Ramp height adjustment for High Speed?

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I have owned a Williams High Speed for about 4 years. It came to me in disrepair, and previous owner must have hired a hack who did some real bad damage to some parts. (Like cross-wiring all 3 pop bumpers to 1 switch, burning out the driving transistors, cutting wires, etc...)

Over the last couple years, I managed to get everything fully working, minus a few wobbly posts and cracked plastic tops. (I am a video guy, and this is my 1 and only pin so I'm still learning)

Anyway, had a game night a few nights ago, and one guy said he played the machine to death a couple decades ago. He said everything felt really good given the wear and stuff.

The only complaint was that it was almost impossible to get a ball up the ramp using the upper right flipper. He didn't know if it was a weak flipper or if the angle (incline) of the left side of the ramp is too high, which he seemed to lean towards.

I have tested the relative pressure of the right flipper and it feels fine to me. It takes an exact sweet spot to sling it up, and I can hit either the left or right ramp (but never all the way around) with the flipper, but on average only two times per game, every other game.

On the other hand, I just replaced both the outer and inner springs on the shooter and now almost without fail, I can always send the first ball up and all the way around the complete loop and out the top right side on every new ball... so I know it's physically possible to send it around that way.

So, for the experts or owners... does this seem like an angle problem with the ramp or a power problem with the upper right flipper? Or simply a user problem by not being good players?

Thanks!
 
When I had mine I could hammer it up the ramp and all the way around a few times in a row on occasion.

It does sound like it is weak possibly. I mean, I had no problems getting it up. She definitely was tuned right for me
 
Sounds like a weak flipper - I had a similar problem with mine. I replaced the coil sleeve and adjusted the end of stroke and it seems to have added enough power to make the ramp shot, when the aim is correct...

Now I'm just waiting for those cpr playfields...
 
Check that both the flipper button switches and EOS switches are all in good shape and not black and crumbling. They can be filed for a better connection but new is nicer. You could also replace the coil stop and coil sleeve as well. Also ensure that the wires are solder on well.

High Speed is a terrible game without a strong upper-right flipper. I really doubt there's anything wrong with the ramp.
 
You have to hit it in the sweet spot to make the ramp, this what makes it challenging. I thought the same thing but everything is good, its just you need to get better at that shot. Once you learn where the sweet shot is you have no problems. Also something to check is the plastic top piece on the ramp, sometimes if its bent a bit it will stop the ball from going up and kinda stop it and it rolls back down. I had this happen before and bent the plastic back so ball can clear it. Can't believe folks who chimed in are saying its "your flipper", when in fact you say you hit it quite often, if it wasn't making it up the ramp, then yes your flipper is weak, but since you say it does go up sometimes, you just need to practice on that shot and learn the sweet spot. This whats makes the game making you come back for more is the shot is tough. One more thing CLEAN the ramp with novus 2, could be dirty and slowing the ball down. Just some thoughts.
 
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You have to hit it in the sweet spot to make the ramp, this what makes it challenging. I thought the same thing but everything is good, its just you need to get better at that shot. Once you learn where the sweet shot is you have no problems. Also something to check is the plastic top piece on the ramp, sometimes if its bent a bit it will stop the ball from going up and kinda stop it and it rolls back down. I had this happen before and bent the plastic back so ball can clear it. Can't believe folks who chimed in are saying its "your flipper", when in fact you say you hit it quite often, if it wasn't making it up the ramp, then yes your flipper is weak, but since you say it does go up sometimes, you just need to practice on that shot and learn the sweet spot. This whats makes the game making you come back for more is the shot is tough. One more thing CLEAN the ramp with novus 2, could be dirty and slowing the ball down. Just some thoughts.

I felt the same myself -- hard, but not impossible.

I was taking the comments of a player that played the game probably 50 times more than I have and played it back in the day in a route setting. He felt it was entirely too hard to get it up the ramp with the flipper compared to what he remembers playing on another machine.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!
 
Everyone who plays mine says the same "that damn flipper is weak" or that ramp theres something wrong. Then I play it and all seems well, even I can't hit that ramp shot all the time, it just challenging like mentioned. Enjoy!
 
Good to know, would help if my upper flipper worked! So the ramp doesn't need to be lined up to the shooter lane, seems like it should be?
 
Every machine seems to have it's own "feel" to it, and it's own quirks...

I can nail my HS ramp lots of times, but probably miss it as many times as making it. If you're making it, then it's possible!

I recorded hitting the jackpot on mine one day when I was bored. I've got a lot of other vids on youtube, but this one seems to have the most hits as far as pins go, so I'm guessing a lot of people are interested in HS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQDXHlvZEZk

A little cheesy, but why not...
 
Every machine seems to have it's own "feel" to it, and it's own quirks...

I can nail my HS ramp lots of times, but probably miss it as many times as making it. If you're making it, then it's possible!

I recorded hitting the jackpot on mine one day when I was bored. I've got a lot of other vids on youtube, but this one seems to have the most hits as far as pins go, so I'm guessing a lot of people are interested in HS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQDXHlvZEZk

A little cheesy, but why not...

Enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing.
 
Good to know, would help if my upper flipper worked! So the ramp doesn't need to be lined up to the shooter lane, seems like it should be?

What do you mean? If the ball isn't making it up the ramp when you plunge the ball into play, it's not the ramp its the plunger housing needs adjusting so the plunger is hitting dead center on the ball. If it's hitting off the the sides it will put a spin on the ball. Make sure the plunger tip has good rubber tip as that helps as well. Why dont you upper flipper work? Game is pointless without it working.
 
If the ball isn't going up the ramp when you first plunge the ball, you need to adjust the upper guide rail on the right, where it says 'Don't Drink and Drive'. I'm pretty sure you have to remove the plastic first, then loosen the nut, make an adjustment, tighten and experiment until it's properly lined up.
 

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Make sure the table is absolutely level, I found mine to be very hard to get up the ramp until I carefully leveled it, then it was much better.
 
Yeah, level first then adjust the metal ball guide out of the plunge. I hit it practically every time.

If trajectory isn't adjusted correctly, multi-ball gets ruined if you can't lock the balls. And that sucks ... even though multi-ball rarely lasts very long anyway. :)
 
Hey. Just found this. Is there an optimal vertical level for this table? 6.5 best for that ramp shot? I need to level horizontally also as my ramp shot fails 8/10 times after plunger.
 
On all my pins, I generally just jack the snot out of the rear 3" levelers and tighten a nut underneath since there isn't any screw above. I like them fast.
 
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