Quoted from cottonm4:

The blue wires are for the feature lights and are located at pin 3 and pin 7. Pin 5 and pin 8 are white wires for GI lights. Although, I think on most of the Sterns the white wire at pin 5 is not wired at the factory.
Pin 6 is a blue/white wire that sends power to the flippers.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Did you blow a fuse? If not, then you might be OK. I don't think you will hurt anything, or anything else, if you fired it up and saw what is working and what is not.
You could have blown your lights. I blew all of my feature lights one time by trying to swap a bulb while the pin was powered on. I don't know what I shorted but I did see a small spark. And then the lights were gone.

Quoted from slochar:

Check for continuity between the right connector pin 5 and the top of capacitor C14 - if there's continuity, no need to add the jumper.

Quoted from slochar:No damage from lamp directly that connector is a pass through.
Flight looks for three balls in trough at boot and cycles the walker and maze kickers seven times if it didn't find them. With the playfield fuse out this doesn't happen. If you boot up with all the dips off it will go into self test burn in before firing the walker.

Quoted from cottonm4:

But you have to remove a part for the coin door to do that easily.

You need to remove this guard I have my index finger on.

Quoted from slochar:

There are free play roms on ipdb.

Quoted from Robotworkshop:

I used a few Comet flame/fire LEDs behind the rocket flames for the back glass. Nice effect. Did the same for Meteor.

Quoted from cottonm4:

For me, if the pin has a lot of blue on the play field, I like to use cool white for the GI lights. F2K would fit my thoughts of having a lot of blue in the play field. For something green, like my Big Game, I like to use warm white for GI. I favor cool white in the back box. I use 2smd LEDs.
For feature lights, I color match or go with cool white. Color match is preferred. For any orange inserts, someone suggested using pink as pink lights up well under orange inserts. I tried the pink and like it so I stay with it.
If a feature light is way up in the back and hard to see, I might use 4smd bulbs to really light it up. But up closer, I don't wish to blind myself so I keep it at 2smd bulbs.

Quoted from cottonm4:

I got a lot of tips from this YT video.

That Comet Matrix lighting is super cool. Especially when you use some of those post lights upside down and under the plastics. You can light up a lot of dark corners with this Matrix lighting .

Quoted from clodpole:

Here are a couple pics of our F2K, which is all LEDs plus has the lower half of the playfield lit with spotlights and bands of colored LEDs. It looks really pretty to us, and doesn't really emphasize any one color over too large an area. Anyway, good luck!

Quoted from tyking:

I think the thin wire is not fully connected, I can unwind one loop and reattached to lug and cut off excess, right? I notice a couple screws holding the bracket has fallen off, so I’m sure that the whole assembly was rattling around a lot.

Quoted from tyking:

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.

Quoted from tyking:

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?

Quoted from dombutler:

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

Quoted from tyking:

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.

Quoted from KurtisEBear:

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?

Quoted from cottonm4:

You only need to lift the upper ball guides just enough to be clear of any ball coming down the inlane. The lower guide will take the abuse. I suggest you get some 1/4" spacers to use between the two guides. You could probably use 1/8" spacers and be OK. And you could used some plain old washers in a pinch.
You can make your own.. Get this .060 thick 12' x 12' sheet of polycarbonate and make your own . I think a 12 " x 12" sheet would be big enough to make two but double check.
ebay.com link » Polycarbonate Clear 1 16 060 X 12 X 12 Palsun Flat Sheet

Quoted from vec-tor:

Back in the day, I did two F2K and for the return lanes I sandwiched two pieces together.
First was a cut clear and then topped with the artwork piece. So it was more or less
a thick plastic type return lane.

Quoted from tyking:

I wish I had that tester right now, I am not sure what I’m doing trying to repin and install a new molex connector. I think I finally figured out which way to hold the crimper though. Is the attached the schematic for the J4 on the voice board? Does the pic show the right configuration of wires? Trying to figure out how to double check from the schematic, since I couldn’t keep track of them as some of them popped out together in the process.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Quoted from Quench:

Cool.
If a new connector housing is too long I normally cut the excess off with a blade to make it the right length.

Quoted from vec-tor:

You are missing the thick style washers that fit under the plastic
behind the D/T.

Quoted from clodpole:

See the photos above of tyking's game - those pieces sit on top of the plastics behind the 5-4-3-2-1 drop targets. They help keep your plastics from getting busted up with the hard ball hits those targets take.

Quoted from tyking:

I noticed the blocking key protrudes out of the housing, preventing the housing from sitting flush with the strip, when you push it on all the way. so I took it off.

Quoted from tyking:

Okay thanks, I had spent so much time with those tiny .100 trifucons, I was feeling like every little millimeter was extremely important. I’ll recheck the J1.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Two options:
1) Find a 3-target assembly. Take the lift bar from that and head to the local welder and have the bar “stretched”.
2) Have a weld/sheet metal shop make you one. Not cheap, I imagine, but if you have no other luck....

Quoted from Navystan:

OK, I'm in the club, thanks to another F2K guy, kind enough to sell to me.
As he said, it's a "survivor" and looks close to maybe being HUO. So, I have a few questions and requests:
1. Left flipper was sticking up. I filed down a bit the flipper leafs. That seemed to help, but now sticking just a little. File down some more or maybe buy a new flipper leaf?
2. I have one display out and one "wonky." Anyone have a couple displays for sale? I had a spare 6 digit Pinscore display and put in game/match slot. Works OK, but part of right digit is hidden. Are there any LED sets that work better?
Thanks.

Quoted from tyking:

Trying to figure out if some ball trough issues I’ve been having are known issues.
First, kind of coinciding with a reset after multi-ball, two balls will be shot out of the trough. It is a quick sequential - shot - shot - and the two balls end up in the plunger lane. When this happens, if you shoot both balls, the first one that drains does not stop play or reset or do anything, but the second ball that drains is recognized as a drain.
Second, the ball will sometimes sit on the 1st wire from the plunger and not fall into the —-[not sure what it is called] place where it sits before it gets ejected into the plunger lane. If you don’t notice this, you can hit a ball into the walker and end up losing a turn, because you will notice the ball still sitting on the wire, and then jostle the pin so it advances, which the pin recognizes as a drain.
Are these known issues for F2K? Thanks[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Quoted from tyking:

Wow, nothing like a brand new playfield to make a pin play like new! Do the new playfields come with some sort of clear coating or do you have to that yourself once you get the playfield?

Quoted from FlipperFanatic:

Hello everyone...
Long time listener...first time caller.
I recently picked up..you guessed it...a F2K.
When turned on it makes 1 beep then the 2nd beep never stops.
Your thoughts with my gratitude

Quoted from Robotworkshop:

That one actually doesn't look too bad compared to other boards I've seen. a set of new heavy duty bridges on the top of the board w/heatsinks and some other cleanup would make that board work ok.

Quoted from tyking:

Okay, thank’s for inviting this question: Are fast acting fuses the same as regular fuses (as opposed to slow blo)?
Also, MAJOR PROBLEM, after some quirky issues with ball not registering as drained when it drained, now, on power on, the power comes on, bulbs light, but no reset is happening, i.e. balls are not released from walker, and self-test button won’t activate. Is there a fuse I should check first? Thanks all!

Quoted from DanMarino:

I have noticed that my green "Second Stage Go" light is illuminated any time the game is on. Does anyone have some tips for me to try and fix that? I'm guessing the light is powered by a switch in the ball locker mechanism? Or do I need to dig around and look at the light circuit board?
Thanks for the help and my whole family is enjoying the machine.

Quoted from DanMarino:

For the LED’s, is there a consensus opinion about cool white, warm white, frosted, or blue/purple LEDs?

Quoted from DanMarino:

Thanks emsrph. This is helpful.
I am trying to figure out what is causing the Second Stage Go light to be on constantly on the play field down by the 5 drop targets.
This is my first pinball machine and I am new to reading the wire diagrams. From what I can tell, the Second Stage Go is J2, Pin 5. If I follow that to the light board, it is Q52 and R52 that are controlling the light, is this correct?
If I am understanding PinWiki, then the Q52 is bad, is this correct?
Is there any sort of diagnostic test I can do on the Q52 2NSO60 to make sure this is the problem?
Next, how difficult is this for me to replace? I'm guessing the light board needs to be removed from the machine, then a soldering iron used to remove the Q52 2NS060 and install a new one? This sounds kinda fun and a little scary. haha. Does Great Plains Electronics sell them?
Thanks a bunch.
Tom[quoted image][quoted image]

Quoted from DanMarino:

Thanks for the great emails. The 2nd Stage Go light up in the ball launcher seems to be working properly and blinks during attract mode and is not a steady green like the one I showed in the photo.
I just got a brand new soldering iron station. It has adjustable temperature in Celsius. It has a nice beveled tip, not a little pointy tip. A few weeks back I soldered the wires onto a new power/rectifier board in the cabinet and that was fun and seemed to go well enough.

Quoted from DanMarino:

On my slingshot/kickers the kicker arm mechanism seems very wobbly. Lots of play in the kicker arm connection points. How much slop is supposed to be in those? I'm thinking I need to get replacements or else install some washers in the joints to take up the slack.

Quoted from lowbeau67:

My game.has.Worked good for almost 3/years.
Had a problem come up tonight.
Ball one drained with two balls in walker.
Machine still thought ball in play.
I turned off and on. Boots up but credit match
display comes on late and.then I nto attract mode.
Hit start button. No ball eject . Drops arent.resetting.
Score keeps increasing i think because of drops staying down.
Went into test mode. Only thing I'm getting on solenoid
Tests is the sounds. Flippers work.
Can anyone point me in correct direction.
Thx. I've gotten better with using mulimeter and.knowing
My way better around the backbox. Thx for any help.

Quoted from Reaper802:

Over fusing is just asking for a disaster. Get the correct fuse!

Quoted from DanMarino:

Yes, it counts the bonus points and acts like the game is over.
I’ll replicate it again today and report back.
When one ball is left in the trough, that switch should be closed, right?
Then when the trough is empty, that switch is open, correct?

Quoted from DanMarino:

Thanks emsrph.
I just did the switch test and it is showing switch #33 to be a problem. Switch #33 is the Out Hole (Right).
Here is what the trough switches look like.
The one on the right appears to be open to me, if I am understanding how the switch looks with no balls in the trough.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]

Quoted from play_pinball:

I had a similar (but not exact) issue with the switch matrix. Turned out to be a bad diode on one of the 3-bank drop switches. I ended up just starting to replace all those little original blue diodes with new 1n4007 diodes (I’m not smart enough to know the blue one’s value or why they’re used on this game, I thought they were added by an op later but they’re the same ones in your photos).

Quoted from DanMarino:

Sounds like I need to order some diodes and solder. Haha.
I assume Great Plains Electronics is the place to get these?
Is the 1n4007 diode that play_pinball used the thing for me to buy?
Sorry about all the questions. I'm new to all of this.
I just watched a video of a guy testing diodes with a multi-meter. His diodes were not connected to anything. Do I need to unsolder the diodes before testing them, or can they be tested still on the switch?

Quoted from DanMarino:

Thanks emsrph,
I’m new to pinballs and trouble shooting. Can you help me understand why you are suggesting to test diodes on a diagonal on the switch matrix from switch #33?
I was thinking I would test 25, 17, 9, and 1?
Thanks again for all the help. I’ll be able to work on the machine again when I get back home on Monday evening.

Quoted from DanMarino:

Thank you again!
I need to check the diodes on those switches under the playfield, correct?

Quoted from emsrph:

Yep, the diodes are on the switches under the playfield. Power OFF. Meter on diode setting. Test forward and backward (reversing black and red leads). One direction you should get a reading of 0.4-0.8 volts and other direction “OL”.
https://www.fluke.com/en-us/learn/blog/digital-multimeters/how-to-test-diodes
[quoted image]

Quoted from DanMarino:

Looks like no capacitor on my right out hole switch. Just a diode.

Quoted from DanMarino:

1. I removed the J2 and J3 connectors from the MPU board and reconnected them.
2. I moved all of the drop targets up.
3. I removed the balls.
4. I did the switch test and got a 0.
5. I rolled a ball over all of the switches to make sure they registered and all was fine.
6. I started a game.
7. I put 1 ball in the locker. Another ball ejected.
8. I put a second ball in the locker. Another ball ejected.
9. I knocked down targets and switches and all seemed fine. So I turned the game off and restarted.
10. The game worked perfectly and I got my high score. Haha!
I guess reseating the J2 and J3 connectors fixed the problem.
Lesson learned. At least now I have a bunch of diodes to start replacing the old ones with.
Thank you to everyone who assisted, especially emsrph. I don't really understand why it is working now, but we will keep playing it and see if it malfunctions again.
[quoted image]

Quoted from DanMarino:

I'm back. The problem is back. The switch test using the coin door says that switch #33 is closed. That's the right out hole again.
I removed the J2 connector from the MPU board and got a flashing 0.
My understanding is that this tells me that the problem is under the playfield, is this correct?

Quoted from DanMarino:

Main issue is the shutting down and restarting.

Quoted from DanMarino:

Still have a 2nd Stage Go light that is on all the time near the 5 bank drop targets.

Quoted from DanMarino:

I did this test. With the machine on it was reading 4.1 to 4.2 volts. Then while I was testing it reset and did the 5 beeps again on the MPU. Now it is 4.45 volts.

Quoted from DanMarino:

Good Morning!
Here are my measurements from the solenoid driver board.
TP1 = 4.9 volts.
TP3 = 4.9 volts.
TP5 = 12.76 to 12.89 volts and seems to fluctuate more than the other two.
I retested TP4 to TP5 on the MPU board and it was 4.29 to 4.41 volts.
So does that mean voltage is dropping between the solenoid driver board and the MPU board someplace?

Quoted from DanMarino:

Awesome emsrph,
I removed the SDB J3 and MPU J4 connectors. The pins looked fine, so I shined them up a little with steel wool.
The connectors seemed fine too. Nothing was burnt looking. The wires and connectors seemed snug in the plastic connectors.
I plugged them back in and re-tested the voltage on the MPU TP4 and TP5. It now reads 4.83 volts. So that's a pretty big improvement.
I have played a few games and the missing explosion sounds are now working!
Thank you very much emsrph!

Quoted from Lovef2k:

Try grounding the coil with a jumper wire. Cab ground to coil lug. If fires most likely bad transistor or connector.

Quoted from DanMarino:

Broken again. That didn't last long. haha.
A ball got stuck on the 3 bank drop target. So I turned the game off to move it. Turned the game back on and get a loud humming noise like something is stuck and the MPU doesn't do the 7 beeps. Ugh.
Amazing how I can go from really enjoying a machine to hating it all within 1 minute.

Quoted from DanMarino:

None of it makes any sense to me at this point.
Anybody want to buy a broken Flight 2000 that works occasionally?

Quoted from DanMarino:

I followed the pinwiki order for plugging in the connections to the boards and it's working fine for the moment.
4.8 Plug It In and Turn It On
Plug in minimal amount of boards
Start w/ input to rec. board
Plug in 20 pin head harness to rec. board next
Plug in upper right of SDB next
Plug in lower left of MPU next
Plug in upper left of LDB next
Plug in all others on LDB next
Plug in upper left of MPU next
Plug in lower right and all others on SDB
Listen for locked on coils
Plug in upper right and lower right of MPU

Quoted from Lovef2k:

I googled this and came up with nothing. Are these for sale to the GP?

Quoted from turboburt1:

Am sorry, it was ment to emsrph from Evanston IL thinkin that your FL2K pic is his. . I must have looked at your pic and read his info. Not sure how I misread it.

Quoted from turboburt1:

Would you know of someone trusted, or near company, where I could bring my playfield to restore?

Quoted from DanMarino:

turboburt1, your playfield looks amazing to me. Mine is in much worse shape than yours. Nice going on the restoration so far. The plastic piece near my left flipper is also broken in the same exact spot. Eventually I need to make a clear plastic piece like you did for yours.

Quoted from turboburt1:

emsrph, so when i print them, they will be same size as original?

Quoted from DanMarino:

Thanks, I’ll switch the blue and green wires tomorrow night.

Quoted from DanMarino:

Thanks. It looks like the diodes are already oriented in the way you show with your added diode graphics.
I thought about the MPU voltage dropping last night, so I got out the multi-meter. I checked the TP4 and TP5 on the MPU and the voltage all was strong. I also checked the test points on the solenoid driver board and they all seemed fine still. There wasn't a voltage drop between the solenoid driver board and the MPU.

Quoted from Lovef2k:

If you soldered that wire after changing q3 then yeah I would. The ground side of socket for shoot again backbox on my game has a black wire to it. When I get home I take a pic.

Quoted from DanMarino:

Awesome guys! Thanks much. I'll try to replicate that setup this weekend.
I'm still not quite sure I understand how the backbox shoot again lamp is controlled. In the photo, it looks like the gray with red dashed wire comes over to the lamp socket from the top wire harness.
Then a black controlled wire comes across from the Tilt lamp below and attaches to the same point on the shoot again lamp?

Quoted from Phat_Jay:

Can someone please take a pic of their left slingshot switches for me, i was poking around and noticed i musta popped a diode or cap. In left side of picture theres 2 orange wires to a switch. If someone could post a pic of theirs so i can make mine right that be great, and thank you![quoted image]

Quoted from Tomass:

Man, I dropped my backglass! Wasn't perfect but at least it was usable. Does anyone make a repro for this?

Quoted from KurtisEBear:

Houston, we have a problem with the Flight 2000.
Game started acting very weird Saturday. Started registering additional points from previously knocked down targets automatically, all solenoids stopped working, then automatically ending game. I think it's possibly something in the solenoid section of the rectifier board. About 6 months ago it started doing this weird stuff after a long session of playing so I shut it down and let it cool down. That solved the problem for a while. I would assume it allowed the thermal protector to reset? This time though an overnight shutdown did not work. However the solenoids inside the walker were working very weakly for about a minute then I lost all solenoids again for good. I'm guessing the thermal protector is shot?? All fuses are OK (dang! easiest fix never the problem) Anyway. Just wondering why a non functioning solenoid section of the board would have these weird scoring symptoms. Also, I'm planning to just replace the entire TA-100 board. Makes sense?

Quoted from KurtisEBear:

The voltage at the transformer rectifier board is 43V. Pretty much dead on. I didn't check across any of the solenoids. The fuses all show continuity. Actually I was checking all the contacts for quality in the Molex connectors and pin headers and found that J1 had a terminal that had backed out. I think it was the wire for the solenoid bus, but I have to admit I'm not absolutely sure cause the wire colors don't match the schematic. I pushed it back in place and booted up the game. The solenoids worked and I played the game for about a minute and then solenoids went dead again. Double checked that wire again and it still won't work. Fuse still checks OK. Could the discontinuity now be up in the solenoid bus? Also, now when I boot it up I still get the 7 dings, but the start button won't initiate a new game. Seems like it's locked up.

Quoted from KurtisEBear:

They look original. Some areas of the post and connector housings are pretty dark brown, so it's obvious they've been overheated over the years. The contacts themselves don't look bad. Probably were replaced some time in life of machine. Anyway, I guess I should just buy a new harness kit to go with the new rectifier board I'm waiting to receive. Is there a solenoid bus up in the top case behind the glass? I was thinking I should check up there for 43V.

Quoted from chas10e:

My F2K is "at the club" ... at first I ran a bead of hotmelt glue on top of the 3bank drop targets to keep the ball from sticking there and it worked for awhile but eventually the glue peeled off. Then I saw some wide tongue depressors that I was able to place on the frame of the reset bank UNDER the drops and that seems to be working well. amazon.com link »

Quoted from DanMarino:

Played my F2K last night and managed to blast off and get the multi-ball during the first game. I had an excellent first ball where I locked two balls and got all the letters except for the two F's. Ball #2 went straight down the middle on the plunge. Ball #3 I somehow got the two F's pretty quickly. At that point I only had to get the #1 drop target before I could blast off!
The new speech board is working well. At some point this winter I need try and work on the original speech board to figure out what the problem was. I spent a lot of time rebuilding connectors, but the speech board was really the issue.

Quoted from Spitfiren8:

Wrapping the harness connectors up in a shrink wrap bundle keeps them from underfoot and makes it easier to rotate the pf.

Quoted from Charles_Kline:

Can someone snap a photo of how their flipper coils were originally wired for me please?