Thanks for your help.

Think I got my drop targets working again. What I thought was the targets cycling was actually the drops not making it back up fully, and it taking 2 or 3 times to make it up and stay. Eventually they would just completely fail to go up all the way. The drops were noisy as well making loud squeaking sound as they went up and down. I bent the metal bracket attached to the coil that pulls them up and it seems to be working without issue.

I also adjusted the demogorgan coil stop to make it skake more while I was in there. Now it seems I need to re-adjust my projector images after all that moving around. . .

On second thought maybe I'll wait for my UV kit before re-adjusting my images.

I get it it would bother me too. I didn’t catch if you had the bag of goodies that come with the game, but you could replace it with one of the extras.

Did the screen upgrade to my machine last night, adding that Starbright 9 material. Well worth the time and effort, makes a significant difference. For now only did the main screen, in the coming days I’ll work on the drops and other spots, likely do ramps last.

Some photos showing before, during (sides), and after.
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How hard is to peel the old stuff off

How hard is to remove the whole mech.
I want to protect the PF under the demo where the ball drops after a mouth shot and also adjust a few ball guides.

Looks like it requires to take both ramps off and some opted and a couple bolts back on the demo side.

I will use this opportunity to dial everything in and reduce chances of damaging the PF while working on the screens etc

Some simply double side tape over it and no need to remove old stuff from main projector area

Nah I would never do that. I like things done properly. That sounds like lying down carpet over hardwood floors lol

Didn’t bother, just put it on top of the old screen material.

Probably just little or no adhesive on those corners. The screen material is adhering to a more rigid cardboard like material. It could also be that the cardboard sub-screen is damaged at the corners. I'd definitely put in for a warranty replacement while you can, it will not get better, only worse over time.

Not hard to peel off. But, like removing Mylar, the real work is in cleaning up any adhesive left behind. Isopropyl works OK. You could use a stronger solvent on the metal surfaces of course.

Haven't been keeping up with thread, is the new projector better quality than the original run?

I feel like the slider for focus is way worse than the original wheel. It's just not accurate at all. Picture quality-wise seems similar. The biggest improvement to picture is installing that Starbright9 screen material. Huge jump in image quality, immediately.

I still have the left and right side panels to replace with the Starbright9 on my screen as well as the billboard over the left ramp, but on the drops, especially, you can see how much more vibrant they look with the Starbright9 already installed. The thin standups do look better, too, but they're too small to really have the same impact as the drops, which look dynamite with the better material.

I need some help. I wanted to make a minor projector adjustment, it was pretty good out of box and I accidently reset it. Anyway spent a long time realigning but now all the targets and drops are upside down. The ramps and walls and the main drive in screen are correctly oriented. I thought Rot would work but it does nothing. I can't figure this one out. I should have never messed with it. Please help, lol.

You must have missed my post about the back right under the ramps. I did get the posts done though by removing the ramps to loosen the “bridge” over the targets and cutting off the old posts and sneaking the new ones over top.

Hey guys. Finally got my NIB STh Premium right before New Year. I set it up and have been playing it like crazy the last 24 hrs.
I also have a 2023 Pro that I have on location and there are a few things that are different and maybe it's supposed to be that way.
I have a couple questions I'm hoping someone would be able to answer or help me with;

The skillshot. When I fire the ball from the shooter lane it more or less shoots righty past the drops and into the lock under the left ramp. On my Pro I can pretty easily fire it right into the 2nd to last target to hit the Skillshot everytime. I tried adjusting the ball guide but that didn't do much of anything. Has anyone seen this behaviour and is it normal?

The left scoop deflector. Again, on my Pro when I hit the left scoop the ball ejects and takes out all 4 drops almost every time. On this Prem the best I can get it to do is take out the 2 right drops. Is that what it's supposed to do or is there more adjusting I can do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks!!!

Ball guide adjustment is pretty much all you can do to affect that if shooter launch strength varying doesn't get it. Pitch and level might also be an issue you have some control over, secondarily, but less likley.

One or two right drops on scoop eject is proper operation, according to Brian Eddy. All of them is not.

I can't find anything in the old threads. I guess I will have to try customer service.

Reset your projector again. Adjust "All" until the majority of the surfaces are close, then adjust each individually. That's what I've had the best luck with.

The way I think it works is that every individual projector surface that you can adjust (small rectangles/squares) is part of an overall canvas (big rectangle) that the software draws on. So if you adjust individual pieces first without adjusting the whole, things get weird. Just a guess.

Wow. 50 games in including my son who can play. And no Demogorgon mouth hits. Screw in back as tight as it can get and all points in between. No luck. I am wondering if the Demo is tilted to the left now.

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Reading all these issues with the projector and tk lock remind me why I went with a pro this go around. I could not be happier with my choice. I saved 3 grand and a boat load of work and have the same exact game.

TK lock rules - one of the most gratifying mechs in pinball I love it. Works great. Mine works with all three 90% but even if you set it to two TK lock and one virtual I feel your still getting basically the full effect as the one that launches MB doesn’t hang up there long anyhow but having a couple balls drop off the wall is what you want.

Projector changing dynamically during game mode rewards and the drop target changing dynamically has all been way more valuable than I thought.

Having said all this if I owned a Pro I doubt I’d be sitting around sad lol enjoy your games guys

It's not HARD stuff (TK lock on these 2023 run machines with the new bushings is a snap to get working right with a 3 ball cluster for most people - just turn down flipper power to 205 on the right), but generally annoying. And once TK lock's dialed in, it's fantastic. I had a Pro first round from the original run, and I would definitely recommend the Premium having owned both. If you've got the money, the overall experience is improved on the Premium. If you haven't the Pro is still enjoyable.

That said, I cannot imagine the customer service disaster Stern would have if Pinside wasn't here to fix the issues they are shipping with, but that's par for the modern Stern course, so I should be used to it by now.

It's hard to see in your picture, but do you still have the chin rest on top of the gate below at the demogorgon entrance? It prevents forward lean and motion. I'd remove that first if you don't and see what your hits are like. Shaking will be a lot better...

You have to remember there is a much higher likelihood that people that need help will post. Guys that don’t aren’t posting. I had pretty much zero issues with mine, you have to adjust the projector when you get it, there’s no way around that. Adjusting the set screw slightly got my demogorgon good. TK lock works great. Kicking back having fun.

Finally saw an old run LE vs new Premium (not side by side but live). Projection honestly looked damn near identical- if the new one is better it’s not obvious. Starbright is big upgrade for either - highly recommend. Seems the slider and new bracket are kinda painful but not insurmountable. Game remains a tweak-fest but stay with it.

I had my order for starbright9 cancelled! They said they had insufficient stock!

So I’m eagerly awaiting the dude making the kits

I’m really glad to have premium. It was unreasonable the amount of time I had to put in to tweak it, but now that it’s done it’s all working very well and I’ll enjoy the premium features for years.

Joined the club today with a premium. All seems to be well so far with TK lock and projector. This pin is a lot faster and harder than I thought it would be. Family is enjoying it very much. Happy New Year!

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I might have some extra sets for the drop targets standups and (maybe) spinner I can sell if anyone wants to at least get that looking good. I'll see when I'm done getting mine decked out. I would have had two full extra sets, but I blew it and cut the first one in the wrong orientation, so wasted a bunch of material on the way to enlightenment.

Agree - I even have my flippers at 200 each and my TK lock is at least 90% all games today were 3 ball clusters. Once every few days it seems ball 3 goes to virtual lock and things kick off anyhow. So maybe that means I need 205 on flipper but regardless everything is working great now.

This game is hard lol - harder than my star wars pro.

I’m one of those with an original run premium (last run of the originals)
My TK lock does form a 3 ball triangle on clean shots and is somewhat reliable as flipper power is set to max 255
My thoughts would be if original owners added the improved bushings our TK lock would be even more reliable and line up properly with the artwork as well
It seems only new owners are posting on this thread now about their machines. Anyone tried upgrading their original? I’d like to do that to mine if the part was available to buy

Yeah, I went down to 200 also but eventually kicked it back to 205 for consistency. 205-210 are probably the ideal, depending on pitch. I can't remember the last non-3 ball cluster or hanging chain I got. It's been remarkably reliable once I got it dialed in.

I think there are a lot of original run owners wanting to do that, but waiting on confirmation from Stern that if they order bushings the new 2023 ones with the tighter tolerance are what they'd get.

I used Pinguy app yesterday to try and verify the pitch and I believe I am exactly 6.5 degrees now. SO might try 205 on both for a few games.

Good news but who is getting that confirmation? And will it be reported back in this thread?

Now that Stern's open again starting tomorrow, I'm sure it will be confirmed in short order and posted here by someone. If I can find out, I'll post it also.

I reset my projector and now the letters on the drops and targets are upside down!!!!! Dogs are upside down. The main screen in the center and ramps are fine. Any ideas???

Reset the whole thing again? Is rotation on the main anything but 0?

No it is 0

Good man thank you!

I’m sure this was probably posted, but Stern’s new factory appears to have new STH’s on the line

Yah those are the STH we all got in December pretty sure.

Pretty impressive, but the QA line is impressively large for the lack of QA they are still putting out.

Just adjust a litte and use this decal to see the right path…..

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That looks great!

Looks great indeed, where can we find that decal ?

We are on a site with perfectionists. This will always be the case with every game. Me a ( normie ) who sucks at fixing things and can barely get by, just want a good working game. After adjusting the screen and flipper power everything is A OK! the loops from the left and right are not smooth at all and the ball bounces off the slings and stand up targets when coming down but I really don't care too much to try and do anything about it. I'm acting like its part of the game. The PRO is the reason I bought this game and its fantastic I just figured for my home id want the " extra stuff".

I'm happy we all got a second chance to get this in our homes!

FWIW I'm at RF 225:

With clean ramp hits
1st: 100%
2nd: 80+%
3rd: 100%

2nd shot for me most sensitive for needing a clean ramp hit. 1st most forgiving for a sloppy shot. Out of box, not modded arm.