Your Meteor is looking great. I have done quite a few cab repaints so I know how much work is involved. I like that you aren't afraid to change up the colors.

Yeah it was probably repainted. The rustoleum hammer tone silver is almost identical to the original finish. It takes some practice getting the hammer effect to spray evenly. It's great for the legs as well.

That cab look great.
Yes my letters are a little cut off at the bottom.

I know what a bastard file is and was thinking of using one but want to make sure I understand what you mean by the stop? My targets lift high enough. It seams they are more slippery/easier to knock off the moving catch tabs. Some are more slippery than others.

Here's how mine sit

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My repros sit like that, and mine fall off too, see below..

Yours look perfect. Next time I go downstairs, I'll need to compare how high your text is on the targets - it's possible my text is just lower than it should be.

I did notice that my targets, *in general* are lower than they should be - when they're down, they sit below the playfield. Occasionally a ball will get stuck in this lower section, resting against a target that's up.

Mine fall off sometimes - when reset, maybe 80% of the time, one (usually the 1st 'E') will fall back down. Getting the reset coil to go higher may help - I'll have to try this. Not necessarily for the actual *height*, but more time for the target to 'settle down', fall forward and hold against the memory latch.

For the record, on my game, the 'Ball In Play' isn't controlled, it's part of the GI. I thought that's strange, but.. owell.

Good to know! Once I finish with the PF and move on to the cabinet, I'll give it a shot.

When properly adjusted, they should lay flush when lowered. Adjust the bar on the assembly with the targets in the down position to set this height. You may need to adjust a few times to get all at the right height, I know mine tended to have the left higher than the right etc. Then, bend, as needed, the individual drop target "bar" until the drop either stays up or drops appropriately. If you bend the individual bars before the lowered height is right, it's easy to make a mess of things.

As an FYI, if they sit proud of the playfield, you get some cool ball hops, and that plastic will take a beating.

Busy weekend - coin door fully restored. Will buy a new lock since the plating is falling off.

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Also replaced the speaker and polished the metal.

This speaker was recommended to me since its 8ohm, 92dB sensitivity, and response range is 70-9kHz - perfect for the highs, build up, and lows of meteor.

My daughter picked the color for the speaker mount (she wanted it to match the purple on the back glass)

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Woah, woah, woah... No coin lock-out coil?

Interesting to see how this speaker sounds..!

On another note - is there a replacement MPU board available that still USES ROMs, and isn't an all-in-one like the 'Ultimate' board?

Yes, the Twobits reproduction -35 with "Fixit" rom. His price went up $100 since I bought mine in 2008, now $329.
twobits.com

Also you may be able to get it set up without the fixit rom and only Meteor eproms for less money, email him and see...

What is so special with that twobit board that it is priced $129 over the Alltek? Since this is all new to me what am I missing?

Nothing actually, I don't know why he raised his price so much. Still even with either Alltek or Twobits, there's no free play option. Only Free play on Bally games. Coyote doesn't want the Alltek so that's my only other suggestion. Heck, for the money you can have the original MPU rebuilt if it's worthy.

Yeah, didn't realize it was that expensive. I'll keep my original board. There was a reason, but at the moment, I can't remember what it was. I'm getting old.

Never too old for pinball

Can you guys help me out. Just want to get confirmation that Bally side rails are interchangeable with early stern rails?

Found these on pinball life - they look very similar.

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I can check tomorrow

Idiot question guys..

I got new flipper assemblies since mine are so out of whack they're unsalvageable. What is the part # (or link to) a switch that the lower right flipper uses on the EOS switch to activate the upper right switch? And, what switch should be used on the cabinet for the flipper buttons?

You order the standard EOS switch that comes in the rebuild kits, and add-on a Bally EOS form A (BLY-ASWA-1045). I got mine at PBR, Marco also lists them.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/ASW-A10-45

You have to stack the switches on the same screw as the original.

Got ya, thanks!

Last stupid question for tonight - did the Meteor originally ship with red flipper buttons, or white? (My game has one of each, so..)

Mine were white. Soon to illuminated red

I think original were white but red looks better IMO.

I'm leaning towards the red. What're you using to light them up, Gryphon?

Finally got around to working on my game. Rebuilt flippers and new caps on the sound board. Hops to flip the switch tomorrow.

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Wow.. clean flippers. All mine are toast - wouldn't surprise me if they're original to the game, so I decided to change them all over to the WPC type. If anyone wants the old mechs, send me a message here..

I bought the buttons through zittware and also the clear mounting brackets. I have a couple of led bulbs that I will mount close to the button - tap into the GI lighting on the coin door - Vid has a great tutorial on it

http://pinball-mods.com/oscom/replacement-parts-early-solid-state-pinball-button-p-12.html

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Just saw this on eBay: $400 buy it now price

Ad states: Turns on but needs work.

ebay.com link: Meteor Pinball Machine

Question on transformer wiring. Is there a particular reason that someone connected/bridged Tab 1 and Tab 3? And, bridged Tab 9 and Tab 11? Per the pictures. Thanks in advance

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Yes Swinks has reproduced the plastic coin slots. Anyone looking for the, can find them and more here on his Shapeways page.

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/dutch-orange

According to the diagram in the bottom of my meteor next to the transformer, the 1+3 and 9+11 lugs should be wired together for 115v. If it were 220v, different lugs would be tied together.

Understood. Thanks Seal Clubber

BoP - Awesome. Thank you for posting the link to this great stuff.

Ordered a couple of these right after the link was posted.

On mine, I think I dropped it to the 120v wiring scheme, which knocked the power down a bit, but is more in line with my actual voltage at the wall.

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You go for white, or a color?

White. I'm boring like that. Also bought a bunch of incandescents. Party!!

Does anybody know if the Swinks Stern coin slots will accommodate a SBA coin. I know it's trivial but I would like everything proper. If you look closely these coin slots, they have a longer opening for the SBA. Swinks doesn't have a link to contact unless you have an order number and I haven't ordered yet.

I stumbled across this thread and thought to chime in, I designed the internal slot to be the maximum height and width to allow any coin. Original I helped out a aussie that wanted to accommodate a 20 cent coin which is quite large. If you need a measurement of the auctual designed opening just yell out.

As for Shapeways you can message the designer, near the part is who it is by and you can click the designer and then a new page comes up and then you can contact.

Here is a link to the growing range of my parts and mods
http://www.shapeways.com/search?q=swinks&sort=newest

thanks for the support Taylor

Thanks for taking the time to make these available.

Thanks for the info, do you think maybe in the future Shapeways can remake the credit/start button for the Sterns?

Arrived today.

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I think you can get the price plastics from Marco or PBR.

Get the credit button decal on ebay, Marco's is NOT chrome mylar and looks wrong.

ebay.com link: itm

Get the credit sticker from Pinballrescue.net
They have the chrome

basically yes it is possible.

The way Shapeways works is a designer designs an item and places it on Shapeways and they do a print check via software to see if it will work, once approved it is ready to go. When a item sells Shapeways gets roughly 80% and I get roughly 20% as a royalty payment.

The bonus is I am in Aus and Shapeways is in New York so postage is cheap to the majority of you.

I also recommend becoming a Shapeways member and sign up for email notifications as every few months there is a sale on materials or free postage so some small savings to be had.

As for the credit button I just need real accurate measurements or borrow the part and I can then reproduce an accurate model/part and send it to Shapeways. Shapeways materials will be different to the original part as the white nylon states polished nylon but it isn't shiny because the part had it's particles bound with a laser and tumbled (polished) which is different to injection molding - but for one off part manufacturer is better than nothing.

I refined the search to reproduction parts only at Shapeways for older games. These basically came about through pinheads reaching out to me for a part so did it as a favour but where possible I offered a upgrade so will last longer - like the Bally backbox light shrouds with screw mounted holes or the Bally ball launch arm with added strengthening so to hopefully last alot longer.

https://www.shapeways.com/search?q=swinksrepro&sort=popularity

I hope you guys don't start calling me an outcast now..

....Sorry.

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Did you use the OEM Stern bats?

They look good, how is the game play?
And yes... Do you use the fat stern/Bally bats?

I will probably do that to all my future Bally Sterns. Replacing the originals is expensive.

I did it to my black knight, all 4 flippers. That was about $200 for that operation