And now a full member :p Picked up premium monsters yesterday. 8 hours of bonding time (new rubber, plastic protectors, powered sub, cliffy stuff, replacement diverter etc) and finally my poor children who patiently waited went nuts like Christmas morning. They've played it more than I have

No shipping issues, took pics of everything for reference later in case anything starts peeling

Ironically Nothing Else Matters was blasting in freight warehouse as I pulled out.

NIB checkpoints, no issues:
Ramp flaps- no burrs underneath
Magnets - incredibly they r level! Wasn't looking forward to battling blue nut goo for 3rd time this lifetime. Thank u stern assembly workers!

NIB checkpoint issues (minor but a little preventative action needed):
Autolaunch: One reason balls may turn to sht so quickly is the fact that the autoplunger mech was quite burred. Quickly smoothed out with sandpaper.
Apron/playfield gouging: the metal apron front edge, over time, will gouge the pf art underneath. Mine only had staining from black paint on apron at this point but a sign of issues come later (see pix) Solution I came up with was to trim a couple of lexan washers and place beneath apron posts. (See pix) easy if you're installing trough kick out protectors anyway. Now apron sits a washers thickness above pf. (I don't pinside much, sorry if this all has been covered before).

To do list:
Lollipop side rails from pinball life (hopefully arrive today)
Home made backbox LED lighting (save a little $)
Color Dmd: next Christmas :p

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For shipping damage you are looking just for the obvious physical damage caused by handling.. aka dings, hits on the cabinet, assemblies physically broke from the game being mishandled, dropped, etc. From forklift through the box.. to cabinet being slammed. Really, with the way they pack them, if the box is intact without any penetration.. you're pretty much golden. The shipping inspection is about damage from handling.. not game functional tests.

You can cut the straps, cut the side of the box and expose the game to check for any cabinet damage. But if the box were intact, with no signs of hole, water, etc.. you're going to be fine. The rest is just about the game being functional after being jostled around.. and usually at worst that's just dealing with something that may have come undone. That's not the shippers responsibility.

You're signing that the shipper handled the game properly and delivered it.. not that your game is 100% functional.

Not a huge update, but hell yeah. You always want to have the latest code.

V1.64 - April 23, 2015
======================

- Seek & Destroy mode has been changed so it now awards 1 cross,
1 snake, and 1 electric chair each time one of the main shots (left
loop, cross lane, left ramp, right ramp, right loop) is made when
lit. This allows progress towards lighting "Crank It Up" during
Seek & Destroy. This rule change also solves the problem of not
being able to light the snake to collect SNAKE letters during
Seek & Destroy, since only a shot on the playfield would allow this.
- Boosted Seek & Destroy scores from 750k to 1M (seek shot) and 375k
to 500k (regular shot).
- Added lamp status on the sparky lamps for electric chair multiball
and battery mode that indicate progress toward lighting the super
jackpot and completing the mode, respectively.
- Added art to the combo high score to date display effect in the
attract mode. Changed the font for the combo award and the combo
jackpot award.
- Increased lady justice "big value" score.
- Added design team members to the default (factory reset) HSTD.
- Increased the display/lamp/sound priorities for the multiball modes
(Coffin, Cross, Electric Chair, Snake). Previously, these were the
same as Fuel/Seek & Destroy, which caused interference. The priority
for Coffin was set to something higher than Cross/Electric Chair/Snake,
as Coffin is rare to get, and alternates between shots and the captive
ball (so there will be opportunity to see Cross/Electric Chair/Snake
effects on the shots when Coffin is available on the captive ball).
- Changed the names of the diagnostic buttons (these are translated now).
- Fixed a problem with the mystery sound effect not coming through due
to higher priority sound effects from previous effects taking too long
to finish up.
- Removed track #4 from outlane drain sound so big effects will not get
cut off.
- Fixed text running off the display.

They still need to fix the sound cutting out when you adjust music attenuation!!
This is a big small problem that really bugs me!!!!

It's been know for awhile, has anyone reported it to Stern as a bug?

flynnibus -- Thanks for the reply, much more informed.
Guess I have 1st NIB jitters.

Funny... This just happened to me last night. I was beginning to think I had something wrong with the machine.

Grammy teaching Rosie to play Metallica.

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Thanks. With the glass off and sound turned all the down, you can hear it very clearly. See video

Note that it goes away as soon as the ball goes into the coffin. I moved the camera up to the speaker to show that it's not coming from there, but rather from the coffin mechanism itself. If this is normal, then I'm cool. Everything seems to work fine.

Hi Humph. I also got mine from Trent. I picked it up at the shipping terminal rather than having it delivered all the way to my house. I signed after just inspecting the box carefully. Did not open. Perhaps I should in the future. I did not have any damage that I can see. You can read some of the things that I'm trying to work out that are associated with a nib machine (or any machine).

On a side note, I decided to pick mine up at the trucking terminal rather than having it delivered to the house so that I could guarantee it would be here before people come over for Superbowl. But, in the future, I'm thinking of doing that for any other NIB machines I get. It was easy. I chose the date / time rather than waiting around for a delivery. And, I think it's one less ride on a truck to get it from the terminal to my home - so less chance of shipping damage.

Good luck with the machine. This was my first nib also. Pretty happy so far.

When the coffin is lit for lock yes, this is a normal sound. It should not be making this sound at any other time.

Thx JeffA --

That's good advice about picking it up at the shipping terminal. I think I read Markmon does this as well. I'll have to get a hold of Trent to see if this is an option for me and what City/where the shipping terminal is at. Trent said as yet the shipper is TBD.

Yeah, I've read about some of your machine's issues & am taking notes. Hope you get them all resolved.

Right before my Super Bowl party my game takes a shit. The problem everyone seems to have had with the sparky coil sticking seems to have just happened to my snake! I turned the game on and the snake jaw just started goin crazy so I checked it out and the little coil that pulls that latch won't let go of it.. So the jaw won't latch.. Anyone with experience on these coils have a good place to start? Do I just need to replace that lil coil?

Do a switch test and see that all the snake switches are working correctly one may be stuck closed causing the coil to fire

good idea, I think there's like 3 switches off that thing..

You can always go into game adjustments and disable the snake, so you can still play during your SB party.

Perhaps related...
My 1 week old Met Premium also has had a few issues. I fixed a poorly shaped ball guide, and then found and switched 2 led cables that were reversed (shoot the right ramp, and the left ramp insert lit). Sparky wasn't bouncing, but after removing him and making a slight adjustment, he's perfect.
Today there's a new issue:
magnets stopped working. Found a fuse that was blown, but replacing it didn't fix the problem.

Is this a stuck coil issue perhaps?

Anyone else have this problem?

I am looking to buy a pro as my first nib game in the next few weeks. I havent bought a nib stern game, what price should I be expecting to pay? What are some recommended dealers?

I used Trent at Tilt Amusements. .. I believe Game Exchange in Colorado is a wonderful place to do business with too..

Yea, switches all check out. It's like the coil's holding the latch.. Didn't see any blown fuses figured it couldn't be that simple

If the coil energizes at power on it's gonna be a shorted transistor on the driver board most likely.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to check that tomorrow. Do I still have to replace the coil? It's froze up I'd be afraid it would instant burn up...

Custom Sparky paint job, with and without uv light. Should be completed in the next week or so.

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You already checked the fuses good start.

Check the coils LEADS from being BROKEN (this can happen due to vibration or mishandling).
Check the wire leads to and from the coil (cold solder joints? Broken wire? Bad MOLEX connector or pin?)
Test wire continuity to the backbox.
Test the diode first (if applicable, as without me checking the schematic, it may not use one), BEFORE you test the transistor.
Check the coil for burns (inspect the wires and the wrapper).
Test the assembly for movement function (Is it dragging or hanging)?
Is the return spring missing?
Is there components or parts missing like e-clips from the schematic diagram?
The snake is a two part system (mechanically).
One to open and lock the jaw, another to trigger its closure release.
Test the coil itself with test leads with a small battery pack to see if it "pulls" (wires can break UNDERNEATH the wrapper).
If all this is good, then test the board drive transistor.

Use a step by step approach to repairs, never "assume" immediately it a board problem.
This is the number one mistake by new collectors.
Every time I hear, "it must be a transistor", sometimes a lot of extra work is done for no reason at all, including $$$ of boards or unneeded repairs.
What is worse is when an owner plugs in a brand new board and damages it due to playfield issues that were never tested in the first place.
Test simple things FIRST.

Thanks man, I'll check out both.

Quick question, just got my metallica premium, how do I install the snake fangs?

https://mezelmods.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201385295-Snake-Fang-Installation

Got it fixed.. The adjustment screw for the snake jaw had gotten loose at some point and walked it's way up just enough so that the latch would not flip up. Next time ya'll are under there ya might wanna make sure that jam nuts tight! I really thought this was gonna be electronics related. What a relief!

That was my point.
Hopefully others learn the same lesson early.
It will help eliminate wasted time and money, and might even improve technical skill.
This is basic description is called "attention to detail", and is critical to keeping pinball machines operately properly.
Small things count greatly.

Not sure but I updated my code with a new one from Pinball Browser changing some songs and when I did the game reset and tried playing, magnets not working. Blown fuse and replacing fixed it. Funny thing it blew that same fuse last time I replaced the code. From now on no more reset from the menu screen... Gonna shut off power switch instead. This happen to anyone else when resetting after update?

Seems as though it was something making contact with the magnet, blowing the 4 amps (or less) that it carries.
Friend suggested maybe a flasher. At any rate, I move some cables/wires away from the magnet mech and it seems to. Be fine now, no blown fuses.
If you're not sure, unplug the magnet board and see if the game still blows fuses.

Simple question.
Are you properly grounding yourself when doing this work?

You have some type of intermittent short on the playfield caused by one of The magnet assemblies. It is not most likely the PDB. The magnet board unplugging has value in being conclusive. It could be the source of the problem. Test the magnet assemblies *repeatedly* one at a time and see if you have the fuse blowing.

This has nothing to do with code, unless there is some feature was changed related to magnet activation or timing. I really have no idea what the extent of changes you are performing.

I think there may be a circular thing that's slightly touching a silver thingy ma-doo, which could be leading to all of your problems

Ok, sorry I'll get out of here.. I have no idea what I'm talking about

"Highly technical explanation version"
No harm, no foul.
Pinball wiring schematics should be a collectors best friend.
I was referencing my MET operations manual tonight for dissembly of a part.
Still improving and "bulletproofing".

Installed the interactive skull speaker-grill mod from the modfather. The eyes glow blue, tied into the Sparky flasher - looks awesome.

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High score"Gandalf". Who's got the high score on Lord of the Rings, "Lars"?

LOL - Gandalf as well!

I've got them too but red and I put an extra red led strip in each one so they REALLY light up.

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Sparky finished. All metal work is UV reactive, as are his eyes, teeth and veins in his hands.
Can't wait to get it back fitted and running.

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Nice work.

Well another issue with my Metallica. Last night I noticed my head decals are starting to peel on both sides. I already have an email sent to my distro with pics attached.

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Loctite professional epoxy super glue along the edges. It will provide a clean, clear seal, with a cloth rag with a fast sweep motion. What exactly do you want your distro to do for you anyway?

Send him decals that have stronger glue? Not everyone has loctite professional epoxy laying around, and decals shouldn't peel off a new game.

Maybe it's decals that's holding up production at Stern.. metal backboxes with matte finishes going through warm/cold cycles.. gonna need a good sticker!

Loctite professional super glue is available at all home improvement and hobby stores.
This is liquid not gel.
It comes in a larger blue bottle than Loctite.
Fairly expensive at $8, but one bottle will do at least 5 machines.
This is not some "magic potion" that only a few know about.
You have to use the good stuff as it dries quickly, and makes a super strong epoxy bond that will actually protect the decal edges. You just cannot slop the glue.

Decals come off Stern games all the time. Have for years if not screened. They have had bad adhesives and have poor QC. If the workers screw up and rush the prep, it happens. Temperature changes in the factory or transport do not help much either, and can cause variances in things like moisture levels. Home conditions contribute as well, and that was not even considered by the owner. Super dry winter areas will peel quicker, as the air is extremely set and the decals contract.

BLY/WMS games NIB games also peeled, if the cabinets were not silk screened. MB is a good example.

Alternatively...
New decals requires decal removal, residue removal, cabinet preparation, and reapplication. Done it quite a few times. Metal backboxes should make it easier. A distro is not going to do the work, nor give you a new cabinet. A lot of work for new decals that can be fixed quickly.

I just provide answers to solve problems, not generate new ones.

My ST Pro, Mustang Pro and first run Met Pro decals haven't come off, I wonder what glue they used on those and no one in the Mustang club has complained about peeling decals.

Question for you guts:
New Premium in (1 week+ old), hammer magnet is blowing fuses. Thought I had it fixed by lifting the playfield and trying to separate all wires from the hammer mech. Worked fine for a few games, then hammer magnet stopped working again.
Any suggestions as to how I can track down the trouble connection?
I'm guessing that it's not necessarily the magnet mech? Could be a flasher wire/lead touching the magnet board?

Any thoughts?

It's nothing to do with the glue. It's that the cabinets weren't prepped properly. "Rushed" Dust, oils and other contamination under the decal. It's peeling at the edges because they prepped the middle but did not wipe/clean the edges of the cab properly.

If you were to either use alcohol to clean the edge they would stay down. Or if you get new decals peel off the old, and clean with alcohol they will stick and stay stuck.

Could it be the infamous power on with the coindoor open bug/glitch with Metallica? That either blows magnet fuses or makes the sparky coil smoke.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/metallica-sparky-short-warning

How do you know this? Just asking.

Magnet lock on related to the magnet board or an inadvert metal contact in the disappearing magnet assembly. Start from the assembly and work backwards.
Test all magnet assemblies repeateably and independently to isolate the problem, it may be something else in the game.
Most likely you will find the short.

My monsters premium arrived today... been busy changing out rings.. colordmd... cliffys.. pbl balls...loving it. ..