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Called out to assist with a SWT having multiple issues. Let's start with the simple stuff! A flipper issue. Owner reported that the left flipper was buzzing loudly when it was engaged. Took a look under the playfield and found out why. Flipper coil stop was held in with only one screw, which was not even the correct type. Replaced it with the correct bolts and gave the flipper a clean and a new sleeve. Working OK now.
Drop target issues next. The drop targets have trip coils which allow the targets to be dropped individually. However, the second target wasn't dropping. Everything checked out physically, but not electrically. Wire had broken off the coil so there was no "trip" action. Soldered it back on. The drop targets still needed some adjustment, though. Occasionally, the top drop target would reset but drop back down straight away. It was hitting the metal bracket immediately behind it. I needed to loosen the drop target assembly and shimmy it as far forward as possible, and also loosen the metal bracket and shimmy it as far back as possible, to create a gap between the target and the bracket.
Now let's fix some coil issues! The ball shooter coil wasn't right. It wasn't able to shoot the ball out of the shooter lane. The entire ball shooter assembly was loose, which I soon realised was because the coil bracket had broken. New bracket needed here. I put it back together to test it out but I still got nothing. An entire bank of coils was actually dead. This was because fuse F21 was blown. Replaced it. Now when high voltage was applied to the playfield, the ball shooter coil was locking on. Makes sense... the transistor that controls the ball shooter had cooked itself, which probably took out the fuse. Replaced the transistor and the ball shooter was back in action. Oh, the shooter lane switch was also misadjusted, and would sometimes get stuck closed. Adjusted the actuator wire for better movement. Finally, all systems were "go" in the shooter lane!
Any issues with the X-wing canon? Yep, a couple. Balls were getting stuck when diverted to the X-wing, as you couldn't fire them out. But this wasn't an electrical issue. The coil was firing just fine. It just wasn't moving the ball. The nylon tip of the coil plunger had broken off the metal shaft, so it was not long enough to actually hit the ball when activated. New plunger was installed and it was firing nice and strong again.
There are two switches on the underside of the X-wing assembly. One is the "home" switch. The other is the "enable" switch. This enable switch must properly open and close as it acts as a safety switch for the canon. If misadjusted, the safety switch will never disengage, and it will never fire. That was also a problem here, so even when the coil was fully functional, it still wouldn't "shoot" when it was supposed to. Adjusted this switch and the canon began firing as expected.
Halfway through the day, the ramp diverter stopped working as well. This diverter is an interesting design, with a magnet that captures the ball, mounted to a moving rail, with another coil to drag the magnet to another ramp, thereby "diverting" the ball. The screw which connects the coil to the magnet-on-a-rail had come loose, therefore there was no movement in the assembly. The screw was actually the wrong size, and was loose in the receiving thread. Correct screw was installed and everything tightened back up.
Next up, some game resets. After being on for most of the day, the game began to reset occasionally. Pretty typical symptom of a fatigued connector failing under load and heat stress. The CPU's 5-volt power comes from connector CN2. Replaced this with a new connector and new crimp pins. Solid connection now.
Some lamp issues as well. The Han Solo in Carbonite figure has two LED boards around it, each with four LEDs on them. They light up in sequence and are a part of the lamp matrix (row 7). Three of these LEDs were actually dead. Unfortunately the boards are unobtainable, and I can't even find similar LEDs to buy anywhere. So I replaced these with square red LEDs in a symmetrical arrangement.
Surely that's all? Well, no. There was a final issue with the X-wing. Specifically, its movement. It's meant to swing outwards towards the playfield, then swing back home in a consistent movement. Sometimes it would pivot outwards normally, other times it would only move a quarter of the way before moving back, sometimes it wouldn't move at all. I checked and replaced everything related to the motor including the motor relay board, filter cap, surge suppressor bulb, and connectors (a couple of these were dodgy). Cleaned and adjusted the whole assembly. But still the issue persisted.
The clue was the direction of motor rotation. The motor should move only CCW, but this one was moving CW sometimes, confusing the game. There should be a pawl within the gearbox to prevent CW movement, but this one appeared to be broken. Only way to fix this is a new motor, so a new one was ordered from PBR. However, the new one had issues and didn't run smoothly. This is one of the rare cases where even new parts won't fix an issue. The gearbox will potentially need to be de-cased to find out what the problem is. Unfortunately I don't have the equipment to do this kind of work on site. This will have to be done another day!
And so ends the Star Wars Trilogy saga. A repair job almost as long as the movie trilogy itself!
