I have recently found in pins I have restored a lot of the flipper bats had cracked webbing in the structual plastic that keeps the bat firm.
The cracking obviously results in a less firm push off from the flipper as some of the impact would be absorbed as flexing instead of a solid hard flip.
Years ago I found that I could purchase bats that were much thicker and stronger in this webbing that did not have the same problems.
Here is a picture of the two bats, when installed in your game you get "M" Motorola style on left, and "W" Williams style on right.
Here is a picture from below, again "M" Motorala style on left and "W" Williams style on right, you can plainly see the extra strength in the structual webbing of the "W" Williams style.
Here is an example of a "M" Motorala style taken from a game I restored, I have held the tip in a vice so I had a free hand to take a pic, it shows the typical cracking of both webs, far left in the closest to the tip and middle of the other.
Every game I have restored that had "M" bats had at least one of the webbings cracked, most bats had both.
I have installed "W" bats into all my machines after having problems with cracked webbing, it is definately noticeable in game play, as the flipper is the only thing we use to control the ball is important we have nice solid bats.
Thought I'd share to hear other peoples experences and to enlighten those who were not aware of the issues, also to create a little debate as there is only one supplier of the "W" style that I know of unfortunately. So I would expect most people have "M" bats installed on their pins.
