Raven: pops and lighting

So all 4 pop bumpers were out, obviously some major power issue with it since I had replaced all of the fuses and found only one was blown.

I also noticed that the lighting rows up to the ramp was not lighting at all, nor the circle of red lights in the middle of the playfield.  No way those 16 or so lights all happened to be burnt.


When changing a few lights under the playfield, there is no way to miss the under-playfield board holding a few smaller circuit boards.

pop bumper control boards

auxiliary lighting board

Oh wait...  so both the extra lights AND  the pop bumpers are out, and they are both on this board?  TOTES SUSPICIOUS.

Here's the schematic confirmation:

from the "Playfield" schematics page of manual

At the bottom we can see that +5V DC comes from the A1J6 connector on the control board, up in the head.  It is most probably that the auxiliary lamp driver and pop bumper driver boards just aren't getting that.
Checked with the DMM, and zero volts between the +5 and ground pins.

Up in the head I noticed the A1J6 connector was JUST slightly askew of perfect.  I removed it and placed it back on, powered up, and problem solved.
All 4 pops now work, as do the light strips.
Well, the red lights in the center only have 2 lights working.  I wonder if the rest are all just burnt?
But hey, progress.

underside of the lighting circle

the light strip to the ramp/orbit on the left side.

Introducing... Raven!

Arena is out, Raven is in!  As far as I can tell this game is basically Firepower with the useless multiball nonsense removed.  ;)
Yes yes yes, this game has a reputation.   Fuck the haters, I think I'm going to like this one.

On initial inspection:  there is no ground prong on the plug.  oopsies!
Left flipper has some movement issues.
A number of the standup targets need serious adjustment in relation to the playfield and surrounding plastics.  This might also mean flattening some distorted plastics.
The ramp and chopper are there intact, so that's always a good sign.  I can't imagine any NOS for those kicking around...
Playfield itself has some raising around the inserts, which I can't really do much about.  But it still has the mylar, so all in all decent condition.  Minimal broken plastics, too.

Tilt bob missing, rolling tilt ball also missing.
Subwoofer detached...
I also didn't know which pole to attach the speaker cable, but sharp-eyed pinsiders helped me with that.  Thank goodness for technology.  Sometimes I should photograph stuff right in front of me just so I can do a better digital zoom and check out details in ideal lighting.


Turned it on, and yes I know it's a touch of a risk considering the ground is gone...
30% of the lights are out.  Display seems great.  Plays well, and even the chopper works.  Held my breathe until I saw it's blade spin when the spinner is active.
Pops are out, and that's most likely a fuse issue.  I should get on top of inspecting the fuses, first and foremost.  I can't imagine this game, in the shape it is now, is properly fused.  Prove me wrong, Raven.  Prove Me Wrong.


FUSES:  THEY'RE WHATS FOR BREAKFAST.
(No really, sit down and eat yr damn fuses.)

I dove in to the fuses and immediately found this:

Notice anything?

yeah... nope.  Let's get a better F4 in there.

Lots of incorrect fuses found:
F11 was 5, should be 1
F10 was 3, should be 1
F9 was 8, should be 1
F6 was 10, should be 7.5
F12 through F15, bumper fuses, were each 3-4, but should be 2.   I only had 3A fuses, so I will have to order a bunch of the 2A ones.
F15 was blown.
F16 was 5, should be 2.5


SOUND:  gimme, please?

With the speaker attached (see above,) I turned it on and only heard background music.  Nothing else.  No sounds at all when you hit targets.  That can't be right, can it?  *quickly checks youtube play videos* yeah no that's not right.

But first I wanted to plug in the subwoofer.  I quickly noticed that the positive wire was plugged to the negative node.  Ummmm not sure if this sub will actually be any good then, but let's try.  I swapped that wire, and hooked up the ground to the minus sign node.

Then, to the manual to check on sound.

yes, this is an actual line from the manual. 

SOUND BOARD HAS BEEN PROGRAMMED FOR SOUND ONLY!
GEE THANKS!

but then there is this part:

So on the sound board is a 4-bank dip switch.  Only one option for toggling though.  Both position 3 and 4 were in the same position, so I adjusted them and lo and behold the sound effects were on.
This begs the question: WHY HAVE THE TOGGLES FOR 3 AND 4 IF THEY AREN'T TO BE SWITCHED?  bah, whatever.  The sound are working now and they are awesome.


OTHER ISSUES

Bottom right sniper doesn't raise
Upper right sniper often doesn't lower
All of the effects lighting (strip up to ramp on the left, center circle of red lights) doesn't work at all.
Pop bumpers are all out
Slingshots need major adjustment
did I mention so many lights are out?

Time to get to it!

Arena: done

I had dallied on finishing up Arena since I wanted to have it around for the Pinball Women Ottawa meeting here.  It didn't get a lot of play, but I couldn't, in good conscience, install the NOS ramp and then invite others to play it.
Event came and went, and now it's time for the new ramp to shine!

old ramp vs new

With the proper entrance actually there the ramp shot is a lot more satisfying and the ball isn't prone to wacky airballs, flying off and smashing in to other hard-to-find pieces.
In the photo above the decal, which was ordered from The Pinball Resource, has not yet been affixed.  Decal set also came with new drop target stickers, but those didn't need to be changed.

Here is to hoping maybe some day some enterprising restorer will be able to epoxy the entrance on the old ramp!

Installed!

Now there is one thing I left hanging with this game:  the Pit plastic is missing.  When I got this machine, there were two UGLY and crude pieces of plastic near the bottom of the Pit / bagatelle playfield.  I couldn't get rid of them fast enough.
I was lucky enough to have my pleas on Pinside answered by member 80spit, who was able to provide me with scans of the upper playfield plastics.  As it turns out there are just 2:  one tiny one in the upper left corner (which I didn't need) and one MASSIVE one that covers the bottom arc, as well the upper right.

I was never able to find a way to print a plastic so large, so that part of the project goes unfinished.  Instead, I release the scans to you, fine pinball community!  Hopefully someone else will be able to utilize these scans and reproduce the plastic, even just in a basic manner.
Large Pit plastic part 1
Large Pit plastic part 2
Upper left Pit plastic

These are the original scans, not compressed in any way.

Finished up with another light cleaning + waxing.  Now to get this back to the owner that graciously lent it to me, and see what is next in line!