Chicago Coin's Blinker Bowler

[Randy0777]

Well,I figured I needed something else to play with    Got the game home,cleaned it up some. Checked every thing I could think of  . Finally plugged it in,and put a coin in... The fuse that I circled blew right away. The guy told me that it has been sitting for awhile,and when I got there he already pulled it apart( to help me  ) . When I opened it up,I seen a pack of fuses laying in there  . So,I knew that was not gonna be good . Looks like I'll be having some questions soon  .

[CaptainHappy]

Looks like it is in pretty nice shape, have fun playing with it. Fixing and tinkering is sometime more fun than playing a working game, that is unless it is the one that you just slaved over to fix!!! 

CaptainHappy

[cfh]

read the fuse labels.
sometimes there's "normal" and "low"
coil power fuses. you can NOT have both
fuses installed. if you do , one will
blow. you need a fuse in one of
the other. go with "normal"

[Randy0777]

Thanks for the replies. When I got there,he had the back box off. If you look at the picture where the circles are. You can see where it has diff. colors of paint on the tabs. Only two of them are 9 pins,but they both have the same color  . That was the problem. After switching, it fired right up  I played for a min to see if all the score wheels worked,they did. I cleaned the board,but need to wax it .

Clay,I could not find the high/low. I see it on the United

[Randy0777]

The origanal puck is 2 1/4 in ,butit was not in the best shape and I did not want to scratch the board. So I was using a puck from another game, 2 7/8 in,and I was always getting strikes. I than grabbed one from my shuffleboard,2 1/4 also,and the problems begain  . As long as I get strikes,the game plays fine and re-sets the pins. If I get a spare,nine out of ten times the game locks up and no pins will go up,or come down until I turn it off and on. The motor that controls the flash will still run,but the lights stopped on my first throw.

I found four options that I can change by switching the plug to a diff hole. Two of them I do not what they are. The first one is "reflex adjustment plug" 3,5,7,10 are the choices...its set on 5. My guess is for the speed of the flash,but did not want to change it until I was sure.

The second is "circle E-F" and choices are 1,2,3 and its set to 3

The other two is for easy strike and when the "blinker" bonus plays(which frame)

[Randy0777]

Trying to get the game to play with out locking up on a spare   . Whoever had it must of been having the same problem. The stepper was covered in oil,which I thought was the problem also. Cleaned all the gunk off of it,sanded the whhel,checked the contacts...still doing the same.
 When you would get a spare,the stepper would just hardley move. Suppose to move about inch or so. But,it would work sometimes    Sent a email to you know who   ,his reply was that it was not the motor,but the 1 and 2 puck relays . So I'm off to locate these 2 relays   . Found them with the pin relays. I played the game until it locks up(which was like 3 throws) ,and look at the relay coil.   It's working,touched the contact and see a spark,and the wheel moves   . Clean and adj. the contacts. Game plays like it was 1955.

[StatFreak]

  

Good job Randy! Now all you have to do is learn to pick up a 7-10 split!   

K+ to you for sticking with it and to cfh for all of his knowelge and help. 


Stat

[Randy0777]

Thanks Stat.

I have the United shuffle,but it does not have the flash feature. I picked this one up for something to do. And the more I play with them,the more I learn    I want a bowler,but she would flip if I come home with a 16ft+ game  .
I would of been stuck for awhile playing with that stepper. Now,thanks to CFH,I need to find another project 

[channelmaniac]

Congrats!

Yes, CFH is a smart guy - he knows his stuff cold.

I tell you... the folks that designed those machines had to be part genius and part insane. It's a LOT more work troubleshooting those things than a computerized pinball game.

RJ

[Randy0777]

Well, I thought all was good 

Kids played it for a few hours. I play just to check all the bulbs,finish the game and it would not start back up  . So first I visually check the fuses,all looks good. Could not really tell which lug on the transformer was the common,So I ohm'ed the fuses out,still good.
Spend about three hours playing with it,advancing the wheel,flipping relays,cleaning the pins again,reading...everthing.
Last resort,contact the master. His reply , "advance the score wheel,if it does not cycle,you have a bad fuse" 
Finally locate the common,check the voltage...bad fuse 

The worse part is I KNOW when you ohm a fuse,you need to pop one end out.

[jay]

ahhh..... but why did it blow..... is the more important question.

[Randy0777]

Ok Jay,I'll play along 
I play pool league on tue nights. Once I found the problem,the highest fuse I had was 7 amp... I needed a 20  So I grabed some on the way to pool. Just walked in , " Hi hon,I'm home" straight to the game to put a fuse in  . It fired right up.. So,give me a day or so and I may be able to answer...If it blows 

[Randy0777]

So far so good...still playing 

[channelmaniac]

How about pics of the playfield and the unit all lit up in it's glory?

[Randy0777]

I tried to post some pictures,said the server was full..or something like that  .

I've had one other problem with the games since my last post.

When I would go to start another game,it would start on frame 7,4,8...Whatever it wanted to  The way it works,is the solenoid would open for a few seconds,and a spring was suppose to spin the stepper back to zero(or one). The solenoid would open,but the spring was to weak to bring it back to start. Fixed the spring,and been working great ...With no fuses blowing.

I cleaned and waxed the playfield ,but yesterday,I silconed it and put #5 powder on it...it flys.

I have two shuffles ,the Chicago,and United...only two I ever worked on. The United has all of the contacts,coils,steppers,etc in the back box. The Chicago has them in the backbox,and the playfield flips over for the rest of them...which is alot 

The United is from 53,and the Chicago is from 55. Just my opinion,the United backboard (backglass) looks way better than the Chicago. I do think the Chicago is easier to work on tho   

Just a side note... If you ever worked on a E.M single player pinball ,than try a six player game...its crazy .

I've would of never got this game working so quick without Clay.
When I use to DSS,one of the things that the guys said to new members ,was...Read to your eyes bleed. I've spent HOURS on his site reading.

[StatFreak]

I tried to post some pictures,said the server was full..or something like that  .

I was able to successfully upload a 1.6mb file.
We do sometimes hit our limit and it's possible that CaptainHappy read your post last night and dealt with it.
Either way, it seems to be accepting files now. The current limit is 3mb per file.



StatFreak
  Global Moderator

[CaptainHappy]

I tried to post some pictures,said the server was full..or something like that  .

I was able to successfully upload a 1.6mb file.
We do sometimes hit our limit and it's possible that CaptainHappy read your post last night and dealt with it.
Either way, it seems to be accepting files now. The current limit is 3mb per file.



StatFreak
  Global Moderator

I know that you will find this hard to believe, but I recently upped the storage space for attachment, but I cannot remember when... I don't think it was last night though! I think that it was when I uploaded my SWEET Deep Pockets Jackpots, and that was a while ago... Now you have me curious, I am going to have to go check the settings to see if it was a fluke, or if another Gremlin changed them? Maybe His picture itself was over the filesize limit? Inquiring minds want to know...

CH

BRB, listen to the musac on hold..... LA LA LA LA

[CaptainHappy]

No the size has not increased from my last increase, so I suspect his picture was too big in file size.

CH

[Randy0777]

I think I tried the 16th,after I seen his post. I'll try again

[jay]

If it helps you out at all....
I tried to upload a 600k file earlier in the week and got the message that the limit was 500k.
I emailed the files to the member instead.

[Randy0777]

Depends on which camera I use,I'll get the message where it is to large. Than I just adj. it to fit. But this one said it was full. Went to a bullroast lastnight and that memory card is in the car...I'll do it soon