great glad you like it, I have made a couple of mods for myself for this machine, this is by far my favorite. I love it when i got 3 balls bouncing around on the bumpers and this thing is just goin crazy!

Not the case on every game. Especially ones with tight tilts. You'd have to make a big move to save it and it's usually tilt or drain.

If you nudge as soon as the ball releases from the magnet, even a minimal nudge should prevent it from sdtm

Not if the magnet throws it straight up and down with force SDTM. Believe me I've tried 100s of times. Haha

TBH I don't know why Lyman never put a 2sec ball save after the magnet energizes. Seems like it would be a simple modification but what do I know.

I tried to rotate my magnet with no luck.

The core and the nut are locked together and I can't for the life of me get the nut to spin on the core.

Does anyone know how the core comes out? With Metallica, you just keep unscrewing the core until it comes out of the game. With TWD, it backs out so far and then stops.

The nut needed to come off on mine, then I unscrewed the core.

*edit. Wrong thread.

*edit. Wrong thread.

I'm officially part of the club!

Previous owner installed lit flipper buttons and I want to remove them. There's too much light leakage and the buttons squeak. Does it matter if I replace the buttons with an internal spring, or do I need buttons with no spring. Is it a preference thing? PBL doesn't have buttons with no spring, and I'm ordering other parts from them and would rather order everything from them anyways.

For the life of me I couldn't get the nut off the core. It's like the used locktite on it or something.

It's tough. I had to use a big ass wrench.

I thought you had indicated in previous posts that rotating your magnet core didn't help any.... maybe I misread it. For the life of me, I can't imaging how rotating a metal core would help. I could possibly seeing it help for a short time because the magnetic flux lines in the metal might reorient. But it would only take a few cycles of energizing the magnet to align the magnetic flux lines back in the original direction and the problem would seem to return.

In any case, I used to have a STDM problem when I first got my TWD, but I have been consistently acting like a woodpecker on the right flipper button whenever the ball gets locked in. By tapping repeatedly (quickly I might add) the flipper while the ball is held on the magnet, the magnet tends to pulse a bit just at the time of release and typically causes the ball to go off-center a bit. I can't say it has 100% success rate, but I used to get maybe a 30-40% of my balls going STDM, and I would say now it is in the 5% or less range. As always, YMMV.

It didn't help me any, but had to remove all that stuff when I tried it.

Anyone looking to sell their fishtank topper?

Added over 7 years ago: FOUND!

I've got a TWD but haven't had to do anything to the magnet. BUT . . . I HAVE rotated the core on my Goldeneye pin and it DID make a difference. It has the 'Magna Save' feature. The ball was shooting straight up and then right back down the middle and would drain. You never had a chance to recover and play on.

I turned it too much the first time and the ball went all the way to the left and rolled down the left sling. Wasn't too thrilling. So, I turned it about an 1/8th of a turn back and it puts it up perfectly on the left where it rolls to the middle of the left flipper. So . . . this rotating thing does work on at least the Goldeneye pin.

I have also gone through 3 of the magnets over the years. Each one has produced a completely different sling pattern. I had one that was furious at throwing the ball half way up the PF. But, it burnt out after a few months. Maybe it had too much 'juice' going to it and couldn't last long. I know NOTHING about magnetic fields, etc., but apparently, each magnet core produces a different . . . what .. . . field?

That's all I can contribute.

Were you rotating the entire magnet? Or just the solid core in the middle? I'm not familiar with the Goldeneye, so not sure if it's the same design as the annular magnet around a solid core that TWD uses.

Someone will correct me for sure, if I am wrong. But they are identical from all appearances, and I BELIEVE someone else posted the same thing on this thread. I loosened the nut around the core and turned the core only. You have to be careful and not push it up too far or not enough. Needs to be perfectly even with the PF. Hope this helps.

Mike in Kentucky

This is good information Mike... I can now retract my ignorance of why it would make a difference. I trust your experience and it sounds like it has worked for others (but not everyone).

I've had luck cancelling the animation when the magnet is holding, and nudging it at the same time. It seems to be 50/50 when I cancel, that the ball will randomly fling, and that it will drop straight down. With the slight nudge, if it does the latter, it will move it to a flipper. No need to eat tilt warnings for a possible STDM drop.

Wow that was fast.

I want one also. Anyone else out there want to sell their fish tank topper?

Hey guys I need help with the crossbow. The ball loads just fine, but now there is a delay when I press the shoot button and when it fires the crossbow, it wasn't doing that before.. maybe like a 1 second delay.. anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!

Make sure the ball is getting seated all the way back in the mech. Make sure nothing is hanging it up.

Ok thanks for the advice, I will check it. Was working great for a few weeks since I got it. Hopefully that device doesn't need to be replaced. I am new to pinball, replacing it will make me nervous.

Never had an issue with mine but seen others that have. Never needed replacing on the others. Just adjustments. Just take your time and be careful. Also if it has that crossbow mod on it that can cause things to hang up too if not adjusted properly. Good luck.

I took the glass off, and took a ball and kept putting it in to the crossbow. Its working fine now, smooth. Thats weird. Well anyways, thanks for the help! I guess a false alarm.

Mo!

Went to Reno and found a TWD that went through the actual zombie apocalypse. How does a machine get this dirty? Cigarette smoke? Seems extreme.

IMG_7040 (resized).JPG

IMG_7041 (resized).JPG

That is absolutely unbelievable. Why would anybody buy a new game and let that happen to it? I'd like to know how many plays it took to get that bad.

From sterns wonderful black rubber mostly, some coil dust, and about 4-5k plays I'd say.

I know it looks real bad, but I bet it would clean up pretty easy.

They look like the games in the Stern testing room that run 24/7. So I guess this brings up the question of how often should a person clean and wax their playfields? I clean and wax mine every 400-500 plays and they don't really seem very dirty with that amount of plays on them.

It kinda looks like that game has been in a house fire.

If you're cleaning every 400-500 plays you'll barely be seeing ball trails. It depends on the game too. Tron dirties up way quicker cause of the disc. Same with WCS and the soccer ball.

For those that don't have a colourdmd in their machine you 100% have to get one. It's fking awesome!! I clean my machines once a year before my league meet so I'd say every 100-300 plays. But I've had this game about a year and I'm still loving it! In that love hate relationship we all have with this game

A color DMD is definitely something that I want for my game bad. They did a heck of a job on it.

In the same boat with a colorDMD. I have to say, the HighRes display actually looks quite good, even though for most games, I'm a fan of the dots. Also, just added a sub to the game and it definitely adds a needed bottom end to the sound.

I played an HighRes and LED dots TWD at Pintastic. I've been wondering about the differences for months and finally got to observe both. The LED dots look too twinkly (?) for me and each colored dot was not a solid color but several different colored LEDs to create a single color. Not sure if I'm explaining it clearly. HighRes was incredible and def showed detail on the screen that I had never noticed before on my monochromatic DMD.

Overall though, for me, the price tag is just too much. I rarely look at the DMD enough to enjoy it. I look up a few times when the ball stops on a magnet or after a ball drains but TWD really requires a lot of constant focus on the playfield. Seems like it's more made to be enjoyed by the people watching you play. Pretty sure the LED'd TWD won Best in Show so what do I know...

I feel the same way too, but I enjoy watching other people play also, and I try to enjoy the animations as much as I can when I'm playing any game, but yeah, I completely get it. $400 is a lot for a mod, essentially...but it looks so good!

it's probably the best mod ever for any machine imo. every TWD deserves a LCD display!

I've finally joined the club. I picked up a HUO premium. I've yet to have a chance to set-up the game and have a few questions before I do. Game is a Dec 2014 build. First thing I'm doing is replacing the balls that came with the game.

1. Does this part fix the issue with the left ramp? http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/502-6942-00 or should I still buy the flap kit that was talked about in this thread?

2 Should I buy mylar to cut out and use around the magnets? I've read of the issues with the carbon fiber rings. This is my first game with an exposed magnet.

3. I'm buying a shooter lane protector. Should I buy the cliffy set with the eject protector or just the shooter lane guard?

4. I've never had a game this pristine. Is the consensus to wax and mylar the shooter lane?

Are there any other things to address that I'm forgetting before I get these things to start enjoying the game?

1. I have this and he flap extender. Now the ramp is pretty smooth.

2. Mine has none and there is no wear. Just make sure the magnet is flush with the playfield.

3. Mylar is fine for the shooter lane. If you're talking about the metal shooter lane wall guard, i would get that.

4. See #3.

Enjoy your game!

This is a 'woe is me" and a request for HELP post.

I've got a TWD Pro that has been absolutely perfect and has never had an issue. That is, until I screwed it up today!!!

I got this notion to make my own Fish Tank topper. I got all the materials and put it together and then added lights for the fish tank by making one string of 3 lamps that I wired to a G.I. lamp and another string of 3 lamps that I wired to the red dome flasher. Both of these are on the left of the PF right near the middle. I had to lift the PF several times testing my wiring and running the wire out through the back of the back box. Everything worked perfectly. I closed it up and discovered my G.I. string had stopped working. I lifted the PF and checked my soldering there but it was fine. I then discovered my soldering joint to the first lamp on the string was loose. I re-soldered it and they worked again. I put the PF down and started a game to look at my great creation. But something was wrong. Before I get to that part, keep in mind that I had been lifting the PF up and down many times while working on it, each time playing a game to make sure all was still working.

But on my final lowering of the PF and then turning on the pin, it wouldn't throw a ball into the shooter lane. I opened it up again and checked all connections and fuses and all looked good. Then, I went to 'the buttons' to do a coil test. I could get to "coil" and "lamps" and any other place on there, but nothing else would work. I couldn't even do a test. Something is wrong and it is making me ILL!!!

I contacted a Pinside friend and he started talking about perhaps I shorted something and then about Spike and nodes, etc., and that was so far over my head, I gave up. After I puked and then talked myself out of taking poison, I am writing this just for something to do to take my mind off of it. I actually don't have any hope that you guys can figure it out without seeing the pin in person to examine it. If I wasn't so old, I think I would start crying like a baby!!! I am SO mad at myself for making this simple mod and then messing my whole pin up!!!

I am so disgusted . . . you might have to contact me at our city cemetery in a few days!!!

Thanks for reading.

Mike in Kentucky

Sorry to hear the news. Not the end of the world. TWD is SAM, not SPIKE. The issue is likely traceable if one's done that kind of stuff before. A tech thread for help is always an option if one wants to get into it. Otherwise, leave it to someone else to fix. Things will get fixed.

Test your fuses with a meter. i would undue whatever mod you made.

Stick it in switch test, bang the play field - see what triggers!

What do you mean? In switch test it will tell you the exact switch that is registering. By name, not points.

put money on it that its the well walker. had this problem put a tighter spring on the mech.

STOP THE PRESSES!!! PUT AWAY THE ARSENIC!!! DON'T GO TO THE CEMETERY TO FIND ME!!! MY PIN IS WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is for YOU Lermods:

I did as you said and took each fuse out and put the meter to them. The 3rd fuse in the top right row in the backbox was dead. It was a 5 Amp and I replaced it and it my pin is working 100%! I KNEW better than to just 'eyeball' the fuses. But this pin is so brand spanking new, and I could easily see the filaments inside each fuse and they all looked pristine. But I did as you said, just to make sure. I actually didn't have much hope. But THAT was the problem!!! How many times have I read on Pinside to NEVER trust looking at a fuse or even testing it while still in the pin. Always take them out and check with a meter.

I do need to confess that I did another stupid thing while checking them. But I don't blame ME this time. Under the PF are two fuses for the flippers. They are in some kind of black plastic holder that has those fuses in there so tight, I broke one of them trying to get it out. Glass pieces everywhere! MAN, are those things in there tight! Anyway, with my poor vision, it appears to have 8 Amp written on it. I don't have any of those. I reckon I could put a 7 Amp in there to make the right flipper work and the only thing bad to happen is the fuse will blow (maybe)? Right?

Anyway, you guys don't know how HAPPY I am to know I don't have to pay a fortune to get my pin fixed or be without it for weeks ore maybe months! Thanks again Lermods. And I always thought "Yankees" were not very friendly!

Mike in Kentucky