Is there a way to safely remove the ballpark ? I mean, detach it from the table without causing damage underneath ? I really love my table, I mean, REALLY, but ALL my frustrations come from this ballpark.
During the first week when I got the table , I've tried a couple of tracks with two balls mode and it was nice to see it operate. But frequently, the second ball was getting stock on the "main park" of the ballpark (on the right side)... Or even worse, during a Single ball track run, the second ball was hooked by "mistake" by the secondary arm and ruins the drawing... So I decided to remove the second ball.
But now, the main ball is sporadically (maybe 3 times out of 10) entering the ballpark, specially while running custom tracks from community. Either from the left, or from the right. Or the ball trajectory is directly toward the front of the ballpark, and the ball gets detached....(happened yesterday with Jeff2_Jeff2 file...) because the arm goes "beyond" the ballpark.
I tried many proposed solutions on this forum to avoid that:
- Not too much sand.
- Speed not to fast (I'm running it in the first quarter of the speed bar)
- Firmware is updated to latest version.
- Reset the table (OFF/ON) to redo the "homing process".
- I ran only default playlist to see if it's happening (only happened once, during an erase). The previous drawing finished so high, that the erase gently drove the ball into the ballpark...
I don't get why custom tracks seem to draw a bit out of bound ? There is no way by software or within the file to prevent that ??? Can we apply a ratio to the file to draw a "smaller pattern" ? Depending on position of the ball when starting, pattern, etc.., sometimes a custom track will drive the ball in the ballpark, sometimes not...So it's hard to determined if specific custom file are consistently causing problem or not. Using a community file is done "at our own risk" ??? It's sad since many "non-default" patterns are amazing!
It is very frustrating to remove this huge glass cover (3 foot table). To avoid that, I plan to build my "in-house" magnet-on-a-stick to remove the ball from ballpark and hopefully, be able to easily relocate it on the main arm. I get this is a new product, I get that development is quite young, but at this price and to be honest, I selfishly expected more reliability from the table.
I get why you've removed the second ball "by default" on new tables but for us who have received it, what can we do ? I really look forward to being able to start my playlist, and see it running for many patterns, without having to pause it, replace the ball, and restart..
I attached a photo of a pattern that draw clearly around 1/2 inch too high considering the front of the ballpark. What cause that ??? The pattern is too high all around the table, meaning that it's not the center reference that is "offset".
We understand your frustrations - which is why we've discontinued two-ball mode as a "standard" feature (it can still be ordered as an add-on). Despite our concerted efforts to make it bullet proof, we haven't been able to make it 100% reliable. It's extremely unforgiving (as you've experienced) - any travel past Rho = 1 is at risk of hitting it. And yes, Community tracks may have out of bounds vertices, but they "should" be caught and clamped to 1 by our software. It's evidently not working all the time (and not every user has updated to the most recent firmware).
In answer to your question: The ballpark is affixed using strong double-edged tape (carpet tape). To remove it, carefully work a "blade" (butter knife) in between it and the cushion material it's stuck to. Gently pry the ballpark upward while holding the cushion material down at the rising edge of the ballpark so the cushion separates from it (and isn't pulled up with it).
Thanks Bruce for the instructions. It went amazingly well.. I was afraid that the removal of the ballpark would damage the cushion material but it was indeed very easy, with the butter knife.. And yes, for those who would like to do the same, HOLD DOWN the fabric and proceed slowly by "cutting" and prying underneath.
You mentioned "carpet tape".. For me, looks more like spray glue... Anyway, the process left absolutely no trace, no glue, nothing from the ballpark on the table fabric... Very happy!
Thanks again
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