WTF?!

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I know, right? Who puts a bulb condom on one side of the chair and uses a colored LED for the other side??

Or uses a chair cliffy but not a swamp cliffy D: ...???

The missing apron card would drive me nuts.

Pinball training wheels!

My TAF came without the THING lights because of the ColorDMD. I have since then purchased a LED board for the THING lights, but I don't know where to connect it, can someone tell me where it plugs in? Pictures would be helpful too. Thx!

It goes to J134 on the power driver board.

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Thanks!

Use 3M mounting tape. It is a double sided silicone tape roll. Walmart or auto stores have it.

I replaced my ramp, which was in terrible condition after 25 years of route operation. I got my clear replacement ramp from Starship Fantasy. The build quality is excellent (Larry claims better than NOS and it shows), had absolutely no issues with the fitment which was VERY impressive, and the decals went on well. I got the decal alignment the best I could, but honestly it's not something you're going to notice when playing. I LOVE the clear option vs. the original grey smoked color! It really does a lot to brighten up the left side of the playfield. It's also more satisfying to clean because even when the old ramp was clean, it still looked dirty because of the smoked color.

I read Larry uses the original Williams molds for his replacement ramps, and I can certainly tell by the perfect fit on this machine. I had to do no more wiggling and adjusting than when installing the original ramp. Also I got a chance to clean the bumper area, the left lane, and install an LED in the rearmost bumper as it's impossible to get to this without removing the ramp. It plays faster now too with the new ramp!

Before:

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After!

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Beautiful!

Looks great!

That has me thinking! Nice job!

I was never a fan of the "smoked plastic era" I replaced my TAF ramp and cloud with clear. Looks much better!

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Hey Bro! You got toys in your kitchen....

That's the one and only sacred place my toys aren't allowed. My wife would go nuts if her kitchen looked like that lol

I hear ya, thats the basement bar. Kitchen upstairs is fully useable as a kitchen

I had 6 lined up in kitchen once for about 2 months while i was working on a project. Wife hated it. I kinda liked it.

LoL I sold my dinette to put three pins in my dining room because I was out of room in the last house's pinball room. Turns out, I had enough from selling the stupidly expensive formal table that we never used to buy another pin! Luckily in this house I have a 1400sq ft clubhouse in the basement with bar/kitchen, Home theater, full bath, spare bedroom w/ king bed, and another bedroom for pinball overflow (which I have almost filled up). I'm eyeing the formal living room upstairs but not sure I'll be allowed to venture upstairs when we already agreed upon purchase that those 1400sq ft were mine. Who needs a spare bedroom anyway.........

7 pins in the kitchen over here.

I just purchased my first pin, a really nice TAF with color Dmd from a local pinsider.

I had to take the head off to get it in the vehicle we brought to pick it up, which was a huge ordeal to put back together, but it gave me a chance to clean pins on the boards, some of which were quite oxidized.

Since I don't know much about pins I was wondering if anyone in the NYC area that knows TAF well would be into the idea of taking a look and playing my machine to give me advice on what if anything I should have restored/ shopped?

The beer will be on me and I have a great vinyl collection to peruse and play.

My advice, don't do this. Just play it and enjoy. Ignorance is bliss, you will start to notice things on your own, then take care of them as you go. No need for someone to start pointing things out.

I owned a TAF and work around the flatiron building. Happy to check it out. If you're not too far PM me!

I have a few questions.

what could cause my TAF upper flipper to stick sometimes? Owner I bought from said to just raise spring position where it attaches for more tension.

Where is the bubble level hi end is supposed to be set?

In the original promo video on YouTube it shows 6 lines on the level but mine has 5 lines. The video states it was the first game to have a level built in.

Also my ramps are clear. Does this mean they were replaced?

Thanks

My level has 5 lines on it and the clear ramp is a replacement. I wish I had a clear ramp,they look better than original.

Take it apart and clean the coil sleeve and coil stop.
While your looking at it check to see if anything is interfering with its movement like a broken switch or spring.
Also check that the return spring is in good order.
Check that all the parts are clean and in good condition and not binding in any way.

Joined this week

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Great game !

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Thanks pinballinreno. I've never taken a flipper apart but found some youtube vids and will try.

In the audits I noticed something called "things vault" which had zero hits.

What is that exactly?

I had some relatives visit and their teenage sons loved playing. I can't believe how even one pin is such a nice and social thing to have. Just walking in a seeing a lit up cabinet just screams "fun."

The best part when being new about working on flippers is that you have 3 others in the game to reference if you get confused.

Also, a coil sleve and spring is probably only $3, if you are placing a parts order soon just replace. You can try cleaning in the meantime. Increasing spring tension is something an OP would say

Just an FYI - the long-awaited Mantis Swamp Bracket is now available. Has a built-in ramp (invisible to the player) that ensures the ball goes into the kickout and does not get stuck behind the kickout weldment. Stainless steel. Just installed mine. Took 5 minutes.

https://mantispinball.com/product/the-addams-family-swamp-bracket/

Finally got an Addmas Family!! One of the most nostalgic pins for me!

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"Welcome Honored Guests"

"Welcome Honored Guests"

I am going to cut mine and bend up the corner.

Years ago I just bent a piece of stainless steel and riveted it in place and worked great.

I thought about that also. The Mantis was cut, bent then welded. I think it will work without the weld. The ball does not drop in hard.

I agree

Welcome to you new arrivals!!Have fun!!FYI,on those new folks,be sure to dismount the magnet driver board,directly under the "thing"flipper'This is easy! Dismount and clean all that fine dust that has accumulated there! Wash with water,dry completely,and reinstall! No Magnet burn!20 more years easy!!

Hawk... Thanks for this tip... So no magnet fuses mod necessary if this area is cleaned?
I just did it with qtips and water and as you said there was a fine layer of dirt throughout.

My upper flipper stuck again and I didn't have a coil sleeve on hand. But I cleaned the old gunked up one thoroughly and now it's perfect. My first repair and quite gratifying. I also cleaned all the flipper close leaf switches with business card trick. Some were quite dirty. I even put some alcohol on a card to clean further.

in the menus, going to the tests section the flipper hold test doesn't do anything for any of the flippers, but they do hold correctly when playing. Is this test supposed to work?

Finally I have a bang sound that comes out of speakers when powering on/off. Is that DC offset? What might need to be replaced?

Today I cut and bent my swamp bracket. It took about 10 minutes and is working great. The ball probably never hits the bent corner directly from the playfield. When it rolls on the corner it rolls right off.

Those fuses are important. If a transistor goes, the magnet can still lock on.

In hold test, push the flipper by hand to the up position. If it stays there the hold coil is doing its job. But don't worry, if the hold coil was not working you should have noticed that already by playing a game....

That sound is normal.

All new black legs.

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I just finished putting in a new thicker clear ramp from Marco. The old smoke ramp was thin and cracked in a few places. I did not realize the ramp comes out after you disconnect the wires under the playfield to work on it till I was part way into changing it! I put in 4 new switches while it was out. Looks great. So much cleaner and bright.

Those are the 2 of my best games that I love in black trim Alexs awesome job

Thanks brother! The photos don't show, but I actually changed just the legs, because my original chrome ones were constantly becoming dirty/rusty pretty fast (I think maybe because I live near the beach), and I didn't want to deal anymore with the hassle of cleaning it over and over again... next step would logically be side-rails and lockbar, but since I ain't got this particular trouble with these parts, I don't know if I'm going that way yet....

You could always just do the black vinyl wrap on the lockbar and rails. Nice and cheap, and reversible.

Hey Everyone,
Christopher Lloyd is coming to RI Comic Con, and I'll be there, on the chance I can meet him and have him sign something, what do you think I should have him sign? Should I bring my TAF Translite? or maybe the machine flyer? what would you have him sign? Not sure If i can sneak the playfield in for him to sign.

Bring in a boxed copy of toon struck