Forgive a most times lurker who has been a pinball hobbyist for 50-ish years. The "traditional" method of fabricating playfields involved gluing inserts into recesses routed into the playfield (said recesses being shallower than the inserts) and then running the playfield through a belt sander to level everything before silk screening the artwork onto the playfield. (The top "face" of the insert typically had mold markings on it, so sanding also served the purpose of removing the markings.)

Has Stern switched to the Mirco process where they use inserts sized to match the height of the routed recess? That's one of the few things that would result in inserts standing proud of the playfield (the other is excessively moist wood that shrinks after the playfield is machined).

In short, the top of the insert should be level with the surface of the playfield *before* clear is applied. Using clear to "bury" proud inserts is a hack job.

Back in the day Bally and Williams experimented with new playfield materials (plastics) and coatings ("Diamond Plate"). They'd send out a small number of games with these changes to operators, get feedback over an extended period (multiple years for Diamond Plate if I recall correctly), and eventually adopt some of these changes, and discard others. Today's manufacturers are just using their entire customer base for alpha testing new processes, rather than using a limited group as was done in the past. I'm sure at some point everyone who has dealt with / is dealing with this fiasco will receive a nice "thank you" note from the manufacturer thanking them for their efforts in eventually working out a solution, along with a $5 discount coupon for some trinket.

That last sentence was sarcasm in case it wasn't obvious.

Maybe it's time for folks with defective merchandise to initiate credit card charge-backs; unfortunate for the distributors, but pressure on them is the only way Stern is going to change their tune.

Speaking of playfield issues, anyone notice anything wrong with this reproduction ST:TNG playfield provided by a customer for a playfield swap? (Hint: compare the hole sizes for the left and right flipper bushings.) The manufacturer's response? "simple solution, use a drill bit and open the hole up to the right size". Sure, as if the vast majority of the folks doing a playfield swap will be comfortable drilling a 1/2" hole through clear coat without chipping the edges or tearing out the edges of the playfield, to say nothing of getting the hole in just the right spot.

That's beside the "minor" issues of the upper mounting locations for three out of four rollover lane guides being off-center, one as much as the diameter of the pilot hole needed for a #8 post screw. Yep, the lane guides not being parallel with each other wouldn't be obvious at all, nor impact game play. Luckily the old holes will be covered by the #8 post installed at the correct locations.

And the "minor" issue of the routed holes under the playfield for the lower inlane proximity sensors not being routed as deep as the originals (too shallow by 1/8" or so), leaving me to wonder if the sensors will be totally reliable in game play. (I have bench-tested moving a ball through by hand and they appear to work, but who knows about a ball that comes whipping through there during game play?)

Yet another case of the people who make this crap not caring once they have their money.

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How'd you guess?