Hi to everyone.

I am soooo happy I found you guys. I was starting to believe I was the only one in Montreal with a need for pinball repair help.

And reading a little around the forum I can see you are also a friendly bunch. I particularly liked the “Mediaval Madness from China” story. Like a poster said, a real CSI storyline.

About me: I have a “Robocop” pinball and I love it despite its old age. It’s the only pin I ever had; I got it around 97/98 for the fun to play, but also for the pleasure of fiddling with it. Each time I had problem I managed to fix it somehow. I love changing lamps, oiling moving parts, making small adjustments here and there, changed an electric motor once, and got lucky to find an unsoldered transistor that I soldered back.

But about two years ago I lost all my Turbo Bumpers and Slingshots at once. I did my usual looking around; check the fuses, follow every wire for a visual check, called friends to help out. Even got an engineer friend to come over, but he could barely understand the electronic schematics.

I realized how much these bumpers and slingshots meant to the game play; It’s really boring without them, so the pin has been offline ever since accumulating dust.

But know I have found you guys (thru rec.games.pinball where I asked for help). I already got a few answer, but no harm asking again in the neighborhood.

Who would you recommend to take a look at my machine? I am on the Plateau (near Mont-Royal and Papineau).

I used to buy parts from “Laniel” (where I got it originally), but they are defunct. Where do we get parts now? I really need a few more lamps and new targets.

Well, that’s plenty for a first post. Once I get this fixed I will be asking a lot about maintenance and perhaps some plastic cutting and painting hints (unless someone has spare plastics for an old Robocop ... me dreaming out loud! ).

Eric

Welcome aboard !!

You will be surprised that finding plastics isnt that hard sometimes, you have reached the perfect place

Your bumpers problem is either a fuse, or a bad transistor. Make sure all the fuses are good, if the fuse is blown, it can also be due to a bad transistor...

While i am not an expert, some people will be able to help you more precisely. But look in the manual to find which fuses are driving power to these things and double-check the fuses first.

Sylvain

yes welcome this can be fixed I not the best at electronics either, but Azatotht is right on that one. there is some good guys in electronics on this forum might be able to help right away, but if not mindstorm88 who does fantastic repair but is on vacation till september. also pick up the TOP 7 video explains alot on Data east and williams sys11 games.

Start reading here. This is a guide for Data East and will cover your 1990 machine.

http://marvin3m.com/de/index.htm

If it is not a coil issue then it is probably electronic. Each transistor controls a single coil. If they both dropped off at the same time I am thinking it is switch matrix issues. Which means that the switches that tell system when to fire coils are not registering. I am not a Data East guy but if you can get into a switch test mode to see if the items not firing are registering on the switches. Get yourself the manual here if you don't already have it as well.

http://ipdb.org/search.pl?any=robocop&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick

All those coils are "special solenoids" - like Williams System 11..  They have their own little section on the computer board.  You probably have a blown chip (7402 or similar).  I've seen this before.  Problem is I'm in Ottawa so can't really help...

There are a few places to buy parts from in Mtl but they are EXPENSIVE.  You're better off with Starburst in Toronto or US stores like Bay Area Amusements, Mayfair Amusements, and Marco Specialties.

Welcome!!!

Mike

hi
if you need i can fix that just call me
450 433 6346
mike

Eric, welcome.
I was one of the ones that e-mailed you after I saw your post on rgp (my name is Elio).

From the issues you describe with the pop/jet bumpers and the slingshots, the problems can be due to a faulty 7408 logic chip on the CPU/Power Driver PCB.  This is of course assuming that all fuses test fine.

Look on Page 24 of your manual for more info on testing the individual coils in the Diagnostics.  Q6, Q9, Q10, Q11, Q12 cannot all be bad so it is probably a 7408 Logic (NAND or other) that is the problem.  Maybe the 7402 at location 12A,12B also.

But, there could be indeed a Switch Matrix problem (even one loose wire) so the Diagnostics will allow you to test the Switches (by touching the pop bumper skirt or slingshot contacts to see if those switches are responding or not).

As for plastics, you will eventually find some on EBAY every now and then....

BTW ... There is no "Oiling moving parts" in a pinball ...

Quoted from edelgiud

But, there could be indeed a Switch Matrix problem (even one loose wire) so the Diagnostics will allow you to test the Switches (by touching the pop bumper skirt or slingshot contacts to see if those switches are responding or not).

Errr...  Don't want to argue here but those switches do not run through the switch matrix.  The SCORING off of those solenoids do go through the matrix.  The triggering is done directly from the 'trigger' switch through a 7408 to the associated transistor.  I'm at work right now and don't have acces to the schematics (firewall).  I'll check at home.

Mike

Ah Mike, your experience fixing blowd up Laser War is revealing itself. What can I tell you I am a WPC guy

Quoted from MrMikeman

Errr...  Don't want to argue here but those switches do not run through the switch matrix.  The SCORING off of those solenoids do go through the matrix.  The triggering is done directly from the 'trigger' switch through a 7408 to the associated transistor.  I'm at work right now and don't have acces to the schematics (firewall).  I'll check at home.

Mike

Thanks for the note as I didn't have schematics either on hand.  What I meant is that all those switches 5 could be not registering somehow and hence never fire the coils....

Quoted from edelgiud

Thanks for the note as I didn't have schematics either on hand.  What I meant is that all those switches 5 could be not registering somehow and hence never fire the coils....

lol. ...ill bet you a data east lock down bar that all the chips are good and that the voltage is missing