Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Arcade Collecting => Pinball => Topic started by: MameMaster! on July 06, 2010, 04:50:25 pm
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Hi Guys,
I just picked up a flipper rebuild kit and was going to give it a shot for my new Cyclone machine.
I have a question-- see the yellow (capacitor?) in the upper left of the photo? On my current machine one of the two connecting wires is not attached to anything but it currently works fine.
What does that yellow part do?
...lastly-- do I simply take this sucker apart-- desolder parts as nec and rebuild?
Thanks in advance.
:cheers:
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The capacitor suppresses the spark on the EOS switch. Replace the capacitor and EOS switch at the same time, and while you're at it, file the cabinet switch. After doing this, there should be a very small spark at most on the EOS.
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Personally I don't think it does a whole hell of a lot in home use. But since you paid for it, install it anyway.
Come look at my Mousin' Around...no sparks on EOS or cabinet switches...
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Thanks for the info.
You know I'm finding it so funny as I've been trying to replace the plastics on my machine as to how many original bolts and screws are missing on the playfield. As I remove pieces I'm finding wood screws, glue and all sorts of other stuff that clearly wasn't a part of the original design.
Sigh....it makes changing the plastics much harder because I want to make it "better" when I swap out old for new. ::)
The upside-- it's amazing what a new set of plastics can do for a machine....it really brightens up that playfield.
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Welcome to the world of pinball repair. My VND was seemingly held together with bubble gum and baling wire. Every kind of screw under the sun was/is in that thing.
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I believe the Cap is to store some additional energy, so that even if the game has
some trouble keeping up with the power demands (many coils firing at the same time),
the flipper will have less of a delay. It might also be to provide an overall quicker response
when flippers are activated.
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I believe the Cap is to store some additional energy, so that even if the game has
some trouble keeping up with the power demands (many coils firing at the same time),
the flipper will have less of a delay. It might also be to provide an overall quicker response
when flippers are activated.
This is not an electrolytic capacitor, sorry.
With the introduction of F-14 Tomcat, Williams changed to the parallel wound FL11630 style flipper coil. This coil now used an outside lug as the common lug (where both the low and high powered coil wires were connected together). Also TWO diodes were used and required on these flipper coils. This parallel wound coil eliminated the "back spike" of current when the EOS switch opened. It also allowed the use of a 2.2 mfd 250 volt capacitor to further limit EOS switch sparking and pitting. Now when the EOS switch opens, this removed the high powered side of the coil from the circuit. The low powered side of the flipper coil is always in the circuit, but is essentially ignored when the high powered side is in the circuit. This happens because the current takes the easiest path to ground (the low resistance, high power side of the coil). The low power high resistance side of the flipper coil won't get hot if the player holds the flipper button in.
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Interestingly-- all I did first was to replace the actual right filpper button and adjust the contacts-- suddenly the "weak" right flipper was just as strong as the left one.
Easy fix! :cheers:
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For the price, I'd just replace coil sleeves with each rebuild.
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Mousin' Around? Another acquisition? Hrm.... how much longer you in Corpus?
I had one of these in the gameroom for 6 months or so ("stored" for a friend during his basement remodel). It's a fun and often brutal pin. Theme is a weird one, but the play made up for it.
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In the future, you never really have to replace coil sleeves unless they're physically damaged. You can squirt some Novus 2 on a rag, work it into the sleeve, and twist it around to really clean it out. I've also soaked them in hot, very soapy water.
They're cheap and easy to replace, but nobody can tell the difference between a cleaned one and a new one.
I've done this in a pinch, or for friends pins to get them working. I would never do it on my own games though. Old sleeves will get brittle and have scratches in them that will quickly refill with gunk.
Replacing sleeves is just a good practice for longevity, especially on high use coils.
As for your rebuild, those sys. 11 cabs always have bad pitted flipper switch contacts. There is an easy way to diagnose it.
If they seem weak when you are playing a game, try gently but firmly pressing in the button instead of smacking it. If this makes your flipper strong, you have worn switch contacts. Usually you can see the spark through the shooter lane gauge when you slap it on worn contacts.
I did a rebuild on a Comet and it had little to no difference. It's better to only do a rebuild if something is broken in the mechanism, or if a disassembly and cleaning doesn't fix the problem.
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Thanks everyone! :cheers: