Did you open a ticket? Cato responded to my initial "weak flippers" ticket and asked me to identify the linkage I have on my game and I found that mine is different from the picture he shared with me. (Haven't heard back yet, so I'm not sure whether that's good or bad )

Incidentally, here's what mine look like:

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I did open a ticket last night but haven’t gotten a response. My flipper assembly looks like yours. Thank you!

This sucks. It must be a real let down to get a new machine we've all been waiting on and have a hold up like this or a dead boot screen prevent you from playing. I know everyone is trying to be patient and understanding but it still must be a let down.
I am thankful for the strong community here which supports and helps each other through all of this.
I don't have my machine yet but hope when I do I can help out.

Any word on the second boat? Have they shipped to Cointaker?

I am sorry to hear it, but glad someone else at least was able to see the issue I had with the U turn with the "center" ramp being too narrow. I just throw some pliers in there with 4 layers of microfiber cloth and bent it slightly out so the ball fit. Seemed to be the easiest solution and didn't harm anything in the process, because you dont really have to "crank on it" to get it bent out enough.

I am on code 2.4 and am getting the ball locked up in the left eject during some multiballs. I have tried to replicate it manually but haven't been able to yet. The ball gets released by the ball search, but then when it drains the game doesn't notice and so just hangs. It's happened about every 5th game on average. I'll try to work out which state the game is in to narrow it down going forward.

Regarding your flippers... do they move smoothly when you operate them with your hand? Correct amount of vertical travel?

No they feel ok.

Both of my left flippers have significant drag when moving them manually. If I lift them slightly while turning them the drag is gone. I sanded the bushing top and bottom and even made a “washer” from a credit card to smooth out the top of the bushing but it didn’t help.

Cut a V shaped slot into a credit card and use that as a temporary spacer when installing the flipper bats. Then, when done, remove them. You need a small gap between the top of the bushing and the bottom of the flipper.

I've been having that problem... Cato sent me new trough boards after I was able to get a log of it

Assuming no one has heard a peep about the LV? Man - it's been crickets since September.

This is what I was going to say. Make sure when you do this you get the top spacing with the credit card and bring the linkage up flush with the bushing on the bottom. See if they move freely after that. If they do, I'd try to work with just the flipper bat in place and see if you feel drag. If you do, you have a contact problem with the flipper or bushing. If you dont, you likely have an alignment or other issue.

Last I heard was a week ago with the thought it would be in port "any day now". All I want for Christmas......

Crossing my fingers.

Did they even test these games before shipping them out?

Obviously they can't have due to all these often just silly quality errors. I think it's because they are to under the pump to produce and ship them to get some financial return/cash flow happening and have made the business decision to sort things out later unfortately at our expense. Whatever the reason I think it's pretty damn poor considering what these machines cost us.

I had the same. On mine there were a few plugs not sitting snug, one plug was on the wrong port and a few ones weren't plugged in at all. After fixing this, Muthur spitted that sucker out as supposed to and the rest of the game was illuminated as it should be. I've been told that the five weapon targets are not supposed to be illuminated at this stadium, there should come a hardware update, why ever and what ever.
What I also had to fix was, that it didn't register the ball on opto one in hypersleep lock. I had to bend the ball guide on the cabinet side that the two holes are aligned and the opto's can communicate with each other.
The only issue that I am still having is, that the fricking orbit post's don't pop up when they should. But this issue is addressed to PB and as soon as I've fixed that I'll let you guys know.

I’ve been using expired gift cards for years to space flipper bats. To try to fix this issue I made a “washer” from an expired gift card and left it between the bat and the plastic. I also used my spacer when installing to ensure that there was the normal amount of free space.

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https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/03-8194

Found the problem with my dead sling shots.

Both had wires broken from the coil.

This may be why flippers are weak for some also.

These 2 will make 3 that I have had to re-solder.

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I love how minimal the underside of the playfields are on this machine....no bulb sockets etc...saves so much space...

Those coils look to be installed backwards.
They will work that way, but the coil lugs are awfully close to the edge of the coil stop. Could cause a short if they touch.

yes , Vid would not be happy...

Unusual to get broken wires so soon. Did they use solid core wires, poor crimps...?

Braided wire. Super thin. The wire seem to break at where the solder starts/ends on the wire.

Sometimes the break is hidden in the black sleeve they cover the wire/solder.

I had 2 coils with broken wires as well as a proximity switch broken in half. I think the factory just has a large box full of parts and the workers dig through and grab what they need or something ridiculous like that.

Serivce bulletin is coming from Cato on this... they have a fix.

Yeah, I was taught if you're not careful the solder can wick up the braided wire and create a weak spot.

hmm...and there are no locks on those, they move quite easily. Will need to look at mine.

Had one of mine come off an half the tab had broken off with it. Had enough to resolder but will have to keep an eye on my other coils

I guess all the small problems are worth it because this game is so cool and unique ,nothing quite have the atmosphere and feel of this title

Cato sent me this about the sticky flippers. Completely against what you’re supposed to do on other pins . . .but it worked!
“About the sticky and dragging flipper, can you try to loosen the flipper bat shaft, so it rotates freely and then press the flipper bat down towards the playfield, and at the same time press the linkage upwards. and then tighten the flipper shaft. "remove the gap marked with red arrow"”.
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I've been completely happy with mine. Still less work than R&M required. That being said, it sucks we are seeing a new crop of issues with this latest batch. hopefully it is just a handful of people having these issues.

The coil plunger needs to go into the coil straight and smooth. If it goes into the coil at an angle, it creates drag/friction/heat/less power.
Those gap tools for space between the pawl and bushing aren’t always accurate.

I've had about 8 coil wires come off over the past 6 months. it is definitely a problem. I have reported this to PB at least a couple times... and I know others have, so they should know that they need to do a better job at soldering those wires to coils.

Heavier guage wire would help too.

My machine is almost fully dialed in at this point i have the bend in hyperlock ramp issue to be dealt with but other then this, it it pretty solid now. Now if i can only stop sucking and learn the shots and such, we be alright then.

I suspect their bushings may be a bit too tall, hence why the sanding helps. Some space is needed between the crank and bushing, but it can't be too much, or it'll drag on the coil.

So still not a peep from PB on the LV model since the initial reveal, unless I am missing something.
I put my deposit in right at the beginning, but feeling pretty let down by the lack of anything tangible outside of some crude renderings.
And they're clearly still available for pre-order... I am wondering how many folks are on the fence waiting for the "reveal redux".

I'm seriously doubting LV pins will be shipping in January if they can't even put out a real picture of the product at this point.

The coils twisting back and forth when energizing won't help much either. To address that and the shorting issue, I made some 2mm x 38mm x38mm spacers and placed them as shown. This prevents them from twisting, I also oriented the coils as shown to prevent shorting. Only did this for Slings and Drop Reset.

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I'm going to use the old fashioned electrical tape fix - and maybe a rubberband for good measure.

You're so last year man

Not exactly on the fence, I'm all in - whenever it gets built, and if that's later then so be it. Part of me is glad because I want them to iron out all these issues that keep cropping up on the standards.

BUT also - I'm a little dismayed at the crickets/complete lack of hype or info on reveal for this, and I don't think they're going to be built on time. I'm almost hoping they are going to "re-reveal" this - it's going to be so incredible, and we're all going to collectively cheer. But more likely, it's just running behind schedule, and it'll look extremely close to the rendered shots (that'll be fine too).

I wouldn't mind, but that makes 3 pins I have on order that I was expecting early 2022, and looks like I'll be waiting (a lot) longer than anticipated for all of them.

I'm just waiting now for my distro to call me and say my DP premium is delayed until mid 2022 - that one will make me slightly peeved.

This is what I was told from Cato as well. They want as little or no gap between the bushing there. It has worked for the most part, occasionally I’ll get a sticky flipper but not very often.

Would this guidance also apply to the slings?

No. Only the flippers.

If anyone has any experience with the coding and computer on this game I would appreciate some help getting my pinball to work. Tried to reset the original code as per pinball brothers instruction and all I get is error messages and endless reboots or freezing. Not sure if hard drive or code issue. Cato has gone dead silence on me and I now have a $9000 paper weight. Any help appreciated.

I hope you get the help needed. This would be terribly disappointing for any of us to have this happen.
I don't have my machine yet. I hope if you have an open ticket and PB isn't responding sufficiently that the community comes together to help you resolve your issues so you too can enjoy your game like others are.

Have you already re-imaged your hard drive? I'd say take advice from Cato before me, but re-imaging sounds like a good next step.