Correcting the horizontal alignment of V2 machines

This article only relates to v2 machines. V2 machines were released in October 2020.  To determine if you have a v2 machine, please read this article here.

If you need instructions to remove the purple body of a v1 machine please read this article here.

This article helps you in case you are experiencing any of the following problems:

• You find balls are not evenly distributed between the forehand and the backhand side
• Balls are shooting outside the singles line
• More balls are shooting to the forehand side
• Balls are skimming the mouth opening or shooting inside the purple body
• Balls are not landing in the centre when first turned on

These problems are caused by a mis-calibration of the horizontal motor and the error can be eliminated using the procedures below.

Note: The instructions use the terms ‘Port side’ and ‘Starboard side’ to indicate what side of the machine they are referring to. If you are looking at the machine from the net, port side means the right side and the starboard side means the left side.

Assigning a new centre

In order to eliminate the error, we can assign a new centre to the machine. We will assign a new centre that is at the furthest position in the permissible range. Please follow the steps below:

1. Turn the machine on and wait for the main menu to come up.
2. Press and hold the RIGHT direction button to move the wheels to the maximum position on the starboard side.
3. Press and hold MENU + POWER button to display ‘Set Origin?’ on the LCD:
4. Press the LEFT direction button to save the new centre. The machine will then move to the new centre. You will notice that the new centre would be slightly towards the starboard side.
5. Fire balls from the machine and check if the problem persists.

If the above method of assigning a new centre does not solve the problem, please follow the steps below to change the datum used for calibration.

Changing the datum

This section guides you on how to change the datum used for calibrating the horizontal movement of the wheels. The process of calibration is called a datum check where the machine moves to the Port side, detects the collision with the ‘datum’ and moves to the centre. Any changes in the position of the datum can cause the machine to mis-calibrate. The issue can be quickly fixed by changing the datum being used and using the datum on the Starboard side. Steps below show how it can be done:

Note: The procedure outlined below is only applicable on V2 machines with the motherboard softwares being M5.2.8 or higher and H5.1.9 or higher. To find out the software version of your machine follow the instructions here. Please contact your local Spinfire distributor to upgrade your machine’s softwares if required.

1. When the machine is off, press and hold POWER + UP + RIGHT buttons until a hidden menu comes up.
2. By default, the machine should display this on the screen:
3. Press the UP button to change ‘PORT’ to ‘STARBOARD’ and press the MENU button to save.

Once the settings are saved, the machine will turn on. You will see the machine move to the Starboard side to calibrate horizontally instead of the Port side and this should fix the issue. In case the issue is still not fixed, we can repeat the same procedure of assigning a new centre using the new datum as we did for the old in the start of the article. Steps are outlined below:

1. Turn the machine on and wait for the main menu to come up.
2. Press and hold the RIGHT direction button to move the wheels to the maximum position on the starboard side.
3. Press and hold MENU + POWER button to display ‘Set Origin?’ on the LCD:
   
4. Press the LEFT direction button to save the new centre. The machine will then move to the new centre. You will notice that the new centre would be slightly towards the starboard side.
5. Fire balls from the machine and check if the problem persists.

In case the problem persists please contact your local Spinfire distributor for assistance.