Never trust the leveler attached to the PF.

Pin guy app free. If you have a smartphone, you have no excuse. :p I love the audio callout of the pin guy app too. I put it on the PF and climb under the pin and start adjusting. And it tells me where I need to raise/lower so I don't have to crawl out from under the machine.

Can't recall what thread I read it in but someone said JJP pins are designed to have the leg casters all the way in as on a perfectly leveled surface that is 6.5 degrees? From there then adjust as needed. Haven't tried that yet but considering it.

The manual states that, and for me all level is at 6.0. So definitely check.

Front legs all the way in
Back legs raised to meet second line
4 ft level across
And i am

How flush do these legs get with the felt? This is my first felty game, and I was really afraid of over tightening.

My first with felt too!
I just make them tight. Probably a full turn after snug ,if that makes sense.
I tighten them again after about a month. And then randomly after that.

I need to advice on my chest fork, other than what has been suggested so far in this tread (the 2 little screws). I can make the chest shots when they are precise, about 7 times out of 10, but still a few shots bounce back when the ball is not at high speed and I see when these shots fail that the fork is moving (like loose) a bit but just on one side.

I unscrewed the fork, and checked that the 2 little screws under are very tight and they both are. Then I made a video, at first you see the left side of the fork that is not loose up/down at all and work perfectly, then you see the right side of the fork has some loose in it.
How can I make the right side of the fork as tight as the left side? Hope the video shows it good enough, the playfield is in the last service position (fully up side down).

fork.gif

You need that play so the fork can move freely. If it's like the one we got, the forks were directing the ball towards the left or right side of the chest entrance. Glass off, keep teeing up the ball and slo-mo record it from the front of the chest with a phone and see what the ball is doing when it's rejecting. Once I got the forks right (took a while because I over-corrected initially, sending the ball into the OTHER side of the entrance), I bumped the right flipper to 27 and it's great now - FINALLY. This was easily the worst part of dialing the machine in.

Hi there! Just got my game set up and balls rarely are getting ejected out of the trough into the cabinet. A one way gate maybe is installed backwards or missing?

I need to look at the manual but just checking if there is something common to check first.

Otherwise things seem to be running great!

Settings - Coils - Ball Trough VUK, try making it stronger.

Or check this - http://www.pinplay.com/5/adjusting_the_ball_trough_on_woz.html

LTG : )

I had a big day today - built the Harbor Freight pinball lift and installed Radcals on my Pirates LE.

The install was not simple, as imagamejunky said in his writeup. But I did get it done and I am very happy with the results.

Unsorted album with pics of the cart process and the radcals.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B11GrhkPxG8hK2N

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I don’t like pinguy.

1. It must be calibrated on a known-flat surface first.
2. The iPhone accelerometers are not that accurate
3. The stupid bump that iPhones have now keeps them from lying flat anyway.

Actually, because if the critical nature of medical software, the NIH published a study concluding that the iPhone accelerometer was "highly accurate and precise" with tiny deviations from their control device. Of course, that does NOT mean any given SOFTWARE program is accurate at INTERPRETING and presenting the information it provides.

A case solves that problem.

Had a pretty good game going today. Was set to break 1 mil and possibly get to a wizard mode. Got to 5th chapter and decided to let it run out. Bad idea didnt get credit for playing it . I decide ill for dead mans chest multiball as I was qualified for it but the forks did not come up. As soon as I drained and stared a new ball forks came up. Any reason the forks would stay down even though I was qualified for the 3rd lock?

So does not owning an iphone

So does leveling the cab with a bubble level, and then I don’t have to uglify my phone.

As a developer who has worked with the acclerometer, I can tell you it’s noisy and jittery and must be smoothed in software. That study was tracking user movement, not level accuracy.

Popular Mechanics -did- measure level accuracy:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gear/a4175/4308358/

My action button on the lockdown bar has begun to stick down after just one week. Can I replace it with a stern button and is switch over easy to install?

Sorry no I have few different things when I shoot ball it goes up under boat and drops down the hole and get stuck I believe then game stops and says locating ball and makes sounds like it’s trying to find them I believe the ball is getting stuck when it’s trying to get pushed up to the top of the boat??

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Yes and yes!

Just spray it with a little lub and you're good.

Yes and yes. I ordered the clear stern one from pinball life and it’s perfect.

MGC is in a few days, fingers crossed we hear something about new Pirates code.

JJP sent me a new button which worked way better than the original (so far). If the problem comes back I'll try the Stern.

I think they've got bigger things to announce at MGC

Well yeah lol but they have launched new code at shows in the past. At TPF which is coming up on 3 weeks ago Eric mentioned that Keith had been working on the games final wizard mode and that its coming together well. On the Dead Flip Pirates live stream a month or so back Keith said they are coming up on a 1.0 release so hopefully we may be hearing something soon.

I hear what you're saying but I don't think they will want anything to distract from their next release I think the code update will be announced just via their website and maybe a post in this thread . Just like the big Hobbit code update

Will I have to download .98 to then download 1.0?

I agree. I think MGC will be all about Wonka and I for one can’t wait.

I still love pirates though and eagerly await fixes. Some of the main ones I want to see:

1. Chest lock fix
2. Don’t give/announce map awards until after the animation
3. Lock in character select immediately on plunge (newbs who don’t use the action button sometimes get unexpected characters)

As a nice to have, I’d like to see the color scheme on movie 5 to be more purple and less blue. It doesn’t match the inserts and it is sometimes confusing to tell if I’m in movie 4 or 5 chapters. (Just me?)

Thank you Lloyd, I bent the "far" side of the ball trough exit fractionally towards the back of the game, and that seems to have solved this issue.

Well, I'm thinking my issues trying to get the playfield hooks into the apron has to do with the apron being offset itself and shifted, and one of the service rails being misaligned.

There is also the insulation wire running underneath the right side of the hanger assembly which is pressing the entire right side of the receiver away from being flush against the cabinet.

The apron has a gap against the playfield, and along with the gap from the wire being underneath the hanger assembly, everything is shifted askew and isn't allowing the playfield hangers to meet the assembly

Has anyone encountered anything like this at all? I've spent 2-3 hours total just trying to reseat the playfield twice. Now it's just sitting there open until my shift from work is done.

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I know there are a ton of leaderboards for the game already (and I love that), but I'd like to see a couple added if it's possible. One for highest score for a single shot and one for highest score for a ball. I think those might be kind of interesting additions.

Oh, and an adjustment to improve the accuracy of my shots. That would be a REALLY great adjustment.

Apologizes for repeating myself...

But anyone else experiencing audio clipping on Pirates?

I guess one possible issue is the headphone connector/wire?

Unplug the headphone harness from the motherboard end - not the front headphone jack - and see if that changes what you are hearing.

So the sticky button issue I fixed with this stuff. Had some laying around from back when I did 1/8 scale nitro rc racing. Evidently it is used for bike chains as well. The rc version isnt made anymore. Couple drops into button, actuate it couple hundred times and wipe any liquid that may it all the way though. Have not had one sticky button since. The wax also works very well for squeeky door hinges.

https://www.thebikesmiths.com/products/finish-line-2-oz-drip-krytech-wax-lube-4233
https://www.thebikesmiths.com/products/k00040101

Thanks a lot.

Is this in the manual or ?

Actually, popular mechanics is reviewing some apps that use it there, not the actual hardware. Has anyone reviewed the actual hardware?

Having worked with the actual hardware my review is “not good enough!”

This reminds me to mention that it turns out you can't shim the Pirates playfield to fix the shooter rod hitting the auto launch top piece and fix shooter issues because the hooks on pirates attach from the TOP. I went to fix the issues on the one we have here and realized that. So bending the hooks back down then the ends out slightly is the only option. Also, these bent pretty easily, so I don't think the bending problem from playfield weight is fixed. These are very slightly reinforced as compared to prior hooks, but the metal still seems too soft, and the reinforcement doesn't resist the bending much.

No just a troubleshooting thing to try. Connector is in the bottom right corner of the motherboard looking in from the player's perspective

I wish "just" bending would fix my issue. I have alignment issues on multiple parts.

I’m having an alignment issue myself with the shooter contacting the autoplunger. I tried moving the shooter down as far as it would go, but it still contacts unless I rotate it slightly right which is not acceptable to me. I will look at the hooks, perhaps a bit of padding such that the playfield lays down slightly higher will do the trick?

I’m planning to mess with it more when I get home this afternoon.

Why? It’s a bubble in a glass tube mounted to the playfield. Gravity works, and a handheld spirit level works on the same principle.

Feel free to post photos. I'd like to see how things lie/are supposed to lie. I wish I could see another table upfront to note differences.

I've seen several people discuss the shooter having alignment issues.

Because often they are not mounted exactly accurately. A small burr of something under it or an edge that doesn't sit right etc. They don't "test" them at the factory so if it's off, they don't know. On my machines I have right now the degree of angle between what the manual says it should be vs what it actually is is off by .3-.5 degrees.

Well I don't know anything about pinball machines, but I do know a fair bit about computers. So hopefully that helps me.

I'll check this out when I get a chance.

Would be REAL SWEET if it fixes it and then I guess I go to JJP for a replacment or leave it out or something...

Thanks guys!

You can shim where the hook hangs on the receiver using a small piece of metal to raise the PF, too. I just bent the hooks. Works great now. Same problem from Hobbit and Dialed In, essentially.

It's not really an alignment issue in most cases I've seen. It's essentially playfield sag, lowering the top of the auto launcher into the path of the shooter rod, robbing it of energy. Bent the hooks, problem solved, just like Hobbit and Dialed In.

I wish my issue was just brushing the shooter rod. I can't wedge the hooks back in at all, no matter how I adjust the angle, press backwards, or shift the wire looms. The apron itself, for me, looks misaligned/not flush at all.