Tech Help: ACDC spring unwound/unhooked?

Got our ACDC Pro today and got it set up tonight.

Noticed a spring (?) sticking out in an area where it's causing the ball to sometimes hang up. And it's one of those things I didn't notice when I first unboxed and prepped the machine for play.

Can someone with an ACDC Pro look at their play field and see if this wire is sticking out or post a picture of the same area for me to compare? Any thoughts on what it might be or why it's sticking out like that?

Edit: Uploaded the pic and realized you may not see it. It's sticking out to the left just to the right of the "note" light in the center of the image.

image.jpg

#2 10 years ago

KMR

Phatchit

Pinside member

Davenport, FL

11y 73,900 1,460 9

As far as I know that wire is to stop the straight down the middle drains you can get from the ball coming out of the pops. I could be wrong as I don't own this machine but I'm pretty sure that's it .

#3 10 years ago

paragon

Pinside member

Kanahooka

12y 24,300 34

It is installed there from factory as stated above to stop straight down the middle drains, however I removed mine after a few weeks when cleaning playfield I noticed this spring had started to wear into the playfield ( scratch from the pressure of the ball which will not come out) so I would recommend taking spring off to avoid damage to playfield. I have other friends who have done the same. It has not made any difference in regards to draining

#4 10 years ago

JIM

Captive_Ball

Pinside+ Frequent

The spring is there to prevent the ball from draining down the middle when exiting the pop bumpers as mentioned above. My buddy removed the spring and placed a fat rubber on the post to the right of the left ramp to help avoid the middle drains...works very well.

Congrats on the new pin, it's a great one

#5 10 years ago

JOE

kid_ego

Inactive member

Thanks for the info and suggestions. Thought about bending the arm of the spring to allow the ball to roll off more easily (tilted getting it free last night), but the comments about scratching the play field have me nervous to leave it in there at all.

I'll probably give the fat rubber a try.

Any idea what size rubber your buddy used, jmule?

#6 10 years ago

TOM

tomdotcom

Pinside member

Kamloops, BC

15y 112K 6,198 2

The one I play on location had that spring thing removed entirely, and the game played good...

#7 10 years ago

JOE

kid_ego

Inactive member

Quoted from tomdotcom:
The one I play on location had that spring thing removed entirely, and the game played good...

That's good to know. The wife played one game on it before bed (it's her pin), the ball got stuck, she tilted, and then said, "There goes a good game!"

So I better get it taken care of because we all know: "A happy wife...is a wife who will allow you to buy more pins!"

#8 10 years ago

JIM

Captive_Ball

Pinside+ Frequent

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/RUBB-BLACKRING

This little guy here. #38-0316B

3.16_ID_Rubber_Ring_380316B.jpg

#9 10 years ago

JOE

kid_ego

Inactive member

Quoted from Captive_Ball:
This little guy here. #38-0316B
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/RUBB-BLACKRING

Awesome! Thanks, jmule!

Do you know if he had to put anything in place of the spring once it was removed (post, etc.)? Was it a pain for him to remove? (I'm sort of a noob when it comes to messing around on the play field. Need to start getting in there and get myself more comfortable from the tech side of these things.)

#10 10 years ago

TOM

sawyerfamilyaz

Pinside member

Mesa, AZ

11y 60,800 356 1 27

You just pull a few screws from the plastic above it and take it off from the top. Then you can pull a couple screws from the left ramp and slide a fat rubber on the post in place of the skinny rubber.

#11 10 years ago

JIM

Captive_Ball

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from sawyerfamilyaz:
You just pull a few screws from the plastic above it and take it off from the top. Then you can pull a couple screws from the left ramp and slide a fat rubber on the post in place of the skinny rubber.

Yes sir

#12 10 years ago

JIM

Captive_Ball

Pinside+ Frequent

Forgot to mention...since this new o-ring is bigger the ID and OD, it will need to be placed lower on the post then the current one is. I would suggest keeping the smaller factory o-ring there even after you install the new fatter one. Would buy a few extra and possibly place them in other areas around that exit if needed. Enjoy!

#13 10 years ago

TOM

sawyerfamilyaz

Pinside member

Mesa, AZ

11y 60,800 356 1 27

The game will also be A LOT more fun to play.

#14 10 years ago

YAY

jitneystand1

Pinside member

Valley, NE

15y 95,850 1,536 16 40 1

I took the spring completely off mine, and then installed Hemi's bell mod. Not only does it look better and make the shot much more satisfying to hit, but it also nearly eliminates SDTM's off the bell. Taking the bell off of the "sucker shot" list turns the Pro into an outstanding game.

#15 10 years ago

JOE

kid_ego

Inactive member

The spring didn't just slide up off the post when I removed the plastic and rubber ring behind the TNT targets, so I just snipped off the portion of the spring that extended into the lane (flush with the wound section of the spring).

Doing that and installing the bell mod have improved things immensely.

I may still install the rubber ring on the post as suggested earlier in the thread, but for now everything seems to work great!

Once again...kudos to Pinside!

#16 10 years ago

PRD

epotech

Pinside member

Leicester

19y 87,300 1,014 8 64

Took a look at my 3 week old game and it doesn't have the spring, nor does it SDTM from the pops or bell. Maybe Stern fixed this?

#17 10 years ago

JIM

Captive_Ball

Pinside+ Frequent