Meteor
Stern Electronics, 1979Quoted from mrm_4:How’s the project coming along?
Not much done of late just finishing off a few things before I start on the playfield. Repinned the playfield loom, painting the rails and apron and cleaning sockets, lamps, screws etc. Will post some pics when the playfield starts to come together.
Started on the playfield and came up to a couple issues straight up. The decals on the drop target sit a bit lower than the originals so you can't see all of the font. I glued a 2mm thick plastic strip to each of the 3 bank drop targets and now they sit nicely. I haven't done the 6 bank yet, might glue the 2mm piece to the drop target itself. The other one was the clear has clogged up the star insert, this is only my second clear coated pf a the first did not have this issue. A quick search showed it is a common problem that is easily fixed. I used emery board to sand off the clear, it took a bit but now the star inserts move freely.
Other stufff done includes repinning the loom and the apron/shooter has been painted ready for a new decal. The wood rails are half done, have used a heat gun to get the vinyl off but there is a lot of residue still on the wood. Once these are painted and installed I can get onto repopulating the playfield proper.
IMG_0407 (resized).JPGIMG_0362 (resized).jpgIMG_0418 (resized).JPGIMG_0420 (resized).JPGIMG_0421 (resized).JPGIMG_0405 (resized).JPGIMG_0352 (resized).jpgIMG_0412 (resized).JPGIMG_0334 (resized).jpgIMG_0423 (resized).JPGLot of other stuff going on at the moment but got to power the playfield up the other night. I have a few issues that need to be sorted, mainly the crappy lamp sockets, but getting close. There is always one part at the end you need, and for me it is a pop bumper spoon!
IMG_0801 (resized).JPGIMG_0802 (resized).JPGIMG_0803 (resized).JPGIMG_0809 (resized).JPGI have 4 main issues to sort out now.
• The clearcoat that has got into the star rollovers
• The knocker that has blown the transistor on the driver board
• The right sling shot that stays locked on
• 6 feature lamps that do not light.
My first attempt at getting the star rollovers to move freely was using emery boards to sand the clear out. Admittedly I was hesitant as I did not want to break of part of the insert at this stage, but thought I was close by using the original star rollovers I cut out of the playfield to test. I had ordered double the number of star inserts I needed in case I would I had to cut the new ones out again. So tried 2 inserts and they both jammed at the the lowest point of travel, didn’t even feel like being close to moving freely. I got a set of mini files from Jaycar, they are just under 2mm thick and just fit into the insert, that was after the initial use of the emery board
Ended up using 3 of them to clean up all over the star insert, took about 5 minutes an insert and now all 3 work smoothly. Glad I got that out of the way.
The knocker was disconnected when I got this pin. On second power up, and first time I started a game, its tranistor at Q3 blew up on the driver board. So looking at the manual the wiring on the coil was wrong and the power(green) was not at the banded end of the diode. It was how I got but didn’t check till now. Have tested the coil and it read 11.9Ω compare to 11.5Ω from the spec sheet, so still good.
Once the board is repaired, I will replace the diode and wire the coil correctly. Hopefully I am not missing anything.
So with the issues with the knocker and right sling I have followed this guide, http://techniek.flipperwinkel.nl/ballyss/rep/index3.htm#driver, it’s been really easy to follow. The right sling was locking on, so tested the coil which was good. Replaced the diode. Checking the Q14 transistor showed the left leg was 0.61v while the right was 0.004v, so that is likely the problem. Still went on and checked the resistor and chip and they tested good.
I usually send my boards out to get fixed but as I had some new TIP102 so I decided to give something new a try. I set myself in my office with good lighting, instead of sitting on a Caroma stool in poorly lighted shed. Did a couple of test runs, removing and resoldering the transistors on an old Bally board I had. Got the new transistors on with no problem, reinstalled the knocker with a new diode and the correct wiring and connected the power to the right sling. Started up and put the pin in solenoid test mode all solenoids fired as they should.
A lot of the feature lamps on the metal lamp boards are really flaky, so I will have to replace the lamp boards with these PCBs. https://pinballreplacementparts.com/products/stern-meteor-set-of-lamp-boards-to-replace-the-old-metal-ones?variant=8373425602605 . There were 6 feature lamps that we not working at all, so check crimps on the repinned connectors. Found one bad crimp and that fixed an issue. Two SCRs tested bad, so they were replaced and those lamps now worked. So had 3 non-working lamps left, 2 on the rocket bonus boards and a stand-alone lamp for the #2 drop target bank special.
Had this back playing for a few days and been adjusting and tweaking a few things and now its playing really smooth. Love how it feels for a 40 year old game! Its set up at 5.8°, back legs maxed out with a couple of couple of rubber feet under both legs, but will be setting it higher. A few cosmetic things to do ti finish it off, but nothing stopping me from having a game.
IMG_0825 (resized).JPGIMG_0885 (resized).JPGIMG_0884 (resized).JPGIMG_0886 (resized).JPGIMG_0887 (resized).JPGIMG_0888 (resized).JPGIMG_0889 (resized).JPGIMG_0895 (resized).JPGIMG_0896 (resized).JPGThat is absolutely insane that you were able to end up with such a great looking game with what you started with. Very glad to see that you've got it all worked out, and are able to enjoy playing it! Thanks for letting us follow along.
Excellent work and looking magnificent,
I have an Australian LAI meteor with pretty good cabinet art, I am going to scan the cabinet art in the very near future if anyone wants them so they could make or have stencils made for the Australian cabinet art.
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