Tucson, AZ
New member here. I just picked up a working project. A few stuck switches, a couple of busted drop targets, playfield wear and a “fair” backglass.
At least it boots up and plays. 
(Topic ID: 123617)
Linked Games
Nine Ball
Stern Electronics, 1980
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Here are a few pictures.
Can anyone suggest where to buy a couple of replacement drop targets along with the correct jet bumper cap? Also, any suggestions on how to clean up the playfield without taking off too much paint.
Is this an overlay, hardtop/CPR future playfield or a touch up candidate?
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I would like to touch up a couple of small areas on our cabinet. Can anyone suggest what shade of orange and blue would likely be the best match? Any other suggestions on how best to proceed would be welcomed.
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Quoted from cottonm4:Well, you don't like LEDs so I guess you go back to incandescents.
These are still LEDs but you can light up a back glass real nice with just a few of these Matrix light strips.
https://www.cometpinball.com/products/lighting-strips
Do go all funky with a bunch of hosed up colors. Just get some cool whites and call it a day.
I must have been half asleep when I made my previous post. I am a fan of LEDs, especially Comet.
I plan on installing them in the backbox and was looking for suggestions on which ones to use, along with quantity and placement given that they are brighter than incandescent.
2 weeks later
1 month later
I experienced a little bit of odd behavior on the Nine Ball this afternoon.
TLDR... Could weird behavior be the result of the gap of the jet bumper being too close?
Here’s what happened.....
I turned the machine on and it went through it’s typical boot up, including the left side kickout. The machine was ready to play.
The upper two drop target banks each had a target or two down when I pushed the start button. The machine started its usual start of ball drop reset but didn’t complete and then froze up. It seemed that it could not reset the drop targets. No blown fuses or other apparent breakdown.
I turned the machine off and on again and it booted up the same as before and when I pressed start it did the same freeze up behavior.
Turned the machine off and I manually reset the right side drops and the big set on the left, but not the topmost bank and the machine booted up and started however with a louder and somewhat incorrect background sound. I played a couple of balls and the sound corrected itself, and after couple more games no further problems arose.
Twenty minutes later I turned it back on, started a game and as soon as the ball hit the jet bumper it froze up again.
I lifted the playfield and increased the gap and played a few games with no problems.
Added over 4 years ago:Solution!: I replaced the 2 solenoid driver board capacitors and the problem seems to be fixed.
1 month later
Quoted from cottonm4:One sold on Ebay the other day and I missed it.
I saw that along with a few other parts from a parted Nine Ball. That part didn’t last long, did it?
4 weeks later
1 month later
Quoted from jj44114:Looking for a nine ball in case someone doesn’t want to do the swap.
I hope you can find a good restore candidate.
I have heard through the grapevine that there will be another option for new playfields within the next few weeks.
It's a good time to be a member of the club.
3 weeks later
2 months later
I’m taking baby steps while I wait on a new playfield. I swapped out the metal Stern jet bumper base with a yellow plastic used on some Data East machines and I picked up a Flight 2000 jet bumper cap.
It makes for a much cleaner appearance and during the process I built in a molex connection for easy removal and adjustment of the entire assembly.
It might be wishful thinking but the jet bumper behaves much better and seems more active.
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1 week later
Quoted from cottonm4:I have not yet seen a yellow pop bumper housing. Blue, white, black, and gray. This is the first yellow one I have seen. It stands out.
I learned by accident that pop bumpers need to be adjusted differently than the rest of the switches. I like tight, close switch gaps on my flippers and slings. But it is the wrong thing to do on a pop bumper switch. I tried closing the gap on a pop switch and saw the fail on first hit of the skirt.
Tight gaps on pop switches cause the pop to shoot too soon and the ball gets cheated out of its normal travel distance. A pop gap needs to be set to close at the last possible moment.; This lets the ball get buried in the skirt/ring with a powerful rebound. Since you can remove it, you have the enjoyment of adjusting your pop switches as a bench job and makes it easy to get your pop spoon centered on the skirt pointer.
You probably did all of that without really thinking about it. And it all fell into position.
Thanks cottonm4, I honestly credit you for suggesting a molex configuration in a previous post (#3644) over on the Stern thread.
I’m slowly moving forward and this week I will build up some new playfield rails for our eventual playfield swap. These are the various lengths I measured for ours.
Shooter lane right - 31”
Shooter lane left - 28 1/4”
Back right - 6”
Back left - 8 3/4”
Left side - 37 3/8”
1 month later
1 month later
4 weeks later
Can a fellow owner tell me if you have the same wires in the same positions on your power supply board?
I might have the wires on J1 in slots 1 & 8 reversed, and I’m not sure if that makes a difference.
I’m trying to sort out a locked on MPU led. Power supply test point voltages are within spec.
1 month later
Can anyone suggest a good match for the orange on the cabinet? I am planning on repainting the front part of the head.
In addition to the outer edges being rough, someone painted over the front edge of the trim boards with black and I want to get it back to all orange.
I’ve started to sand it down and fortunately the rest of the head looks very presentable.
Ideally there is a good primer + paint option in a rattle can.
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2 weeks later
For Gonzo73’s reference on busted drop target.
One NOS and one retrofit option.
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2 months later
3 months later
Quoted from slochar:Yeah, you can't use 2 banks because the drops are right up against each other and the frames for the banks would interfere with each other.
If you do get the f2k bank it's a full bank that would need you just have to populate the drop coils.
Shoot, I figured with the open area between the 7 & 8 that I could somehow make two 4-banks work.
If that option presents itself I will try and get creative 
1 week later
Quoted from Zenomorp:Nine Ball has been added to the lineup at The Arcade in Wichita. If you're in the Wichita area, stop by and say hello.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Time to move to Wichita!
10 months later
I won’t be able to complete this project so I am selling my ground up Nine Ball build parts collection. Parts are in a few boxes. I can arrange for pick up in Ashland or Salem, Oregon or in Elk Grove, CA. I can ship if needed.
Note that this offering does not include 100% of the parts needed to build up a plug and play playfield. I believe that I am missing a couple of playfield plastics, possibly a couple of game specific coils and likely a few odds and ends that I haven’t gathered up yet.
Includes a nice unpopulated playfield that has received some amount of restoration, the 8-bank and both 3-bank drop target assemblies (broken down as shown) and the hard-to-find original small memory-drop coils and controlled drop arms. Some extra drop target cage parts included. New PBR playfield rubber kit included.
Also includes the playfield wiring harness, spinner bracket and parts (wire and donor spinner) and the bending tool needed to to make the game specific spinner wireform. Ball guides, pop bumper parts (both the dead and active one). The ball trough switch assembly for those extra two balls is included.
Original Stern Apron and shooter lane cover with Upkick Pinball score and instruction cards along with new spinner decals. It looks like I have 3 slingshot kicker arms that’ll be included.
Includes the single drop target assembly plus a NOS drop target mounted on its arm.
I’ll add additional pictures as I unbox the parts. The ones shown here are from about one year ago.
edit…now showing a current picture group of the drop target banks.
Looking for a reasonable offer on the lot.
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