New Life Games Tech Forums

Model: Action Claw Crane
Symptom: No movement

When at the auction it would move backwards & forwards when tested it but not left/right. Later it wouldn't even move backwards & forwards.

Picked the lock to open the glass door up top and removed the carriage assembly. There was synthetic hair in the gears and it was tangled in with some ugly doll thing hanging from the rear of the cabinet. Removed all the hair and replaced the assembly. Now it would move back & forth as well as left & right and up & down but the claw would not close.

Unplugged the claw and measured resistance to the coil. It was open. Removed the claw from the game and found one wire to it was broken at the solder joint on the solenoid. Cleaned up the solder mess, trimmed back the wire, and resoldered it in place. Reassembled it properly with the strain relief in place and tested. Worked like a champ!

Installed new locks, 2 quarter mechs, fixed a broken ground on the coin switch, remounted the PC board, adjusted the claw strength, and cleaned the cabinet.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3511/3302991520_ec20bc9cfa.jpg)

This one is now in my son's room. :D

Tip: Transporting or working on crane machines

When working on or transporting a crane machine you'll need to get the moving mechanism off the tracks. To do this simply lift up on the mechanism, rotate it 45 degrees and lower it straight down from the rails. This will allow you to wrap the mechanism for safe transport. It will also give you access to the gears and belts on the top of the assembly for inspection and repair.

Model: Talon Crane
Symptom: Dead

Crane had no activity on the board and would not light up the credit/timer displays.

Resistance checks showed no shorts in the drivers section but did reveal a shorted 4050 IC. Replaced the IC. Board still would not come up. Put the board on the bench and discovered the 8031 IC's data bus was dead. Checked the reset line and found it was stuck. Replaced a defective DS1232 reset controller IC and the board came back to life.

Installed the board in the crane but it would not boot. The power supply would not adjust properly to the required 5.20v. Resoldered several bad solder joints in the power supply, reinstalled, and successfully tested.

Model: Skee-Ball (short lane version)
Tasks: Fix up for the game room

This version of Skee-Ball uses the smaller balls and has the shorter lane.

Overhead flood lights in the back box are small, 30 watt flood lights and are easily replaced with the EcoSmart 8-Watt (50W equivalent) Bright White PAR20 LED flood lights. (Home Depot Store SKU # 866623) This reduces the heat generated in the back box and still provides nice lighting.

Bulbs for the score and ball displays are tiny, type 73 bulbs (GE-73), which are also used for ashtray lights in cars and may be found (for a HIGH price) at your local auto parts store. Pinballlife.com (http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=24&parent=3) has them for a MUCH better price, if you can afford to wait for them to be shipped. The sockets can be fragile, so take care when adding/removing bulbs. If the bulbs are good, but only light when pulled partially out of the socket, then gently clean the wires on the bulb base with VERY fine grit sandpaper (800 or higher) or replace them with new bulbs. DO NOT mess with the sockets.

The token mechs use the smaller .900 tokens and can be replaced with standard .984 token mechs *if* the exit chute where the coin switch is mounted is modified. Trim off the edge of the chute that is away from the switch with a nibbler tool to remove the bottom half of that side. If the coin mech has the side mounted lever at the bottom exit which is used to keep things from being pushed upwards through the coin mech, remove it as it will interfere with the coin travel through the exit chute.

If you must drill out the locks, do NOT misplace the hook for the lock mechanism that locks the lid to the coin chute as it's a special shape.