I'm in.

And I solved the problem of the ball not going in the return lane 100% from the ramp. The ramp exit hole is a teardrop shape. It is so big, the ball comes out at and angle rather than a drop and rattles out sometimes. My fix is gonna sound cheap and stupid, but it has worked 100%. I cut some thick black cardboard from my gopro box and used black electrical tape to tape it to the underside of the ramp. It is just enough to cover the 'tear' part of The hole, making it smaller. The ball now drops into the lane perfectly every time.

Here's the best I could get.

IMG_2326 (resized).JPG

Here are the tweaks I did on my very early production Alien: (re-posting from official thread)

1) Playfield LCD - You MUST make sure the LCD is level in the playfield, as you risk playfield chipping on that edge if it is not. The issue I had was despite making the adjustment (just four screws holding the LCD), it would not hold it's position. After 20 or so plays, I'd lift the playfield, and one of the LCD mounting screws would have fallen out into the bottom of the cabinet. The easy fix was to use small lock-washers between the playfield and the LCD mounting bracket. My LCD has been level and stable since.

2) Pops and slings - As with any new machine, you will want to gap the leaf switches for the pops and slings.

3) Airlock scoop - This is a very important shot in the game, as it starts all of the modes. Mine was firing SDTM more than 50% of the time - not fun. There are several ways to adjust a scoop. I loosened the mounting screws and tried to 'twist' slightly - but there really wasn't much room to adjust, so I went overkill - removed the mech and used a drill to slightly enlarge the mounting holes. That gave it enough play to adjust the trajectory of the ball.

4) Shooter lane ball kickout - About 10% of the time, my game had some trouble getting the ball into the shooter lane. I found that the lane protector (mounted on the shooter lane with two screws) was slightly overhanging the ball trough launch. I didn't want to try re-mounting it farther back fearing I could mess up the shooter lane. Instead, I removed the protector and tested that indeed it was the issue. I then took a dremel and ground it down just a bit to remove the little bit that was overhanging. Re-mounted it, and haven't had an issue since.

5) Upper rt flipper - was not returning to rest position 100%. I installed a slightly stronger spring - fixed.

6) Playfield switches - My top rollover lanes were not registering. This was because one of the PCP's was not mounted completely flush to the playfield. The proximity switches that are under the playfield need to be completely inside their mounting holes. Tightened everything up - easy fix.

7) Ramp feeds to inlanes - I made a tweak to almost completely eliminate the frustrating 'ball hopping out' when it should feed cleanly from the ramp to the in-lane. The ramp exit hole is a teardrop shape. It is so big, the ball comes out at and angle rather than a drop and rattles out sometimes. My fix is gonna sound cheap and stupid, but it has worked 100%. I cut some thick black cardboard from my gopro box and used black electrical tape to tape it to the underside of the ramp. It is just enough to cover the 'tear' part of The hole, making it smaller.

8 ) Leveled the machine. Yep - that helps.

9) Mylar around the airlock scoop

10) Xeno mech - currently disabled...waiting on new Xeno mech/board.

Thanks. Here's a few pics from my shooter lane fix.

IMG_3353 (resized).JPG
IMG_3354 (resized).JPG
IMG_3356 (resized).JPG
IMG_3357 (resized).JPG
IMG_3360 (resized).JPG

Email sent!

I got mine as well. Cliffy rocks! ...holding off on the install until I have an answer on my service issue.

Thanks for taking the time to document that.

Mine is holding up great! ...had a party on the 4th and it got played a lot.

Huh? I didn't drill any new holes. I removed the lane protector and used a dremel to cut it back a bit, and then re-installed it right back where it was originally.

I've always wondered about one of the tilt warnings. The "uh uh uhhhh" sounds like it came from Jurassic Park - like the warning received when they try to mess with the guys PC after he races away with the embryos.

Speaking of mods, I've always hated how the ball launches right into that dead-end, then dribbles back to the right in-lane. Why not launch it up into the pops?

HMmmmm.... So I just purchased an old wireform ramp that will hopefully work. Basically, I'm going to cut off the dead-end, and mount an extension ramp so the ball will launch directly into the pops. ...curious why it wasn't designed that way in the first place - seems it would make for a much cleaner launch.

Of course, the proof is in the pudding as they say - so I'll report back if I can get it working.

Good point about the skill shot - I hadn't considered that. The thing is, I'm getting plenty of failed kickbacks now, as maybe 5 or 10% of the time the ball bounces off the dead-end and falls back to the shooter. I thought it would be smoother to remove that obstacle and let it flow up the right loop. Of course, it will only be an improvement if I can get it working 100%. I also figured it might help during multi-ball because sometimes things get all clustered up down near the flippers. ...those darn Pinball Amigo's got me thinking I can just add ramps wherever I want.

Of course, I don't plan to do anything permanent or something that can't be put back to original. ...but it's an itch I gotta scratch now.

Gosh, I hope everything boots up and works 100% right out of the box for you.

Experience tells me that may not happen.

It's gonna be ok.

We're here to help.

I've had a years worth of experience with this amazing pinball machine - from pre-prod to production machines - as have a few lucky other folks. Congrats on getting one. I'm willing to put $$ on a happy experience here...

Yes, I'm drinking on a weeknight again... blame the wife...

I think Alien is a top 10 pin. Legit.

Oh boy!!

Seriously wish I could help. Only a few hours apart.

Cheers to your NIB Alien unboxing!!

What's in the box?!?!?!?

Yikes! I'd try to loosen that big PCP before drilling a hole in it. I was able to unscrew enough of the mounting screws to be able to swap some LED's on that big board.

Heheh, I like a good party as much as anyone ...paying for it this this morning to be honest. But if you screw up that big PCB, your game is toast, as the chances of finding another are pretty slim. That would be a party pooper!