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Stern Tech School: Removing Upper Playfield From JAWS

Stern Pinball·video·7m 20s·analyzed·Jun 22, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.011

TL;DR

Stern Tech School guide: removing/reinstalling JAWS upper playfield assembly

Summary

Stern Pinball's Kyle provides a detailed technical guide for removing and reinstalling the upper playfield assembly from JAWS Premium or LE machines. The video covers safety procedures, tool requirements, step-by-step disassembly (harnesses, ramps, plastics, fasteners), shark motor lowering via diagnostics, and reassembly with verification testing.

Key Claims

  • Opening the coin door on JAWS removes 48 volts from the playfield via the interlock switch

    high confidence · Kyle, Stern Pinball, safety procedure introduction

  • The upper playfield harnesses on JAWS are located in the bottom left corner of the playfield

    high confidence · Kyle describing harness location during disassembly

  • Lowering the shark target assembly via diagnostics menu provides additional clearance for upper playfield removal

    high confidence · Kyle explaining shark motor test procedure

  • The wire form ramp uses two washers—one under the ramp and one above—during fastening

    high confidence · Kyle during both disassembly and reassembly phases

Notable Quotes

  • “Before you service your game it's always a good idea to either power the game off or open the coin door so the interlock switch is in the powered off position.”

    Kyle, Stern Pinball@ 0:08 — Safety protocol establishing interlock switch function

  • “They all match up with only one receptacle, so there's no way to plug them in wrong.”

    Kyle, Stern Pinball@ 6:45 — Design feature preventing incorrect reassembly

  • “This will give us a few more centimeters of clearance.”

    Kyle, Stern Pinball@ 1:26 — Explains functional benefit of shark lowering procedure

Entities

KylepersonStern PinballcompanyJAWS PremiumgameJAWS LEgame

Signals

  • ?

    content_signal: Stern Pinball producing structured technical education content (Tech School series) for operator and technician training

    high · Full-length instructional video with detailed procedures, tool specifications, and safety protocols

  • ?

    product_concern: JAWS Premium/LE upper playfield design requires multi-step disassembly; Stern addressing servicer education to reduce incorrect procedures

    medium · Detailed guide for what appears to be a moderately complex service task; emphasis on correct harness disconnection and fastener management

  • ?

    design_innovation: JAWS features removable upper playfield assembly with integrated shark motor mechanism; demonstrates advanced mechanical modularity

    high · Upper playfield attached via multiple harnesses, ramps, plastics, and fasteners; shark motor controlled via diagnostics for clearance adjustment

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.022

0:00
Hi, I'm Kyle with Stern Pinball and today we're going to go over how to remove the upper playfield from your JAWS Premium or LE. Before you service your game it's always a good idea to either power the game off or open the coin door so the interlock switch is in the powered off position. When the coin door is open, the interlock switch is open, it'll remove the 48 volts from the playfield. We will need to raise the playfield into the service position. This requires removing the playfield glass as well as the pinballs. To remove the balls manually we will actuate the ball serve plunger. With the coin door open it is safe to reach inside here. We're going to push that plunger up with a bit of force and that will eject a pinball. We'll do that five more times and we will get the rest of the pinballs. The first thing we're going to want to do is to get the playfield up into the service position. With the playfield in the service position now we'll want to locate the upper playfield harnesses which are down here in the bottom left hand corner of the playfield. Unplug each of these connectors here on these square and rectangle connectors. Make sure you grab this latch and depress one side to unhook that lever so they can be separated. Now that we have all of the upper playfield wiring harnesses disconnected we can put the playfield back down, rest it on the service rails on the front of your cabinet. This will allow us to remove the rest of the hardware to get the upper play field off. The first piece of hardware to remove is going to be this wire form ramp attached here to this plastic ramp. We'll notice that there is a 11 32 inch nut behind this radio target. We'll start by removing that.
1:44
Remove the nut and the washer set those aside We follow the ramp down We notice that there is another support here that attaches the ramp to the playfield It a Phillips head screw so we take our number two Phillips screwdriver and start to loosen this guy. If the hex post underneath starts to spin just grab it and hold it in place while you loosen the screw. On this screw there are two washers, one underneath the head of the screw and one underneath the wire form of the ramp. When you remove the screw, make sure you grab that other washer. With the hardware removed, now we can remove the ramp. Simply tilt it up and pull it forward, removing the wire form ramp out of the cleat on the plastic ramp. Set the ramp aside. Our next step is to remove these two phillips head screws from this upper plastic on the upper playfield. These are threaded into a hex post. Sometimes the hex post might come out with the screw, don't be alarmed. Once you remove that upper plastic, we have one more screw to back off. This screw does not need to come out all the way, we need to just back it off until we can feel the upper play field start to tilt. I'm using my left hand here to push a little bit of pressure up, and now we're loose. The screw can stay in that position. After we loosen the phillips head screw, next we will remove the frontal plastic that says Orca, using a quarter inch nut driver.
3:10
Set this aside. Next, behind the back panel and underneath the portion of the plastic ramp on the upper play field, you'll find two nuts that attach the upper play field to the back panel. You'll want to remove these nuts all the way using an 11-32 inch nut driver. The last step before we remove the upper play field is to lower the shark target assembly. To lower the shark, we will need to pull the interlock switch inside the cabinet to restore power to the playfield Then we use the diagnostic buttons to scroll to game specific tests Enter the diagnostics menu, scroll over to game specific tests, find the shark motor test, and then using one of the red buttons,
3:59
lower the shark assembly down underneath the playfield. This will give us a few more centimeters of clearance. Now that we have the front orca plastic removed, the shark target lowered, the nuts that affix the upper playfield to the back panel removed, and the phillips head screw loosened, we can raise the upper playfield at an angle and using our other hand gently push it forward carefully avoiding any obstacles to get it out of the back panel. Now remove the harnesses so they don't get snagged and we have a free upper playfield. Ensuring that you have all of the hardware pre-removed and the harnesses unhooked from the main playfield harness will allow you to gently maneuver the upper playfield out of your jaws and get it ready for any sort of service necessary. To reassemble your upper playfield onto your jaws premium or ellie we will fish the harness back through the lower hole here in the back panel and gently and carefully slide the ramp back through the back panel and bring the upper playfield down to rest.
5:08
One other thing to check is make sure that the wire form for the center ramp doesn't get pinched beneath the bracket. Next we want to reattach the nuts to the rear of the playfield on the back panel Once we reattached our front Orca plastic and we have tightened down the Phillips head screw on the mini playfield We going to attach our upper Orca plastic back onto the mini playfield If your hex posts are still attached you can still screw them in by using the Phillips heads on top.
5:45
Next we will take the wire ramp, insert it into the cleat on the plastic ramp on the upper playfield, line up the rear position on this stud, the front position on its cleat. We'll do the front side first. Do remember there were two washers, one under the ramp and one above. Can insert the washer here, stick the screw through it, find the hex post and thread it in. Once both pieces of hardware are installed, we can start to tighten them down. I'll start with the upper screw on the upper playfield. Get that nut cinched down. Get your number two screwdriver and tighten down the Phillips head screw holding the ramp to its standoff. Our last step is going to be reconnecting the harnesses. We'll lift the playfield back up into service position.
6:41
Now, we will reattach all of the harnesses. They all match up with only one receptacle, so there's no way to plug them in wrong.
6:53
One last thing we can check is ensuring that the spacing of this wire form is correct. Take a pinball, drop it down, make sure that the ball doesn't get stuck anywhere. This one went through just fine, we're ready to play. Thanks for watching this video from Stern Tech School.
7:19
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