OP

Quoted from Mathazar:

Sadly, my Meteor is now "on the lift" in need of repairs. Last night, the middle drop targets on the METEOR bank starting falling on their own intermittently during coil resets. After attempting numerous adjustments (I thought maybe I might need to add locktite to the collar screws securing the bank shaft), I decided to disassemble the bank and have a closer look. Sure enough, the shaft is bent on the ends (one end, the coil end, way more than the other). I did not notice this during the restore when I had everything apart and it's pretty obvious now, so I think these bends are new. Perhaps I caused it by setting the reset bar too high, causing undue strain on the shaft every time the coil fires and fully plunges.
Anyway...at first I thought "no problem" because I recalled having a new spare classic Stern shaft in my pile of restoration parts. My thoughts on rebuilding the bank were quickly dashed when I realized the shaft I had was for a 5-bank classic Stern, not 6-bank. Oy. What's worse....I spent a couple hours this morning scouring my usual haunts online for pinball parts and while I can find 2-bank, 3-bank, 4-bank, 5-bank, and even 7-bank shafts I cannot find a 6-bank. Another scary thought....the 1979 and 1980 Stern Parts Catalogs I have to not have any assembly drawings of the 6-bank found in Meteor (3 and 5 banks, but nothing else). They list the 5-bank shaft part as #2A-255-5 and the 3-bank as #2A-255-3, so I have to assume the 6-bank would be #2A-255-6.
Anyone have a source? I could always try to bend my original back, but I'm afraid it would make it worse or even break off one or both ends.[quoted image]