hey folks.

Up front: I am VERY new to pinball. I've gotten a number of playing hours down and I'd like to learn more about how they work. A gracious friend has let me tinker with him on an Elvira and The Party Monsters. The game is working overall. There are just a couple of things I am not sure what, if anything, can be done.

One of things these involves (what I believe is called) the Ball Lock Kicker. Shoot the ball into the Skull Lock and the ball winds up in a trough. If Lock is not flashing the ball is kicked out above the center shot (BBQ Bonus / Boogie Monsters) over to the top left of the pop bumpers.

I imagine this game well-loved enough that I should describe it too much? I really apologize if my terms are incorrect. Please correct them!

Anyway, when I first played the game, I noticed that the ball would sometimes get stuck between two screws when the ball was kicked out. I asked my friend about it and he said that there's normally a plastic piece there that prevents this. Problem was that when the ball got stuck there -- which was rare -- you'd have to remove the glass to get to the ball. No chance to shake it loose.

On a whim, I tried to get a replacement. It was actually hard to find, but I found a repo from an eBay seller who sent it to me gratis. We put it on today.

The situation is better. There is no way for the ball to get stuck on those screws. However, sometimes the ball will hit the edge of the plastic and fall into the center shot. Occasionally, it'll bounce right back down the ramp.

My friend and I discussed it a little bit. He said he might try to raise the right edge of the ramp so that the ball is higher when it leaves. The kicker is powerful enough so that when two balls are stuck there and the ball search mode activates, they're both pushed out (although not necessarily above and over the plastic). I thought maybe the screws were too tight on the plastic and it's flexing up on that edge? You can push down on that edge and it doesn't seem you should be able to.

It's not my machine, but it's got me to thinking about ways to resolve this. I'm wondering what you guys might do if this was happening on your machine.

Thanks.

Hmmm... Yours has plastic over the center shot? Any chance you might take a picture?

At this point, probably every second or third ball shot will not make it over the plastic.

In light of that, what kinds of things would you look at doing if this was happening to you?

Also: n00b question... What's a coil sleeve?

Hmmm... Thanks. Looks like from other images, these pieces are hollow. So, is the steel shaft the item that kicks the ball up the ramp and the sleeve sits around it? So, dirt or dust could impact the force that can be exerted against the ball?

Another question I had: The first time we saw this happen, the ball bounced back down the ramp. There was now two balls on the ramp. The first time ball search tried to kick out the balls, it didn't work. Both balls came back down. The second time, both balls left the ramp.

My assumption was that the second time the game was more forceful. But is that true? Could that be indicative of inconsistent performance?

This sounds like, in general, a good overall approach. Thank you for writing it out as you did.

And if I don't find anything wrong in the above looksee, I'll try this change!!

m

On second thought, maybe I should ask:

Do you recall how you raised the ramp? Did you shim something in one one edge?

What is the correct value? I watched someone else check resistance across a coil on another Williams pinball and he said 3.0 or above.

That's my guess, too. Although I wondered if it would sink over time?

And here's another question I'm hoping to get answered: Does the ball search get more aggressive with each turn? I'm referring to when it was not able to kick out two balls stuck in the trough and then, on the second attempt, did.

According to the owner, this plastic piece is the only one that was completely missing. There are few other plastic pieces that could stand to be replaced, but this is the only one missing. It makes me wonder if the previous owner was having this same issue and pulled the plastic off to "fix" the problem.

Thanks, Russ.

Awesome. Thanks!