Metallica (Premium)
Stern, 2013Does anybody elses do this? It seems the metal tongue on mine is slightly lower than the lip in the snakes mouth so the ball frequently rests there and it takes a good nudge to get it out. I thought this might be normal until I played my friends machine and his does not. I started to take it apart last night to see if I could correct the problem.
Quoted from Asael:Let us know if you find a fix.
I have an idea. I was trying to work it by just removing the snakes lower jaw last night, but it is just too hard to work in there, so when I get home I'm going to remove the entire assembly.
Quoted from SteveP3:Is there a tongue adjustment set screw on the LE like on the PRO?
No, there are three pieces where the only connection is two side screws. The only part that I saw that may be adjustable is lowering the outer rubber that has the lip. I'll know more when I get home and look at it. I really would like to know how many of these are like that. It's not that bad, but seeing one that didn't have this problem made me know I had to investigate.
Edit- there may be an adjustment screw, but it was not visible when I removed the lip and tongue. I'll know more when I remove the whole assembly.
I checked the LE manual for the snake assembly. Looks like there are 3 small 4-40 screws with nylon lock nuts underneath the 'tongue' itself. Maybe it's possible to add another washer underneath the nylock nuts for these (under the tongue) to bring them up high enough to push the tongue up a hair? Keep in mind I'm just going off of the parts diagrams, I have no idea of the actual clearances involved.
You can try adjusting the lower rubber lip but it's just held on with the two side screws near the rear (like you mentioned); it doesn't really perfectly stay in place and overtightening that will probably just chew through the rubber.
This screw was forcing the snakes lip forward and the metal tongue was then lower in the snakes mouth.The metal tongue is not held solid, it pivots on the ends of the side screws. The screw seems to be an afterthought to prevent the snakes lip from sinking into the playfield. Either that or it was not installed where it should be. There are no adjustments to be made and the screw cannot be relocated as there is already one hole. I will contact Stern.
Haha! They got creative with your mech compared to the parts manual I guess.
Looks like they decided to install the screws underneath the tongue the opposite way around from the parts manual too... (parts manual says the nuts should be under the tongue, not the head of the screws)
Quoted from SteveP3:Is there a tongue adjustment set screw on the LE like on the PRO? Maybe you could just turn that screw inwards a couple of turns to bring the tongue level up.
Where is the location for this "tongue adjustment set screw" on the Pro. Under the pf or in the snakes mouth. Thanks for your answer.
Stern is sending me a new lower snake lip, as it looks like that screw is in the wrong place.
Thank's to the guys in customer support.
My recently purchased NIB Met Prem (date on back is 8/14/13) has a problem with the ball rolling out of the snake and then STDM rather than in and locking. If I use my fingers to roll the ball over the lip, it goes that far with no problem. The problem seems to be the 'tongue' flap. Instead of the ball rolling over the lip then downhill into the lock, it has to continue uphill on the flap. I would assume the flap should be angled back into the lock and not uphill.
Can anyone confirm this? I found this thread and upon inspection with a flashlight I can see the exact same setup as pictured in this thread. There's a screw in the center of the lip and the screws/washers look exactly the same. Could this be my problem?
Ah yes, the old snake lip tongue ball problem thread. I forgot to add that after I got my new snake lip and adjusted the height of the lower jaw (this can be easily done with the adjustment screw on the latch bracket) it was smooth sailing from then on out.
Quoted from Paladin:I would assume the flap should be angled back into the lock and not uphill.
As I no longer have this machine, I can't remember exactly, but you may try adjusting the height of the snake jaw with the adjustment screw. Others will tell you there isn't such a thing, but there was on mine.
Quoted from o-din:adjusted the height of the lower jaw (this can be easily done with the adjustment screw on the latch bracket)
Wait, what? I didn't realize there was an adjustment for the jaw height?!
Quoted from Aurich:Wait, what? I didn't realize there was an adjustment for the jaw height?!
Look for it. Some have decided that shimming the whole unit with washers was the way to go. This is not necessary.
The position of the latch that holds the jaw open is adjustable. Up or down almost a half an inch.
Quoted from o-din:Look for it. Some have decided that shimming the whole unit with washers was the way to go. This is not necessary.
The position of the latch that holds the jaw open is adjustable. Up or down almost a half an inch.
Welp, I've got some poking around to do then!
Quoted from Aurich:Welp, I've got some poking around to do then!
It's in the back, on the bottom of the latch bracket if I remember correctly.
Quoted from Paladin:Video showing how the ball must roll uphill before falling down into the lock. Is this normal behavior? Only a fairly powerful shot will lock. Anything else will go in and roll back out, usually STDM.
» YouTube video
I think uphill is normal. You may try lowering the jaw with the adjustment to make it easier to hit the ball in. Like I said, I no longer have the machine, but I had dissected the snake top to bottom.
Here are a couple of pics I took while I was trying to fix my ball stuck problem. First thing Stern support recommended was lowering the jaw using the adjustment. As you can see, I was able to lower it almost level with the playfield (it would still go lower) but the ball was still hanging up behind the lip.
Once I got it squared away, I settled for the lip just above the playfield and that worked great.
Quoted from o-din:Look for it. Some have decided that shimming the whole unit with washers was the way to go. This is not necessary.
The position of the latch that holds the jaw open is adjustable. Up or down almost a half an inch.
This has been covered before. The adjustment screw is not for the jaw height, but the jaw release latch. Since the latch is at an angle, adjusting the screw can have an effect on the jaw height for some people, but not everyone. If I adjusted the screw any more on mine, the latch would not be latching therefore the only solution was shimming the 2 assemblies with washers.
Rob
Quoted from o-din:So last night in the middle of an epic battle I had to Nudge it free and it went SDTM! I shut it off and decided it was time to take action! I took it apart and found a part that wasn't listed in the owners manual. A screw on the backside of the snakes lip.
DSCN1752.JPG 123 KB
Coin door ball saver can be your friend!
Rob
Quoted from Rob_G:If I adjusted the screw any more on mine, the latch would not be latching therefore the only solution was shimming the 2 assemblies with washers.
Well, I didn't have that problem (see above pics) but I guess if the regular adjustment didn't work, then washers could be used as a last resort.
I played another premium today and it has the same screw in the lip. That's at least 3 shipped that way. The one I played today wasn't as bad as mine, but still had roll outs. At least they didn't go STDM, they generally hit the left flipper.
I haven't done any tweaks on mine yet. I'll try the adjustment screw and if that doesn't work I'll look into adding washers to lower the jaw.
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