Bally Time Zone (Bally, 1973) 2nd Player 5th Ball "skips"

Marksgotparts

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Time Zone
I've got a recently acquired 1973 Bally Time Zone Pin Ball Machine. Overall, it's in excellent shape.
While playing the game in 2 player mode, the 2nd player never gets to play their 5th ball.

Some observations:

Although the continuous stepper in the bottom of the unit seems to spin more then I think it normally would (it usually stops after there's some play with the 1st ball, but I do hear it throughout the game).

Digging a little deeper, I inspected the Ball Count Stepper. When I manually push in the step-up (advance) relay, it seems to advance/step the Stepper Cog as expected. I manually did this a number of times without issue. Just about when the 2nd player would get their 5th ball, it reverts back to the 1st player. I noticed right where the gears are being advanced, their seems to be a plastic tooth missing in the Stepper Cog. So it doesn't seem to grab the tooth that might help advance it as needed. I also noticed that when I manually push the Reset relay in the Ball Count Stepper, it doesn't seem like the tension in the spring is sufficient to reset the stepper cog. I'm not sure if a missing tooth is by design, or THE PROBLEM, or a spring without enough tension. Also wondering if both this issue and the continuous Stepper in the bottom unit might be part of the same issue. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark
 

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I've got a recently acquired 1973 Bally Time Zone Pin Ball Machine. Overall, it's in excellent shape.
While playing the game in 2 player mode, the 2nd player never gets to play their 5th ball.

Some observations:

Although the continuous stepper in the bottom of the unit seems to spin more then I think it normally would (it usually stops after there's some play with the 1st ball, but I do hear it throughout the game).

Digging a little deeper, I inspected the Ball Count Stepper. When I manually push in the step-up (advance) relay, it seems to advance/step the Stepper Cog as expected. I manually did this a number of times without issue. Just about when the 2nd player would get their 5th ball, it reverts back to the 1st player. I noticed right where the gears are being advanced, their seems to be a plastic tooth missing in the Stepper Cog. So it doesn't seem to grab the tooth that might help advance it as needed. I also noticed that when I manually push the Reset relay in the Ball Count Stepper, it doesn't seem like the tension in the spring is sufficient to reset the stepper cog. I'm not sure if a missing tooth is by design, or THE PROBLEM, or a spring without enough tension. Also wondering if both this issue and the continuous Stepper in the bottom unit might be part of the same issue. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark
On the ball count unit advance coil, it’s plunger rest position is on an adjustment screw that when adjusted can increase the throw or cam movement to allow the catch pawl to engage.
After adjustment the disc and finger alignment must be checked, adjust disc if necessary.
 
On the ball count unit advance coil, it’s plunger rest position is on an adjustment screw that when adjusted can increase the throw or cam movement to allow the catch pawl to engage.
After adjustment the disc and finger alignment must be checked, adjust disc if necessary.
Hello Pinballdaveh,
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. What's your thoughts on what appears to be a missing tooth on the Cog. Is that supposed to be like that?
 
Hello Pinballdaveh,
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. What's your thoughts on what appears to be a missing tooth on the Cog. Is that supposed to be like that?
The missing tooth was cut in from the manufacturer. It’s designed to keep the cam from advancing when the last advance function step of the unit is completed.
 
Hello Pinballdaveh!
After your clarification on what I thought was the missing tooth, I disassembled and cleaned the assembly (sandpaper and Isopropyl alcohol).
This corrected the problem. Thank you so much for your prompt replies and suggestions to both my email, as well as the other posts in this forum. It was all incredibly helpful.

Regards,
Mark
 
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