Mini single solenoid conversion videos

[Tablejam]

In case nobody has seen this before, here is the mini conversion kit to get rid of the respot solenoid, sorry I don't have the part number.

(Long) strike cycle

Ball 1 and 2

[mrpinspotter]

In case nobody has seen this before, here is the mini conversion kit to get rid of the respot solenoid, sorry I don't have the part number.

(Long) strike cycle

Ball 1 and 2

610-704-120

[poplarpetey]

Cool! Never seen that before. Thanks for posting!

Pete

[Pin_Head]

Hey TJ what on earth is a Respot solenoid???

[Carl D]

Cool videos.

Hey TJ what on earth is a Respot solenoid???

Oh, I saw a few of those in the last place I worked at. They're the ones where the solenoid plunger sticks in then the machine tries to put a new set of pins on top of the standing pins its supposed to be picking up. Great fun - not! (Sorry - I couldn't resist).

[Tablejam]

Hey TJ what on earth is a Respot solenoid???

Originally, the A and B machines had two solenoids on the front end, one pulled in for spotting and the other for respotting. The spot lever was slightly different with a large hook that locked it into position for spotting, like the small latch used on later machines. Because this hook was not connected to anything else a solenoid was used to lift it off the spot lever for respotting. Of course later (it was realized) this was not needed if the latch were redesigned and connected to the shuttle blocking finger with a small link instead.

The following videos show the respot solenoid and hook assembly

1st ball standing pins

2nd ball

Long Strike

Anytime the table runs a solenoid will be energized. You don't notice this with a single solenoid machine unless it is spotting pins but when it's not spotting pins and the spot relay is not energized, voltage would be going to the respot solenoid if it was there. So, basically, on two solenoid machines the hook is always down unless the table is not spotting whereas on single solenoid machines the latch is always up unless the table is spotting. In fact in the strike cycle video, you can see when the spot relay energizes and de-energizes, de energized causes the respot solenoid to pull in, energized causes the spot solenoid to pull in. It's funny watching the hook flip up and the solenoid buzz at the end of the cycle.

Between the two I prefer the single solenoid because it is simpler and easier to work with, but, the double solenoid machines are kind of neat to watch and I think I'll keep one or two like that.

[Carl D]

Thanks, Tablejam. I've heard of the double solenoid machines but I didn't know that's how they operated.

[Tablejam]

Hope my description was not confusing. Actually, operationally, there really is no reason to get rid of it other than obsolete parts and they really have no more trouble than the single setup. The only issues I've had are sometimes the solenoid gets smoked, but so do the other ones so that doesn't really count, and the pin that connects the solenoid-link-hook sometimes used to break a lot which caused the cups to tilt while respotting which turns into sort of a mini train wreck but a good sized nail stopped all that. In fact its been years since I've had to touch one.

Also of note the machine in the video happens to have a fast (evil!) sweep gearbox.

[seanm]

ohh 14rpm nasty things, the internals of those boxes belong in the bin. ever seen a machine with a 10rpm table, 14rpm sweep? LOL. Complete joke.

[Tablejam]

ohh 14rpm nasty things, the internals of those boxes belong in the bin. ever seen a machine with a 10rpm table, 14rpm sweep? LOL. Complete joke.

I have several machines with 12.1rpm tables and 14.5rpm sweeps, I don't like it but it works and unfortunately they are going to have to until they finally die, can't afford to buy a bunch of (not cheap) gearboxes just because we don't like how fast they go. Sucks but as long as they work fine, and I'm super picky about that, then they stay. They start to develop too much slop or worse, they go.

And speaking of which, just because we all love them so much, here is a little display of the evilness that is the fast gearbox!

[Pin_Head]

I HATE the 14rpm boxes.... they are horrible on the sweep as they make it all jerky and terrible on the tables they should never have been made... I agree with Sean the only place they belong is the BIN!!!!

[Pin_Head]

A centre I used to work at had 10rpm tables and 12.1 sweeps was such a smooth, sweet set up.....

[seanm]

We have mainly 10's on tables and 12's on sweeps here. I found some 14rpm internals with our gearbox stuff, chucked them out.

[Tablejam]

Never heard of 10rpm gearboxes, such a thing exists? Would love to see video of it.

[Rep]

We've had this discussion before, don't get me started on those damned fast gearboxes again! LOL I haven't seen or heard of 10's before either, would love to see!