What weird problems have you seen or heard.

[swamprat323]

I thought it be interesting to here what people have seen or heard over the years on strange problems.

Stuff i seen.

- pulling tables out to wash could not get table adjustments right. i though i had the spot and re-spot rods backwards, umm nope i had 2 spot rods or 2 re-spot rods, cant remember which ones there were.

- had a west back end stator starting going backwards during middle of game, turn pit switch off ten back on it go right direction, do it again switch direction. of course i broke the clutch spring...............to this day i still dont understand that one.

i know there lot more just cant remember them right now

[stills]

I had the same problem happen with a national back end motor. Out of the blue it turns in reverse. It has the stock stator. It also has not been touched in a year and
that was only for an oil change and blow out.

I have a different problem however with a sweep stopping at 66 and taking a couple of mins to move. Some times if you hit pbz it goes on like normal. sometimes you
touch sweep run and it goes back to normal. I checked all the capacitors and put a good chassis on it but no change. The last thing I did was check the cam adjustments and then replace the sweep run switch. Still no change.

[swamprat323]

oh yea
2 weeks ago, my own fault. combo west. put new motor cards in had the aux card upside down. put on lane to test, ran fine form contactor, told desk to give out, which they did ran fine.................till leauge that night then burnt up.

[rivmike]

Yrs. ago I had what I call the dancing screw. In the main control box in the back a nut came loose and worked it's way to the power terminal strip. It would blow the wall breaker and move the screw about a 1/16 in. from the arc. This would take about 3 days to do it again. (once a night,every couple days) weird one.

[Ashbowlmech]

Two weeks ago, the telescoping rod on the sweep unscrewed itself on the ten pin side of Lane 11. Two days later the sleeve for the same rod unscrewed itself and then 2 days later the rod again!!!!!!!! Last night, sleeve on Lane 2.......WTF!!

[slb785]

Two weeks ago, the telescoping rod on the sweep unscrewed itself on the ten pin side of Lane 11. Two days later the sleeve for the same rod unscrewed itself and then 2 days later the rod again!!!!!!!! Last night, sleeve on Lane 2.......WTF!!

Loctite. A drop does wonders.
Y
I have a couple back end gearboxes mounted with a hole drilled in the drip pan, the lid of a jar screwed to the bottom of the drip pan with said hole through it, and the jar screwed up to the lid. Interesting rig but they had the budget to just fix the leaky gearbox... now I gotta buy new drip pans

Also had one of our seniors decide that it was a good idea to fill their finger and thumb holes with baby powder, not just put a little in there... noooo they filled em up. had a huge white line of powder all the way to the pit, all over the carpet. I walked by the machine thinking "why does it smell like baby powder?" On my way to call the counter because they needed to tell me what happened

[Tablejam]

How about a ball, sitting on top of the wood kickbakcs between the machines under the metal track

[Tassie_tech]

I have a couple back end gearboxes mounted with a hole drilled in the drip pan, the lid of a jar screwed to the bottom of the drip pan with said hole through it, and the jar screwed up to the lid. Interesting rig but they had the budget to just fix the leaky gearbox... now I gotta buy new drip pans

Ha ha thats classic. Recycling at its best!

[Pin_Head]

I had one of my techs a few years back, clean the tables with air gun, wire brush, rags and detergent, I told him to drop it to respot height, sit cross legged with your legs under the table ,he decided to make it easier, while table was as re-spot height whilst the spot/respot rods were still conected ETC to remove the 4 bolts that secure the table casting to the table posts..... the counter girls rang me to say Brett lane 17 the table looks funny, one side is in the air and the other side is on the pindeck..... oh for joy that was a fun fix!!!!! you nake it if it could bend HE BENT IT!!!!!

[dstrykr77]

Ive got a few, not real common but pretty strange. Profile ball return was having some issues with staying on. One of my more knowledgeable mechanics coudlnt figure it out and called our female up and coming mechanic (by the way has turned out to be my number 2 mechanic, she is awesome!!!) over to take a look with him. All she did was lean over and touch the ball rails, it came on and we havent had a problem with that ball return since.

Then there are the frustrating most common things, at least they are here. No matter how long I test out a lane after adjustments or repairs I never have a single problem, but as soon as its given out to either league bowlers or open bowlers the problem comes back. Or, and this makes my other mechanics pretty mad at me, if I sit or stand to watch a machine that is having a perticular problem, it never happens when Im there, but if I leave, it starts happening again. Are the machines being respectful of me or are they scared of me? Either way it always makes me laugh.

[pinfeed]

I once came across the cam follower on the OUTSIDE of the table actuator arm. I wouldn't have thought much of it had it been at the start of leagues, cuz I would have just figured someone had been wrenching on it during the previous shift. But this was half way through league. Still scratching my head on that one.

[rivmike]

Ive got a few, not real common but pretty strange. Profile ball return was having some issues with staying on. One of my more knowledgeable mechanics coudlnt figure it out and called our female up and coming mechanic (by the way has turned out to be my number 2 mechanic, she is awesome!!!) over to take a look with him. All she did was lean over and touch the ball rails, it came on and we havent had a problem with that ball return since.

Then there are the frustrating most common things, at least they are here. No matter how long I test out a lane after adjustments or repairs I never have a single problem, but as soon as its given out to either league bowlers or open bowlers the problem comes back. Or, and this makes my other mechanics pretty mad at me, if I sit or stand to watch a machine that is having a perticular problem, it never happens when Im there, but if I leave, it starts happening again. Are the machines being respectful of me or are they scared of me? Either way it always makes me laugh.

I have the same problem so I bought a wireless camera at Harbor Freight. I plug it into the second pindeck light plug. Set vcr on rec. (8 hr.) and when the mach. is turned on it will record. Neat to accually see what caused the problem.

[cdsand5]

2 days ago I was pulling an overnighter replacing some of the flooring on the concourse and I was the only one in the building with all doors locked. At 205am lanes 13 thru 18 came on, sweeps dropped to guard then they shut off. I was directly in front of the control desk at that time and went to look at the computer and the screen was still in sleep mode. There have been a few other incidents involving lane 13 along this line. Makes you go hmmm.

[Pin_Head]

2 days ago I was pulling an overnighter replacing some of the flooring on the concourse and I was the only one in the building with all doors locked. At 205am lanes 13 thru 18 came on, sweeps dropped to guard then they shut off. I was directly in front of the control desk at that time and went to look at the computer and the screen was still in sleep mode. There have been a few other incidents involving lane 13 along this line. Makes you go hmmm.

Did you chit yourself and pass out at that point?? As that would have been the standard reaction to that LOL

[Tablejam]

Late one night in a center I worked at me and the other tech, the only ones in the building, were up front doing approach work when lane 3 turns on, cycles, then shuts off.....