This is a club I should be in. See pictures here: http://mcwhorters.net. Love my Paragon... Mac

Do the sounds not sound like these on my web site? http://mcwhorters.net

I just noticed that the new Edge browser in Windows 10 does not play the background audio automatically. If you use Google Chrome, it works fine.

I've wondered if the pitch on mine is a bit high... it's hard to remember for sure what it sounded like 36 years ago. I replaced all the caps on the sound board and anything else that I thought might "age".

Mac

If my memory servers me, their is a variable resister on the sound board that can be adjusted to change the sustain on the tones. This did not change the pitch, but did have a pronounced affect on the high pitched sounds if set too long. You might give that a tweak in test mode and see if you can tune it more to your liking.

Mac

Every time I walk past my living room and see the Paragon, I think, "Man, what a beautiful piece of art!" I used a little darker red than I see most people using, but I think it really makes it all pop.

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I had the same question when I replaced mine. I used black lettering, and it looks correct with the black stamped in-line drop targets. The early flyers showed the little flipper with blue lettering, and the drops with red stamping. I have not see a unit produced that way, and don't think it looks as good. They probably changed it before or early in production.

Mac

... In my humble opinion Paul Faris is the tops in pinball art.

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100% agree. I just "found" a Paragon back glass that my buddy and I bought 1n 1978. It has never been installed in a machine... perfect in all regards. It is a thing of beauty!

Mac

It's not for sale. I believe CPR did a repro... http://www.classicplayfields.com/photo129.html

and you might find one of those around. If all else fails, I will scan this one when I have some time.

Mac

Might need to go down to a 330 ohm. Connect right across the lamp socket. Use a pair of alligator clips and try your resistor first to get the right value.

If you have the Altek board, you don't need to add anything. The resisters are already on the board. What you DO need to do is run the single wire to the current source point (common side of the feature lights on the backbox lamps).This is detailed in the instructions that come with the board. If you don't do this (or do it wrong), the Altek board will act like the original and you will see the flickering.

Mac

Just put your soldering iron inside the metal sleeve, wiggle and the metal will pop right out as the old plastic starts to soften from the heat. Very easy.

Now reusing the metal on new plastics... a bit of a pain. The metal is really too stiff to unbend the flange and re-crimp without risking damage to the new plastics. You would need to have a special crimping device to do this safely.

I have just ground off the flange and used the standoffs without crimping them. You cannot tell once the plastics are installed. The only difference is they could fall out when you remove the plastics in the future. If someone has had success doing otherwise, please chime in...

I had some "yellow" LEDs that really have more of a golden orange tint to them that matches the golden color in the theme. These actually look nice behind the center target above the pops. Those lamps are situated where you stare right into the bulb filaments. The gold color is easier on the eyes and does not look like clown puke. I also use LEDs under the POPs... frosted white. The hot bulbs from the factory burned brown spots on my original pop covers, and I don't want the same to happen on the replacements. I use coordinated colors under the playfield, and use the biasing resistors to prevent the SCR flashing issues.

Mac

I used 2 smds. It's all a matter of preference, but I did not want the inserts to "pop" TOO much and overshadow the artwork on this game.

Games like Space Shuttle I go for the gusto and put as much light as possible down there, and then dial it in with an LEDOCD board...