Rebuilding a Funhouse

S-T-E-P 'P' target is *gone*

This problem was fairly easy to diagnose.

[missing target] Here's a ball's eye view of the alleged 'P' target. Rudy's watching you through the habitrail... There's still enough switch metal left that a good hit to the switch will register. Seems like it should be replaced anyway.

[held together] Here's the broken switch unbolted from the playfield, but still wired in, with the new switch tied onto the side of it. The one in back/top is the new switch. I figured this way I'd be able to move the wires over without messing anything up. Seemed like a good idea...

[new target in place] The wiring changeover went well, and though it was a snug fit, the new target and switch went back through the playfield cutout and was screwed into place. A quick test shows it works as well as the old one did, but at least looks better.

Oh, there's still another problem somewhere in this area: sometimes a hit to the missing 'P' target counted as a Rudy hit, complete with Dummy Flasher and an 'Oww!' from Rudy. With the glass off, a little more detective work showed that a 'P' hit only hits Rudy if the right flipper is held up. Neat. A quick look at the switch matrix chart in the backbox shows that those three switches are on the same row... and so is the slamtilt switch, which isn't working. Hmmmm, getting more interesting all the time!

A little time spent with a diode-checking voltmeter leads me to the culprit: one of the switches on that row is miswired, with the white wire going to the wrong side of the switch diode. Which switch? Why, the 'P' target, of course! Since I happened to have photos, I can tell it wasn't my fault! I just moved the wires over exactly like they were before. However, they were wrong before I got there. Move the wire over to the proper side of the switch and diode, and no more false Rudy hits. Slamtilt still doesn't work, but that's a job for later.

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last twisted 9/18/97 by tom