8
Technical Operation:
Ball Drop Operation
When the ball is lifted to the Ball Drop Assembly
it will roll down until it hits the ball alert switch
indicating that a ball is ready to be played.
Once a credit is inserted and the Drop Ball Button
has been pressed, the Solenoid is activated
pulling the plunger up and away from the ball
allowing it to roll down the Ball Chute and on the
playfield. The plunger returns to its original state in time to block the next ball from falling.
Wheel Location and Ball Scoring:
The playfield wheel is driven by the Playfield
Stepper Motor using a friction drive blue rubber
wheel. Under the playfield wheel the is a pin that
marks where the home position(Zero) is on the
wheel. The pin will travel through the Home
Sensor once per revolution. Each revolution the
wheel is set to zero and work together with the
step count of the Playfield Motor to determine
the position of the wheel for scoring.
Once the ball is dropped to the playfield and falls through the whole it is sensed by a pair of optics a Transmitter board
and a Receiver board. When the signal between them is blocked by the falling ball the game will pay out the value it
landed in. Since the computer knows where the pin in the wheel is relative to each hole position and it knows how many
motor steps from home to each hole, we know exactly which hole the ball fell through allowing a payout accurately
corresponding to the hole position.
Ball Lift Operation
The Ball Lift motor (a stepper motor) is connected to the large Ball Lift Belt via a small urethane belt. The Ball Lift motor
will only run after the ball has been released from the Ball Drop Assembly at the top of the game. The Ball sits on the Ball
Alert Switch to stop the motor. Once the Switch is released the motor will begin to rotate to replenish the missing ball.
Summary of Contents for Benchmark Games Fireball
Page 4: ...3 Basic Components...
