This... Same problem on mine. I can't remember any other game with drops EVER rejecting any shot regardless of speed.

My Stern Playboy would refuse to drop if it were a hard, fast, direct shot....but not often enough to be a annoyance.

re magic dust: my acdc cannon was stalling because the wires were dragging on the slingshot rubber. I tried some graphite dust. Just on the wires and rubber and its fine again! Dont know if graphite dust is the answer. Other than that its good to have difficult targets. Rock on man.

Have you contacted Stern? That is the first thing I would do. I hope they have an explanation why this is happening and fix it for owners having issues with them. If you do find a fix please post it here to let others know what is up. Not having the drops working would really be pretty damn annoying.

_{Post edited by The_Dude_Abides : Edited to clarify a bit.}

I don't think the issue is with the drop target shots not being recognized. I believe he means the actual target isn't physically dropping so the shot CAN be recognized. So it would seem to be more of a physical / mechanical issue than a switch, software or electrical issue.

Giving Stern a call is still sound advice.

I encountered this last night when I was playing a brand new one, reminded me of the Bally no-drop drops that were famous in the late 70's early 80's. Didn't happen in inlane drops though, it was mostly with drops with rubber behind them. Are the targets themselves flexing too much, or are they bouncing back onto the hold?

I own a PRO and I believe they are flexing back and then coming back immediately to sit on the rest , all happens in a millisecond and is a physical issue - I have no idea what the fix is, and I can normally work out fixes pretty well.

Would love some solution on this.

Sounds like Stern needs to send out replacement drop targets that are more rigid or have a smaller lip on them. Seems like an easy, relatively cheap fix.

WOF was exactly the same for me. Maybe its the exact same mech/target setup? I never completely fixed it no matter how I messed with it.

https://picasaweb.google.com/113212237557936878823/WOFDropTargets?noredirect=1#5545921423721376210

https://picasaweb.google.com/113212237557936878823/WOFDropTargets?noredirect=1

I don't know if anyone makes them, but would stronger / shorter springs to pull the targets down help?

Never happened on my Future Spa! But that doth sucketh. It seems every game has its issue(s).

This would be my first suggestion.

That problem must not have shown up I the burn in period. Lol

Didn't help much on the Bally's, if the problem is the targets are too flexible probably won't help in this case either. A stiffer plastic would be the best answer.

Unless you have some weird defect, replacements aren't necessary.

Since the game was NIB, the targets need to be broken in.

I suggest taking off the glass and repeatedly knocking down and resetting the drops to break them in. Roll the ball into them over and over to loosen up the mechs and break-in the drops.

In coil test you can trigger the drops to reset to the up position.

So ... knock them down, reset, knock, reset, repeat...

Keep doing this until they loosen up a bit and break in.

It's not a mech issue. The drop target plastic had an elasticity to it. When you hit it with a solid shot the top of it flexes back then forward. The base never moves causing it to miss the lip and drop.

The targets need to be more rigid or springs stronger.

Same on mine. The targets are flexing from the direct hit. You can actually see it

glad stern saved .09 cents on thinner drop targets. well played stern

Both my game and the one at the showroom had this problem at the beginning.
After a bunch of plays and breaking in the drops the issue went away.

I'm assuming we all have the same parts in our games, so hopefully my advice will work for you guys.

Here is the fix. It's simple but careful with the middle spring. If you drop it you will have to take the mech off to get to the clip on the drop to reattach.

Essentially remove 18 windings from the spring on each drop. Works perfectly.

No rejects at all now. Even with a blazing fast shot.

image.jpg

Thanks for posting this Pinchroma. Hopefully someone at Stern runs across this thread and they fix the issue on the pins they are now shipping out.

I spoke to Chaz about a different topic but told him about this and he said he would reach out to Borg and let him know. Basically a spring with more tension is the key. Should be an easy and cheap fix.

Alex beat me to it. The spring likely does not have enough tension to pull the target down before it bounces off the backing and back onto the holding bar/lip. A tighter spring likely will be the fix.

Nope...

If they were that touchy about the warranty they'd never survive as a company. Pinball is a hands on hobby.

Springs moved.. Drops down. Nice. I was thinking of doing something with the springs, was just lazy until I read this post!

Nice job Alex. This issue seems to be the same with both my ACDC and Metallica. My Metallica does is like once every ten shoots where as my AC/DC drop targets reject hits all the time.

If you do, I've heard you can just cut some black construction paper and roll up a little "tube" to help guide the opto lights

Springs, genius. Good to see an easy fix.

I don't think you should assume this fix will work on AC/DC. The drop target assembly on MET is virtually all new. I'm also not convinced this fix listed above is the best way to go. Stern has known about this for a while now. They should come out with an official fix.

I think the idea is to prevent the flasher LED's above the playfield from interfering. The opening around the drop targets is much bigger than the drop targets themselves. That light needs to be blocked.

Stern really should be on this. They shouldn't be waiting for some 'power pack' down the road. You guys that own one should stay on them. Both problems sound like they can be fixed without assistance from Stern, but it sounds like they're widespread enough so that Stern should address them (soon). If they have to wait for a part to be made (to block light), they should let folks know.

I have no clue what Stern assemblies look like, but tronger springs seem to be the answer to me. Just try looping the existing spring a bunch of times thru the anchor or drop target.

EDIT: nvm i see we've found a possible remedy

The other suggestion would be trying to affix a strip of metal down the spine/neck of the target to stiffen it - maybe a small strip of spring steel or a dowel pin.

Really it souldnt be necessary :\

OP, if you can, change the title to add SOLVED, or something of that nature to the thread.

Good idea, I will wait and see.

It fixed it 100% for me and has no unintended effects. Whats the worst case scenario? You stretch a $.01c spring? It should be perfect. I played 25 games after making the change this morning and not a single rejection. I was previously rejecting about 90%

This has been a common fix for many years for drop target issues. I did the same thing on my Centaur and it drastically reduced the number of rejections I was getting from the ORB drop bank.

There's a fix like that on my Dr. Who's Time Expander opto bank. There's a "tube" of electrical tape around a few of the optos. It stops light leak which was causes some wacky switch problems.

The problem with the opto reset/random cross hits, on my machine was the flasher under the left ramp. I replaced it with a flat top led pointing straight up and no problems since. If you dont have an led just remove until you get one. Worked for me.

Glad to hear it. There are a couple of things to consider though. First, not every games is having this problem. Some are just fine right out of the box. Hopefully Stern will identify exactly what the problem is. Secondly, the ends of those springs hanging out look like crap. If Stern were to send out stronger springs that are the correct size, wouldn't you install them? I don't think you should let up on Stern.

Of course! If they send out proper springs I will absolutely install them. This is a good stop gap and I'm not concerned about how it looks underneath as long as the game is playing perfectly. I could pretty it up by snipping off the excess spring but then it wouldn't really be immediately reversible.

I just got a new drop target assembly from Stern with the 'flasher blocker plastic' on it. There seems to be a plastic piece over the optos shaped like a cylinder and protruding outwards; looks like the intention is to block out light. Will report back with pics and comments. Now I need to go put it in

Have a picture? I have a black plastic "shield" to the right of my drop target assembly thats about 8-10" long and about 3-4" high.. is that what you are referring to?

I can't wait to try out the drop target fix with the springs. This had ocurred to me before, but I didn't want to mess with it. Now that it's tested I'm going in there asap.

Here's pics of the new drop target opto board vs the old. Note the new one has a shrouding around the opto made of plastic (I took a pic of the same area on each)

OLD
Metallica_-_Old_Drops.jpg

NEW
Metallica_-_New_drops.jpg

Interesting.. I don't have that sleeve on mine but i'm not having any phantom registers either. Did you swap out anything for LED's?