A friend has a new Hobbit on location in his business and after about 200 games played on it, the left slingshot plastic has broken in half. After I removed the broken slingshot plastic (which had swiveled around and trapped the ball causing a service call), I noticed the entire slingshot arm and pivot bracket had a ton of slop in it. It looks like all the slop in the arm caused the arm to hammer the plastic and break it in half. A new machine should not have slingshot kicker arms wearing out after just 200 plays. Sometimes the kicker arm gets stuck in the fully extended position and a ball hops behind the rubber causing a service call.

Anyway, I went to the local Ace Hardware and bought two "J-Clips" (a.k.a. speed clips) and slipped one onto the broken left slingshot plastic and the other onto the UNbroken right slingshot plastic as a preventative measure. The repaired left slingshot plastic also got a drop of glue to help hold it together along with the metal clip. The clip does help to reinforce the broken area.

I emailed this problem (and pictures) to tech support at Jersey Jack OVER A WEEK AGO and never heard back, so I am posting the problem here.

Hobbit L Sling repair (resized).JPGHobbit L sling closeup (resized).JPGHobbit L sling notes (resized).JPGHobbit R sling closeup (resized).JPGHobbit R sling repair (resized).JPG

Perhaps if the factory made their own stainless steel "clip" to put on the plastic, that would help. The kicker arm would then hit the clip instead of the plastic. Of course the real solution would be to make the slingshot kicker pivot and kicker arm itself out of tougher (higher quality) metal.

Nine days now since I contacted them and still not a peep from the factory.

Here is the culprit causing the excessive slop in the slingshot arm. The post on the pivot bracket is loose as a goose due to poor crimping at the factory. The post flops around in a good 1/8" circle on the bracket. Looks like it was never properly pressed in and crimped. In the picture, you can see the gap and how loose it is. I replaced it with a Williams # A-17810 Slingshot Pivot Bracket which I had on hand. I keep those Williams brackets in stock because I encounter so many worn ones on Williams machines that come in for repair or restoration. The Williams part number is an EXACT replacement for the Jersey Jack part.

https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2830

I think Jersey Jack owes us a new slingshot pivot bracket since this one was obviously defective. We deserve a new slingshot plastic too.

The Jersey Jack part number for the pivot bracket is 10-0043-00 for everyone's reference.

Hobbit sling pivot (resized).jpg

Update: We never heard from the factory. My friend was pissed the factory never bothered to contact him about the slingshot problem. A couple of days ago he sold the machine and swears to NEVER buy any Jersey Jack machines again.

We did find a new one in the bag. Too late now because the machine is gone (sold). The Hobbit was side-by-side with a Stern Metallica at this location. The Metallica definitely out-earned the Hobbit by quite a bit. We've had good luck with Stern tech support when needed. My friend will probably buy an Iron Maiden with the money from the sale of the Hobbit.

The Hobbit just wasn't a very fun game to play. It got boring after a while. The Metallica is still great fun to play again and again.

No, the goodie bag went with the machine.

My friend has personally got 100 machines in his collection, plus operates some in his storefront (coin shop/rare coin dealer). If a machine isn't to his liking, he gets rid of it. I do the service work for him. This was my first time contacting Jersey Jack to let them know of a problem with the slingshot kicker assembly breaking the plastics. I decided to email them because I had pictures of the problem. I was completely ignored.

My friend does on occasion, purchase brand new machines (in cash).

Thank you for putting into words my feelings.

I feel like they don't care about actual "field" problems showing up and them failing to even acknowledge what I pointed out was a problem that should be looked into.