Lol that's pretty funny! Sorry not a chance though!

Then you got your money's worth.

LOL So tell me what is the deep meaning behind the reason you are on Pinside

I am here for o-din. His posts entertain me and make me laugh when im working the graveyard shift. I am not leaving until they close his thread down called “ lets close this thread down”.

There is no post of playfield chipping of Stern games started after Oct 2019 so get over it

work

noun
1.
activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.
"he was tired after a day's work in the fields"
2.
a task or tasks to be undertaken; something a person or thing has to do.
"they made sure the work was progressing smoothly"

- Lyman

My NIB JP pro made in feb 2020 is flawless.

My NIB CGC Monster Bash remake has dimpling everywhere.

Overall I was blown away by the quality of my Stern machine.

I don’t mind dimpling, I believe lighting plays a huge factor in what you see/don’t see.

There seems to be a lot of false information in this thread.

Just because yours is perfect doesn’t mean another in the same time frame is perfect. Mine was made in March and has raised inserts. I know they are raised because I can feel them, see them, and a level isn’t flat across them. I know this isn’t correct because other manufacturers can make a flat surface with inserts..

Exactly. They use to take care of customers.

Dimpling was a thing even on 90's games. AFM was an airball circus and the playfield dimpled on that as bad, or worse than any Stern I have seen. Check the RGP archives if you don't believe me. I fixed arcade games in the 90's so I saw it myself on our AFM. Some playfields looked so bad that some owners asked WMS for replacement fields.

Rob

Some angry Stern distributors in here

Don’t doubt that at all. And since it was mostly operators back then, they couldn’t have cared less about dimpling. Might have been an “issue”, but no one cared.

work
noun
1.
activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.
"he was tired after a day's work in the fields"
2.
a task or tasks to be undertaken; something a person or thing has to do.
"they made sure the work was progressing smoothly"
- Lyman
</blockquote

Comment edited. Don’t need Stern trying to get me fired at my job. I’ll get back to “work”.

Hmm. Fills in a lot of blanks.

.

I don’t consider ”raised“ inserts an issue. They have no impact on play feel or durability. It’s your money though so if you want to worry about that instead of enjoying your game... you’re absolutely allowed to do that.

A raised insert will affect the motion of the ball, so it is a huge deal - a much bigger deal than the micro-dimpling on many playfields.

IMO, small dimples that can only be seen in just the right light (and don't affect the ball motion) are just a minor issue. "Cratering" (big dimples that are easily seen and may affect the ball) and raised inserts are a big issue.

No impact to play or durability when you have an uneven surface? That's just not how things work. Raised inserts are an issue, but it's an issue that you either don't have or don't care about. Leave the personal opinion out of it. It's either an even surface or it's not. I will agree that small dimples aren't an issue but that's not what i'm talking about.

This is why Stern keeps pumping out the current quality level - people keep buying regardless.

He joined Pinside three weeks ago and hes already a playfield expert. Lol

The reason I put “raised” in quotation marks is because we are taking about nano meters. Raised enough to be somewhat perceivable when leaning into the playfield under the right lighting conditions. This has as much impact in gameplay as a dimple, a spec of dust, or a micro scratch on the ball- in other words zero.

Yes because being on an Internet forum is the only way to know.

If you don't think that raised inserts is a problem on a pinball machine playfield i want some of what you are smoking.

Incorrect assumption. As I said before "I can feel them, see them, and a level isn’t flat across them." You can also hear the ball hit the edge of an insert when rolling a ball over one. It's not "zero" or "some lighting trick on the eyes."

Again just because it's not happening on your playfield doesn't mean it's not on others. Since it's not happening to you why are you even in this thread?

Post a video of the insert affecting the ball and I’ll believe you. I’m open to being wrong.

There are varying degrees of raised brother

I'm not here to prove to you that you were wrong in this. I'm already working with Stern. I'm here to converse with others that have the issue and hopefully remedy.

Does it? Because I've only owned Stern and added a Stern since you quoted me. Keep reaching.

If you can feel the raised insert that’s all you need to know. It will affect play and wear quicker over time - potentially compounded by thinner clear.

If you’re buying machines as a typical home consumable / toy then fine, but some of us like being stewards of a “commercial quality” collectible as Stern advertises - or at least use to until recently.

That's Pinside for you LOL

Commercial products are not designed to be cosmetically perfect under a magnifying glass , they are made to last and take a beating from on field usage. A stern pro will do a hell of a lot better in a bar than a JPP or spooky pin in terms of downtime for maintenance/adjustments regardless of how “perfect” their playfields look.

Never said they should be cosmetically "perfect," that Stern pins are not reliable, or that dimples are a big deal. Raised inserts, pooling and chipping are performance and durability not cosmetic issues. And Stern has said over-and-over that premiums & LE's are targeted at the home collector not location market.

Stern obviously has plenty of buyers, but I think they're leaving money on the table by not improving playfield and cabinet quality. I use to buy most premiums or LE's new or lightly used but have taken a pause and bought Heist and Hot Wheels instead. Spike, LCD, metal backbox, etc are all innovations, but changes in the cabinet and playfield are just cost reductions - and I'm not talking about dimple-gate.

How could something that causes the PF to not be flat and level, not cause a problem? What a goofy "thought process".

Ahh, the whole "moving of the goal posts" to justify your stance. A timeless, yet futile maneuver.

Yet there is just one guy complaining about it even though every stern pin with the thinner clear has this “issue”. Yes you can somewhat “feel” the insert when you pass your finger over them, but I think calling them raised is extreme. If it affected play people would be complaining... it doesn’t. The idea that it would affect “performance” and that someone playing would notice is laughable. The long term durability concern is also purely hypothetical...

I still haven’t seen one pic of a TMNT playfield with the ooey-gooey issues from the JP era. Fixed?

As someone who constantly rags on stern for QC issues. I can honestly say on my tmnt le this is hands down by far the best playfield ive seen from stern in years. Playfield looks and feels like glass. No raised inserts.

Another LE like this. I bet the all are. I bet all pro playfields have the thinner clear that you can feel the inserts.

That's terrific news. Now hopefully pro owners can say the same!

Yes, Stern now leave all posts and parts loose on the playfield to stop it happening starting from TMNT

When I first got my Space Shuttle I could never shoot the ball directly into the right ball lock with the left flipper. It seemed to always be hitting the plastic above the entrance. Among other things I tried raising the plastic, but that didn’t help. I finally realized that the insert in front of the lock was slightly raised (fraction of a millimetre). I pressed it back down so it was flush and - voila! - I could shoot the ball into the lock. Now, of course, it’s kind of obvious to me, that raised inserts can definitely affect ball play and I’m always checking for this “tectonic movement”. Now it can be, that depending on how fast the ball is going and what’s behind the insert, it being raised won’t have much effect. In my case, it caused the ball to go airborn, but didn’t really seem to move the ball right or left - as far as I could tell. Hitting the right or left corner of the insert may have changed the direction of the ball, but it would have hit a post so it wouldn’t have mattered. Essentially, a Cliffy protector will have similiar effect to a raised insert, so depending on what’s behind it it might make the shot more difficult.

And no, I will not push the insert up on my Space Shuttle, so I can make a video for you !

You win some and lose some. I'll take loose parts over a crappy playfield any day of the week.

Seriously, how do you not understand something that is raised and can feel(Although it shouldnt be) is going to affect gameplay and ball travel?

Im guessing you didnt understand the sarcasm. You should accept neither.

That´s good news, let´s hope it stays that way.

Should flatten out!

Screenshot_20200720-104803_Facebook (resized).jpg

only after 20k + games, not after 3k

Loose parts can damage the playfield.

That looks like a fine marbling, Stern Prime.

4b0a7b9c99bb24c3c5e12c07ee2a465d62b3da47 (resized).jpg