Thanks @vikeking27. When I ground down mine, I thought I had it licked. Nope - just to much slop in everything. Try to gently turn the gargoyle to make it worse by hand and scoot the ramp to left and see if it hangs up. Don't force anything, instead you're just trying to simulate game play. Bending the left tab outward helped a fair amount to limit how much play is in the pin.
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I also loosed up the screw topside and tried tried to bias the gargoyle to help, but there's a notch it sets in on the backside of the PF that limits how much you can adjust. Plus it bumps against metal guide topside. But every little bit helps get margin.

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Topside I swapped the philips head bolt with an hex head - just made it easier to snug it down. Used a little bit of blue Loctite since I had some setting around.

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My thought was to put a small zip tie on the left side of the pin as my L bracket and the pin move a lot. I think it may work even as a temporary solution until I can delve into a more permanent fix.

Here's a picture of the clearance when all said and done. The post and/or gargoyle had a tendency to rotate slightly, but I snugged those up better so hopefully that's a done deal. You can also see how I bent the tab and ground down the pin a bit.

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That was my initial thought was to file down the edge a little. I did also think about bending those side tabs as you did. Thanks for the advice, looks like you have the winning solution there. Just kind of sucks to pay so much for a machine and have such a obvious problem.

Come on Stern! Fix this s&*t when you know there is an obvious problem.

What bugged me the most was not the hanging up part as much as "Was I going to damage the motor under the PF and/or blow out a node board if the motor failed?" I'd always notice the issue and shoved things back it place, but the wifey never paid attention to it.

If the pin can be slid over to a position where the ramp doesn't catch on it, can you use tape or something else to hold it in that spot so it doesn't slide? Maybe not a great elegant solution but might be functional without too much trouble to do it if it works.

My dealer got in like half his shipment of Elvira's, stern told him more are coming so still waiting on my machine Hopes the rest come in this week. Yea Stern is really dragging on making these

I heard the same. I think a lot of us have heard this. I wonder if they are still on the line.

They got them in late last week and that it wasn't the full order, but that a 2nd wave is coming. Saw it's still on the line at Stern so got my fingers crossed

Told the same as well…my distributor was pretty adamant I’d get one and not to worry…it’s been like 2 years so I don’t care about an extra week or 2 as long as I get.

Probably all same boat. Seems like theres been several weekly waves at this point as they didn't get any in the first go around, and then told they didn't get the full order. So Stern is trickling these things out. So the trouble making them is true I guess.

Seems to be quite a few issues with the new EHOH out of the box.

I thought Stern would have addressed the issues that the first runs of HOH had.

I have a new game from the recent run. I've had multiple issues between the shooter lane, left orbit out of alignment, gargoyles sticking up and not returning down, and this weekend the house ramp went half way up and never came back down. Took me over 3 hours to take the entire house apart and correct. So far I think I've played it for maybe an hour total, and spent at least 6 or 7 hours fixing it.

Sounds exactly like mine. I still haven't fully figured out what the hell is going on with my shooter lane. I keep adjusting the height of it with little shims underneath - but there is still some major jank - one thing it will do sometimes is send the ball flying all the way back to the furthest right 'plastic' that sits above the orbit - the ball will just launch and crash down on that, and the other thing it likes to do is even after clearing the ramp successfully - it will crash into the top of the orbit and just dribble back down through the rollovers.

My house is all kinds of inconsistent, I haven't tried to take it apart just yet, but there are some oddities going on there. The shooter lane is currently what's bothering me the most. I don't know if I should ask for a new ramp or what, running out of ideas.

sublime90803
Could you tell me more on the issues you’ve had.

My Elvira is due in UK end of the month.. Should be a thing of joy getting a NIB

I couldn't care if they gave it to me in pieces in kit form. I just want my game!

Thanks for posting this.

I also posted this weekend that with my brand new game, I get massive air balls from shooter lane about half the time. Sometimes mine also launches and hits the back right plastic and get a stuck ball. I'm honestly worried to play it and have tried adjusting angle, shooter rod, to no avail etc. Air balls from both manual plunge and auto plunge.

I hear you on all of that. That metal ramp end flap piece on that touches touched playfield got slightly bent out ours and I'm semi worried that over time it will ware away at the playfield now. Hopefully Stern will send us a new ramp piece. I contacted my distributor about it so we will see. Thanks again for your advice with this problem.

My node board 8 fried out. They are sending me a new one. Also the front door ramp and the backdoor optos I believe were wired wrong from the factory. But I think it is a cool game, once I get it back up and running.

I did print quite a few gargoyles in floating rings between posts that replaced the purple ones. Problem was the static solution had no give so it was either too bulky and caused ball hang ups or was ineffective. The trapped ball on the floor ther hand is big enough to divert but also has give inside the rubber ring to not cause hang ups. You never see it there anyway. It has worked so well that I now treat it as the best solution.

I tried to get a ramp from Terry at Pinball Life maybe 5 months ago. Non-obtainium from Stern at the time (need to try again). Terry's really good at ordering things like that. There is mylar under the ramp on the PF, but yeah - still worried. I did put some removeable mylar for some additional temporary protection.

I might have some extra removeable mylar, I can even send you some if you want. Just PM me if needed.

This drives me crazy! I have the same problem. Stern sent me new mechs and they have the same problem. The pins are just not flared enough on the ends to keep them in place. I have had the pins completely fall out from one side.

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Mine was the same way in the same spot on my May '21 build. Didn't notice it until a couple months ago when it fell out. I just bent the rod a bit while in place and it's stayed put.

Just got my Elvira today. I need some help. I can’t get the playfield to go back in place. I can’t push it back any farther. Any help will be appreciated.

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Reading all these reviews makes me worried about my order. I’m willing to wait the time for it to be done correctly.

I don't have the game but.....is there something in the back that is stopping it from going back further? Pull that playfield up and have a good look.

I had the same issue when I first got mine in early 2020. I believe it was the bundle of cables coming off the back of the playfield behind the house was bunched in such a way that it kept the playfield from sliding fully back.

Well lot of issues that folks hoped would have been fixed from years ago are not fixed, I doubt stern is gonna change anything at this point.

I got my deposit in and might get my machine this week or next, but I am getting worried that all these new owners reporting similar problems.

Have any recent arrivals of the new run been in good working order all around for anyone here?

Yeah I was just thinking the same thing. What the hell is going on at the Stern factory? Do they have all new employees assembling these games and they dont know what they are doing???

It hasn't been on the line in a long time... so yes?

I don’t see anything that is touching. When I initially lifted the playfield to remove the foam and zip ties it was very wedged and took a lot of pressure to open. I am at a loss.

Always assume yes

I know this seems odd, and I kind of came to this realization on my own, it was kind of one of those "oh yeah" moments. Remember: the majority of the workers on the assembly line at Stern (or any other larger pin manufacturer) aren't necessarily pinball enthusiasts. They're just average folks. Many probably don't give a rats rear end about Pinball. It's just a job to them. They don't think "what happens if I tighten this too much, or put that post in loose" etc... They're just punching a clock and collecting a paycheck like any other line worker. Doesn't suprise me one bit when I hear about the NIB issues.

Finally received my game today!!! So far everything has been great out of the box for gameplay. The issue I do have is I cannot connect the insider system. No matter what I do I can’t get it to connect to WiFi. It shows it’s there, enter the password but it just says unable to join. I’ve reset the wifi adapter and still can’t connect

I just sold my Elvira HOH after owning it since I bought it from the May 2021 production. Many of the issues people are experiencing with this recent run are the same type of issues that I experienced with my May 2021 game and I took the time required to fine tune it, work on finding the best leveled position (very sensitive to this), and add some inexpensive available mods to deal with some of the issues (e.g., air ramp preventer mod, trunk ramp under plastic piece mod). Once I completed this time consuming process it played perfect up until I sold it a week or two ago.

Many of the issues I experienced were the same issues that were experienced by folks who bought the machine from the original run in 2018/2019.

My point is that I would venture to guess that it is unlikely that waiting will result in a production run that will correct many of these issues. On the other hand, this was my favorite modern Stern and it was well worth the time to fine tune the game to enjoy it at home for almost two years before selling it.

Mine has been good outside of some minor dialing in. I did have a gargoyle fall off of it's rod, but I was able to glue it back on. No issues with the house or the motorized ramp like others are reporting. I have mostly just been playing it. 140 games logged since getting it last week.

It's real simple: Stern forgot how to build these machines AND they hate building them.

They made the game for two days, shipped those games and they're full of problems.
Now they have taken two weeks to do the other three days worth of games..... and we don't know if they finished yet or not.
Very obvious they are having all kinds of trouble. They didn't build extra units, they were only making one week's worth of games (and we know this because dealers haven't received their second half of allotments).

If factory Friday rolls around and it's still EHOH.... then they'll have burned three weeks on three days production of games!!!
You see, they'll never run this game again. Look how expensive this one week has turned out to be. They're probably cursing that they even tried it again.

I'm super happy to be in those last three days of production. Probably will be the best built EHOH's Stern will ever make...... certainly will be the most time spent in assembly on an individual pinball machine that Stern has ever done..... all that rework (take that SLE's!!! EHOH beats you all). Hope their people get trained really well, Stern may as well get something good out of the situation.

Here's hoping that triple or quadruple the assembly time produces something of great quality...... but it's Stern.

It looks like the hooks bay have gotten bent during shipping. Can you post a picture from the side showing the front edge of the playfield? We had this happen on a Hobbit and had to replace the front hooks.

I wish I could send mine back. Or get a partial refund. Feel like I got scammed. Biggest regret purchase to date I know I’ll get it up and running smoothly and love it, but at these prices I can’t help but feel this way a bit.

I got the shooter lane protector from Mezel Mods. Not because of trying to adjust the plunge but to protect the wood. But zero issues from the shooter lane for me. You could maybe see if that helps, perhaps raising the ball a bit due to the thickness of the plastic helps. Just a WAG on my end tho.

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Just got mine this week... any recommendations for cool mods?

I had a few problems. Once sorted haven’t needed to work on again. It’s a slow burn this one. I really enjoy playing it. One thing I did find with ball launch was I believe the gate at the top, the bracket was over the orbit and was hitting it on ball launch. Removed the wire inside and turned it all around, now it never hits the one way gate bracket. Also lifting up the metal ramp slightly so it clears the orbit guide rail is common to a lot of stern games. Had to do it in avengers and turtles. Here’s a pic of my gate bracket, you will see it’s opposite to yours. Btw you have adjusted the shooter and auto launch prongs if the ball isn’t sitting correct at rest right?
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Also I have fucking buyers remorse with pretty much every pin I bought.

My game plays great, made a small adjustment to the crypt VUK and I’ve had no issues.

I had an LE back in October 2019 and it had many of the issues people are mentioning with the latest run. I seriously doubt waiting will result in any fixes being made, this is just one of those games that requires a hands on approach from the player. It was the most finicky machine I ever owned which is a shame because it's a cool game.

Would you mind explaining further about lifting the metal ramp so it clears the orbit guide rail?

I have launch problems so want to try each of these tips

Make sure you're connecting to a 2.4 ghz network. Insider doesn't like the faster network speed (I forget what that is).

Late at night and just using an old photo from avengers. Basically a lot of machines use a metal ramp to elevate the ball over the orbit rail on ball launch. These metal ramps are only attached via 2 screws in the shooter lane ( the bit that looks like 2 prongs). Anyway the bit up the top near the orbit is not supported on the right and sometimes sinks down lower than the orbit rail. Often on launch you’ll hear it clunk as it hits the side of the orbit and the ball will be diverted and clunk at this crossover. If you run a ball over it with your hand and you feel it catch then undo the screws, remove the ramp and pack it underneath with something like a cutdown post sleeve. This should raise it enough to give clearance.

Of course you also need to make sure shooter tip is in the middle of the ball when ball is at rest in shooter lane, tip is a mm or so behind ball without touching and both auto launch forks are touching. Do launch problems occur with manual plunge, auto launch or both. If it’s only one then it’s a shooter rod alignment or auto launch fork alignment problem. If it’s both then something in the shooter lane path is affecting it.

Lastly take a slo mo of ball launch to help you work out where problems occur.

Crap picture shows the shooter ramp in green and the orbit rail u want to be higher than in with a purple arrow.
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I sent a PM to thank you but I just looked and that’s it! My metal fork ramp in shooter lane sits well below the orbit guide rail. In my Rush, it is clearly above it. This is probably what is causing my constant air balls. I will tinker with after work.

Thank you!!!! Great tip for a newbie like me

What a creative solution. Keeping this in mind for when(if) my HoH ever comes.

Just got call from freight co, telling me that the delivery would not be made today. Now scheduled for tomorrow. One more day.