Stern have historically had an issue with standup targets where by the starting leaning to one side. Sometimes they can be re-aligned to be straight and stay that way but most of the time it is due to the bolt that holds the switch leaves together not being able to stay tight with the constant punishment of the ball hitting the target. If this is continually happening on a target, you could look at fixing it with this https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BK3

It should already have this.

May be a stupid question.,.

Is there no bar in the cabinet to hold up the playfield when lifted up?

No, there is not. That's what the rails are for. Otherwise, the playfield is in the fully up position.

Hmm ok thanks, quite annoying since my ceiling is low and the playfield touches before going vertical.

Thank you for posting this update!! I mirrored your settings maybe 9 months ago, and some of these numbers are pretty different. Namely, I could no longer drill the spinner from the left flipper at all, and it was nigh impossible to backhand the chaos shot from the right flipper, as well as struggling to get the ball up the tower shot. Also, I did have to aling the guides on my inlanes and I'm playing with fire now!

Went under and had a look and it does indeed have this metal bracket, everything was nice and snug but the target itself and the leaf springs were bent forward a bit so I just bent them back a hair and slid it over, snugged everything back up. In a better spot now, not quite where EaglePin's are in the pic but already scoring way more locks in the pen than before

Been having an issue for about a week....looking for suggestions. Spinner shot from either flipper is only going clean around to upper right flipper about 10% of the time. Very clunky lately and I'm not even getting the ball to bounce in the pops after a "clunky" shot. Just rolls right through. Pitch is at 7.0 and seems to be pretty level left to right. Anyone else have this issue?

I am also, but mine mostly goes to the pops. Would like to find out what it is hitting to make the ball jump after that spinner shot.

absolutely possible. I watch dontpanicflip in twitch do it multiple times per stream. He uses titan bands maybe that gives it a hair more punch

which is the "chaos" shot? the S shot?

Its the same as the smart missile shot, the target at the back of the pop bumpers. When CHAOS shots have been made the insert there lights up red, that and hitting it starts CHAOS. For smart missile, the truck must be facing left, making that shot pretty tight and only accessible from the left flipper. If CHAOS is lit and the right is facing right, the backhand of the right flipper is pretty easy.

Its supposed to feed to the pops some of the time, honestly I wish it would more often on mine.
I had to adjust the leaf switch for the bottom left pop bumper when I got mine, it wasn't sensitive enough to activate when the ball dribbled in there.

Have the flippers become weaker in general? If so, have you replaced the coil stops?

I replaced the coil stops almost immediately when I got the game in January. Will try to adjust flipper power to a few different settings and see if that helps. Thanks for everyone's feedback!

Has anyone seen or made a full length top/cap for the left ramp? Lately ball has been rejecting from upper rear most plastic top when hitting a full power left ramp shot.
I have flippers at stock power, had them turned down but then I cant backhand left ramp.

I’m in! August 19th build, clear looks great. Love it!

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Anybody know where to get a lighted amber shooter rod. Seems sold out everywhere

Modfather has three different versions of the amber rod for $100, and you can add some yellow LEDs to the plate yourself with an electric drill and some epoxy. (I have some extra pinhead LEDs and a resistor if you go that route and need them that can be installed in a tiny little hole if you DIY the plate. Just add wire and a connector to CN15 on the cabinet node board)

Ill check it out thanks 2000

https://shop.sternpinball.com/products/jurassic-park-shooter-knob

Rented JP Pro for two months. Finally got to 1B and then decided to buy it. Damn COVID. I'm with you though...great game. Second I've ever owned.

I have a Pro and my left ramp started having lots of ball rattle rejects and balls flying off the ramp into the back corner. I fixed it by putting some weather stripping under the metal flap at the base of the ramp. I needed to cut the thickness of the strip so the flap still sits flush at the bottom. I used two pieces with the one closer to screws being thicker. This helped a lot with smoothness of my left ramp shots by giving a little support and dampening vibration in the thin metal piece.

Lol, Yeah i got faked out on this , all good until Checkout dang it!

Yeah some people! I knew before I put it into my cart. I did it just for proof to stop everyone else from doing it.
Not to toot my own horn but I’m not in need of one. I do recommend getting it though

Hey everyone! New to the club this week - loving it so far, but have a couple of questions to see if these items are normal as I unfortunately have found a couple defects on my playfield...

1) My ball has gotten hung up on the spinner gate a couple of times - is it normal that the metal rod from the gate sticks way out towards the back of the machine? See image below - ball gets stuck right at the point of the arrow.

2) Often times when the ball is popping around the amber pop bumpers, the gate to the right of them will flap open and the ball will actually sneak out of that gate instead of going out the far right to feed the top flipper - is that normal?

3) Finally, how common is it that a ball shot through the spinner should end up in the pop bumpers as opposed to spinning around to the top flipper? I'd say mine does this more then 3 out of 4 times..
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Im currently not at home, so can only answer one of your questions confidently: The Gate in the pop bumper area is indeed designed to let the ball out on occasion. As quoted by the designer “to keep you on your toes”.

Those aren't defects. It's pinball. It's a mechanical device (randomness) and not a video game. Things aren't always exactly the same every time.

1> Yes it's normal. Just search this thread for "spinner" and/or "gate" to get some suggestions on how to adjust/fix. Personally I just nudge if I notice the ball going slow around there and I think it may stop on the gate. If you are tilting when you nudge it then the problem is the tilt bob being too sensitive. Nudging is part of pinball. Go look at the pros on Youtube!

2> Yes it's normal the designer himself said "it happens" and is normal.

3> Depends on how clean the shot is. It's a common occurrence. You may find hints on how to make it better once you search for "spinner" - see point #1.

Thanks man! Good to hear these are normal, but to clarify these weren't the PF defects I was referring to.. These were just questions I had to see if things needed to get adjusted/tuned as a result of finding other things wrong with my PF such as pooling in one area and wood grain. Out of curiosity, would you consider the wood grain here a defect or randomness of the pinball hobby?

https://imgur.com/a/rNzysQs

I'm somewhere in the JP2 que waiting for a Premium and am curious if they are currently on one of the lines at Stern being built. I've read here that someone here received a mid-August build Premium so it sounds like they are being built. Is there a way to check on which and how many machines are heading out the door daily at Stern in today's environment with current limitations?
Thanks, Steveo

Rex Rampage (resized).jpeg

Looks like many of the machines produced and as far as I can tell, does not affect the ball rolling. Some PF are perfectly smooth, some have grain, some have defects. The playfields have different 'peculiarities' based on which batch your are in, very few are perfect, based on comments here. Yours appears to have some grain, like a number of the folks here...

So I´m having trouble getting the ball to go up the loop after plunging or autoplunge. Had green plunger spring so changed to orange. Also tried one and two washers under left arm on the shooter lane. Still no luck. See this slowmotion-video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kpzvgdhhiffl5fj/2020-09-11%2019.36.19.mp4?dl=0

Any suggestions what is wrong?

That's touchy. Many pinsiders are alarmed about such things but I am not. I tell myself that this isn't a work of art to be stared at but a commercial money making device meant for commercial operation. The fact that I put it in my basement is MY choice and doesn't change it's intended purpose - it doesn't magically become a consumer item like a toaster or a fridge no matter what the pinballs cost. Best analogy I can think of is if you go buy a brand spanking new backhoe to play on your land... Will you really be going over the paint job with a magnifying glass? It's commercial equipment. It doesn't have to be perfect cosmetically as long as it is fully functional. BTW I don't mean really bad stuff like clearcoat chipping. That shouldn't happen for commercial operators either.

If it makes you feel any better my pf is the same (LE). I don't have pooling or chipping but I have wood grain showing. I don't care as long as it's not wearing through the clearcoat and so far so good. I've had my game for about a year now and about 2000 plays on it. Yes.. I actually play my games every... single.. day... lol. I cringe when I see FS ads with "had the game 2 years and it has 200 plays on it lifetime".... like whyyyyy do you own it if you don't play it lol.

On a side note... One good thing about COVID and playing every day is my skill level has dramatically improved.

I had opposite experience in reaching them over the phone. First when you try calling technical support it says due to covid they are not answering phone only email. Which I think is stupid. They can answer phone from home etc. Tech support never got back to me after multiple emails. He did originally but nothing afterwards. After my first experience with stern technical support on a new Deadpool machine, I’m hesitant in buying any more stern. Sorry for the rant.

Just purchased my first NIB, should arrive end of next week!

Thanks guys for your experience info! I'm on it.
~Steveo

I opened my NIB JP Pre back in late April...one of the last off the line before shutdown probably. the main CPU was shot....didn't boot up. I emailed Stern and after a few video's back and forth to troubleshoot, they had me up and running withing a couple of days. Phone CS would be great, but they were very responsive to me.

Hey there -

Never had a problem with the self-plunger going up the ramp, but here's how I fixed my issues with the auto-plunger.. Maybe give this a try to see if it will work? First, make sure the 2 auto-plunger prongs are touching the ball when its resting. Only my left one was initially, so I took a pair of pliers and held the unit still while I used needle nose to bend the right one in slightly until they both touched.

Second, and this one I think had the most effect, is to turn down the power on the auto-plunger coil. It's Game Adjustment 3XX something - I set mine down to 150 and it works 90% of the time. I might even go lower but haven't played around with it yet.

Just wanted to share a quick story about an amazing member of this group that has been incredibly awesome.

I started chatting with EaglePin a little while ago, when he generously offered his time trying to help me figure out an ongoing issue I was having with my T-Rex. He kindly took many photos and videos, and went out of his way to try to help me get it sorted out.

Out of nowhere, he sends me a note the other day, asking me if I was looking for a Stern shooter rod (which I had been for months). He then offers to send it to me as he ended up accidentally ordering two. Despite my attempts to offer him cash for it, he refused and shipped it all the way over to me in Canada.

I always teach my children the importance of treating people with kindness. Pre-COVID, I showed my 5 year old this by purchasing some groceries for an elderly stranger that was having issues with his debit card, and buying food for a college student that was digging in his pockets for change.

EaglePin really inspired me with this, and I feel grateful that I've made a friend like him in this community.

Thank you again brother, you're a true stand up guy!

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Just got a JP premium yesterday and might have a bug. When there is a ball in shooterlane ready to go if i press the flippers ( especially the left I think, and it also feels a little sticky) another ball goes to shooter lane and machine states “ball saved”. So then there is two balls sitting in the lane ready to go. Any thoughts ?

Thanks guys , after some trouble shooting with Pablo at Stern, seems problem was a loose wire in one of the connectors on the node board. Think it was node board 8, but i can confirm if someone needs in the future. Oh man, so good to play a proper game with no glitch.

After a few more quick games , seems that even after i shoot the original ball into play if i press the flippers( either one or both) a few times rapidly, a second ball is put into play autoplunged.