Big Bang Bar

[kirklake13]

I'm posting this for a fellow BBB owner (#45) he has yet to request membership on this forum but is having a problem with his game and asked that I post this for him. Seems that 20-30% of the time he shoots the ball up the main ramp, it is hitting the gate in a way that the ball doesn't go past it and gets sent back down onto the playfield. Gate wire looks to be adjusted correctly, has tried different playfield pitches, the flap is just slightly raised off the playfield.

The way Paul describes it, it's like something, the ramp, the pitch, the flap gets the ball to go slightly airborne and it hits the gate wire instead of rolling through it. If anyone has experienced same or otherwise has a fix, please post.

captkirk BBB#78
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BBB #102

[awarner]

My machine does this as well on the second ramp gate. I've looked at it and it seems like stuff is alright but every now and again it's like a brick wall. I'm blaming all of my low scores on it...

-Al-

Revised: This is caused by the diverter spring being too weak. See the other reference to "Bounce Back".
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[metallik]

Al, he's talking about the entrance switch, not the upper diverter. I've seen the entrance switch problem occasionally on mine. I think the ball is catching enough air to lhit the wire above the zig-zag bend.. there's not quite enough room for the ball to squeeze between the wire and the top of the switch bracket, but there's enough gap to catch the ball tightly and stop the shot.

Solution would be a new wireform for the switch that zigzags up higher, forming more of a solid wall that will easily flip up when the ball hits it instead of allowing the ball to wedge in it.

[The Other Guy]

Just curious, what power setting are the flippers set at???
Too much power might be causing an air-ball...
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"BBB 77"

[metallik]

Mine are set to 11, and the rest of the game plays fine at this strength. Note that I only see this problem once in a while.. maybe one out of a hundred shots. I still will eventually replace the switch actuation wire, though... ramps rejecting perfectly good shots are a pet-peeve of mine :) Plus it can't be good for the wire or switch bracket to "catch" the ball like that.

[rwsimpson]

I had this problem when I installed a pinball pal protector at the ramp entrance. When I took the protector off, it was fine. Hard to believe a small piece of protector would change the ball dynamics that much, but it was a real problem.

The pinball pal protectors are self adhesive vinyl, mylar might be thinner and not cause the issue, but I have not tried that.

Ross

[kirklake13]

Further investigation found that the ramp switch on this guy's BBB sits much lower (clsoer to ramp surface) than the one on mine, perhaps by a full 1/4". I had him add a couple stainless washers under each side of the bracket to lift it higher above the ramp. Doing this in the hope to have the ball hit the wire bottom more fully rather than up higher on the wire. I'll let you know how it goes. Post the space between the bottom of your switch wire and ramp surface and we can see if these tolerances vary much across machines.
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BBB #102