should really stick it on the flatbed scanner tonight so at least i've got the artwork preserved. I've heard of people printing them onto acetate and then simply bonding them onto a piece of thick plastic using a suitable adhesive. Might be worth having a go at that whilst I try to get hold of an authentic one.

I can see another little project coming on this weekend. ;)
 
So, a little more progress this weekend.

I'd ordered a selection of different LEDs from Pinball Heaven with a view to trying them out at various locations on the playfield. For the main playfield i'm going to go the super-bright route as I was really pleased with the vivid colours it gives. With my testing now done I can hopefully get a few orders placed over the coming weeks to get the bulbs all replaced, but in the meantime i've used the new ones to replace a few that were missing or failed on the table.

2013-06-23 12.28.57.jpg
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In addition to trying out the LEDs I also took the time to remove the 50v supply to the Lion coil as recommended by Russ Myer over at Pinside. For some reason both the Rocky and Rhino plastics are fed from a 32v supply but the Lion is operated at 50v and it's for this reason that most of these tables seem to have broken Lion plastics. The simple mod just required me to desolder the 50v supply and tuck it away with some heat shrink over it. I then took a 32v feed from the Rhino coil lug and simply bridged it over to the Lion coil. Reconnected the crank back up to test it and it works fine - and thankfully it's not as aggressive now.

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For now i've disconnected the crank again, just until i get replacement Lion.

On that front i've decided to also have a go at making my own. I've ordered from 1.5mm perspex from eBay and scanned my currently plastic into the PC at 600dpi. I'm now isolating the various elements and tidying up the lines so that when I finally come to print it the colours will be solid with nice clean lines. Not quite sure how i'll get it onto the perspex as yet but i've got a few ideas. The first objective will be to cut and machine the perspex to the required size once it arrives - i'll worry about getting the image on there later. ;)

LionPlastic.png

I've also removed the coil stop from one of the diverter gates that was sticking and then washed and cleaned the coil sleeve and the metal parts. Thoroughly dried it all off and then put everything back together and now the gate functions perfectly every time. Woo hoo!


Now here comes a really strange issue that I hope someone has some clues on. I've still not sources a replacement spring for the Nell assembly but whilst I figure that one out I wanted to at least verify that the motor would power up. So far as i'm aware it's a brand new 24v motor and it certainly doesn't look like an old one.

I hooked it up and after a bit of head scratching found the appropriate coil test in the diagnostic menu that should cause the motor to pulse. But I get absolutely nothing. And here's where it gets really strange.

I figured a good place to start would be to grab my multimeter and just check the voltages going to the motor. It's a DC current so I hooked my black probe up to the cabinet ground braid and then used the red probe on each pin on the motor connector in turn. It read absolutely nothing and for the past few days I was almost certain my meter was on the fritz.

Then last night I had a brainwave and instead hooked the black probe up to the ground point on the CPU board in the back box. Sure enough now I get readings. I've checked continuity from the ground braid through to the earth pin on the plug and it's good, so has anyone got a clue why my meter isn't working when I test using the ground braid as the earthing point?

As a result of the testing I found that at idle around 19v was being delivered on the white and red cable with nothing on the solid white. When the coil pulses the relay I then get 19v on white/red and 17v on the white. Does this sound correct? Is it possible that the motor is dud?

I also took readings on the relay and they came back like this:

Idle
Coil 15v
Dry 41v
28+ 41v
Gnd 0v

Activated
Coil 15v
Dry 0.8v
28+ 40v
Gnd 15v

You can also clearly hear the relay activating when you press the test button.


So either i've got a dead motor or there's something else amiss. Grateful for any suggestions on this one. :)
 
Allways replace coil sleeves they cost penny's. I'd also recommend using petg rather than Perspex as its not as brittle and easy to break

Rudi
 
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