After tinkering around w/making some 3D Stern JP T-Rex grills, I decided to try my hand at some IMDN 3D grills.

Initial concept:
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Doing a test print now (18 hrs., ugh!)

Here's a pic of the ones I made for JP. Kudos to the wife's painting abilities.

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Updating my own post:

First pass not too bad. Need to work on the supports used during printing a little, the underside of his fists aren't the best. Wife will use it for a practice painting

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LOL, can't sell since I used thingiverse.com files and did some editing/merging/cropping/combining - but I'll send you the files. Find a buddy w/printer and you should be good to go.

Yep - that's the one. Didn't use all of it, just the head and the body. Boy, I wish I had those artistic abilities - I probably can't even make a square correctly in the drawing tools!

I was just going to 'mirror' the grill for the other side. If there was more Iron Maiden figures available, I might consider doing something different for the other grill. But in general, I sort of like it symmetrical.

Hey Rik_, PM me your e-mail and I will send the stl. And I do have just the speaker grill too (got that from thingiverse too, but I had to alter and mod).

Not even interested in selling if I could, too much work. I'm retired - I don't want another job! Just fooling around in TinkerCad and if something interesting happens to pop out that others want - they can have the files.

I posted around a week ago about a 3D printed speaker grill I've been working on. Maybe after a half a dozen failed prints I finally split it up into 3 prints...much better.

Time for the wife to paint! Still a practice print tho, but the quality is pretty much 'spot on'.
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I thought about that earlier and moved the powerslave mummy lower on the grill. But when I was printing it last night, I thought I had moved it down even more towards the bottom and that I might have grabbed the wrong file. The body is tilted forward maybe 20 degrees, so from around the shoulders up, that's not blocking the grill (plus it makes it look cooler).

Definitely don't want it centered up on the grill!

Wife's working on the paint colors.

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Hey guys (and gals),

Wife's still working on the colors. I think I'm wearing out my welcome tho, I may have to use the darker one.

Which one do you like best w/respect to the colors? Or neither? I think I may have to get a hobby air sprayer, I kinda like the lighter one more, but if I have her try to make the 'wrapping cloth' more dirty looking (i.e. from being buried in the sand, age), then it might begin to blend in with the face.

Keep in mind we have limited painting skills. Me: zero, Wife: Pretty darn good but still learning.

Thanks for any feedback.

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Here's a Titan link to the IMDN pro. Obviously, I can't vouch for the database accuracy.

https://www.titanpinball.com/kits/index.php/browse/bygame/5712

I usually print the page out of the Stern manual that shows all the rubber locations/sizes and use a yellow highlighter to mark all the locations that I replace the rubbers. Sometimes I add the date too that I replaced. I keep it in the coinbox of the pin, really comes in handy when I do some maintenance.

Ditto ^^

I haven't check for burrs yet, so maybe that is the first issue to check, but I'm curious what this is...

I just snapped a picture of mine. It looks like my horizontal bar is resting more on the wireform. Yours appears to be recessed more into the wireform.

Mine below:

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Yours below:
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Looking at mine at the same angle as your photo, yours is definitely attached higher in the wireform. Wonder if the vendor makes a minor notch as a guide for placement when constructing, and whoever made the notch got a little carried away.

Wonder if you could place a metal dowel (or a socket?) in a vise, and use a hammer to help shape the wifeform brace around the metal dowel (making it concave)?

Might be a little cleaner than just using a hammer. Looking at the pictures, he might only need ~0.05" - 0.07" at the center.

Just a WAG on my end.

Combining my earlier comment (using a socket) with yours: Perhaps set it across the opening of a vise to to support the rails like you mentioned, then place a socket on the horizontal part that need bent down. Couple of taps w/a hammer on the socket should give a nice concave shape in the center. I think that might do it and look nice.

Maybe the EOS switch is inadvertently open, keeping it in low power mode. Just a WAG.

Good point PinMonk. I was thinking EOS was implemented entirely at the flipper. So I lifted my IMDN PF, and the EOS indeed does head off somewhere.

So the OP should do a EOS switch test in the service menu, as you suggested.

Same here. I finally took a small file to mine. Barely had a lip on the rail, but 6 out of 6 shots were OK afterwards. 3 plunges and 3 autofire.

Case closed, hopefully.

Thanks to all those that commented on the rail.

Looking at your lineup, you have a Deadpool. Just take that spring to the hardware store and see if you can find something similar.

I was thinking the same - great 1st pin!

Wow, maybe I should get that spring too!

I had the same problem, then I saw the post about the end of the shooter lane metal getting a small lip from the ball hitting it. Removed the glass, ran my nail across it and felt a very subtle lip on the metal - almost nothing. Went to Wallymart and got some small files, cleaned up the edge with a few swipes... Not kidding, it's been 100% for a month. Not a single rejected shot.

Ditto ^^

I already recently mentioned that a couple of swipes of a small file fixed mine.

I should add I tinkered with the settings, waxed the PF, checked leveling, checked the plunger bracket mounting etc. Nothing helped and I had a LOT of failed shots from the shooter lane.

The lip on the end of the rail was almost non-existent, I could just barely feel it - to the point I thought "Nope, that won't make any difference." Just played the pin some more tonight. Still not a single missed plunged or w/a auto launch for the past month since cleaning up the edge of the metal rail w/a file.

Place you finger on the circled chip and see if it's hot when it's acting up.

I have a Munsters that if I shut it off, and turn it back on after it was on for awhile, the woofer audio amp gets hot. No audio then. Getting ready to replace the audio IC.

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Sorry for a short post, I should have elaborated a bit more but was busy.

I saw a youtube video that when the audio goes screwy, the gent had traced it down to the woofer audio IC getting hot. Can't recall his specific audio problem. Even tho it's the woofer audio chip, it also messed up the backbox audio too (different chip). So maybe it was pulling down the supply voltage (just a WAG) or caused other problems.

So just a simple check by putting your finger on the chip might help pinpoint the problem.

Also, are all your power LED's lit?
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Looking at the video, I think so. Just a little hard to be sure.

Just as a follow up, did you ever check to see if the woofer audio amp chip was hot?

My Munsters has a problem with that chip (getting ready to replace it), another Pinsider had the same problem w/his Munsters, and I mentioned I saw the youtube video with a gent who replaced his woofer audio chip after noticing is was very toasty (pin would boot up, but had audio issues). So I was just curious if yours had the same problem or something different.

Sidebar comment. Wonder why Stern sells the entire 'CPU board' since the actual CPU is on a carrier. Would be nice if you could send it in and let Stern figure out is it's the carrier board, the CPU, or both. I'm sure they have a tester.

Stern lowered the price awhile ago. Not sure what vendor's do about old stock when there's a price reduction.

Let us know what he finds out.

Take a look at post 8797 (and others following it). The end of the metal guide in the shooter lane gets mushroomed a bit. I could barely feel it on mine, but after taking a hobby file to it - hasn't missed a single shot up thru the inner loop.

What are these? Floor protectors?

And congrats!

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You can maybe try putting a piece of tape, business card, or some other insulator across the suspect switch contacts (if it is 'normally open') and see if it solves the issue when you play a game. Like @craif, I have a Pro, so don't know how easy it is to try that on a Prem. That might be a little easier than tinkering with a bunch of switches to isolate the culprit. When you find it, then you can gap it correctly.

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

It's in the Feature Adjustments. Starts at #57 on my Pro w/latest code.

All the flippers are set at default, but the pin is set up rather steep. The bubble is almost in the middle of the top line.

Might be the audio IC(s). My Munsters is doing sort of the same thing. There's even a YouTube video out there somewhere showing the gent replacing the chip. And Ben Heck mentioned not long (in the Deeproot thread) he might do a video on the chip swapping for the same audio reason.

A couple of things to try to chase down the problem: 1) Put your finger on one of the two audio chips (careful, might be toasty if bad). 2) My Munsters is a little different. Turn it on - audio is fine. Wait for it to warn up, turn it off and wait a bit, then back on - audio is muted and woofer chip is hot. Is you pin doing any of these?

I bought the replacement IC awhile ago and plan on swapping out this winter. A person would need a hot air gun, not just a soldering iron since there's a thermal pad on the bottom of the chip. So maybe not a repair for a person not experienced w/soldering.

Any chance you are running an external woofer on the pin?

Just tossing this out to help maybe shed a little light on your end.

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I had the same problem, but the the auto plunge would sometimes make it - leading me to believe it was the shooter rod. Tried to adjust both the shooter rod and rail - not much luck. I read the comments about the burr at the end of the rail guide. I checked mine and I could barely make out a burr. Almost nonexistent, but I took a hobby file and gave it a couple swipes anyway. Nah - that won't make a bit of difference...wrong! Been perfect auto and manual plunges for maybe 6 months. Seriously, 100% perfect, not a single miss (I would spot that immediately).

So while you might end up needing to adjust the rail or shooter rod in the end, give the end of the rail a quick swipe or two first with a file since it only takes seconds.

Hope the file works!

Marco's has an assortment which is nice.

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Weird, my Pro June 2018 build doesn't have it. You buy it new, or did the a prior owner install?

Thanks, I'll look into it.

Try: partsexpress.com

Right here, under the rail:

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My bad, forgot you mentioned that when I was looking. I realize you didn't do anything on the left side, but there's one in the same spot too. Might want to check if it's really still there or not.

After reading about the issues w/the Stern protector bending up, I'm actually on the fence whether I should or should not install the Stern protector, put a Cliffy there instead (don't like the carbon fiber look), or just leave alone since I just play 3-4 rounds a week. I bought mine used, but it was pretty much new with about 60 games on it. Still looks brand new.

Come to think of it, I do have some static cling mylar, @pin_fandango, I think I'll give that a try first and see if it scoots around. Hopefully, the surface area is big enough that it stays in place. I'm rather pretty picky about the pins, I'd hate to glue down a metal protector just to have it turn into two problems (metal bending, glue potentially damaging the artwork if removed). I'll look up your earlier post about which mylar you used too.

Thanks for the template tips, that's a good idea. Then just toss it in the coin box if needed again.

Yeah, I admit my OCD is kicking in. I just hate to cover up nice looking artwork (even tho that area barely has any artwork).

Some of the low power engineers I worked with were going down to a '01005' SMD part size, meaning 0.01" x 0.005". Crazy small, like a spec of dust to my old eyes. Luckily, I did the RF power - bigger parts!

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Have they released the price of the upgrade kit yet?

What's the pitch set at?

It might even be the right side, up by the bend. The ball heads to the left side on the way down. Wonder if the rail is tilted side-to-side?
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Wonder if the right rail has the same problem as some of the left rails: The side-to-side supports being notched into the wireform too deep, causing the ball to hit them and go airborne. The ball looks like it's out of whack coming out of the upper bend.

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Mind shooting a closeup picture of that upper bend?

Yeah, don't blame you. But definitely compare that area to the new part when you get it and let us know if you spot anything.

Never head of the band. Figured it would grow on me, and ended being perfect for a high energy pin. Wife definitely didn't like the music, but warmed up to some of the songs.

Can't say I'd ever buy their albums tho.

What was up w/the audio amp? I'm getting ready to swap out the audio chip for the woofer on my Munsters, just curious what you experienced.

My Munsters audio is fine when first turned on. If once warmed up and I shut the pin off, then on again (after waiting a bit), the woofer chip (TPA3123D2PWP) would get very hot and the bass was pretty much gone. Wait awhile...fine again. So I ordered a replacement chip from digi-key last summer for ~$8. Getting ready to finally install.

Whoever mentioned you can't get parts appears to be correct. No stock at Digi-Key, Arrow, Newark, etc. and looks like it won't be in stock until 2/22. 7 in stock at Mouser. Yikes!

I was even going to hit you up about buying the old board just to have, before you mentioned some already pinged you about that!

I kind of wish Stern could have some sort refurbish program. Send in your broken board (CPU or Node), get a refurbish board in return at a lower cost. They fix your board and use it for another return. Shame to waste an entire CPU board because of a failed audio amp chip. Node boards are fairly cheap, so those might not be cost effective to do a refurb.

Other option would be to sell the Spike 2 board w/o the CPU daughter card. I guess that could get messy if someone misdiagnoses whether it's the actual CPU board or the main board the CPU sets on.

Electrical engineer here (old fart, recently retired, RF not pinball tho!). SMD really isn't that hard, used it for +30 years because of the electrical performance benefits. I prefer it actually for most cases. Super easy for resistors, caps, etc. The IC's that have bent leads on the sides (called 'gull wing') aren't bad either. Two irons help, and it's pretty easy to just glob solder across all the leads until all the solder is melted and lift the part off. Clean up the excess solder with solder wick. Clean up old flux with IPA. Position the new part, tack solder a couple of leads at the corners to hold it in place, then solder the rest. Inspect for excessive solder/shorts (solder wick helps). I'd rather change one of those than a thru hole any day. Thin solder and a small soldering iron tip helps, but I just use a standard pencil tip.

Granted, some parts can be more of a PIA than others. The audio issue that captaindorky mentioned earlier? - Likely the audio amp IC. That part would be an exception since there's a thermal pad on the bottom of the IC that solders to a pad on the board to help dissipate the heat. Since it's hidden, that pretty much requires a hot air gun (and/or heat on the back side of the board). Not insurmountable, but you definitely need to be careful not to unsolder (and blow away) every other part surrounding that audio chip. Some heat on the back of the board helps to 'preheat' things too. What I use to do in my designs (and what Stern should have done) is bring out some of the copper from under the part. That allows a person to place an iron on the thermal pad to safely preheat the thermal pad under the IC, making the chip removal a lot easier.

If anyone is interested, Amazon has some SMD practice boards for less than $10. Easier to muck one of those up rather than a Spike 2 CPU or node board.

If an old man like me can do it, you guys (and gals) can too. A cheap head visor (magnifier) really helps too.
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Go into bulb test and see if any don't light. Does look like a LED at first glance...

Perhaps a dab of solder on the side of the bulb might help? Easier to try than replacing a socket?

I use RapidTac to make install easier. Some people use water plus a bit of dish soap (don't recall the ratio). Both allows for easier repositioning the decal if needed. I usually have the wifey help. Another set of hands isn't mandatory, but makes it easier.

https://rapidtac.com/

There's some youtube videos out there too you can watch.

Adding to Tranquilize's post: https://sternpinball.com/support/ (scroll down)

I have the PF up in the service position. One thing I keep a sharp eye on is the gap between the top of the decal and bottom of the plastic that supports the glass. That's sort of my 'reference' line. Been awhile since I installed some decals, but I sort of recall leaving about a 1/16" to 1/8" gap.

With the PF up in the air, it gets a little tricky around where the PF is sticking up, but the RapidTac or soap/water really helps. Install the front half, then very gently pull on the back half to take out the slack and lightly press in place, keeping that reference line straight. The biggest issue would be an air bubble that you just can't work out, but again - the RapidTac lets you lift some of the decal off and reposition. You can use a clean credit card to chase out the bubbles. You can get small squeegees at Dollar Tree that might work great (haven't done that yet, but I will on the next decal install - looks to be the perfect size). Lower the PF some from vertical and check the area that was inaccessible when the PF was lifted. One final going over w/microfiber and you're done.

The decals I've installed were from TiltGraphics - and those I had to trim off excess at the back of the cabinet. No biggie since that area is usually hard to see anyways. And there's no hole cutout for the backbox hinge. One thing I always to is do a test fit, holding the decal in place with the painters tape.

Almost forgot - get a set of art blade protectors so you don't damage the decals when raising/lowering the PF.

Others might install differently, this is just sort of the routine I use. Sometimes I'm 'once and done', other times I might have to tinker with it 3-4 times.
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Did you check for a small lip at the end the ball guide? I had one, almost didn't even feel it. Took a small flat file (Walmart) and made a quick couple of passes thinking it wouldn't help, but wouldn't hurt anything either - been 100% good on launches since. Honestly thought it wouldn't make any difference, but like others experienced - problem solved. No kidding, haven't had a single bad launch (manual or auto) since.

Might not be the problem, but so simple to do, might as well give it a try.
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I've had a Pro for well over a year...I've never even hit the 350 mil you've gotten! LOL No biggie, I tend to learn the rules as I go along. I tried to watch some of the YouTube videos on the IMDN rules - but good heaven, some are hours long. My eyes roll back in my eye sockets after about 20 min.

Take a look in the cabinet, maybe the originals are hiding in there?

Where did you get the figure on the speaker?

Thanks, I was just curious. I 3D printed some of my own about a year ago. Did the same for JP.

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Ditto above 100%. Could barely feel a lip, almost nothing. I thought "That won't help."

A couple of swipes w/a hobby fine... 100% since. Not kidding, it made such a difference.

It would be easier if they just programmed the pin's default low score champion with my initials.

Been 100% for ages since I took a couple of swipes w/a small file to the ball guide end.

Get something like this to practice on (it will give you some PWB experience if needed later). Or just grab a couple of wires and have at it. Don't get the lead free solder - melts at a higher temp, get it w/lead (i.e. 60/40) and rosin that is electronics safe.

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I usually print the page out of the manual that shows the rubber locations and sizes. Then when I start replacing, I jot when I replaced them. If some are fine, I don't replace them, but usually rotate them to get some fresh rubber in the spots that gets hit the most. Other times I just want to replace the sling rubbers w/translucent or maybe switch up the flipper rubbers w/some different colors. So if I decide to go in and do a full swap to Titans later (helps keep the PF clean), I know exactly what's original and what's been swapped. Plus I usually order a bunch of extra small rings since they are used everywhere, but may have to order certain sizes that aren't used as much - so the sheet is a good reminder. I just keep that sheet in the coin box. It really does come in handy and is easy to do since I have to look at the sheet anyways to see what fits where.

IMDN really doesn't have as many rubbers as some pins. Titans on all my pins with the exception of some Super-Bands on the GB flippers.

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https://www.titanpinball.com/

Just in case you didn't know, these aren't rubber - they're silicone. Won't flake like rubber.

Just to add to your comment: Electronic safe flux. Definitely don't use plumbers flux!

And skip the lead free solder - has a higher melting point compared to some 60/40 solder. 60/40 solder w/rosin will be a lot easier to work with, especially for a beginner.

So lead based solder can be used as birth control?

Here's a link to a pdf Kester put out discussing lead free solder https://www.kester.com/Portals/0/Documents/Knowledge%20Base/Lead-free-Handsoldering.Final_.4.19.06.pdf

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There's not even lead in the solder fumes. The solder isn't hot enough. Or if there is, try not using an oxyacetylene torch for soldering.

Maybe you haven't heard of this, but there seems to be a correlation between dendrites (sort of like conductive hairs that grow out of a trace, pad, etc.) and lead free solder (i.e. mostly tin). Sometimes that's referred to as tin whiskers, but that might be a misnomer. Seems like the jury's still out on the root cause or if it's really the high tin content to blame, so take the lead-free solder comment w/a grain of salt. Takes years (or decades) to show up, but they can grow several mm. Doesn't seem to be a problem with 60/40 solder (which apparently makes you sterile and/or the babies turn into a zombies).

I've often wondered if the dendrites would be problem decades from now, given how long people keep the pins working. The close traces on some of the IC pads would likely be the first place it shows up.

I designed things for the military (retired now), and they've stayed w/lead solder, given our boards might be used for many decades. Talking to the failure analysis engr at work (a close coworker), it didn't take much lead to mitigate this issue w/solder - only a few percent if I recall correctly. Not sure if solder mask helps minimize this issue.

Sorry of the IMDN thread solder derail!
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