If it makes you feel better (it won't, but... ), the autoplunger isn't an AIQ problem, it's a Stern problem, and it's been one for a very, very long time. It stems from the nature of the design. There is simply too much slop when you take into account the tolerance stack on all of the pivot points and moving parts. Most games it doesn't matter if you get the occasional (or often) weak plunge because the design isn't demanding. Unfortunately games like AIQ, JP, BK:SoR (prem/LE), and even as far back as the original Avengers struggle. Pretty much anything that needs to go up some sort of ramp or major incline during it's launch is going to have potential issues, while games with a nice flat, simple plunger lane likely will not (since a weak plunge will still make it).

Making sure the forks are aligned, adding washers or e-clips (or felt bumpers, misc other things people have tried) to take up slop in the assembly, putting washers or spacers under a portion of the shooter lane to help guide the ball, etc can help give it a better fighting chance, but the odds of ever getting 100% are low. The entire mechanism would have to be redesigned or manufactured to WAY higher tolerances to perform consistently at full power. Everything else is a band-aid. Sure, some people will get lucky with parts on the right side of the tolerance band, but some will not.

I am pretty lucky with my AIQ, it performs at about 80%. I still need to tweak my forks and I can probably bring that up a little. But I feel for those that have it worse. I have fought with other games, and it isn't fun when there is really nothing you can do about the root problem. But you can minimize it as best as you can and try not to let it ruin the game.

As was mentioned, Soul Gem is the place it can really hurt you most. For that you can try manual plunging before the auto plunges. Not ideal, but it might help in a critical moment.

thanks for the insight!
5 shots left on soul gem for the last shot and the ball is in the shooter lane.
80% is still too little. and dont forget the suffering skillshots.

Been there done that! I feel for you. I hope you can find the magic bullet that brings up your chances of making it! If you do some searching, you will find a ton of discussion of people fighting this issue on many other games and you might find some other ideas. Good luck!

yeah thanks! now my action button keeps getting stuck, feels like the spring inside gets choked. any idea for that problem?

It should come apart pretty easily. I would look to see if there are any burrs or if maybe the spring isn't sitting right. It's always something!

You only need to locate and switch the connectors under the playfield. It’s a 5 minute fix! I didn’t have to do this on mine but others did, I think there are pictures earlier in this thread...

Looks amazing ! I love it when folks get creative in this way. What action figures did you use?

Just ordered his star trek toppers, will have to order avengers soon as well.

Just wanted to say hi to this group - picking up a new AIQ premium Saturday. The wait from another new machine I have on order is killing me so I pulled the trigger. Hear great things about AIQ and can't wait to get playing it...after my 4hr drive each way to pick it up.

Congrats! My premium arrives tomorrow, it’s like Christmas Eve here.

Amazon - just search for each character. Some are super available. some are not. they ranged from ~$10 - $30 each. Hopefully my design can act as a guide. I don’t really think I have many regrets. I may have made hulk bigger, but not much - I hacksawed him at his pants. i am really happy with Dr. Strange and the Antman big/tiny combo. The hovering Ironman took 3 different trys before I found the right combo. The good thing about the ones i wound up with is that they all seem to be proportional. At first, I had a bunch of figures that were all different sizes. It’s always fun to go into Whole Foods and return a bunch of toys. I’ve been working on my JP at the same time. Walking in with 4 toy avengers and 3 toy dinosaurs to return is pretty funny.

On the premium/le is the the is the tower shot supposed to feed to the left or right flipper?

Does anyone know the sound request for the iron man multiball music on pinball browser thanks

Well...Just got my premium yesterday after a long wait...I must say that this game is going to be great. I say "going to" because after I set it up and leveled it down the middle, the balls near the sides were curving hard to the right (on the right side of the playfield) and hard left (on the left side of the playfield).

Pulled the glass and yep...CONVEX, how bad is it? See pic...this is with a straight edge pressed down on the right side of the playfield looking at how far the straight edge is lifted on the left side of the playfield. Looks like ~4-5 mm over 380 mm (0.2 inches over 15 inches) maybe more. This is definitely enough to notice by observing ball travel (like a magnet toward the outlanes). Anyone else have this problem? I guess I need to get a hold of distro/Stern on this? (don't tell me I'm using a Chinese ruler, checked it on the jointer, it's flat ) Anyone know the flatness spec for Stern playfields?

IMG_9476 (resized).jpg

All my games have them turned off.

Got my cliffy's yesterday and plan to install tomorrow - any tips or other pointers before I start tearing my machine apart?

Don’t rest tools or parts on the playfield, put a towel down on the playfield first so you don’t accidentally scratch the clear. Don’t force anything into place or you might bend the protector and it is difficult to reshape the thin metal. Take pictures of anything you take off so you can be sure you put it back correctly. Good Luck!

Please beware of this AIQ LE. New pinsider. Never posted and something not right. He says it comes with stern le 3 year warranty only on a le. It appears it may be a scam. When I ask when it was purchase he told me go buy from someone else. Very Strange.

Machine - For Sale

Avengers: Infinity Quest (Limited Edition) Archived

As new - New out of box (first owner) - “New in the box the price is firm I bought it for a friend he doesn't need it anymore. Sales tax in California has been paid on this game that's why the price is so high. Cash only ...”

2021-02-23

San Jose, CA

Marcmary

10,090 (Firm)

Archived after: 33 days

Viewed: 847 times

Status: Not sold: Decided to keep game

Yes, I looked at mine tonight. My right (gauntlet) ramp has connectors labeled “left exit opto” and the adjoining connector is labeled “center exit opto” so obviously they get mislabeled at the factory, so pull the playfield forward and trace them out.

369804A5-C741-4872-94FD-C7315A745635 (resized).jpeg

I have Mylar works great no issues. Cliffys coming. My Mylar wore through. Never had this happen at around only 600 plays. Far edge.

Wow that will feed the outlanes more. Contact them immediately. I feel for you.

Just got my premium today. Any adjustments for the black widow ramp airballs that hit the plastic on the entrance?

Thanks for the heads up. I saw this too and thought it was very strange...

We have quite a few scammers here in the bay area. Another guy just tried to sell a RFM for $2700 that turned out to be a scam 2 weeks ago.

that’s a picture of the spot i was thinking of swapping mine. the ones from the right ramp opto are tagged ‘opto left ramp exit -55’ and the ones from the left ramp opto are tagged ‘opto left ramp exit -54’. i was thinking of swapping -54 and -55 but i can’t unplug them because i can’t get the little locks pushed in! do i need some kind of molex tool or something?

Wiggle the white plastic connectors as you pull on them and they will come apart. I don't think there are any locks on those 3 pin connectors.

Subscribing, as I just ordered mine.

What do you guys think about mandatory mods on this machine (pro). I already got ordered/in stock:
- sheet of PDI glass
- JBL Stage 810 woofer
- Convolux
- Shaker motor
- Illuminated speaker rings
- Mirror blades
- Illuminated flipper buttons
- Trough lighting (must see if this is necesarry)
- Transparent silicone rubbers and post rubbers (will experiment with different colors)
- Some strategic leds (I always do a color/white combo under the slingshot and outlane plastics)
- The droptarget bank on the left will be changed with transparent drop targets and illuminated from the back.

Am searching for some action figures to add as well.

That's a whole list, I know. But which do you prefer that is not on the list. I think avengers is such a machine you can keep adding mods without overdoing it or break down the authenticity of the game.

You can forget about adding them to new games !

I'm working on a fix

This also has been noticed recently on a 2020-run Star Trek Pro, and a brand new LZ Pro. Get in touch with Distro asap.

Yes I guess the sign is they never posted and recently joined in the last 18 months. I feel bad for the new guys as they have to build their reputation up due to scammers. We do too much bank wires and PayPal friends and family I guess on pinside. To much trust based on reputation. Also not letting others discuss your ad is a red flag.

Let me know when you finish that fix I'll buy both the CM and BW ramp fixes.

I would think a plastic that just comes out further would do it. At least on mine it's hitting the edge of the plastic whenever it gets rejected. If I had a laser cutter I'd give it a shot.

Yeah that's pretty much the idea....I'll dress it up with her emblem or something

I'm happy to be a test subject if you come up with something

This is a very rare occurrence on my premium, but I may just add an additional spacer to provide a little more height to the plastic at the entrance and see if that helps.

holy crap, that is A LOT. As i remember, stern wants you to put some coins under the ruler to see how bad it is. also make an image of the whole ruler.
You also can notice a 1-2mm warped playfield. The outlanes are feeling magnetic in this case.

I get a ton of BW ramp rejects after a good clean/wax and new balls on my Premium. After 50 or so games the rejects aren't as common.

I reached out to the admins previously trying to get an answer why grouped games aren't rated based on a simple weighted scale (sum of: {rating x number of ratings for each machine in a group} / sum of: {total number of ratings for all machines in that group}), but never got a response. The current rating just takes whichever machine has the highest rating in the group and applies that to the group rank as a whole. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me (when they are grouped, individually it would). Wonka "CE" got 26 ratings from new owners, so that high rating gave it the number 1 spot for this week

Good idea. Here is that photo using dimes. 2+ dimes fit over the length of the 12" ruler when the ruler is near the left side of the table. Ruler doesn't travel over any inserts. I also sent a video of the ruler rocking back and forth to the distributor. It's pretty extreme, IMHO.

IMG_9517 1 (resized).jpg

...and here is the whole ruler shot...

IMG_9519_r=crop (resized).jpg

That sucks unless you're an Orbiter fan!

We got a STLE back in the day with a bow not quite as bad as that one. Stern replaced it with a wired playfield. That is not a cosmetic defect, it actually breaks the game, making it unplayable. You should get a wired playfield replacement. They're pretty easy to swap with another person assisting.

yeah, get a populated PF or you have to rebuild the hole thing... this can easily take 20 hrs+ of work

Ok done. 5 minute fix to correct the factory mix up of the left and right ramp exit optos. btw stern confirmed this method of swapping leads at the first molex from the opto. no need to switch the power leads. i marked the opto connectors with a sharpie, ‘R’ and ‘L’, for future reference. i confirmed in test mode then did a quick play test. after just one game i can already tell it is going to be easier and more satisfying, lol. which is great because i was already thinking it was pretty fun, and a very sweet shooter!

edit: added context of what was being fixed

For anyone, er everyone, having trouble with Stern's crappy auto-plunger not making it up the ramp, I solved this issue on mine and it was bad.

So, first advice: Do not try to line up the forks so they both touch the ball exactly. This won't work. In fact, doing this will drop your ramp-make rate to near 0. The way this mech works is a mess - what happens when Stern goes cheap on everything (compare to the auto plunger on LOTR to see what I mean).

Record your auto plunger with your phone in high speed (slow mo) mode and you'll likely see it takes a hard left after its plunged and then tries to go straight. Even with the forks perfectly aligned to the ball right down to the atomic level.

Instead, grab a pair of plyers and bend the right fork so it's perfectly straight (on mine, its actually bent a little outward at optimal setting, as crazy as that sounds), now gradually tweak the left fork as outward as it can go until its either pointed straight (it's usually bent to the right at the factory) or the ball is resting JUST above the manual plunger tip - this is how you get the torque you want.

Now, drop a ball in the shooter lane and watch. Doesn't make it? Turn the left fork inward a tad. Continue repeating this until your ball is making it over 100% of the time. The sound the auto-plunger makes is unique when you get it right. Its a solid thunk sound. When adjusted correctly, the ball easily makes it up the ramp 100% of the time without fail. It can be done on every copy of this machine. Try it, the auto-plunger mech is quite difficult to break.

EDIT: Attached a photo of mine at rest so you can see what I mean a little better. Notice the right fork doesn't touch the ball at all and the forks hold the ball -just- above the shooter tip. Having the ball sit this far back gives you much more torque on both manual and auto plunged shots.

PXL_20210226_221429207 (resized).jpg

I also saw this happening as i was messing around with the fork. But since the general advice is to center it, i thought "it cant be right". I guess i'll give it another try again. also the manual plunger is a big bonus, i do not understand why the tip is so far away from the ball by factory- already removed a washer to gain more length. It feels unsatisfying to shoot the manual plunger and nearly impossible to make the secret skill shot because of the big gap. Your shooter lane looks worn down already. thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks, I'll give this a try tonight after work!

I've got an odd one - installed my Cliffy's with no problem today, than than a new goofy glitch. My autolauncher now has a 3-4 second delay before launching a ball that gets kicked up during play. Anyone else run into this? I'm assuming the shooter eject protectors are messing with the switch in the launch lane?

Topper is here,

Quality is below average
Gem lenses are washed out
Programming is better than expected.

I had a for sale listing ready to go. $30 over what i paid for FedEx ground, but i played another game and I THINK i like it up there. It is programmed well into the code and it basically adds an element like under cab lights or backbox lights do. Its overpriced but it does interact well after trying it for just too games.

021BCD25-2300-48BF-ACE0-79EB805FB146 (resized).jpeg

E2A136F3-2A57-4B66-98A9-158CBE848F1A (resized).jpeg