Update: the most surreal thing just happened regarding my original problem #2, not being able to trigger the pharaoh. I just played a few games, and after months of having the problem, there was one game where literally every shot that cleared the ramp was a success. Aces High, Skillshot, Mummy, literally I went from months with no pharaoh trigger to 5 or 10 times in one game. Also, Mummy is connected to the same issue. I hadn’t realized it, but I also never get to advance Mummy letters. I realized it in that one game, where all of a sudden this part of the game that I didn’t realize I was missing came back. Next game after that: Gone again, old problems.
Can this be a short or some sort of bad electrical connection? Or a software issue? I am running the latest update.

Thank you for anyone who has an idea, also regarding the right orbit problem.

Edit: I said sarcophagus, but I meant oharaoh. Maybe now my post makes more sense and gets a reply.

If I understand you correctly, it sounds like you have a switch issue related to the 3 switch target beyond the jump ramp. Off hand, I would check underneath for a connector for those switches. It may be loose or have a defect/short. Check the solder points as well. Also, the switches themselves may be binding on something. Put the game in switch edges test mode and trigger the switches with your finger. They should move freely and trigger the test when pressed. If not, examine the back of the switches and adjust them if needed.

Follow the switch edges test for your loop switch. It also may just need adjustment or possibly some soldering.

As for your jump ramp, it does look a little more left of centre than mine and other images on Pinside. It might be your camera angle though. Have a look at the images on the game page. Stern isn't exactly known for their QC, so you might have a defective build.

Q:

I just picked up a used IM Prem..

I am tweaking it here and there and noticed that the sarcophagas does not 'read' the ball each time it's dropped in from the diverter. I realize that there are posts here on what steps to take to fix it.... but the sarcophagas itself is 'wiggly' left-to-right, and some of that I do believe is due to the design but I want to open it up to verify something's not loose (and blue loc-tite after).

Does someone out there have a method or pictures on how to take out the captive ball?

I see that there's a post, 1/4" with a semi-pointy end that goes to the switch 'cup' that registers a hit to the captive ball.

Took the switch out so I could get more room.

I was able with channel locks to hold the "newton ball centering cone" and take off the "newton ball actuator".

However, I cannot get the "newton ball centering cone" to come off of the newton ball, that's the last thing I need to remove to pull the assembly out.

Anyone know how to pull out the centering cone?

What method did you use when taking yours apart?

TIA

IM PREM sarcophagas (resized).png

Hi everyone,

My IMDN bulleye ramp has settled backwards a little and it it catching and stopping slow balls going around the back loop. Anyone run into this? Any solutions?

Thanks
Duff

I figured it out. The pin holding the ramp in does not have a c clip on one side

I have had to replace one right side c clip in the few years of my ownership.

New IMDN Prem owner today. Should the sarcophagus ramp be lifting when it’s telling me a battle is lit and to shoot the underworld, cause it typically does not and stays down and sometimes slides to the left. Not sure what is and is not normal, or if I need to qualify somewhere else to get the ramp up? Cheers

Think I might have found the issue, that pin is out on the right side. I gotta grab a pliers and slide it back in, hoping it’s not broke. Feels like it needs an oil too; 3-1 oil safe on any pivot point of the ramp, or what’s the typical ramp maintenance protocol?

9A44FEB2-569A-4FD7-959E-2B1D6136A020 (resized).jpeg

A drop or two of 3-1 / superlube should be fine. Need a c-clip.

Ah it’s missing the little c lock washer deal… any idea where to pick one up?

Also found these down underneath the assembly, any ideas what they’re for and where they do?

3DCFD17E-B5F2-432A-B8D0-C05957F26886 (resized).jpeg

4C51404F-115B-428C-8EC6-B1927E1912B1 (resized).jpeg

Ah they go thru that white bracket and connects to ramp assembly. Thing is, can’t get my fingers in that tight of a spot to get it back together.

6CB81B41-450F-4539-A36D-5FED50F9E309 (resized).jpeg

You should get the pf protector that goes behind the jump ramp. The jumps beat the shit out of it.

This was the identical issue i had. I haven’t found a hardware store yet that has the C clip (too small). A buddy of mine said he may have it laying around, hoping it is the right size.

https://www.pinballlife.com/e-clips.html

Ah, good to know!! Thanks

Ah very cool, didn’t know they were called e clips; happen to know which size is on the maiden pin; otherwise I’ll just order one of each

No sorry, mine hasn't come off (yet) so haven't had to take a look at it. For reference the biggest size in that link (3/8") is for shooter rods (won't be that big) Just going off the pics of the shaft i reckon it will either be 3/16" or 7/32" (my bet is on 3/16"), very much doubt it's the tiny 1/8" size but best to get some of each anyway

Smaller than 3/16. Hardware store had those. I would say 1/8

Harbor freight assortment $6.99:

https://www.harborfreight.com/300-piece-e-clip-assortment-67653.html

Well, I was determined last night and temporary fixed the pin and the hinge behind it and it’s all held up though dozens of plays. Did pick up some c/e pins at hardware store today, but have not tried them yet - having too much fun playing! Also got the Stern Playboy pin in today too so that doesn’t help; two new pins within 24 hours.

I am having two other issues.

One, during song select, it’ll select a song on its own and award the level 1 mystery award. Probably a switch, but not sure which one. The switch test makes little sense to me.

Second issue, the auto plunge rarely makes it around the main loop, manual is fine. Typically hits below and either drops, trying to SDTM or flies up into the secret skill shot x next to small loop. Is this normal, or what should be expected of auto plunge?

Also, is there a good resource explaining all the skill shots? The rulesheet at tilt footing doesn’t appear to really explain them.

If you haven't already, it's worth searching the IMDN owners channel for these questions, I think answers to all have been covered there.

Good idea, I just saw this one first and thought maybe the “help desk” was its own thread, perhaps due to popularity alone and keeping threads not-huge.

I'll post this here and owners thread.

NIB iron maiden pro, set it up Thursday, love it but these are the issues I've had at this point.

Manual plunger at full plunge will make that orbit slowly about 80 percent of the time, auto plunge makes it 99 percent of the time fastly. So assuming it's isolated to the manual plunger, what to look for?

Ball balances perfectly at top of loop if hit the pharoh softly, happens about 1 in 4 games.

This one bugs me the most... Ocd wise. Left and right bottom flippers look both aligned perfectly with the holes, but when you hold both flippers up the left one seems to go higher a wee bit. Is this designed? Or a issue that I need to look for.

Also if y'all have any other issues y'all have had that much need to be aware of, please let me know, thank y'all.

My launch doesn't orbit on either the manual or auto-plunge.

I've read about shims and upgraded coils, any advice on where to start? It bricks every time just below the orbit.

Edit- I'm at about 6.7 degrees via phone app.

Check first that the ball isn´t hitting the lower tip of the upper right flipper on launch.
If so adjust the lane guide down.

Great, thanks for the tip! This sounds like a good starting point.

I first tried to solve this problem by cutting down a doorstop and wedging it in between the shooter lane as you have probably seen on this thread. That helped manual/auto launch but would often need readjustment and was never 100%... I left the doorstop wedge in place and installed the coil found here: https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-090-5023-ot22-600-coil.html .

With the new coil installed and wedge in place all manual/auto launches have been 100%. This really improves experience for triggering trooper mode which at least on a Pro 3 balls are autolaunched and held at the top of the playfield. A sequence starts with callout "Begin the charge" then all three balls drop down playfield in a row.

Hope this helps.

So, has anyone blew out a chip with these larger coils yet? This is not to spec I'm sure. A 600 is two sizes up.
Also, don’t install the diode.

I added the shims long ago now and have never had to readjust. Manual, automatic, all fine with huge success rate.

For those of you that have fixed the auto and manual launch with the shim method, do you adjust the shim after a while?

After 50 games or so I need to push the shim back in because I’ve noticed it moved out of place. Is there anything you added to the shim to keep it in place?

New Premium owner here (NIB). I searched for this issue with no luck so I apologize if it's already been addressed. The thin metal playfield protector (rear center below the Pharaoh Bullseye Target) has lifted up and will occasionally cause slow moving balls to become stopped. It will flex back down, but won't stay flat. I haven't really taken a close look, but it appears to be held in place with an adhesive. Any suggestions? I've contacted Stern about this and I'm waiting for a reply, but wanted to see if others have encountered this issue and, if so, how did they fix this?

Haven't touched it in over a year. Probably closing on two. No issues. Don't recall doing anything special to keep it in place.

It's started happening on my new pro after a few hundred plays. I made a post about it in the owner's thread the other day.
Another guy a few posts later indicated he pulled it off his playfield.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/up-the-irons-the-iron-maiden-pinball-official-owners-club/page/192#post-6523791

I pushed it back down and it took another 100 plays before I had to push it down again. I'm gonna take a closer look at mine when I wax the playfield this weekend and see if I can come up with a better idea. As it's starting to sound like it's happening on lots of the new ones maybe it's time to start opening service calls with Stern in hopes eventually they'll invent an official fix?

Thanks for the reply. I did get a response from Stern and they're sending me a replacement. They also sent me detailed instructions with pictures on how to properly place it which tells me the issue is not new to them.

Let me know how yours is holding up. I appreciate you willing to look at it and share some ideas.

Mine does the same thing. Shim works for a long time, then suddenly it needs to be removed. Then, after a long time, it needs to be added. I've made the post larger by wrapping it with Gorilla Tape. Then I use a square of rubber flipper as my shim. Works great.

I've got about 600 plays on my machine and the flippers have been getting weaker and weaker since about 300.

At first I thought it was just coil fade from extended play sessions, but then it started becoming noticable even in the first game or two of the day and my laser thermometer said they were barely above 90.

Cleaned and releveled around 400. Checked the stops and they seemed fine, but I had spares on hand so I replaced them anyway. The sleeves had some typical black dust but most of it just fell off and they look way better than the ones I've replaced in other machines in the past with no visible signs of damage or deformation. Didn't have spares on hand for those so they went back in until I get a shipment in. Mechs & shaft were pristine.

Seemed marginally better after that, but still bad. Took a serious dive in the last 50 to where even the first game it's difficult to clear the center ramp even from a full cradle on the right flipper and once any fade sets in even the left flipper can barely do it.

Have more sleeves on the way, but assuming that's not it any other ideas?

Since you have dove in this far, this might be a stupid question, but the flipper bat isn't too tight against the playfield bushing, is it? Should have a little up/down play.

I forgot to check that but they seem to have the right amount of play. However, after moving them up and down I played a game and thought they felt a little stronger than before. Still weaker than before all this started, but it makes me wonder if the there's some gunk in the bushing or on the shafts binding them up just a bit that got broken when I pulled them up and down to test the play. I'm not sure I'll get around to pulling them apart tonight, but it's something else to look at at least.

Years ago I knew a mechanic who would wax flipper shafts as part of his maintenance routine but I can't remember anyone mentioning it in the last decade. Is that still a thing? Was it ever?

Never heard of waxing the shafts (heh), but it definitely wouldn't hurt to clean them up. Alcohol on a q-tip works great to clean out the bushing.

Removing the flippers and cleaning the bushing and shaft really helped a lot. I think there may even be a tiny burr in one of the bushings left over from the plastic mold so I'll file that down the next time I'm in there if I don't replace the whole bushing but the game is playing a lot better now. Probably do the upper flippers too now that I think about it, but they're still pretty reliable. Thanks!

Hey, hoping someone can help. I just got an awesome IMDN premium and it is my new favorite game. However sometimes after three or four modes have been qualified the machine does not raise the ramp in order to start the next mode. The screen says “shoot the underworld” but the ramp never lifts up. Has anyone else encountered this bug? Any ideas how to fix it? Thanks!

Check the raise mech under the playfield. Manually raise and release to see if you have loose/binding parts.

I tried that. Everything looks fine. I think it's a bug in the software because there is nothing wrong with the mech. And it lifts up correct whenever it is engaged. The issue is simply that sometimes the game doesn't attempt to raise it...

I'm certain I read about this ages ago, but I'm not having any luck finding it in any of the likely threads with obvious search terms. It might have been in the bugs thread, but I want to say that it was around the time that 1.04 was the current code. I assume if it was a problem on the current code someone would have chimed in by now.

The current runs all ship with 1.08. If you got yours secondhand or somehow managed to find a NiB that sat in a warehouse for 2 years you might just be in dire need of a code update.

Bugs thread is here if you want to dig through it: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/iron-maiden-100-bugs-and-features

Others would then have the same issue. It's definitely hardware. Check connectors on the mech and connectors on the other end (board). Sounds like a loose connection somewhere.

Dumb question
When you start a game does mummy multiball start out with mumm lit?
The orb and mummy never register a hit.
I tested them and both only register if I jiggle them and pull forward on the ball, normal?
Thanks in advance

You are spotted a certain number of letters at the start. You can adjust them.

You need to adjust the switch leaves below the saucer the newton ball moves on so the switches will register when the ball is hit. Bend them so they are ALMOST touching when at rest.

Can anyone actually confirm that Stern will send new wireform ramps if you're having the issue of the ball launching out during a really clean ramp shot?

I'm going to check for the little bumps like an earlier post said but I saw someone mention Stern might actually replace them but didn't see anyone confirm that it's true.

I also might just 3d print something that goes on, like a gate the ball has to pass through that will slow it down ever so slightly.

I reached out to them a few weeks ago and sent pictures of the issue. They recommended I purchase new wireform, but my game is 3 years old so well out of warranty. They seemed to agree I had an issue though. I just ground down the spots that needed it and all works as it should now.

Interesting, my game is also 3 years old. (I'm the newest owner) but they had no problem sending me the rear orbit protector plate without anything except my S/N.

I guess they've decided one issue is bad enough to warrant a no questions warranty action, the other not so much.

Hello, I'm having an issue on the right obit... ball getting caught up under the rear obit plate. Anony... was this your problem?

How do I contact stern and what or how did you describe it? Was it an easy replacement?

Thanks!
RK