Yup, the ball screams around the left ramp on my premium also, which helps get the ball up the diverter for the TK lock.

When lock is not lit the ball is sometimes going so fast that that it passes above the opto on its way back to the inlane. It's always fastest right after cleaning/waxing the ramp with novus1. I get an occasional air ball like yours right after cleaning.

That is with the flipper power turned from default 255, down to 230. I could probably lower it a bit more. I also have to pay attention to the Demogorgon shot accuracy when changing that.

You can try lowering your flipper power which has lots of benefits. (less airballs, less wear and tear on everything, less bricked drop targets, etc.)
Feature Adjustment #88 is left flipper power and #89 is right flipper power.
While your there set the trough eject to the minimum to reduce wear on the shooter lane. (Feature Adjustment #85 - trough eject power)

Fair, I was probably overreacting. But considering mezelmods has an airball protector for the right corner of the left ramp, i just assumed it to be a widespread issue.

My rejects are smooth instances. It's fast. So fast it took me a couple instances of that happening to realize what was actually happening.

Yes I did give it a good cleaning with novus 1 including the ramps.

I can't remember exactly. Either 6.6 or 6.5. As originally stated, measured with digital level parallel (to measure left and right lean) and perpendicular (to measure incline) to drop targets.

I'll get some videos. It's pretty crazy when it happens. The ball rolled off the top of the right ramp protector

I'd delete this post if I could.

I'll get some videos. It's pretty crazy when it happens. The ball rolled off the top of the right ramp protector

Now I do get that happening on mine....but it's generally more from burn it back loop(s) to right ramp shots to all sorts of craziness!

Sorry, I'm not sure how I was supposed to add a video but here is a link to the video I uploaded. Looks like the ball just zips around the corner so fast that it barely is hanging on until it hits the other corner where it gets bounced out and on to the other ramp. Pretty cool trick (if it were only intended).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ESgYgzvBuAQ_MPxzQe4GqYwTVIYnrPj/view

Can you post a pic of that ramp.
That ramp has a tab that fits into the backboard, maybe yours is not in it.

Or maybe there is a bump in the ramp causing it to jump

Let me know if there is a certain area I should focus on. The tab is in place so the ramp can't be pushed any lower in the back because it's seated in there. The ramp is connected to posts in all spots (left and right side of ramp).

PXL_20230405_174025017 (resized).jpg

PXL_20230405_174505260 (resized).jpg

PXL_20230405_174538081 (resized).jpg

No bump. All smooth. I think it's physics. Same effect we have driving a car when we turn fast.

For me that top plastic part in the upper left side doesn't seem to do anything. Ball misses it.

Yes but shape is different. Yours also looks like it covers more of the initial turn.

16807172033561211051235851255377 (resized).jpg

that video is crazy, in more than 5000 plays on mine I've never seen that happen.

It's in there. What part of my picture makes you think it's not in the slot?

How does one make it flush? There is no ramp adjustment. I have screws at bottom that are fixed holes and same with the holes for the posts where the ramp screw down to on the left and right side.

The tab isn't pinched. It can wiggle up and down in the slot.

I moved the air ball cover over to the right as far as possible. This is the only thing that offers any sort of adjusting.

that looks like the airball cover for a machine with the TK lock installed that the previous owner likely 3D printed from a picture or shared file

Came with the game. No evidence of any other cover lying around.

I'll try to reach out to stern to get proper part. Or look on marco.

Side note, speed is also a factor in this equation, cause even when the ramp works as expected, there are many times where the ball comes back down the ramp after hitting the ball lock post.

I’d go back to Chuck’s suggestion on increasing pitch there. I don’t think I’ve ever had one come back down after making it up to the post - at most hit the post and kinda bump around by the post a bit.

Could also post a pic of where your front & rear levelers are.

You’re the man! Way to help out a fellow pinsider!

Why not just turn down the flipper power from the default setting. Many games don't need the power at the default to function properly. The other benefit is you have less risk of breaking things.

I agree except i haven't been able to hit demo once since lowering the power. It's just trying to find the right balance obviously. I think right now I'll prioritize lower power as you suggest. Then lean demo more forward when I work up the energy to monkey around with that. I'm still trying to dial in the various rail guides.

If Stern wanted to save money they should just stop installing everything since you end up taking it all apart to dial it in anyways. Maddening process at times.

As cleland stated. Remove the stuff in the back. I wouldn’t reduce flipper power.

That’s happened to me 1 in 1000 times but only on a wicked whip off the flipper.

First things first… remove any homemade spacers, then check the pitch and right/left level. Seems odd.

Working on it.

I'm also referring to the fact that one has to dial in the left and right rails so they don't hit the sling. (My game is level left and right.)

I'll get it worked out. Thanks for providing your help. But I assure you after several tinkerings and visual inspections, other than the cover being the wrong one, nothing is out of place (or rather I wouldn't think to do anything else).

For clarity though, that airball happens regularly from the ball gently rolling down the inlane. Hard to do all of that when I have one hand recording and another with the ball and obviously using the right flipper. It's not that it only happens during gameplay when the ball is already coming down to the flipper hard.

Happy Easter NST-Fans!

The fact that there is sadly no saucer protector out, I did my second mylar protector and this time I made a template.

So when I do a third one, it doesn't take me an hour again to cut these stripes (almost) perfectly.

I did a scan so you can print both templates on paper, cut it and put it on the mylar and mark the cutting lines with a pen.

So you can produce both (top lane & inside wall of the hole) of your own protector stripes within a few minutes and keep your game safe for many more plays.

Regards,
Martin.

p.s.: I hope we can still find a solution to get Cliff Rinear (Cliffy) a playfield to get a real saucer protector.
Stranger Things Pinball Saucer Mylarsticker 1.pdf

...and is there a Premium / LE code out with the Cleland sound mod & videos from season 3 & 4 in the attract mode?

Thanks for doing this.

I have a question to all LE/Premium owners.

My projector doesn‘t stay in focus. Because of the vibrations of the flippers the focus wheel doesn‘t stay in place. Around ten flips & the focus is off.

It makes no difference if the metal bracket is on or off.

Does anyone dismantled the projector and did a wheel adjustment fix before?

It‘s very sad playing the game that way.

Anyone knows where I can get that upgraded projector screen material ?

I adjusted the focus on mine recently (after I changed the screen material). I let it warm up for a half hour or so before adjusting. IIRC, there's a little bracket that you tighten down that is supposed to hold that adjustment wheel in place. If that's not working for you, a dab of hot glue should do the trick (and should be easy to remove if you need to re-adjust later).

Hi Chuck,

thx 4 ur reply. It's sadly I wrote before. Hitting the flippers for around 10 times, the focus is gone. You can see with every flip how the screen wiggles and the focus is getting off.

It makes no difference if the game is on 20min or an hour. The wheel doesn't stay in place. It needs to be fixed in some mechanical way.

Tried hot glue doesn‘t work too. When the first ball comes out of the ball chest and hits the metal bracket of the shooterlane the focus is off again.

So the focus lense maybe is not tightened enough.

Are you sure the projector is firmly mounted? The projector moved around in it's mount on my game. I need to open it up to see why it is allowed to move around. It should be firmly mounted.

Anyone ever change the action button lights on ST or Mando? Like to go a different color. Easy? Hard? PITA? Thanks