Quoted from hlaj78:With those targets missing, you are at great risk of breaking the ramps. Whitewater comes to mind in this situation.
Not exactly - there was no protector on the ends of the whitewater ramps (and the ramp ends were 1/2 inch wide), so the standup target would actually crash into the ramps and crack/break them. If you removed the target on whitewater, yes, the ball would slam into the ramp and break it.
Houdini is different as the ramp edge is thin with a metal protector that bends around it. The metal protector is large enough to loop around both the ramp end *and* the metal ball guide - see my pic above. Any ball strikes on the protector are absorbed by the protector, then the ball guide behind it - so the ramp should remain unscathed.
Quoted from bobukcat:I agree but also really question how much this makes any of those shots easier to make, if at all
The lock entrance before modification was approximately 1 1/4 inches, now it's 1 1/2 inches with the little rubber protector on the edge of the right orbit rail. Without the rubber protector it's about 1 5/8 inch. So, the entrance is 20% larger with the protector, 30% larger without.