Given the large production numbers (8000+) and all the love early solid state machines are getting lately, I think it's time that Meteor got it's own club. Plus I just picked one up and could use a dedicated thread to all things Meteor!

Stern Meteor

First question...I assume I can convert Meteor to using a 7 digit display, is that difficult and is it worth it?

Yeah I love their price point, you can find one in decent condition (relative I know) under a $1000. There are lots of fun and intelligent drops, and a great spinner that is fun to rip. Looking forward to getting my 100%.

Ok great info! Next question, I have a broken letter target (2nd E), try to repair or just buy replacement drops? If buy option, will the PBR ones fit? I heard that there are some drops that are too long and have to be tweaked to get to fit.

Ok, sounds like I should keep my tombstone number drops for now. I will replace the whole set of METEOR drops with the ones from PBR so they all match (hot stamped).

Yeah, I was lucky that my Meteor came with newer MPU (alltek) and new rectifier board (already soldered in).

Yeah, I will prolly keep 6 digits for now and see how the displays work and how easy the game ends up being to roll.

Manual and various posts and help articles all point to having a single service button on interior side of the coin door. Any reason mine has two wired buttons? Would like to run diagnostics to see if I have any bulbs out.

Coin Door

Yeah, I think that's great advice. I seem to prefer brutal machines lately so this lines up with my thinking.

It's pretty stiff right now, waiting to get the drops all functional before I start tweaking but I suspect that will be near the top of the list. I also have some pretty bad mylar lift that's affecting play. Hoping early Stern's are better then early System 11's when it comes to mylar removal.

In an attempt to get this club back on track, I will ask another noob question. I am used to late 80's and newer pins, but from what I gather there is no way to set these earlier Sterns on free play. Do most people just leave a quarter in the machine and load up credits or are there other options? I would have assumed there would be a way with the Alltek board that I have, but I haven't seen anything yet on this.

So next thing on my list is pulling off my Meteor's mylar. Looks like someone started the job and then just stopped part way up the playfield, as there is a jagged line in what's left. There is also some pretty big bubbles that start at the bottom edge (see photos). Is there a preferred method of working on these early Stern playfields? Heat versus freeze, etc? There are no insert graphics to worry about, but want to make sure I don't pull off any paint (like with the early System 11s).
20150801_192011.jpg
20150801_191955.jpg

So I have had one offline vote for the freeze method. But still looking for someone with actual early Stern experience.

This is the one I use most for this era of Stern/Bally: http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/ballyss/rep/index1.htm

Well I finally decided to be brave and pull my mylar off my Meteor (see photos in prior post). Was much easier then I expected. I attempted first with my wife's hair dryer and it worked like a charm.
Hair Dryer used
Mylar when done
Playfield when done

Used the flour and alcohol method to great success.
Flour on playfield

Also tried my first attempt at flattening some plastics using glass and wax paper. After a few days in the sun it was much improved but not 100%. Cheddar recommended I try using a dark cloth under the glass or heat gun with plastics sandwiched still. I tried a hair dryer and it helped a little more, and is probably good enough now.
Flattening in sun

Final product after much waxing and cleaning. Used magic eraser and alcohol to clean up ball swirl and caused some of the touch ups to disappear, but that's ok as they were not the best touch ups to begin with.
Meteor all cleaned up

You and Cheddar just need to go halvsies on it.