I put colored transparent flippers on my meteor, but experience shows they'll break long before you'd expect them too (to brittle).

However, I've used the one piece bats in every other old machine I've fixed up, etc (except on Gottliebs). They should work just fine, but I haven't put them in a meteor. I don't like the two piece systems since I think they have a tendency to loosen up and be the cause of so much playfield damage over the years and the plastic flipper part seems thinner.

Stern flipper bats aren't the same as ballys so that seems a bit suspicious

I have these in my F2K and they are fine. The original stern bats are a more narrow at the widest part and they are NLA. As long as there's no ball hop between the flipper return guide and the base of the flipper, you should be good. Another option if you have the original bats and are still usable you can clean them up and spray them with Krylon fusion paint. It comes in many colors now. Did the SB-300 work for you?

To add to this....there may be two Molex connectors in the head. Both have the same number of wires in the same configuration. If you cross connect them you will have the symptoms you describe.

Check to make sure the wire colors match.

Thanks for the advice. I've been on the road a lot for work, so I haven't tested the board yet; Hopefully tomorrow.

Is it always the targets at one end? I had that problem with my ME targets, needed to adjust the reset arm

On mine I had to adjust the metal fingers near the top to stick out further/higher to catch the lip on the target. Another issue I saw was due to bowing in the mech, causing the middle to fall easier...so I bent it back into place. Basically if that metal finger doesn't extend far enough it won't hold the target.

Well I had to say goodbye to my Meteor, but I have an extra mech lying around to take a picture... Basically on mine some of the fingers were tilted down or bent weird. Also the bar stopping the forward motion (brass) was bent. It's easiest to do this with it fully removed from the game.... Disconnect the one molex and the screws. Adjust the fingers until when you lift the raise bar the seat firmly on the lip.IMG_20170518_203408 (resized).jpg

The other thing you could see is the frame plate holding the coils is bowed, if so straighten it. This too could cause the metal fingers to not move forward enough to grab the lip. Again you should be able to do most of this adjustment with the mech pulled. Raise the lift arm at the bottom by hand... Move the coil forward or bend the finger as needed. Then pull the finger back as the coil would to confirm the targets drop as they should as well.... You can move them too far!

Yes, F2K has a similar drop target bank for the 1-5 drops. The same bank was used in nineball as well.

Team Meteor.. I need some help.

I'd like to replace the following parts, but I cannot seem to reliably figure out the modern part number,
- All coil sleeves
- coil plunger & linkage for Drop targets, slingshots, kick out, etc.

If anyone has already gone down this path and would like to share, I would greatly appreciate it.

I used a regular new Stern slingshot link in the slings of my Stingray with no problems. If I had to guess I'd say most mechs use the same sleeve as the flippers

I have bags of different sleeve sizes because I got tired of trying to figure out the correct one to order. They all have the same diameter, so you just need to match the length. You can measure them and find the lengths on marco. You can also cut down longer ones, as long as it's a nice clean cut.

For the linkages, I usually take them apart and tumble them for the drops since they don't move to often. If you don't have a tumbler then use some green scotch bright pad and clean with alcohol afterwards. That should take off any light rust and you'll be good for years.

The others, I just match them with modern ones as needed (again I've bought several sizes in the past so usually have a new part lying around).

I think some drop coil sleeves are a larger diameter?

Yes, drop target sleeves are larger diameter. All other coils in the game use the standard size.

Marco used to sell the larger coil sleeve for the drop targets. That is where I always got them. I think they are 5/8" Dia by 2.5" long but not sure. just measure one.

According to an exploded view of the drop target assembly I found, they're 2A-232; This is 1-15/16” long with a 9/16”. PBR has it listed as SLEEVE-N on the page below.

http://www.pbresource.com/coilsleeve.html

The rest I'm guessing are variations of 03-7066(-1,-2,etc).

As shown, by the responses there are a lot of different opinions on how to proceed.

Any updates on the LED boards?

Will let you know this coming weekend. I just arrived back in town Saturday, and have to catch up with missed work and unpacking this week. If the electrical characteristics work, and match what I requested, then I can start offering them, and it will make the spinner board and the other boards ('bonus x', METEOR drop boards) much quicker, as I don't have to worry about production.

Will post, probably this Sunday, a few pics and video of them. This means that next week I will be waiting on a larger-order quote.

Great news, thanks!

I'm not expecting any surprises, since I checked resistor values, voltage and current one final time before sending this board off.

The ONLY thing I'm curious about is that this board will have solder pads, so that if a user wants to, they can directly solder the lamp wires to the board. (Instead of getting a molex connector and crimping them on.) While I don't expect any issues, it's possible that they will be unuseable in one form or another.

Yeah I think it would be best to install connectors in case the board needs to be removed for any reason.

AARGH.

I must have *the worst* luck with ordering PCBs. Maybe I need to try a different manufacturer.

So the last two days I went over the board - everything was A-okay. The only odd thing was the warm-white LEDs - they were different from the cold-white ones:
zqkCfqh (resized).jpg
They had black fronts to them. I kinda liked this, actually! So, after checking all the resistors and traces, the board looked really good..

Until I plugged it in.

All the warm white LEDs were... *RED*.
Argh!

While I'm waiting to hear back from the company that assembled it, I'm going to go ahead and contact a couple Chinese manufacturers, and start process to get quotes on larger amounts of boards.

--Mike

Bummer, but you're heading in the right direction. I applaud your efforts.

I thought I put this reply here, but it ended up in a different thread.

Anyways, they're working to make it right, and I'm not expecting any issues, since again, I had tested everything outside of the game.
I had sent some quotes off to Chinese places, and after this debacle with the current company, I'm thinking of going the Chinese route.

From the initial quotes I got, looks like I can get the main rocket boards down to $50-$55 a piece, not including shipping. It's possible it will be less - but also possible it will be more. However, that looks to be the average right now.

--Mike

Curious, what percentage seems to be labor vs BOM, any idea?

I could have SWORN I replied to this. I must be going crazy!

Anyways, it seems to be a mix, though a lot is labor.

The percentage of the Chinese price of the US price is -
PCB Manufacturing - 8%
Parts (LEDs, etc) - 153%
Labor/Assembly - 24.8%

Interestingly, parts are more expensive, but the PCB cost is decimated, literally. Labor is a quarter of the US price.

While I'm finalizing repair of the mid-assembled board, I went ahead and started messing with it, and noticed something I thought I'd see if folks here wanted to chime in.

I'm NOT a fan of the super-nova LED lights.
You will notice that your Meteor game has three different types of transparent inserts - the completely cloudy, like the 'WOW' and 'SPECIAL', and MOST of the Rocket Bonus (all except 3k). Then, there is semi-transparent - the in/outlanes and 'Spot Target' inserts. Then the mostly-transparent, like the Shoot Again insert and the Rocket Bonus 3K.

The brightness of the LEDs I based on the transparent inserts - looks, IMHO, perfect. However - the same brightness under the opaque inserts (the rest of the rocket bonus) seems on the dim side compared to a Comet LED bulb in another socket.

So - since I haven't put in final order, would folks have an issue if the LEDs were different brightness? To cut down on the transparent (3K) inserts? Or would everyone prefer them all the same, and just notice the transparent ones brighter than the rest?

IMO, getting different inserts to appear similar in brightness is the difference between good taste and a load of ass. IMO, different bulbs for different inserts.

Regardless of what type of lamp is under the insert, if the insert is either opaque, semi opaque or translucent, the light will glow differently. I wouldn't be too concerned. If anyone is bothered by it, they can add a filter under the insert.

Not at all, adapting brightness to the type of insert sounds like a plus.

So, I found I have this bug. Have gotten it a few times. Can someone point me to where I can get updated ROMs that fix this? Anywhere I look doesn't show a changelog.

Thanks.

Changelog? These assembly guys didn't even know what a changelog WAS back then.

You want the 'Alternate' ROM set - that was released by Stern at some point, and it has the issue fixed.

Thanks. I can't find this though. Do you know someone or place that could burn it for me? I could buy the set at Marco, but it doesn't list if it's this version. Any placed I looked didn't have any info that showed this. Any help would be appreciated!

I can, if you ask nicely enough.
It's in the 'ROMs' zip file, labeled 'U1A'. The other ones remain the same, aren't different.

Thank you! I'll see if I can find that one. If I can't I'd appreciate the help burning it. Thanks again!

If you would be able to burn it for me, I'd really appreciate it. Of course I'll cover the cost.

Send me a PM.

I love Meteor. It was my favorite pinball game back in 9th & 10th grade in the early 80's. Finally bought one and found a guy to help me rehab it. Works great now and fits perfectly in my home office. Great break from work!

Meteor 1 (resized).JPG

meteor 2 (resized).jpg

Hey guys, wanted to give an update on the lamp boards!

The company I (was) using corrected their mistake, took a month to send me a new one. And ON the new one, a couple LEDs were dead. (Bad solder job.)

So, I'm not going with them.

However, while I was waiting for them to fix their mistake, I contacted a few Chinese companies, and got some quotes. They were cheaper, of course, and interestingly, manufacturer time is the same as the company I WAS using. (About a month.)

So, the price should be around $55 for the board. And this board will be the most expensive, due to the size. I'm currently waiting on a couple sample boards form them, and when I get them and test them, they'll be available for sale, then a month later when the full order comes in, the rest will be available.

Shortly after THAT, then, the spinner lamp board should be ready, as well as the Bonus X board.

--Mike

Looking forward to it.

Hi Mike! Thanks for all of the hard work you've put into this. These boards are really great and I look forward to buying when they're available.

This is a minor criticism, and I mention it only because it's something important to me and I imagine many others here. It's not really something that you can do for this production run, but may come into play in future projects.

Personally, I'd be willing to spend a few more dollars for a product made in the USA or Canada. Your project is unique, so beating out the competition pricewise is a non-issue.

This community can help connect you to assemblers that are contributing to our local economies and producing a reliable, affordable product. It unfortunate that the first supplier was unreliable, but as someone with experience with overseas assemblers, I can tell you that quality issues are a problem everywhere.

If anyone wants to send me details of US PCB Assemblers, I would be absolutely more than willing to talk to them, get quotes.

For baseline - and I don't mind sharing prices because I am NOT a company, I AM NOT trying to make any money -
The prices I was quoted, per board and NOT including shipping from Chinese assemblers was $42 a board. There WERE some low-baller companies ($18/board!) but they did not want to use the LEDs I specified, and I could not guarantee the brightness or LED quality, so I did not pick them.

The company I was using until the odd messup gave me a quote of $68 per board. Taking into shipping, the large board would be upwards of $90 a piece.

Keep in mind, I'm also not ordering *thousands* of boards - for two reasons, namely: (1) I can't afford to make a payment of $5k at once! And (2) - I highly doubt *thousands* of people will want these. My orders are for 75 boards, which I feel is an amount I can probably move before having them statrt to collect dust. And I could be waaay off on that.

So, anyways, I ramble. If anyone has some assemblers, I'd love to get quotes from NA, and hopefully get them low enough to where they'd fit in the price point. (My guess is that the sweet spot for the largest of the board, the Rocket Bonus, is around the $60. Any more than that, and people will just clean their lamp brackets and put in comet LEDs. Or at worse, buy new lamp brackets/sockets.)

Related, I am also VERY, VERY anxious and want CPR to pick up the Meteor playfield. I had some thoughts about Meteor ROM, a small PIC, RGB LEDs in the rocket bonus area, if I could get a field with all white inserts. (Use an unused address/output to send commands to the PIC to flag what's happening, and switch RGB colors..) But this is all a pipe dream. Emails to CPR go unanswered, and they're not even planning on making the field, so.. *shrug* The only thing here that I DO have is the disassembles code to add in catches and set outbound addresses.

Would you consider Canadian assemblers? I could possibly dig a couple up that might work out for you after the currency conversion.

Yeah, I'm not discriminatory! Forward info, and I'll get quotes from them.

What's the going rate for a pretty nice Meteor with minimal wear on playfield, but average/below-average backglass?