Tron Pro: My first and only Stern, I dumped the playfield right into the cabinet with the game on. Ouch!

When I first got my space shuttle (I agree, system 9 has the worst prop bar), I tilted the playfield towards the glass with it resting on the back. I thought I had plenty of lean, so I went upstairs and left it for a while. About an hour later, SLAM! fortunately no damage, but it's scary when a playfield falls

Add me to the dummies list. I've dropped one and was stunned. Thankfully, no damage once I was able to get it back up and in the tracks properly. Well, just my ego -but anything pinball related seems to be good for that.

I noticed that my revenge from mars has this as well. it's a really nice feature to be able to pull the playfield to that point before lifting it up completely into service mode.

another thing that I wish that the manufacturers would do, is to put some sort of rubber protectors on the aprons so that you don't have metal against the wood of the back box when lifting the playfield all the up into service mode (but again, I get it. it's a cost issue and nothing a good towel can't protect, but would save me time from having to remember every time that I lift the playfield)

I had a Tommy playfield that fell of the rail and a Hook playfield that got unhooked and slammed in the lockbar receiver.Luckily my fingers weren't anywhere near the playfield.
In our workshop were 12 mechanics more or less involved with pins in the 90's, and i'm pretty sure it happened to all of them at least once.
Very poorly designed, but as someone mentioned also cheap to manufacture.
If you look at WPC games or Capcom, these were so sturdy and convenient.

Got mine looked over last week,

Sticker scratched off the sub woofer and some scratches on the side cabinet.

Think that's kinda lucky. As mirrors will fix the sides, and don't think a scratched sticker really matters... ?

I dropped my almost fully loaded scared stiff playfield off of my rotisserie today! Clamp broke and down she went. Not happy and totally my fault because I took a clamp off to put a post in the back and forgot to put it back on when I went to turn it.

Also I have dropped 2 play fields into the cabinet and they were both data east.

I don't understand how this happens. There are stops at the ends of the rails, seems impossible. Are some Sterns rails put on backwards by accident in the factory? If the stops weren't there I could see it happening.

My Maverick playfield fell off the track and the back end off the playfield fell down in the back of the cabinet. Scared the hell out of me. My concern (hopefully unwarranted) is that the playfield could be uneven now. When raised up and sitting on the metal braces that are under the front of the playfield the machines looks like it is slanting to the left. A put a ball in the top of the playfield and when it comes to rest it is definitely on the left side of the arch. My question is can the playfield be uneven when raised bit even when put back into place? Am I being paranoid? My phone inclenometer shows the playfield as almost perfectly level from left to right when playfield is put back into place...Are these fairly accurate?

I'm glad this got bumped... It was originally posted before I had my first Stern. Had this happen on my Metallica Pro and put a rub mark on the inside. My first NIB game, and it put me in a major funk.

What a shit setup, it actually makes me feel a ton better that I'm not the only one that did it.

Every time I lift my AC/DC it scares the crap out of me. Used to have someone hold the back end just in case. This is one thing B/W definitely got right.

I pulled my Baywatch off of the end of the guides once. I damaged the buttons and switches up in the front left of the cab and bent the right service rail trying to catch it. I am much more careful pulling them out now..

All the new sterns I have, there is a little metal lip at the end of the piece of metal that the PLAYFIELD slides on. How did you pull your Metallica over that lip? We're you pulling fast and hard? It never has happened to me on a new stern because of that little metal lip. It did happen to me on a SG before but I caught the Playfield before it fell in, phew!

The Metallica is in a lineup, and I had the playfield slid forward and up. Putting the playfield back down I must not have had it totally square from the front. Do that, and it will turn and pretty much lift one side right off playfield slides. Won't happen again now that I know how cheesy it is! Sucked to learn the hard way, thankfully one side stayed on the slide so the whole back didn't drop down into the cabinet.

Ah, that makes sense, thanks for the explanation. I thought they were falling in by sliding them forward and somehow over that lip. I do agree that the clicking bally/Williams ones are way better but probably much more expensive to manufacture so they were cut, even on the LE's.

my brand new RRwoz, 2nd time lifting the Pf one of the rail sliders screws fell out, back of the PF fell past the rail and then rail slider wedged under the rail. no damage but i had to lift that heavy SOB back out by the munchkin mini pf. i thought last little pf was going to peel right off.

This only happens as it seems to me with Data East games and cheaply built Stern machines. If you don't rip off your customers and put out garbage cheap product that does a lousy job of holding up the playfield, this wouldn't happen. This has never happened to me on any of my Bally/Williams games because they have sliding rails. They cost a wild $54.95 to buy. Only on my TSPP and TFTC before I SOLD them has this ever happened to me. End of rant.

I just did it today with my StarTrek pro. Pulled the playfield back thinking it was going to lock in place like my Williams machines and (BAAMM) down it went!!! Scared the sh*t out of me. Luckily no damage, but boy did I feel stupid

No, but I've dropped one on my head. OUCH!

Heck I've done it 3 times. I'm such a clod! But it all worked out. Nothing hurt or broken except my ego.

I think if what happened to my Metallica happened with the Star Trek Pro it would have cracked a ramp because of how close to the edges they are. The Warp ramp also goes out behind the playfield.

You're lucky nothing broke!

Done it once to ST. No damage luckily. Was my first stern after only bally Williams. Never done it since.

As for sliding it back in, I always lift the of over the "hill" from the back under the back board, before pushing it all the way in.

I did the same thing not long after getting mine. Like you, I thought it would hit a stop first but nope - off the deep end it goes. No serious damage but did scratch/ding up the wood. Now I am very careful lifting the playfield. I would of gladly paid a few more bucks to Stern for some proper hinges.

1st time Stern pinball owners can be nervous about lifting the playfield for the 1st time, but sooner or later you have to do it.
I made this video specifically for new Stern pinball owners to gain confidence in how the playfield lift mech works on the newer stern machines. This video uses multiple camera angles and shows what happens under the playfield as well while lifting.

I'm about to lift my first Stern PF all the way up...the thought of having to post in the thread again has me sick to my stomach....!!!...lol..........Joey

Catching it on video is even worse.....

Ohhh crap. That sucks.

Awesome vid, I had not seen that before!

Yikes, having done two playfield swaps that was always my big worry...

I did this exact stunt when I was selling my Ironman with the buyer standing right in front of me. Nothing happened, thank goodness, I just said “oh, these things are tough, that happens sometimes - but try not to do that”.

Ok...watched the video..(Thank you Chuck)....went real slow....(needed to adjust a pop-bumper)....got her up...made the adjustment....and then during the test game my son told me I was #1....!!!.............Joey

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I did it on my ACDC Luci. The playfield kind of twisted a bit when it fell in the cabinet so I was stuck holding it up and could not let go. I managed to lift it up by myself and put it back in place... Not easy to do!

Rob

I love the rock solid Williams WPC hinge system...makes it absolutely impossible to drop the playfield...and lifting the playfield is a piece of cake and totally secure. I have always hated the Data East, Stern, Williams System 9 slides, totally a disaster waiting to happen. I always am super nervous when working on these. I'm shopping an Eight Ball Champ now, and I am nervous every time I raise the playfield. I absolutely hate the hill/hump in the slide.

Why can't Stern spend a few bucks, especially on the super pricy LE's, and add proper WPC-like hinge system?

My old GNR had a terrible system for lifting the play field as most Data East from that era did, but being a wide body made it even more treacherous. I watched the guy I bought it from drop the play field in and it wasn't a pretty sight. Another friend had one almost break his arm doing that.

Still no excuse after working on hundreds of games how I pulled my newly acquired TNA play field out too far and having it drop inside. That thing is so solidly built though that just a little nick on the subwoofer box is all that occurred there. Good as new!

Not so rock solid!
Had this happen on my STTNG went to pull pF and the right hinge system was broken, instead of riding on the top of the wooden rail, it somehow slide under
when I lifted the pf it slammed down to the bottom and got wedged. the PF is heavy enough on it's own, took me 3 hours to get the hinge unbolted from the pf and 2 people to get it back out