I’m going to try this 3D printed mod to help with the fan noise. I like the idea of not having to crack the power supply if I can avoid it, and the Noctua fans I’ve used are dead silent. This mod keeps the internal fan from ever spinning up by keeping temps constantly cool. Seemed like an elegant solution, my local 3D printer guy charged me less than $10.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4844962

Props to the pinsider that came up with this and offered it to the community.

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I just did this yesterday. probably any 60mm fan you can find will be quieter than the PSU fan, don't gotta go out of your way to get a $15 noctua. I grabbed a cheap 24v fan out of a box of spare parts, wired up to 12v and its spinning enough to keep the stock PSU from coming on (and i can't hear it from 4 ft away)

It's sad how little effort they put into this. "lets have a really loud fan come on intermittently to cool the psu instead of a more quiet fan spinning constantly"

Did you use the same method to grab 12V? Pinball life cable?

And I totally agree. Spending a bit more on cooling or modding their PSUs would have been preferred. Ah well, cheap fix.

The fan is part of the cheap power supply they're using; it's not anything directly controlled by the game. We should be a little more suspicious of these power supplies using bottom-of-the-barrel parts to power the game

I actually took an old 12v wall brick (from an old router i think) and plugged that into the outlet inside the cabinet. I do want to get that pinball life cable, or at least that connector, because I want to add flipper coil fans next, and the outlet is always-on...

Meanwell makes a fine, quality power supply. They're pretty much the go to place for off the shelf DC power supply. Perhaps they should have gotten a beefier one that wasn't pushed so hard, or had better cooling, i dunno.

I can never hear the fan running during game play - only when in attract mode. I do have upgraded speakers and external sub...

Thanks for walking me thru to find the stickies. I found what I needed to know to raise the 1st floor level of the bldg so the ball wouldn't get stuck there (where the pf meets the bldg entrance) anymore. It req'd raising the bldg floor level a tad higher than the level of the pf, so once I found that level, I lowered the bldg level 2-clicks (which was still higher than it was previously). I didn't want to raise the bldg floor too high because I'm concerned that every time the ball is shot into the bldg it will hit the edge of the bldg floor and possibly cause some long term damage. Where the bldg floor level is set now, the ball could still get stuck, but it's much less likely than before, and a very gentle nudge of the cabinet will free it, so I compromised between reducing possible damage and fewer ball stuck occurrences. I will keep my eye on the bldg floor so that if I see preliminary signs of damage, I'll lower the floor level so it's even with the pf, and just live with the ball occasionally getting stuck there.

Personally, I would make the building as level as possible with the playfield to mitigate damage to the building and/or playfield itself. To eliminate a stuck ball at that juncture, I would focus on increasing the overall pitch and raise the back legs a bit. Just my 0.02.

I’ll post later tonight - kids baseball tonight.
You have Photoshop?

Otherwise let me know what you use.

That would be awesome! I use GIMP. Thanks again!

When I try for the skill shot where the ball goes behind the upper flipper, I try to rotate the plunger knob as I release it. I'm not sure if this actually slows down the ball (so it won't be a maximum speed plunger release), or if this helps me to put a little finesse into the release which slightly slows down the ball and increases my chance for a skill shot award.

There's certainly more than one way to skin a cat. I may try increasing the pf pitch and see how that works. I had the same choice (risk damage to eliminate a stuck ball situation, or live with the stuck ball) at the ramp in front of MechaGZ. You can raise the rotating ramp platform to eliminate a stuck ball possibility between MGZ and the ramp, but then the lip of the ramp will be higher than the pf and will be hit with every ball shot into the ramp. I left the ramp platform alone for about a month (and lived with a few stuck balls, including one or two tilts), and then implemented a different solution (see my post #11613) which can't be seen by the player and works very well.

Looks like new beta code is out according to sterns Instagram anyone know what’s in it?

WAT

Just saw this offer too thanks, I’d love em.

Oh yeah. Karl and Logan get beta code.

We've been getting a new code update about once per month... so a new one should be out soon. Wasn't sure if they were going to wait to officially release until after their worldwide leaderboard tournament ends after June 30th. I'm currently 25th... hoping to move up before it ends!

Question for the group. Wife and I replaced our slingshots with Titan Rubbers today (first time doing this) and after re-screwing everything down we noticed the ball, when on the corkscrew ramp actually makes contact with the other wireform. When it's rolling slowly it can get caught, when it has full momentum from the building it makes contact but continues rolling.

We didn't test before hand, but this seems like it's not what should be going on but before we start bending or undoing things wanted to just sanity check with the group here: the ball touching the other wireform isn't intended, right?

Video:

Thanks!

Let’s see pictures of your slings. You maybe have put the wireform back incorrectly

Hopefully this helps!

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Everything looks good there. Hmmm bizarre

Only suggestion is to make sure your lefts side sling posts and screws are all the way down against the playfield. It looks good in the pics though.

Something is causing the wire forms to be too close together

I may have the solution, however unintended, I made sure my left side was tight and I loosened the right side JUST a hair. Now it sails through with extremely minimal touch and no matter the speed gets through. Probably the best I can do.

Thanks for the sounding board, Tiltbob!

You’re welcome. Wish I could’ve helped more

Not sure who Dave H is from Mass… but I feel like posting pic of my Insider card led to this…

Anyone get random scores from NoT you?

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Have had my premium for 5 days now. First pin. Have been tinkering with it a bit before today(neca figure, new shooter, replaced speakers), but today I put in a shaker motor,art blades, some fans on the coils/PSU and waxed the playfield. Wow. The wax makes it so much meaner! This game is so much fun... glad to be in the club!

I find that doing this is also a solution for the ball bouncing back an inch off the right ramp chute bar when coming down the ramp. Screwing down hard must change the angle of the ramp slightly.

Be advised though, loose screwing will result in the nut coming loose! Haven't yet tried an additional washer underneath but that's the next step.

Go back a page.

This guy?

Yeah, all you need to do is hold up your phone with the browser open to Pinside and it reads peoples QR codes into the game. I was curious, and even the off angle ones just read right in.

Like I said, I won’t be doing it again. It was a dumb experiment.

You guys can reset your QR code on sterns site, but I would be surprised if it's a recurring incident worth reprinting your card

Wouldn't this be easier?

Screenshot_20220622-080830 (resized).png

lol - yep, "This guy"
I tried to search for DaveH here, obviously didn't get match... didn't see your post on prev page.
Sorry it's been a craptastic experience for you - and it's super weird it reads as other's accounts.

I really love this feature, and was really curious what happened.

Tale as old as time. Curious nerd that used to work in computer security has regrets after he sees exploitable thing, and exploits it to satisfy said curiosity.

For those interested in the template I used for printing Insider Cards, I added the Photoshop (PSD) file, as well as a blank JPG image.
For those without photoshop, just put the JPG into Word, or whatever, add your name, QR code, and avatar (or just cover it it up)

Files in my shared Pinball dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jg3zkhyi9nv461twx6m3b/h?dl=0&rlkey=uz56kmz9o8mwowsz9c3rim9of

Only_Pinball
6point5degrees
Pugster

friendly tip: shiny covers over the QR codes can make it very difficult for the reader to properly read them quickly (tape, etc). I threw away the first 2 i made after discovering this a few months ago

Yeah any wrinkle will reflect and show up as extra white spots and mess up the code.

Just dropping by to say I joined the club. Picked up my GZ Pro Monday and holy crap, I love this game. I'm still struggling a bit with the deep rule set, but man, it is so much fun. I haven't played a single game on any other machine since setting this one up.

The Problem with printing the QR codes is that the QR reader seems to need a shit ton of light to work. At least the ones I have installed on my machines.
If the lights are off in the room and only my accent lighting on a printed QR will not work. Tattooed QR will probably not have enough contrast.

I had trouble with mine until I got it the right size. Make sure it is smaller than the little white box reader. Mine is printed with a thermal paper. Contrast is pretty good, but not great on it. Scans as good or better than the phone. not sure about a tattoo haha

You can print them straight from your insider connected profile page. It prints exactly the right size.

So IMHO I would loosen the right side and add another washer or two on the post threads under the wire ramp loop, then retighten up the right side nut. Too loose and the ramp will move causing the ball to hang-up on the drop.

Looking to add a shaker motor to my GZ Premium. Any difference between the generic one on Pinball Life versus the Stern authorized one which is $20 more?

yes,20 bucks

installed PBL shaker to my gz prem yesterday. seems quality. has good instructions, and seems to work very well.

On the shaker note - my only experience with shakers has been on my Roadshow (good if you want to simulate a bulldozer or tornado) and my buddy’s Hobbit (really mellow, seemed well integrated).

I’ve got a PBL shaker for my GZ going in this weekend when I pick both up…I’ve heard rave reviews of GZ shaker code…is it as good as everyone says? Well integrated and not just shaking the shit out of the machine? Curious….

I would never put a part that wasn't Stern authorized into a SPIKE game unless it was completely disconnected from any electronics inside the game. If I'm putting in something lit, it will have its own power. In SAM it was all fine, but not in SPIKE (in my opinion, you do you). If it is $20 more to get Stern Authorized, I pay $20 more.