Cliffy, we need you!

/shines Cliffy signal

I can't remember when I first notice my alpha ramp crack near the vengeance. It could of been after I put super mini post rubbers on. Those things have a ton of bounce. If I missed the warp ramp high and hit one of those, the ball takes a good bounce towards the vengeance. I do believe that is what finally broke the corner off.

I also have super bands on the flippers. Some people have reported more air balls with those but I don't think that is the case on my machine. I do get air balls but they are only in certain situations like all pins. Still, the different rubbers do affect gameplay so might have something to do with my break.

I just got a NIB Star Trek pro a 2 weeks ago. It's been on route 7 days and after reading this thread I checked it out and I already have a cracked warp ramp. only 7 days and less than 300 plays. Need me some protectors.

Yeah I could see that. Also I see in the pic the op posted he changed the little round rubber in front of the ramps to a Cliffy post. I don't know if that would make a difference?

So did I. HUO, but mine seems to have pretty good protectors on both sides of every ramp. What else could you do?

Play it less?

No?

They must have put out some bad ramps.....mine has literally 1000's of plays and no cracked ramps anywhere. BTW I have never adjusted the coil power on mine.....balls fly.

I agree, Cliff please get on this and assist. Thanks sir!

Are your ramps screwed down tight or a little loose?

Rob

I want 2 sets for my STLE.Will they work on ACDC Prem or the left Tron ramp?.I am in USA.So let me know if we can do this?.

I already have informed several U.S. People to sent Freddie just an email with your question. They will quote you accordingly and they do ship these parts outside of Europe. I assume that they standards don't do outside of Europe to not come into conflict with other distributors but these part are made by them.

Could you take a picture and post it?

The pic is on the first page of this thread.

I ordered 2 sets of protectors from Freddy's in Germany. Needed one set for the Alpha and one for the Beta. Shipping was cheap too (I'm in New York) I highly recommend going this route. I sent them an e-mail since navigating the site was tough (I don't speak/read German) and they were quick to respond (in English) and even accepted paypal for payment.
The only ramp not covered is the warp ramp. If Cliffy makes a protector for the warp ramp, I'm in. For now, I really don't need protection for the warp ramp because I suck and can barely hit it

*edit- 2 set Total: €44.05 EUR ($51.38 USD) incl. shipping from Freddy's in Germany to Buffalo, New York

& FREDDY's e-mail: [email protected]

Thanks for the updated information.

Freddy won't return my emails or send a paypal invoice?.

I finally received my Star Trek Pro machine yesterday. It's my first machine. I've been installing the mods I bought, as well as my Cliffy and other protectors.
If anyone is interested in the Freddy protectors, I am willing to sell my set for $40 including priority shipping. PM me if interested. They fit underneath the factory metal protectors and beef them up (they cover the top part of the ramp as well, but it seems you have to bend the factory ones out slightly (at the ramp entrance where they wrap around) to get them to fit perfectly and I'm not comfortable doing that. I'll just keep it stock and hope everything stays fine with just the factory ones.
I'm also returning a couple of other mods that I purchased that seem to be too much of a hassle to install. Live and learn.
-Don

Mine are in the mail from Germany!.I will let you peeps know how the install goes.

Hey locdb......howdy neighbor.....congrats on the pin.....!!!...............Joey

Right On. If you have ordered the Pinbits plastic protectors . They are a must. If so . I did have an issue one of the posts screws . After I installed the protector the wood was stripped away and the post would not tighten down. It is the plastic post to the left of the spinner. The plastic has a number on it #90 . If you have any issues cut a small piece of wooden skewer that you would barbecue with . And place it in the stripped hole and then tighten the post screw back down. That was the drama I had on my NIB Star Trek when I added the protectors .

I had a small crack in my alpha ramp on my Star Trek pro. I emailed stern and they sent me a replacement and no cost and free shipping and it arrived in about 5 days from when I sent my serial number to the warranty center guy via email. I'm very impressed with how fast stern fixed this problem. I will wait until the ramp is completely destroyed or unusable and then replace it. By then I would imagine cliffy will have something to protect them.

And I don't have to send my old ramp in either

Nice!

I here a lot pinheads like the install the Super Bands 7/16 mini round post rubber / silicone . But I am afraid that they will bounce to much and cause even more air balls . What is the consensus on them ???

How old is your game?

They do bounce a lot more but I don't think they cause air balls. Anything besides the crappy stock rubbers is a big improvement. The super mini's look great, don't get dirty, and don't get destroyed in a week like the stock ones. I have not tried the new Titan rubbers but might give them a try down the road.

To me it feels like super band flipper rubbers actually bounce less. It's easier to catch the ball but they feel less bouncy

My game was only about 2 weeks old so that may be a factor why they replaced it so fast. My ramp was cracked pre super bands post rubbers but I just put them on and see how that affects the game for a few weeks. Also changed the coil power to low since I noticed the crack.

I replaced all mine with the Superband mini-post rubbers and I think they are awesome. I recommend the clear ones - they look really good alongside the clear ramps and with the bright LED lighting.

I think I had about 200 games on my Star Trek when I did the switch and some of the stock rubbers already had very noticeable wear and flaking. I bet by 300-400 games some would have been completely destroyed and fallen off. I've now got about 1300 games on it and the Superbands look good as new, despite some of them taking a lot of punishment (like the ones around the Vengeance and Warp ramp). Some of them were a bit tricky to get changed out, so it's nice to only have to do it once!

I didn't notice a significant difference in play, but it was my first machine so I was still a bit new.

I use the Superband flipper rubbers as well and like them a lot. My Star Trek Pro still gets some noticeable dirt trails around the flippers fairly quickly, but I think this is from the black rubber stoppers at the end of the ramp returns, and maybe from some other things like the slingshots. I can't imagine how quickly it would get dirty with all stock rubber.

Edit: So "ST" means Starship Troopers and "Star Trek" means 1991 Data East Star Trek? How am I supposed to refer to 2013 Stern Star Trek?

Depends on which version, STP or STLE.

I got my spare set last week, the flaps are riveted, but there are no decals on them.

Robert

That's a bummer. Are you going to contact Stern and see if they'll send you the decals?

I'm not impressed Stern!!

What happened?

I just noticed very small cracks in my Alpha ramp. Not a problem yet, but worrisome. This shouldn't be an issue for such a new pin.

How easy are the Freddy's protectors to install? Considering getting some now .....

I just ordered a set of Freddy's. Easy transaction via email and PP.

Not difficult at all.

Hope this doesn't happen to our pin. Seems to be built pretty solid.

Thanks. Do they fit over the existing protectors, or do you replace the existing protectors? It doesn't look like you need to take the ramps off to do this, is that right?

It took almost one year before it happened to mine. It seems like it can just happen at any time judging by the posts.

Right now, its not really noticeable and only an internal crack. I just don't want it to get worse. Still, I thought I had 5-10 years of home use enjoyment before I would have to worry about a crack in a ramp.

Stern needs to change their ramp protectors so that they are mounted on the posts before the ramp. This way the posts get the action and the ramps a lot less.

I agree to all who answered. I agree that the plastic could be thicker on the Sterns. Either way, they're way better than the old ramps from SS pins etc. Stern ramps are good but of course there are flaws here and there.

Overall, job security for those who fix em...lol. It's like a car, you need mechanics unless you own a Tucker built vehicle.

You don't need to take the ramps off.But you need to take off the stern protectors.Then bend the stern protectors at the point were they wrap to the side of the ramp.To give the additional protector room to fit behind it.

You will take off 3 protectors to bend.The one on the far left can be left on to bend.Just take out top screw.Then bend it out while it is still screwed to the playfield.

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Double post edit

Really they should just make ramps out of metal again. You don't here people talking about their Metallica ramps breaking. But, I know, its a cost thing.

^Metal ramps on all LE's and Prem's!.Or if they offer metal ramps on all the games as a paid upgrade.What would be the percentage of buyers ordering that option?.80,90,100%.

I would have it on all my games!.