Twilight Zone Questions

[dj_yt]

Hello!

Just doing some basic repairs on the Twilight Zone machine in our office. Does anyone on here own a TZ machine? I have a few questions it would be useful to bounce off someone more knowledgeable than myself. Failing that, I'll head over to pinside.

 

[Hurray Banana]

Yeah i have

 

[dj_yt]

Awesome. Well, let's start with the main ramp assembly.

It's currently not secured to the wood correctly and is missing the two Phillips screws. Obligatory blurry phone photo below.

1/ I can't find the specs of the screws I need in the manual. Do you know what they should be?

2/ Without the screws the natural resting place of the ramp entry point is a few millimetres above the playfield. Is this normal, or is the ramp mounted incorrectly? I would expect the plastic ramp to be snug to the playfield, but I'm no pinball expert.

I'm assuming the tiny screws originally came loose because they are under too much strain as a result.

 

[Hurray Banana]

The thin metal ramp should be flush with the playfield. It should be slightly curving from its fixing on the ramp to the playfield. That gap will damage the balls and cause fly balls

 

[Hurray Banana]

It needs re riviting or small coach bolts

 

[dj_yt]

Yep, makes sense on the metal section. I actually meant to ask if the plastic ramp itself sits snugly.

Just trying to figure out the best way of fixing it back down given the thread has probably gone. And I also want to ensure I'm not putting pressure on the screw if the ramp is mounted poorly to begin with.

dj_yt2016-11-25 17:12:50

 

[Hurray Banana]

Yeah the screw that's missing pulls the ramp down to the plywood. Try breaking off a cocktail stick in the screw holes then rescrewing. Make sure you get the stick flush with the plywood top.

 

[dj_yt]

Good idea, will give that a try!

 

[Hurray Banana]

Yeah I've done a few fixes with cocktail sticks

 

[dj_yt]

Just to say thanks to the banana - this fix worked well.

Now working on a problem with a flipper. I'll report back once I've fixed it.

 

[Hurray Banana]

well done chris

 

[dj_yt]

Fixed a reoccurring problem with the upper right flipper. The flipper was slow to respond and generally seemed weak. It would work fine for the first 20 mins after the table was powered up though.

I first tried replacing the coil. (I thought this may be the cause of the weakness) and I also tried cleaning the opto switch. (It was flickering in the switch test, so I thought it might be dirty)

I finally swapped the fliptronics opto board out with a new replacement. This solved the issue.