I also personally tend to buy Titan rings for all of my games because their products have become what I am used to playing on in my home arcade. This definitely could be different between each set but the hope is that the average will help reduce that difference.įor full disclosure, TWIP has been working with Titan Pinball for our monthly giveaways for some time now. The one factor in this test that I don’t think I was able to control for was how taught the flipper ring is on the flipper bat. I did this test on all 3 rubbers that I purchased for each of the products. I also used ruler tape to have a set measuring device for each test, and then I videoed each test in slow motion so that I could view how high up on the ruler the pinball reached. To do this test I had my son create a Lego ramp that I could tape to the playfield to serve as my launching point. In general, the more bounce the more the ball is wild. The amount of bounce off the rings leads to the amount of random, wild play in the pinball. ![]() While videoing this test I noticed that the ball would reach the opposite flipper at different positions and would therefor either go up the other inlane or bounce off the bottom post of the sling shot. Even a slight difference in the bounce off a flipper makes a big difference in where the ball goes following the bounce. I decided that the best way I could compare the flipper rubbers was to measure the amount of bounce a pinball would have if dropped from the exact same point. Refer to the Flipper Rings Table above by the Flipper ID Bounce Test The higher the Durometer number indicates that it is a harder material. This type of device is commonly used on tires to determine it’s ratings. To measure the hardness of each flipper rubber I used a Shore Durometer, which is a device specifically made to measure the resistance of indentation on polymers and rubbers. The hardness of the rubber can affect how it interacts with the ball as well as how hard it is to actually get on the flipper bat. Organic compounds are more likely to break down over time if they are exposed to UV light, hence giving flippers made with silicone the most long lasting durability. The main differences between these is of course the chemical makeup while polyurethane is an organic polymer and contains carbon, silicone is an inorganic substance. The most common alternatives are silicone and polyurethane. Using an alternative to rubber means you don’t have to clean and wax the playfield as much. Flipper dust is a large cause of the playfield getting dirty and grimy which slows down the pinball. There are a couple of alternatives to standard rubber that are designed to last longer and not produce as much dust. Most of the flipper rings use standard rubber as the material. So, I made sure to purchase 3 rings of each in order to try to get a better average of performance. When buying the rubber rings for the comparison I also wanted to consider that there might be small differences between rings produced by the same manufacturer and with the same materials. ![]() ![]() Those rings also serve as a baseline in several of my tests to allow me to try to match what might be considered as “normal” ball interactions. I just happen to have a fairly recent Stern Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that still has the original black rubber rings on it, so I’ve included those in the comparison as well. Most modern games today come with standard black rubber flipper rings. From the reviews I have read, the colors of the rings also tend to change the way the ball interacts with the rubber and causes differences in game play. To get a good comparison I wanted to get the standard rubber rings in multiple colors from multiple sources. Since I only buy flipper rings for a small collection of pinball machines, I wasn’t too concerned with price but I have included that information in the comparison. My focus in this comparison is to determine which flipper rubber plays as closely to standard rubber but has the best durability. I’ve used several of them and read other’s reviews over my time as a collector, but I thought it might be a good idea to actually do a full comparison of all of the options available. There are quite a few different types and brands of flipper rubber that can be used for pinball machines.
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