Hi All,

I'm on my first pin: Stern's Stranger Things (premium). I love it, and I've played the heck out of it. There's over 10,000 games on it after 10 months. Maybe I have a problem? Ha!

I've cleaned the playfield and ramps etc. frequently. I've made some adjustments to improve gameplay, thanks to Pinside. I'll keep this post to three questions.

Wax: I decided to wax the playfield recently, and I've found that the game gets dirtier faster (black lines appear more quickly now). I gave it ample time to cure before wiping it off. I used Game Room Guys Pinball Wax. Is waxing really necessary/beneficial? Which brings me to number 2.

Rubber rings: Is one of the reasons to replace the rubber rings that the game is cleaner? Perhaps those black lines are because the rubbers are wearing down and depositing their bits on the balls?

Lubrication: Is it okay to lubricate? I'm mostly thinking about the flipper linkages and the dropdowns. Under the playfield. These places have plastic parts against metal parts, which perhaps means the machine is designed to not be lubed. I thought about putting some silicone lube on some things.. or lithium grease. I've had some minor stickiness in the flipper action and the dropdowns.

Thanks!

I suppose the title of my post was ripe for jokes (but that's how you get replies, eh?) Haha!

I think you're right. I feel like I'm just worse at the game than I used to be, and it makes sense that extra play in the flippers is the reason. Can't make the shots like before! I just need to find the parts, and it looks like they're out there. I watched an excellent video from a guy at Jersey Jacks about rebuilding flippers.. It seems like they are cool with a customer working on their own machine, and it has me wondering if Stern is kind of resistant to letting people work on their own pin. Like they referred me to my local distributor when I just wanted to order new decals that were coming off my stand-ups. Is this true that they take a dim view of DIY maintenance?

Thanks for this! I have waxes in my shop that I think are much harder with less residue. Perhaps I'll try one of them. Also, I did replace the balls. And thanks for the advice on lubrication. It confirms what I was thinking, even though it's very tempting for any tinkerer to put "a drop of oil" on just about any moving part haha!