Correct

Great thread for SW DE. Picked up one myself along with a High speed not too long ago. Stripped the play field, new plastics, LEDs, had the ramp rewelded, fixed a few cooked molex connectors. Overall not in bad shape. Still need a better trans light but not too excited to pay $100. Also needs new coils as I cannot shoot the ramp with the right flipper.

Did run into one problem and I wanted to see if you guys have any thoughts.

Having trouble with the Star Wars letters and 3CPO mouth light. In demo mode the Star Wars letters light appropriately going back and forth but when playing the R always stays lit after I light a letter (see pic). Pulled the PCB were the lights are at, looks great, all the tracts intact, tried new bulbs, new sockets and no luck, even took the old wires out and re did them with new molex connector. Still the mouth won't light and R stays lit. Not sure next step but maybe something with the back box board where they connect? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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You might check the lamp board and connector right below the Star Wars & mouth. Sounds like something is wired wrong there

The lamp board looks in great shape, tracts etc. I compared the wiring to another thread with pictures and mine looks exactly like that (i.e colored wires match up on the molex). I even refitted the wires in a new connector to see if that would help. Makes me think it is somewhere down the line.

Did you check the diodes on the lamp pcb?

Have not done this. Will take a look. Would that explain both problems?

what happens when you go into diagnostics and light each lamp individually?

Thought of pulling my translite to change to the mirrored back glass from classic playfeild but only have only so much stupid money to blow and have a few games that could use a playfeild so its going to have to wait. https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-backglasses/starwars/

So in diagnostics the mouth lights up appropriately. The letters switch back and forth appropriately but unfortunately when playing the R is still dimly lit. Interestingly one of the 10 million arrows also is dimly lit. Maybe something to do with the LEDs?

Sounds like a ghosting LED. Try putting a regular incandescent bulb in that spot and see if it stops. Then you can order some non-ghosting LED's and that should do the trick.

Hello all,

My death star sometimes turns clokwise and sometimes anticlockwise (I think it is normal behaviour).
When turning anticlockwise only, the motor/gearing is very noisy. Sounds like a gearing sound..

Did you experience the same behaviour ? I open the gearting to look what's inside, but I don't want to make it worse, as it is still working.
Is it a risky operation (for somebody used to open/repair things..) ? Are you aware of any schema or post somewhere about fixing this gearing ?

Thanks.

Hello sir, same here, did you finally fixed it ?

If you look some posts ago, you will find more of us had the same problem. You can open it hoping you only need some grease. It can be even one gear not perfectly fitted. The inside parts are really easy to be reinstalled. You can't do wrong.

.Thanks, I did it this we. Nothing broken inside: did put some bike gearing oil.
It is Still noisy but quieter than before.

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So is it considered wrong to just unplug the death star so it just does not spin? Asking for a friend

What I have found, is that the ball hits the angle bracket that hits the tall stem
that the death star is attached to.
In inadvertently causing small damage to the motor assembly.

I’ve got my R2D2 motor removed because I wasn’t willing to buy a new one just yet. No judgement here

I bought a new one for my R2 ............ that was 6 months ago now and still haven't fitted it I think his head moving is over rated anyway

The Force is not strong with you guys, shame on you

Anyone have any tips for putting rivets into plastics? I've never used a rivet gun before and don't want to break an expensive CPR plastic replacement.

http://www.arbortime.mountainminded.net/html/the_better_tonka_rivet_tool_-_.html

These work great. I think you have to buy the rivet set separately.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/handrivetsqueezer.php?gclid=Cj0KCQjw0IDtBRC6ARIsAIA5gWuNOJgFY3QO6M70Y1OhmjMm5ILJVAEiBDoL_mp49LoKkHBY7d0Y8ZAaAlx2EALw_wcB

Yeah there are cheap ways to try and do rivets, but you will definitely end up crackin your plastics. A good hand squeeze rivet tool is the only way to go. You want to get one with a deep mouth as you may need to get into a piece to set a rivet. The best place to get these is https://www.hansonrivet.com/

I thought it was a 1 Gun fits all but it’s an exact science for sure as the squeeze need to come down right based on the thickness and size of the rivet. They walked me through the whole thing and I have perfect rivets everytime. As a matter of fact, never had a bad rivet not broken plastic so well worth not having to buy those again. Now if I can get something to perfect my horrible sticker & decal applications

Check out my thread here. I was definitely clueless but have seen the light of a hand squeezer

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/riveting-playfield-plastics-w-solid-rivets#post-4585903

Hello fellows, i am working at a nice data east star wars pin, and i need some help before i break the shift lever!
I am having a major problem with the shift button and a smaller issue with the shift lever. First of all the lever switch has been reworked in the past by someone else and i think he messed the connections. The nerve breaking issue is with the shift button though. I cannot get the button to work. When i move the cable that goes into the shift lever (and i am om switch test mode) all the switches in the same matrix series register. I am guessing there is some problem with the connections or the switch of the button, but i cannot figure out how to remove the button assembly. Do i need to remove the whole shift assembly first? Please can someone help before i break the assembly to pieces :p
Also can someone please post a photo of how cables are connected to the shift lever switch, so i can crosscheck the connection i made?
Thanks in advance

1) switch test... #51 shift down.
Should only read when lever is in down position.
2) shift button #50 check diodes...
3) if both are registering then you may have a bad switch drive.
4) scope pin 8 on CN8 switch drive 7... should pulse square wave form... 0 to +5volts.

Thanks for the reply vec-tor. I believe it is a connection problem to the switch #51.
With the connection it had, the #51 was registering on switch test, but it was also registering other switches in the same row. When i disconnect the #51 completely all switches before that in the same row, register as they should. So i doubt it is a drive transistor. I think i need to fix the issue with the #51 switch first of all. Diodes test ok (though i havent disconnected all from the circuit).
What i really need is a photo of how the cables are properly connected to the #51 switch, since i cannot find that info in the manual.
Thanks

Turns out one of the wires that is going through the shift to the cherry switch of the shift button was cut.
The funny thing is that i had checked the continuity on the cable and it was ok, i guess it was about to break or was making some contact at some points.
The good thing is that while checking everythimg around, i had the chance to take out the mpu and relocate the batteries.

In my diagnostic menu, it says i have 4 playfield flashers on 8r. i can only see 3, (2 right above the landspeeder on the left of the playfield and 1 in the top left corner. does anyone know where the 4th is?

Did you look above the top left pop bumper ?

not sure where you are talking about, i included a pic of the 3 that light up for me

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Did you look under the playfield. ????
Check the top left pop bumper... under the playfield...
The #89 socket is to the far left side... Below the top left corner #89 socket...
The lamp socket is directly below the wire ramp assembly...
The lamp socket is mounted above the top lefty pop bumper...
Take a picture of under the playfield.

out hole ball return problem
hi can anyone please take a photo of the wiring to the outhole solenoid i put in a new one and i wired it the same as it came out worked for a day then stopped i checked everything, when i compared the old with new the diode was different way around.
spoke to a techi he said as it was a stern coil swap the wires around as green should be on the banded end as i think was the original.
did that and poof tip and fuse blew , i suppose maybe the diode was gone as well anyway i need help
first photo is the new one that stopped working and 2 is the old one

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ok turns out the manual is wrong. i found all 4 flashers on the playfield the 4th one is adjacent to the top explosion on the playfield. the rom shows 4 playfield

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heres outhole photos. looks like banded end is toward brown wire

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Thx for that so I had it wired right but when I check other solenoids they are wired opposite

Hello all, just a short question. What is your favorite setting for rewards? (Credit, special, extra ball..)

I almost never gain extra ball myself.

Extra ball. Keep the game going when I’m doing well.

Dressed up my pop bumpers for Halloween. Much cleaner look now.

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could anyone tell me if this stern coil would be compatible with the coil for the coil that ejects the ball out of the trough and into the shooter lane on my starwars?

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Edit:

See this post: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/guidelines-for-coil-substitution#post-3741223 by cfh

Let me give another application of this... Early Dataeast games *love* to smoke the left lane kick back coil. The original is an 23-800 coil, and the pulse driving that coil is too long. The TIP driving transistor loves to bake, and the coil locks on, and burns. I go tired of replacing the coil/transistor on our Time Machine for example. So after a TIP replacement (which burned and shorted), i changed the coil to a 26-1200 (14 ohms). That's significantly less current draw, and i haven't had to deal with a burned coil since. Is the kick back less powerful? Yes it is. But it's still powerful enough to do it's job.

So the 27-1500 might be a little weak but could be worth a shot. I personally wouldn't do it, although they claim going up won't harm things at the risk of the feature not working (vs going down and burning the board).

separate question....is the test switch supposed to only have 2 buttons? I cant figure out how to toggle to the switch test option

I was inspired by Chad's custom translite in post #401, so I did some photoshopping. I'm having my print guy print it on backlit material, so I will let y'all know how it turns out and post some pictures. He said he thinks the print will be around $35, but I will also update y'all on the price too. The original image is much larger so PM me if you want the photoshop file.
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Put the toggle switch to “reverse” and hit select. It something like that. Instead of going to negative numbers it goes into the tests.

Hi guys

My Death Star is maybe a little noisy when turning, it could be normal but I had a SW here before and don't remember noticing it. Is it easy to open up the motor and lubricate it ? Any tips appreciated.

Apologies if this has been covered before - I haven't trawled through all the posts.

You don't have to look far, its covered about 30 posts ago, on the same page as you posted

Ok, got the solenoid and phantom switch issues resolved. I'm now noticing that the dmd is acting funny..certain animation sequences will just go blank half way thru (like the death star being destroyed) and I'll just be stuck with a blank screen for a few seconds. Other times it will just display the current rom version at random times (not when in holding both flippers for status check) would I be correct in assuming this is a board issue? Anyone encounter something like this before?

I had strange DMD behaviour on a Star Wars before .... garbage on display, stuff cutting out, freezing, blanking etc. Turned out to be a flaky ribbon cable. A new cable sorted it out.

In the first instance try reseating / swapping ribbon cable ends over.