Dragon: done!

I had a big day of fixing on Friday, and I am happy to say that I think Dragon is done!

When I first received the machine the owner said that sometimes the game didn't start when you turned it on, it just kept cycling, and so he'd turn it off, then on and try the start button again.
What was actually happening though was that the player motor was moving SO SLOWLY that the startup cycle was taking far longer than a reasonable person should be expected to wait.
This created erroneous scoring issues as well:  After ball 1 the player motor has to advance, but the ball is already in the shooter lane, so the player would shoot the ball, but the motor would be in player 2, 3 or 4 position as it tries to advance to player 1 ball 2.
All this because the player motor was spinning far slower than it should.  I found this thread on MAACA where someone else had the same issue, and described the player motor as a bit difficult to reassemble.  Due to the implied complexity (the guy in the thread repairs BINGO machines, so for him to say it was a challenge is intimidating...) I had someone in to help me open up the motor and clean it up.
After opening and cleaning the drive section, the motor goes much faster, and the startup delay and scoring issues are gone!  The motor was always especially slow when turning it on a first time, but now it is far better.  Odd to think of a pinball machine "warming up", but that is exactly what this one was doing.  But before it never even approached a reasonable rotation speed, even when used heavily.

PLAYER MOTOR!

That same thread also contained another member's insights in to my scoring issue.   Behold the scoring schematics section:

The CE / ML / DM / CM solenoids are the relays that trigger the score reel solenoids as well as the digital chime sounds.
The issue was the make/break relay P.  P, R and T make/break to determine if the pop bumpers are 1000 or 10000.  I had never before found a make/break relay that was gummed up and connecting on both sides, but this one was.  This also explains the intermittency of the issue, since the relay wasn't always engaged.  But when on, both sides of the P relay were connecting.  That is why when I manually trigger the DM relay, the ML would also fire.

Here is a schematic detail of what was firing:

This was also manifesting as another symptom:  When the 2 solenoids were advancing at the same time, sometimes the power wasn't strong enough to clear them to their next position.  AND, if the 10k was rolling over from 9 to zero, then 100k reel would advance as well and there certain wasn't enough power enough to advance all THREE reels properly.
This locked on the relays, and would cause the sustained squeal of the digital chime.   And this was the first and most major problem that the owner was complaining about.

PROBLEM SOLVED!


Oh and we also installed a new power plug to replace the busted and frayed one that was causing the underside of the playfield to be hot/live.  Safety first!

dragon scoring issue...

We are nearing the end of dragon but there are two major issues I have to attend to.
First, the player motor is super sluggish so I will have to dismantle it and clean out the old gunk.  Apparently it is a bit finicky, so I will have some external help for that.

The second issue is a but more mercurial.  I have yet to find the scenario where it reliably happens.
Somehow, the thousands and ten thousands solenoids get linked.
Thousands advance, and at the same time the 10k solenoid advances as well.  If I manually close the 10k solenoid in the back box, the 1k one also fires.
This happens for ALL PLAYERS, so it isn't a sticky carry switch in the score reels.
It also happens when I am tapping the side buttons for 100 points, and when I roll over 900 to 1000, the thousands firing also fires that ten thousand.  That means the O relay, which uses pulses to score 5k, is not the culprit.
It is also not related to any specific scoring switches on the playfield.
So, somewhere in the backbox, right?  We have the player motor stack and the relays for hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, and hundred thousands.  It FEELS like something is wrong there but I am foiled at each inspection.
I'll post the relevant schematics later, as I on mobile, but there are only so many triggers for the 10k reel:  zeroing advance logic, rollover from 9000 points (carry bit from each player,)  bonus counting, and 10k pops. (More? Will check later)

The most frustrating part if the investigation is that it isn't always happening, and I can't quite discern what is different when this issue is occurring.
When the 100k rollover happens at the same time the system is often stuck a bit since (I assume) it doesn't have the juice to advance all three score reels at the same time.  Since the advancement doesn't complete, the relays are still in the on position, and the scoring sound stays on like a squeal until it properly advances.

I am a bit stumped about where to investigate, because there are so few places where the two scoring mechs could short, and the intermittency just makes it worse.

Dragon: further work

1st rollover light not working in the upper rollovers?  Just a loose bulb/socket.

Issue with the game not starting up properly?  The player unit in the back has a HARD TIME getting warmed up and moving. 
I am going to bring someone in who knows a thing or two about european motors to take a look at it. 
The similar motor under the playfield moves fine.  That one is used for scoring multiples and such, so gets lots of activity.  The one in the head moves for players only, so far less activity.  I think it might be lagging due to ceased grease somewhere.

Then the other major issue is the sustained beeping of the sound board.  2 things could be at play here:  The sound and scoring are controlled by point-awarding solenoids.  Those could be sticking on:  CM, DM, ML, CE each connect to trigger a point sound, then release to score, which is happening.
I cleaned each of them and it definitely reduced the occurrences of the issue, but not perfect yet.  Apparently I can get some relevant contact cleaner to make sure they stick less.

in the head:  the scoring relays are easily accessible here, right up the middle.

Failing that, perhaps the occasional target switch is sticking on?  That would also cause the same issue.  Will remember to go clean those eventually.

Introducing... Dragon!

 No no, not the Gottlieb one from 1978, the InterFlip one from 1977, duh!
I was loaned this machine to take care of it's various issues.  This copy is HUO, I think, and is absolutely beautiful, inside and outside.
The game itself isn't that incredible, but it is fast and furious and would be great in a larger lineup.

The owner was complaining of prolonged squeals from the digital sound card, and scoring that would jump between reels on a single player game.
I went through it as well and came up with a list of issues and tasks:
- sound sometimes pulses on, stays on squealing until a flipper is hit
- bottom right dragon's corresponding rollover lights is always on
- "Ball In Play" reel seems to struggle a bit at times
- add LEDs in backglass
- swap LEDs in playfield
- Top #1 rollover light is off.  Should turn on at start, off when collected.
- Polarity of power probably incorrect, resulting in "live" playfield when turned off.
- Left flipper flutters slightly when compared to right
- lockdown bar is very difficult to move

Apparently this machine was under a blanket in a workshop for 30 or so years.  The counter on it only has 5000 games registered.

you could eat a meal off of it, it's so clean.

OK, new rule, no food on the games.

I went straight to the issue of scoring.  The game had no lights in the head, so tossed in some vital LEDs.  I could then quickly see that in a 1 ball game it was proceeding as:
P1 B1
P3 B1
P1 B2
P3 B2
P1 B3
then over.  I guess that after P1 B3 the game does a scan to check if that was the last ball, and since only 1 player registered, it ends.
My assumption was correct:  J1 to J4 are latch relays that indicate if a player is in.  I tested the latches, and manually unlatched P3.
The game then played through a 1 player game no problem.  My guess is that this is something that was just heavily unused and needs some love.  I heard the biggest problems with EM machines come from disuse, so after sitting for so long, J3 just couldn't unlatch without help.
I plan on having many more 4-player then 1-player games to stress it a bit and see if the issue reoccurs.

There are 5 rollovers on each the left and right side.  100 points each, 1000 points when lit.  Each corresponds to one of the 5 dragons.
The schematic is kind of cute, using this odd symbol to indicate "hey this happens on the dragon".
Checking that bottom right dragon's assembly, it was easy enough to spot the always-closed switch stack and regap them.  Problem solved!

I brought someone in to look at the power issue, since I am actively trying to avoid line voltage in my body.
We quickly found that it wasn't that the polarity was swapped (as was the case in my Out Of Sight,) but that in the plug itself the ground had detached.

yeah that's not quite right.

We also worked on the lockdown bar, which was really binding, but got it to loosen a touch.

Does this photo add anything to this post?  No, not really.

Next up?  I think the top rollover is solved via the P relay assembly, but dang that one is going to be hard to get to.  It is all the way at the back of the cab!
And the sticking sound issue?  I think I've isolated it to physical rollover switches sticking on the playfield.   Will get around to cleaning those eventually.

Note the "& advance" at the standup target...

Oh and I think this machine is also a prototype.  Note the "5000 & Advance" on the far left and far right standups.  There is no bonus add for these in the schematics.  They do not advance bonus.
Checking IPDB, all other machines just have "5000" for them.  I can see the "5000 & Advance" in the advert for this game on IPDB, and it even mentions the advance as a feature.  I am unsure if this is a prototype that was also used as the basis for advertising, or if a bunch of these exist and they then realized they had forgotten the bonus circuit, or something like that, and so changed the playfield.


This game has also been made somewhat notorious for it's hilarious Classic Games Room review...

And this funny gameplay video from PAPA pros where they are probably a bit drunk and the machine basically eats them alive.


More cool shots:

A simple plug allows you to adjust flipper voltage!

The Gottlieb score motor is not here.  We have this really cool motor in the cab, and a similar one in the back.  Very nice designs.