Description
- The score motor was running for mysterious reasons. It would never start on its own, but it would keep running long past when it should have stopped. I found it on the circuit diagram and there were a bunch of things that could start it off. I tried those, but they all had other effects that would only happen the first time. But the score motor knows to keep running to complete a cycle. How? On one of the switch stacks (“index”), there’s a normally-open switch that when it closes keeps the motor running until the next proper stopping point. That was opening, but the momentum of the system would keep it running through the stopping point. A small amount of friction or pressure on the switch stack would get it to behave, so I just adjusted the switch a bit and all was well.
- Next up is the mysterious outhole failure.
- It used to work fine. For a while I think it worked erratically. Now it only works if you hit something else, like the one-point bumper, while the outhole switch is depressed.
- The outhole switch is mechanically and electrically fine.
- The voltage at the switch normally is ~8V, dropping to 0 when the switch closes. If the machine doesn’t have a game going, it’s at 5V. If I push the one-point bumper, it peaks at 22V before dropping back to 8V.
- When I kick it off manually, the relay measures at ~28V. But without it, it’s at 0.
- Holy shit, it’s the same index stack of switches. For reasons I don’t get, the outhole switch and the score EOS switches are all fed through a normally-closed switch on the score motor index wheel. If it goes slightly too far, the switch isn’t properly closed, and so is at too low a voltage. If I move the wheel back to the proper closed position, the normal voltage is 28V.
- Since both these problems started at the same time, could there be a common cause? Why is the score motor going slightly too far now? Or is it going the right distance, but the switches were adjusted for the old distance?
- Time to clean up, so we’ll find out next time!
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