Lots of pictures, lots of notes. Assuming they are assembled right now, get things back in the same spots and order.

Once apart, any cleaner like 409 or Fantastic will do the trick.

Reassemble. Don't oil or grease, or you'll be doing it again soon.

LTG : )

I disassemble drop target assemblies and clean all the parts in and ultrasonic cleaner with half water and half simple green. I love the ultrasonic but if you don’t have one I have had great success cleaning wth the simple green.

I replaced my rubber on a game and had noticed a single target slightly bent. The new rubber is thicker, and so I've got one target that does what you have as it catches and drops very slowly.

Also, when I originally took my drop bank apart I found a few bent pieces. Look for that as well.

Garage door mech lubricant ! Just used on my ps and they wouldn’t even lower without being pressed before. One spurt on each assembly and 10 min later. PERFECT

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I wouldn't use anything like that to lubricate. Pull the assembly apart and clean everything with alcohol or an equivalent to get any gumminess or dried lubricant out of there. Install new springs if needed and wax the surfaces that touch in the assembly. They should work great after that.

While lubricants can work in the short term, they gum everything up after a while. There are only two places where lubricants/grease are used on pinball machines that I can think of: gearboxes and rivet contacts on EM unit assemblies.

Just fully clean everything, replace any worn out springs, and the drops should then be working as good as new and should stay that way for a long time.

So, basically WD-40.

It's your machine and you can do whatever you want to it, but that's not the correct way to fix this.

DO NOT use something like this. Just take it apart and clean it properly.

Flammable, too.

Lubricant + Time = Adhesive

Don C.

absolutely agree and trying to get it off is no fun

Plus, it can make your fingernails really dirty

I know from experience grease is bad but here's the question ....Has anyone ever tried dry lube that is not supposed to attract dust on the targets ?

Yes, that was actually the recommended lubricant from various manufacturers. It still attracts dust.

How about something used to juice spinners such as Superlube PTFE?

The thing is, properly installed and clean drop targets work just fine without lube. What is the gain desired by adding something?

What I've done on my spinners:

First, get the spinner out of the holder. Then starting with 800 grit and working up to 2000, sand the arms where they ride in the holder. Re-assemble. Then using a q tip, get some zoom spout oil on those arms. A little goes a long, long way.

Enjoy your light speed spinners.