Part 9: 1978 Gottlieb Close Encounters of the Third Kind Project. Roto Target Part 2: Trouble!

TL;DR

Roto wheel restoration encounters alignment and Lizzy board timing issues; 95% project completion.

Summary

Key Claims

• Kim Oswald of the Goat Shed provided valuable roto wheel adjustment tips and referenced helpful instructional videos

  high confidence · Direct acknowledgment by Mike; Goat Shed's video content referenced as source material

• Dave Souza provided original 1977 Gottlieb parts manual documentation for roto unit adjustment specifications

  high confidence · Mike states: 'Dave Souza hooked me up with this from the um what like 1977 gotly parts manual. So this is awesome to have.'

• The Lizzy board has slow switch registration requiring approximately 5-second delays between button presses and game state transitions

  high confidence · Mike demonstrates this behavior multiple times: 'Okay, now Lizzie is happy. Needs about 5 seconds.' and 'So Lizzy is just a little slow.'

• The roto wheel is not properly aligned with the contact plate rivets in its resting position

  high confidence · Mike discovers: 'I think our problem is that uh this wheel is not aligned to this plate here' and uses adjustment slots to correct alignment

• Lubricating the roto wheel axle negatively affected spin performance and required cleaning

  high confidence · Mike states: 'I started to in the um axle portion of this and it just made it spin like crap. So, I cleaned it all out.'

Notable Quotes

• “So, thank you very much and uh they have been helpful. And also shout out to Dave Souza who was able to hook me up with the roto unit adjustment instructions.”

  Mike Dust @ ~2:45 — Acknowledges community support and resources that enabled technical progress

• “This is just a mess. This is really just a lot of crap all happening at once.”

  Mike Dust @ ~24:15 — Expression of frustration when multiple systems fail simultaneously during initial roto testing

• “Okay, now Lizzie is happy. Needs about 5 seconds... So Lizzy is just a little slow.”

  Mike Dust @ ~41:00 — Key diagnostic moment identifying the root cause of apparent hardware failures was actually Lizzy board software timing

• “I'm sorry, random A, B, and C lanes. I was blaming you guys for being faulty, but it was Lizz's slowness all along.”

  Mike Dust @ ~43:30 — Humorous acknowledgment of false hardware blame and self-correction regarding diagnosis methodology

• “Basically, this thing is like 95% done except for the stupid roto target. That is the last 5%.”

  Mike Dust @ ~49:45 — Project status update; roto wheel remains the primary outstanding issue

• “When you swap DMDs, remember to take off your sticky notes first.”

  Mike Dust @ ~0:05 and ~50:20 — Practical tip framing device used at video opening and closing; suggests common mistake among restorers

Entities

Signals

• ?

  community_signal: Kim Oswald (Goat Shed) and Dave Souza provide technical documentation and guidance for roto wheel restoration, indicating active community knowledge sharing

  high · Mike explicitly thanks both for providing adjustment instructions, video references, and 1977 Gottlieb parts manual documentation unavailable elsewhere

• ?

  operational_signal: Systematic approach to hardware troubleshooting: multiple test games, lamp diagnostics, switch cleaning, component alignment verification, and methodical elimination of variables

  high · Mike documents extensive testing sequence: switch cleaning, lamp tests, socket rework, board swaps, and final root cause identification of Lizzy timing

• ?

  community_signal: Pinball community members (Goat Shed, Dave Souza) actively create and share restoration documentation and video resources filling gaps in original manufacturer documentation

  high · 1977 Gottlieb parts manual unavailable through standard sources; Mike had to rely on community member with original documentation; Goat Shed videos cited as primary learning resource

• ?

  product_concern: Roto wheel mechanism exhibits alignment and mechanical issues (bent fork, poor contact alignment) that persist despite cleaning and adjustment attempts

  high · Multiple failed test attempts; wheel doesn't spin reliably; contact points misaligned with rivets; Mike defers work stating 'I'm done with rotos for now'

• ?

  technology_signal: Lizzy board exhibits significant switch registration delay (~5 seconds) causing false diagnosis of hardware failures and requiring operator patience/workarounds

Topics

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Initial frustration with cascading mechanical failures and unexpected complications (roto wheel not spinning, switch registration issues), but resolves into cautious optimism upon diagnosing Lizzy board timing as root cause. Concludes with positive project momentum (95% complete) despite deferring roto wheel work to future sessions. Tone shifts from problem-solving frustration to educational/humorous self-correction.