same here - too tight of a uturn with a gate in there that can hang up the ball, drives me nuts when it happens.

I finally got around to fixing this on my machine a couple of months ago.

Attached to the gate is a small metal flap (it has a specific name, but it eludes me right now.. spring steel?). It's designed to push the wire gate down and prevent the ball coming back out of the scoop on strong shots.

You can get your finger in there to bend it back a little bit which will help. But I did this a few times across several months and it never quite managed to properly fix the issue.

In the end, I removed the gate which made it much easier to adjust it enough to stop catching the ball there on the soft shots. It should only take you a few minutes to adjust (Pro model) - not sure if you need to remove the upper playfield on the Prem/LE to do it.

Just be careful not to over adjust it, otherwise you may end up with the ball rebounding back out on more powerful shots. Best to make small adjustments until you're happy.

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Same here - happens to my Premium about 1 out of every 25 to 30 games. Most of the time, the automated ball search that activates all the coils usually shakes it loose in one direction or the other.

How frequently would you say? Approx? And what level are you running? Context bubble position?

I see it very rarely now.. Perhaps not at all since adjustments. . Not sure if my pitch change helped, or wax etc.. I'm running with the bubble mid way on the top line.

My bubble is smack-dab in the middle between the range. I don't have my levelers set up aggressive at all -- the game is frustrating enough like this! I suppose I could jack it up some, but I was hoping to not have to. I had balls get stuck like this in probably two consecutive games, but that doesn't necessarily mean it happens *every* game..if that makes sense. As mentioned in the previous posts it really only happens with slow-rollers, not with direct/hard shots. But it's definitely super annoying.

Wax this area and your hangups will decrease significantly.

I have same issue, and someone posted a fix a week or two back if you scroll back a bit; have not tried the fix yet though.

Even slap saving the flippers a few times normally gets it unstuck for me, and if I’m lucky, unstuck in the proper direction

Anyone have issues with the ball lock target not always registering? I can hammer a direct shot at times and nothing, but find that soft/lazy shots often register more often. It’s not hitting a side post rubber like what you’d often find on a center target issue.

Are your targets bent to the side -- do you need splints to straighten them out? I suspect I may have to do that with my center POWER target because it doesn't seem like it registers for sh!t. I haven't tried to investigate it at all yet, but I assume that's what's going on. I'm not sure which target you're talking about so if I'm way off base..just laugh at me and tell me so. lol

Saw this today....interesting!

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jersey-jack-pinball-announces-iconic-game-designer-steve-ritchie-as-newest-addition-to-the-team-301345308.html

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that, but it's not like I can realistically afford anything newer than my bksor anyway so I guess for me it's irrelevant

.

7+ pages of thoughts and opinions on Steve Ritchie's move to JJP:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/steve-ritchie-leaving-stern-for-jjp

lol

Ah ok, I was touching the wrong screws then, I’ll reevaluate - thanks!

Thought I'd share this.. Great game with my youngest son.. he's pretty competative, and controls the GC on our machine still.. but I came close and won this game as Player 2

Started retro mode with all_ super features, all maxed out.. and somehow I flubbed the mode... face palm.

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Anyone have any tips for how to replace the rubber on the post just to the left of the center target (56)? How much do I need to disassemble to get to it? Entire Knight assembly? Plastics? Ramps?

Rubber kit already acquired, but when I go try to figure out what I need to remove to get to that post, it wasn't as obvious as I'd hoped, and I'm afraid of forcing things that shouldn't be forced.

Disclaimer, new to pinside, and new to pinball maintenance/repair. Purchased BKSOR:Pro towards the beginning of covid lockdown in early 2020. No major issues, rubbers starting to fail so this is the first maintenance I've really performed on it.

Coincidentally, I am about to do this as well. Let me know if you managed to do it.

Just curious about what type of bands people are using on their flippers. I recently tried putting a pair of Super Bands on the bottom flippers on my Premium. It helped control on some shots but it completely messed up shots I normally make. Also, it seems like I've got less control on catching and cradling, especially when a ball flies off a post.

Is Stern doing another run of SOR?

They posted last chance videos on FB and YouTube a year ago so I would assume not. They can do whatever they want but I assume it’s over.

Interesting, I haven’t seen any at a disti in forever. I guess I would just start calling the big ones and seeing if it’s on the production schedule.

I hope they make more Black Knight Toppers. I refuse to pay over $1k.

3 things please Stern: put bksor back on the production line early next year, make a bunch more toppers and polish the code a little.
It seems like there’s still lots of demand for the game and the initial run ended far too soon.
There’s some unfinished business lol

What is this translate that is shown on Pingraffix?

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Just give you all a heads up, It took me 9 straight hours to swap out my upper playfield!!! Yes I took my time in the thinking dept, I dont remember even taking a soda break/piss break, I was extremely focused because I didn’t want to screw it up!! But WOW did everything come out Excellent!! What a sense of accomplishment!!! Absolutely loving my newly purchased BKSOR-Premium from a Pinsider. The existing playfield had crazy deep scratches that were driving my OCD into overdrive!!. I asked the original Owner WTF happened, he said it was from normal play. I hope he is lying . I will say the replacement Lexon from Pinball Life was PERFECT!!!! I had O issues doing the swap out. Just remember take a lot of pics and take your time!! You can do it Charlie Brown!!!!

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I found some time to change the rubbers today next to the center target (left and right).

Just a quick disclaimer, I am a noob at pinball maintenance so proceed at your own risk Also, mine is a pro.

I unscrewed the 3 screws holding the black plate to loosen and give space to pull rubber out. The black plate didn't come off and I didn't want to keep taking things apart if I didn't have to. To get to the 3rd screw behind the black knight figure, I had to remove the clear plastic that covers the back. I removed one long screw from the clear plastic under the back plastic just to move it a little to get to 3rd screw on black plate. I worked with the little space to remove and insert new rubbers. When inserting new rubber, I aligned the hole, then using the black plate, I pressed down to insert them into the pole. Once in, I slid them down to the slot with my finger.

Like many have mentioned, take pictures before you start removing screws. Take your time and careful to not drop screws into playfield.

Hope this helps you.

Appreciate it! That's essentially the same point I got to but couldn't get the new rubber down over the post. In the process I also found that the post itself is a tiny bit bent, maybe not enough to warrant replacing it already, but it was noticeable. I'll give it another go later on today and see if I can get the rubber on this time.

Having trouble figuring out how those kinds of marks would be normal play? I've worked on old machines with a similar plastic and typically any usage marks are minor surface scratches that can be buffed out.

Thanks, this strategy ended up working for me, I was just too cautious the first time around about using the black plastic bracket to force the new rubber over that post. It took some work, but I was finally able to get it down and in place. Eventually I'll need to figure out how to get it out properly, as the post itself will need to be replaced at some point.

Part of my problem is I don't know when too much force is too much for the various pieces involved, something that will probably work itself out over time, and after I break something expensive... but I'm good for now!

Right, cracked a billion, guess I can sell it now.

As I’ve seen posted, it is a bummer that the Black Castle doesn’t continue. Especially with the death shots to the centre targets. I think I got two hits before it fired down the outlane … then next ball, back to the start again.

rd

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It really is dumb… such a minor code change Tim could do in a 15 min and a beer. Maybe he wants it this way, but why not cater to the community and owners who pretty much agree this would be a great change? I dunno, I know markets are hot right now and anyone will buy anything, but I feel Stern is shooting itself in the foot with lackluster updates, and could instead be themselves up as primob QC and care and solidify their mc. Oh well, the fate of every “large” company within the domain of expertise. Just think they’ll learn their lesson too late and leave tons of money on the table.

Oh ya, and fuck iOS and it’s auto correct BS. Another great example b of a Goliath pissing seat it’s lead. 8Kb on back order won’t last forever.

That is a translite that I created for my machine. I sent the fellas at Pingraffix some pictures of my machine after I installed the BK power blades that they sold me.

I had Scott from Game on Graphix make the translite for me. I had worked with Scott with some other creations in the past, he is a nice guy and does good business.

That pic is the BK that I just put up on the marketplace last week ("Bada$$ BK Pro w topper"). Sold pretty quick. I ultimately changed the translite back to the original, but I included that translite in the deal for him to use if he wanted to.

Link to Scotts translite website is below.
https://gameongrafix.com/product/pinball-translite-from-19-00/

It’s an absolutely sick TL; congrats. Will he produce extras on demand, so your seed can spread throughout the lands, or is it your’s alone; desolate after your death?

I bet Scott at Game on Graphics probably has that picture I created on his computer files. You can probably reach out to him through the above website and pass my name along and see if he'd be willing to create one for you.

That was a great deal on your BK. It sure went fast!

Thanks. It's a really cool machine, I loved having it, I played the living hell out of it and enjoyed modding the bejesus out of it. I was happy to see it go to a good home.

not bad RD even while the PREM/LE is easier than the PRO

The company I work for has an office in Lexington. I was tempted to make a trek out there and grab it, but it was gone faster than I could think about it!

If I had to guess, original owner used the balls from Stern that came with the game. Those balls tend to be complete shit. He probably never changed them, even after ton of play, and they tore that plastic up, along with some of the clear on the playfield.

Sounds like the game is now in better hands.

I know the music is there in the firmware for the ball start for black castle. I sure hope it is meant to be this way by Tim or else its very lame coding

Sure thing - if you cracked 1b on a Pro you’d be hitting that Knights Challenge lock shot an awful amount of times!

In saying that, my upper playfield is pretty funky. Hard loop it around - I might adjust the upper flipper.

I noticed the welds on sides of the catapult lock have come open, so any “non perfect” shot up there just rattles around and comes back out. Is that a thing, anyone else have that issue with the welds?

rd

Sounds like a good thing

But if it feels like the shot is not working properly, then maybe check the flipper alignment as well, I had to make some adjustments there.

Upper flipper looks to be aligned pretty straight to the ball guide (how I’d normally set up a flipper)

I don’t know how they came from the factory …

rd

Hmm, I'm not sure. Welds seem fine on mine. Shot can still rattle sometimes and miss.. but a clean shot will go up perfectly... it's easy enough that I can often lock it three times in a row etc.

My flipper is aligned to the middle of the white plastic underneath (I read somewhere about that position?).
I needed to tighten it a bit closer to the flipper.

Could also try dialing up the flipper power on that one?