Star Tech Journal

Issue: 1990-September - Vol 12 Issue 7

Dynam.o's Response to Air Hockey
Coin Mech Problem.
Mark Robbins
Dynamo Corporation
Richland Hills, Texas
SUBJECT
The problem which Bob Hade ofIBI Games had
with his Air Hockey push chute coin mech (see
S,n'J June '90) is one in which we are familiar
with and is relatively simple to solve.
DESIGN
The design of the coin switch bracket is ifltended
to provide extra additional anti-cheat protec-
tion.
to look through the two holes near the access
door, just open the coin door and eyeball it.
A slight adjustment of the extension up or down
is all that is usually necessary. Another alterna-
tive is to bend the metal guide bracket up and out
of the way. This reduces its potential anti-cheat
capability, but a number of operators have done
this with no problem whatsoever.
Toe coin mech extension,
when it trips the switch,
goes between a molded
plastic piece below and a
right-angled metal guide
piece above.
NOTE
Finally, I would like to en- ~
courage all operators to
bring any problems with Air
Hockey to my attention, no
matter how small they
might seem to be. Call me at
Dynamo (800/527-6054)
or
contact
your
distributor's service de-
partment.
This provides protection
against the unlikely possi-
bility that someone could
cheat the machine by
pushing the slide in and
jamming it up and down
hard enough to trip the
switch.
Operators may not always
realize how important they
are in providing feedback to
manufacturers.
CAUSE
Toe possible cause for the
misadjustment was men-
tioned in Bob's previous
article. Toe extension may have gotten bent
inadvertently during collection, by banging the
floor or whatever. (Sometimes things get jarred
during shipping so a new table could have such
a problem.)
SOLUTION
In either case, a slight bending of the extension
up or down will eliminate the problem. No need
There are hundreds of parts
in every machine and the
slightest variation here or
there can cause unforeseen problems. Your in-
put is vitally needed to make the machine, in this
case, Dynamo Air Hockey, as trouble-free as
possible.
0
0
0
Rare Willianis Reset Probleni:
Using A Storage 'Scope
Mario Van Cleave
Pinball Doctors
Salinas, California
SUBJECT
It seems I've had more than my share ofWilliams
reset problems in the past few years. The
strangest one of all showed up on an
Earthshaker recently.
PROBLEM
This game was getting complaints of resetting at
random (as they do most of the time). Upon
pulling this game from it's location the usual
check out procedure followed.
~. Using a Digital Volt Meter I found initially 11.9
Volts at test pin 3. I've had these pins run at this
voltage but have discovered they run better
above 12 Volts.
I moved on to other parts of the circuit only to
discover less than 5 Volts at test pin 1 which is
generally not a good indication. After removing
C 10 and testing it out of circuit it was replaced.
Power up showed no change.
SOLUTION
I grabbed the storage scope and went to work.
After several picture taking episodes, I discov-
ered occasionally a missing half wave! The
problem was the bridge rectifier BRI. The ma-
chine only has 2 amps AC loaded on this rectifier
and its rated at 35 amps (heat sink rating).
CUSTOMER SERVICE
A conversation with Tom Cahill, Customer Ser-
vice Manager at Williams Electronics, left me
assured this is a rare occurrence.
Guys, for the ultra tough problems, use your
storage 'scope or get one.
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