The claw is having intermittence issues picking up the ball from the elevator.  It of course was working when first received, and later that night, and since, started having problems, and giving a claw error at times.  

The elevator was working intermittently as well, and was giving an error, however this turned out to be a loose molex connector to the board underneath.

What now happens is the ball will travel up the elevator, the claw will move over it, wait the appropriate time to pick it up, then move back to the default position, stop, then back to pick it up again.  The magnet seems to not engage.  It continues doing this forever.  Clearly the optos are working in the claw crane, and in the elevator, as once I manually remover the ball, this stops.  I have also tested these under the switch test.

I tried straightening out some wires, reseating everything I could with regards to the elevator and claw, and it will then work, for a bit, then stop again.  I’ve gone through this process three times, both with the same results, however one time after it stopped working, it then worked a couple times, but then stopped again.  I tested the voltage to the claw magnet in the self test, and there is no voltage when attempting to engage the magnet to the terminals of the coil.

I *was* thinking this would be likely a loose connection/solder joint somewhere, however have since have read some posts stating that some people had claw issues after the game warms up a little, indicating something deeper.  I will have to try hot and cold, and see.

The game needs a total shopping bad as it is, so I was going to strip it and get in behind the claw’s big grey plastic shield to look at the connections, but ran into a wall.  The claw crane silver plastic top comes off, exposing the arm with the magnet coil at the end, this cane be moved straight up.  It appears the crane base, being the part above and protruding up from the grey plastic, needs to be turned somehow counter clockwise to be parallel to the cabinet sides to properly remove this grey plastic shield’s hole in the rear, but I can’t see how to do this, as the optos do not allow it to turn more when on, and I don’t want to manually force it without knowing if this is the proper way – anyone know?  Once removing this, I’m confident I will find something loose, as there always is...

Interesting, another issue is the ball eject in the test will not eject the ball.  It will allow me enter into this test, but then nothing happens, and the buttons do nothing, except the escape back to the previous menu.  Any idea why?

Thanks in advance,

Aaron

the ball eject test will not work unless the coin door is closed

Coin door open turns off power to all the coils.

... god that's so noob, good thing I'm still relatively new =)  

Quoted from Atomicboy

... god that's so noob, good thing I'm still relatively new =)  

no worries   Easy fix eh!

Anyone want a steel power ball for their TZ? $50.

After tearing this thing apart above and below, testing voltages everywhere,  wires, transistors, connectors, EVERYTHING, I could not for the life of me figure out this intermittent issue where the magnet would all of a sudden stop working.  When it wasn’t working, I finally figured out that there was voltage to the magnet, and the magnet coil was warming up trying to grab the ball, but no grabbing.

I then, as a last resort tested each ball individually.  It turns out, after repeatedly testing each of the 5 balls, only one ball had the issue.  I inspected this ball, and it is very faintly dimpled all over, like a gold ball, but very hard to see unless up close.  I tested this with another magnet, and no pull.

I can’t believe this was the issue….  Good news is learned a lot about the internal workings of a DM quick, before even playing the thing more than 3 games.

Aaron

WTF kind of ball is that? post a pic please

Quoted from Pharoah007

WTF kind of ball is that? post a pic please

how is its weight? Lighter (aluminum)?   Heaver (stolen melted down gold)?  

It is exactly the same weight as the other balls, same size, shines the same as well.  I'm glad it does't work, as when rolling it along a flat surface, you can hear the difference, which I worry would do damage after time.