Anyone seen any custom aprons for IJA? I've had an idea for an all black apron with the a laser-cut back-lit Indiana Jones logo. Wondering if anyone has done it already.

That being said, the original apron is pretty great, but I kind of hate my insert cards. Anyone got any suggestions? Might just have to cook something up in photoshop.

Thanks for the tip! Gotta love the exchange rate with the pound these days

Welcome to the club!

Now about your problem. Incline is the easiest and quickest fix, should be at least 6.5 degrees. Could also be that your playfield, rubbers, and balls are too dirty. I used to have balls get stuck their occasionally but since the last time I shopped the pin and changed the balls it hasn't happened.

Also, how lively are your pop bumpers? If they don't kick the ball around much it might not get enough inertia to travel down the playfield.

Get a hair dryer and warm the sockets up, should expand the plastic a bit and they'll come out with some wiggling and moderate force. If you feel you are wiggling or pulling too hard, try warming it up some more.

I suppose in a worse case scenario you'd have to replace the sockets... but you're not there yet, keep trying. If you've almost run out of options, breaking the bulbs with pliers and trying to pull them out with tools could work.

I took the whole mech out once to put in a Cliffy protector. That was a long time ago, I don't remember exactly what you do but I recall it wasn't overly complicated. If you still can't figure it out and aren't getting more answers in here, try posting a topic in the general tech forums. The drop target design is pretty much the same between games of that era.

Just adjust the switch. Bend it so its not sticking out of the switch hole as much. Should be the only adjustment you need to make.

Recipe for a good mode start shot:

Lower the saucer using washers. Add foam or some type of deadening to the metal stopper. Bend the metal stopper. Add a Cliffy mode start protector.

Beyond that, if you remove the stopper and add some foam back there it will hit every time However it's nowhere near as satisfying as smacking the stopper.

I think it helps add to the difficulty of the machine if it's an unreliable shot. I mean having it reject 90% of the shots wouldn't be good but having 10-20% bounce out just makes you work harder for victory!

I put these balls in my IJ when I first got it years ago. Was a terrible choice. They make everything dirty and the novelty of gold balls quickly wears off. They get scuffed and tarnished easily and after just a few plays you don't really even notice that they are different than regular balls.

Save your money. But if you don't believe me, go and try them out. If you're willing to replace them often and clean your rubbers more often than it might be a fun gimmick for a bit.

Well yeah I just meant it was subjective and not scientific advice. Some people might love the look and not mind the hassles.

I had a weak right flipper and all it took was a super subtle adjustment of the EOS. If it engages too soon flipper will be weak. Flipper getting stuck sounds like could be optos like you suggest.

I had this happen about 10% of the time and no amount of adjusting the wireform position or the nut tightness would fix it.

I added a tiny clear silicone ring to the end and it acts as a brake. I had to cut the ring to get it on and it stays just fine. 100% success, no more outlane jumps. I put one on the other side too since I liked the way it stopped the balls and made the inlane ball speed very consistent.

Can't post pictures won't be at my machine for a few days. The rubber gets added to the ramp itself at the very end of it, like a train bumper at the end of the tracks. The balls slide down the ramp then bump into it which kills all their speed and spin. Then they just drop down gently into your inlane. I used the smallest rubber rings I could find, 7/16 or 3/8 diameter will work, just snip them in one spot so they can slide over the wire form.

Yes! And actually now that I think about it you don't need to cut the rubbers... I did that cause I tried to put them somewhere else first. Just stick em on the 'fork prongs' at the end of the ramp and you'll never have balls jump the lane again.

Also they just need to slip on a bit, you don't need to push them far up the prong.

And looks like there's a little damage on the wood where the balls drop. This is normal, have it on mine too, but with this fix the balls will fall much more gently and reduce further damage over time.

Keep the button held down if you want to go right or left.

I was having the ball gate problem, I would re-align the gate and would it would still get stuck. Took a file and smoothed the edge of the gate plastic that was catching and have never had the problem again.

100% satisfaction switching from LCD to LED. Looks like what the factory would have sold if they had color in 1993.

Are you guys replacing just the single drop target or the 3-bank too?

Indy was the first game I bought and I knew nothing about pinball repair. I made sure to buy a good machine because I wanted to play it not tinker with it. If you buy a good one you shouldn't have to do any major work on it and any small problems could be solved by googling or asking on Pinside.

Also it's been a fun journey going from a total pinball repair novice to doing my own board repairs and other complicated fixes! I highly recommend jumping into the deep end with a big game like Indy. Just make sure you can test it thoroughly before buying.

There are call outs but not tons of them. Great jackpot callouts and a few one liners from the the different stars of the movie. Not many "shoot the ramp!" or other gameplay call outs.

With PinSound however there is literally no limit. For example my game had 20 individual call outs for a tilt. I've owned the game over 10 years and it's my favorite pin. I added PinSound to it a few months back and it's so impressive I can't stop recommending it to everyone!!!

I'd say flipper alignment is a point of preference. If you like how it's shooting and the game feels like it's the right level of difficulty for you than it's good. A steeper flipper angle will make it harder to cradle shots and make the game feel more difficult.

Mine are set a bit higher, I put toothpicks in the holes and lined things up that way.

Oh and I like those green rubbers on there. I was just thinking the other day of changing from red to green to match the jungle plastics.

Swab the left flipper opto with a Q-tip. Fixed the same problem on my machine but with the right flipper. Apparently the opto can send a strong enough signal to maintain holding the flipper but intermittent enough that the POA stutters.

If that doesn't fix it than I'm not sure, seems odd the rom would be broken in this specific way but you never know.

No such thing as gold overkill! I'd go for it.

Probably an overlay. That area is often worn and faded. Does not come with factory Mylar on Indy's face.

I'm no expert but it looks like tiny cracks in the clear coat that have filled with dirt.

I so badly want to restore/refurbish my Indy but I can't stop playing it!!!

Anyone else so in love with this game they've thought of buying two? One for a project, one for playing? Should have stocked up in the early 00's...

I had an idea for doing Pinduino controlled lights on the POA. Could be really cool but requires some effort to program the lighting effects for the leds.

I came up with a change yesterday that I think really improves this game. The plunge into the pop-bumpers always feels like it slows things down. I put a rubber band on the left side gate to keep it open and it completely changes the tempo of the game. No more down time after each ball lock, plus the easy to get extra ball from spelling INDY is now a challenge to acquire.

Give it a shot if you've owned this game a long time and want to change it up a bit. It's super easy to try it out and remove it if you don't like it. The rubber band attaches to a metal tab on the bridge and is completely out of sight from the players viewpoint.

I love this! Cable porn!

What do you have triggering the shaker though? PinSound? Which effects trigger the shaking?

100% fix is to put two tiny rubber post rings on the end of the ramp. It will never bounce out again. Also this saves your wireform from needing to be bent up.

I've been planning on putting a headphone jack and volume knob on the coin door. Low priority project so haven't gotten around to it yet.

I've also seen an example where they drilled a hole in the cabinet bottom near the power switch and installed a jack.

The simplest but least sexy solution would be to run the cable out one of the vents like Averell suggested.

I've seen that plated on HEP Indy's before.

Does anyone know the story behind them though? Was it for proto or sample games only? Is there any place to buy them? I'd love to have a gold plated POA versus the red plastic.

I forgot where I bought it from but I have an LED board right above the bridge. Lights up the area really well. You could also just get some stick-on LED's from Comet or roll your own.

Buy warm white flexible head LEDs from Comet. Bend them to shine the light onto the white wood instead of pointing straight ahead through the backglass. This will create a large warm diffuse area of light. Only use as many as you need to create the brightness level you desire.

My guess would be to start with the ball-trough optos. One of the LEDs or sensors might need solder reflowed.

Key thing is to have a plan and stay organized.

Davi I would like the protectors too thank you!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/193#post-6386272

Is the path as far forward as it can go? Can't tell without a closer look but maybe the path is catching the metal rails in the corner there.

Have you tried while playing yet? Behaves the same way? I have had problems where the path tests flawlessly but stutters in-game and it's always been related to the flipper button opto getting dirty. Don't think that would be your problem though since it looks like you're pushing the coin door buttons.

So what could be happening is they have an issue with the Flipper Opto.

On my Indy a flipper button will get dirty and the path with move in a stuttering motion. If the game detects this stuttering for more than a few seconds it decides to turn off the path until you do a hard or soft system reset.

It will always test flawlessly in the system menu. But once a player gets up there and holds a button down and it stutters, bang software shuts it down.

Fix is alcohol and a q-tip to clean the opto.

Set the angle as steep as you can get it too.

Most games do this to some degree. Pressing the flips can reduce voltage to other parts of the games momentarily. If you have LEDs they can definitely flicker badly when they get reduced power unless they are no-flicker LED's or you have an OCD board.

Yep. First set that to YES then:

The Allow Low setting is just a switch that enables the games ability to dim the lights. If it's set to NO, the lights will never dim based on either gameplay effects or the Power Save time and level settings.

If it is set to YES the lights will dim when there are gameplay effects that change the GI brightness - and I believe Indy doesn't have any of these effects. So the only thing it affects is the "screen saver" setting of the Power Save. This is really only useful if you are using incandescents so the game can be left on and not producing a ton of heat.

Sorry if I'm making this more confusing for you!

It's and investment but you could try a GI-OCD board. It might completely fix the flicker on flipper problem.

The save level = Brightness

That's so true. It's definitely daunting unless you do it on a regular basis. I can't wait to get mine because I need to do work on my Path (diodes) and don't want to have to remove it twice.

The thing with the POA is it is notorious as the broken or janky part of the game if you play it on location. So you finally own one and it's all working and the very last thing you want to do is break it!

At least that's the anxiety I felt until I finally had to change it and realized it was pretty simple.

Pin_Fandango - My experience with Mirco has been with WoZ and DI playfields and also a White Water repro. While they do dimple a lot, dimples don't phase me too much. And yes they can chip too, but that tends to only be in areas getting literally smashed and those spots almost always have protectors you can buy. Overall I'm very happy with their product and haven't experienced major issues.

The clear is not 100% perfectly done in terms of reflectivity and flatness, but if you don't have an eye for it you won't not notice. I didn't notice until I eventually saw them side-by-side with a better playfield. I started taking detailed pictures of the exact same reflections and then realized how a big a difference a well done clear can make... and now my budget is fucked!

The pooling and art coming off seem to be a combination of too much clear coat and over tightening of hardware at the factory.

Since you're doing you're own restore you can make sure every screw is lovingly and carefully placed and should avoid those issues.

Perhaps, but my gut is saying power driver board issue. Perhaps a transistor is going but hasn't blown out completely, I forget which one is the one for the right flipper but you could test that.

Other thoughts: Coil is the correct rating? Coil has correct diode on it?

Sounds like you gotta test another coil. Also are you certain you've wired both the coil and EOS correctly? I had an issue recently after rebuilding a game - it wouldn't start - and I hunted all over for a solution. It ended up being a simple mistake I made where I swapped two wires on a connector I rebuilt.

There's a software setting to let the left flipper plunge. I turn it on cause my little girl doesn't know how to pull the gun trigger.

Not sure what you mean by micro flip, but what can happen is a ball with enough force will push back on a flipper that is being held up. If you don't drop or catch and just hold it will probably look like a "micro flip". It's perfectly normal.

You mentioned it only happens from the top of the right ramp? That's one of the tallest spots in pinball. Any ball rolling back from there will have a lot of energy!

Anyone else love the air balls in Indy? I feel like that's a pretty unpopular opinion around here. I think it adds a ton of excitement, plastics and playfield be damned! My favorite is hitting the single drop target and having it bounce off the back of the 3 drop targets and into the ball lock for a "You cheat" lock.

For me, taming that wildness feels counter to the sense of adventure and peril the theme has.

I am worried about breaking those planes too when I finally get them. But cracking glass? Is that an honest concern? I never thought that was an issue with tempered pfs.

I have seen pfs shatter from being taken out of a game and gently placed on the ground. The sides are the weak areas. Also I know a person who is literally terrified by balls hitting the glass due to their fear of it shattering. Maybe they got PTSD from it happening once.

Can you imagine the adrenaline high you’d get if you combined JRD’s “Suuuuper Jackpot” call out with the glass turning into a million pieces! Would also give me a great excuse to finally start my swap

I've got PinStadium in most of my games but Indy is not one of them. I tried but ended up taking them out.

Pinball lighting is a subjective thing and for me it just makes Indy too bright. The bulk of the light is thrown on the ruins and path of adventure making them look like they're under police interrogation. You can adjust the PinStadiums to make that look better but then you're not really filling up the central playfield area with much light.

I do like the having some light above the bridge though. There are several ways to light it and different mods available.

Oh man that last one is slick, looks like it might be 3D printed actually, wonder if the file is out there somewhere?
The brass one is slick too but I feel like you gotta have a HEP or something if you're gonna be that shiny!

Assuming you already have a real apron underneath, I love the Lior mod for it. It's still available (but marked up a lot) from here: https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/indyapron.html

3878AC7E-ACFB-4C60-B115-4C0C17665F09 (resized).jpeg

Yeah I don't think it matches the playfield art or original models well unless you have his whole set to bring a visual balance to things. And his whole set is a very expensive and non-factory look that doesn't suit most people. Personally I love it though, my Indy is parked next to a loaded WoZ and the quality of the sculpts in each game matches up very nicely.

Wonder what you guys would think of my animated swinging monkey mod on the path... the kids love it!

Introducing: Super Monkey Ball Dr. Jones Edition

https://gifyu.com/image/y1he

Still gotta put the Lior path on, been lazy.

And I've gone through most of the crappier toys and addons as well. They all seemed promising at the time but after a while you're like "this is janky..."

I love my monkeys though

They are more than just things to look at, they constantly swing in front of the lights on the path and it makes getting a clean run through there much trickier. Especially when the lights are moving!

Bro is that a full size sarcophagus next to your Indy? Feeling like Disneyland in there and shit! Nice one!

Gorgeous! That's stone veneer right, you didn't lay real stones right? Right???

You're hired for Pinterior Decorator!

It absolutely does! There are some real gems in here but it's a pain to sift through it, even when you've read the whole thing before you can forget exactly where some cool tip or mod was.

Is the plastic gate getting stuck on anything? If it’s not aligned right it can get stuck. I had to sand my gate a bit to have it work smoothly both up and down.

I wonder why Indiana Jones didn't get the James Bond treatment. They could have finished the first trilogy and then come out with a new series with a new star. I'm guessing there was no way Ford was going to allow that and Lucas/Speilberg were such good friends with him they didn't want to either.