Williams Hot Tip (EM)

[delarge]

Credit unit - dismantled and cleaned. Now moves freely, up and down.
Coin Unit - dismantled and cleaned. Now moves freely, up and down.
Ball Unit - moves freely, up and down.
Bonus Unit - moves freely, up and down.
Player Unit - needs cleaning, switch(es) bent out of shape. The final frontier.

Tonight's reset issue seems to be with the 6th drop target. It has snapped off at the base. Going to have to pull the drop target mechanism apart to see what is making contact for the drops to keep resetting.

Player jumping from one to three to four I assume is the issue with the Player Unit?

[delarge]

SOS!!!!

Hi all,
back onto Hot Tip.... in our last episode, I could play a game and every so often, the drop targets were found to be resetting twice before a ball due to switches on the Bonus Unit not making proper contact.

Yesterday I decided to get back onto finalising the machine and adjusted switches with the switch adjuster tool by giving them a slight bend. I have now spent two afternoons adjusting and re-adjusting switches and cannot play a single game due to either switches not making proper contact to eject the ball or switches being too close that the drop targets continually reset until I have to turn the machine off. I am now at a point of total loss to understand why it's doing what it is doing. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

I have included a picture of how I think the switches should be at zero position and position 1. Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,
Adam.

[delarge]

Ok, edited both pictures the same way with Preview on Mac OS X as this machine doesn't have Photoshop and the second image seems to be stretched and flipped. Re-uploading.

It is still stretched, but you get the idea....

[delarge]

Just had a close look at these switches with the playfield up when the start button is pressed.

At zero position the switch on the far left of the picture is open, but I can see a spark arcing between the switches and the stepper continually resets. If I move this switch further apart, the machine steps up, but keeps going to infinity and has no stopping point.

[Retropin]

At zero position the tab moves across and pushes this switch open. When the stepper increments the switch MUST close.. if it doesn't then the machine will continue to "search" for this closure.
So.. at ONE step on the stepper this switch must read closed with a DMM ..NOT SIGHT.. use your DMM.

Just a little tip.. if the switches are working, there is no need to adjust them. You are asking for trouble doing this.. and it looks like trouble you got.

Aint broke.. don't go fixing

[delarge]

When Hot Tip arrived, it wasn't working due to the switch not getting power and ejecting the ball to the shooter lane. I adjusted the switches to get it working.....so, technically, it was broken....I just re-broke it.
:-p

[Retropin]

When Hot Tip arrived, it wasn't working due to the switch not getting power and ejecting the ball to the shooter lane. I adjusted the switches to get it working.....so, technically, it was broken....I just re-broke it.
:-p

All is forgiven..

[delarge]

All these switches have been bent by someone over the years and I thought I had re-bent them into place (then ruined everything again as stated before). Would it be worthwhile to replace switches with brand new ones to guarantee longevity? I have cleaned the switch that is arcing, but doesn't seem to have done anything. If a switch has gold contacts, if they are worn, can those also effect the switch?

[Retropin]

All these switches have been bent by someone over the years and I thought I had re-bent them into place (then ruined everything again as stated before). Would it be worthwhile to replace switches with brand new ones to guarantee longevity? I have cleaned the switch that is arcing, but doesn't seem to have done anything. If a switch has gold contacts, if they are worn, can those also effect the switch?

Well yes, but if the switch is arcing then it has been activated elsewhere.. if its arcing and not closing then the coil that controls the relay isn't pulling in. So the switch isn't the problem.. control coil is.. or.. the mechanics of. Make sure plate pulls in and releases OK

[delarge]

I went through the machine and manually pressed on all the relays and put all the steppers back to zero. Started a game and still getting the continual reset on the Bonus Unit. I adjusted the switches on the far left of the image where they were arcing and then started a game with the playfield up.

Everything was fine again. I put the playfield down and turned the machine on and the score motor continually turned and I wasn't able to start a game. I turned the machine off and lifted the playfield and no score motor turning, but once again I could start a game normally. Had to put pin repair to rest for the night, but very strange...

[Retropin]

Not really strange.. its all too common actually and can leave you scratching your head. OK.. first you need to ascertain that you have no scoring switches touching when PF is down.. you should know as the game will continually score. If this is the case then a switch is adjusted too finely and you need to find it..LOL

Or.. as is a common problem with Williams EMs.. the wire loom from the PF goes to the back of the machine and up into the head. There should be a bracket at the back of the cabinet that holds this in place. Sometimes when you put the PF down this cable loom rests on the relays far back RHS and prevents the game from starting properly. Ive had this on at least 3 WMS EMs and is well worth checking out

[delarge]

Back onto my biggest challenge again tonight, Hot Tip. Haha

I pulled the Jones plugs out of the head and turned the machine on with the playfield down, but the score motor continued to run.

I put all the plugs back in and turned the machine on again. Score motor still runs continuously. I then put the Bonus Unit back to zero and the score motor stopped. So, every time the bonus unit increments from the zero position, the score motor runs continuously. It's a switch!

At least I don't have to worry about something unknown in the machine.

Cheers!
Adam.

[Retropin]

If it is a switch, then start the machine with the PF down and the coin door open.. look inside the machine while the game starts to reset. The PF switch will be JUST touching and you should see the blue  arcing, you might be able to do this with the PF raised slightly and pulled over the lockdown bar resting on a block.. this way you will know where the switch is rather than having to go through them all one by one.. do this and it will be the last one.. always is..

[delarge]

 Yeah, before it was the wiring pulling in a relay and could see the sparks under the playfield.

I figured it out! Get ready to shake your head at me...

Spent two afternoons adjusting switches on the bonus unit and tonight I discovered it was actually the reset relay causing the dramas. One switch looked REALLY bent out of shape against the others. Straightened it out a bit and now all is well again.

I got the multimeter out to test the switches. To do this, is it the audible continuity setting and when it beeps, the switch circuit is closed?

[Retropin]

Yeah, before it was the wiring pulling in a relay and could see the sparks under the playfield.

Quite common on a WMS EM and always worth checking.. can also be the source of shorts blowing a fuse as the insulation wears through.

Yep.. when it beeps the switch is closed.. I hate to add to your pain here but check the switch with it closed and a piece of paper between the leaves also.. often a switch on an EM will be in parallel with a closed switch and your DMM will read the lowest resistance and so go through the parallel switch, so youll need to disable the parallel switch.. but in all honesty, only do this if it all tests OK and you still have the fault. I think you should be OK from here and its all pretty straight forward