Neither are problems.

+1 for tech help from 85vett

Maybe some add that I have overseen or not taken into account on the sling issue. For people that want to go a little deeper into the theory. If you hit with your hand on the playfield you want to have something like a dirac pulse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_delta_function).

Like 85vett told you, first you have to understand the mechanic, then you fix or adjust it. Software adjustments should stay at the point where the producer set it. For a properly working and adjusted mechanic there is no need to adjust it after a software update.

I'm also working every day with pinball machines a long time and set up a lot of tournaments up to high level. Hopefully it help beginners or non experienced people to keep the fingers of the software adjustments.

It doesnt matter, lets not go there again. Vireland and hoby both know their shit and have helped many people out on here as has 85vette as well im sure. Pinside is lucky to have these guys around and I appreciate all of their help and knowledge that they contribute to this forum. Hoby has personally taken the time out to email me and even call me so he could help me with problems and i didnt even ask him to, he did it on his own.....i mean seriously what a nice guy he is. Vireland is constantly helping people on here and i cant thank him enough for the time he puts into doing it with his pictured instructions. Lets just move on and quit beating a dead horse. None of the help offered was bad advice anyways so its all good.

Please check first if it is installed in the right way. The post rubber is conically and the big part should be up. I saw on one IMD I worked on (something out of 30+ new) that it was installed vice versa by Stern and get stuck at the coil sleeve. Maybe you also have one. This can also lead to that it is pushed up.

At the moment Super-Band sleeve 1 1/16" are not available in this conical form. They are usable but insure that the mechanic is working fine. If you use it, it could work because it's more gluing but on the other way it also could get stuck at the coil sleeve.

The Stern part number of the rubber is 545-5308-00. As far as I know it is not listed in the Stern manual until now. If you search for the number you will find following products:
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/30003Y
https://pu-parts.com/1-1-16-inch-slightly-tapered-silicone-post (this is silicone)

Hope it helps you.

Update 21.08.2108:
On later models the post rubber ist glued. I looks that it is something like instant adhesive.

Mine has it as well, but honestly, if people hadn't made such a deal of it here, I would have given it very little thought. Yah with prices where they are today, you would think that quality would be tip top, but it is what it is if you're buying NIB games.

Its amazing how they differ..... I got one of the first Prem's to come out and the PF is like glass.

My Met had graining, but its never been an issue. I don't think it devalues the game one bit but obviously I would rather not have the graining.

To be clear, my playfield is physically smooth as glass on the surface, but you can see the ribbing in the wood underneath. You really have to be looking for it, but it's certainly there.

I agree on value, if I was buying a pin from someone, this would have no impact on my purchase decision.

Not going to beat this to a dead horse as I agree, and stated to adjust the switch blade right off the bat.

That being said........ if you recall the issues with the GB magna slings would get into a rhythm where the ball would just bounce sling to sling and keep going.
There was absolutely no way to fix this with hardware. The software had to be rewritten to adjust power level. There are many instances where software is used to control power to make hardware work , Houdini catapult, IMDN shooter lane, VUK power on AFMr ( this was a real issue on the original for bounce back. ) and flipper strength.

If 1.02 software originally worked and they rewrote the code to 1.04 and a problem came up, who's to say which way it was originally designed.

Each game is an individual and there is no one correct way that will make all problematic situations have the same " correct " fix.

Got my Maiden and it is a great game but my is my shooter on wrong. Ball will only leave the shooter lane 50% of the time. It will be an easy fix but pretty amazing they let it leave the factory like that

Is this when you manually plunge the ball or when it auto launches?

Manual plunge. Auto seems to work pretty darn well so far.

Should be an easy fix. Sounds like your manual plunger just isnt striking the ball dead center.

If it is anything like mine as soon as you fix the manual the auto will go wonky...

It is so far out of alignment it is insane.

Same issue on mine but it was an easy issue to fix.
I just took it all out and reset the bolts first and once I had it dialled in i put the bottom 2 screws in.
Manual and auto are now spot on.

1. Stern won't exchange for this.
2. Stern is using crappier (softer) playfield wood for about the last 4 years or so, and more and deeper dimples are the result.

I sent an email to stern on Sunday night, and today I received the updated newton ball actuators they said they'd send me. It's completely fixed my "the newton ball doesn't register 95% of the time" problem, and now it seems to work every hit.

In the first game with the table back down, I immediately unlocked mummy multiball twice, back to back, and had a really great game. This went on for some time after that; this game is a lot more fun when all the major features work!

I attached a picture of the old part (left) and the new, much more pointy part (right), for anyone who was curious. They're roughly the same length.

Updated_Part (resized).png

Better put some blue loctite on them if you havent done so already or they will come loose and screw your switch up and even afer that i think they will need adjusting from time to time also. This has got to be the shittiest switch design in all of pinball.

This will never be dethroned.

D51770B8-D2F0-440C-84BA-BB6D2A474072 (resized).jpeg

The dreaded Stern VUK switch. Aaaaaaaah !!!

I've seen that as well where the clear is nice and smooth but you can see the grain under. What's ironic is the LE around here on location is perfect.

If yours is a LE you have a shot since they were made for the home collector and Stern is more accommodating on those. If it's a premium then I wouldn't bother since they won't do anything. You can also just start a thread about it and hope the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I think I got it on really tight with my wrench, but it is really hard to tighten it with only the ball to hold onto. I'll check it after some more games this weekend and order some. Thanks for the tip!

Yep it’s impossible to get it good and tight and i hate to tell you this but its going to come loose. I loctited mine but i dont think its going to hold mine either since the loctite isnt drying. I dont know if i got a bottle of bad loctite or what but it seems like it should have dried up instead of staying wet so we will see.

Thanks for posting this Fytr. Emailed Stern today and they got back to me within 30 mins and are sending out replacements for my LE!

Got to shake Locktite well before using. And don't use the first drop. Like mustard in a squirt bottle.

Also make sure you use a small amount and spread it out well. I doesn’t like to dry (at least in automotive uses) if you use to much or apply it too thick.

finally had a chance to mess with the prongs a little, didn't quiet get it working yet... but I noticed a huge difference by moving them ever so slightly (more then anything else I've done).
Gonna try again tomorrow, hoping this issue will be resolved finally.

I did try installing the new lower resistance coil, as you would of guessed it didn't make much of a difference. the only good thing is now I can underpower it by 15-20 and still get the same results as the default 255 with the factory coil. If it smacks into the flipper, I don't think it matters at what speed.

one other issue I've noticed with newer sterns in general is the inlane/outlane GI lighting usually starts to flicker. Seems to be more prevalent with newer sterns in areas where there is a lot of vibration. I used to think it was the LED itself, now I know it's the contact btwn the bulb and socket.

all four of my iron maiden inlane GI's were doing this, I replaced the bulbs like 3 times before it dawned on me that the LED wasn't the issue... had the same issue on guardians and batman always in the same area.
besides adding solder to the LED casing or squeezing the socket are there any other fixes. maybe filing down the coating a little on the socket itself?

Mini flipper may require adjustment, mine was sitting low
I moved UP by a couple of mm

Perfect

20180815_143418 (resized).jpg

Hey,

Check out those Craters !

I need to play my LE more !

Think I may had my first issue last night.

My game always sound pretty darn good but last night while playing I hit the left spinner shot by the orb and herd a VERY noticeable change in the sound.

It seems now to not have near as much base and clarity " I think "

I have always run factory setting and speakers and 1.04 is installed. My master volume is set at 21.

Anyone else having an issue as I though I remember seeing something and I know sound quality is only ok on this game.

Did you verify that the base speaker is still working? Get under the cabinet and listen for it.

It is. And it sound pretty good

How do you adjust the mini flipper up?

Just got my game and my newton ball/mummy switch sucks. For give me for not going through the whole thread but was is the best fix?

...reading thru the whole thread...

21 is pretty loud. Was this on a Pro or LE?

Only just, loosen set screw 12

Grab flipper bat and carefully pull around to right, to align with marker hole in playfield.
Tighten set screw, Check you have a little up/down play on shaft, mini flipper should move freely.

As per photo mine is still 1mm low of centre mark, but no more ball strikes on launch and mini flipper shoots better now.

20180815_143418 (resized).jpg

fl (resized).JPG

fl1 (resized).JPG

I saw right above but I thought I saw where someone was replacing the switch.

Thanks for the detailed information. Pictures really help as this is our first pin and I am still learning all these adjustments!

Btw, there are two number 12s in that photo. The number 12 on the right is the one you want to loosen, it is an “Allen bolt” that requires an Allen wrench. It pinches on the flipper bat shaft. Make sure you tighten it really well when you are done or the flipper bat will rotate out of position.

FWIW, I had to adjust mine as well, it was too low out of the box. I also adjusted my other two as well, one was slightly off and the other had no up and down play.

I just checked and all four of my flippers had no play at all. Someone on the assembly line is just mashing the flippers down until bottomed and tightening them there.

Yep. I recommend that everyone learn to adjust their flippers. They are not going to take the kind of time on the assembly line to get them perfect.

yeah there a pain to get working right even with the pointy hex spacer thing... at least for me it was.... mainly the newton orb ball because the pops kept setting the power jackpot off prematurely every now and again.
pretty sure if my newton ball didn't get stuck in the tilted position, it would of made it much easier. There was another post a few pages back that went into more detail on how to fix that as well.

be patient, get it tweaked, its worth it.

The pointed hex thing keeps coming loose and therefore changes the adjustment of the switch. I think most people are putting blue loctite on where the pointed hex piece screws on so it doesnt come loose. I did this to mine and so far so good. I hate the newton switches though. Saying that they suck is an understatement.

I've got an LE and I get the "Check switch 62" message when running the lock test and spinning the motor. The switch itself seems to work fine in switch test. And the Ball Lock test also seems to run fine, but it puts up that message. Stops perfectly at each position. It never seems to want to lock a ball during game play. The guardian opens and I can put a ball into the lock ,but it rotates right to unload and get fired out of the ramp. First time and every time. Both switches in the lock itself also work fine. I can roll a ball in there during switch test and both activate as they should. Am I missing something? Any ideas what is wrong here?

That switch (the one right behind the Newton ball) has to trigger when a ball is present in the sarcophagus, both when the sarcophagus is flat and also when the sarcophagus is lifted to accept a ball from the ramp. If you do a switch test, what you will likely find is that the switch is registering when the sarcophagus is flat, but is not reading when the sarcophagus is in the lifted position. During game play, when the ball drops into the sarcophagus from the ramp shot, it doesn't sense that the ball was loaded. It then cycles the sarcophagus to drop the ball back under the playfield.

You have to adjust the switch so that it reads in both positions. If you remove the plastic on top of the sarcophagus, it makes it a lot easier to do your testing. If you have a flaky switch, you may have to remove the sarcophagus mechanism and replace the switch.

Thanks for the reply. Both of those switches in the lock work fine as stated in my initial post. Rolling a ball into the lock and they both register.

Hi Angus. Please re-read my post. There is only one switch in question, #62. This is the one right behind the newton ball. The switch is most likely working. The problem is that the switch has to sense that a ball is on it when the sarc is in it's flat position (which it probably does), but it also has to sense that a ball is present when the sarc is lifted in the back to accept a ball from the ramp shot. The position of the sarc changes where the ball hits the switch tip. The switches on the LE's are an early design where the tip almost comes to a point at its highest point This leads to the problem where it's only being triggered when the sarc is flat. The arm on the newer switch design has a longer, flatter top which allows it to be more easily triggered when the sarc is in different positions.

I would recommend that you try your switch tests again. I'm pretty sure that you are going to find the switch is not being triggered (or is intermediately being triggered) by the ball when the back of the sarc is lifted up.

Edit: Angus, my apologies. I mentioned switch #62 a couple times and I was confusing that with switch #39 or #40 (whichever is the one right behind the newton ball). #62 is the one on the sarc mechanism disc that senses the back of the sarc is down and under the playfield. If you are getting confirmation that all 4 of the switches on that disc are operating correctly, not sure why you would get an error regarding #62. However, I'm not sure that the behavior of not locking the ball during play has anything to do with switch #62. #62 shouldn't be triggered until a ball is unloaded from the sarc. I had the same issue as you. When the ball dropped into the sarc, the back of it would immediately lower and put it under the playfield to be ejected out from the ramp. Would never lock the ball. The switch right behind the newton ball worked fine, but it would not sense a ball when the sarc was in its loading position from the ramp. I replaced the switch with the new design and never an issue since. There were no error for the switch because it would get triggered when sarc was flat.