Its the button getting stuck. You can take the button apart and file it down inside the button housing put it back together. That usually does the trick.

From the inside you can unscrew the nut that holds them into the cabinet than remove. Don't try to unscrew the button itself they are not made to turn.

It's a PAL nut. I use needle nose pliers to grab the nut, unless someone installed it upside down. If that's the case, then your in for work getting it out. Sometimes the flipper buttons themselves get dirt and gunk inside making them sticky. Some buttons have an 'E' clip you can remove, allowing you to take apart the button and clean. Others do not. If you are going to take out to clean or replace, you'll still need to get that PAL nut out.

It's probably not mushroomed. Some are held together with a c-clip. Others are just like melted or flanged from the factory to hold it together. That is probably what you are seeing. Those PBL ones are probably correct, but to be certain, I would remove the one you have and measure the length and see if it is the same as PBL states.

Marco has the buttons

It's not mushroomed, it's supposed to be like that. It snaps into the outer housing and that keeps it from pulling back out. Those are correct 1-1/8" buttons. The opaque ones on their site are correct too.

You can always take the buttons out. Soak them overnight in soapy water and rinse and dry thoroughly. If whatever is sticky inside is water soluble it might clean them, but the buttons are cheap enough just to replace...

Your PAL nuts aren't on backwards. You just use the needle nose and grab the edge of the nut. Hard to explain in text but twist it loose. They won't be on super tight.

Then once you do that you just push the button out. The button will have the point that pushes the opto plastic/wire or leaf blade (Yours doesn't have left switches but opto flippers) to activate the flipper(s). If you can get a big enough socket you can put the button face down as the button is two plastic pieces. The part that depress should push out if you push the little part as mentioned before that activates the flipper. You can file it a bit so it doesn't stick. I've gotten a few of these lately especially the transparent ones that are doing this too. It's really annoying.

Of course if you replace them it won’t matter, but it’s an easy and quick fix for your buttons now. Here’s a pic of my old TAF cabinet if it helps to show how to grab that nut.

Hoping this will shed some light?

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Better shot of flipper button PAL nut:
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It does come apart in two pieces but easiest to take the button out of the cabinet. Just grab that edge of the nut (not the entire nut) with needle nosed pliers. Then push the small end (side that faces into cabinet when button is installed towards the outside. There may or may not be a spring inside but that's ok. Just file the part that slides and replace spring before putting back together if it has one. The two plastic parts of the button are just a friction fit. It's one of those things that's easier to show in person than explain.

You don't have to take the buttons out of the cabinet. Once the switch is out of the way, tap the button's stem with a plastic hammer, or use a wood block. The button will pop out of its plastic housing. Now you can clean out all the yuck from 10,000 peoples' fingers. If there's a tapered spring in there, just toss it. They don't do much except make it feel weird when they crunch under your fingers.

Sure new buttons are cheap, but if you want to fix it now, they pop apart, and pop back together, too.

Allan

Duckbill pliers are your friends for removing those nuts

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If this was a new Stern the flipper buttons will just pop out on their own. It's a new LE feature

That one made my day. Thank you.

I had flipper buttons stuck on my T-2 and STTNG. All I did was spray a tiny bit of silicon onto the button shafts, push them in a few times and no more stuck buttons. It doesn't take a lot. Just a small drop/spray is all it needs. Sometimes all you need to do is push the button in and rotate it a few times. If there is anything stuck to the shaft, that will usually work it out without having to take the button out and disassemble it.