Out of curiosity, do you have a stamp like this?

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Holy crap, that’s bad but you gotta’ laugh Shame on Stern, the assembly line must have been rushing to finish that LE on Friday afternoon. I’m sure they’ll make it right

I wouldn't laugh. I would be infuriated.
It's like delivering a car with no wheels and being proud that it was delivered.

Yes, I do. Accepted April 20, 2018.... a FRIDAY!

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The entrance to pharaohs tomb has a red light on the left and a green light on the right. Both of mine work in test mode but during game play I have yet to see the green light illuminated. Can anyone advise if this is normal ?
Thanks!

Forgot to mention this is on a premium.

Looks like the inspector started his 4/20 celebration early

That's just the acceptance for the cabinet, though, isn't it?

.

Anyone having clear coat issues with they're playfield? My pro has all vertical lines that run the whole length of the playfield . You cant feel them but they are underneath the top coat. almost looks like they didn't let the layers underneath cure enough. It really stands out when you look at it with light reflecting off of it. hard to take a picture of it. What should I do about this???

Ignore it.
If it doesn't affect the ball travel, its fine.

So if you paid almost 6K for something NIB you would ignore it too. I've been doing this a long time and this problem is bad it's the whole playfield not just certain areas looks terrible. Don't mind ball swirls and I play the hell out of all my games but this is unacceptable. So not easy to ignore.

Anyone else having issues with the ball getting suck on left up post if your shoot the lock shot through the right orbit? my ball is wedging between the ball guide and the actual post so when it should drop back down it can't, the ball search won't always clear it out either because of how tightly wedged it is in there, nothing is pulling that post back down other than gravity.

I zip tied a home made lexan shield there myself but others have mentioned just using a zip tie with the end of the zip acting as a ball blocker just like my shield.
good luck

Got a picture so I can get a better understanding

Here's a post I made earlier in this thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/iron-maiden-issues/page/10#post-4450797

I've been buying NIB Stern's since 2004 and I've never had such a grainy PF. It's severe. Doesn't effect play, but effects the artwork big time...makes it look crappy from many angles. I've consulted with pinball PF experts and they all believe the wood was rough when the PF was screened. Unacceptable...especially on a Premium/LE.

snaroff

Any word from your distro?

I've been told this is the "new normal" and many of the recently produced PF's suffer from this deep, wavy grain. Since the clearcoat is smooth and the game plays fine otherwise, Stern doesn't consider this PF defective. Unfortunately, this "defect" detracts from the beauty of the PF artwork (big time).

At this point, the short cuts and less-than-great quality control have become unacceptable to me. After purchasing/enjoying NIB Sterns for 15 years, I'm unlikely to continue purchasing NIB games from Stern. NIB has become a crap shoot.

snaroff

This is the definition of gaslighting. A grainy pf is never nor ever will be the new norm....unless they want to sell machines to nobody. Ghosting inserts and split cabinets also don't affect the ball in play, but you can bet your bottom dollar they are defects. Don't let Stern gaslight you. If you have a problem, make noise.

Mine was doing the same thing. I removed the star washer behind that screw, added a thin plastic washer behind the magnet coil and adjusted the throw of the steel plate that locks the ramp as close as i could to the magnet. It seems to have done the trick. The mech doesn't impress me.

Sorry for having to experience this! Really sucks and please keep us posted on what happens to fix this and how long it takes to get resolved.

This is seriously insane!!!! Shows how little QC/QA Stern does at any step of the way. Missing this means that numerous people on that whole line missed this install and never caught it. Worst part is how obvious it is that many games leave the floor with out even being flipped on or play tested (game would not even start a game without balls and a ball trhough).

Eventually (within a day) my ramp started to stick open again, so I revisited the other threads in this post. Found one thread talking about the back of the ramp sticking on the metal lane behind it - bingo. I put a little grease on inside of the back of the ramp and it is working perfectly (for a couple days anyway.)

I called Monday morning and Stern overnighted me the part. I had it up and running Tuesday night!

A lot of the issues in this thread are BS. I know machines need tweaking, but splitting cabinets, major assemblies not working (or missing) and the lack of QC are pushing me not just away from this machine, but Stern.

I've been in contact with JJ for quite some time regarding the purchase of this machine. Until these issues get resolved, I'll keep the money in the bank.
If they're not fixed, I'll purchase one down the road second hand.

I've been invested in this hobby a relatively short period of time and have only bought NIB Stern machines. All 5 have worked perfectly out of the box and have had no issues. I was a little worried reading this forum and committing to a premium but am glad I stuck it out and got it. None of the issues with mechs, defects, or ball launches have shown up in 150 or so plays. This machine is awesome.

that is great. I have found their customer support on new games to be top notch.

Curious if they apologized at all?

It's a shame such an amazingly designed game was produced with a half-assedness unsurpassed in recent memory. Man, are these IMDN playfields junk. After 50 plays my IMDN has hundreds of dimples (and most are tiny which means not even much impact is required to cause it) while my DILE has far fewer dimples but 9x more games played. My TAF original pf that I restored and cleared with PPG has a couple of dimples after 200 plays.

So in summary - every pf dimples. But the quality of the wood and clear coat make a big difference. IMDN is likely worst-in-class as far as that goes.

Has anyone considered upgrading there flipper coils to the next level? I feel like even on hard and 6.3 level its a chore to get stuff done sometimes

Do your coils have any slop? I would make sure nothing is wrong because mine are super strong on the default settings. One person was missing a coil sleeve so check that as well.

Ill check. Thanks. Yeah the left seems fine but the right seems impossible to hit the target from the right

My DILE looks about the same with regard to dimpling. Don't notice it on either unless I bend down to get the perfect angle of light. While I'm down there, I usually find some scratches too!

Both companies could dry their ply longer, but to me, it's a non-issue.

Def check your mech. My flippers are on the side of being too strong for the game, and mine is prob around 7 degrees.

There are a couple of things you have to keep in mind when you see negative reviews of anything online.

1. There is a well documented phenomena where people are significantly more like to post negative reviews over positive ones. People with unpleasant experiences with an item are much more likely to to make noise and comment on it than people with positive interactions. This can lead to a situation where there are more negative reviews of items than positive one, even if there are, in aggregate, more positive interactions. Case in point, this is a thread specifically for people to post issues with Iron Maiden, so of course there's going to be many posts from people with issues.
2. Not every person who has an Iron Maiden table participates in this forum, so we are missing both positive and negative experiences from a chunk of the owners.

Now, that being said, things like shipping a game without is pretty big quality assurance fail, and Stern deserves some shit for it.

I concur. My DILE had a ton of issues too. That being said, JJP does not cheap out like stern, so stern does deserve their lesser reputation.

I learned that lesson back in 2013. As you say, buying sight unseen is a roll of the dice.

My first NIB purchase was a WOZ early in its run. The playfied had graining like you describe (perhaps not as bad) and the top rear edge of the cabinet (back of the machine) was shredded, as if it was cut with a dull saw blade.

Perhaps JJP would have replaced the machine had I asked but I had seen other machines with similar playfields (Spiderman, LOTR, Fishtales) so I considered it within the range of production variation. The cabinet defect was only visible from behind the machine so I didn't think it was worth replacing.

That works.. Glad it worked out..

If anyone is getting their game now, this is exactly what I did and it works perfectly. Funny thing is, the regular skill shot is much harder to get now than the super skill shot.

Up/Down ramp now working well. I did not have to dremel the washers. All I did was take it apart and screw it back together and possibly screwed a bit tighter then the factory. Back together and working well and zero hang ups in 40 plays or so.

Orb/Mummy captive balls holding well and I recommend adding loktite to metal shaft to avoid further issues. They are both registering well.

My last remaining issue is the sarcophagus tunnel switch above left ramp. Many adjustments and it's still only working 70% of the time and sometimes the ball just hangs up in tunnel near switch and I need to shove the game to get to move onto gate and other times it goes all the way to gate and does not register. Usually it does not register when you really need it to and it's a bit annoying. Anything easier than changing to a Williams switch as I have yet to get this right?

Game is my favorite pin of all time when working, so that says something. Just one fix left, I guess.

I know this pales in comparison to some issues but i noticed Stern installed the new cab brackets then removed them on my Pro.
Thanks for the leaving the holes lol.

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Not sure if this has been documented.

Ball getting stuck behind this plastic. Took me a while to find ball first time! If this happens on LE could burn out the motor on the lock.

Anyway simple fix that works 100%.

Just put one of these dome shaped, self adhesive, picture framing aids in the spot.

Ball cannot settle.

Problem solved.

This kind of thing will work.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Clear-Rubber-Feet-Bumpers-Pads-245-Pieces-Self-Adhesive-Transparent-Stick-Bumper-Pads-Noise-Dampening-Buffer-Bumpers-5-Shapes-Cabinet-Doors-Drawers-G/718614146

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This game looks awesome

Ok, so I've had Mummy newton ball registering issues since I received my LE. I've made adjustments 4x now to get it working and it has once again stopped working. I am SO FRUSTRATED. Out of everyone who has had this issue, which solution worked best for you that has 100% solved it?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

you have a ball trough, you are missing the wall that blocks the stacker hole and directs balls to the trough.

I hope there is a permanent fix, but I doubt it. I think we are in for constant adjustment on this--the point gap has such a small window of being right it doesn't take much to knock it out of adjustment. Being hit hard all the time certainly doesn't help...

Russell from Colorado Springs advises changing the top switch to a rollerball switch. I think I’m going to have to try this.
https://images.pinside.com/8/82/882f9578dd0d4aa4c13ac6877f965a1a218e83d9/resized/large/882f9578dd0d4aa4c13ac6877f965a1a218e83d9.jpeg

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What does that have to do with the Newton ball?

I used a small amount of teflon grease on the ball end then lock tighted the hex nut once I had it adjusted to where it was good . no different than a pop bumper switch and look how those get used.

I was having the same issue with my ramp sticking in the up position. I added a little bit of white lithium grease as suggested earlier in the thread and it solved my problem (thanks for the suggestion pinside). I thought I'd provide a little more info to others in helping diagnose this issue:

- My ramp was moving up and down just fine if I was careful not to extend it too far, and just lift it up enough so that the other coil plate could engage the stop.
- When extending it just a little bit more (through the full stroke of the coil mech) I could feel the binding at the very end of the stroke.
- You can see in the picture where I've circled exactly where the ramp flap is rubbing against the upper ball guide.
- I added a small amount of grease just in this area and it's eliminated the sticking (although it will likely return).
- STERN Tech Support was very quick and responsive to offer a suggestion as well - the overall mech position can be adjusted slightly so that the flap doesn't rub against the ball guide. Seems like a lot of work right now considering the 10 second grease fix. I would venture to guess that bending the ramp flap up slightly would have the same effect.

Anyway, if your ramp mech is sticking throughout the full range of travel, then this likely isn't your problem, but if it sticks just a little at the very end, it appears to be clear what the hang up is.

Also, shortly after I got my ramp fixed I noticed the scoop stopped registering balls. After lifting the playfield the reason was obvious - the switch was completely off of the bracket and was very close to shorting across the high voltage coil. It had been installed with only one screw. For those owners out there, you may want to do a quick inspection and make sure that switch is indeed attached with two screws - I'm guessing I would have had much bigger issues if it had come loose and shorted with the coil...
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Sorry, I think I misread your issue. Originally, I was having the switch issue where the game thinks all balls have drained after mummy multiball, but when one is actually still on the playfield. I believe the rollerball switch will fix that problem.

I am now having the issue where once a ball is locked in the sarcophagus lock, hits to the newton ball no longer light the mummy letters.

Thanks! I just called and ordered two.

Please do let us know if it's the same length. 5 minutes on the grinder is all I'll need.