They had some bad ass warping. I know first hand. Honestly I am leery of almost anything.

You can swap any populated playfield in 10 minutes.

I’m not gonna argue about it because you know better. So does everyone else here

I can’t currently play EHOH, which is ok, because I’m waiting to get a crypt board which just got back in stock

IMDN was down for more time than it was up after sarco mech finally “disintegrated” in my hands, literally. Lol

There is no bigger fan of Stern than me as I buy most of their LEs but let’s try and keep it real here!

My MunstersLE is pooled up. My GBLE has major dimpling and ghosting.

My BM66 turntable had wiring get caught up and sheared off. Yeah, another 10 minute fix

Those PF issues haven’t cost me 2 seconds of
Time on my games and never will

Read the STH thread

These days? I pay my friend to come fix issues because I don’t have the time and don’t want to ruin my love for the games out of frustration.

I’ve got the invoices to prove it. Some 5 min fixes some much longer

Some of you experienced pinheads will remember when you'd get a warped playfield and the distributor would have populated replacement ready for you the next week.

They did not even want the old one back.

Screenshot 2021-06-14 at 20-21-26 1988 Williams Cyclone Pinball Populated Playfield Brand New In Factory Crate #435266767 (resiz

e435b2970391f55d1f497e685c451c6c9c0fb493 (resized).jpg

Warped? Wtf, can you imagine getting one of those in your JJP game! Lol

Lol, I swear the way GNR shoots, they already are, lol.

Lol. You’re not very good I assume Jimmy?

Took state championship playing on warped PFs. Lol

are the GNR le playfields having the same issues as the ce.looking at buying but cautiously.I have played a perfect Ce and it was pretty impressive

Yes.

Jimmy Jimmy

13+ years of always doing uv inkjet printing for restorations (early days), & new playfields the last 8 years. Never had pooling, chipping, or delamination of ink. Stuff is being rushed, or not cured properly. That is why some with problem playfields, but not all the same. Loose posts do not help with sloppy holes, but that is not the main problem.

Wood has moisture problems, not cleaned prior to sealing of wood, maybe not enough sealing coat(s), UV CURING BULBS GOING BAD!, finish clear when YOU CAN STILL SMELL THE INK!, or finish clear applied to heavy or quickly between coats (off gasing).

Romy my friend, mother for sure said YOU (of all people) can’t call me Jimmy!

WTF?

Answer to your question: WTF = Went To Future
7D8675FB-D004-4D5D-A8BC-1BABA5ADA389 (resized).jpeg Still haven’t figured it out, but here’s hoping Doc’s wrong…

Sounds like a few of these playfield manufacturers need to take some lessons.

Could it be the type of UV ink they using (i.e. being tied to the manufacture of the printer)? I commented many pages ago that I assume every manufacture requires you to use their ink cartridges? Or can you use other brands of ink? I sort of wonder if they boxed themselves into a corner w/a expensive printer w/inks that aren't up to par. Sounds like UV ink is more of an adhesion process compared to solvent based inks.

I also commented about UV curing bulb and wood prep being important (just from googling UV printing on wood) - but that just seems like a no brainer fix. Fix it, problem solved, move on. Doesn't seem to be the case with Mirco/JJP.

JJP defenders in a nutshell. This house is awesome……….minus the crumbling foundation.

Now the left ramp on Mandolorian is breaking already on some games. Thinner plastic. See Mando thread. More money for cheaper builds. So glad I am done with nib.

don't forget about the 2 switch-posts on RS. those take a pounding. That will put the oversized hole theory to the test (which i have faith CPR will pass with flying colors).

the difference is Stern will stand behind their products. i have zero reluctance to purchase Stern NIB. Same with AP and Spooky.

The UV Bulbs can be a big issue. Also the ink used for the printer that you are stuck with. Mirco, CPR, & the other large manufacturers have their own. None of them want people to know what manufacturer or model they are using. My printer uses a 10+ year old Canon OCE Arizona printer, & the previous printer used a Colorspan 9840 that rolled in the playfields. Seems like the old equipment the ink is never a problem, but they do suffer electronic board problems from heat. The other thing is the printers only worked a 8 hour day, so maybe the printer was only being used 2-6 hours actual printing. We have no idea what Mirco on others are doing. With Mirco we know he loves his robots & likely printers with no one (human) looking on. My print shop the tech is there seeing if problems are going on. Others might be only waiting for a alarm or machine to shut down.

The other thing is the pinball industry still uses a huge supply of raw playfields. Poor ones use to be pulled & not used in production. Sold or given away to problem game owners. or sold off (NOS). Seems like that is another weak link in production, quality control from the start. So production is usually full steam ahead with the parts on hand.

I'm guessing I know the answer to this already, but I'll ask anyways: If you were to get a GnR, leave it in a box and not play it for a year, would that eliminate/decrease the chance of pooling/chipping? In other words, would it allow more time to cure and that would help?

'some games' - you mean ONE report?

Get a new schtick.

Since this is not (only) about beeing loose but about the clearance, they have even more room to move around at an even worse angle the washer can have carving into the playfield... with that again having much thicker print & clear on it then an old game so that will... "furl" like a wrapping film.

Either way, that post should have so much clearance.
That is prone to failure.

It would certainly eliminate/decrease the chance of seeing any pooling/chipping for a year.

If they made a Christine pinball, would it just repair its self?

456YPs[1].gif

All the paint would flake off because it was incompatible with the primer.

Schrodinger's pinball machine !!!!
it is chipped, and, not chipped at the same time, you only see it chipped or not chipped once you take it out of the box... |

LOL

Someone should start a Pinball Philosophy thread.

With the regularity that you say things like this, I really don’t think it’s bringing you as much enjoyment, or impressing others as much as you wish it did. Good luck and keep trying though!

It would have no effect.

I would say the same. If a problem playfield time does not improve it.

Just curious on the length of time.....

Big Lebowski playfields were made by Mirco and sat for years. Those "old, new stock" playfields (of the dozen I have seen installed) are dimple proof, rock solid.

Thinking the years of sitting around help.....versus today.....get the new playfields and immediately build them into populated playfields and ship.

If done right, days max.

It doesn’t.

Yes clear is good & hard in days. Or its crap!

Nobody knows the answer with certainly, but anecdotally: I bought a Wonka SE NIB in Feb 2021, mfg date is Feb 2020, so it sat for a year before it got any plays. No pooling or chipping issues after playing heavily for 4 months. Not thrilled with some tiny dimples (I would rather have a PF with some pooling with no dimples personally), but that has no impact on my enjoyment while playing; it is a great machine and I am super happy with my purchase. And yes I would be pissed if the paint was chipping.

Had the opposite experience with my IMDN ice. Perfect out of the box and still going strong.

You’ve really got to find a good huo LE with no problems and give the game a better chance. Absolutely one of Sterns top 5.

Been playing IMDN, Met, Wonka, AIQ, MM and Elvira tonight…..pinball Nirvana right there.

And zero Playfield issues on ANY of them.

I have never had 1 issue with my Maiden its a blast to play,I just have to smile when the game ridicules my play

I had one that the shot out of the shooter lane was erratic. Sometimes it would go around the loop correctly, sometimes it would come out of the shooter lane and bang into the loop where the balls were supposed to "lock" for multiball loading. Only part that frustrated me about the game.

Unfortunately joined the ranks of the GnR playfield problems. LE April built, <200 games, came installed with the 'fix' of the metal washers which just made the pooling start further out from the post. Slightly cracked and lifted artwork starting to show near the backstage post. I also have a washer overtorqued that I was just told by JJP is normal because of the location? Would like input on this as it feels like bs. They offered to ship me more freaking washers. No empathy, no apology, hey we are trying to make it right, nothing. Is anyone tracking the serials, issues, JJPs responses to claims? etc?

Come all the world-
Join in,
Start a love train, love train...

Except guess who's not onboard? JJP customer service.

It doesn’t surprise me Cookie. Normally I have very limited issues with my Stern games. Especially once they are tweaked and dialed in.

By the time I got IMDN all fixed up I just said F it, gotta move on. Really like playing it when it worked!

Im down to the Dead Head crypt board fix and then Elvira should be good to go

JP and AIQ perfect and awesome

Love STH too. Flippers fans fixed the Demo shot consistency. Not sure I’ll ever get ball lane guides right BUT TK lock works great. !

Yeah that’s some good pinball Nirvana brother

I thought i had landed on another site besides pinside when Stern kept receiving high quality praise while hearing JJP quality blows

Knock JJP pf’s but then citing Stern perfection and as the pillar of service Lol

I'm very sorry about this, but I'm sorta surprised by your surprise? Doesn't every man woman and child know about this on pinside by now?

And more washers were offered? What... bigger ones? Do they keep getting bigger and bigger until the washers are frisbee sized?

JJP just released the new June GNR washers fix

875C5AB0-E0D2-4012-8573-EA577737C833.gif

Sucks man. Sorry you’re going through this. I spoke with JJP a few months ago and they said they didn’t have defective playfields that it wasn’t a bad batch. I replied that there’s is quite a few defective ones and they are all in the same areas, how can you be so blind to this. Here we are months later with more and more showing up and a lot of recent builds with same problems. They have no intention of fixing it. But the power is with the people and the evidence for the class action suit is building up unfortunately. Only way they will listen is when it hurts their wallets.

That blows. I’ll never buy a JJP after seeing these outcomes.

Welcome to the new world Icey! JJP in fact never really has had quality products. Stern wasn’t great, but they’ve really turned it around since JP and honor warranties, albeit slowly, lol. JJP is doubtful if they’ll ever turn the corner, as GNR is the 4th game in a row they’ve claimed to be getting it right and it is worse than ever. JJP honors no warranties (except bigger washers, lol), its buyer beware from the get go. You’re so lucky your GNR is okay, at least for the time being….

Is there talk of a class action lawsuit against them? I wonder if this would push them to stand behind the product.