Did it fix any background hum at least?

See my post about my fix. Easy to do and hardly any side or axial play after.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-lectronamo-rebuild/page/7#post-4602455

Finally got the right coils today and put one in to replace the EM coil, and no machine gunning and no buzz, which I was getting with the EM coil. In the meantime, I’ve both flipper bushings are cracked where the stem meets the flange, and the right spinner arm broke where it meets the spinner plate. I am going to post on those two issues below

Spinner issue: where are the NOS spinners for this game? Marco is out is out of stock. Are these good comps: https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-7861 ? Anyone have any for sale? And what’s up with eBay’s spinner prices? Over $20 for a spinner?

I read the post on Pinside (“Is there a way to add wire on spinner?”)
about how to repair the spinner and I will try to do the method of drilling a hole into the spinner and glueing/epoxying in a homemade arm made of piano wire. But in the meantime, I’d like to just get a couple spinners to do the repair ASAP.

Flipper bushing issue: when I took out the bushing to glue the stem back on the flange with gorilla glue, I found that the screws holding the bushing onto the bracket are somewhat stripped, and I am guessing prone to stripping (both the screws themselves and the threads on the bracket)(see pic). Are there any workarounds or ways to get the bushing screwed into the brackets when there is some stripping? I am thinking I might have to replace the bracket. And with the way things are going, I’m thinking that once I pull the bracket off, I’m going to have a stripped hole on the underside of the playfield where the bracket screws hold the bracket. The screws that go into the pawl are also quite stripped, but using vice grips I was able to get them tight on the flipper post.

467C4D74-081B-4CF6-9154-3BCB2E188C16 (resized).jpeg

I am the one who did the spinner repair by drilling the hole and shoving in a piece of piano wire.

You need some jeweler's size drill bits.

Your link from Marco says they are in stock. $8.95 today is not a bad price.

NOS spinners for a Stern? Best laugh I have had today. Steve at PBR used to have some until someone came in and "cleaned me out".

Steve at PBR has some but you will not like the price.

Screen Shot 2020-09-08 at 11.06.26 PM (resized).png

The bushings are installed with either #6 or #8 machine screws. Go to the hardware store and buy some longer screws and some nylon locking nuts. End of problem.

They are not prone to stripping. They are remains from some ham hander that over-torques them.

And take those black Allen Head machine screws that tighten the flipper pawl and use them for sling shot ammo. These have to get torqued a lot to keep the flipper from slipping. And then the screw threads get compressed from the heavy torquing and are a PIA to tighten. Go buy some new ones that the hardware store; The threads in the pawl have not been effected. The news screws will fall right in; You can toss your vise grips and use the proper Allen wrench again.

You need to replace the bushing. Gorilla glue is not a fix for this.

Got it, the left bushing is already broken again...

I have a CPR Full plastic set for Flight 2000.
This is the extended version with extra plastic protectors for the crawler.
New/unused, opened only to examine.
This is $194 with shipping.
Id like to get $175 shipped to any pinsider.
Please Pm me if interested.
Thanks
Eric

Thanks. Worked like a charm. First pic, I bought the bushings on Amazon (Game Room Guys) and the stem below the playfield was too long, so I had to cut it down. Should have bought from another site. Second pic, nylon nut fits very well (#6). Third pic, the typical bolt doesn’t clear the EOS switch. It works with only two, but I’m guessing there is a shorter one that is supposed to fit there. Fourth pic, because I had to remove the flipper assembly bracket to fasten the nylon nut to the bolt, I ended up with two stripped playfield screws. I’ll ask about this in the next post.

F44C18BD-FAA6-4DEC-BF7B-058BF9069E64 (resized).jpeg

81221E8A-9052-4A24-B7A2-372849F37BD7 (resized).jpeg

075F3BE0-D71C-45EF-9BF5-22D36FE8AB29 (resized).jpeg

A82CCB57-A704-4B2E-8F76-3A669AEA8EB1 (resized).jpeg

Flipper bushing repair leads to stripped playfield screw repair: I was guessing that the advice I would get is to drill two new holes in the bracket and get a fresh part of the playfield to tap into. But when I looked into it, I saw some suggestions about putting a toothpick/chopstick in the hole and also using some glue. But those suggestions had to do with the top of the playfield and not underneath. And Tim Arnold’s “What not to do” included not doing that. Maybe glue a nut into where the hole was and use bolts instead of screws? This has to have happened a ton, so what are people doing with success? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
99113B5E-2E9B-474B-8448-E167391D630F (resized).jpeg

You only need two Allen head screws to hold the pawl in place. Lose the long screw on the right and replace it with the one you have circled.

596d412065043eae1d46f62cbd8f88305e51b711.jpeg (resized).jpg

AA) Remove the flipper assembly from the play field.

1) Go to the hardware store or the hobby shop and get a length of wooden dowel rod 24" long. What size dowel rod you ask? Go to step 2, 3, 4, and 5.

2) The stripped holes start out at about 1/8" diameter. Get a drill bit 1/8" in size. Manually twist this drill into your stripped hole and clean it up.

3) You don't know what you are doing so DO NOT use this drill bit in your drill motor. You will drill right through your play field. If you have to, use pair of vise grips on the drill bit to get some leverage. ( You can use your drill if you do not squeeze the trigger; remove your battery or do not plug it in; And you can manually twist the drill bit for hole clean up. You could use your drill but now we would be talking drill stops and I don't want to go there ).

4) If the hole is still sloppy, then step up to the next size drill bit and repeat. 3/16" is as large as you should need to go.

5) With the hole cleaned up you will know what size on dowel you need to buy.

6) Shove the dowel into the hole as deep as it will go. Using your fingernail, make a crease in the dowel right where it meets the play field. Remove the dowel.

7) If you have a hobby saw, score a line where you made the crease. Cut through the dowel just a little bit.

8 ) Using your favorite wood glue (may I suggest Gorilla white wood glue?) place some glue on a tooth pick and put a little glue in the hole. Put another small amount of glue on the dowel and push it into the hole. If you got your score lines correct, you will be able to snap the dowel off right at the edge of the play field. If you do not get clean break at the play field, you are going to have to figure out someway to get the dowel level with the play field.

9) Let the glue set for 10 minutes or so. Do not worry about drilling the hole out to size.

10 ) Reinstall your flipper base plate. Get one of your screws and with some light pushing you can get your screw started and screw it down into the dowel you just installed. Repeat for the 2nd screw. And you are done.

( So why not drill a new small hole into the dowel you just replaced? Because it is hard to drill the dowel without going off center. The dowel is a soft wood and your screw will be guided by the flipper base plate ).

No one would ever tell you to drill new holes in the bracket. If anything, you can rotate the bracket and adjust the flipper bat to compensate to bite into new wood, if you don't fill the old stripped holes. I don't know why Tim Arnold's advice would say to not fill stripped out holes; you have to do something to replace the stripped out wood. Do it properly like cottonm4 detailed and you'll be fine. You definitely need to glue.

Gluing a nut to the playfield is the first time I've heard that as well as the drilling the new holes in the bracket.

I reviewed the Tim Arnold list you referenced again and first off, it was written in the 90s'. There are many ways to do things in repairing pinballs that are known now vs. then. Think of the list (or any advice, really) as ONE way to do something. Yes, he's been in pinball forever and has seen and forgotten more than anyone else, but that doesn't mean the way he does stuff is the only way to do stuff.

As a for instance, my grandfather long ago said you can fix stripped out screws in wood by wrapping cardboard/oaktag around the screw or jamming it into the hole. This works for a while, and sometimes, a really long while. It's not a correct repair though (this is in something non-pinballl related) - because as soon as you remove that screw in the future, the 'repair' is basically gone. That's why you need to use wood and glue.

Putting a #6 screw in from the bottom of the playfield would be the LAST thing I'd ever do for a post as an example. Machine threaded screws or studs are excellent where there's lots of tension on a post, and you drill through the bottom and add a tnut to it, just like the factory would have.

Specific to Stern games, yours included, I hate those stupid carriage bolts that are used factory. None of my games have them any longer - all new machine studs and T-nuts.

Thanks for the explanation using the dowel @cottonm4. I was not able to get to the hardware store today, but I guess there was some real karma at play with @slochar’s grandfather because I noticed some pretty thin twine I had, and cut a small section and wrapped it around one of the screws and screwed it in, and for the other, I folded a small piece of twine and put the folded end into the hole and then screwed in the screw. Then I saw @slochar’s Grandfather’s advice about the cardboard and figured I had basically done with twine what his grandfather suggested with cardboard. Although I like the little improvised fixes, I definitely want to know about and do the correct repair, so thank you again. Once I get the spinner fixed, I will be back to fully functional. Then I hope to get back to try to fix the no voice problem. Also I really liked @clodpole’s LED’s that shine up the playfield from the apron. On my pin when the room lights are out it is really hard to see the playfield. I like to play in the dark sometimes, with just the pin lights illuminating the playfield.

Before I buy the spinners, I want to try to figure out if I am going to have to buy anything for the no-voice issue. Will the self test mode tell me if the eprom on the speech board is bad? The only thing that looked off to me is in the pic. It is the U3. Is the expensive chip the one in the pic in the upper right? Also does J4 from the lamp driver board connect to J2 on the speech board, because that is what mine looks like (and I don’t see J4 on the speech board). I assumed that they would always match from board to board, I.e. J4 always goes to J4.

Where should I go to start figuring out how to do the diagnostics. All I know how to do with the multimeter is check coil resistance.

1E896B9F-3205-491E-9413-C269ABE7FE96 (resized).jpeg

87691BA0-6D2F-4BFC-B2C8-3750DD02B2E7 (resized).jpeg

The board looks to be installed upside down. The expensive chip is the 40 pin
S14001A speech rom. U8 I think?

U9 looks like an eprom specific to F2K which I never knew they had. Yes j4 lamp driver goes to the speech board. I don't fully understand but I think the speech board gets prompts from certain lamps either when on or turning off. Make sure that jumper harness is installed correctly. I think it's keyed but not sure.

After my previous post I had to look at my game because I couldn't remember how the vsu was connected.

This could be your issue hopefully, lamp driver j4 should be going to vsu J1 not J2. The brown connector goes to J2. Oddly though both headers J1 and 2 are keyed the same which is dumb. Hopefully no damage occurred from these being reversed.

And no the self test only tells you if things are working or not, no diagnosis.

I'm no electronic whiz but I think you need a logic probe and a vom to test eproms and other micro chips.

Maybe @ Slochar will chime in on that.

Check voltage at VSU-100 board test points.
TP is ground (black probe of meter). With red probe of meter, TP2 should be around 5 volts dc. Then red probe on TP3 should be around negative 10 volts dc

Doesn't matter if lamp and jumper are on J1 or J2, they are the same.

Beyond that it gets a little more involved with preferably a logic probe. Not that difficult, just something new to you,

Here's a couple voice repair threads. Quench is the man.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/flight-2000-no-speech
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/need-vsu-100-troubleshooting-help

Thanks emsrph for the voltage test explanation. Here are a couple more pics, with the board right side up. So if J1 (white connector/lamp?) and J2 (red connector/jumper?) are same, okay, but what if they are installed backwards? That would be an issue right? I compared my pic to some others, and see the jumper / red connector box is okay b/c the green wire is on the left. And there is at least one burnt out wire on the red connector. Is that fatal to speech? Luckily, when I was going to fix the J1 connector on the rectifier board I accidentally bought a 0.1 connector kit, instead of the 0.156 kit, so I should already have what I need to rebuild connectors on this board!

And then what about the white connector / lamp? It seems to fit only one way b/c of the arrangement of the missing pin, but I’m suspicious of the missing pin, b/c there does not appear to be a missing wire. Also, what about the U9 EPROM? Is there an issue installing it upside down?

5B9DAFB4-123B-4DAD-9BB6-F805FD1FAD2A (resized).jpeg

74F8359A-9DAB-41DD-9F1A-4158F51A48CB (resized).jpeg

88BDCE07-02F5-4F8E-AA52-4175D16B4475 (resized).jpeg

And thanks Lovef2k for getting me started with at least knowing my ass from my elbow!

Re-pinning the connector is a good first step. May help, may not. These boards seem to fail a bunch.

The key in the plug keeps the connector from being inserted backwards. Your red connector have this key too?

The U9 looks like it is installed fine. Notch in chip aligns with notch silkscreened on the board. It’s just the label that is upside down.

Edit- Looked back and saw your game never talked...check to see if switch 17 on the MPU is set to ‘ON’

Glad to help. No only the board itself was upside down. The IC chips looked ok. Note the white outline on the board showing the notch on the IC. And they matched.

If you think the jumper harness from J4 to J1 is wrong just see if the pins match up. On each board you should see a small number printed near each header. A number 1 denotes that is pin 1 on the header and at the other end will be another number which indicates the last number of pins. As long as pin 1 from J4 matches pin 1 to vsu J1 you should be good. That's why they are keyed to prevent reversing the connection.

Have you powered it up after putting the connectors in the correct locations?

Turns out the .1 connector kit does not have the red housing with seventeen pins, which is what I am redoing. Am I correct that other housings will not be interchangeable?

The red connector also had the key in the same spot.

59285769-55E8-4A45-8D5B-B189F8A5A4CD (resized).jpeg

A2E18B0E-9669-4FA0-9066-EE75664EC7FE (resized).jpeg

I powered it up after changing the connectors but there was no difference. BIG However, the red wire (pin 1 I think) from the J1 on the rectifier board was not pinned. I accidentally bought the .1 kit to fix it, but it is a .156 Area. I went ahead and crimped on the little .1 trifucon and put the pin in the housing and connected it, and turned it on to see if anything changed. I didn’t notice anything. however, later in the day, when it was darker in the room (garage), and the lights were out, I noticed there were a whole bunch of lights on the playfield that I didn’t even know existed, and the red plastics at the L A S T lanes all lit up. It really helped me notice how much the lighting can really change the feel the game. I have a feeling I am going to see much more once I get the proper trifurcon on and clean up the rest of the lighting.

J1-1 is a red wire that powers your GI lights.

J1-8 is a white wire that is the return wire for the GI lights

You have a blue wire with a white stripe that powers your flipper.

And you have a blue wire that powers your Feature lights.

So no GI lights at all, was making the playfield very dark. I would suggest taking the GI wire out for any new pin, and play it for month. Then plug it in, you’ll feel like you just a got brand new pin, after already playing it for month!

I recently picked up a mostly complete Flight 2000 in bad shape. It was stored in a garage with the glass off many yeas and one time they had a leak in the roof. Luckily there was so much crap covering most of the playfield, it was only the bottom corner that got really wet. So I have stripped and cleaned the whole thing, it's currently in a million pieces and i'm at the point of wether to find another playfield or try and repair the one I have.
Anyhow, here are the pics, do I win the dirtiest playfield award??!!!
IMG_20200823_211758 (resized).jpg
IMG_20200915_104233 (resized).jpg
It's been cleaned but the are a few problem areas:
IMG_20200915_104309 (resized).jpg
IMG_20200915_104252 (resized).jpg
IMG_20200915_104258 (resized).jpg

Do scans exist or the playfield and backglass, i'm missing the backglass?

Does anyone have a playfield for sale?
Thanks,
Dom.

emsrph is doing a playfield swap, check with him. You definitely get an award for most dramatic before and after photo.

tyking is correct. I will have a used playfield for sale very shortly. I don't know how to ship internationally though. Plus your cleaned up playfield may be better than mine. Nice job.

I will also have a second complete game for sale/trade.

yes, maybe I should stick with it, after reading 21 pages of this thread, i have realized that the condition is about the same as many others.
IMG_20200915_104320 (resized).jpg
I've nearly totally stripped parts off it, i'm going to scan it and make an overlay if it doesn't work out.
The cabinet is not too bad, though the mdf surround on the backbox is shot.
IMG_20200910_203904 (resized).jpg

I have been remaking the labels, message me if you need a copy;
IMG_20200911_174128 (resized).jpg

and at the very least the cabinet can double as your pandemic remote office workspace, which is great if you like standing desks.

by the way i've been meaning to ask, but haven't because i have a few months before it hits - winter.

i live in new hampshire and it gets below freezing during the winter for extended periods of time. i don't think i'm going to be able to move the pin out of the garage, which right now is not insulated or heated. i'm assuming that is going to be bad for the pin. i'm actually hoping that i will hear that it could be really really bad, because that could give me the extra nudge i need to put in insulation and heat, which i've really been wanting to do anyway.

IMG_0003 (resized).JPG

Not a good idea to have the pin in a freezing place. If you can't move the game inside, at least bring the backglass inside. Cover game with blankets?

Agree on the back glass.

I wonder is placing a small light bulb inside the cabinet would provide enough heat to keep the cab/playfield from freezing?

I think the EM will be okay, since the RF that was in the garage when I bought the house had survived (but the backglass definitely suffered). so it's the SS i'm more worried about...

nice! thinking "inside" the box...

I just purchased a Flight 2000 and love it. Having trouble with the ball launcher up in 1st stage chute. Ball gets dropped into chute from collection area at left and it tends to just sit there for a minute and then "wakes up" to launch it over to the 2nd stage chute. This is not a problem when I first boot up the machine. Best I can figure is the CPU is telling it to activate at boot up, but during play the microswitch hair trigger is not working reliably. My assumption is that the contacts on the microswitch need cleaned. Am I right? If so, this seems like a bear to get to. I am still a little nervous about lifting the play field for maintenance. Any advice about safest way to lift and stabilize the play field for maintenance?? PS - How do you clear the High Score to Date?

Yes could need cleaning or gap adjusted (with power off). Maybe try bending wire actuator up just a tad so ball presses down switch more. Does the switch register if you press it by hand?

If lifting playfield remove the three balls first. Lift front and pull playfield toward you. Playfield will ride on metal runners and then drop down onto wood. Pull it to the end of the travel and then rest top of playfield against the backbox. Don’t use prop rod ever.

Returning playfield down you need to lift back edge up onto the metal runners while holding the front up also. Not fun. Maybe someone has a better method than that.

If you mean the walker itself, that switch needs to have a capacitor on it, and it does NOT stay pressed as the ball sits on the first 'finger' of the walker.
If you mean the maze kickbigs, likely your switch isn't working, it's not a microswitch it's a leaf switch. If this one has a capacitor on it it should be removed (caps are for quick activated switches, not for switches where the ball sits on it.) It likely needs an adjustment or cleaning. The software if it doesn't see all 3 balls in the trough at power up it activates the walker on a fixed cycle, it actually does not poll the switches to do this.

Press the advance button on the coin door until you see 04 in the match display with the current high score to date and press either clear on the door, or S33 on the mpu to reset to 00. Press the credit button to increase it.

EMSRPH - thanks for quick response
Yes could need cleaning or gap adjusted (with power off). Maybe try bending wire actuator up just a tad so ball presses down switch more. Does the switch register if you press it by hand?
It's either a slow response (30 sec - 2 minutes) or not at all. I'll give bending wire actuator up a bit more to see if that works.

If lifting playfield remove the three balls first. Lift front and pull playfield toward you. Playfield will ride on metal runners and then drop down onto wood. Pull it to the end of the travel and then rest top of playfield against the backbox. Don’t use prop rod ever.
I know. That single prop rod is lame! I'm a little leary of letting playfield drop down onto wood. Afraid of damaging, loosening something from impact. Game is 40 years old right?

Returning playfield down you need to lift back edge up onto the metal runners while holding the front up also. Not fun. Maybe someone has a better method than that.

SLOCHAR- thanks for quick response as well. Not savvy on the PB jargon yet. I think it's the first kickbigs(?) And yes I think its the leaf switch as well. I have no idea if there is a capacitor on it yet, but it was working semi OK for a week. It would sometimes kick right away, sometimes delay for 30 sec - 2 min. Sometimes not at all. So I need to clean the contact pads right? Use business card (non inked area) or some other rough paper right? Recommendation?

Where is the "advance" button on the coin door? Inside or outside? My unit has 2 white buttons on the left end on the inside, but I've tried them. I assume they are the "clear" buttons?

Self test is advance

CC14AB37-FF5A-40EC-81C8-95F64CD8B616 (resized).png

OK thanks all!

Rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab or ball. Keep rubbing contacts until no dirt shows on the cotton. Never use anything abrasive not even paper towels.