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TAF fault finding guide....

Paul

Staff member
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
11,544
Location
South Wales
Alias
Toibs
Changing Light Bulbs - Common Problems



Symptoms: Light bulb burns out on the playfield or behind the backglass.



Changing light bulbs is easy. Simply take the old light bulbs out, and pop a new one in. However, from time to time I have changed light bulbs, and the new bulbs did not work. The most common problem was a thin carbon build up on the metal that makes contact with the bulb. This is due to the intense heat that builds up when these bulbs go. To solve this problem, simply scrape the carbon off of the contacts using a small nail file. Also, bend the contacts slightly to make sure you have good contact with the bulb. You may also want to clean the plastic bulb covers at the same time, when applicable. Other problems may be a disconnected solder joint (sometimes under the playfield or behind the backglass door). For this, simply resolder the connection.







Sound from Speakers is Distorted and Incoherent



Symptoms: During game play, bits of the sound are missing while other bits are present.



The pinball sounds, music, and voices are all produced from software that is stored in two EPROM chips that sit on the Audio PCB in the center of the back box. First check to make sure these chips did not come loose. It is probably better to take them out and carefully put them back into the socket. Follow these instructions to do this: Installing EPROM chips.



If reinserting the Sound EPROM chips did not solve the problem, the problem could also be due to a loose connection or a bad speaker connection. Open the backbox with the key inside the coin door. Open the back white panel.



The lower left board with 3 AA batteries on it is the logic board (MPU).



Check the connectors that are coming to that board. If one is loose it will cause a problem. Check the ribbon cable that goes from that board to the MPU and that connection on the MPU (see picture above circled in red) With the game powered off , you can disconnect those ribbon connectors and reconnect them. Also press lightly on the Addams chips in the sound board. Also make sure the speaker wires are all connected securely to each speaker.



Typically, the connections circled in red in the picture below come loose (this is the bigger 25 Watt speaker). If loose, a simple touch of a hot solder gun will usually fix the problem.







Sling-shot Plastics Break in Lower Corner



Symptoms: The triangular Gomez and Morticia plastic bumper guards get chipped due to hard, high speed of metal pinballs slamming into them.







I bought our game with this problem. Don't worry, the game will play absolutely fine in this condition, it is only a cosmetic problem. If you are crafty, and skillful, you can repair these plastics yourself. (They are very difficult to find New Old Stock (NOS) parts of this nature, and if you do, they are very expensive). Here are my recommendations:



If your sling-shot covers are not broken:



Waste no time! Remove them from their posts with a fillips screwdriver, and put a fender washer underneath the hole in the plastic, and another one on top. Do this for both plastics for each post. The fender washers should be about the size of a penny, and should have a very small hole in them - approximately the size of the hole in the plastics.



If your sling-shot covers are broken (too bad):



Remove them from their posts with a fillips screwdriver. Place them on a piece of notebook paper, and trace out the remaining piece of plastic onto the paper with a pencil. Draw the missing corner onto the paper, free-hand. Place a small piece of clear plexi-glass over the tracing, and using a rotary cutter (i.e., Dremil tool), cut out the missing piece from the plastic. Plexi-glass may be purchased in most hardware stores. With the missing piece cut out, fit the two pieces together for sizing. You may need to drill a hole in the piece you cut out for the screw to fasten to the post.



Next, use crazy-glue to fasten the two pieces together. Allow the pieces to dry at least one hour. Once dry, turn the plastic over and paint the under-side using enamel paint (available in craft or hardware stores). Try to match the design on the existing piece to the best of your ability. See The Addams Family Photo Album: Plastics #1 link for pictures, if you need a guide to what the missing piece should look like. Do the best that you can, don't worry if it is not exactly perfect because the fender washers will cover a large portion of the replacement piece.



Put a fender washer underneath the hole in the plastic, and another one on top. Do this for both plastics for each post. The fender washers should be about the size of a penny, and should have a very small hole in them - approximately the size of the hole in the plastics. The fender washers should add strength to the joint to keep the pieces from breaking any further.



If your sling-shot covers are missing altogether



Print The Addams Family Photo Album: Plastics #1 page on a high quality laser printer. * Adjust the size to be approximately the size of plastics on your game. You may use the post holes on the pictures to help determine the size - simply line them up with the posts on your game.



Once the correct size is determined, cut out the colored print. With a felt tipped pen, trace the edges of the print onto a piece of plexi-glass. With a rotary cutter, cut out the piece of plexi-glass, and lightly sand the edges with sandpaper.



Next, coat the top piece of plexi-glass with rubber cement, and paste the laser print on top of the plexi-glass. To keep the shine, and to protect the delicate print, after the glue dries, spray paint the picture with a clear coat of high gloss polyurethane.



Once dry, drill the holes for the post, and then mount the new plastics as direct above, using fender washers for added protection.



I've also tried printing the images on transparencies. Instead of pasting the images onto the Plexiglas, I sprayed the BOTTOM of the Plexiglas with clear polyurethane and used this as a paste to past the transparency to the Plexiglas. This worked beautifully!



*Note: You may want to print in draft setting/black and white, until you determine the correct size, to avoid using up expensive color ink.







Plastic Ramp Cracks



Symptoms: The plastic staircase ramp wall cracks at the end, due to hard, high speed pinball crashing into it.







Face it, plastic can crack. I checked with several other owners, and they all tell me they have a cracked ramp, to some degree. Unfortunately, these ramps are difficult to find, and are very expensive NOS. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to remedy, if you are a bit crafty. When we purchased our machine, the ramp was already cracked. Here is how I fixed ours:



Purchase a small piece of at least 10 mil stainless steal sheet metal from a craft store. Measure the length of the crack on the ramp (in the case above, the crack was approximately 1 inch long). Cut a piece from the sheet metal at least 1 inch larger than the crack by 2 1/2 inches wide. Bend the sheet metal to contour to the ramp, covering the crack.



With a 1/8" drill, drill a hole in the plastic on the ramp, where the crack ends. This will stop the crack from spreading further up the ramp. Place some hot glue over the section of the ramp to be cover, then immediately place the contoured piece o sheet metal over the crack in the ramp. Drill a hole directly through both the sheet metal and the plastic, on each end of the plastic. With a small rivet gun, place appropriate sized rivets through the holes to rivet the sheet metal to the ramp. If any sharp edges or surfaces protrude on the metal, lightly sand them down with some light abrasive aluminum oxide sandpaper.







Cabinet Paint Wear Around Flipper Buttons:



Symptoms: The black paint will usually wear off around the flipper control due to high use, fingernails and fingertips rubbing against the paint, acid from sweat rubbing into paint loosens it from cabinet.



One of the most frequent questions I get from pinball machine owners concerns how to paint the cabinet. Yet, it is one of the simplest repairs to make. With time and play, paint begins to rub off of the machine for various reasons. It is almost inevitable, especially with a popular machine like The Addams Family Pinball Machine.



Selecting a paint can be a bit tricky. I use an ebony black high gloss enamel paint I purchase from a local craft shop. The shades of black paint you choose may vary slightly from the factory paint. For this reason, I compare the colors before beginning. To do this, I paint a small piece of wood and let it dry. Then, under bright light, I compare the colors. Sometimes minor adjustments to the paint tint might be required, so you might have to do a bit of mixing.



The first step to a touch-up job is to prepare the worn area to be painted. To do this, lightly sand the worn area with some fine sandpaper (100 grit). The idea is more so to get the dirt off of the area then to remove any existing paint or to smooth the surface. After lightly sanding, wipe off any dust with a clean, dry cloth. Then, wipe it again with a clean cloth dipped in isopropyl alcohol. Allow to dry off for a while.



The next step is to mask off the flipper button, and all areas of the cabinet and playfield glass in the proximity of the worn area, to prepare for spraying. You want to leave an area accessible large enough to overlap your spraying over the existing black paint on the cabinet, to allow the paint to blend in. Tape newspaper to the glass and drape it over the cabinet in areas you want to protect. To cover the flipper buttons, I cut small pieces of masking tape and place it over the buttons. All of this is to prevent over spray from damaging other areas of the pinball machine.



Once the area to be sprayed is masked off, the next step is to spray the worn area. I use a small air brush to paint with a very fine mist spray. However, you may also get very satisfactory results from using spray paint from a can. Hold the sprayer back at least 12 inches from the surface to get a fine mist. Fan the sprayer outwards, lightly overlapping the black areas in the close proximity of the worn area so the paint blends in. Use only thin coats of spray! Allow the paint to dry between coats.



Once dry (at least two days) very lightly rub the area you painted with some very fine steel wool. Clean the area once again as mentioned above. Then, spray the area with a protective layer of satin, clear polyurethane paint. Allow this to dry for at least a day.



An alternative method to painting is to cut out some black mylar from a sheet, peel off the backing, and stick it to the cabinet sides. This will certainly protect the cabinet, although the coloring might not match as good as the paint.







Playfield Mylar Coating is Peeling



Sometimes the mylar protective coating will peel or lift from the playfield and chip off. Whoever owned the machine before you probably used some sort of cleaner containing a petroleum distillate that reacted with the polymers and adhesive used to put on the mylar coating. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done in terms of replacement.



What I would do in this situation is peel off the pieces that are sticking up. You might want to get a package of sharp razor blades and using a straight edge, carefully cut the damaged mylar off of the playfield. Work under good lighting so you may clearly see what you are doing. Clean up any residue with a shop vac and wipe with a clean cotton cloth and some isopropyl rubbing alcohol. This will help remove any cleaner residue still sticking to the playfield.



Then, purchase some high quality clear, high gloss polyurethane from Home Depot. Important! Make sure it is is the waterbase kind (not the flammable, oil based kind). Oil based polyurethane will also eventually lift up the mylar making the condition worse.



Then, buy some high quality camel hair artist brushes from an art store. (Don't get the foam kind!- they produce air bubbles!) Also, pick up several bottles of enamel paint. Touch up the colors on the playfield under bright light. You might want to print some color pictures from the TAF web page photo album section. If you are not an artist, you might want to hire one to do this part. Let this paint dry according to instructions. If the weather is damp outside or it is humid, wait a little longer for it to dry. Don't rush!



Pour a little polyu. into a small cup and thin it out a bit with water. Carefully stroke over the touched up areas. Also, fill in the areas where the mylar peeled off. Do not paint over the existing mylar! You do not need to. The purpose of the polyu is to build up the area to the level of the mylar. Don't rush! It will take at least four or five coats to build up the surface to the remaining original mylar level.



I have touched up parts of my own TAF machine like this and it is impossible to see the difference - even when looking up close.



Also, in the future, only use non petroleum based cleaners - such as Novus.



The other option is to replace the entire playfield - which could be tricky and expensive.



Good luck! Don't forget to take before and after pictures of your work. Let us know how everything works out!







Playfield Not Level



Whenever a pinball machine is moved from one location to another, it should be checked to make sure it is level. Leveling a pinball machine is a simple procedure, however, it helps to have a helper that can help lift the machine while the leg levelers are adjusted. To level the machine, remove the playfield glass and place a small level directly on the playfield, parallel to the lock bar. The bubble in the middle of the level should be directly in the center of the two cross hairs. If it the bubble is more to the right side, raise the right leg until it is level. If it is to the left, raise the left leg. To raise the leg, turn the leg levelers clockwise to raise, counterclockwise to lower.



Once this is completed, next check the slope of the playfield. Obviously, the pinball machine should slope downward, towards the player. The angle should be be between 6 to 7 degrees, according to Williams' guide. However, this can be almost impossible to achieve, so I try to get the angle between 5 to 12 degrees. You may measure the angle with an inclinometer, if you have one (here's a good description of how to use a profession inclinometer). I adjusted my machine with a home-made tool. I chopped a piece of wood with my chop saw at a 93 degree angle. I mounted a small level to the non-sloped side, opposite the 93 degree cut. I place this on the playfield, perpendicular to the lockbar. Then, with the aid of a helper, I adjust the back legs up or down until I get a near level reading.



Once all is completely level and the angle is adjusted, check the tilt plumb bob located to the left of the inside of the coin door and adjust the height of the bob to make sure it is not making contact with the ring. Play a couple of games with the glass off, just in case you need to "tweak" the angle a bit to get the right feel.







Ball Gets Stuck in the Swamp



Symptoms: The ball rolls into the swamp (on the right side of the playfield). The ball gets stuck in the L shaped stainless steel ledge under the playfield.



This first happened when we first got our game. We tried leveling the game at all sorts of angels to no avail. Here are two solutions you may wish to try:



1. Take off the playfield glass, and pull the playfield up. From the underside, remove the screws that hold the sheetmetal swamp box to the playfield. Replace the screws after first inserting a few small washers under the playfield box in the upper right corner (when viewing from the underside of the playfield). Make sure you jack-up the correct corner, or you will make the situation even worse!



2. This is the only solution that worked for me! Cut a triangular shaped wedge from a piece of dense foam (may be purchased from a craft store). The wedge should measure two inches on one side by two and a half on the other. The foam should be approximately two inches thick. Also, cut the wedge at a slight angle downwards towards the hypotenuse. Cut a pop sickle stick the exact length of the hypotenuse, and glue it to the hypotenuse with a hot glue gun (may be purchased from a craft store). Hot glue the entire assembly along the ledge in the swamp, where the ball gets stuck.



With this assembly in place, when the ball rolls into the swamp, the ball will roll along the popsickle stick towards the out-hole lane - without getting stuck!







Balls Get Stuck in Swamp Ejector Hole



Symptoms: Several balls roll into the swamp (usually during multiball), the solenoid tries to kick them out, but the balls roll up the metal shoot and fall back down the outhole.



This problem at first drove me absolutely crazy! I first thought the problem was with the solenoid, yet the solenoid appeared to be working just fine. Then, I checked out all of the switches - all of the switches operated just fine. Then, I figured the angle of the outhole shoot must be off. I tried bending the sheet metal up and then down, but nothing worked. It turned out to be something very simple: The nuts that held the sheet metal chute to the playfield were loose. I simply tightened them up, and viola! The problem was resolved!







Ball Gets Stuck Behind the Bookcase



Symptom: The ball gets stuck directly behind the bookcase, and rests against the plastic sign.



This problem may be resolved simply by adjusting the angle of the bookcase assembly from the underside of the playfield. However, another fix is to secure a small wedge of dense foam behind the bookcase sign with hot glue. Cut the wedge so it runs from the first little round bumper post (on the upper left corner behind the bookcase) to the lower left corner of the bookcase.



With the assembly in place, when the ball rolls behind the sign, the ball will roll along the wedge to the right side of the bookcase, down the playfield - without getting stuck!







Ball Ejects Directly to the Center Outhole From the Swamp



Symptom: The ball rolls into the swamp, but when it ejects, the ball is aimed directly at the center outhole, instead of the right flipper.



1. First, make sure the playfield is level, according to the directions in the game manual. Check level directly on the playfield - not the glass.



2. Make sure the playfield is flat (not warped). Do this by placing a straight edge, such as a ruler's edge, against the playfield and checking to see if there is a gap. If the playfield in warped towards the center drain, the ball will always try to drain down the middle. You may need to replace the playfield, or you might try to straighten out the warp by screwing a brace to the bottom of the playfield to pull the valley out of the playfield.



3. The most likely problem is the swamp kickout is misaligned. Take the glass off of the playfield top. Turn the machine on and roll the ball into the swamp kickout. The ball should eject straight out towards the right flipper. If it doesn't, examine the stainless steel kickout tunnel carefully to make sure the tunnel is not twisted. If it is, straighten it out with a pair of pliers and a heavy screwdriver. I would remove the plastic piece that covers the swamp (held down mostly with philip screws and a couple hex nuts). Straighten the tunnel out from the top of the playfield. Try pushing the tab that holds the tunnel roof on down on the left side (to make the ball travel towards the right). Keep in mind that the ball will roll along the tunnel from the kicker all the way to the very top of the tunnel. Examine the inside of the tunnel. You should see wear marks from the ball rolling along the inside of the tunnel. Make sure there is no obstructions near the very end of the tunnel, where the ball leaves the tunnel. You might want to lightly file the edge, especially near the middle-right side. Clean it well. Also, make sure there are no washers between the playfield bottom and the tunnel under the mounting bolts. Turn the machine off and pull the playfield up to check this out. A lot of pinball mechanics like to shore playfields up using fender washers. From the underside, washers placed under the mounting bolts on the left side of the kickout solenoid will make the ball travel towards the center drain on the top. Remove these washers, and the ball should move to the right flipper.



4. Turn the machine off and lift the playfield up. The big green solenoid kicks the ball out of the swamp. Push the end of the solenoid rod (near the spring) and make sure the plastic part of the rod is not broken where the kicker meets the ball. If it is, remove the solenoid, and fix the rod. (Look for the broken piece under the playfield somewhere and simply crazy glue it back on). Good luck! Let me know how everything works out!







Bookcase Becomes Loose From Playfield



Symptom: The blue book case was loose and rolling around in the machine when delivered.



What most probably happened is the locking nut that holds the bookcase base in place (in the very center) came loose. This happens often. Check to see if this part came loose. On page 2-29 of the TAF manual, you can see a full blow up of the bookcase base assembly.







Magnet is Stuck On



Symptom: The "Power" magnet constantly rotates under the playfield when it should not be (e.g., not during multiball). May be accompanied by wood-burning smell.



This problem is fairly common and the pinball machine should not be played until the problem is resolved. If repairs can not be made immediately, disconnect the magnets by pulling the connectors off. If left on, the magnets will eventually cook the playfield and cause disgusting and permanent damage.



The problem stems from a shorted TIP36C transistor. To repair, raise the playfield and look for a small PCB on the upper right side. The PCB will have three transistors mounted to heat sinks. Normally, the lower left transistor (controls the left magnet) for some reason burns out most often, but any or all of them can short or open.



Remove the PCB and de-solder the transistor(s) from the board. Be sure to add new heat sink compound between the transistor and the heat sink. Some techs recommend installing a 2.5A slo-blow fuse in line with the power leg of the transistor. If a current overload situation develops, it will blow the fuse before destroying the transistor.







Error Message: GND. Short Row 1 is Stuck Closed



Symptom: When you power up the machine we get this error message, "GND. Short Row 1 is stuck closed".



Chances are pretty good that if you can not cycle through any of the other test switches on the buttons inside the coin door that you have a blown driver on the WPC board. I would suspect U20 to be bad. This driver is a ULN2803. It is located on the WPC Power Driver Board. To replace, remove the driver board from the back box. Label all of the Molex connectors with a Sharpie pen first - this makes it easy to put everything back together. Then, locate the driver on the board (it will be labeled U20). Desolder it and put a new one in place. You may wish to install an 18 pin socket first. Put the board back in the back box.







Error Message: Sound Board Checksum Error U18



Symptom: When you power up the machine the display shows this error message, "Sound Board Checksum Error U18". Usually occurs after changing sound EPROMS. The game plays ok, but you still get this message when you start up.



Most probably, you installed an EPROM of the wrong type (should be 27C040 or 27C4001) or having bad or incorrect software. Simply change the EPROM and the problem should go away. However, if you get the error message when you did not change the EPROM, the problem is probably due to a loose ribbon cable on the sound board. Remove the ribbon cable and reseat it. Also, you might want to do a hard factory reset by removing the batteries with the game turned off, or selecting factory reset on the onboard computer.







Lamp Matrix Lights Do Not Work



Symptom: When you power up the machine the lamps that usually light during certain features do not turn on.



First, check all of the obvious things like burnt out bulbs, blown fuse, broken wires (do a continuity test with your ohm meter), burnt/broken connector. Here is a list:



1) 18 V supply missing from the transformer

2) BR 1 has gone bad

3) BR 1's cap has gone bad (forget which number this is off the top of my head)

4) 18 V fuse is blown

5) Wire that feeds the 18 V from the transformer to the driver board is

unplugged or broken

6) Lamp matrix rows or columns are unplugged

7) All 64 bulbs are burnt out (unlikely but possible)



If all of these check out ok, a new common problem is a broken ground connection leading to capacitors C13- C20 in the lower right corner on the Power Driver board. Simply solder a jumper wire from the ground leg of cap C12 to to one of the ground legs of caps C13- C20. Also, replace the two LM339 IC's at U15 and U16 (put in DIP -14 sockets first), as these may have fried. Finally, check resistors R150, R151, R152, R153, R172, and R173 (all .22 Ohms) and make sure they are tied to ground. If not, ground them too.







Sporadic Scoring of Swamp Millions / 5X Targets Light Up



Symptom: The machine will award the Swamp Millions and light up the 5X targets even when the ball is nowhere near the opto switch. Usually happens after the ball passes through the pop bumpers or when there is some vibration in the game.



All opto switches have a transmitter (an infrared LED) and a receiver (a light sensing photo transistor). When the power is on, the switch is on. When a ball passes through the light beam of the LED to the receiver, it triggers the switch off. Many times one of these switch components will shake loose from the playfield due to vibrations and cause cause a switch reset. The switch will momentarily come loose and then power up again causing a reaction similar to a ball passing through the components. To fix, simply re-solder the contacts to make sure they did not break off. If this does not fix the problem, replace both the transmitter and receiver (parts # A-15252-L and A-15239). If these parts can not be found at your local distributor, you may be able to substitute them with another LED + photo transmitter combination, available at many electronics parts stores.







Types of EPROM Chips Used In TAF



In 1992, the first TAF pinball machines had two EPROM chips: 1 for the game software, and 2 for sound bytes. In 1994, the TAF Gold version contained software updates and more sound bytes requiring an additional sound chip.



In order to do the software updates, you will need an EPROM burner/eraser, three chips, and the proper software files. The software files are freely available on the Williams Pinball website: http://www.pinball.wms.com/tech/wpcroms.html#a. The burner and eraser can be purchased from most electronics parts suppliers for a few hundred dollars. The three chips needed are as follows:



U18 Sound ROMs: 27C040 or 27C4001 (4 meg)



U15 Sound ROMs: 27C010 or 27C1001 (2 meg)



U6 Game ROMs: 27C040 or 27C4001 (4 meg)



Be careful when loading the software that the EPROM chip you use has the correct capacity or you will get Checksum errors when you try to play the game using it.
 
Awesome guide there Paul. Good for all pins really. I'll certainly be referring to this in the future. Thanks
 
Gaz Shiells' date=' post: 1689007 said:
Awesome guide there Paul. Good for all pins really. I'll certainly be referring to this in the future. Thanks



Dont thank me - someone posted a link to it the other day and since it was in the Wayback archive i HAD to grab it for the site before it disappears forever
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