Bally Drop Target Repair

[CJBob]

So I followed along the instructions here:

http://stevekulpa.net/pinball/bally_dt1.htm

and managed to get the 4 new drop targets in place with no extra pieces left over! I was pretty proud of myself at this point.

Now testing and the targets all come up at game start and with each new ball but generally just 2 or 3 remain standing, the others drop immediately. Only the 1st target was registering points / making noise when knocked down and when all 4 are knocked down they don't come back up. Now no targets are registering points. Is there Viagra for pinball targets

I assume we're looking at connections now and I don't have a volt meter or a clue what I'm looking for. I tried to be careful with the wires when redoing the targets but it was pretty awkward so they did get banged around a little bit. Everything was registering properly before my target switch.

A related question I should ask if people have a recommendation for someone who services Mississauga who does repairs, I'm happy I've got this far but I'm going to need help possibly with this but definitely with some issues over the coming months.

Thanks, happy new year.

 

[bstock]

Good job diving in and tackling this project! That is the best way to learn. Having no extra pieces when you finish a project is usually a good sign

Next let me preface this by saying that I've never worked on drop targets, ever. So take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm sure others who have more experience with drop targets in particular can chime in with their expertise. I took a look over the guide you used and here is what I can offer.

What I know about drop targets is that they operate mechanically. That is to say when the bank of drop targets gets reset by the solenoid, each target "catches" on a lip and they are held physically in place. When a ball hits them they are pushed off the lip and get pulled down by gravity and a spring.

If your targets are resetting at the beginning of the game but some of them do not stay up, this tells me that they are not catching the lip. You can likely (with the game turned off so you don't zap yourself) activate the solenoid manually with your finger and see if the targets grab the lip and stay up, and you might be able to see what is causing some of them not to grab. Perhaps when you removed the springs you stretched or damaged some of them, but I'm not sure how sensitive this system is to failure if the springs are too weak or too strong. Does the coil work nicely? Does it snap the targets up quickly when the game is started? Coil could be dirty and not doing it's job. Again though, I'm only speculating.

I also noticed in the guide that the fellow mentions that those E clips can be hard to remove. Maybe take a look at those and see if you bent one in such a way that when you replaced it, it is causing binding somewhere in the system.

Keep up the good work, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

As for the targets not registering when they fall. If the targets registered fine before you took them apart like you say, then you might have just bumped something and pulled a wire loose or bent a switch. By the looks of the pictures in that guide, when a drop target falls, it closes a switch at the bottom of the assembly. Each target has its own switch. If some of these switches aren't working, the machine can't score the points for the target, and it won't know that all of the targets are knocked down. Check the wires attached to each of those switches. Gently tug on each one and make sure they are all connected securely to each switch. Really do this, don't just look at them. I chased one super annoying intermittent problem around my WCS94 for weeks before finally finding a wire that had broken loose but looked like it was connected fine. When I touched it it just fell right off. So really touch each wire, it will save you a headache.

If all the wires are secure, then take a look at each switch. Make sure that when the drop targets are "down", each switch is closed and making good contact, and that when the drop targets are "up", all switches are open and not touching any metal parts. You could also use a business card and rub it between each of the contacts to make sure they are nice and clean.

 

[CJBob]

Thanks bstock, I used a business card between the switches and gently tugged the wires but honestly everything on the drop targets that aren't working appears to be the same as the targets that are. Of course I'm still a bit intimidated by this stuff, a few weeks ago I'd never seen the underside of a playfield. I think I'm going to have to make the call to the bullpen for the closer and see if someone can come in and save the game.

Does anyone know of a Mariano Rivera in the Mississauga area?

Thanks.