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I just had to contact Stern support for the first time in a few years. I forgot how bad their service is. It's actually really upsetting how much they charge for these games and how little they're willing to do to fix issues. I'm canceling my GZ premium order. I've had enough stern for now.
Imagine if some people got together and started creating open-source eagle files for Stern PCBs where anyone could order boards and populate them and do their own run for hard to get parts.
Quoted from JStoltz:Been wondering about this for a while but hadn't been able to find anything conclusive via the search tool. This post is the closest I've come!
What would be the legality of reverse engineering, say, the #8/9 core node board (these being the most prevalent, from what I understand) and making the unpopulated PCBs (and the component BoM) available to the public?
What about the legality of an individual doing small runs of populated boards in their garage and selling them as a third party alternative to the unobtanium-but-official Stern boards?
My gut says "not legal." Does RottenDog (as an example) get by on their Bally/Williams/DE/Gottlieb/Stern Whitestar boards being quote unquote "redesigns of the originals?"
I guess I'm just surprised nobody's done this yet, and I'm assuming there's a good reason for that.
Do any of the chips on the node boards have software on them? I assume so as they update once in a while. In that case, is it even possible to recreate the node boards without the software? You can get all the parts and put them together, but how would you flash the necessary software?
Quoted from JStoltz:https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/520-7017-72D-Core-Node-Hall-3amp.pdf
Looks like the rev shown in the above schematic of the 520-7017-72D does contain an Arm based microcontroller. I dunno without digging in if you could read the flash memory from an official node board and flash it to an unofficial one. Guess it's also possible that the normal node board update process might just take care of it for you.. But again, dunno.
https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/general-purpose-mcus/lpc1300-arm-cortex-m3/entry-level-32-bit-microcontroller-mcu-based-on-arm-cortex-m3-core:LPC1313FHN33
Other than the LPC1313FN33, I'm not seeing anything else that looks like it would require programming. Just shift register ICs and MOSFETs, stuff like that.
[quoted image]
Could something like this work?
https://forum.arduino.cc/t/how-to-rip-code-off-an-arduino/683082/2
The atmega328p-au chip in the arduino uno is a 32 pin microcontroller. If you took the chip from a stern node board, could you rip the software this way? I have a 32 pin socket for programming atmegas. I've never tried ripping anything though... 
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.
Quoted from craif: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.
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