Out Of Sight: so much going on!

Let's talk power issues first!  I was under the PF swapping some lights out and poppin' in LEDs.  I almost have the whole thing done, just placed one more order to Comet Pinball to fill in the gaps.  (bright yellows for inserts, more colour changes for the backbox title)


First, let me tell you how much I enjoy the 3 lighting strips in this game:

They are each easily removed by 2 screws, allowing quick access to a row of bulbs.


But while under there, I got a nasty shock from touching a chasis on the drop target reset solenoid.  Dang, power is off!  What gives?

belly of the drop target beast

After one shortly lived false lead, I had some great assistance from my local board and found the main culprit:  The hot and neutral power lines coming in from the wall were soldered to the wrong points.
And yes, I got a receptacle tester to make sure it wasn't my home wiring that was deficient.

I got the schematics from Marco, but before I got them a friend pass this portion and highlighted the pre-transformer power setup on the machine.

As you can see from the schematic, one wire goes to a switch, the other to the reset banks.
First things first, let's get in there.

Yeah no, this is NOT going to work.  Thank god taking out a Gottlieb playfield is quite easy.

ooo just resting there..  Makes it so easy to solder on!

Off the lug going to the reset coils:  122.4 Vac

From the lug going to the switch?  0.69 Vac

Problem: Verified.  Time to put some flux on the connections, desolder the wires, then swap them!

The false lead I took?  Well the first thing I noticed under the playfield was this warning notice:

This game  had the red wire on the high-tap.   This wasn't the issue, but since there was no need for it, I soldered it to the NORMAL lug.  Might extend the life of some of the plastics .

right where it's supposed to be.

Next up, fixing the right outlane gate.  It was opening, but not staying open.

AX is the left gate relay, BX is the right gate relay.  Both are held ON by themselves, until a rollover breaks the circuit and closes them.

this is the switch for the right rollover.

 A visual inspection of that right rollover switch would imply that all systems are GO!  But I put my multimeter on continuity, started at the coil and worked my way back through the circuit to see if any solder was cracked, wires were busted... or if contacts were dirty.  The first time I didn't get a beep was across this gap.  Gave the contacts a quick clean, and it worked perfectly.

Time to work on the left gate.  Remember our burnt up AX coil?  This was due to a short, and I swear it wasn't on my watch.

note how much exposed wire is coming off the solenoid solder points...

Inverted view, brand new replacement coil in place!

You can see it better on the first AX pic, but on the circular gate piece there are two screws holding it in place.  On first test, the gate was not swinging open far enough.  All I had to do was loosen both of those screws, hold the mech in place while giving a small adjustment to the gate on the top of the playfield.  With a bit of trial and error I found the perfect alignment for it.

 And a few final touchups.  New rubber casters for the feet!  And I took a knife to the old rebound rubber and got it off.  Once off, the fresh rubber one was a cinch to work over the slight nub at the end.  And really, that bounce of the initial plunge is such a HUGE part of the aesthetic of an EM.  You have to get a fresh one on there.
Getting the metal bracket reattached to the playfield was an exercise in frustration, but if there is a hot tip for how to do it simply, I am not the lady that would know.

Everyone in rubber.