Temperature is only half of the equation on a soldering iron: wattage is the other. It sounds like you have a low power iron. That "blob" is very similar to how electric guitars and amplifiers have a common ground on the back of the volume potentiometer. If you don't have a local pinball repair guy, call around to music stores and ask if they do amplifier repair. Those guys will have the iron and knowhow to solder it up. Just take the old assembly and your new parts.

Below is a photo of an amp I built for a friend. I had it in for maintenance not to long ago. If you just can't find anyone, send it to me, and I'll fix you up.

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Those capacitors are there to absorb transients created by the inductive motor windings. Those transients can cause glitch problems outside of the motor drive system, and give you fits. There is one across the motor, two tied to ground on each motor pin. Since the motor can rotate CCW or CW, the source is floating, so you need those two tied to ground as well as the one bridging the motor input.

Definitely necessary for normal operation.

Thank you but I have the iron that was recommended from a while ago from someone who repairs pins and arcade machines: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ANZRT4M

Are you saying I don't have the right iron nor other tools needed? For $70 + tax and shipping for the motor itself, IMO all I should have to do is solder the connectors back on, screw it back into its assembly and be able to play my machine again. Especially to my point that I bought the exact part number from Stern's manual which makes no mention of those capacitors.

I'm not trying to hire someone to do this or buy more tools for replacement. This should have come as expected, in full based on the official manual's part number and price.

Since none of the above is the case, can you or someone please send a video on how to do this? I've already searched a ton and this stock way of attaching capacitors looks like a hack job / workaround unique to this exact motor. Where does "ground" need to be? Can I solder it to the lower part of the motor instead which is actually a different metal type that may allow solder to stick?

That iron will work. So you can either solder it yourself or find someone to do it for you if you dont feel comfortable. But you'll likely need to add some flux or some new solder to the "blob" to get it to flow. The problem is that the outer case absorbs heat too, not just the area you want to solder to so it might take longer to heat it up enough to make it work.

That is a good iron: I have the same one. You will need to use a broad tip to transfer enough heat, and it will be helpful, if not absolutely necessary, to use flux on the spot you are soldering. Make a solder spot on the case first, and tin the ends of the capacitors. Then you only have to re-melt surface solder to have a secure connection, as it is already bonded to the case.

Search guitar pot soldering, that will help you figure out how to get this to work. If you need more help, send me a PM and we can talk on the phone.

Good to know but putting the iron against that housing is sketchy. The top of the housing (which broke on the stock one) is made of plastic. Therefore I'm incredibly apprehensive to lay a 850 degree iron against that housing metal as is when it comes to the new motor.

Hi Guys,

Does anyone have a Stern topper for sale? Alternatively if you have a Stern topper on your game and you're thinking of selling your machine, would you sell the topper separately to me

Shipping to Australia is very easy.

Please PM me if you have something to offer.

Thank you.

Dr Grant & Dr Sattier taking a cruise whipping around the island.

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Love it! Where did you get the figures?

A Nedry would be cool if there was a compatible figure.

Gotta a couple NIB Sterns getting some good use. I'm looking to order spare parts to have on hand......beyond coil stops, any recommendations for must have Stern spare parts?

LOL Nerdy would be great. Being that I'm a model railroading guy (lol) I said hmmmm, yep the O scale figures are a great fit for the 1/43 vehicles. The only thing you have to do and I didn't hear them complain is amputate their legs. I also repainted the colors on Grant to try to match him from the movie scenes, rider on a fast horse won't notice all the missed details. In addition to grant we painted Sattire hair blonde.

Wait.... I'm not the only one playing this game on horseback?!

LOL, nope

They are still available to buy from distributors for the upcoming run.

At times, too little heat for too long can be an issue because you end up heating up EVERYTHING waiting for the solder to flow. Better to use something with a big tip and maybe more wattage. (i.e. dump a lot of heat into a small spot quickly, then stop). Got a bigger tip?

I'd probably solder a little lower on the side, just to get some distance from the plastic. And use some good 60/40 rosin solder. Lead free solder has a higher melting point.

Just ordered a set that contains a potential good figure I can paint into a yellow raincoat wearing Nedry.

If it comes out well, I think there will be 2 or 3 additional "Nedry" figures included that I would be willing to paint and sell to others for a nominal fee.

Have you tried contacting Classic Game Rooms about availability?

I am in!

You better wait to see if I paint better that a first grader.

Either way, I'll reserve your spot. Probably will be around $10 including US shipping.

finger painting works too

Actually, in seventh grade I won first place in my Junior High art show where I did a watercolor of a mountain behind a calm reflective lake. It was a big production one evening where faculty, parents, and students all attended. Not sure who the judges were, but the funny thing is that I though it was the worst piece I had in the show (not to mention I liked several other people's works better). To show how proud they were of my work my parents hung the painting above the toilet in the family bathroom for a few years, so I had to look at it every time I did my business.

I already have an order in with nitro. I was just telling Drac that he can order one new instead of buying one from someone.

Sorry, I meant to quote his post not yours. Regardless, Drac should start contacting distributors as I think there are or soon will be more toppers available.

It's not the TEMP that makes this work, it's the amount of heat available to be transferred from the tip itself. When soldering to a piece of metal, the faster you can get the tiny spot you wish to connect, the better for everything. Using a big beefy tip will make short work of this. In addition, I would use a piece of sandpaper to rough up the surface to remove any oxidation, and I would suggest a tiny dab of water-based flux to make the solder flow. It's really not a hard thing to do, with the right tip (again, which stores enough heat to be transferred quickly). Your Hakko iron may need a bigger tip. Take a look at the "GeToo T18 Series Soldering Tip" set, about $10 on Amazon.

He seems to be concerned about this area circled. I believe he is wonder what type of product is used here …. The gold colored larger very flat spread

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It's probably the remnants of the commercial flux they used. Commercial fluxes become like plastic and usually have a yellow tint once they are heated. That flux also travels away from the heat as the connection is being made. I suspect that is what's left on the motor surface and around the blob. In any case, he just needs to clean the surface of the new motor, apply some flux, and then have a big enough iron tip to quickly solder two capacitor leads to the surface. It's actually quite easy to do with the right tool.

You need a hot soldering iron that can deliver enough heat to fuse to that metal surface.

And one that can maintain the heat during soldering.

One BRUTE FORCE alternative is to head to the hardware story and get a stainless steel 2-1/2 (approx) inch hose clamp, and then put it around the motor body, insert the capacitor leads, and then tighten it down. THIS IS A KLUDGE, but it would work. (But it might show up in a few years in the "Worse Hack" thread on Pinside!)

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That's a hell of a Life Pro Tip right there! One question, do I need to solder the caps to the hose clamp?

Ah yes!

That's great - thanks for the info. I will contact my distributor straight away!

The hose clamp will create a mechanical connection between the wires and the motor body. No soldering required!

So I have managed to get the new capacitors soldered on as well as the connector. I had to slightly sand away the protective coating on the housing to get solder to stick, using flux paste and the 60/40 rosin solder recommended. It's super ghetto looking but I don't think it's going anywhere and I'm done putting heat on this thing. Thanks everyone for the help!

I've just remounted everything and it's working again. However, a new concern. Is this bracket supposed to be bent in like in this photo? Also, should I be able to easily rotate the Crank with my hand? I cannot, it is very firm and I'm not trying to break the new motor by forcing it. The Crank itself does not appear to be getting stuck per se. I'm simply worried that given the bracket being bent that there is an overall alignment issue and the motor is going to blow out again. If someone could compare their bracket to mine as well as let me know if they can freely move the Crank I would really appreciate it.
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Nice job Tim!!! I wouldn't change a thing! Remember the motor is a gear-reduction type, so you probably wouldn't be able to turn the output manually (backwards). As for the bend in the bracket..... not sure. It does NOT look right to me but can't imagine how that bend would happen.

Nice job...!! I have seen much worse solder jobs at Intel.... where I used to work...some of which failed...and cost millions of dollars... I kid you not..!!

Funny Intel comment. Years ago I was in the PC building business and when working on a client's Pentium 90 rig I accidently broke off two of the CPU leads. Back then they were large enough and far enough apart that I was able to manually solder them in place, reset the CPU in the socket, and it fired up and performed like a charm. The PC lasted him another couple of years until he came back for an upgrade.

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Wow... that old... about when I started... 91... just retired... great company to work for... but they get their moneys worth... still have nightmares... LOL

Mission accomplished!

Yeah, that would have been around '91-'92 when I started graduate school and was working as a lead tech at a local PC business. I remember being there when the Pentium chips hit the market (60/66) and then the quick barrage of chips after that. It was a good time to be in the business since everyone was always wanting the latest chip where you could actually measurably notice the speed improvements. I had customers that were upgrading motherboards/CPUs/memory nearly every 6 months - I was on their speed dial!

I would like a nedry as well if you have one left

I put a small velociraptor behind the wheel

Hmmm.... decisions, decisions, side art or mirror blades?

Is anyone else getting a broken image link when trying to access topic image gallery? I can see some in the post itself even when I click them I get the broken image link message.

Same here

I believe Robin and team are still working on getting some of the Pinside functionality onto the new servers since the outage. The gallery has only recently reappeared but I suspect that they are still ironing out some of the issues

Edit: in posting that my avatar didn't display, so maybe we have a gremlin in the system ...

Anyone have some suggestions on flipper rubber and mods for JP Premium?

LOTS of posts here. Just picked up a NIB.

My Titan rings kit under "Chris Z": https://www.titanpinball.com/kits/index.php/browse/bygame/5738#collapse1475

You can see my available mods here: http://thezumwaltfamily.com/pinball

If you can get solder to stick to a stainless steel hose clamp, you'll be the first ever.