Can finally join!

Couple of issues to deal with, but not much flipper fade at all. Rebuilt the lower flippers. Will rebuild the side flipper and upper playfield flippers. Having some garage issues where the ball isn't reaching the VUK, but that could easily be a balance issue since I don't even have it in the house. Need to replace the DMD too but have a spare ready to go. Need to get 5.0 ROM update too.

This one should keep me busy for quite some time.

Also, major thanks to PDXMonkey for teaching me the art of the flipper rebuild.

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Can't fully confirm since I just got mine but I believe there is a rubber grommet on the top of each. Take those off and I am pretty sure the nuke towers will come off and you can get at the bulbs.

Both I'd my nuke pops are really weak. Switches seem good bur probably need to replace the coil sleeve and tighten everything up. Anyone rebuild these pops before?

Very productive day on my TSPP.

2 of my three pops weren't firing. The switch was registering but the coil would not fire during a test. Was thinking that I was going test everything from fuses to transistors. Fortunately, the ground wire on each just needed to be re-soldered. Working properly now!

Rebuilt the remaining flippers. Found out that one of the long tubes that extends the mini-flipper to the coil was cracked and broken on the bottom. It still seems to function but I may need to get that replaced at some point.

Was running into a strange issue with the garage. Occasionally, a shot would get "lost" in the back. It wouldn't land in the loop nor would it continue back to the VUK to the upper play field. Turns out that after removing the upper play field, a small piece of the ramp in the back was broken and it was just enough to let the ball just sit on the metal rail and the ramp gap. Of course Marco doesn't have that ramp piece in stock. I had to improvise and so far, my make shift mod is working and the ball isn't being held up.

Now it is time to upgrade to v5 roms(on order) and get a new set of rubbers (on order as well). Tried adding an external subwoofer, but it sounded really muddy and will have to wait and see. Maybe a flipper fidelity upgrade is in order. Mods are also on the way. Moe's tavern for sure. Any others?

Still, this machine is so much fun. Now I need to get a Phd to learn the rule set.

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FYI, for people not in the know, Cliffy has built ramp protectors for the left and right ramps. Check out the details here http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tspp-cliffy-ramp-protector/

Contact him directly for those as they are not listed on his site. http://www.passionforpinball.com/

Also, if any of you have had issues with your middle ramp behind the garage then read on. They tend to chip and break since so many shots go through the garage. Recently discovered that an important piece of mine was broken which was causing ball hang ups. Cliffy is considering making a protector for this as well. So show Cliffy some love and let him know that we want to to protect our TSPP ramps!

I haven't had any noticeable sound issues yet. I am running on 5.0 and I am pretty sure PDXMonkey is too and he has had the sound issue. Upgrading to 5 is a cheap enough upgrade and hopefully that does it for you.

As for No.26, dang, that one is a big one to break. My google-fu isn't too strong but I have looked at some of the non-usual places with no luck. Looks like a lot of people have a similar issue. Guess just keep looking and hopefully one will pop up soon.

It is s really fun game but sometimes, I can put 10 games in a row in and get killed every time. Had that happen last night and I just had to turn it off before my cursing was heard across the street.

Just because pictures are fun. Just installed the Duff Speaker inserts and lights. Got my first Mystery Spot last night. Totally messes with your head!

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It finally arrived! My center ramp has the front lip chipped off and it was causing ball hangups with slow shots into the garage. This piece was nowhere to be found in the States. Ended up order from The Pin Witch in Germany. They had it in stock AND they accepted PayPal as opposed to a bank transfer. It actually arrived a lot sooner than I had anticipated.

So couple things. How hard would it be to replicate something like this? Would taking it to a place like TAP Plastics be able to vaccuform something like this? Would someone with some 3D printing expertise be able to scan this in and print one out? Take it to a fabrication shop and have them build one out of metal? Now that I have a pristine one, I don't want to go about breaking it. I am hoping that Cliffy will be able to come up with something to protect the lip on the front of these ramps but he is a busy man indeed. Anyone have any thoughts on this? It wouldn't even have to be orange since this part can't even be seen.

Either way, out with the old and in with the new. There has already been an immediate difference in game play. Can you see the missing piece? It isn't much, but it was enough to cause hangups back there.

Also, big thumbs up for The Pin Witch. Great communication and super fast shipping. If they have those hard to find pieces and you are stateside (or anywhere for that matter), don't hesitate to order from them: http://thepinwitch.com/

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So your center ramp has a protector? Couch ramp comes with one standard and Cliffy has made aftermarket ones for both the left(Treehouse) and right ramps(Moe's) ramps, but as far as I know, there aren't any protectors for this one but would love to see what yours looks like.

Thanks for the pics. This ramp is the Couch ramp. The ramp that Cliffy and I are referring to is the garage ramp and is located behind the garage and is not seen unless you remove the upper playfield. If you successfully jump your ball through the garage, it lands on this ramp and gets sent to the VUK to be shot to the upper playfield. If you are not successful in your jump, it just lands in the outer loop and drains into the bumpers.

Again, thanks for the pics!

Yes, they are very similar but indeed different.

Center Ramp
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/545-6045-00

Couch Ramp
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/515-7273-00

So riddle me this fellow TSPP owners. I am looking to replace the rubber just to the right of the garage. This is one of the large black posts that supports the upper playfield. On the rubber page in the manual, it lists this distinctly as "Sleeve 24mm" with part number 545-6028-24. However, when I attempt to find this part number, I keep getting directed to the 24mm coil sleeve.

Anyone have any tips on where to pick this rubber up? I don't think this rubber has been changed since creation and is plenty hard.

Here is the page that Marco directs me to:
http://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=545-6028-24

Thoughts are apprecaited.

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Thank you sir!

First off, welcome! TSPP is one pin that probably won't leave my collection. As for your questions, make sure you are running version 5.0 of the display drivers and CPU ROMs. $15 on ebay shipped will get you both. Deal with John Wart Jr.

ebay.com link: Stern The Simpsons Pinball Party CPU and Display ROM Upgrade Set 5 0

As for CGB callout, I know that he reserves his ridicule for when a hurry up is activated and not collected on drain. So if you hit the skill shot on plunge, it will activate 2 hurry ups. If you only collect 1, CBG will usually chime in one of which is "Worst Ball Ever". As for the chunk, that is not standard. Fortunately, he is pretty easily gotten through various sites. Check Marco.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/880-5060-01

However, he won't be the easiest to swap out because you have to pretty much remove the left ramp entirely to get at the screws that attach him. And while you have that off, you might as well slap a Cliffy protector on that ramp. He sells a kit for both the left and right ramp. Then you can get the Itchy and Scratchy protector from Pinbits. Also, at some point, get under your upper playfield and check the condition of your middle ramp. That thing takes a beating and the replacement part is Unobtanium in the states. Cliffy is working on getting a protector for this ramp too so stay tuned for that.

Contact Cliffy directly for those. He's on pinside here too.

http://passionforpinball.com/

So enjoy and good luck getting to the bottom of these very deep rules!

I have a bar on mine. Would assume it is there to prevent the ball from rolling back into the VUK. Before bending anything, I would check the coil sleeve on the VUK. It may need to be replaced. Especially with how dirty that area of your playfield was and the condition of your center ramp is. To me that would be the first place to look. Also, bending that scoop would be a feat since even though it is small, is still a sturdy piece of metal.

Just got my sideboard decals from 'sillyoldelf' and these things are awesome! Top quality all around and was able to install them by myself. I know that he only did a limited run of these but I think he is considering another run. I would PM him if you are interested.

Thread is located here
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tspp-simpsons-pinball-party-custom-side-board-decals

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Great upgrade but dang the price is just.... painful.

Had the same clip on mine. Took it off. Have noticed no difference in gameplay.

This is exactly why I picked up a Getaway to go with TSPP. Nice fun fast game to go with the super deep and really fun Simpsons.

Just installed Indypinheads lit Moe's sign. Very well designed and adds a lot! I think this is a great solution for all the failed EL paper options that are no longer available out there. Simple to install and works great when hooked to the GI. I went with the solder method as opposed to the wire taps.

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I recommend all the Cliffy pieces for TSPP. Especially the garage ramp. Those ramps are unobtanium now and have a tendency to have the front lip of it chip off under heavy use. Have to get the I&S protector (made by Cliffy) through pinbits. All the others (left ramp, garage ramp, and right ramp) can be gotten from Cliffy directly http://passionforpinball.com

This had been out of stock for the longest time. I had to get mine from the Pin Witch in Germany. Maybe I'll order another one even though my new ramp is protected by a Cliffy now.

This is indicative of maybe a couple things. The front lip of your ramp could be damaged (or chipped off entirely, mine was when I got it) or the metal ramp in the garage has come out of alignment. Not impossible but that metal ramp is pretty sturdy so I am thinking the former issue is at play. It only takes a little bit for the ball to lose momentum and not make it to VUK to the upper playfield.

So I recommend taking off the upper playfield and asses the state of the garage ramp.

So I turned on TSPP today and it seems I have developed a very loud buzzing sound that is coming through the speakers. It comes on immediately as soon as I turn on the machine and is quite loud. I still have regular sounds but it is quieter compared to this buzzing. I re-seated the speaker molex on the back board with no luck.

Do I have an audio amp going bad or is this indicative of other issues (transformers, etc.)? Was fine as of yesterday and not sure what else to look at.

So I have isolated it to one channel on the audio amplifier. The channel that powers the sub in the cabinet. If I hook my top speakers up to that channel, the buzz then comes from there. So I know it isn't a wiring issue with the speakers and more like something on the board. Not sure what could be failing though or if this is just simply a grounding issue.

All thoughts are appreciated.

Not fully but I am 99% sure it is a failed audio amplifier since I actually have actual voltage(+12v) coming through that particular channel which is causing the buzzing. That chip is hard to get my DMM on to test the legs but I have been told that if voltage is coming through the line, it is usually a bad TDA2030 chip. I haven't done much board work but I am practicing on some scrap boards and will hopefully attempt this swap out this week. I just pray I don't screw anything up on my MPU board. I just wish this part were an easier part like a two legged capacitor. Instead, this is a 5 legged transistor so I will need to snip the legs off, then remove the legs from the board one by one. Then ensure I have a clean surface to work on (solder braid or solder sucker - have heard horror stories about both), then insert the new legs and apply solder. Sounds easy but I am nervous to try for real.

Just an update. Got around to performing board work today with the sound issue I was having. Yesterday I snipped the legs off and removed them from the board. Then with some steady hands, soldered on the new TDA2030AV chip. Ran some quick continuity tests and all looked good. Fired it up and everything is working as planned.

Was my first real attempt at backboard work. It was pretty nerve racking but in the end has given me more confidence in doing this kind of work.

So now it is time to play some more TSPP!

If haven't already, check the condition of your garage ramp(Take the upper playfield off to inspect). There is a lip in there that is prone to breaking. Mine was and the part is pretty rare. I worked with Cliffy to get a protector built for it. Of course, I recommend getting all the protectors from Cliffy as well.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tspp-cliffy-ramp-protector/page/2