Having just had to tighten the left diverter in the last few days, I can confirm that they isn't enough thread for a second set screw.

At the moment mine is holding without the need for loctite but I have also bought some replacement set screws and if needed I'll swap the old ones out and also use some Loctite. Thanks anyway for sharing the tip - always good to know

Yes I bought one - it looks good in the flesh although I'm yet to install it

Maybe used for multi-player games, when returning to the state where the previous player was at?? Can't test mine at the moment as I'm in the middle of doing some repairs

I had the same issue on mine. The slot in the bracket pivot assembly (A-18777) and the associated pin on the plunger bracket (A-18752) can become worn and create the symptom you are experiencing - the slot becomes slightly enlarged while a groove will be worn on the pin. The amount of wear may not look that much but there is enough slop now in the movement that you can get these intermittent issues and replacing them for me fixed the issue.

I got it from Marco earlier this year but seems they are now out of stock. Had a quick search - Pinball Heaven in the UK have them in stock https://www.pinball.co.uk/product/shadow/bracket-plunger-a-18752/

It mounts on the bottom of the mini-playfield to stop any balls going over the top of the orbit ball guide and underneath of the min-playfield

The Shadow doesn't have any pop bumpers ... did you mean the ball will hit the top edge of the upper right flipper? I notice this with mine and it'll make the ball bounce out enough to go SDM. Going the upper Shadow Loop stops this but it seems that the ball guide doesn't sit out quite far enough. Interested in others peoples thoughts on this

There are a few reproductions although not sure how they compare to the originals

http://www.ministryofpinball.com/en/the-shadow-phurba-dagger.html
http://www.ministryofpinball.com/en/the-shadow-phurba-dagger-gold.html
https://shop.thepinwitch.com/Game-Specific/Bally/The-Shadow/The-Shadow---Phurba-Dagger---gold-colored.html?language=en

I noticed the welds had broken recently at an event and checked after reading your post - sure enough the diverter has been hitting that side of the ramp and you can see the ramp wall flex now that the weld is not holding it in place. Thanks for your post

Already got them ready to drop in

Upwards as it stops the ball from launching over the top of the diverter if it becomes airborne from hitting the ramp (due to it's steepness). I just grabbed an image from Twister above but see how the plastic stops just short of the diverter, so removes any chance of the ball launching over the diverter yet does not foul the diverter from working. Mounting the plastic the other way around could potentially still stop these balls going over the diverter, depending upon the angle they bounce off the leading edge of the ramp and whether the plastic is high enough however IMO that is more just good luck. I do find it strange that they didn't extend the length of the plastic to allow all 4 mounting screws to hold it into place and reduce the stress on the plastic around the screw holes when the ball does impact the plastic, so highly recommend the washers (as shown in the image) to help spread the load.

Hope this helps

Shadow (resized).jpg

Sounds like the left opto on the battlefield kicker may need to be cleaned?? Also check that the 2 shafts that the kicker travels along are still fixed in place - I had a screw come out of the end of one of the shafts, which then caused opto sensing issues as sometimes the kicker would drop slightly and not break the opto signal.

Yes I've replaced that rubber without removing the diverter but you'll need to remove the 2 ramp flap screws (to move the ramp slightly). Although I can't recall whether I did this while the wire forms were removed or not.

Would be good to swap the opto boards although it is strange that it only misfires when the kicker is being moved left or right (almost as if there is a wire related issue somewhere)

Yep I noticed the caps as well and @Djshakes indicated that this is board is only used for that specific opto, it makes me wonder whether that board is the issue. Unfortunately not a common board although there are a few other games with this board in it.

Must have been a run on these of late as I haven't seen them out of stock ...

http://www.foramusementonly.to/williams.html looks like they may have them - shoot them an email

Haha how funny as we sometimes see it the other way around, whereby we request shipping to Australia and it ends up in Austria

Had a look at mine - I think your issue is with the metal shield that covers the lugs of the mini-playfield's kicker coil as it has moved forward to hold the ball between it and the nut of the playfield plastic. See how mine sits further back from the nut (just noticed that mine is a screw and the wire habit trail doesn't have the bracing to that post that yours has - difference b/n prototype and production?? or a change during production??). Regardless I think the issue is coil shield under the mini-playfield - here's a photo of the underside of the mini-playfield, highlighting the shield that I think is causing your problem

TS2 (resized).jpg

TS3 (resized).jpg

If the diverter is not aligned with the ramp, the leading edge of the diverter will hit the ramp wall at the end of it's stroke. This can have 1 of 2 effects, if the allen grub screw is good and tight the force is transmitted into the wall of the ramp (which is why the ramp welds quite often fail on Shadow pins) otherwise the force is too great for the grub screw holding the diverter shaft causing screw to slip and hence change the alignment of the diverter (which I believe is what you are seeing).

It's not the easiest of area to work on and it may be simpler to pull the playfield out

Just double check that there are no screws (or remnants of screws) in the 2 holes on the crank arm collar. If there are and you can't get them out, you may be forced to drill them out. You can either tap the drilled holes for larger set screws or replace the crank arm https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts-by-game/the-shadow/9332/crank-arm-assembly-for-the-shadow if need be

If there are no screws holding the shaft, take a look at where the diverter shaft goes into the crank arm, look for any signs of glue - this diverter is known to have issues regarding the screws holding the diverter in place (maybe an operator had had enough with it coming loose). If you can see residual glue then maybe some glue solvent may help??

Try to get some grips one on the shaft (maybe on the topside of the playfield) and one of the crank arm to apply more leverage to free it - this will also ensure that you are not putting any undue force on other components.

I see that replacement diverters are also available if you need to go down this path (although the spot welds aren't pretty) https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts-by-game/the-shadow/9333/diverter-left-for-the-shadow-a-19638-1

Let us know how you get on

Yes I had the same thought as well. In re-reading dluth original post, the end of the diverter bracket has snapped off, so that bracket must have been under some considerable stress and this could possibly have caused damage to the crank arm or diverter shaft such that the diverter can't be easily removed. He also said that he removed the 2 set screws, but the diverter shaft is recessed where the screws hold it in place and I'm wondering whether the lip of the recess is jammed in the crank arm collar or the crank arm is twisted due to the broken bracket.

Is it the bolts (number 6 in the below diagram) that attach the coil stop (number 5) to the bracket that have snapped off or have the bolts torn off some of the bracket as well? Possibly the nuts had become lose, creating more torque on the bolts when the plunger hit the coil stop - this would eventually fatigue them and snap them off, or if the end of the bracket was slightly brittle from hardening (due to those bolts being welded inplace) then it could have cracked and eventually snapped off with the coil stop still attached.

Would be interested in seeing a photo of it if you get a chance

diverter mech (resized).png

Marco has replacement sockets if you want to keep them on all on bulbs https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/24-8856

The Start Scene or Start Khan Multiball kick-out holes

I could just take it off your hands

The only other thing you could try would be to heat the crank arm to see if it'd help free it. Certainly an impressive failure of the bracket, that plunger must have been hitting the coil stop with some force - are the coils AE-25-1000 (based off the manual)?

You'd want to be very careful with a blowtorch - lots of things that could melt around there. I'd suggested heating but was thinking more of soldering iron with a heavy duty tip, as metal expands when heated and heating one bit (eg the crank arm) and not the other (the shaft) can help.

That said seeing the pics, Dave's idea of punch and hammer is the way to go.

Wow that was one tough bugger to get apart ... Unfortunate that it ended up breaking but as you said the replacement parts are available and at least you can now move forward

Twister posted about a replacement battlefield plastic (the one that surrounds the battlefield) done in metal and then black chromed. He's done a small run of them - you can find pictures in his posts in this thread

Did you go the gold or silver battlefield sign on the front? Post a pic if you get a chance. Thanks

Thanks - Twister posted a few photos of the decal in different colours and was asking for opinions during development, so wasn't sure whether he offer a few options. Sounds like gold won

If the machine thinks there is an issue with the mini PF then it'll keep the drop target up to stop the ball going into the VUK and up to the Battlefield.

Have you tested the mini PF in test mode? Does the kicker move right and left at the start of the test and then can you move it right & left with the flipper buttons? This will help determine if the issue is with the motor than moves the kicker or not

Might struggle to find that as a replacement, more likely you find a used one - there's a whole kicker assembly for sale for $180

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/82225

Here's one if you are still looking - think it may be the same one that was posted previously but now with the motor removed, so the price might be more to your liking

ebay.com link: Bally The Shadow pinball machine Battlefield kicker assembly Rare Spare Parts

It's Tim Reid from Hot Rodded Pins (HRP), he's in Geelong, Vic. He's a great bloke and does outstanding work.

Interesting as I've noticed at times where my right ramp left diverter ring would be lit even though I hadn't made the shot. I haven't investigated where the issue is, so this info has got me intrigued as to if I have the same issue

There is a plastic that sits behind the ramp to stop ball hangs. Maybe post a picture of where the ball is getting stuck

All games are different. I used to get ball hangs with the original actuator arm and moved to using 3-4" straight arm. This works 90% of the time, but sometimes a fast shot won't register and I suspect that the ball is going over the top of the switch as @rotodave showed in a slow-mo video dome time ago. So going to try using a switch extender. The best solution is the one that works for your game

Oh the ball hang is on the wireform- yes that area of the wire form is quite flat and if the ball doesn’t have any momentum it can hang there on mine. I had this happen when I didn’t have plastics on my ramps and the ball would fly off over the diverter and land on the wireform - but is this happening on yours when the ball comes off the mini-PF? Does the ball come over the top of the black plastic shroud that surrounds the mini-PF? As the shroud is designed to stop the ball’s forward momentum and let it drop down onto the main PF behind the wireform. If the shroud is stopping the ball, it shouldn’t be able to land on the wireform

The bottom of the front of the shroud is designed to deflect the ball back away from wireform - is the shroud cracked/broken? Even where it is screwed onto the mini-PF? Just wondering whether it’s not sitting exactly in the right position and just opened a slight gap that is normally not there?? Also is the mini-PF sitting down fully (if it’s slightly higher it might allow more of an opening to the wireform). I haven’t seen this before so just trying to think of possible issues ...

Nicely spotted!!

Check the coil bracket hasn’t come loose, try manually moving the coil plunger if it’s doesn’t move freely you may need to swap the coil sleeve (check the coil stop at the same time), on the head of the plunger is a cap to cradle the ball check that it isn’t getting caught on anything and is still attached to the plunger

I'd suggest working on why the MPU status LEDs aren't correct (the reset issue associated with the flippers can be looked at later). First thing would be to reseat your connectors (with the machine turned off) - the ribbon cable connections on all boards in the backbox, as well as connectors J101, J102, J114 on the power driver board and J210 on the MPU board.

I also noticed that LED2 on the Power Driver Board is off (but should be on).

Try taking a slow motion video with your phone when the vuk is trying to kick the ball up onto the mini-PF - this may give you a clue as to what is happening. For example maybe the wireform and vuk are misaligned so the ball is losing momentum hitting, rattling or dragging on the wireform

When the ball exits the front of the mini-PF, it drops down either side of the kicker and the black shroud around the mini-PF directs the ball down and towards the back of the PF away from the wireform. The bottom of the shroud is more or less level with the wireform to ensure the ball cannot land on the wireform. If the ball falls to the right side of the kicker it'll typically drop into the shadow loop, while to the left of the kicker it'll drop into the orbit. The clear plastic is angled towards the back of the PF to ensure the ball cannot roll into the back of the ramp under the wireform. However we still don't know how the ball is ending up on the wireform - is it coming over the top of the shroud? Or is the mini-PF sitting down fully - is it screwed down? It would be worthwhile taking a video while you are playing to try to capture how the ball is ending up on the wireform.

On a side note, I see that your wireform has extra bracing (see picture) to the PF compared to mine - I wonder whether this was added during the production run to better support the wireform to avoid these types of hangs ...

TS wireform (resized).jpg

I think my machine has been listening into my conversation as the next time I played it I had a ball come off the mini-PF onto the wireform ... although it didn't get hung but simply returned to the inlane.

From what I could tell, the ball went down the left side of the kicker and came out onto the wireform between the shroud and kicker - the bottom of the shroud has a cutout where the kicker moves left & right, at the time the kicker was roughly in the centre but was moving left, I believe the ball ended up wedged between the kicker and the shroud cutout but as the kicker was moving left it's forced the ball to pop out forward ending up on the wireform (there was a partial delay from the ball coming off the min-PF to when it appeared to pop out). The thing is that even so the ball was then able to roll down the wireform - I'd suggest putting a washer under the wireform support strut that you have (below the front right hand corner of the mini-PF) to marginally increase the angle of the wireform.

And just to prove that I'm totally wrong, my game put the ball twice onto the wireform when coming off the mini-PF - straight out thru the shroud cutout to the left of the kicker. Neither got hung on the wireform

Yep totally agree and both Shadow loop and Khan saucer are doable from that position.

Not a common problem that I've heard of. I'd firstly check the alignment of the plunger to ensure that it is striking the seated ball cleanly (maybe the bracket has came loose etc), if that is ok then clean/rebuild the eject mech (A-15368).

That's not the original switch actuator arm - but will work assuming it's long enough to make contact with the plastic drop target. The picture is from the drop target on T2 (hence the black target) but it's the same assembly. Also in the 2nd image item 24 is a plastic guide (red arrow points to it as well), this was used to ensure that the actuator arm remained under the plastic tab of the drop target and didn't get pushed to the side. While not shown in the picture the components that were screwed to the switch bracket are - plastic guide (03-8630), switch, insulator (01-8600) and then the bracket it self.

Drop target assembly (resized).jpg

Plastic Guide (resized).JPG

Yep they missed the diagram in the manual - fortunately the single drop target is used in a few other machines (IJ, JM, NF, STTNG, T2) so leveraged the diagram from one of them

Here's a pic of A-20424 (the Mini-PF Opto kit) mentioned in the Service Bulletin
a-20424 (resized).jpg

Haven't been able to find a good image of the instructions Doc# 16-10112.1 (you need to click on the image to see the full document) - if someone has the WMS Service Bulletin Book 1996 (pages 15 & 16) and can post a clearer copy that'd be good. eBay has a listing for the SB 1996 book at the moment (maybe we should ask them to snap a pic for us ) ebay.com link: Williams WMS Games Parts and Service Service Bulletin 1996
A-20424 Instructions.pdf

While the repair kit is no longer available, Marco has the extension bracket in stock if you need / want to try it

Based on the repair kit (see instructions in above post) this is what you need:
1 x 01-14013 https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/01-14013
2 x 4108-01004-06 https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/parts-by-machine/bally-parts/4108-01004-06.html

I noticed this too. I suspect that because the original bracket has a hole in it and the extender only moves the opto itself back, it's in affect trying to narrow the light source to only that of the opto transmitting. Of course the original engineers were only dealing with incandescent globes back then, so it may not be quite as effective with sounding glare from LEDs and Pin Stadiums - that said I think that combining using the extender and your straw technique between the new position of the opto receiver and the bracket hole would further reduce the chance of this issue occurring

The numbers for this mod are building ... I'm getting excited, fingers crossed

You're right they did an amazing job on this pin, I'd forgotten how well the gameplay and modes align with the movie storyline. My son (a few years ago now) stumbled on the DVD in a sale for $2 - Dad's Xmas present done!! One of my favourite pins

Haha yep, shoot the flashing light!! Works a treat

Yes, most of the popular or common machines have an club thread (such as "The Shadow Club") that someone has started.

This lists all the current clubs https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/forum/clubs-members-only

Have you reached out to Aurich to see if/when he is going to do another batch? Might be the easiest way to pick one up

I took a look at his website but the only black edition listed are for System 7-11, so he must of sold out of his WPC black editions. Even the single button boards are a cool idea.

Not all stainless steel is magnetic. I'd suspect the ramps are stainless steel 304 (definitely not aluminum)

A-17790.1

I grabbed a spare from Mark C. and haven't used it (PM me if interested) https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/a-17790-1.html

That min-PF thumb screw (02-5142) is like hen's teeth ... hard to find

https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/playfield-parts/metal-posts/02-5142.html

Yes that's correct. Just make sure you get the right orientation - see the divot on the existing chip (on the right side) just make sure you put the new chip in to match.

Hey Manto - does the kicker move fully to the left and right correctly? The kicker will re-center once the game detects that the ball has come off the upper playfield - does yours? From your picture it does look a bit more to the right than I'd expect, however other than when the kicker is fully at either side (opto under the mini-PF detects this) I'm not sure that the game knows exactly where the kicker is positioned.

Yes there is a start up check that'll switch the diverters and move the kicker left & right on the battlefield (so will sound similar to a ball search), but don't think it does the shooter lane and kick out holes - double check what is being triggered. If it is doing the latter then it might think there is a missing ball, so I'd check the trough switches (optos and cold solder joints)

Arh yes the drop targets are triggered in the startup sequence as well - I haven't noticed the shooter lane firing however that is quite possible and I'm not able to check on my game atm. That said I'd say your machine is behaving normally - it does these checks on boot up in case there are faults it's not aware of and will disable game features such that the game is still somewhat playable.

There are optos under the mini-PF that tell the game when the kicker is at the end limits of its left-right movement

Yep ribbon cables are relatively cheap, so replacing them is a viable option these days. If it fixes the issue and you have some time to spare, you can always find out what failed on the original cable and potentially fix it, to have a spare in case you never need to call on one.

I checked out mine and it does center ... it's got me scratching my head on this one

There are various things that can cause issues here as timing is critical
1. The drop target mech arm is worn and the target down switch is not registering in time, so the magnet drops the ball (as it doesn't want to throw it into the wall)
2. The drop target switch is bent or out of alignment and not registering in time, so the magnet drops the ball. Also check for cold solder joints on the switch & diode.
3. If the playfield has a divot at the sanctum, it can cause the ball to partially hang affecting the timing and game doesn't think the ball was caught by the magnet.
4. The opto needs cleaning and check alignment.
5. The lock switches aren't registering balls correctly and the game suspects an issue with the drop target/magnet

I have all original DMD's on my machines as I like the classic look but that said I think the colour DMD looks fantastic, particularly on The Shadow as the colours really enhances the image and ties in well with the cabinet artwork (love the green).

Was the decal from jonesjb ??

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-shadow-club/page/47#post-2820112

Stumbled across these Shadow instruction cards and thought I post here in case people haven't seen them (and he does lots of other games as well - very talented)

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/custom-apron-cards-printable-versions-only/page/16#post-5486603

+1

I assume you are referring to the post sleeve circled in blue? I don't believe your issue is the sleeve (it's just a standard sized sleeve) but rather the ball guide - I would loosen the screw that holds the end of the ball guide and slightly move/push the ball guide towards the centre of the PF and re-tighten the screw, so that the post sleeve doesn't protrude from the guide as much. If that doesn't work, you may need to loosen some of the other ball guide screws, to get enough movement such that the ball doesn't clip the post sleeve when making an orbit shot.

TS orbit (resized).jpg

Looking pics of my machine I couldn't see a bend (I can't get to my machine atm) however looking online is does seem that the ball guide has that bend in it. Are you sure that the ball is clipping the post sleeve? as I'm wondering whether the ball is hitting the end of the ball guide that is kinked out? You might need to take a slo-mo video of the ball coming out of the orbit to determine exactly where the ball is making contact.

I found this pic online, which shows the ball guide better - so it looks like that bend is actually there

TS ball guide (resized).JPG

Mate your English is far better than my French

Yes your ball guide does have a very definite kink - I think trying to get a slow motion video of the ball exiting the orbit will provide a better view of what is happening and then hopefully someone (maybe Chitownpinball ) can provide a similar version for a comparison.

Awesome work - well done!!!

Shoot the ramps to change the currently flashing scene/mode that will start next. Divert the ball left to move the flashing scene up the list (shown below), divert the ball right to move the flashing scene down the list. The list loops around the top & bottom

The scenes are:

Punish the Guilty
Farley Claymore
Duel of Wills
The Beryllium Sphere
Escape Underwater Doom
Discover Hotel Monolith

Depending upon how brutal your ramps are, super vengeance can be very lucrative for big scores

Believe this is as they came from the factory.

The promo video

shows them as red, as well as the original flyer https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2528&picno=4121&zoom=1 ... from looking at pics online seems most (if not all) came out with red posts.

The part list shows 11 x 03-8319-9 red posts - maybe they were originally going to come out with clear and then swapped them for production; or simply there was an error in the manual??

There's 2 separate plastic tubes / ramps
03-9214 is the one directly behind the mini-PF
03-9215-2 is the one that angles down with the switch hole

03-9214 seems to be out of stock everwhere but 03-9215-2 is available at the below sites
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-03-9215-2
https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/03-9215-2.html

You could place a wanted ad to see if anyone has one? I'll have a look if I have a spare (not sure which one I have)

I believe these have been reproduced previously and more than likely they'll do another run again (just depends when). What is broken with your current one - is the small tab for one of the screws broken off? A temporary fix is to drill a small hole in the back curved area and screw the ramp through that (you'll need to countersink the head of the screw so that the ball does get caught on it)

I like the backboard brick wall decal with the shadows on it - haven't seen that before, nice touch and the Shadow figurine works nicely with it.

The other thing I've read (think it was in this thread) is that the Mantis ramps are slightly steeper - I thought this might be worth mentioning, in case you have replacement ramps and the flipper rebuild doesn't address the issue.

I struggle with my ramps however that's because my machine is in need for some TLC

Put me down for one as well please

Maybe PM sc93cobra who was making them to see if he was making any spare ones or if you can go on a waiting list in case someone pulls out

Really looking forward to this upgrade ... might be time for a complete resto

Have you been able to get started on rebuilding your house or has Covid delayed everything?

There's something definitely wrong with your upper flipper - there are flipper rebuild kits available, which will replace the various components that wear out (coil sleeve, coil stop, plunger and link etc). In doing the rebuild, you'll possibly work out what the issue was that was causing the lack of movement, but a rebuild will also ensure that your flippers are powerful and work properly. If you can't remove the sleeve from the coil (partially melted) then you may need a new coil as well - check this before ordering your rebuild kit as then you can order the coil as the same time

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/WFLTRON-1L2R - this kit will do all 3 flippers

Does your kicker paddle bat slightly lean to the left? Such that when the kicker is over on the far left, the bat catches the lefthand side of the battlefield opto bracket? I've seen this before as there was too much play with the square kicker shaft in the bracket - I found that I could squeeze the bracket such that it reduce the amount of lean on the kicker which in turn provided clearance from hitting the opto bracket on the upperside of the mini PF.

This is a common issue with the single drop target (same as used in T2, STTNG and IJ) and I have all of the them so quite familiar with them LOL

The black arrow (#1) points to the plastic drop target, on the back of that target is a tab that pushes the switch actuator arm down (you can see this is the diagram on the right). There should be an actuator guide (blue arrow #24) which sits on the outer side of the switch, which stops the actuator arm from being deflected sideways by the falling drop target. Sometimes the actuator arm can get out of position (eg above the drop target tab or below the coil plunger arm that pushes the drop target up)

Plastic Guide1 (resized).jpg

Here's a picture showing where the actuator arm should be (ie between the black tab of the drop target and the metal coil plunger arm). Note this drop target doesn't have the clear plastic actuator guide installed over the switch. (Ignore the light blue arrows, as I just reused an pic that I already had)

Drop target assembly (resized).jpg

rotordave posted some clips a year ago on this thread https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-shadow-club/page/117#post-5043781

The 2nd video shows how some fast shots can actually go over the top of the switch and fail to trigger the switch, even with a longer actuator arm. His solution was to create a plastic extender to move the switch further down the wireform.

My Shadow the switch would regularly stop the ball from going down the wireform, I replaced it with a long straight actuator arm and fine tuned the angle of the switch which has improved it to 90%. So I've have bought the extender and getting the MRS to try these

I checked mine and that's how my wireforms join together - nicely spotted

I've gone black nickel, but the brass does look great - you'll need to post some pics of it installed ... probably make us all jealous