Ok, mammoth night on Hot Tip. So very very tired...
I focused on the Reset Relay tonight and the idea of soldering anything on that leaf switch or even wrapping wire around it seemed hard. I unscrewed the relay and even then, it didn't move far due to all the wiring soldered on to each switch. I screwed it back in and thought that the only possible solution was getting a brand new switch.
I left the machine for about half an hour and come back again. I decided to slightly bend the leaf back into place. After a few tries, it seemed straighter than it had been. I turned all the power back on and fired up the machine. This time, the start button worked without the piece of wire. Hooray!
In four days, I have got the credit unit working and now the start button. I was happy, but also disappointed that the ball still did not kick out into the shooter lane. I spent the next few hours reading and going back and forth to the machine. I noticed that the player unit is badly gummed up from what looks like hardened grease. I started to try and figure out how to pull that apart, but the task was too big, so I had to abandon that for tonight.
I did some more experimenting on the Reset Relay switches and decided to get my trusty bit of wire and put it around a suspect switch that didn't look like it was making solid contact. I fired the game up, but it still acted as normal and nothing different happened. I removed the wire once again.
It was time for bed, so I decided to lower the playfield. I turned the machine on and pressed start. It ticked over from Game Over to "1". I flicked the ball out with my finger and this time, the flippers worked and I was able to have a bash at the game. The chimes also worked and now the score reel is working. When the ball drains, nothing happens. I turned the machine off and on and this time it goes to Game Over without me having to flick the relay switch by hand. When a game is started, the score reel also tries to reset. It takes a few presses of the start button to fully reset to zero though.
This machine has a heap more work to do on it, but I'm guessing it has more life in it than it has seen in many years. I now have to work out why the outhole isn't ejecting the ball. It feels so close!
Cheers!
Adam.
