Dialing up a Firepower spinner to perfection makes for some interesting risk/reward. It is very possible to rip an incredible shot, then have the ball come back down and drain before you actually get the points. I don’t know of any other game that scores spinners like FP, but it makes for some tense moments…
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I think these two examples it’s better to have a shitty spinner much like JM. 90K a shot on FP I am not aiming for anything else!
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Yes, it does change the game… one lock left for MB but the spinner is lit? Spinner all day. Dialing it in TOO much adds risk (see above) bit it’s still a one shot game when lit.
How is the spinner lit in FP? 
Complete one set of standups.
For Grand Prix I thought they were too juiced at first, but then thought to myself, if they are gimped, you’re still ripping spinners all day. This way it’s just more fun to rip them.
Mine was gimped to only add 1 bonus per set of lights
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my question would be how to “dialed out” a spinner such as JM or GP to introduce different strategy?
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I would gently bend the arms so they are off center and also gently bend the bracket too.
Also, if you gimp GP spinners, what’s the new strategy? That’s what I couldn’t figure out when deciding whether to dial mine back or not.
The Elwin mod is the way to go. The spinners are still beautifully dialed and satisfying to shoot, you just don’t get as much bonus out of it. Same strategy, just harder.
Okay cool. That’s why I left it. The average scores on mine are higher, but game times aren’t.
Well, you could leave the game out in a 100 year flood for authenticity sake, but that would probably be cost prohibitive…
Before you bend anything, clean any previous lube from the axles and bracket with alcohol. Don’t want to bend any more than you need to.
I wish all the current manufacturers would lube their spinners during assembly. It’s a very cheap way to noticeably improve gameplay. Even noobs notice a fast spinner. Modern synthetic oils will last decades before they start to degrade. Faster spinners would make frenzy and spinner modes more fun. It’s frustrating to play an otherwise nice newer game on location with dead spinners. I can’t think of a good reason not to do it.
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The microswitch style spinners often need more than lube to get working well. This type of spinner can have a lot more resistance to the spinning arm from the switch lever if the lever/switch body are adjusted to so that the spinning arm closes the switch for too long in the rotation. This puts a bunch of extra resistance on the spinner that doesn’t need to be there. I reccomend adjusting the body so that switch just barely closes at the very bottom of the rotation. I would also polish the switch arm and spinner arm with a wool pad on a dremel if you want to get super maximum spinnage. I’ve started adding this to my spinner dialing process for all games where it makes sense… including JM, since I personally couldn’t give two shits about playing for anything other than billions of spinner points.
That zoom spout oil is all I’ve ever needed for even microswitch spinners. It’s crazy good.
Maybe I should have said “can need…” instead of “often need…”
If you’re happy with your microswitch spinner after lube than I’m happy, there is no right or wrong. I was just trying to help others that may find lube is not the only thing needed or may want to take their spinner further than only lube allows.
Yeah fair enough. I just have found this specific option is different than other lubricants I have tried. I had to do multiple things before to get the results I wanted, but this stuff was a one stop shop for me which made it much easier.
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A couple of drops of oil have usually done it for me. On some older games, FGY comes to mind, the bracket isn’t tall enough and the bottom of the target often hits the top of the bracket as it spins. Manually give the spinner a full spin and make sure the bottom has good clearance. Many FGY and Shrek games rubbed straight from the factory. And that target and bracket was used on a lot of games.
I’ve never done it, but if I wanted the screamingest spinners on the planet, I would hand polish the axles and the switch actuator with a quality metal polish. I use Blue Magic, which leaves behind a thin (and slippery as hell) protective coating of silicone. I’ve used Flitz, Mothers mag polish and others. None compared to Blue Magic.
Now I want to try this just to see how fast I can get one going…
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Blue magic is exactly what I use with the wool pad and Dremel. If you’re doing an old Bally spinner with a painted arm, get rid of the paint first, then polish. Also do the bracket holes.
In addition to the tips all have mentioned (lube is the best!) - you can mount the spinner bracket slightly higher either with small washers or taller posts, which lets the ball rip through it closer to the edge of the spinner. I also bend the spinner arms so the spinner is canted slightly forward at rest (bottom slightly behind the top). Check the actuation wire’s connection to the leaf switch as well - there’s a bend in the switch blade if it is too tight you will get resistance.
I can get all 3 spinners going for about 100 spins on my stargazer with this method - dragonfist is nice enough to count your spin #'s and often I get 60-80/spin. Played a buddy yesterday on my Big Game and was able to beat him thanks to the juiced (and lit, at the time) leftmost spinner.
Spinners and drop targets trade off for my favorite playfield feature.