Star Tech Journal

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STAR*TECH Journal
10
August 1988
Data East Secret Service ltnprovetnents
Service Department
Data East, Inc.
San Jose, California
During the time Secret Service was being
produced, several problems were brought to
our attention by our distributors and their
operators. Collectively they give the impres-
sion of a major problem but, when looked at
individually, they are correctable with mini-
mal time and effort. We (Data East Pinball,
Inc.) have found the problems center around
eight areas.
1. Ramp breakage.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The up-post not latching down.
Ball-eater adjustments.
Cross playfield shot.
White house switch adjustments.
Flipper assembly modifications.
Spinner wire breakage.
Stand-up target bracket.
Each of these problems has been corrected
in manufacturing and we have instructed
the field through the use of service bulletins
on how to update their games. The following
is a brief rundown of the improvements we
have made to address each of these prob-
lems.
1. RAMP BREAKAGE
The ramp breaks two ways, a) the forward
edge breaks from direct hits of the ball when
shot by the upper right flipper, and b) it
splits along its 90 degree angle where the
bottom of the ramp and its left side meet. In
manufacturing we corrected these problems
by wrapping the forward edge of the ramp
with a metal guard and by placing a plastic
post with rubber ring behind the ramps left
side. To eliminate breakage in the field we
issued a service bulletin describing how you
can install two posts to protect the ramp.
2. THE UP-POST WON'T LATCH DOWN
In manufacturing we did two things, a) we
custom adjust each assembly both before
and after it is installed into a game, and b) we
changed to a more reliable supplier of this
part. For the field, we issued a service bulle-
tin detailing the adjustments for the up-
post.
3. BALL EATER ADJUSTMENTS
The ball eater switches may require adjust-
ment because of inadequacies in the original
design. In manufacturing we are inspecting
and adjusting all ball eaters. For the field we
issued a step by step adjustment procedure.
4. CROSS PLAYFIELD SHOT
In manufacturing we shortened the ball
shooter guide, we moved the last ball shooter -
guide securing bracket to the end of the ball
guide, and we added an additional screw to
this securing bracket. For the field we issued
a service bulletin instructing the operator to
install a screw in the playfield at the end of
the ball shooter guide so it will not come out
of adjustment.
5. WHITE HOUSE SWITCH ADJUSTMENTS
There are two switches in the white house.
One, mounted to the bottom of the playfield,
tells the CPU when one ball is in the white
house and the other, mounted to the top of
the playfield, tells the CPU when two balls
are in the white house. If the second switch
is out of adjustment, the CPU loses track of
the balls. In manufacturing, we took care of
this problem by adding a fail safe routine to
the program. If, during a game a playfield
switch is not closed for 10 seconds, the game
will kick all ball trap solenoids and will
continue to do so until the CPU see's a
playfield switch close. For the field we sent
out the revised program to our distributors
to make it available to their operators.
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