Just a little heads up for some owners, I noticed that my ramp started to bind. It would raise just fine, but it would have a really hard time lowering. With the playfield raised, I was able to feel it bind, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out where it was binding. Anyway, just figured it out today, and it was the world's easiest fix. The armature on the left side was binding on the metal ramp guide--more specifically, the "knuckle" of the pin that extends into the ramp was grinding against the small horseshoe opening.

Looks like this is a factor driven by the aftermarket ramps, which are thicker, and don't line up perfectly. So the stargate ramp flap is pushed farther to the left, binding everything together. The simple fix: take a pair of pliers and gently bend the metal ramp guide left just a few millimeters. Good as new! Hope this helps someone down the road if they have a similar issue.

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I had a similar issue, the ramp flap was just barely getting stuck on the yellow stand up target.

Hi,

Ready to join the club. I've been a happy owner for a few months now.

I solved lots of little issues on my "Players grade" machine so far, but i've been wondering about the lock hole under the right ramp:
The ball seem to pop out of the hole again often when i hit the shot clean with the left flipper.

Is there a way to adjust my way out of that, or would this just be the way it is supposed to be?

Does the piece of metal that backstops the hole have a blue rubber stuck to it like the square blue rubbers at the ends of the right ramp?

This may be a dumb question, but should the plunger spring be strong enough to successfully go up the left ramp and around? If so, why even go for the light plunge skill shot? I’d rather clear a target by a full plunge and further advance towards a lock and multi-ball. Any thoughts? Thank you.

The plunge is not supposed to hit the ramp, it’s supoosed to go into the inner lane to the ramps right. Am I correct?

Yes, should hit the inner loop to feed the upper flipper

No. A full plunge should send the ball up through the green "SW" target, up over the high pressure jets, down through the spinner and across the upper right flipper. You can then hit the right ramp from the flipper off a full plunge. It's a tricky adjustment to get right, even though William's was kind enough to give us an adjustment screw.

Wow, okay, with a full plunge mine goes up the left ramp, up and around and drops by the spinning discs. How would I go about fixing that? Seems like a big adjustment??

Tough game to keep that shot aligned. My pin always gets nudged and something changes just enough that I have to set it again.

There’s an adjustment screw right at the top of the shooter lane for the small curved piece. They put a hole in the plastic piece so you can theoretically make the adjustment without removing anything. However, you may find that you’ll have to remove the metal ramp just above it and the plastic for more leverage. Neither is too tough.

You can see the hole for the adjustment screw right next to the umbrella in the plastic here:

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Is this post correct? I am trying to adjust the metal guide to correctly plunge into the inner loop but with the guide adjusted all the way into the post I can only get the ball to go up the left ramp. The game is perfectly level and set to 6.5%. If the post is correct, I’m not sure what else to try????

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If the plunge is going all the way up the ramp, someone put a really strong spring on the plunger, you'll want to correct that as well.

The plunge could sometimes make it up the ramp. The plunger was not striking the center of the ball, so I adjusted it and now it can easily make it up the ramp. I was hoping that the extra force from striking the center of the ball would have carried it into the inner loop. Instead, it had made it easier to shoot the left lamp on the plunge, so I adjusted it back to the way I received it, but still no luck plunging the inner loop.

My guess is someone went out of their way to make adjustments under the mistaken idea that the plunge was supposed to go up the ramp. Your lane guide has to be way off, I'd think. If the end of the ramp is as far out as it can go, check to make sure there is not a hump in the middle of the guide that is kicking the ball over. Make sure the plunged ball is not hitting the last post rubber, which will also kick it towards the ramp.
,

No, just bare metal.
I guess something came off.
If you have a picture, id' love to see how it's supposed to be.
thanks

I have the same exact issue. I moved the guide as far as it will go to the right and the ball still wants to go up the left ramp or off the post just right off the ramp. But definately not where it’s supposed to go, towards the SW arrow. Any other suggestions out there??

Ok, my theory now is that the metal guide has been warped over the years. The ball has beat it into having a sharper curve than intended, essentially a dip where the shooter lane curves into the playfield. I will have to test this theory tomorrow. Any other ideas welcome.

I've found the green shooter spring works best in Whirlwind.

So, I figured out that the metal guide was bent over the years. I found this out by wedging a screw driver inbetween the metal guide and the playfield wall, slightly bending the metal guide towards the middle of the playfield(see pic). When I plunge the ball, it now goes where it should. Towards the SW arrow.

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Now I just need to bend the guide a little further, hoping it stays in place. Or wedge a metal post in there. Any thoughts?

Damn

Ok, my spring is a dark red color....

Here are the best pics I could get with glass on. Same material as the two big squares of blue rubber at bottom of right ramp. A guy could also cut one of those sizes in half.

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Pindiddy, I think your gonna have to bend the metal guide back in place a bit, like I did with mine. For the longest time I thought the plunge was supposed to go up the ramp. I was playing it wrong for a long time.

To adjust my plunge shot, I took the rubber out of the post there, and bent the guide a little farther upwards, since I had the same issue with the ball wanting to go up the ramp instead.

You could also probably sink another screw into virgin wood if you run out of metal on the adjustment.

Thanks a lot for your help.
I'm going over to fix that later tonight

Just got through shopping out mine. FYI - the Comet pop rings can be cut to fit the top yellow bumper, but it has to be a specific way (I’m waiting on a replacement for the one I experimented with):

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I ended up adding blue strips under the plastics to the left and right of the ramp as those are unlit. They look great in person but as always, LEDs are over saturated in phone pics.
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On the left strip, I bent it around the post so that the end was just under the gobble hole rubber. It really lights up the ramp flap area well.

I also added scoop lights that are tied into the cellar signs. I only had blue strips, but will change them to yellow/red to match the signs:

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Other pics:

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Awesome pics @damonator! I hadn't seen anyone cut a bumper ring like that before. Very cool!

Your game looks fantastic. I can tell you've put in a lot of time on that.

It took a couple hours of adjusting, but I finally got the plunge shot set correctly. First, I swapped the red spring out for a standard silver one. Then, I made sure that the screws underneath the playfield that hold the black wood piece that makes the outside of the shooter lane were snug. One was a little loose and I doubt that it made a difference, but I snugged it up anyway. Then I loosened the wire ramp and the plastic behind the top flipper to be able to get to things easier. I removed the 3 small screws in metal guide and the adjustment screw under the plastic to remove the metal guide. I could then see that there was a slight bend in the guide that was creating the problem. So I put the guide in a vice to flatten the bend at the very end. Then I adjusted the angle of the L-shaped bracket on the back of the guide to essentially lean the guide back a little more. I removed the rubber on the little post between the flipper and guide then reassembled everything. Now, with a full plunge the ball shoots the inner orbit and feeds the upper flipper every time. It was a tedious adjustment, but worth it.

I'm in!!!

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Anyone have the thin plastic with leaves on it just to the right of the lift ramp that they would sell? It's the only plastic I need and it's crazy to buy a whole set

Can someone tell me the height of the side rail?
Thanks

Awesome: After having this game for almost 4 years I *finally* paid off the skyway! 102 tolls!

Lessome: so, um, yeah... when they said it plays a "little ditty"... THAT "little ditty" is *it*?!?! HA HA! At first I thought something else happened or broke and barely glanced up in time to see the message

So I've done both and to be honest I'm not sure what's easier: paying off the tollway or making the 3-way combo...

Every time somebody makes a 3-way combo during an event everyone looks over and we all celebrate a little because the sound is so cool. I have no idea if anyone local has ever done 100+ tolls, but quite sure I've ever heard the sound.

That three-way combo is a bitch--getting two is hard enough. Paying off the toll is cool!--I don't think Ive ever come all that close to doing it.

Completing the tolls is way easier than the 3 way combo. I've finished the tolls many times but the 3 way is a rare event for me anyway. On Earthshaker I can complete tolls on more than half my games. Very similar shot but Whirlwind a little tougher to do for some reason.

It’s that ball hop for me. Both earthshakers I had were smooth to the flipper and that made that shot easier. Both Whirlwinds have a slight hop as it reaches the flipper. It throws me off bad. I need to order those lane guides that Cliffy has to see if it helps like others have said.

I've never noticed a hop on mine. I'll have to look closer next time.

Same! It’s the ball hop. I need to fix it

Hope this helps:

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I’m in the club

Hey guys, I just got Cliff’s ball guides for WW. WOW! The hop is long gone. Makes this a fantastic shooter now!!

I will be joining your club tomorrow...

Not sure if this is been brought up yet... but I was thinking of a mod where I would put in a stronger motor for the backbox top fan. Not too strong but just enough maybe to blow your baseball cap off or something.

Has anybody done this yet?... if ..so how did you go about it? Thanks !

Lol!

Someone stuck an electric leaf blower in the game before. Not sure how it was done electrically, but there was ducting for the blower.