Flynnyfalcon I wonder if you could wire up your flipper coils hot straight off the rectifier board using some jumper wires. This would eliminate (or demonstrate) a bad / weak connector or solder joint. Did you first try to jump the e.o.s. switch as well to see if the flipper strength improves? Sorry if I missed everything you’ve tried.
On a side note, I’m thinking If your voltage is correct then you would need to test your current. Does anyone know how much current a flipper coil draws? If your current is low or “off” then I’d be looking for a connector fault. You might simply try holding one flipper in for a length of time and checking the wiring connections in that circuit for a hot spot. You find a hot spot, you’ve found a problem.

Flynnyfalcon Might wanna check the flipper relay on the SDB, reheat the solder joints and clean and inspect the switches for proper gap. Could switch the SDB to check if there is any difference. As far as swapping in another transformer because it has a higher amp rating is probably going to give you the same effect as running down to your basement and swapping one of the 20 amp circuit breakers for a 30 amp breaker and expecting the lights to be brighter. Up your voltage to 130 or more and your lights will definitely get brighter - and fail sooner. Coils on the other hand can probably take it. Just for fun you could always try swapping in a 1970’s era Bally bingo transformer and supply the coils with 50 volts and get ‘em slamming. You’d need a second transformer for the 12 volts and you’d have to convert the displays to LED. Might be fun though. You’re dealing with a combination of mechanical and electrical issues which will both need restored - flippers and connectors rebuilt. I can see we need a Mythbusters approach to this subject.

Chicago Coin and early Stern lockdown bars are not interchangeable. However, both the skin and the liner are. The studs are mounted at the same width but about 1/2” to the front on the CC so that they fit into the receiver directly over (on top of) the front of the cabinet like Gottlieb. The CC bar could be converted by relocating the studs about 1/2” forward.
Look at rhe early Stern bar on the left, you can see where Stern used the CC liner and the hole where CC placed the stud.

Early Stern Lockdown Bar (resized).jpeg

Here’s a better pic. The early Stern bar is on the bottom. Notice the hole about 1/2” to the top of the stud. That is where CC placed their stud. The Chicago Coin and early Stern receivers are not interchangeable and the CC receiver cannot be modified to work in an early Stern.

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Here’s the Chicago Coin Rail next to the early Stern. The Stern is on the bottom in the first pic and on the right in the second. The CC rail could absolutely be converted. Probably should have a machine shop do it though since a fixture would be needed to ensure proper fit.

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A07F65C4-0E67-487D-BBE3-4B25151B57AD (resized).jpeg

I'd be in for a Trident.

MMGB The probability is extremely high that you could fit an early Bally receiver and lockdown bar to your Stern Stars. Bally bars should be plentiful. The two catches mounted to the bottom of the playfield will likely have to be moved but that should be no big deal. The upside is that the rounded corners on the early Bally lockdown bars are more comfortable on the palms of your hands. Also, if you could locate a lockdown bar from early Sterns second version with the tabs such as one from a Meteor for example, the receiver is available new from Mantis.

Gott_Lieb Thanks for that info and the memory. I was a Penn Ray customer. Salesman’s name was Bob Lapinski. Funny story:
Back in the early ‘80’s a bar location I serviced was robbed. The thief or thieves took among other things some rolls of quarters. The next day at a nearby convenience store a local police officer watched some young boys slugging a video game with rolls of quarters. What caught his attention was they played so much that they had piled up a number of used quarter wrappers onto the top of the machine. He took them and called the bar owner who in turn called me to ask where I got them. I explained that my wrappers were printed “Penn Ray Sutra” and were not available locally but were special order. Boom, nailed them!

Have it TIG welded. Acetylene is also excellent if you know someone with the skill.

Aside from the standard expensive games like Quicksilver and Stargazer and to a lesser extent, Nine Ball and Seawitch I suggest:

Memory Lane because it has that one more game appeal all day long.
Stars and Trident are good games as they are and now both have new code available that raises their gameplay by deepening the rules. These three are underrated and fun IMO.

Put me in for one, please!

A 3” X 34” piece of white drain pipe from Home Depot works well. Glue a cap on the bottom and a threaded cap on top. I use
3” X 33” plus 1” because it holds exactly one gallon with an inch to spare and because Evaporust ain’t cheap and I want the whole gallon in there. Two legs fit in there at one time. In case anyone is interested, there are 231cubic inches in one gallon. So:
3.14 X (1.5 squared) X 33 divided by 231= 233
Almost perfectly one gallon.