I somehow parlayed a family vacation into a trip to pick up a couple of pins and one of them was a Meteor in pretty good shape. It's such a great game that I have been hunting for a while. I have a couple of questions as I go through and tackle some gremlins and get going on my to do list.

Flipper assemblies. Do the full ones from pinball life have the double stacked switch on the right flipper? Also, any thoughts on going with a weaker coil on the upper flipper to protect the precious drop targets?

Lastly, would someone be kind enough to take a few high quality photos of their playfield if it isn't incredibly worn? I need them as reference for some minor touch up. Bonus if they are hosted in high res off site (google photos, photobucket etc).

Thank you in advance. This will be a HUGE help, especially the photos.

No you will have to buy an additional switch.

There should be a 1 ohm 5W cement resistor near the upper flipper to reduce the flipper strength. You can also gap the EOS switch a little wider.

Get in line! Locals get first dibs

Thanks for the help here. Got her up and running and playing beautifully.

I'm guessing this is like finding a unicorn but does anyone know a source for repro backglass that are available anywhere? I was considering doing the restore route through bgresto but I would rather just get one in really nice shape or a repro.

I'm hoping with cpr's new method it's just a matter of time but I don't know of anyone making one right now

Mayfair Amusements stocks 1000s of used backglasses. Bgresto is the only one making repro Meteor backglasses. Pinsider Racingpin has a Meteor backglass last time we talked. Also try Pinsiders too-many-pins and ibuypinballs as they have a lot of used backglasses.

If the above leads don’t work try posting in these Facebook groups:

Pinball Machines and Parts Wanted
Pinball And Arcades <Parts only>

For the record, I believe that BGResto's does NOT include any mirroring, however. (Something to keep in mind, at least.)

You are correct in that they don’t offer mirroring. Look at the Stern Nugent backglass comparison, nos vs. repro on their site

Cpr may make a Meteor backglass one day, but they have a lot going on right now, and the Meteor playfield has been in their boutique zone for several years. I don’t know how motivated they will be to make a backglass

Shay Arcade Group started making backglasses for some 80s games in recent months and has more in the pipeline; EBD, Fathom, Black Hole, Etc. If someone asks him to he may be willing to start making Meteor backglasses. He uses the same silk screening and mirroring techniques used by pinball manufacturers in the 70s and 80s.

I do still have this backglass. Reds are nice and most issues are in the blacks

IMG_2176 (resized).JPGIMG_2175 (resized).JPG

$50 plus S/H

Mike V

Thanks for the information folks and thanks for the offer Mike. Mine is about the same condition wise. I am just a little neurotic in regards to getting my pins as nice as possible. Would love a repro, despite the gray/mirroring. I could keep my original for a potential buyer that preferred it.

Odd. I contacted BGresto about this very topic via email and they did not respond and it has been a few days I think.

<blockquote cite="#4524206"
Odd. I contacted BGresto about this very topic via email and they did not respond and it has been a few days I think.

Bgresto is a side business for him and he has a 100% travel day job. He only responds when he’s home, usually on the weekends.

Is it possible to find a nice original spinner out there?

Meteor backglass spotted in the marketplace.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/67434

Not really. It's much more likely to make one...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-club-we-will-let-you-know-when-the-danger-is-past#post-2598502

That's me. I can touch up the missing paint in top corner if anyone is on the fence, only the black is missing. I also have a lot of random playfield parts if anyone is looking. I bought a partial game out of warehouse and frankenstiened one good game out of 1 and a half games.

I just got a replacement J27 1700 coil for the slings and it looks so much thinner than one of the originals..........why is that? Has anyone else used these replacements and are they strong enough?

Below is a link to a photo of an original versus the replacement from my restoration thread - the winding on the coil is not as "robust" as the original. I want to make sure this is the right thing before wiring it back into my game.

Thanks

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_153442261112912&key=c7cb1c7c419234bebfc593e65880ba05&libId=jkwjk0xk0100qp6d000DAisltoqps&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fpinside.com%2Fpinball%2Fforum%2Ftopic%2Fmeteor-restoration-1&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.pinside.com%2F2%2F29%2F2290eefe28e951564239943d5a5f3cf9d50a1b48%2Fresized%2Flarge%2F2290eefe28e951564239943d5a5f3cf9d50a1b48.jpg&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fpinside.com%2Fpinball%2Fforum%2Ftopic%2Fmeteor-restoration-1%2Fpage%2F2&title=Meteor%20restoration........%20%7C%20Restorations%20documented%20%7C%20Pinside.com&txt=

Measure it with an ohm meter compared to the other one.

Thanks for the tip - will do.

.
Can anyone spot the feature mod on this playfield? Wonder if/how they got it to work.

Meteor Playfield

That's funny, I was thinking about how you could do that just the other day! There are already switches, you'd just need to hack up a way to get the coil power there. I'm sure there's a way to use some unused transistors from the SDU.

I don't see it...pretty sure that is just some brown rubber on the dead bumpers if that's what people are seeing.

Oh the outlane gate? Wow, took me a long time to see that.

Could have just been done EM style using a relay. No switch in the shooter lane though that I recall... I wonder what triggers it

Someone guessed it might have been activated by lamp(s) which seems plausible.

I had a hard time seeing it too. My Meteor doesn't need an outlane gate. It is already pretty easy to keep the ball in play with the outlane posts. I was considering taking out those posts to make the game harder. I can't imagine making the game easier.

Gotta agree. If anything make it harder, not easier.

hi - would be good if you could share details on this. Got a meteor on the way in and this is a mod I want to make ASAP!

Folks - I have a coil on my coin door that seems to do little except hoover up power - it vibrates then if I add a credit it stops for a while - what is this for? It seems to be contributing to a power through the coin door problem also (like the coin door as current they it!)

C075C807-2874-4732-8427-DC7A17D799AA (resized).jpeg

That's the coin lockout, so that coins put in when the game is off will be rejected. I always just remove them since my games are on free play

You remove them or just disconnect them? Wouldn't it be better to just leave it in place (but disconnect) so it can easily be converted back to the quarter sucking machine it was meant to be?

Disconnect, yes, but I didn't want to go into clipping the wire, wrapping the end in tape, securing it, etc

Having problems with my lower flippers never staying completely in the down position. Releasing the flipper button, the flipper returns, bounces briefly at the bottom, then stops a little above the alignment post. Occasionally it will stop as much as 3/8" or so up. It's causing a lot of problems with dead bounces and center post passes.

I'm using the new complete flipper assemblies from pinballlife (which are not on the site anymore?) and new flipper shoe and shaft assemblies from them as well. It seems like a stronger flipper return spring could fix this, but how do I find one that's stiffer? I don't see many springs out there, and none have published rates. Is there a better solution?

How much of a gap did you put between the shoe and the bushing before you tightened the nut to the shaft? If there is not enough gap it can bind.

I think I've tried all the gaps. When I gap the flipper bat up a bit, it just falls back down when I lower the playfield.

If it isn't binding it's got to be the springs. Do you have the old springs? any Springs? Just cut the spring and make a new pig tail if you have to.

If you gap it too low the plunger will drag on the sleeve.

Where's a good source for buying pins and connectors? I know someone mentioned where to buy with a link, etc but damn if I can find it now.

Thanks.

https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/default.asp

Thanks!

Does anyone happen to have good pictures of the neck attached to the meteor cabinet? The head on mine seemed like it was tilted forward and I think it was replaced. Mine is a rectangle the same height on all for sides. If I'm not mistaken it should be taller in the front and the sides angled. I'd like to confirm that and the correct measurements.

Does anyone reproduce that neck section for the old Stern games? If not I know someone who does wood working and could make one with the proper measurements.

Ask cottonm4 as he's made several necks for his classic Sterns

The base for the head does taper. Here's a few pics, remember the front piece needs a gap to keep the glass edge protected.

20180919_193051 (resized).jpg

20180919_193124 (resized).jpg

20180919_193138 (resized).jpg

20180919_193143 (resized).jpg

Thank you for the pictures. It confirmed what I thought. Someone replaced the neck on my machine and it isn't tapered correctly. It explains why the head was leaning forward.

I had to take the machine down to store it temporarily and noticed it. When I pull it back out to setup again I'll have to see about replacing it.

3 ball or 5 ball? I changed mine to 3 after one day of owning machine and rolling it over.

3 ball. The ball is hard to drain with the outhole posts and the center post. I think i'm going to pull out my outlane posts to make games more of a challenge.

God no 5 ball.

Just remove the outlane rubber. It’ll have same effect and if you remove the post you’ll start getting playfield wear where the post was

Repro backglass with mirror.....happy days!
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meteor001(1) (resized).jpg

Looks nice. Who did you buy it from? Is that silver mirroring or gray?

That purple, wow!