So I got my playfield...

[Frax]

Which I have around for general pin cleaning anyways. Awesome. You may have just won at this thread. I'll find out in about..oh....hour and a half or so.

I'm running the end of my 73 hour work week this week, 33 hours of voluntary overtime in one week... NEVER AGAIN!!

 

[splattergatz]

and why the hell would they put primer on the back of the field?

if you paint both sides, the wood wont bow, as the one sided paint has a propensity to make the wood do i'm guessing

the off centeredness kinda doesnt bother me
try powering a bulb with a 9V battery and see if the grey makes a difference with the insert

thats two "errors" you have to swallow and i understand if you raise a "stink" about it. then again, a future buyer might never notice

 

[Frax]

I fixed the inserts, mostly. I can clean them up all the way once I get some picks I think.

But I found two other places where primer came out onto the playfield, they clearcoated OVER it, and there's actual damage to the art by one of the blobs. Pictures coming, I'm a bit pissed..

It's going to be under a pop bumper skirt, but still....come on....

 

[Frax]

 

[timberterror]

I think I would be pissed at first if I had received that playfield. At least the problems you found can be fixed and or is hidden by the pop bumper skirt. In the end I think I'd be happy, but I'd at least let them know and maybe get a partial refund. - Barry

 

[kencinder]

Seems to me they're having a bunch of quality issues lately, and it's like they don't even care...they must figure people will just buy their stuff anyway so who cares.

I read their writeup on artwork differences etc, and I get color matching issues etc...but general quality control issues like this when you're spending several hundred dollars, would have me very mad and rightly so.

 

[R3LL1K]

I would have CPR replace that playfield. They sell Space Shuttle playfields with less issues than yoursfor $499 on their website. I would say they replace it or at least refund or credit you about $150-$200.

 

[Frax]

I would be fine with a credit. As I said before, I'm keeping this machine long term, it's under the skirt where it will likely not be visible, but if I didn't want a flawless PF, I would've bought a second and saved the money up front, or bought a direct ink one that was offered to me that had some mis-registration for half the price.

 

[Frax]

Got a reply to my second email...not going to repost it, but they're going to wait until the last batch comes back from clearcoat, pick one out of there and send it to me. See how I like it, and then I send them the other one back in the same box.

I'm happy with this solution. I wasn't going to be doing the swap within the next few weeks anyways, this gives me time to get Pinbot cleaned and tuned up so that I have something to play while Shuttle is out of commission, and time to disassemble Shuttle and shoot video of the teardown process.

I didn't specifically ask for a swap or even a refund, I just sent an email with my concerns about it. This solution was offered by them, and I'm pretty damn impressed, frankly. What they're doing, and especially not making me ship the one back first on my own dime, I feel is extremely generous on their part.

That's some customer service right there. Maybe Stern should learn that, from our recent threads here...

 

[beerorkid]

+1

Congrats to you and them for doing it right.

 

[HHaase]

Got a reply to my second email...not going to repost it, but they're going to wait until the last batch comes back from clearcoat, pick one out of there and send it to me. See how I like it, and then I send them the other one back in the same box.

I'm happy with this solution. I wasn't going to be doing the swap within the next few weeks anyways, this gives me time to get Pinbot cleaned and tuned up so that I have something to play while Shuttle is out of commission, and time to disassemble Shuttle and shoot video of the teardown process.

I didn't specifically ask for a swap or even a refund, I just sent an email with my concerns about it. This solution was offered by them, and I'm pretty damn impressed, frankly. What they're doing, and especially not making me ship the one back first on my own dime, I feel is extremely generous on their part.

That's some customer service right there. Maybe Stern should learn that, from our recent threads here...

Glad to hear they are stepping up on this one, and I agree they are right in having to replace the playfield at this point.

At the same time, I also hope they learn the quality control lessons from this one and learn how to prevent it in the future.

-Hans

 

[stevenp61]

Glad to hear they are stepping up on this one, and I agree they are right in having to replace the playfield at this point.

At the same time, I also hope they learn the quality control lessons from this one and learn how to prevent it in the future.

-Hans

I agree--maybe all's well that ends well? Although I wouldn't lose sleep over the paint that would be completely hidden by the pop bumper. The paint on the inserts is another matter....

 

[Frax]

There's some other minor things that bug me on there. I'll post pics later. I may have to get my wife's SLR to actually get the acuity needed. The iPhone tends to shoot fuzzy.

 

[fizgig]

Got my space shuttle playfield today, I'll open it up tomorrow and see if I have any issues.

 

[metahugh]

Just to piggyback on this post I ended up getting a new playfield from CPR after my last post about the first playfield I received. My new playfield screening wise is much better but unfortunately I have paint drips into 3 of the inserts. I bought some metal picks but they haven't really pulled the paint off that well. Oh well I already paid to ship back the other playfield and I am not going to spend any more money on this at this point.

 

[Half Life]

Just to piggyback on this post I ended up getting a new playfield from CPR after my last post about the first playfield I received. My new playfield screening wise is much better but unfortunately I have paint drips into 3 of the inserts. I bought some metal picks but they haven't really pulled the paint off that well. Oh well I already paid to ship back the other playfield and I am not going to spend any more money on this at this point.

Hugh,

What you need is a cleoid-discoid or aka 89-02. When I taught micro-miniature soldering in the Navy we used the 89-92 to remove circuit board substrates to repair the inner conductor layers on a multilayer board. My point is that the 89-92 is very effective at removing darn near anything. One end has a rounded tip while the other end is spade shaped. The edges are extremely sharp. With patience, you would be able to completely remove all the paint splatters.

You can get them for about $15.00 on e-bay, Amazon, etc. If you want I can loan you mine. When you're done, send it back. LMK.

Phil

 

[Frax]

Yeah...They are going to ship me a replacement PF as well, mine had more than just paint in the inserts...the gray actually went all the way through pop bumper holes, there was art damage (to hell if it's under a pop...it's still damage) and grey paint UNDER the clear where it was, there's issues with the transparent blue color being very uneven in half-dollar sized places leaving like what they described on one of their seconds as "extra stars" but doesn't look TOO out of place...

I bought some picks like they said to try and get the paint out myself before I knew I was getting a swap, but I, like you, didn't have very much luck at all getting it picked out. Of course, once they said they were going to send me another one, I stopped all work on it.

Frankly, I had more luck with 92% alcohol and gentle swabbing than the picks, and if you have no intent to try for a second swap, I say go that route, along with the picks and this other tool being described. Definitely don't want that paint in there when inserts are lit. :\