Just unboxed my LE. These playfields do still seem to be susceptible to bubbling/pooling where the apron + guides touch down. I'm going through adding some felt washers like I did on Jurassic Park before it potentially gets worse and chips. Also, the left outlane post was clearly designed for a small post. They pulled back the artwork for that but later changed it to a star post which is starting to pool a bit. Hopefully shouldn't be too bad since it's rarely hit and doesn't have a ring applying diagonal pressure to it. Either way, I think it's worth protecting these spots early if you can.

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I really don't think my game is the only one pooling around the apron/guides/post, so I'd encourage others to check. This just seems to be the same adhesion issue we've been seeing for awhile now. Pulling back the artwork definitely helped, but it didn't actually address the root cause.

I did gently pull the post up (pic attached) and am planning to flatten the ripple before reinstalling. It's definitely clear that the move to a star post was a late stage change, as it also sits on top of the lane guide bracket (which I think even makes it worse cutting into the field since it's torqued down at an angle). I might actually just install the narrower post which appears to be originally intended even though I realize that opens up the outlane a bit. Guess I'll just have to play better!

As far as the apron goes, the solution I've been using for awhile is just putting a black 7/16 OD titan ring on each of the threaded posts and it does a great job of lifting the apron just enough to no longer contact the field. They fit perfectly in the recessed spots on the playfield. If anyone from Stern is reading, please just do this at the factory. It costs basically nothing and will stop the apron from damaging the playfield.

I'm still excited about the game, but between this and the diverter issue it's going to be a few days before I'm able to play it. I'm just really frustrated with Stern's continued lack of any apparent quality control here.

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I stand corrected- looks like they did do something there to raise that post up. Wonder if mine was just left out, or if it was a later stage change.

It's hard to tell from the picture. Is it a big washer that goes to the edges of the post, or a small one that leaves a "lip" overhang around the post edges? For example could you slide a fingernail underneath the post edge?

Since I already needed to take the ramps off to fix the diverter (side note: that service bulletin is missing some steps!), I thought I'd go a bit further to remove ball guides, flatten the ink, and put some fiber washers on the guides. Not for the faint of heart, but I do enjoy tearing into these games.

Here's what the ball guide in the back looks like. Not sure if it would eventually chip, but it certainly isn't pretty. I'd definitely recommend keeping an eye on these spots where the guides touch down. This is pretty much exactly what my JP looked like as well, and the steps I took to protect that one are holding up well ~1000 games in.

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Also, those back hex posts weren't screwed in all the way. Both had about 1/8" of thread showing and were a bit wobbly.

I'm going through swapping out the stock rubbers for Titan, and noticed something a bit odd. After looking at a few pictures in this thread, it looks like some games are built one way and others differently. Trying to figure out which is best/correct. Mine is an LE built on June 29th.

My game has a support bracket right under the turtle van door, and a different post there that it attaches to. Looks a bit like an afterthought (with the plastic resting partially on top of the screw head), and is different from the original press pictures. At first, I thought this just might be a Prem/LE thing to support that plastic during multiball. However, there seem to be other LE games that don't have that support bracket and use the original metal mini post. Perhaps it's just there as extra impact protection on that leading edge, like the raptor pit on JP?

It certainly would look better without it there. Any thoughts on how critical it is and whether or not the change is an addition or deletion?

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While I appreciate everyone rushing to identify potential flaws, the insert is fine. It's just a reflection. This area is covered by the factory mylar, so that might be what you're seeing.

I'm plenty picky about playfield issues (and there are still a ton of them with bubbling at the ball guides and that star post up front), but the inserts and are all great.

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Could you clarify what you mean by adjusting the ramp for the upper flipper feed? I understand the push back and to the left, but not clear what you're showing with the other red circle there (is it just highlighting adding a washer?).

Also, thanks for the tip on ball drop mylar. I used to apply it to every game but forgot to even check since Stern had been doing it from the factory. I also added some to the right side drop.

I use #8 fiber washers and they work great.

It's interesting because it looks like they've gone back and forth on this. The original press photos have the large keepout with a small post, then the initial pro + LE have small keepout with a large post (causing the issues). I imagine there was a healthy internal debate about what % of left side drains was acceptable

I think all of these inkjet playfields are pretty grainy. Any chance we're just seeing variation based on camera quality? Has anyone seen a "good one" and a "bad one" side by side?

Here's mine- definitely "grainy", but doesn't seem too bad to me all things considered.

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Any pictures of the playfields showing the printing differences? Would also be interested to know- do any of them have the larger art keepout around the left side star post? Some comments earlier on the thread implied that the graininess may have been introduced when the art change was made.

Wow, that's pretty significant of a difference. I cropped and rotated two of them in order to have a better side by side comparison. The Stern "QA" department continues to impress me every day.

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What's the issue with the pizza motors? Just that they're loud?

The lair ball guide is actually digging in a bit in your pic, and you may want to get a washer under there before it chips. I'd definitely recommend also bending it a bit to follow the playfield outline if you take it out, to reduce the impacts there (and make the shot a bit easier).

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That would be astoundingly disappointing, and also not the slightest bit surprising.

If you don't mind taking it apart again- the best place to put the washers is on the three posts. That will raise the whole guide up so it no longer cuts into the playfield.

I think this is a "good" one. It's an LE with the art still under the post. Still grainy due to inkjet, but seems to have higher resolution and none of the banding that some do.

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Can you post more closeup pictures of the premium playfield? It would be great to see how they've fixed it.

Could someone please check something for me? I took a lot of parts off to put protective washers under the ball guides, and I have a slight conundrum putting things back together. Upper left side under the orange flasher, there are three standoffs. Two taller, one shorter. I took a picture in disassembly, but it just seems "not right" to me. Is it correct that the short one is front right, which would put that plastic at a pretty steep angle to the front (I imagine to prevent ball hangups).The weird part is that the front left standup doesn't actually connect to anything, it just pushes up on the underside of the plastic. Is this right?

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For the three standoffs that support the clear glider base? I have the same there.

But for this area on the left side, you have 3x 3/4"?

Ah, I think I see what you mean- looks like on the pro there is another clear piece on top there due to the different wireform shape. In fact, looks like that's what the extra unused standoff is for. It appears they had a ton of trouble during development with hangups here, and I think they did intentionally move to a shorter standoff in the front to angle the plastic on the prem/LE. If you look at their press photos, that front screw is a flathead. Not sure why they didn't just carry that forward to production.

Totally normal on the cabinet these days. Just sloppy assembly vs. actually splitting. You can see they put filler in the outside seams now to close the gaps, and that appears to be intact.

Was it like that out of the box? How many plays are on it?

Mine was definitely digging in, but hadn't yet "pushed" the printing out from under it. I flatted the spots and put some fiber washers in.

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That certainly looks better than any time I've ever tried to glue a piece back on. For future reference, what type of glue did you use?

Can someone please check something for me? I just finished putting things back together, and have one extra washer. The way I had things grouped, it looks like it should have come from right around this spot. Does the post on the left have a washer somewhere in the stack with the spacer?

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Could someone please clarify the expected behavior of the top orbit up-post? For awhile I thought it was just rejecting my shot up the left orbit (above flipper), but I think I can hear it intentionally triggering the post. Is that expected behavior to then send the ball back down to the upper flipper? What's the rule for when it triggers/doesn't on those orbit shots?

What do you have flipper strength set at? I found the sweet spot on mine to be around 220 (~6.7 deg pitch). It's certainly playing a ton better after doing that, but I'm still having a really hard time hitting the right ramp.

Definitely sad to see. I've just gotten into the habit of fully disassembling the top side of these games and putting a bunch of fiber washers in before playing. I did so on both JP and TMNT.

Sure, it's a huge pain- but I do enjoy the tinkering and it gives me a good chance to really learn about how they're put together and make a lot of adjustments in the process. I use that as an opportunity to adjust the placement of a number of ballguides so that everything feeds cleanly, better align some of the posts, switch everything over to Titan rings, and clean the ramps/plastics up (they often have a lot of manufacturing residue on them- especially black gunk on the metal ramps from what looks like laser cutting through protective film). On the positive side, I feel like once I've done this the games play really well and stay clean for a really long time.

The other super obnoxious thing I do is trim the "nubs" on the edges of the plastics as I'm reassembling, since I get annoyed when microfiber towels tend to catch + snag on them. But that's probably just me.

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For what it's worth, I'm seeing 4+ balls lock in the van even still on 1.21. I'm not even sure how many balls it's supposed to be anymore, as I definitely had a turtle power 6-ball going today. But it didn't really bother me- it was a blast to play.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if it's just related to the balls getting magnetized over time.

How does the van actually sense how many balls are loaded up? Is there a single opto that is supposed to only see one at the third position? I don't recall enough wires coming out of there to sense each one individually.

You might want to try the Titan slim post rubbers instead. I think those look like the standard ones, and I've found that they tend to close off the shots a bit too much. Also, they're tapered and will help with airballs (like the original Stern design).

Although, I've also had a lot of issues with the slim posts getting chewed up quickly where they take a lot of direct hits, so this style may last a lot longer.