Interesting. I too am surprised they left out the rubber sizes.

Also, did they use the wrong color for the secondary, outer insert keylines? (Easiest to notice comparing the two playfields and the lights in front of the "METEOR" drops..) Or, did your playfield just fade that much? I can't tell on my OEM field since I'm not at home at the moment. ..

Just be aware that I only checked the major things like flipper shaft holes, DT, pop bumper cut outs. The smaller holes and dimples will need to be verified upon swapping.

I think CPR has only done 2 classic Stern pfs, the other being F2K. That one also didn't have the rubber sizes, not sure why, but they are not necessary since they are shown in the manual.

Keylines, My original was restored so I cannot verify the extra thickness on mine but they are both yellow.

Just found these 2 extra holes on the CPR Meteor. I'm not saying this is an error but more than likely just a variation from manufacturing. An easy fix, just parallel an extra GI there. I have 1 or 2 more Meteors here to check but they are buried right now.

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Not complaining, just noting differences. I looked at yours more closely, and it just looks like it was restore work. (I got home late last night and didn't go downstairs. Now that I'm up, I will be working in the basement this long weekend, so I will be taking a look.)

I also noticed on CPR's site (and verified on your images) it looks like they missed a dimple up behind the Meteor drops, and have another added hole in the back arch. More light!

Call me strange, but I prefer to NOT have dimples on the top of the PF (and I'm ok with not having them on the bottom as well). That way I can put the posts where I can tweak the positions perfectly. My NOS Meteor PF didn't have any dimples so I had a lot of fun making templates out of file folders.

When I swapped an EBD I spent a long time getting the geometry in the upper right corner exactly right before I put any posts in, so that balls coming out of the 8 ball area go right to the tip of a flipper and you better flip or its draining.... much better than SDTM like a lot of EBD's.

It could be a missing dimple, or my pf had an extra hole there. IDK and will check it out. Either way, it's no cause for alarm since it's probably only for a post for the pf plastic. I don't see extra holes at the arch, you might be seeing the alignment keys used for the silk screening.

Oh, no. That post was added during production. Mine has it to, as does the other handful of Meteor's I've seen. (I'm guessing because they had reports of the ball hitting that rubber and smashing one of the bulbs back there.)

(And you're right, I was mistaking one of the registration marks as s drilled hole on first glance!)

That could be but I think it was just missed. With no post there, you would have an unused hole on the plastic piece. All you need to do is place the plastic piece over the existing dimples and mark the location of the missing dimple. I'm not sure but maybe doubling up on the rubber ring will reduce the chance of breaking the GI lamp?

Oh I don't see it as a problem - just noting differences.

O.E.M. has bolder font "white"

I've posted about this before. I have started putting in LEDs in my meteor. I'm doing the 2SMDs from Comet. I also have the anti flicker boards (not sure on brand off the top of my head they were given to me with the game).

Installed the boards and i'm having issues with the some but not all of the controlled lamps. I was thinking i just didn't get the ground wire secured good enough but when i remove it all of the controlled lights flicker. When it is attached about half of them flicker.

Anyone have a good idea what could cause this? or a solution like a resistor (etc) that I could put inline with the ones that are an issue.

Meteor refreshes the lamps the same way Bally does, and Bally has this issue also, that depending on WHEN the lamp gets refreshed in the code, will determine how much (more) flicker happens. Quench did some work in this area with a future spa as a testbed and found that the later in the refresh cycle the refresh occurs, the more likely you get more visible flicker.

Some LEDs would be more susceptible to this than others - Comet 1SM retro in my mystic eye/pyramid in the backglass, the eye was fine, but the same led's in the pyramid acted like blinkers! I put another brand of LED in there and they are fine (some pinball life one that was really cheap long time ago.... no where near as bright though).

Meteor is a special case with LEDs. I had to add resistors to 11 lamps even after adding the seigecraft anti flicker kit. 8 or 9 of them were in the bonus count area. It's a good idea to make sure your lamp driver scrs test good, but I suspect you just need some extra resistors to sort that out.

The wire you're connecting to the anti-flicker boards connects to the feature lamp 5.4VDC supply rail, not ground. Have you confirmed that the wire is making good connection to all three anti-flicker boards? Because if one or two of those anti-flicker boards aren't getting the jumper wire voltage, the LEDs from those boards will still flicker.

Typo, actually it's the other way around. The earlier they're refreshed, the more likely they are to produce visible flicker. Suspect it's because the lamp voltage is too early in the DC phase and hasn't reached a high enough voltage to produce enough current through the SCR and particular LED for the SCR to latch on. So the solution requires an increase in current through the SCR either by adding load resistances across the LEDs or using LEDs that draw more power.

It's the reason bonus lamps are the most common LEDs to flicker in games - they're usually wired as the first set of lamps that get refreshed.

In Meteor the first refreshed lamps are (and are probably more susceptible to LED flicker):
1a) Bottom Left Drop Target Special
1b) Left rocket 7k
1c) Left rocket 6k
1d) Left rocket 5k
2a) Left rocket 4k
2b) Left rocket 3k
2c) Left rocket 2k
2d) Left rocket 1k

Has anyone come up with a issue where the meteor targets wont reset properly as when you knock them all down it will try and reset and come up 1/4 of the way and just keep trying but yet when you start game or end ball when it does it reset sequence it works every time? I took the bank out to see if anything looks out but all seems to be fine and switches gapped nicely.

Mine had that issue. My first step to try to fix it was replacing the repro targets with originals. This helped but ultimately, the fix was that the bank assembly was not put back together correctly by a previous owner or tech. The plate with the switches needs to be inside the lip on the bottom of the bank (hope that makes sense) and mine was outside if that lip. Fixed that and the bank has been really reliable since.

Ok Thanks ill check that out

Has anyone purchased a CPR mirrored Meteor backglass? I picked one up on the holiday sales and pulled it out for an install... the mirror layer has a foggy look to it, it's not a crystal clear mirror look like the original. Is that the new expected look for mirrored CPR backglasses? Just want to confirm if that is the new expected look or if I might have a bad print.

I did the same and mine looks great to me, but we can always share some photos and see if there is a difference.

After receiving your photos, I can confirm that mine has the same difference as yours in the mirroring.

Currently, I have brand new glasses with mirroring in my Alien Poker, Gorgar, Blackout, and Meteor. All of the old original glasses are consistent with the original Meteor glass. All of the new glasses mirroring look like the new Meteor glass.

I had never noticed this before. My Meteor came directly from CPR, but the Gorgar, Blackout, and Alien Poker came from Planetary Pinball. They could have been made by CPR, but I do not know for sure. They are all consistent with their production times though, new and old.

I'm still glad that everything is now available to restore the Meteor: playfield, glass, and plastics. Just gotta order a set of stencils and let the fun begin!

Hey All,

Happy to have just joined the club and have a MET that's acting a little strange. The "O" drop target is not registering consistently. When I am in switch test mode, everything seems fine. All switches work as expected. But when playing a game, the "O" only registers about 50% of the time. In fact, if it's the last drop standing, it never registers and the bank won't reset. Oddly, it seems to work less the later in the sequence that drop is hit. So far, I have not noticed this behavior on any of the other switches.

Any ideas?

Not sure anyone here can help with your Metallica, but in test mode, are you testing by using your finger, or by flipping a pinball around?

I know ! I'm positive of the answer ! It will be THAT switch that needs attention, the letter O leaf switch that opens when the flag goes down. Each letter has one. Or it may the wire all the way back to the board will need to be checked

Prop the playing field up with a broom stick from that big hole in the front of the playing field to the coin box floor so its a bit higher than the normal prop stick that holds up the playing field.

Get a light and eyeball the row of leaf switches that open when the METEOR targets fall and make sure it matches the rest of the switches. Clean or adjust the contacts or trace the circuit. You will see your task at that point.

Meteor's software has a thread that periodically resets all the drop targets (logically, not physically) so anything that gets missed will get triggered the next go round. This tells me that your O switch is completely not working or maladjusted. When you look into it, see if the gold flashing is missing, if it is you need to replace the switch. No amount of cleaning and adjusting will make it work 100%.

The switch test doesn't actually show you the trigger signal, it shows you a steady state of what's down. (The lowest numbered switch). This is an important distinction for intermittent operation because of the way the machine reads the switches (and decides to trigger) - the machine wants to see: open, close, close and then it will activate the routine to score. On an intermittent switch, it would see open, close, open, close, etc. (or close, close, close), neither of which will activate the switch routine. The switch test takes the first close and displays it.

Thanks everyone. I'll go down the path of replacing the switch. At first glance it appears to be working ok, but I understand the potential momentary issue. I appreciate the help...and I know..this is not Metallica.

Used Mezel mod graveyard sign . Light up red led. $40 shipped. PM if interested.

Wrong Thread?

I pulled my meteor drop bank and there are a number of screw holes with no screws. Does anyone have one out or know if these spots should have screws?
Thanks

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Hello All!

Wanted to stop in and ask all you owners out there if you have some repair advise for me. I recently replace my rectifier board since the old one was hacked and cooked. I was able to flip it before replacing but had no scores display. Now that i have put in a new Gulf pinball rec board i have score displays again but now no flippers or drop bank resets. i did testing and have all the proper DC but for some reason have NO AC at Test Point. I have also check all fuses and those have been good. the other funny thing is my 8 pin appears to have something in the wrong place since when i shift the wire around i get GI with no inserts and in another no GI but inserts. i can only think i have messed up wire placement since the game flipped before this replacement but now doesn't. Any advice would be great and if you have pictures would be awesome since most times i can follow that better.

Thanks all!

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AFAIK, Meteor only used *8* pins on the top left connector. It looks repinned with a wire on pin #9. Check that plug and verifty against the schematics. Note that Pin 1 on the board, for all three connectors, starts on the left -> right.

Verify against the bible:

http://stevekulpa.net/pinball/as-2518-18-wiring.htm

Which screw holes are you talking about? Most of those I believe are where the switches are, which you have presumably removed.

The upper bracket. It has one on each end. Always makes me suspicious there were supposed to be more

Mine is the same. They probably saved a penny or so per machine this way

Just some Meteor porn.
Enjoy.

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Did you do the swap?
Looks cool

That original playfield looks to be in very good shape. I wouldn't bother doing a swap.

Love the 7 digit mod. Another item on the to-do list!

woz When you figure out the 7digit mod, order double the parts, and help me get mine done too Meteor is so good!

I'll be getting the Pinitech 7 digit Uno Kit. I have then in my Flash Gordon and they really are better than the original plasmas.

https://www.pinitech.com/products/ballystern_display_uno.php

I thought it was a new cpr. Looks great

I did the 7-digit mod on mine, but I went .. the non-standard route. I used original Bally plasma displays (because the Stern 7-digits have larger boards. This let me keep the mounting method for the displays and not have to adjust or remount the brackets), and did the wiring myself - I added a single-pin molex connector to the added wire, so that if I wanted to jump back to 6-digit, I just disconnect it and all is good. I'd odd in the fact that I LIKE the 'soft' glow of plasma displays.

The original 6 digit rom works just fine on the 7 digits even with the added wire. No removal needed.

If you haven't seen them yet you should check out pinitech's new displays, they really got it dialed in

My OCD dosen't care for a period as a comma - unless I happen to be traveling overseas. I have been watching his projects, though!

Can you turn off the comma on the pinitech's like you can with bally 7 digit displays? (I forget what you cut on the bally displays to do this....)

My OCD doesn't allow commas on stern games.....

Pinscore had a removable jumper for the comma. I would think Pinitech do as well?

The Pinitech UNOs are awesome and yes, the comma can be disabled. I have these fitted in my Flash Gordon and they are IMHO better than original plasmas. An added bonus is you can pull the high voltage fuse

https://www.pinitech.com/products/ballystern_display_uno.php

If I get time this weekend I'll pop one into my Meteor to see if they fit OK.

They're not periods any more. They contracted a factory to produce custom LED arrays with real commas modeled off the original glass. I've been a purist for plasma glass for a long time, but I finally caved and bought a set for Xenon in white. It's perfect... like nailing it out of the park perfect.