I have over 1000 plays on mine, for what it's worth I've only replaced balls, waxed the PF, and had to replace the main flippers and sling bumper rubbers. I used titan rings for the replacements since they hold up longer.

No mods yet. Have some bulk mylar on order going to cut a piece to fit in map area. Debating putting the pieces on for slingshots. Looking at adding the kraken mod and gold coin shooter I think before too long. Also going to look at the one to prevent ball from kicking back from dauntless and getting stuck under BP (had it happen first time yesterday)
Maintenance has just been to wipe playfield with novus 1 to get rid of the ball streaks. Also have wax on order with the plays family is putting on it going to start keeping it waxed. Playfield still looks good no chipping anywhere that I can tell some very minor scratches that should buff out no problem. Lots of dimples but those will eventually even out. Have pulled forks a couple times to make sure screws are still tight. Fixed my inconsistant ball shooter with a couple nylon washers. Balls still seem good will probably swap them at some point. but no after getting the initial issue taken care of machine has been pretty solid. Have my replacement light boards coming in tomorrow and machine should be 100%

Do you know roughly how many games were on it when you waxed it? Or did you wax it multiple times?

The flipper bats themselves or just the rubbers?

hes talking about just the rubbers. And I forgot I just ordered a full replacement rubber set. 1000 plays and my flipper rubbers definetly needed replacing and wanted replacements on hand for anything that wears or gets broken. Going to try some silicone flipper rubbers and see how they feel and hold up.

I'm VERY happy to hear that after a 1,000 plays it still looks fantastic. These games really do hold up a bit better than I thought with all the speculation and discussion in other threads.

I'm considering getting the pre-cut mylar .. There are a couple pieces that I think would work wellf or the chapter start area.

I bought P21S for my wax and some Mist-N-Shine as I know others use it inbetween waxes.
But I was under the impression that Mist-N-Shine was a "better" replacement than Novus 1, but i guess they are actually different.

I don't own any Novus as of yet.

I think I saw your post with the nylon washers in the other thread. If after I level my machine out and keep playing around with the shooter assembly.. I may have to do something as well.

I'm actually going to felt the outside edges like that guy did in the video where he removing the BP. Think it's a great idea. Maybe that will help? Idk...

Also, when you said you pulled the forks a couple of times are you referring to the auto-plunger or?

Im trying the perfect play ones myself. Had some other pinball things on the list to order so went with those. Next rubber order I'm going to do Titan and see what the differences are.

As opposed to Titan or are they Titan?

I like the Glow rubbers specifically, but that's largely because I have a CE and I think with the green it's a good luck. I heard translucent is also a good look. I could see that.

I agree...the red isn't very nice looking. lol

I waxed it when I first got it, and wax it when I replace the balls (about every 500 plays).

Just the flipper rubbers.

no the fork lock for chest. First time was to check OOB if they were loose (1 was not affecting anythign though) 2nd time was mom said it was hard to lock balls (not really) so I checked just because.

Haha

I find they don’t lock 100%, but I’m also at 7 degrees and need to fix it.

Would say they lock most of the time with a good shot of course.

I ordered perfect play rubbers from pinball life. They are also silicone like titan is. Had some things to fix on the F-14 and wanted to do 1 order not 2. next rubber order I will get titan and compare

Fortunately, neither of you had my issue where less than 80 games I’d say my left BP flipper went completely unresponsive which you would think is a loose flipper/wire or broken wire or switch issue ... right?

Nope...

A loose roll pin actually which is apart of the flipper assembly.

So here I am with my first pin ever and dealing with this EARLY!

It happpens. This is pinball. I'd call it good learning experience as all pinball machines need work, sometimes even right out of the box. Of all the machines I've opened NIB, half had issues day 1.

Yea... it’s not the end of the world and have acquired some much needed specific tools to deal with it.

Just the end of the pinball world — temporarily.

Going to try and get it going today though.

Having owned my game around 3 weeks, I’d say I’m WAY behind the power curve in terms of games played.

That's just part of the home NIB ownership aspect often, it seems. I've had my game nearly three weeks, haven't even dropped the balls in it yet, yet alone played one game.

I've had issues with my playfield hooks, then the lockdown bar not sitting correctly, on top of waiting on protective parts and tools coming in.

I'd say this is often why people wait and buy used, for the initial owner to problem solve and work issues out.

Oh wow.

I didn’t know you hadn’t played at all.

Yeah.... I had my playfield not allowing those hooks to rest, so installing Cliffy's and mylar into the chapter select area, and now some wire mesh under the ship as well as that plastic protector to not allow balls in underneath, plus.... protectors for the plastics, plus a sagging monitor has all accumulated in many hours spent problem solving, failing, succeeding, then finding new problems to handle.

On top of finding what new tools you might need that you never owned prior, of which you're definitely running into yourself.

Many days, it makes putting a buck into a routed machine, seem like a much better idea.

In all honesty if your having problems wiith the flipper pawl roll pin I would call JJP and have them send you a new assembly. If you can fix the first one have it as a backup. That whole assembly will eventually wear out. at first you will jsut need to put new sleeves in but after a while you will start seeing more and more play. once there is enough play that your flippers start to feel sloppy and new sleeves dont fix the issue you replace the assembly that has the plunger rollpins and pawl.

I had all the tools I needed to work on machines, just regular household tools one accumulates over the years. The one thing you might need if you never had it would be a soldering iron as that's not a common household tool. But socket/wrench, screw drivers, etc are all things one would normally have for around the house/condo/apartment in many cases. And for $16 you can buy a full socket driver set.

A lot of what you described putting time into the game are things you chose to do, not problems with the game. Cliffy's, mylar, plastic protectors are all optional.

I followed up with the tech at Tilt...their JJPOTC has (estimated) over 10,000 plays.

From another thread regarding David Thiel still working on sounds / music for Pirates This information came out of MGC.

"He is still updating sounds on Pirates. I was hanging with him on Friday before the show and we ran into Eric Meunier. He told him about a few sounds he just updated in the game."

That's awesome

I hope that add some shaker effects for blowing the ship up. Seems wierd there is no effect for this.

I never had most of these tools prior. More into tech, than mechanical work. But I'm open minded due to necessity!

I'd say taking the ship off twice and waxing, took about 4-5 hours or so. And an hour to get Tortuga Tom off, but I'm waiting on a ratchet for the last post.

With wire looms, shifting the playfield, and now working on the receiver, I must be near ten hours for that over the course of several late nights.

I wish the balance/focus was on optional things, frankly...

Best advice I might have heard yet.. I’m guessing the flipper assembly is fine, but this definitely wasn’t my fault and would be A LOT easier than trying to fix this one I think.

Also, I should mention and did I think somewhere. On this same flipper assembly, if I manually moved the left flipper up it would literally “click” and bind.

It’s too tight? Maybe! But I can assure that it did have vertical play up and down.

So the million dollar question is *IF* it’s not “too” tight and I have the flipper play, then what else could it be? Spring isn’t broken...

DAMN!

What shape is it in!?

This is me...

I actually work in IT.

I literally bought a socket wrench to attach the legs. No joke! But crazy enough I was building some patio furniture earlier tonight and the socket wrench REALLY came in handy. That thing is awesome!

Also, yea... I don’t own a solder gun. I’ll go a step further. I have never soldered anything in my life so that should be a joy when that day comes. I guess @vid90 recommended a certain wattage as well. Open to any tips here.

Also, is an air compressor a bit excessive if the main purpose is for keeping the dust or whatever out of the pin? I’m SURE I could find other uses for it! =D

Today...it looked similar to this older picture I took of the same machine.

AC85F259-5DAA-424F-AE9F-6527F2D53D15 (resized).jpeg

I work in IT also but still have lots of tools.

About flippers. Strongly suggest you read the key posts here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers

I’m getting more all the time!

I want an organizer now.

I never thought I would care about the things I care about now, but being a home owner, owning a pin, and being older in general sure can change a lot in a hurry.

I still try to get my competitive Rocket League in and I LOVE pool. I’ll have a Diamond in about a month or so.

Im with you. I can be a little ocd at times bought this toolbox for all my pinball stuff

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-Versastack-System-17-in-Red-Plastic-Lockable-Tool-Box/1000578373
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-Versastack-System-17-in-2-Drawer-Red-Plastic-Tool-Box/1000578405

coils switches wire rubber and electrical stuff goes in the drawers. Tools and cleaners in the top. Working on making parts drawers to fit in the bottom of the box to organize bulbs and screws ect...love having a 3d printer 2nd coolest toy ive bought in a while...bet you can guess the best toy....

Hahahaha, that’s cute! Hold my beer!
And that’s just my carry around!

16CA45DF-B24B-42E6-9739-FBF8811B7E49 (resized).jpeg

98E6B1AF-6302-40B2-BFCD-48ED1DD935B5 (resized).jpeg

E54C0107-E7A4-43AC-97CA-4156C23D5635 (resized).jpeg

But being a service technician (mechanic) I have a lot of tools any way. I did just build this little rotisserie.

47C51701-6C01-4125-8DE7-0999898C7443 (resized).jpeg

600CF245-72DB-4744-8971-84E43F169172 (resized).jpeg

Just a suggestion don’t buy Mylar/frisket from a hobby store just not worth the gamble assuming it will work for this aggressive application. Order from Marco, Pinball Life, Titan etc and know you are getting the correct product for Pinball.

Half the fun of the hobby is working on the machines, in my opinion. It's a way to get familiar with the inner workings, and do something you can be proud of after it's done, and some nice quiet time for yourself.

Yea I'll definitely order it.

Does anyone do the pre-cuts that are offered to make life easier or just the sheets from a cost perspective and cut yourself?

Had a great time with this one at TPF and was going to wait on a Wonka but am too impatient, moved that money to a Pirates LE, should be here in 3-4 weeks. Looking forward to it!

It's coming from the final batch, so hoping some of these technical issues will be resolved.

Lloyd put an extra piece of Mylar on top of the existing Mylar where the pinball can go man overboard as it's just a hard drop. Not a bad idea!

I'm going to do the chapter start area and use the odd-shaped pieces that came with the game for the BP. I'm also going to use foam tape for the bottom where the wood is exposed when removing the lockdown bar as I like that idea a lot and the glass will slide easier.

That's it for me, for now...until the Cliffy's arrive.

No way. I just rebuilt one of those guys....how a PotC ended up in the house. Over the course of a month I learned a F-14 front to back rebuilt and fixed it up. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/williams-f-14-tomcat-2

If you ever have any questions I've got a shitton of knowledge on that guy.

Yes most of those vendors offer precut generic shapes but it really doesn't need to be that complicated as a finished result should be invisible anyway. Just get a small piece and an Exacto blade and cut any shape you like. Cheap and easy. Granted I will say again, JJP already put MORE than enough protection and mylar all over this game! Seeing individuals with NO plays yet dozens of hours protecting this game is off to me. This is Not a priceless Rembrandt its a Pinball machine. Unless your putting this game in a local barcade where it will see 10's of Thousands of game plays just PLAY the darn thing!! Yes I have seen that (1) picture of that (1) prototype game with Thousands of plays with a minor hole damage but at some point you have to just enjoy this amazing Toy and stop worrying about protecting it from a nuclear fall out! lol Wax it, keep it adjusted, and have some Fun already.

Only place I really want to mylar is the chapter select area. Everything else its home use so dont feel like it needs it

Wait..... so I wasn’t supposed to hange this 400lb behemoth on the wall??? Dammit!

I am Probably wrong but didn't JJP provide that mylar in the spares packet with the game? Seem to remember someone posting a install of that but I typically skip those concerns as I still question the problem.

To anyone interested in how I fixed my lockdown bar/playfield woes, there's a lengthy post with photos over here.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjpirates-of-the-caribbean-troubleshooting-tips-issues/page/5#post-4949382

Lol now thats funny sir! Just Honestly makes me sad that people New to the hobby join in then get frightened to death to play these amazing machines without a ton of add on protection or else and soon become frustrated with the hobby and move on. Don't get me wrong Back in the day when we were talking paint on wood and rusted balls on location these playfields did not stand a chance but overall they Did survive for a LONG time without all this self induced fear. Add to that (observation) many of the issues with reliability can often be traced back to individuals without mechanical knowledge misadjusting things and creating their own hurdles. As they say, if you Look for problems you will certainly find them!!

These games are meant to be played, full stop. IF you get chipping around holes, get cliffys to hide it. Otherwise just play and enjoy it.
If you really can't live with possible playfield damage, buy a spare playfield to set aside. Someone is selling one for $800.

Yea, no...I agree!

I really just want to play it as well. Mylar(ing?) the Start Chapter Area seems like a good place, but outside of that. I mean, yea...I don't think there's any other issues. Lloyd himself mentioned adding another layer of Mylar where Man Overboard occurs since the ball drops down hard directly to the playfield.

I have the Cliffy's on order and so ... knowing that I have to remove the BP to do this... I'm not going to be in any hurry.

New flipper assemblies are on their way to me as we speak so I can hopefully be over this BP flipper issue.

I STILL need to level, clean, wax, AND fix the auto-plunger thing...but short of that.
(I do have audio clipping/static. When I plugged in headphones, it was flawless. Need to disconnect that molex connector see if it goes away. If it does, I guess I need to re-route the one specific wire or something)

I should be GOLDEN to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY !!!

I'm trying really hard for a n00b, but I'm looking forward to everything being great soon!

And...after the WW reveal, I still want a AFMr. =D