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Data East - Last Action Hero - 1993 - Repair & Service Log


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Normally, the new machines I bring home are projects and need a thorough service before even thinking about putting some play into them. This time it's a bit different. I purchased my first DMD game "Last Action Hero" which was released by Data East in 1993 and it's in fully working condition. There are a couple of cosmetic issues I want/need to look at, but nothing that's preventing the game from being played. I still plan to give the machine a going over and inspect each assembly as I like my machines running as optimally as possible. Plus I can't help myself, I love working on them.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/newpin_lah_1.jpg

 

First up was the simple task of replacing dead globes. There were 7 in total, at various places around the playfield. Each bulb was inspected and found to be blown. New ones were put in their place. Eventually I will to switch across the LEDs, but for now I just wanted to have all bulbs in the machine working for game play. A quick test showed the replacement bulbs now lit up when required in game play.

 

Now onto something more important (and interesting). One of the return covers on the double scoop is broken (the left one). It had been snapped some point in the past. To keep it in use, the broken cover had been taped around a playfield post located just behind it. It's a solution that allows the game to continue being used, but something I really want to address.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_start_1.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_start_2.jpg

 

Although these frames are not readily available, by sheer chance I had acquired one about 12 months earlier in a pile of spare parts I purchased. I didn't know what it was for at the time, but had set it aside for future use just in case. I'm very glad I did.

 

The tape was cut and removed, with the broken section set aside. Lifting playfield lifted up, I could get a good view of the current frame. It's attached to the base of the playfield with 4 screws (3 at the front and 1 at the back). There was also 1 screw missing from one of the switches attached to the frame. I have some spare, so replacing it won't be an issue.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_frame_start.jpg

 

The frame was removed from the playfield. Here you can see the scoop cover had broken right at the join with the rest of the frame.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_frame_start_2.jpg

 

I removed the two switches and coil from the frame and set them aside. At that point I realised it wasn't going to be as simple as I had first thought. Now that I had the current frame out of the machine, I could line them up together to compare. Turns out the replacement frame has an issue of it's own that I had overlooked. Given it was in a junk parts pile, I shouldn't be surprised ;) There is a small section at the base which has broken off. This is where the plunger rests. Both scoop covers are there though, so I was keen to make use of it. I had an idea on a possible solution.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_new_start.jpg

 

I went through my pile of spare coil stops, looking for one with a suitable size for the frame. I wanted to find a coil stop that could be attached, with the stop part drilled out and in its place a rubber grommet to catch the plunger on. A suitable coil stop was found and the stop drilled out. Two holes were drilled into the metal frame and the modified coil stop installed with screws and lock nuts to hold it in place tight. A rubber grommet was installed where the stop used to be.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_new_stop.jpg

 

The wire gate and metal frame plate were transferred from the broken scoop frame to the replacement. It was now ready to be installed back into the machine.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_stop_compare.jpg

 

The two switches were installed back onto the frame, along with the return coil and plunger to kick the ball up. The frame was then screwed back to the underside of the playfield. All fixed and ready to test.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_doublescoop_fixed.jpg

 

I played several games and noticed an immediate improvement in how the ball exists the scoop hole. So I think it's a quite suitable solution and better than having a part taped to the playfield. After further playing, I'm happy with the result and how the modified frame is holding up.

 

A very minor cosmetic issue with the machine is the flipper buttons. One is red and the other black. Both different shapes and one is spring return, while the other not. Quite different really. This is simple to fix. Undo the pal nut on each to remove and swap over.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_flipperbuttons_old.jpg

 

I went through my spare parts and found two very tidy, matching, red buttons that would suit. These went back in and I also took the opportunity to fine tune the right flipper switch, which was open slightly wider than I like. A few minor adjustments later, I was happy with it's new position.

 

Next on my hit list was smart missile button. It functions correctly in game, but it's a light up button and currently not lit during play. Most likely a new bulb is needed. To remove the button, the lamp socket and microswitch were removed first. Then the button nut undone and removed. The #555 bulb was indeed blown.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_smartmissile_parts.jpg

 

Since I had the button out, I decided to give the whole unit a clean. While removing the button I noticed that there was a black bolt missing from the ball launcher. I know I've got some spare black bolts, so should have one handy to replace it with.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_smartmissile_hole.jpg

 

The smart missile button was reassembled and installed into the machine again. Cleaning it has made it much brighter. I found a spare black bolt I had that matched the others and added this to the gun also.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_smartmissile_complete.jpg

 

The start button is also a light up button, which was not lit when the game was switched on. Just like the Smart Missile button, this was simply a dead bulb. I removed the whole button and gave it a clean, also adding a new #555 bulb. The machine was then switched on and both Start and Smart missile lit up correctly.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_startbutton_done.jpg

 

Since I was currently looking at the front of the cabinet, I decided to do something about the old pricing plate. The current one has "500" printed on it (see 2 photos above), no doubt for foreign currency. I have the machine set to free play, so wanted to replace it with something more suitable. I removed the old label, measured it up and then opened up Inkscape on my PC. I created a simple Free Play card to replace the old one. I would have loved to put some sort of LAH theme to it, but there is very little space to work in and make something that looks good. Some samples were printed to glossy photo paper and cut out.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_pricing_plates.jpg

 

A hole was punched into the free play card to match the original and allow it to be inserted into the coin return plastic. The coin return was rebuilt with the new Free Play plate added and installed back into the coin door.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_coin_entry.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_custom_priceplate_installed.jpg

 

I wish I had a second red plastic coin return part to use on the left coin chute as it would visually balance the coin door out nicely. But after hunting through my spare coin door parts, I couldn't find one. So it will have to stay as is unless one turns up some day.

 

Now it was time to turn my attention to the apron. I replaced the yellow covered globes for the ripper with LED's and did the same for the red covered globe for the smart missle with a red LED. I was keen to get some decent apron cards onto the game. There is a great set created by a guy at http://www.pinballcards.com. I printed these onto nice glossy photo paper and they came up great.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_apron_cards.jpg

 

The cards were cut up and installed onto the apron. Much better than the standard white instruction cards.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_apron_cards_installed.jpg

 

To one side of the ramp, there is a thin red stand up target. I noticed during play that this target would move around (left and right) when hit. With the playfield up I inspected the target to find it was missing one of the screws used to attach it to a small frame below the playfield. The screw that was there was very loose. The existing screw was tightened up and a second added to hold it in place on the frame correctly.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ramp_target.jpg

 

While wiping the topper down, I noticed there were two screws missing to hold it in place. A quick dig through my spare screw pile turned up a couple that matched the existing ones. Another easy thing sorted.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_topper_screws.jpg

 

The in and outlanes on both sides have a post that sits between them at the top. On the left hand side, an incorrect post is currently in use (and it's using a post cap rubber).

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_wrong_outlane_post.jpg

 

I have spares, so replaced it with the correct post and a fresh rubber.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_correct_outlane_post.jpg

 

To round this update off, I wanted to address a minor game play issue that became more apparent over the last week and a half of playing. During multiball I started finding the game would continue after the last ball had drained. Eventually the game would do it's ball search, serve up a ball and would end once that ball drained. I only noticed this on 6 ball mode to start with, but as the week went on, it became more frequent in multiball mode in general.

 

After a quick Google search, I came across these two threads on Pinside going into the issue on Data East machines.

 

Thread 1 -https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/testing-de-ball-trough-switches

 

Thread 2 - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/data-east-ball-trough-fix-video-jplahtftctommywwfrrgnr

 

After reading these threads (and watching the video in the second thread), I went back to my machine to observe the behavior. I was happy to see I had the same behavior and issue that had been detailed. A ball is being moved into position to be served, but isn't. The issue now made sense. This is due to the 7th trough switch, which triggers the kicker to serve the ball up into the shooter lane.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_trough_switch7.jpg

 

I didn't need to replace the switch as others had done. I made some adjustments to the actuator arm to ensure the ball would trigger the switch when sitting ready to be served. After the small adjustments, I've not had the issue again.

 

That's it for an initial look over the machine. Replacing the scoop frame was the most important thing here, and the trough switch issue was a bit of a surprise but turned out to be an easy fix. It was good to get some of the small and easy things sorted out too. Well worth spending the time on them to lift the presentation of the machine a bit higher. I want to organise a set of protectors for the scoop holes as they are showing signs of wear around the edges and I'd like to prevent further damage. I also want to replace the rubbers throughout the game. The machine has some LED's on it already and I'll be gradually converting the rest of the machine across. I also noticed a screw missing from the large blue plastic (tar pit) which I should be able to replace easy enough.

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that left scoop is the cause of a lot of the wear on the movie ticket and needs to be adjusted properly..i have had a LAH for about seven years now with not much going wrong with it ..the worst thing is changing that rubber under the crane..i have had it break 2 or 3 times now so if ever you have to pull the crane out do that rubber at the same time..i dont mind the DE machines but i find the p/f are all very much like each other with not much difference in the shots, and i cant complain as i have had a good reliable run with them with very little going wrong with them over the years..
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that left scoop is the cause of a lot of the wear on the movie ticket and needs to be adjusted properly..i have had a LAH for about seven years now with not much going wrong with it ..the worst thing is changing that rubber under the crane..i have had it break 2 or 3 times now so if ever you have to pull the crane out do that rubber at the same time..i dont mind the DE machines but i find the p/f are all very much like each other with not much difference in the shots, and i cant complain as i have had a good reliable run with them with very little going wrong with them over the years..

 

I'm going to be stripping the playfield this weekend for a full clean and rerubber. Are there any tricks or things to be aware of when removing the crane?

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I've been having a lot of fun playing my Last Action Hero since it's arrival. I'm not sure how it rates as a game among the pinball community, but I've found it to be really enjoyable and it's a welcome entry to my Pinball fleet. My previous update focused mostly on small cosmetic things but in update #2 , I'm starting to look at cleaning the assemblies to get the game running at an optimal level. First thing on my radar this time is the single scoop, located on the right side of the playfield.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_singlescoop_start.jpg

 

Under the playfield, the frame of the scoop is attached with 4 screws. Also attached to the frame is a small microswitch (similar to the ones seen on the double scoop) along with the coil and kicker arm.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_singlescoop_start_2.jpg

 

Best way to remove the assembly is to first unscrew the miscroswitch from the frame and then remove the 4 screws holding the frame to the playfield. This makes it easy to access the two screws attaching the coil mounting bracket to the frame. With the mounting bracket undone, you can then get the coil out and the frame out of the machine for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_singlescoop_removed.jpg

 

Now that I had the scoop frame removed from the playfield, I could disassemble it further to make cleaning more thorough and easy. The frame itself is two pieces held together on one side by a couple of lock nuts. These nuts were undone and the parts split. The plunger was removed from the kicker arm also. Compared with the project machines I've worked on, it's not too filthy. But still there is room for cleaning and improved operation.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_singlescoop_parts.jpg

 

Steel wool, isopropyl alcohol and a cloth did most of the cleaning work. Each part was cleaned and set aside until all were done. A new coil sleeve will replace the old one.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_singlescoop_cleaned.jpg

 

The scoop assembly was then rebuilt and installed back into the machine. Even though it was not too filthy, there is a noticeable improvement in the movement of the kicker arm and plunger on the assembly after cleaning. It took about 20 minutes to do and I think it's time well spent. The assembly won't need to be cleaned for awhile now.

 

The next assembly I wanted to clean up was the one in control of the ball serve. Located in the lower right of the playfield where you normally find the plunger. Given there is a skill shot from this coil, I wanted to get it cleaned up and operating as cleanly as possible.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_start.jpg

 

It's attached under the playfield with 3 bolts. With the frame out of the machine, I could now give it a clean. There is the usual black crap built up, but it's not too bad. A new sleeve wouldn't go astray either.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_parts.jpg

 

All parts of the assembly were then cleaned up and a new coil sleeve added.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_cleaned.jpg

 

With the ball launcher assembly cleaned, I wanted to clean up the plastic and apron that sit above it.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_cover_2.jpg

 

The plastic is attached to the apron via two bolts and lock nuts. These were undone to remove the plastic for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_cover_1.jpg

 

Under the plastic is a very dusty (and lame looking) shooter cover. Since the game uses the gun as a ball launcher, there is no need for the power meter. A wise move by the designers to cover this up with some artwork plastic. Before moving on though I will give it a wipe down.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_cover_3.jpg

 

The plastic, posts and bolts were set aside for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_cover_plastic.jpg

 

The bolts were cleaned up and the plastic polished with some Novus. The cover was then installed back into the machine, followed by the ball serve assembly. While in the area I thought I'd clean up the ball trough kicker. A similar assembly to the ball launcher, it's attached to the trough frame.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_assembly.jpg

 

The coil was moved out of the way and the plunger, spring and retaining bracket removed for cleaning. The parts were cleaned up. The frame for the up kicker was also cleaned up, removing as much of the crap build up as possible.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ballserve_assembly_parts.jpg

 

I plan to return later and clean the inside of the ball trough too, as I suspect it will have collected lots of gunk over the years. I will clean this at the same time I clean and rerubber the playfield.

 

Next up are a pair of very hard working assemblies - the sling shots. These guys get a solid work out in every game. I'll be replacing the rubber shortly, so for now i'll just focus on the assemblies themselves. Their frames are quite large compared with the ones I've experienced on Stern, Bally and Williams machines. Similar style, just more chunky. They are attached to the lower playfield with 3 screws each.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_slingshots_start.jpg

 

The two switches for each sling shot are also attached to the frames. To make things easy when getting the frames out, I'll remove these first and set the screws aside.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_slingshots_switches.jpg

 

Both assemblies were in need for a good clean, especially around the plunger and links. The links should be blue, but are covered in the typical crap (as are the springs and coil retaining brackets). The sleeves are not too bad, but i'll retire these and put some new ones in.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_slingshots_frame_both.jpg

 

The arm and plunger are held to the frame with 2 e clips. These were removed and each piece individually cleaned to remove the crap. I can finally see the blue links on the plungers now. With both assemblies now cleaned, they were put back together and installed into the machine once again.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_slingshots_both_cleaned.jpg

 

The last assembly to look at for this update is one of the least used, that being the knocker. Located at the floor of the cabinet, just to the left of the speaker, it's a fairly typical set up. The knocker coil was removed from the frame, allowing the parts to be removed for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_knocker_parts.jpg

 

It's not too dirty and the coil sleeve still quite reasonable. The parts were all cleaned up, ready to go back in to the machine. The small metal plate the knocker bangs against was also removed, scrubbed down with steel wool and wiped clean with isopropyl alcohol. The only issue this assembly had was the black grommet the plunger returns against. It was dried up and cracking. I was in luck, having one sitting in my spare parts collection. The grommet was replaced once the frame was cleaned.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_knocker_cleaned.jpg

 

The knocker assembly was then installed back into the machine to wrap up my work for this update.

 

I ended up getting through more in this update than I had originally planned. Once I get started sometimes it's hard to stop :) There is still more I want to get through though, so will have another update coming along soon enough. Until then, time to put some more games into it and try pushing my best score higher!

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Well it didn't take long. Only a few weeks into owning a machine that I didn't plan to do any work on, and am going to strip the playfield for a solid clean. Having had a much closer inspection now, there is a lot of dust and dirt at the top of the playfield, along the ramps and on the plastics located up there too. I really want to get it into a clean state - a base line - that I can reference to know when the machine was last given a service and deep clean. Since I've already worked through a number of the assemblies below the playfield, I want to give the playfield itself similar attention. While I'm doing that, I can clean the individual parts on the playfield and get fresh rubber all over it. Sadly, that means I won't be able to play it for about a week - but it's task well worth doing.

 

When I've worked on machines in the past, I could take the approach of doing the playfield in stages. So start with the flipper area, then the sling shots and continue up the playfield, completing each section until it was all cleaned and serviced. The playfield on this machine is a lot more complex than those I've worked on in the past however. Working on the lower area like the flippers and slingshots isn't too bad, but after that, a few things need to be removed just to get to the different areas - and at the top of the playfield, even more has to come off. It didn't make sense here to do it in stages - smartest move in this case is to remove it all (slowly and taking photos), clean everything and then put it back together.

 

The process to remove everything from the playfield took a few hours as I worked my way through it all. Thankfully, a number of lamps and switches that live above the playfield can be disconnected under the playfield, allowing for easy removal. No desoldering required. Slowly but surely I removed the layers of parts until I had just about everything off.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_stripped.jpg

 

As the parts were removed, I took photos of the different sections and put the parts in a similar layout on top of another machine to help me remember what went where. The manual, photos and the layout will hopefully give me the best shot of getting it all back in the correct order when it's time to reassemble everything. I took a lot of photos along the way, but in hindsight, I wish I had taken even more. You can never have too many!

 

With the playfield now stripped ready to clean, I wanted to service the ripper assembly which sits up towards the top right hand corner. Unlike the other assemblies in the game, this one is installed on top of the playfield. Given how much stuff has to be removed to get to it, there is no time like the present to give it a service. It's a simple assembly, almost identical to the other kickers on the machine.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ripper_assembly_start.jpg

 

The assembly is attached to the playfield with 3 screws. These were first removed and then the retaining bracket on the coil was undone to get the frame and parts off the playfield. The parts were then set aside for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ripper_assembly_parts.jpg

 

The tip of the plunger is showing some wear. Given the impact it makes with the ball during play, I'm not surprised to see it being bent back like this. It still works fine, but I have a spare second hand plunger that's in better condition, so this will be swapped over.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ripper_plunger_worn.jpg

 

A new coil sleeve was located and the plunger swapped out. All parts of the ripper were cleaned up and it was now ready to be installed back onto the playfield.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ripper_assembly_clean.jpg

 

The playfield area around the ripper was cleaned up and I also took a few moments to polish up the two white stand up targets (the ones for the captive balls) with Novus. The 3 eye targets on the right side of the playfield were also wiped down to remove the layer of crap that had attached itself over the years.

 

Before I begin cleaning the playfield and all the removed parts, there are two large art plastic pieces at the back of the playfield that could do with a clean and polish. The top one is attached to the cabinet, while the lower one is attached to the rear panel of the playfield. Both are screwed into place.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_rear_plastics_start.jpg

 

The two bits were removed for cleaning. They are not too bad, although there is quite a bit of dark crap towards the left side of the larger one. The two metal brackets are used to attach the clear ramp - these were also removed for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_rear_plastics_dirty.jpg

 

All parts were given a clean and the plastics then received a polish with Novus. The parts were now ready to go back into the machine.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_rear_plastics_clean.jpg

 

Now to get the playfield cleaned up. First up I used steel wool to carefully clean the various wire ball guides installed on the playfield. I'm not worried about having them look brand new, I just want to get as much dirt, dust and crap off them to prevent it being moved around the machine during play. The whole playfield was then vacuumed to clean up the metal shavings from the steel wool, along with as much loose crap as possible.

 

The next step was to use a soft cloth to wipe up as much of what remained before I get the cleaning products out. This should help prevent pushing dirt and crap around the playfield when cleaning with products. If I can get most (or all) the loose top level stuff, then I can focus on the heavy filth that has built up. Lots of different approaches though - one thing's for sure, it pisses my Wife off to no end when she sees how I fuss over cleaning a pinball machine, yet will wipe a bench or table down with little care or effort :)

 

Once the loose stuff had been removed, I hit the playfield with some Nifti and a cloth to remove the worn in dirt. This worked really well to get the marks that were remaining and even cleaned the dirty edges around the mylar really well. Once done, I used Novus to polish. The playfield was now in a MUCH cleaner state and I was happy with the result.

 

All the small metal pieces were sent off for a session in the tumbler. It makes a difference and cleans them up nicely.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_tumbled_posts.jpg

 

I began to reassemble the playfield, cleaning parts as I went. Metal scoop protectors were installed around the 3 scoop holes. The clear star posts around the sling shots were cleaned up and installed. The metal posts came back from the tumbler nice and shiny, receiving fresh rubber before being installed. The metal ball guides that could not fit in the tumbler were wiped down with steel wool to remove the crud layer and wiped with isopropyl alcohol and a cloth. All incandescent bulbs were replaced with LED's, including the #89 flashers. The flipper bats were removed from the machine, cleaned and new red superbands added. Red cliffy posts were installed to replace the black posts around the captive balls.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_cleaned_1.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_cleaned_2.jpg

 

One small change I've made is to replace the clear lane guards at the top of the playfield with yellow. The pop bumpers will be serviced at another time, but for now were wiped down to remove any lose dirt they may spread across the playfield or onto the ball.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_cleaned_3.jpg

 

I continued on, cleaning parts and installing them back onto the playfield. The captive balls were added once again and the plastics were first cleaned and then polished before being installed back onto the machine.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_assemble_1.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_assemble_2.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_assemble_3.jpg

 

Putting the playfield back together is going well. It's a slower process than stripping since I'm cleaning everything before it goes back on, but I'm getting there. The cleaning has left the playfield in a really nice state and the white rubber gives it a much cleaner look. In my next update, I'll have everything back together again. I will also be servicing the assemblies for the ball diverter and tar pit ball capture. There is a small issue to fix on the crane lamps and also the ball trough needs a clean to prevent any crap residing in it from being spread back across the playfield. While the process is a little time consuming, the game won't need another clean like this for a long time. Not far off now and looking forward to playing it again :)

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looking really good. and it will look and play even better when finished..keep up the good work..

 

Thanks :)

 

I got all the parts back on last night and played a few games (just haven't had a chance to do the write up yet). It plays faster and there is a lot more bounce from the fresh rubber.

 

I'd almost say it's too fast as the ball is sometimes too quick around the ramp for the diverter arm, and passes it before it has time to open. Not sure what to do about that. Might try raising the incline of the rear legs slightly and see if that helps. The flippers on this machine are really powerful.

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After getting the playfield back together, I've run into a switch issue I'm hoping someone can help with.

 

I'd best describe it as phantom switch activation - that is to say, when I press a switch in switch test mode, I get that switch number displayed AND an extra switch.

 

After exploring the switch matrix tonight, I did find a pattern to it that hopefully someone can help me to understand the issue (or where best to look next).

 

This is the switch matrix from the LAH manual:

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_switch_matrix.jpg

 

 

When a switch in row 6 is pressed, it's corresponding switch in the same column on row 2 is pressed also.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_switch_matrix_issue.jpg

 

For example:

 

Pressing "Left Coin" (#6) will activate switches #6 AND #2 ("4th coin").

 

Pressing "Left Lock Top" (#22) will activate switches #22 and #18 ("Drop Target R")

 

Pressing "Left Ramp Enter (#46) will activate switches #46 and #42 ("Right Return")

 

and so on - each of the 8 switches on row 6 will activate both it and the switch in the same column on row 2.

 

It doesn't get the same results the other way - activating a switch on row 2 will only activate that switch number and not the corresponding switch in the same column on row 6 - EXCEPT for switch #18 (Drop target R) which will activate switch #22 (Left Lock Top) on row 6. So i'm not sure if that is the link I'm looking for and need to diagnose further, or if it's just another side effect of the root cause.

 

I should add too that no errors are reported in diagnostic mode.

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Switch matrix issue solved :D A short write up for future reference.

 

 

A bit of background:

 

Before I stripped and cleaned the playfield, I had a phantom ball drain occur a few of times. When I say phantom drain I mean the flippers go dead, end of ball music plays, you are awarded a bonus and then the next ball is served up. I suspected at the time it could be a trough switch needing adjustment and since I was going to look at the ball trough as part of the playfield cleaning, I didn't bother looking closer at it.

 

Fast forward to post cleaning.

 

I had the playfield back together and began to test. After a couple of games I noticed that the phantom ball drain was now far more common - in almost every game it would occur. I also began to notice other side effects where some playfield features would be activated without hitting the corresponding switch.

 

After some additional testing during a game, I found a direct relation between the phantom drain and the "R" drop target. When this target was hit, it would instantly believe the ball had drained, award a bonus and continue to the next ball.

 

Now that I had a suspect switch, I went into switch test mode and explored the switches to see what I could find.

 

This is where I found that activating "R" on the drop target also activated the second ball lock switch on the tar pit.

 

I went through all switches, making note of the ones that triggered two switches. I had a look at the "R" switch on the drop target bank and it looked Ok. That's where I got to with my post last night, where activating a switch on row 6 would also activate the switch on row 2 in the same column. At this point I had some consistency, but needed to understand better what was actually happening.

 

After doing some research today (I've included a few of the links below for future reference) I got back into it to. At first tonight, the issue was not present. After a couple of games, the problem came back. I lifted the playfield and entered switch test mode to physically observe the switches on row 6 when activated. The problem stopped again.

 

I was feeling a bit more positive at this point - since the issue would go away for a bit when the playfield was lifted, I was confident the issue would be a switch wire or diode shorting - touching something it shouldn't. Although maybe harder to track down, easier and less invasive to fix that CPU board issues.

 

After some further diagnosing of the 8 switches on row 6, I found the problem went away when I disconnected the drop target bank. When I connected it back up again, the problem returned. I repeated this a few times and the behavior was consistent. The issue was with the drop target bank.

 

There are 5 switches, one per drop target. There are also 2 extra switches, which are connected to a bar sitting behind the targets (hitting this during play will reset the target bank). This is where the problem was. Tucked away under one of the bar switches switches, there was a blue / white wire not connected to anything, but was lightly touching the switch lugs for the "R" target. At first it looked like it should be there, until I moved it and noticed that it was completely loose. I missed this the previous night as it was well hidden behind the rest of the wires.

 

Looking at the switch matrix, I could confirm the blue/white wire should be connected to the mircoswitch above it - for the drop target bar - it should not be touching any of the drop target switches.

 

This is an interesting one as the drop target bar has two miscroswitches. Activating either will activate the switch. This is why it was not immediately obvious. The switch still worked when pressed as the other microswitch was still connected. But the wire running to the second switch had come away from its solder join and started touching the "R" target. This also explains why the problem went away some times as it was only just touching and some slight movement one the wire would move it away.

 

In the photo the purple square it around the blue wires - they should be connected to the lug where the green arrow is pointing. Instead they are lightly touching the lug of the R drop target where the red arrow is.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_switch_matrix_issue_fixed.jpg

 

The wire was soldered back onto the mircoswitch and my switch matrix problems have been solved. It seems that this wire had been coming loose before I started the playfield cleaning, but given I had the playfield up and down several times during the process and threaded wires up through a hole close to the drop target bank for the tar pit, it was enough to move the wire close enough to the R target to make the issue occur regularly.

 

 

For future readers of the thread, some useful links I came across while researching the switch matrix and similar issues:

 

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=General#The_Switch_Matrix

 

 

 

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/last-action-hero-phantom-drain

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/rec.games.pinball/y0VfW6SsITE/nvq9d8jxLWkJ

 

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Following on from where my previous update finished, I want to get the remainder of the playfield components cleaned and installed once again. I got through a lot in the last update, with just the ramps, rails, crane and tar pit to go. First thing to look at in this update is the large clear ramp at the top of the playfield. It makes sense to get this on first, as the rest can then be installed around it. The ramp had been set aside a few days ago, waiting for it's turn to be cleaned. There are a few things attached to it and I plan to remove and clean also. Thankfully the plastic has not broken and it simply needs a good clean.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_clearramp_start.jpg

 

First step for the ramp was to remove all the components attached to it. There are metal plates on either side of the entrance, along with two #89 flashers and also a pair of gates. All parts were removed for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_clearramp_parts.jpg

 

Each part was cleaned and set aside. The ramp was attacked with some Nifti for cleaning, followed by Novus to polish. Quite a bit of dirt came off the base and sides. More than I was expecting. The various components of the ramp were then installed back into position. The two #89 bulbs were replaced with LEDs and the condom covered globe above the plastic was also replaced with a LED.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_clearramp_cleaned.jpg

 

Now that the ramp and its components were cleaned, it was installed back onto the playfield. The wires for the switches and lamps were threaded back through the plastic and playfield holes below the ramp and connected back up again.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ramp_installed.jpg

 

With the ramp now installed back onto the playfield, it made sense to look at one of the few assemblies left on the game I've not yet given attention to - the ball diverter. This controls which exit the ball will take from ramp. A couple of days before I stripped the playfield, the diverter arm started to play up a bit during a game. After the coil had released, the arm would only partially return back to it's default position and this could trap a ball on the ramp. This was due to the head of the arm becoming loose. I already had the arm out of the machine to remove the ramp, so to service this assembly, I needed to remove it from below the playfield.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_diverter_assembly_start.jpg

 

The diverter assembly was removed from below the playfield and it's parts set aside for cleaning. Each part was individually cleaned. A new coil sleeve was sourced and I also had spare bushing to replace the old one that had a build up of gunk inside it. The old bushing was put into my "to clean" pile for later as it should be fine for future use once cleaned.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_diverter_assembly_cleaned.jpg

 

The diverter assembly was then installed back below the playfield and the diverter arm put into position through the ramp and playfield. The nut on the diverter head was tightened to prevent it moving during play. The arm position was also adjusted to ensure the correct range of movement was allowed via the assembly, and it would properly divert the ball based on it's position.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_diverter_assembly_complete.jpg

 

Before installing the tar pit plastic back onto the playfield, I want to give the small assembly attached to it a clean. This is a pretty simple mechanism to lock balls up after being transferred via the crane. When the plunger pulls in, the balls are released. It isn't that dirty and it's not something that get's used a lot during play. But since I'm here with the part out, I may as well give it a clean and fresh coil sleeve.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_tarpit_ball_assembly.jpg

 

The parts were removed for cleaning and a fresh sleeve sourced.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_tarpit_ball_assembly_parts_cleaned.jpg

 

Once cleaned, they where installed back onto the tar pit plastic. The tar pit was cleaned up, polished and then installed back onto the playfied. I replaced the two condom covered globes with yellow and orange LEDs. The left metal rail was cleaned up at the same time and installed back into position with the tar pit. The wiring from the assembly, leds and switches were threaded back below the playfield and connected up. So close to having it all back together now.

 

While I had the crane out, I wanted to replace the two #89 flashers inside it with LEDs. On inspecting it, I noticed that one of the wires to the sockets had broken off.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_crane_lamp_issue.jpg

 

This was soldered back into place and two blue #89 LEDs added. The crane was ready to go back onto the playfield. It was placed back in position and the small screw tightened to attach it to the shaft driven by the motor. Everything was now finally back on the playfield. One last thing to service in this update - the ball trough.

 

Because the ball trough has no doubt collected all sorts of crap over the years (and I'm not sure when it was last cleaned), I decided now was the time to remove and clean it. I didn't want all my hard work cleaning the playfield to be undone by the balls serving up the crap collected in there over the years. To start with, there are several screws that attach the frame to the base of the playfield. All the switch and coil wires run to a connected that can be undone, allowing the whole thing to be removed.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ball_trough_start.jpg

 

The plastic cover around the trough was first removed and set aside for cleaning. To get the trough out though, there are screws that connect it on top of the playfield also. I next had to remove the apron, allowing me access to remove the remaining screws.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ball_trough_removing.jpg

 

It turns out the ball trough is actually made up of 3 bits - the trough, a metal shield (that sits over the top of it) and also a small assembly that allows a ball to move into position to be served.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ball_trough_parts.jpg

 

The small assembly to allow a ball to be served up was really filthy and I found the plunger was sticky. It probably hasn't ever been serviced. This really needed a clean.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ball_trough_parts_2.jpg

 

It was disassembled into its individual components and each one cleaned. The metal shield that sits above the trough was also cleaned up

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ball_trough_parts_cleaned.jpg

 

The inside of the ball trough wasn't has bad as I had expected, but still needed a clean. After cleaning, the 3 parts of the trough were installed back onto the playfield. A new coil sleeve was added to replace the old one. It was probably the filthiest assembly I've dealt with on the machine and after a clean, it's movement was so much nicer.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_ball_trough_complete.jpg

 

To complete the ball trough, 6 new balls were installed. The current set will be put through the tumbler as I think they will clean up fine for future use. To round off all the work, the machine was switched on and a couple of games played manually (with the glass off) to test different features of the game and ensure I hadn't stuffed anything up.

 

This is where I ran into a few problems. The first was with the crane. I had to adjust the position of the crane to ensure it rotated correctly between the two switches. Thankfully there is a helpful test mode in the diagnostics menu to get that right. After some adjustments and tuning, it was good.

 

The second problem was far more effort and that was the switch matrix issue I covered in my previous post. It has been sorted out though and the game is running well.

 

I've played it pretty 'safe' with my use of LEDs. Majority of them are frosted, with red below the ramp and return lane plastics. Blue and clean below the slingshots. Blue was used below the tar pit and blue plastics on the right. Yellow around the base of the crane and upper right of the playfield. The globes that had condoms on them were replaced with LEDs of a matching colour.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_clean_complete.jpg

 

One small thing I did do though was to add some colour to the eyeball inserts. I went with red, orange and yellow to match the colour ring around the insert on the playfield. It's a small touch but looks nice during play.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_eye_inserts.jpg

 

It's been a bit of an effort over the last week, but I'm glad to have spent the time and energy cleaning the playfield and (most of) it's components. Cleaning the gunk out of the ball trough and release assembly has made a noticeable difference when serving each ball up. The process has also allowed me to fix a few small issues along the way too. The clean look of the playfield, ramps, plastics and rubber lifts the presentation of the machine and cleaning to this degree is something I won't have to do again for awhile (outside of a general vacuum and wipe down). There are two assemblies left I want to clean up before I consider myself done - the drop target bank and the pop bumpers (I'm counting the pop bumpers as 1 assembly even though there are 3 of them). I regret not doing the pop bumpers at the same time as one of them is located below the clear ramp, so some parts will have to come off the playfield again to access it. Oh well. Expect another update soon enough :)

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One of the final assemblies to look at on my Last Action Hero is the drop target bank. Located on the left side of the playfield, it contains 5 targets, spelling the word crane. It's use for the skill shot to begin each ball and also to activate the crane during the game. It gets a fair bit of use during play and I have no doubt can do with a clean.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_start.jpg

 

In terms of drop target assemblies, I think it looks much nicer to work on than some of the others I've done. I still hate the one on the Gottlieb Counterforce, which required about 6 hands to get the springs back onto the drop targets. It has a nice open area to see into the frame and targets, along with the ability to disconnect all wiring via a connector. This means the whole unit can be removed simply by undoing the 4 screws holding it to the playfield.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_start_2.jpg

 

With the 4 screws undone and wires disconnected, the whole drop target unit was removed for cleaning. First step was to remove the switches from the frame to ensure they didn't get bent as I worked my way through the assembly. Each switch was taped to ensure none of the spacers fell off.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_removed.jpg

 

Next, the coil was removed from the frame. The switch contacts were all cleaned with a thin piece of card and the back of each switch blade wiped down as they were all filthy too. Before putting this back together I will give the coil stop a clean and also grab a new coil sleeve. The wires and switches were set aside out of the way.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_removed_2.jpg

 

Now onto the frame. I want to disassemble the whole unit piece by piece and clean as I go.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_frame_start.jpg

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_frame_start_2.jpg

 

To begin, a small bracket was removed from the rear, allowing the actual targets to be removed from its spring and then the frame. Each was covered in crap and well overdue for a clean.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_targets_start.jpg

 

On the reverse side they there was a lot of crap around where the switch blades made contact with the target.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_targets_start_2.jpg

 

All five targets were given a thorough clean. There is a little bit of damage to the decal on the "N" and "E" targets, but not enough to have me worry about a replacement set just yet. I did find that the "N" target itself has a small crack along the target, which is only going to get worse over time. The drop targets are available locally and overseas, allowing me to grab some on my next order, so I have them on hand when needed.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_targets_clean.jpg

 

Focusing on the frame now, the rear plate was removed.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_back_removed.jpg

 

The reset bar was then removed from the frame and cleaned. This has a lot of crap all over it.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_resetbar.jpg

 

I then worked my way through each of the remaining parts of the drop target assembly, cleaning as I went, until all were done. The frame was now completely cleaned and all gunk removed.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_parts_cleaned.jpg

 

Putting the assembly back together was as simple as following the steps in reverse. Getting the spring back onto each target was the only slow down, but I found it easier to remove the springs from the frame first, attach it to the target, slide the target back into place and then reattach the spring to the frame.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_rebuilt.jpg

 

The drop target bank was then installed back into the machine. A few games were enjoyed to ensure the switches were fine and the target bank operated correctly. All was good.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_droptargets_complete.jpg

 

The entire process took about an hour and the amount of crap that was removed from the whole unit made the time well spent. It also highlighted one target which will need to be replaced at some point soon. When I replace the broken target, I will replace all at the same time. The targets themselves are only $3 each, so it's not expensive to do the set. I will have a go at creating some custom decals myself too since I will have to replace the "N".

 

While investigating the switch matrix issue I had a few days back, I noticed that there was a plastic coin return button hidden behind the black plate covering the left coin entry slot. I had incorrectly assumed the plate was part of the coin entry and there in place of the button. But the button was there all along. I was keen to add another of the free play pricing decals to it. The parts were removed for cleaning.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_coin_entry_left.jpg

 

The cover was left off and the return button installed back onto the coin door with the pricing plate. I think having two (or three) lit coin slots on the door gives it a nice balance compared with just the single. It's such a minor thing and something that might not immediately jump out at some one, but it's a visual improvement. This was a nice little surprise find.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_coin_door_2_entries.jpg

 

That's it for another update on my service and repair of Last Action Hero. Now that the drop target bank is complete, it just leaves the three pop bumpers to do. After that it's just a few small tweaks and I'm done :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's time to look at the last set of assemblies on the playfield that have not yet had my attention - the three pop bumpers. These guys get a decent work out in just about every game played on the machine, so their assemblies are crying out for a clean.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_start.jpg

 

First I needed to get the caps off. A screw for one of the caps sits directly under the clear ramp and cannot be accessed. It would have been smarter to do the pop bumpers at the same time I had the playfield stripped. I haven't had to worry about it in the past, but a lesson for next time. I'll come back to this one. The caps were removed off the other two. The globe sockets all use #555, which I like as they hold the bulb in place much firmer than the bayonet style. I'll be switching to LEDs, so won't have to worry about replacing the pop bumper bulbs again.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_start_2.jpg

 

Under the playfield the 3 assemblies are all attached to the large pop bumper frames. On closer inspection, I will be able to remove the entire pop bumper assembly once the coil and switch are removed. This should allow me to get to the cap on the third pop bumper without having to jump through the hoops of removing ramps.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_assemblies.jpg

 

The lamps are all soldered to a small board to the left of the pop bumpers. This is at least a step up from those annoying bayonet style sockets that are a pain to solder in/out of a machine. I much prefer the plug style that Bally used on their Solid State machines. So easy to work with and no soldering. Anyway, back to the task at hand. Before I remove the pop bumper assemblies, I will note down the wiring layout and desolder the lamp wires.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_lamp_wiring.jpg

 

Now that the lamp wires were free, I could remove the coil, switch and 4 screws holding the whole assembly to the playfield. The pop bumper can then be removed.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_assembly_removed.jpg

 

I continued to disassemble the first pop bumper assembly, getting it ready for cleaning. Overall it's not too bad, but there is the usual crap built up around the yokes and plunger.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_parts_dirty.jpg

 

Each part was then cleaned up. New fiber yokes, coils sleeves, skirts were purchased. The rings, springs and plunger went for a trip through the tumbler. The second and third pop bumper received the same treatment. No nasty surprises were found.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_parts_clean_2.jpg

 

The pop bumper caps had been set aside. These were first cleaned up and then polished. Their screws were also cleaned up. New high powered red LEDs were purchased to give a nice bright glow to the pop bumpers during play.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_caps_cleaned.jpg

 

After cleaning, the pop bumpers were rebuilt and installed back onto the playfield. The lamps were soldered back to the board. The LEDs were added and pop bumper caps installed. Lit up, they look much brighter and stand out more during play. A few games were played to test them out after the rebuild. Everything held together nicely.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_popbumpers_complete.jpg

 

With the pop bumpers now rebuilt, I wanted to swap the remaining incandescent bulbs under playfield inserts to LED's. Most of them were #555 bulbs that sit in the small black twist sockets. The playfield GI and inserts have now all been swapped over the LED's. I'm happy with how they are looking and the lighting across the playfield.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_playfield_leds_complete.jpg

 

When I was rebuilding the drop target bank in my last update, I found the "N" target had a break through the middle of it. The target was still holding together, but on its way out. When I picked up some parts for the pop bumpers, I also grabbed 5 new targets - at only $3 each, it's not too expensive to replace them all. First step was to sort out some new decals.

 

You can purchase repros of the original decals, but I'm not a fan of them. There is a nice custom version available from overseas, but decided to print my own to save some money. I found a set in a thread on Pinside (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/last-action-hero-club-come-on-in). These were printed up, covered with mylar for protection and then applied to the targets.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_new_target_decals.jpg

 

The drop target bank was removed from the machine once again. Time to give these targets a rest - they've worked hard over the years. I'll keep them in a small bag inside the coin door in case required in the future.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_old_targets.jpg

 

The new targets were installed and the assembly put back into the machine. Looking good.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_new_droptargets_installed.jpg

 

The game was running an outdated version of the CPU ROM (1.08), so I got in contact with @Skybeaux to organise new ROMs for the CPU and display boards. The new chips were installed to bring the game up to v1.12 for the CPU and 1.06 for the display.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_romset_112.jpg

 

A very minor thing that has been on my to do list is to clean the contacts on the volume pot. The sound crackles when the pot is adjusted and you can feel resistance when moving it. It should just need a clean to get it working nicely again.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_volume_pot_start.jpg

 

The pot was removed and contact cleaner lightly sprayed inside. It was adjusted left to right and right to left several times. This clears away dust build up and dead spots on the contacts. Worst case scenario, if cleaning it didn't fix the problem, you can buy a new one (10K for this machine) for only $3 from Jaycar.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_volume_pot_contacts.jpg

 

Cleaning it worked fine though. The pot now moves smoothly and all sound crackle has gone. I also cut the shaft shorter and installed a small knob to make it more friendly to adjust.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_volume_pot_knob.jpg

 

I'm just about done now. Each assembly on the playfield has been stripped and rebuilt. The playfield and it's parts have also received a solid clean along the way. Lots a small presentation things have been done too which have made a positive impact on its appearance. I still need to swap the globes in the headbox for LED's, but that's just about it. This is my first time looking at a Data East machine and as with the work I've done on my other machines, it's been interesting and a lot a fun. A reminder that as much as I enjoy playing them, I love working on them more.

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Looking awesome & is a very under rated game !

 

I need to get into mine at some stage, too many other projects need to be done before this though :redface

 

I'm really enjoying the game. I need to rewatch the movie though to refresh my memory on some of the art & call out references on the game.

 

Having too many pin/arcade projects is an excellent problem to have though ;) My problem is I don't have enough :lol

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just when I say I'm not doing anything extra to one of my machines, I decide on an additional something to fiddle with. I've been keen to add lighted flipper buttons on a machine for a little while and I'd really like to do it on Pinbot. I'm going to use LAH as the guinea pig and give it some flashy looking buttons. I've seen people discuss kits online, but it's much more fun to try it yourself (and pretty cheap too). To start with the buttons need to be transparent - I have transparent red ones on LAH already, so will run with those.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_buttonlight_nolight.jpg

 

I went through my various spare parts and came up with everything required. Two bright red LEDs with bendy arms, 2 #555 sockets, screws, molex connector and wiring. Add in a few zip ties and cable hooks to keep the wires out of the way and I was all set.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_buttonlight_parts.jpg

 

I got to work constructing my kit. I worked out a reasonable position for the sockets to sit on each side of the cabinet and then figured out the wiring requirements. Wiring from both flipper sides come together at one side of a molex connector, where the coin door wiring joins with the cabinet. It took a few tweaks of the LED arms to make sure it was out of the way of the button and switch blades.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_buttonlight_installed_1.jpg

 

Power for the flippers is run from the right coin lamp. I like this as the coin lamps blink on and off at certain points of the game (with other GI lighting) and this will also give the flipper buttons the same blinking effect during the game. The wires from the coin lamp run to one side of a molex connector, like with the other coin door switches, allowing it to be removed from the cabinet. It also means the button lamps can be removed easily it required.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_buttonlight_installed_2.jpg

 

With the wiring in place, the LEDs were ready for testing. The machine was fired up and the flipper lighting came on, lighting the inside of the button nicely.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_buttonlight_working_1.jpg

 

On the outer side of the cabinet, the light comes through nice and bright. I tested the button a few times to ensure there was no connection with the LED. All was good.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_buttonlight_working_2.jpg

 

With a side by side comparison, the LED lights up the button very nicely. It makes me wonder if transparent yellow buttons (with yellow bendy LEDs) might look better than red on the machine.

 

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/images/lah/lah_light_button_compare.jpg

 

Putting this little mod together was fun and didn't take much effort at all. I had all the spare parts on hand and estimate the cost at around $8 all up. I'm keen to give it a go on Pinbot soon too and run with the red / blue theme. I still have plenty of spare parts to do it and will only need to purchase 2 LEDs.

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  • 2 years later...

Great review - Any help with my LAH? Need to find the busted fuse (I think)

 

I have 3 coils not working (I fixed one busted fuse to fix a different issue).

I'm trying to find the fuse that controls the following 3 items. (I am very much a newb/noob with very little EE experience). I tried to check continuity on all the remaining fuses and they all seemed to be fine. The machine was working fine for months so I doubt it is a fuse holder issue but i'm not sure.

 

The switches are all working fine (registering the ball in the launcher, the trigger works, the ripper switch, and the crane shot switch all work.. it's just the solenoids that eject the balls are not working.

 

Coil: AUTO LAUNCH 50V - not working

Coil: RIPPER PIT 50V - not working

Coil: Crane shot coil - not working

 

Any help is appreciated! My machine has been down for months at this point!

Thanks!

Dan

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