Big Bang Bar

[sellenoff]

I'm curious if others have noticed this problem or if it's just my game.

When a ball is sitting on the right side of the captive ball (ray's ball buster), the switch is not registering in the switch test. If I push the ball up a bit, the switch registers.

The corresponding left side switch works fine, ie, when the ball is there, the switch is registered as closed.

I tried fiddling with the switch and to see how I could make it work as intended, but other than trying a different switch I can't think of anything.

I'm curious if others have this problem as well. It might even be a design flaw of the original game. The software seems to compensate fairly well, although strange things start happening if you watch it closely.

Thanks for any feedback-
Steve

[runner1717]

Steve,

Bend the wire up and lengthen it a little. The switch should be closed when one ball is resting on a side. Both switches should be closed with two or more balls on a side.

Mine were totally messed up. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get to "big bang". Then I noticed it was impossible to get Ray's Ball Buster and checked the switches. Now it works great!
_________________
Mike
#61

[BBB94]

One of my right side RBB switches (79) does not register consistently, it doesn't register until well after you hear the click that normally means that a switch is closed. I think the switch is bad.

Rays' Ball Buster's switches are:
78 (TL, top left)............80 (TR, top right)
77 (BL, bottom left)......79 (BR, bottom right)

The switches are designed to detect ball 1 and 3 on each side. The logic is this:
77....78....79....80
BL....TL....BR....TR...Means (balls left side/balls right side) - 4 balls total captive
.C.....C......O.....O....4/0
.C.....C......C.....O....3/1
.C.....O......C.....O....2/2
.C.....O......C.....C....1/3
.O.....O......C.....C....0/4

The software seems to have a delay is registering switch positions to allow the balls time to come to a rest before making game score changes, so that ball bounces don't affect score.

If you think you need to move a switch a little instead of bending the wire more, try this: remove the switch bracket from the bottom of the playfield and use a small woodworking chisel to remove the wood lumps from the screw hole entrances. This will allow more freedom in positioning the switch when you re-attach it as it will not re-center on the wood lumps.

If moving the switch doesn't help, you may need to bend the wire to get the apex (when the switch is pushed down) to be where the bottom of the ball is. Careful bending the switch wire - they like to break. You might be better off just pre-bending a new wire, but then again those little plastic bumps that hold the switch wire onto the switch like to shear off too.

Note: page 83 of the manual has an error in the switch diagram. The black circle "81" should be "79".

[sellenoff]