Raven: transistors in, almost done!

Wow, what a busy night for Raven.  I am ready to swap this machine out for another, and my dreams titter with what might be next.  Hopefully not another Gottlieb/Premier.  :)

it kind of looks mysterious like this.  WHAT WONDERS MIGHT IT CONTAIN?

The big thing done was taking out the driver board and replacing all the bad transistors!

So what got swapped?
Q35 was the only MPS-A13 transistor swapped, and that controlled the 1X light.
The other transistors were all MPS-U45s, which are in limited supply, and only seem to be available from Marco.  There is a somewhat similar equivalent you can get, but the legs are in the wrong spots and need to be bent.
Q22: spinner light, which was locked on, and is a VERY crucial shot.
Q25: 3000 light
Q45: #1 right spot target
Q46: #2 right spot target
Q48: right side rollover (fed from ramp)
Q52: left side rollover (fed from ramp)

well hello there, driver board.

 
After all this, 2 lights were still OUT!  But easy fix, just changed the bulbs and omg things work so much better.

(you might wonder why bother writing all of this?  Well the pinball community here is small, so chances are the next owner of this machine will be someone local, or maybe even someone I know, so whatever I can easily log here might really help the next (few) owner(s) as well.)

It becomes pretty obvious which are the old ones and which are the new ones.

Next issue was the GI.  I had found the issue with the Tilt relay, but finally gapped it properly tonight so we have some nice GI lighting.

Upper right sniper wasn't dropping:
The computer can raise or lower each of the 4 sniper drops, and if they stay up that is a gameplay annoyance, especially for this upper right one since that is the spinner shot, and you're not making it to the upper rollovers if the target has remained up.
There is a tiny coil up near the playfield that pulls in a metal disc on a fulcrum to tap the drop target off it's ledge and have it fall.  This was no where close to happening for this one target.  We tried bending the metal piece, but to no avail.  Cramped quarters, hard to get to at all, and pretty hard metal made for a bunch of zero fun.
In the end what worked was grabbing some adhevsive padding I used way back in a Rocky and Bullwinkle backbox animation repair.  Putting some on the bottom of the playfield limited the range the metal plate could rise, keeping it closer to the magnet coil, and ensuring it would get drawn in properly each time.

Ground mods?  DONE!
Ok, well most of them.  there are some further optional ones, but we connected all of the grounds at the transformer, added an extra ground to the driver board, an extra interconnect wire, and a ground for pin2 on the power supply board.

Oh and the lower right pop had gone out, blown fuse.  I replaced it and it was fine.  I inspected the hardware and was unable to see any strain, resistance, or anything that would lead me to believe it was suspect.  Wait and see on that one.

Last but not least, the fluorescent light was put back in.  The holders needed to be reattached, but in the end the light wouldn't go.  Unbeknownst to me, older fluorescents sometimes had a starter required, and the one here will need to be replaced.

So at this point, I think I just need to grab a $3 part?
Woot.

keep it classy, Raven.

Raven: flipper parts + GI lighting!

A bucket of parts finally arrived for Raven.  I restocked on 2A fuses and popped those in to the 4 pop bumper fuse holders.  I had previously but 3As in there, but that was still an improvement over the other bigger numbers.

I tore down the playfield and gave it a good cleaning, replacing a number of charred bulbs along the way.

Lots of long-neglected parts up there, let's get deeper in to it!

A bunch of the target also required adjustment:  Some had supports too far back and were being wedged under the plastics.  Some just had a terrible switch gap.
I also got to do the classic Novus 2, Novus 1, and then Carnauba Wax routine, all over.

While a new rubber kit had seemingly been installed in the past 2 years and seen minimal use, I installed new flipper rubbers because those were cold and hard.



But the most important part:   Rebuilding the right flipper.

Not much info conveyed by this picture.  For all you know, this could be from any other machine.  I'm not trying to SAY much of anything here, nope, just a nice picture relevant to the topic.  I guess it's kinda dirty?  but what can you really glean from this?  Is there a point to having it here?  Well I guess pictures do a good job of breaking up the walls of text.
Oh god, please don't take that as a slight, I didn't mean to imply you found text intimidating in any way shape or form.
Hey now, it's OK, I know you had a rough day, I had a rough day too.  It's OK, just, hey OK, just let me hold you, it'll be OK.  We'll get through this.

When I got this game, the one request the owner had was to make sure this flipper was strong enough to make that left ramp.  Well, on my first investigation, the whole EOS stack pads basically crumbled on me.
New EOS stack installed, new bushing, new coil sleeve, new spring.  Sanded slight mushrooming on the coil stop, cleaned everything.
This is probably a good time to mention that pretty much EVERYTHING under the playfield could use a good tightening?  And a tightening it got.   Maybe in another 20 years shit would start just falling of the playfield.  I recoil in horror for this possible 2035.  Partially for the shorts that might occur, partially for someone still playing Raven 41 years after it came out.


So... YAYYYYYY RAVEN IS PLAYABLE!  The right flipper is awesome and strong and the new flipper rubbers really enhance ball control.
The downside?  Raven is playable.  Uggh.
The DREAM of Raven is gone.
The IDEA of Raven was pretty awesome:  an unabashed women knockoff of Rambo!  A CHOPPER!  GREAT SOUNDS!  But unless I'm sorely mistaken, or missing the hidden "super secret rules" dip switch combo, I'm finding the game a real snooze fest.  The REALITY of Raven has gots me down.


Anyways, so I'm playing it, and I finally come to the realization:  None of the GI lights are on!
How long had it been like this?  Forever?  I think forever.
I was so wound up in the board and flipper issues, counting each of the controlled bulbs that didn't light, that I didn't even register to look in to the general illumination lights.


First up I checked voltages and connectors.
I then noticed this mysterious symbol on the schematics...

Was it a capacitor?  Was it a trimmer?  I googled schematic symbols and couldn't figure it out!
Oh the mystery!  Oh the EMBARRASSING MYSTERY of it all.

But first, let's look at what I was examining:

shoutout to my wicked photoshop skills for assembling this majestic piece of schematic data.

Start at F6: the A10P1-2 connection goes off to the coin door lights, and those were lit, verifying the circuit up to that point.
Same power connects via A12P1, pin 2, to the general illumination.  NOTE:  PLAYBOARD ILLUMINATION.  Yes, each company has their own wacky terms for all the basics.  (Remember Data East's TRIBALL?)
So it becomes obvious that it is that T that is messing us up, and the answer is pretty humiliating, but I am oh so appreciative of the vast pinball community that is willing to point out basic things to me without denigrating me at all.  They know I will do a good enough job of doing that to myself.

So yes, that was the TILT RELAY.   I didn't even think that they would, at this point game development, refer to physical relays like that.
Worse, while called a tilt relay, the only use it has on this game is turning the general illumination off and on.  Why not call it, like, "LIGHT SWITCH", "GI TOGGLE", ANYTHING other than TILT?
I get how in the older Gottlieb games, a tilt meant the lights went out, but give up the ghost, these were the cocaine fueled 80s!  Whose pride was hurt at the thought of renaming this to ANYTHING else?
Anyways, I adjust the tilt relay, conveniently located near the front of the "playboard", and now the whole thing shines.  Except when it doesn't.   Which happens.  Because it's an effect.


So what is left here?
The rest of the ground mods should get done.
Transistors need replacing on the driver board.
Upper right sniper needs an adjustment on the coil that pulls it down.
Replace it with a game I enjoy more.  :)

Raven: investigating board issues, starting ground mods

I brought in some help tonight and we looked in to the persistent issues.
As I suspected, the driver board had ISSUES.

Look around you.  Look around you.  Can you see it?

Oh, here it is:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?

Pop quiz, pinball hotshot:  are transistors supposed to crumble?


..



....



....................




Answer:  no.





Here are some quick notes about the board:
Q22 is L21, the spinner light, which I think is accidentally always ON.
Q35 is L24, the 1X light, and via manual ground testing works fine.
Q46 is L45, the right-bank center lamp.  also operates fine via a ground test (and that is ground transistor manually to verify the device driven by it is A-ok)
Q48 is L47, right ramp exit
Q52 is L51, left ramp exit

Q35 is listed as MPS-A13, but the other above 4 are MPS-U45 (which also reads 8532 on the component.)

Oh but what about the lower right solenoid, you might say?
(yes, you might say this.  Technically true)
Q63 is an MPS-U45 pre-driver for the larger 2N3055 transistor Q64.  We grounded Q64 and the solenoid fired just fine.
But the funny thing?  Testing later, the lower right sniper solenoid fired just fine!  Was it a bad transistor, or just some cracked solder that shifted when we touched it in our test?
Best to reflow that once we have the board out at a later date.

This is all useful stuff for prepping a shopping list.


In the meantime?  Work has been started on the ground mods.

alas, there has to be a better way.  Alas oh Yorick...

Also did work on the upper right drop:  It wasn't registering at all, but now it is.
As well I got the plug changed.  The old one had the ground plug RIPPED OFF, so now we have a proper 3 prong plug attached to the game.

I do need to get on the parts soon, because the game is currently unplayable.  I took a mild emery board to the EOS switch on the right flipper and the contacts readily fell apart, so that flipper is currently useless.

you could also use a new spring, and to not have your diode by the coil stop.  Just saying.

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!