well that sucks.... I'm getting mine in a few days....hope this is not the norm.

Ours has been on location for about a year now and no problems. But Stern ramps are very thin now and not surprised they break.

how many games played on this machine?
that sucks, Im going to check my ramps on stle when I get home...

That stinks, but I have always thought all the new games that are coming out of the Stern Factory are pretty cheaply made, especially the Pros.. But this only confirms it even more to me, as this should not be happening with any modern games as plastics are far better and can be made much thicker then they use to be. Just look at the ramps you get from Starship.

The corner of the warp ramp near the vengeance broke on mine. It looks like there are small cracks on the other side. I've had it for 4 months and played it a lot like 600 games. I would be curious how much a new ramp is.

My Alpha ramp lost a chunk on the Vengeance side. Opposite side has a small crack in it.
image.jpg

I've had 2 ramps crack the exact same on my LE. Same goes for a buddy of mine who also owns an LE.

I can't believe these ramps are breaking already! I was considering buying this game, but now I'm not sure.

Mine is not a big deal. You wouldn't know it was broken unless I showed you on mine. The chunk that broke off the corner close to the vengeance is a clean break and actually looks naturally rounded. I have no regrets buying mine. It's a great game and the best Stern IMO. I guess time will tell if it becomes a bigger problem but I wouldn't let that one thing stop you from getting it.

Same here.

more than 1000 games on my STLE

good : warp ramp
IMG_1630.jpg

good : beta ramp
IMG_1631_2.jpg

bad : alpha ramp

anyway, not a big deal as i didn't notice it before this post !
when looking at other cracks, it appears to be a little bit more disturbing though

If its not broke
It aint pinball!

I would be tempted to call this a potential design flaw, either in the construction of the ramp or the protectors. But I'm not an engineer, so I could be wrong.

I would put washers on top and underneath the ramp to take some of the load off.

Just curious. The people that are seeing cracked plastic ramps here, are you using normal pulse power on your machine's?

Actually, it aint a Stern!

Mine are at default

I see broken plastics to the right of the black hole target.
image.jpg

Looks like we need Cliffys for ST.

That really isn't the point. Sure it might not be a bit deal, as far as it doesn't affect game play, but this shouldn't be happening period. The days of thin ramps should be in the past. Stern should be providing a quality product that we should have to worry about having to replace ramps, if we don't want a cracked one, 600 games into a machines life. That is just ridiculous!!

That BS especially with Stern raising prices over the years. It's one thing to raise prices due to inflation but it's wrong to raise prices and then not maintain the same level of quality. Making ramps thinner, redoing the head lock mech, not having a traditional lock down bar mech on the pro and putting pegs in the pro are changes that should never have been considering today's NIB prices.

Ramp protectors are available, made in germany. Not for warp ramp however

You can see them in this video around 1:30

Are replacement ramps actually available to purchase?

Robert

Talley up another broken alpha ramp on my LE. I'm with jawjaw though, in that it's such a clean break it looks natural and wouldn't notice unless pointed out.

$600 Australian dollars sounds like a lot of money for replacement ramps. I can understand having to pay if the machine is out of warranty. But, given how often these are breaking, I would think Stern should sell them at cost. $600 sounds like a nice profit to me, but I could be wrong.

I'll send him a message with link to thread see if he can help.

You have to go through your distributor or Stern directly most likely.

Three ramps for US $460.00 in Australia which covers duty and shipping seems fair. IMO of course.

A 4'x4' sheet of PETG is about $100 bucks. Heating and vacuum forming ramps takes roughly 20 minutes. include casts and molds + labour time + machine usage time and you have your cost. These things don't cost more than $100 per set to make. So someone is making a killing.

Replacement ramps are EXPENSIVE. I bought a spare set of ramps and playfield plastics (maybe decals too) and it was over $800.

On the LE . Lots of air balls from the drop target . Also turn down the sling shot power. I added pinbits plastic protectors . I do see it on the Pinbits photo . But call Pam a ask that she includes the Vengeance protector that will go under the Vengeance ship and will protrude over the drop target for the LE model . Never messed with them on any of my pinball machines . But STLE needs them .

Thank you for sending Cliff this thread !!

$800 for plastic ramps!? You got to be kidding me. How much for the wireforms versions - $2000!?

I know it should not happen but every game seems to have some flaws and plastics are always at risk of breakage. I had a few issues out of the box. A target switch was stuck and an led wasn't working. Shouldn't happen but it only took a little adjustment. I have had a few other minor issues and that just seems to be pinball. I bought a cliffy protector and sling protectors to help prevent damage to those areas. It would be nice if Stern built games with these things but they don't. I'm not sure Stern what Stern should do in this case but I agree it's a concern and something Stern should look into. At the very least they should sell better protectors and start putting them on new machines they sell.

Service part prices to end users are about 2.5x the price an OEM pays. This is certainly true in the automotive sector. Heck, in the heavy truck market; list prices are now up to 5.3x the cost. List is used to reference warranty coverage as fleets are usually reimbursed 50% of list price for components. Plus shop labor rates of course.

Oh man, yikes. I've put ST on the radar and we shall see.

Soapbox: While it may seem careless on Sterns part we have to keep in mind they originally built games for the coin-op market, not for long term home use. Function over form. If ramps cracked it didnt matter as long as they were playable for a year or so. They have obviously now realized the home collector market and are making strides towards different engineering to suit that. Equally as obvious they still have a ways to go and things to learn. I'm not giving them a pass. I'm merely addressing expectations

I don't mind Stern making a decent profit if someone just wants an extra set of ramps to have on hand, but if the ramps crack in the first year or two of use, and the owner provides Stern with proof, Stern should just sell them at cost.

If you look at the right ramp on TWD the lip of it is molded so it's way back. Maybe people could dremel that lip like that, like your clean break. It might help.

Hawkmoon,says,yeah,i think thats too much money for those parts! get with a pinsider to send you those from the us of a! about half that price,try bayareaamusements.com,or the standby,marco specialties peace,Hawkmoon

Just look at what Freeplay40 is selling his ramps for....and his are better too.

2800 games on my pro and the ramps are perfect.

But... from NIB
Coil pulse turned to soft. Slingshot strength set at 15.
Superband mini post rubbers, superband flipper rubbers.
Also retightened all playfield screws every 500 games. Plactics, ramps etc.
Stuff loosens and then it breaks with ball a hit.
And any playfield dirt cleaned up weekly.

And the S@#% Stern pinballs thrown away from day one, and new silverjets installed every 1000 games.

Ive never had any issues.
And my game still looks like the day I opened the box.

Man that sucks pins are a small fortune in your country too. It should still be under warrantee. Did you send pics to Stern or your distributor and ask for a replacement? Stern is pretty good with replacing parts, even after warrantee period has ended. They have been good to me at least for replacement parts.

Why do o have a feeling they won't be good to me?

In your case you are not the original buyer so I don't think the warrantee extends to you............ Oh wait, the wheresthecode stuff, I just got that, hahahahaha, good one

Standing up for what is right always has a price I guess.

Lol. No ramps for you!!!

I looked in my manual and didn't see where non eletronic parts would be covered for very long from new. Anyone have experience with a warranty?

No broken ramps here.