Three Star Pachinko ATTACK Gate

[CarlW]

Anyone have one of these machines or know how it is supposed to work?

My guess is a jackpot opens the gate until the next jackpot?
There is no way to open the gate via pachinko ball action; only the solenoid moves it.

001 Three Star Playfield Before.jpg 002 Three Star Attack Gate Front.jpg 003 Three Star Attack Gate Back 1.jpg
004 Three Star Attack Gate Back 2.jpg 005 Three Star Attack Gate Back 3.jpg 006 Three Star Attack Solenoid 1.jpg
007 Three Star Attack Solenoid 2.jpg 008 Three Star Attack Jackpot Ball Switch 1.jpg 009 Three Star Attack Jackpot Ball Switch 2.jpg

[Tink]

Interesting unit..what is the switch functions? Does it function as both open and closed?

[CarlW]

Interesting unit..what is the switch functions? Does it function as both open and closed?

I don't know, hope someone else does though!

[Tink]

Have you metered out the switch? Odd looking micro switch, and 3 wires. Dual function perhaps?

[Moparformances]

not sure what would open the gate.. but it looks like the switch at the bottom must close the solenoid / gate when a winning ball exits..

neat machine.. do ya have any pics of the machine before ya took it apart??

[CarlW]

not sure what would open the gate.. but it looks like the switch at the bottom must close the solenoid / gate when a winning ball exits..

neat machine.. do ya have any pics of the machine before ya took it apart??

I didn't take these pictures... and now they are sideways !

image1.JPG image2.JPG image3.JPG image4.JPG

[Moparformances]

and 3 wires. Dual function perhaps?

possible ????

[browne92]

Without having the circuit board in hand, my best guess is a timer. Opens on a jackpot then stays open for a certain length of time. What makes me think that is the trimmer pot. But that's just a WAG.

[CarlW]

Without having the circuit board in hand, my best guess is a timer. Opens on a jackpot then stays open for a certain length of time. What makes me think that is the trimmer pot. But that's just a WAG.

Bill,
You are correct.

I took a deep breath; hooked it up to 24V AC and that is what happens.

The bridge rectifier was still working.

Jackpot ball exiting the machine at bottom, triggers the ATTACK gate solenoid to open for about a second.
Not much of a window! The trim pot adjustment makes about a second more difference.
Two seconds to about 1/2 second range.

I see a small capacitor and resistor are connected to the micro switch on the circuit board. De-bounce?
Tink wondered why the NC and NO contacts were both used on the micro switch...

Now what?
Fix it up as original?
Make fully cyclic with counter and control solenoid with a relay (ATTACK gate could be left open longer than two seconds)

DSC06149.jpg DSC06150.jpg DSC06151.jpg DSC06152.jpg

[Tink]

Interesting, wired as contact change over switch.

[Tink]

Got to thinking about this, simple timer circuit. Should have enough time for next winning ball through the seesaw to re-trigger the timer and hold gate open as long as more wins are there. Very cool, would love to see it in action.

[browne92]

Carl, you might want to try changing those 3 electrolytic capacitors. They have a liquid electrolyte in them that tends to leak out or dry up over time. The timer might be designed for longer operation, but the dried out cap won't let it.

Another WAG, but the using all the contacts on the switch might be to reset the timer. In a simple timer, a second trigger wouldn't restart the cycle. You'd need something to dump the charge on the timing capacitor to do that.

Debounce is a digital thing and isn't usually a concern on such simple circuits. Maybe they were worried about noise causing false triggers?

Can you get me the numbers off the two transistors?

[CarlW]

Carl, you might want to try changing those 3 electrolytic capacitors. They have a liquid electrolyte in them that tends to leak out or dry up over time. The timer might be designed for longer operation, but the dried out cap won't let it.

Another WAG, but the using all the contacts on the switch might be to reset the timer. In a simple timer, a second trigger wouldn't restart the cycle. You'd need something to dump the charge on the timing capacitor to do that.

Debounce is a digital thing and isn't usually a concern on such simple circuits. Maybe they were worried about noise causing false triggers?

Can you get me the numbers off the two transistors?

Thanks Bill,
I was not able to read any numbers on the transistors, they are too close together. Tried bending them a little.

Wouldn't be too difficult to replace the capacitors, I'll give it a go.

Pachiwall has a similar machine with similar timing; maybe his has same problem; or maybe they were that way.

Here is my latest plan:

Set up as regular pachinko machine (not cyclic)

Re-use the ATTACK box as a project box.
Add a 5V trinket (arduino compatible).
Use a RC servo to open the gate.
Put some RGB LEDs inside the machine (behind the ATTACK gate) to simulate a flickering fire when the gate is open.
Put some RGB LEDs in the top of the playfield in the original plastic lenses.
Add a potentiometer knob (on the ATTACK box) to adjust the "gate open" timing from 1 second to 20 seconds.
Add a hidden cheat button under the front bottom tray.
Re-use the micro switch.

[browne92]

Can you tell me which colors go to which connections on the switch?

[CarlW]

Can you tell me which colors go to which connections on the switch?

Micro switch
White COMMON
Red NC
Green NO

round capacitor says 103Z
tube capacitor says 4.7 MFD (these are the ones to replace?)

black transistor says C945 R16
cant find any text on grey transistor

[browne92]

Yes, replace the 4.7 mfd's. When you've done that, it will be about as good as it's going to get. We could get longer times by changing some component values, I'll have to get back to you on that.

Does the trimmer control have a number stamped on the front? Like 102 or 104?

Also, if you get a chance to measure the current through the solenoid, we could figure a replacement for our mystery transistor (if needed).

[CarlW]

Yes, replace the 4.7 mfd's. When you've done that, it will be about as good as it's going to get. We could get longer times by changing some component values, I'll have to get back to you on that.

Does the trimmer control have a number stamped on the front? Like 102 or 104?

Also, if you get a chance to measure the current through the solenoid, we could figure a replacement for our mystery transistor (if needed).

30 K (ohm symbol) is my best guess; could be 10K or 20K; first number is not printed well...

[CarlW]

Does the trimmer control have a number stamped on the front? Like 102 or 104?

Measured (in place on the board) with an ohm meter, varies from 9 ohm to 30K ohm...

Not sure how to measure current in solenoid, doesn't the meter have to be in series? Cut one of the solenoid wires?

[Tink]

Not sure how to measure current in solenoid, doesn't the meter have to be in series? Cut one of the solenoid wires?

Correct

[pachiwall]

I'm a little late to the party. I've been moving to a house that I've decided not to rent out any more. All my machines are over there in the attic. No internet over there.
Pics have been difficult to post from my Kindle tablet, and seem impossible from the LG. Have had problems posting pics ever since my laptop died.
As Carl stated, it opens with each jackpot...for a brief period of time, adjustable through a hole in the bottom. The switch on mine has only 2 wires, and is mounted on an aluminum bracket at the jackpot dump. The switch is activated by the balls refilling the jackpot.
I have some reasonably good pics of it in my post "Another craigslist find!". I tried to post the images, or a link to the thread...but, that is a learning curve I haven't learned yet. I have built a 2'x6' work bench in one of the bedrooms...specifically for working on pachinko machines. Going to fill the closet with shelves to keep all my parts and tools in. Wish I would have kept all my parts in the same place before!
I found my thread easily by searching "craigslist, attack". It is the second thread on the search. Pics there may be helpful. I can get it and put it on my new work bench to take any additional pics, and possibly compare it to the attack solenoid on my arrangeball.
I don't expect the attack solenoid to be rare...we are just on the wrong side of the ocean. I have only seen them on 3 star machines.