I felt the instructions were horrible! Not much help at all.. But I did end up getting the dmd to work. I dunno why it worked but I put the older update (colordmd.rom) AND the newer one (chroma.rom) on the memory stick then updated the dmd.. it works now ! So purdy!

I've had better luck over the years with the smaller USB drives.

As others noted, enthusiasts need to use small storage USB drives.
I will explain why, although many have tried unsuccessfully already.
The SAM system has problems recognizing some USB memory devices larger than 8 GB.
It also has problems with devices that are USB 3.0 compatible.
It is an "old school" system.

Also, check carefully that when the device is inserted it has a full snug forward lock position.
Even though it gives a green light, the drive can be slight off to the side or not make full contact.
It will recognize the drive, but not read the data.
I call this the "wiggle factor".
This is caused by the surface contacts, or cheap port construction.

These notes are applicable to nearly all Stern games, and other related pinball gadgetry as well such as ColorDMDs.
I cannot speak for other manufacturers of games in the past 5 years.

a quick question to everyone that's recently purchased a metallica (both pro and premium)

are your wire form ball guides (the ones staked on the play field) chromed or powder coated?

He's the black knight...he has the power.. give him your money..muahahaha...(sorry,I had to)

Mine are definitely not chromed. They have more of a matte look to them.

Mine look more matte finish than chrome as well..definitely not powder coated tho.

the reason I'm asking is that I've got an older wood backbox monster premium and the originals were that matte gray but after only 350+ plays there are a ton of chipped areas on them

My wireform ramps are black probably powder coated. I have a 2013 wooden back box machine.

Ramps came black but I power coated mine so the left one looks metallic and the right one looks like a continuation of the snake. I prefer this to the stock look.

Metal left ramp sm.jpg

Snake right ramp sm.jpg

Thought Id share this side by side comparison image of my fried sparky mech and the new one that stern sent me back in 2013. I'm pretty sure that i had the dreaded "sparky locked on cause I left the coin door open during a power cycle of the machine issue"... anyways it shows that on my old one the little metal "finger" was totally bent backwards (toward the chair) vs the stock replacement one on the right that is bent slightly back toward the coil (or at least flat).

I know you got yours working already, but I thought this might be interesting for comparison.

20130906_220131 (resized).jpg

Mine did look like the one on the left. That finger tab was pushed back against the chair. I bent it forward but worried the banging on it will just push it back over time.

I did the same thing - so annoying. Should have been made more clear on the website.

My return lane dividers are brushed grey finish flat metal stock. In other places like along the shooter lane is typical grey bent wire.

20161231_174252 (resized).jpg

20161231_174309 (resized).jpg

thanks to everyone that replied on the wire ball guides

my next problem is with the snake kick out on my premium, but I believe that I've finally figured out this issue

for those of you that have had to completely dismantle the snake assembly to insert the teeth from mezelmods.com, and are now experiencing ejected balls that seemingly kick out where ever they damn well want to instead of to the left flipper, this is what I've found:

not only is it a rather complicated assembly, it's a pain in the @ss to re-assemble and position the parts correctly. incorrect assembly can be the cause of the balls being ejected in a somewhat random fashion (or sdtm) because the plunger assy [part no. 515-7309-00] is not striking the ball dead-center when the coil is fired

snake assy

the 2 longer metal screws that join and line up the 2 assemblies together (as indicated with the green highlighted areas). those plates need to line-up *perfectly* before you tighten all six screws; the 2 metal screws joining the assemblies as well as the 4 wood screws that mount both assemblies to the playfield (indicated by the purple areas)

if the 2 assemblies are not lined up correctly, the nylon end of the plunger assembly will not strike the center of the ball as it sits in the snake's mouth, resting in the small, circular cut-out of the snake upper jaw weldment [part no. 515-9669-00] (as shown highlighted in blue in the above [inset] image)

it's ashamed that stern did not create these parts to automatically line up when they are assembled (either in the form of "ears" on the snake upper jaw weldment or the snake coil bracket assy [part no. 515-9671-00] or some sort of stiff gasket to line them up, because it's very difficult to see where the top of the plunger assembly is sitting in relationship to that circular cut-off of the weldment where the ball rests

I'm going to purchase an endoscope from amazon.com (like one in the link below) that has a 45° mirror to correctly align the assemblies and hopefully correct my issue

https://www.amazon.com/Inspection-Waterproof-Borescope-Endoscope-OE5505-01/dp/B0166UCZ8W/ref=sr_1_8

edit:
since the endoscope allows you to take photos and video, I'll try and take some of both and post here once I receive it on thursday (2017.jan.05)

All you need to do to Install the fangs is remove the screw in the back of the snake and remove the one on his head. Then, using a flat head screwdriver, insert it between the metal guide and the front of the snake, pry it up just enough to slide the fangs in being careful not to break anything. It's not ideal, but it works. I was contemplating taking the snake assembly apart, but it looked like a huge PIA. I literally just did this two weeks ago.

Lermods:
I wish that I had done a little more research when I first opened my MET monster premium and installed the teeth

on mine, there wasn't any gap whatsoever that I could create between the upper snake jaw weldment and the molded head to fit the 3D printed teeth. I knew about the screw in the back of the head, but didn't have an offset screwdriver (at the time) to loosen it or the one inside on the roof of the snake's mouth) so I did the next best thing (which proved to be a huge pain in the @ss

everything was working perfectly for me for about 300 games, but I must have not tightened everything securely because it slowly started spitting the balls out in a more random fashion. it wasn't until this weekend, when I finally had time to tear it all down again that I finally figured it out

ps
for those adding tim's 3D printed teeth, a set of these comes in handy:
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-4-pc-offset-screwdriver-set/p-00941318000P?plpSellerId=Sears&prdNo=6&blockNo=6&blockType=G6#

I could have simply disassembled the molded snake head and inserted the teeth. although I will say that even with them, re-assembly is a pain in the @ss if you remove the screws altogether (so try to just loosen them and not remove them completely.

if you do, the 2 nylon spacers may fall out and getting them to stay in place will be enough to drive you bonkers. add on top of that, that not having a lot of space to rotate the screwdriver, it will seem to take an eternity to re-tighten everything back up

Yeah, I forgot to mention, there is a screw on the inside roof of the snake's mouth, you can get to it with a wratchet and a Philipps head bit, not easy, but you only need to loosen it a couple of turns to give more leeway.

I've got a strange problem with my MET PREM - hopefully someone can help. At default setings, my GI will start to strobe. I mean, like a seriously strong strobe light. It got so bad, it was unplayable. Thankfully, there is a GI adjustment. When I dim the GI slightly, the strobing completely stops.

...any ideas what could be causing this?

The data cable. Stern will replace it. You can try reseating it first, but a few have needed to be replaced. The way the GI works, it has both power and data. If you pull the data cable, for example, the GI remains in its last updated state, but does not go out.

The GI on a Pro is not dimmable, right?

Correct.

check to see if the data cable is being pinched near the top of the playfield underside or if it's being bound up by the zip ties. phoebe's was getting [chewed up] by the up-down post on the orbit and mine was just a bit too taunt going into the pc board near the center of the playfield.

phoebe had to request a new data cable. my issue was that I was losing all of the GI and the spider inserts, which was easily rectified by pulling some of the extra slack in the cable towards the connector so that it wasn't getting pulled on when the playfield was lifted/lowered

Thank you guys for the replies! I'll certainly check the data cable.

Or go the cheap and easy route. No screw removal / disassembly required.
Use some lego horns and earthquake putty or Sugru to attach them.
Approaching 700 plays and still attached.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/metallica-mod-snake-fangs-teeth-cheap-easy-1#post-3422851

Questions for those that have Mezel Mods cemetery arch and/or hammer LED. Is it possible to swap the red for blue in the arch? If I buy the blue hammer LED is it interchangeable with the LED in the arch?

I was thinking that since the game goes blue for grave marker multiball it would look better if the cemetery arch matched, maybe red looks better since it contrasts? I dunno, maybe I'm better off without either, but gotta get the fangs.

as promised, here's a photo of the inside of the snake jaw using an endoscope showing just how far the vuk plunger assy was off-center (and the cause of all my issues)

MET snake (endoscope view)

this was mainly caused by improper assembly when the machine was built. I ended up removing the entire snake assy (again), and then carefully re-positioning both weldments to re-center the plunger

I ended up having to leave out one screw out completely to get the plunger centered as the factory drilled hole was off by more than 1.5mm. this small amount was enough shift the position of the lower weldment and the vuk plunger as seen in the image above

Wow that was a pretty big flaw. Good work.

Where exactly is the data cable everyone is speaking of?

it's the one that looks like an eithernet cable (gray insulated cable with a 6-pin modular phone type connector on either end) that runs from the [right side] of the cpu board down into the cabinet (zipped tied with the bundles running along the right side of the underside of the cabinet) to one of the opto boards located near the center of the playfield

I don't have access to my machine right now to take a photo

Added a lighted coffin to the blank area above the mystery scoop. Tied it to the coffin flasher so it lights when the coffin flasher lights in the middle of the playfield. PM me if interested.

metallica-pinball-illuminated-coffin-mod-1 (resized).JPG
metallica-pinball-illuminated-coffin-mod-2 (resized).JPG

I like the way you tied it into the coffin flasher, but that little skeleton is creepy looking

I like him

this is a fun video - only pinball related thing is Metallica but alot of fun. sorry if already posted elsewhere, enjoy

So several peeps have asked about sparky protectors over the last few months. I didnt have my scroll saw so was unable to make more. But I have my scroll saw back now. So putting feelers out. If i can get 10 or so peeps that want one, ill make a new batch of protectors for 6 shipped to ya USPS.

I'd be interested, what do they look like?

Working on a magnet speaker panel for Metallica.

IMG_8156 (resized).JPG

Heres a pic of the stock plastic and then a pic of my machine with the wider protector.

I can only do clear plastic no etching or colors.

20170108_195113 (resized).jpg

20170108_195131 (resized).jpg

Nice, count me in.

From that picture it really does look like a piece of audio rack equipment in your bb. Now if you could rig a few small leds by some of the dials that would look like you had a working 1/4 stack back there. It really lights up nicely with the reflected pf light. I got a wood box Met Pro... dang.

Ha! Somehow I knew you would say it needs some LEDs somewhere! I'm working on something for wood speaker panels.
I think it goes great with the game.

Put me in for one.

Does anyone have the shot card/poster you get with one new for sale?

Hey I'm just tryin to be helpful.

Interested to see what you come up with. Just make sure you design it with thought in mind about what it would look like with a Color DMD in it.

Jeeze I really like that one you just made.

I like that panel, ninja. It would be better if you made the top part with the dials shorter in height. I think it would look better with a gap between the display and speakers.

They are not included

I'd be up for a Sparky protector.

PM sent

Put me down for 1 please.