Video taping intermitant stops

[Jimmy Jam]

Has anybody experimented with a "mobile" video survailence set-up for troubleshooting machines with intermittant problems? You could set it up on that one machine that "dj's" 3 or 4 times a week. Start recording before you go home and train your pinchasers to stop recording if they get a call on that machine. Then the next day you could rewind the tape a few minuites and replay what exactly happend, correct the problem, and move on. Whats your view on this?

[Guest]

Re: Video taping intermitant stops

I have often suggested this method of troubleshooting, but some mechs dont want to go through the hastle so they grab there pack of smokes and an ashtray and sit on the pinsetter for hours watching and waiting. Only pro for the taping method is that every mech knows that when you watch a pinsetter, the pinsetter knows your watching and wont *%$& up while your watching. Con? Heh i hate waiting..

deadwood

[Dutch]

Re: Video taping intermitant stops

We have been using a surveillance setup for longer than the 16 years that I’ve been there. It sits on a 3 level cart. The monitor is on the bottom, the time lapsed VCR on the middle shelf & the camera on the top. The camera sits on an adjustable tripod (so it can be set at any height or angle needed) & is steadied with 2 bungee cords so it won’t fall off if the cart gets bumped or while in transport to a lane. It has a wide angle lens that’s able to see from 7 to 10 pin, horizontally & masking unit (to be able to see which ball cycle it’s on) to pindeck, vertically. The VCR uses a standard VHS 120 tape & is set on a 12 hour loop. Any slower & the playback is too choppy for an easy diagnosis. It all plugs into a power strip that’s mounted to the cart & has a 30’ cord.
We have found it to be an invaluable tool in the diagnosis of intermittent problems.
Dutch

[GPS]

Re: Video taping intermitant stops

There was a thread posted about a year ago on this subject that covered it quit extensivly.

[Guest]

Re: Video taping intermitant stops

Patience is a virtue, and haste makes waste.

While I sit on a machine...after checking common adjustments, I force extremes such as holding back the dist between the 6 and 10, or letting two pins get two close together, or oil the lift belt to check yo-yo's. Run the pit by hand in slo-mo and watch it.

Observing the smallest inconsistencies is part of the key to solving many mysteries.

Part of my trouble-shooting dist jams is... that it is required to be recorded in the logbook where the dist jams... not just a check mark indicating a jam.

I think that a camera is a good teaching tool and a possible troubleshooter. But I have found a few dist jams caused by a jolt it the PE because of various things. I don't know if a camera could catch something so subtle. I could feel the irregularity just not see or hear it until I tuned into the area.

Tech


[This message has been edited by Tech_Mech (edited 11-02-2000).]

[Jimmy Jam]

Re: Video taping intermitant stops

I agree with all of you. Did'nt think of the telescoping mount though, thanks!

I thought about doing this a few years ago when I was having orienting problems accross the house after I put new pins in.
Before the new pins I was 1400 f.p.s.. Getting 5 to 10 dj's a week across 36 lanes running 68-7200 lines. After new wood, 20 to 30 dj's a week.

O.K., I thought, I can handle this. The pins are the same, amflite(exept now they glow and are new). I know what I did to make them stop dj-ing(all the normal stuff: cell crimp, shuttle drop, deadwood clear, shuttle bend, bin center, ears are up, #1 guide flat, strapped all 7, flipped some holders, yolk link bshngs, new grey cup liners and bent some 9 bin guides. Carriage tube flip, drive housing swop, elevator pop rivets. Super cluthes in the trash, distribs are 1/2" at the bin, some raised by x-tra thrust brng washers under casting, trashed the slick belts, re-bent some carriage rocker springs and on and on and on.


But what I did last, was lower the kidney an 1/8" to the pan, and the pan a 1/16" to the elev. on about 15 machines to get rid of transfer problems. It worked, zero calls......Until the new pins came.....


It took me 2 or 3 months to figure out that all the money we saved by moving the bad upper ring tube bearings to the bottom over the years has cought up with me. The banging of pins at the bottom of the wheel caused my low-kidney/new-pin machines to transfer poorly.
I still run alot of low-kidney machines. They just transfer the pins so nice.


I think if I had a camera set-up it would have went faster. Sometimes I think I know it all and I don't. So I miss things. We run 120 hours a week in the back and good help is hard to find in denver( 2% unemployed ). An extra eye-ball for two or three hundred dollars sounds good.

Thanks again, Jonas