Is there a screw stud or anything left after you rip it off?

No damage to the gate? I did all pinmonks suggestions except this.

This is what’s left.

No damage to the gate. It doesn’t take much pressure to rip the rubber material.

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Thx! Guess where I'm headed?

It's really not that hard to remove it without destroying it. I made a post on it.

DarkStar9 Durability Update (c. 100 Balls):

Ball strikes have left a discreet horizontal band across the bank and a bit of minor disintegration at the edges of a few faces. Still, the image projected on them looks as it did when the material was new.

Note: I enjoy banging away at those drops during MB’s because I think all the violent airballs reflected back at me is a big part of the fun of this layout, so my target faces are definitely getting a workout.

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You did author a great post on it. Thanks for taking the time!
I actually found it *after* I took mine out, so I missed some valuable help.

I have a first run pro and my chin spacer wasn’t rubber but a metal mini post thing. I was able to unscrew it by hand a little and then use a pair of needle nose pliers to grab and hold the screw in the little opening and unscrew it all the way out without needing to destroy or take anything apart. I guess they changed that with the newest run.

Demo Tinkering Follow-up:

I just want to report that removing the chin spacer that is affixed to the gate below the Demo sculpt has had an undesirable consequence: a ball trap.

I believe the trap appeared because, with the bumper gone, I used the grub screw to pitch the Demo forward, creating a new vertex where the base of the sculpt meets the roll-off plastic. The result is a ball will sometimes settle at the base of the sculpt and *not* roll away to the right. I may have to pull the Demo again and this time remove the spacers, then return the grub screw to the start position. Not happy about that!

I wonder if Jakers method will be a good in-between? About half of the chin rest still there,,

Hmm..... That doesn't look like dark star 9/star bright 9 at all....... Are you sure you have the right material there?

Your earlier review post seems to make sense now... I don't think the material you have is what you think you have

Target-Decal Adhesion Follow-up:

I opted to skip the glue as I wanted something less permanent.

A long-time 3M adhesive salesman recommended 3M 4910 double-sided tape, which is a tad thick and elastic, making it slightly challenging to cut neatly into a little rectangle with scissors.

It’s holding well after a few games.

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I had the same and fixed it by applying a small piece of adhesive felt to the top of the plastic on the left side of the demogorgon. The felt is not very thick but enough to tilt back the demo enough to prevent the ball trap on the right side.

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I bought three sample sheets of DarkStar from Elite Screens in Garden Grove, CA, after reading Medisinyl's post on the upgrade. DarkStar is now called StarBright 9. I agree that the material looks paler in my photos than it looks in person. It's fairly dark grey.

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Thanks for the idea. Really, my Demo is still too high, so I may have to remove him and those spacers after all. Maybe at that point I won't have to pitch him forward and the trap will go away.

Star bright 9. And I'll be honest. Mine have taken a lot of abuse and I've cleaned them with a wet paper towel and they look great. This particular material is pretty tough.

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Those pics of Starbright 9 don't look anything like Darkstar 9, not at all. Darkstar has a micro-lense layer on the front to reject off-axis ambient light. It will look bright silver straight on, then fade to a dull black as you look at it from progressively larger angles.

Looks like you may have received the wrong material.. looks like some other material like StarBright CLR or CLR. StarBright9 has nearly zero texture(like feeling a piece of window tint), and zero visible 'ribs'.

1st pic below shot looks like the material you got (at the bottom) 2nd photo are what the sample of SB9 I received look like.
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This was discussed extensively earlier in this thread. The recommendation is to pitch the DG forward with the adjustment screw to the point that ball just clears the lower right petal.

Yea...I noticed that on you close ups. This is definitely directional but it in a different way. Held against the light it's almost dark dark grey.

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He meant Jason's, which indeed look wrong, and are taking far more damage than my Darkstar, which is nearly flawless after over 1000 games.
Real Starbright is the same material, as confirmed by Elite.

Ok...I see the confusion. That said again mine have taken a real beating and look great. We have the same material they just changed the name.

Anyone else still waiting on accessories from cointaker? I paid in full for a topper, shooter, side blades, and UV kit in late January and can't even get a status update from then. I need to know if it's just me before taking further action. I got the email blast from Stern today they were in stock and available direct.

Lower-right Demo “Leaf” Creates Ball Trap:

With the chin bumper gone, the Demo can trap balls more easily. That’s unfortunate as it was difficult to get it out of there.

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I took a hair dryer to that petal and bent it upwards and held it in place until it cooled

One thing I’ve been noting is when the ball is released from the mystery area, the post seems to pop up so quickly that it makes the ball bounce around on the return. Is there a setting to keep that down longer?

This was my thought. Did you bend it “up” or “forward” (easier?)

No word on my uv kit from CT. I ordered it elsewhere and done installed it already. Reminds me I need to try to cancel

I haven't had that issue,,,,,,yet

Was talking about distributors at our last league night. Consensus was, never order from Cointaker. They’ve got a bad reputation but still seem to do a lot of business. Wonder if they’re mostly selling to first timers?

I haven't gotten my UV kit from CoinTaker yet either.

Chris

Same. I ordered the shooter rod and the UV kit at the same time. They shipped the shooter rod but no UV kit

“Run, Will!” Demo Mode Confusion:

In this MB Demo mode, the ramp is almost continuously raised and lowered, forcing me to trap up and then wait for a chance for a kill shot. If I don’t trap and just flail instead, the poor ramp’s leading edge gets jammed often by random shots up the middle.
Is the continuous ramp action coded into this mode or do I have a confused switch?
Thanks.

I’m waiting on a kit from CT, too.
She said only that the kits are “on the way.”
Not super helpful.

That is the expected behavior:

Run Will!: 4-ball multiball. Phase one, shot the Demogorgon during the hurry-up to lock in the jackpot value. Phase two, all the drops are lit for jackpots. Collect those to light the Demogorgon for a Super Jackpot hurry-up worth the total collected jackpot values; however, the ramp leading up to the Demogorgon will lower and raise every second or two. Collect the Super Jackpot to start the jackpot phase again and work towards another Super Jackpot hurry-up.

Thank you!
That does indeed sound quite difficult.

Thank you.
It makes me want to buy a spare Demo ramp, as eventually that integrated flap will get dinged enough to damage the playfield with each touchdown.

I’m sure there’s lots of games with thousands of plays. No need to be hypothetical. Are people seeing this from the initial run?

Several thousand plays here. A few dings in the ramp edge. No playfield damage. No protection beyond the standard mylar.

Mine has a couple layers of mylar and its needed to be replaced, and dings in the ramp flap (or one spot in particular) has indeed cut through the mylar and affected the playfield in a minor way (have seen it on routed games for sale here as well, but not likely common if the mylar is watched, but it can happen).

Thanks for asking this question. I hit that mode for the first time a couple days ago and I thought my ramp was jacked up..lol

I used a tiny dob of super glue on my target that fell off. Been rock solid since.

Finally at least got a response back from Cointaker that they expect them "any day" after my last emails were ignored (bi-weekly so as not to harass). Learning quite a bit about service quality here for future purchases...

Just installed my uv kit on my premium. I decided to shelf my IC unit. Who sells the light mod the lights up the right side of apron?

Lermods, just installed mine. Wish I remembered to do it while I had apron off the first time. Super easy install and looks great.

I put the stock rule card over the ic hole and printed this one from the custom apron card thread for the left side.

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All right, the owner got in contact with me. I still cancelled my order, but may still do business with them in the future as they reached out to try and make things right.

I just started seeing this recently on my 2019 Pro also. Very frustrating making a clean shot on the red arrow only to have it not register.

So I just installed my UV kit on my premium. A few things, looks like they're sending out two versions. I got the version where the scanner is located in the right pricing card area and is turned sideways. I LOVE THIS. I wish every game came this way! The premiums light up the arch artwork, with insider the right one is unlit due to the scanner being there and always looked off to me. Unfortunately stern did not include a new insider/pricing card with a cutout nor did they include a light to light up the right arch artwork now. After a call, service department thought a new card was supposed to be included but wasn’t sure about the light. The game NEEDS that light now, it looks extra strange with one lit and one not lit. So far SUPER happy with the new location, waiting on the final word from stern. Also as someone else mentioned, go into features and turn on ‘UV kit installed’.