Quoted from PinMonk:I like the way you think, I was the same way. The problem is since the right upper flipper is flipping in tandem with the lower flipper, it's getting hot as well. In addition to extreme heat, I have video of one just failing - it stops working at all - until it cooled a bit on the next ball because it got so hot (I don't know why as I only have the video, was it swollen from the heat? Dunno.). So that is a heretofore unknown issue to me. I didn't know they could stop working. Plus, I would think that over time 180F+ on the playfield is going to cook the wood and end up with something like magnet burn that will eventually show through to the top. So there are cosmetic concerns, too.
None of this is a problem if your sessions are 30 minutes or less because the extreme heat doesn't come into play. But if sessions are typically 60 minutes or more, definitely an issue, especially on Rick and Morty, which has the highest coil temps with long play of any machine I've tested so far.
How long was your test that caused the flipper to stop working? Seems like a big problem for R&M's in the wild (when they return to life post COVID).
Wonder if there are software/hardware tweaks that could help, since I've never heard of Stern/JJP/BW failing from heat exhaustion...