One more post for now:

Looks like PEMicro would be a place to check (if someone had access to one or had $1200 lying around to buy one).
https://www.pemicro.com/products/product_viewDetails.cfm?product_id=15320169&productTab=1

Confirmed support for the LPC1313xx:
https://www.pemicro.com/arm/device_support/NXP_LPC/LPC13xx/LPC1313/index.cfm

pasted_image (resized).png

I’m working for a semiconductor company. 1038 units is a tiny number.

Mouser caters to very small companies (production) or companies developing prototypes.

I don’t know Stern’s semiconductor purchasing volumes but I would not be surprised if they are large enough to purchase directly from the manufacturer and not through Mouser.

I do deal with component sourcing, and electronic design. Long lead times, 28 weeks and way beyond, are still very real. Component supply chain issues continue to drive a lot of costly redesign and rework. Only one critical part has to be unavailable to stop production for a PCB assembly. It is time-consuming and costly to re-design and re-qualify a new board assembly. It is probably not cost-effective to redesign all the node boards--certainly not at once.

Every node board needs a microcontroller, and a bunch of other parts, several of which may be in short supply at any point in time. Most ARM-based microcontrollers are hard to get. They trickle out and you buy what you can get, when you can get them. The small quantities that become available disappear quickly. Where I work, we buy parts and then base the design on what we get. It's insane!

Programming flash memory in an ARM-based microcontroller is trivial. The tools required are widely available. Programming Stern's proprietary code into a microcontroller is a different scenario. Reproducing a node board without involving Stern is risky. The executable code stored in the memory of that MCU is Stern's intellectual property. IF the code can be extracted from a working MCU, which is not guaranteed, the best case would be that Stern turns a blind eye. But I suspect they would not, not for long.

Stern has flaws to be sure. But the individuals working there are probably doing their best to respond to a situation unlike any the modern world has seen. Resources to address the problem(s) are not infinite. That said, they could do better at communicating with customers.

I don't know a lot about this stuff, but this is what I use to program atmegas. I would guess something like this could be reconfigured to program other chips... You can move the pin jumpers around...

20221206_185325 (resized).jpg

Yeah, my initial wave of interest and excitement are giving way to reality. No way around the IP issue with the code on the MCU, so it’s a non starter for anything but personal use.. and not cost effective for someone to churn out one or two boards as their own spares/replacements.

On the bright side, looking at these MCU datasheets has reminded me how much fun I had with this stuff. Has me missing college.

TI lets me buy direct and I am less than pocket change to them. Good prices that way blows away digikey.

Stern probably has the company in China that assembles the boards source out the parts is my guess. These assembly houses then have good deals with companies to buy parts in bulk direct.

That's one of the annoying things about this situation, people saw this coming a mile away with the new designs. It's inevitable.

And I decided to dig out the e-mail for the warranty item I'm waiting on (Iron Maiden wireform). I opened the ticket in November 2021... so well over a year now with nothing sent to me, and they even did a production run of Maiden in the meantime. If they weren't going to fill back ordered parts then I guess it's hopeless. I'll have to live with foam glued to the ramp to prevent air balls smashing the glass.

Node boards are tricky, but at least it seems possible (maybe even easy) to recreate lamp boards. I have a feeling as these games age and go out of support, these custom lamp boards are going to be hard or impossible to get unless you make them yourself or buy them from a third party. I was about to start laying out a tmnt board in eagle until I realized I could fix my board by replacing a transistor. As stern doesn't seem to have any parts available for repairs, they're going to start forcing people to compete with them on parts.

Just to follow the thread. It's unbelievable to let people not being able to repair such recent pinball. I hope a cure will be found by Stern asap.

From the schematics and boards I've eyeballed the SMD designs for pins don't seem radically different from the through-hole boards of yesteryear that can often be repaired with what we learned from radioshack kits growing up. I keep wondering when some of the new generation of SMD hobbyists will cash in and start offering troubleshooting/boardwork as a service. Replacement boards have been difficult/impossible to source reliably for so long it seems like even a "best-effort" basis would be acceptable to a lot of people at this point.

Sometimes surface mount components are easier than through-hole to replace sometimes as they're easier to remove with a hot air station. You run the risk of tearing pads or burning the board, but unless you have a socketed component, I've never found through-hole components easy to replace.

Truth.

People that think SMT is harder to rework than TH just lack the experience and/or tools. Removing a SO20 with hot air is generally a lot safer (and faster) than desoldering DIP20 chip. When its really dense mask with kapton tape. I was once scared to SMT stuff too until I started doing it and its not so bad.

It is all relative though some BGA stuff sucks though just like some Through hole designs can suck when boards are soldered together (gtb daughter board and things like that).

Just seeing and reading through this thread, crazy.

I grew up with through-hole and have done a fair bit of boardwork. SMD doesn't strike me as harder but I personally don't have the tools or practical experience. There's a huge community out there at this point who do and I just wonder when someone is going to set up a mail in troubleshoot/repair service to cash in on the growing population of people with dead node boards abandoned by stern.

Stern finally got back to me on my followup for the replacement rail that I've been waiting on for >1 year.

"Part# 515-1891-00 isn’t in stock in our inventory , we have stock in one of our off sights. We are doing inventory the first of the year so it will take us a couple of weeks to get this part into our stock."

I guess this is them telling me it will be filled soon, but I don't know why I've been waiting more than a year if it's sitting in some warehouse somewhere. Just send it!

I've been following the saga of that rail since we were first trying to figure out what was wrong with it in the maiden thread in the middle of 2021. I'm personally invested at this point and might have to throw a party whenever it finally resolves.

haha, I didn't realize anyone cared!
I am not even sure the new rail will fix 100% of the air balls since they've replaced the left one and I occasionally get an airball on that side still, even more so since I got the precision pinball flippers, but at this point it's more a matter of principle than anything. I just want the warranty to be filled! If I still get airballs after that I know it's 99% likely to be that my setup is not leveled correctly or something on my end rather than the rail being bad.

Do you know what's wrong with the node board ? I can help replace a chip if you know what the problem is.

Well my saga is over. I think it took 18 months but I got my Iron Maiden wireform. In fact I got a spare since they sent me the left one last year and it looks like they sent me both today.

I'm on the fence about this whole situation. If not having the replacement part had prevented me from playing the game I would have probably been turned off of owning pinball machines forever, but it didn't. I was able to keep playing while waiting for this part to come. I am also not the original owner of the machine and the machine is probably 5 years old at this point so the fact that they replaced the part without question is pretty nice.

I think Stern is generally a good company from the few dealings I've had with them but it seems like they are overwhelmed with volume they can't keep up with and they seem to be lean on staffing because the impression I got when e-mailing with them is that my e-mail was just one of thousands that a small team is trying to keep up with.

In the end I'm happy but if this had been a part that I absolutely needed to play the game I know I would have gone out of pocket to get it a year ago.