Bugger. That’s what I thought. Unfortunately it is a used pin and built in 2018. Hmm, now I have to figure out how I want to fix this. I could try to come up with a cover over the end to hold the ball down but I think that would look awful. I think I’m just going to dremel down the bar so the ball clears it.

Did it, tested it, seems to work like it should now. Doesn’t look bad to me.

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Anyone with an older machine that has the bullseye playfield protector kit installed or the newer run that has protection back there by default have any issues with it curling?

After shaking a few stuck balls out from back there I took the glass off to get a closer look and the tip on the left side had raised up off the playfield. I pressed it back down and held it for a bit and it's flush and holding again, but I assume that's only temporary until it gets bashed some more. About 300 plays on the machine. Wondering if this is a major defect I should get on the horn with Stern about now or if it happens to everyone eventually and I should just apply dot of epoxy and call it a day.

I posted a number of pages ago about this. The gent's (who was having a similar problem) welds seemed to be a lot higher up in the wire form than mine. I snapped a picture showing the difference between his and mine. Very noticeable, his being a lot higher. About the same as others posted recently.

Edit: Look at post 8790

If you are a DIY kinda person...I got a model at Hobby Lobby that should be the right size (same as others in this thread), but haven't put it together yet - will be a winter project. $20 Painting will be my biggest challenge, no artistic abilities.

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This place has a pretty nice looking spitfire in the 7" range. but no idea what shipping is...

https://www.eapresto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=478678

Agree with @tranqilize that sounds like a problem with the switches inside of the sarcophagus mech.

I had that problem with my premium early on last year. Had made some posts about it, and others had made several posts about it as well. There are a few temporary maneuvers that can be made, but ultimately the answer is to partially disassemble that mech, remove the current micro switches with the metal angled arm, and exchange them for micro roller switches.

Per report, when the game was originally designed, it was designed with roller switches within that mechanism, although in production, they opted to use the angled switches, which have been known to cause the kind of troubles you're talking about.

It probably is that very first switch, however once I had my mech partially disassembled, I went ahead and changed all three of them within the sarcophagus mech and I had no problems afterwards...and all the funny behavior at/between the sarcophagus mech and mummy, etc, all went away and didn't return...it was a good day.

There are a few outfits to pick these switches up. Here's a link at Marco:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/180-5119-02

Thank you for bringing that conversation to my attention, there’s a lot of good information there. I don’t think there was anyway I could have bent that support enough to get the ball clear of it. It was just up in the path too far. It might work on the right ramp though as the ball just barely touches on that side. Again, thanks for the info.

Mine is also curling. I was thinking about contacting Stern to see if they will mail out a new one and I'll remove the curling one with a hair dryer.
Edit: I have a early run and installed this one a few thousand ball ago.

I'm wondering if the Power ORB ball gets hit too hard its getting stuck in the forward position. I played a bunch of games last night and " most " were ok but then towards the end I had a bunch of games where it kept happening again. I looked and even when the ball gets stuck forward if i press hard enough which isnt a lot the screw that comes out of the ball is still in the spoon of course not centered but its still in there. If that's what really is happening how do I fix that?

I had to do this on my left Hobbit habitrail in 4 places. The ball was literally hitting all four cross braces! It solved the problem of ball jumping off the habitrail. I polished those habitrail grind spots with a Dremel polishing compound and you can barely even notice.

A search within this thread for "Spitfire" will get you lots of info on this.

I bought mine from eBay - a bunch of choices there.

Question. I started putting on new rubbers yesterday and I came across these black plastic washer/spacers. One on each of the slings for the top post. But I can't remember what order they go on the post and I might need a part number, I lost one.

any club members who have created their own mods/3d prints and have shared their designs here before?
I am new to this club and I have not had a chance to cycle through 192 pages yet, I did some but not all.

In other clubs I am member of sometimes I see these designs being offered for free and I could have it printed for free

I can really only speculate here. Looking at the manual on page 49. The bottom newton ball assembly has 2 major components. The main assembly has 13 unique parts, one of which is the spoon switch bracket which itself has 4 parts. On the pro it's a stand up target.

You mentioned it's getting stuck forward. Are all the parts present, undamaged and oriented properly? It looks like at least half of them are involved in returning the ball to center and keeping it there. Centering cone. Centering plate. Capture plate. Several spacers. Compression spring.

You might want to start with the spoon switch itself. It's not identical but it's the same basic mechanism and theory of operation used in a pop bumper switch. Does the actuator stem rest loosely on/just above the cup letting it actuate the switch from all directions and then return to center, or is it getting stuck when the ball moves forward? The book I've got here on pinball machine repair suggests using a qtip to apply coin lube or teflon gel inside the cup and and on the stem to let them move more freely against one another as an alternative or in addition to the typical bending every leaf style switch sometimes needs.

The only thing I'm noticing is when I'm flicking the switch in the test mode it works maybe half the time and sometimes the ball gets " stuck forward" . The screw is still in the spoon, it doesnt leave it, its just at an angle when that happens. So I'm wondering if that's what's happening during gameplay sometimes. I got the leaf apart just enough so it works. anymore it doesn't touch and doesn't work.

Put gold on mine, hated the yellow as well.

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Took a pic with spacer that may help. If it’s a rubber washer your size chart is on page 34 of the pro manual. Attached.

Fwiw - and in the spirit of troubleshooting support for any first time NIB/owners out there - a reminder to get familiar with your game manual. Admittedly Sterns manuals arnt the best unlike b/w days, but still worth a glance and keeping handy for quick reference vs in a goodie bag.
Just like the cardboard box it came in, no one cares if it’s stamped or not when you go to sell.
Enjoy the journey and game!
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Larger than you are probably looking for but it model of the spitfire that Iron maiden had on stage.

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I'm wondering if the angle and tension of the spoon is causing it to pinch and hold at the problem angle instead of floating back to center. In that case the fix would either be lube or adjusting the angle of the cup itself to reduce the tension for the problem direction rather than changing the overall size of the gap at the contacts. With how far you've got it open at this point, the contacts may be too far apart for some angles while still being too tight in one direction.

I have a newly built machine that has probably 250ish plays on it. I also had issues with stuck balls on that playfield protector from it curling up as well. It became so warped that I'd had to fully tilt the game to remove the stuck ball. I wasn't able to push the corner of it back down either, so I just removed it from the playfield. It left a bit of residue, that I now need to clean up. It is extremely thin and cheap. I can take a photo of it removed from the playfield later on if you'd like.

what kind of material are the using for this? is this mylar? does not seem to be

I know cliffy has a carbon fibre protector for this space. Wondering if it can just go straight on a newer build right out of the box.

Stern is having one of the engineers look for me today said they would get back. Thanks

I bent the ramp slightly to make the slope less steep, it now only happens every 20 games or so, and only when I'm in the middle of a bunch of ramp combos and the ball is really flying

Trying to order replacement T-molding and I’m measuring 3/4”, noticed a couple postings saying 13/16”!?

Does it look different than a machine that hasn't had it installed in the first place? I'm happy to see a picture whenever. I've got mine back in place for now, so no rush.

Can confirm it's definitely 3/4"

Please keep us posted on what they say. My new premium has a wonky orb. I noticed that I could get it to stick in the "back" position in switch test mode, but hadn't seen any problems during gameplay until last night. It stopped registering completely. I haven't studied the under playfield mech yet so I'm not sure exactly how it works or how it can be adjusted.

Will do, yeah mine worked the first day and then went to complete crap after that. they had me adjust the leaf switch that's connected to the " spoon " and that kinda sorta worked for a little bit but after a few games it goes right back to not working again. VERY frustrating considering this was a NIB.

That is a well known issue with the Premiums. Down to a strange design. Nothing really wrong with the switch. Just needs a lot of tweaking to get right and usually require adjusting every now and then as it moves out of alignment over time from vibrations.

Yeah - I'm reading through some of the older posts now. Looks like I need to start with making sure everything is tightened properly. I've looked at the diagram in the manual and will probably take it all apart and put it back together for a better understanding. It seems that blue loctite is recommended to keep the actuator from loosening.

The newton balls were my biggest concern when moving from the pro to the premium. I'm sure some minor adjustments will get me in good shape. ExSquid search this thread and the Iron Maiden issues thread for "newton ball" and you'll see a lot of discussion. I agree it sucks to have to mess with this on a NIB machine, but I pretty much expect that nowadays. Can't wait to see all the issues that are present on the Godzilla LEs and Premiums...

Yeah I adjust mine and then it stops working again but when I look the leaf has the same spacing as it did before it stopped. So im not exactly sure what is going on.

Also what are you guys using to adjust this? I'm only using a pair of needle nose pliers I have but when I have to tighten the switch it gets a little cumbersome and awkward.

"Strange" is putting it nicely. It's a shitty design. And getting them adjusted so that they work reliably is not an intuitive process. I have mine dialed in pretty good now, and rarely have to fiddle with them. Of course, when they do flake out it's usually when you're having a great game....

I strongly suggest this tool:

https://www.pinballlife.com/ultimate-leaf-adjuster-tool.html?Category_Code=

Make sure the mechanism is moving smoothly before you start adjusting the switch. Mine is not - it gets stuck in the back position - which needs to be solved first before messing with the switch.

Ok thanks ill pick that up. Also when you say gets stuck in the back position , do you mean when you press the ball forward it sticks there? Because that's what happens with mine.

I’ve been wanting to buy one of those for a long time. I end up using tiny needle nose pliers instead.

I was being polite towards Stern but you could say that

Had problem with newton ball getting stuck in back position from a good hit. The base that it sits on had a shit machining job. I placed a spring washer from a coil stop between the ball and base, a perfect fit, and tiny dab of lithium grease. Helped a bunch, well at least I think it did.

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Do you know exactly what size washer that is? I had to do something similar on my GOTG magnet to get it working.

Cheers Mancave! Damn I’ve always heard you can’t believe everything you read/see on the internet but I didn’t think that pertained to Pinside as well…..

If you hit the newton ball from the front it moves back (towards the rear of the machine) and gets stuck in that back position.

Thanks for this! I'll take a look when I disassemble it later today. I've got a ton of washers laying around that I can experiment with. Where did you put the lithium grease?

Ok , yes that's what happens to mine. Actually to both but the MUMMY newton ball seems to be ok now for some odd reason. Its the ORB ball that's giving me the most issues.

Alright so 1 day in of IMD ownership. Only 1 complaint (and mind you I've never owned a modern stern) - the speaker on the pro is just awful. If you turn the volume past like 8, I start to get shitty reverb. Other than that, awesome machine thus far.

there is a setting for speaker Ohms. I had an issue on my TMNT LE like this and when I changed the setting it was great after that. I just got my first Pro as well after owning premium/LE with Guardians of Galaxy. Speakers sound fine.

interesting, i'll take a look, thanks!

Not sure on the size. It was and old one I had. It cups the newton ball so you really don't see it. I slightly greased between the ball and washer.

Active sub might help - huge improvement audio-wise regardless.

If this helps anyone ,I crimped the outer leaf for the orb like so .It’s been good for 800 or so games now .Just needle nose sideways with a slight crimp so you have a sliver between them .

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