Williams Solved Super-Flite (Williams, 1974) bonus issue

[Heater63]

Newbie here, would appreciate a pointer or two if this is obvious, as I struggle with schematics so far.
@pinballdeveh
decades of playing, good with soldering and basic EM, but my first EM ownership/repair.
'74 WM Superflite (2 player)
Cleaned steppers and score reels, fixed a few bad solder points and rewound a flipper coil, .
Everything is now working except for proper single bonus and resetting.
If the Double or Triple bonus is activated, the downhole works, correct bonus is applied (stepped down), and next ball ejected. However, if only single bonus, stepper steps down when downhole trips, but score reel continues to run and ball is not ejected. If you then manually trigger a double bonus, it works and play can continue.
Ideas of where to look would be appreciated.

-Tad

 

[pinballdaveh]

Thank you for the fast reply. I will take this synopsis, digest it, and start working through the sequence. Amazing help!

A helpful repair tip when dealing with outhole and timing issues is to use the score motor service switch and a plastic chip bag clip.
Turn service switch to off.
Prop up playfield.
Install clip onto outhole switch, closing it.
Playfield can now be tilted back further resting on the head for better servicing.
Manual motion of the cams will go thru the sequence in a slower motion.
Take caution when doing this test of not allowing solenoids to pull in longer than they normally would. Example the score reels, bonus subtract and add coils, and the outhole kicker coil.
Once the outhole kicker coil fires near the end of the sequence the machine will look for a open outhole switch that’s clipped closed and will try to repeat the sequence again.
Compare findings with the service switch off to when its turned on.

 

[Heater63]

Looking with fresh eyes at the my game operation, I just realized I mispoke describing the bonus unit stepping down. I said "single bonus, stepper steps down..." That was wrong. The bonus stepper is NOT counting down on a single bonus, only if the double or triple bonus is activated. When my outhole switch is activated, the score motor runs, but if on single bonus, the bonus unit is not stepping down and adding points, and the machine stays hung with the score motor running. However, if you then activate either double or triple bonus, the bonus unit does then count down and resets, score reels are adding points, ball count advances, and ball is ejected and play continues or game ends.

 

[pinballdaveh]

Looking with fresh eyes at the my game operation, I just realized I mispoke describing the bonus unit stepping down. I said "single bonus, stepper steps down..." That was wrong. The bonus stepper is NOT counting down on a single bonus, only if the double or triple bonus is activated. When my outhole switch is activated, the score motor runs, but if on single bonus, the bonus unit is not stepping down and adding points, and the machine stays hung with the score motor running. However, if you then activate either double or triple bonus, the bonus unit does then count down and resets, score reels are adding points, ball count advances, and ball is ejected and play continues or game ends.

Thank you for rechecking the info.
A normally open switch on the bonus relay with yellow and BLU-R wires is the 1st switch in the circuit to clean and check.
A 3 blade make/break switch on the double bonus relay with BLU-R wire connecting to the center blade, and a R-BLU connecting to the normally closed blade. Chances are this connection is the problem. Clean and adjust switch if needed. Check wire connections.
The last switch to check is the score motor cam 4 switch A (bottom switch on the stack)with R-BLU wire and a BR-W wire that will go to the bonus subtract coil. Clean and adjust if needed.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Doesn't look like @pinballdaveh properly registered, above.

Text-spacing issues, perhaps?

 

[pinballdaveh]

Doesn't look like @pinballdaveh properly registered, above.

Text-spacing issues, perhaps?

It sounds like the bonus to outhole transfer isn’t working correctly.
I hope the info is helpful and understandable.
After the ball is played, the ball drains into the outhole.
The outhole switch closes pulling in the bonus relay.
Score motor runs counting points and subtracts bonus.
Bonus relay stays pulled in by the bonus unit zero position blade switch on the gear side of the bonus unit.
When bonus unit reaches zero position it’s blade switch will open releasing the bonus relay.
Another bonus unit switch is a wiping blade fingers and rivets switch on the bonus unit disc that closes its circuit at zero position. This switch along with score motor cam 6 switch B when closed pulls in the outhole relay.
Score motor cam 6 is the score motors last function to complete before the score motor returns to home position.
So if the score motor uses cams 1-3 for scoring and cam 4 to subtract bonus,and when the last bonus is subtracted the wiping finger switch closes and waits for cam 6 to close, pulling in the outhole relay. Once outhole pulls in the score motor runs, cam 3 advances ball count unit, cam 4 pulses the outhole kicker coil and advances the bonus unit to 1000 for the next ball.
Once outhole kicker coil fires and kicks the ball to the shooter lane, outhole switch opens, and releases the outhole relay for the next ball in play.

 

[Heater63]

Thank you for the fast reply. I will take this synopsis, digest it, and start working through the sequence. Amazing help!

 

[Heater63]

Thank you, that's a great tip.

 

[Heater63]

A normally open switch on the bonus relay with yellow and BLU-R wires is the 1st switch in the circuit to clean and check.

THANK YOU pinballdaveh ! And this was the issue!. Thank you for narrowing down my search to these likely points. Sorry for the slow response, but the last two covid surges kept me busy the past 8 months. Finally got to spend some more time rehabbing this machine, and the double bonus relay switch was always open. Adjusted it and now is working great. I want to thank everyone here who generously shares knowledge and helps keep these EM games going after 45+ years.