When I saw that Stars in the back of the truck, I thought it was in a fire from all the smoke. Just a long life in
bar.... I'll have to get a can of the crazy clean!

All this Seawitch talk is making me think that I would trade my non-working complete Seawitch project in *way* better than average shape for a working, complete good condition Stars plus cash. If anyone is interested.

Mike

I have two Seawitches, and zero Stars, so that's where my mind is at right now. Would also consider pretty much any other classic Stern that I don't have (I have Nine Ball, Big Game, and Seawitch(X2)).

Is there really that noticeable of a difference with the bats? I've substituted Bally bats in a pinch (TPF when one of my flippers cracked in half) and didn't feel any difference in gameplay.

Makes sense. The flipper that disintegrated on mine was an upper flipper on Big Game, so no problems with blocking drains. Plus, there was flipper hop everywhere anyway, and I just thought it was a part of the game.

Hey gang-

Just picked up a Stingray and the left slingshot arm is broken in half at the head. Any recommended replacements that might work? I'm assuming original parts are no longer available. Thanks-

Mike

Hey gang - Having a problem with my Seawitch's coin door. When I put a coin in the slot, the switch registers in switch test, but doesn't add a credit to the game. Any ideas?

Mike

No sound at all, and all dip switches set to one coin per play. Drop a coin in switch test registers coins in either of the two outside slots (middle slot is dollar coin) and the displays show the appropriate switch activating (switch 01 or switch 3). Curious.

Brilliant! That did the trick. Looks like there was a bunch of trash in the memory from moving over to NVRAM. Interesting. Thanks a bunch.

Yep, I wrote the guy, but can't pick up for a while, so we'll see what happens. I'd like to try to bring this one back working.

All this talk of scratch build Stargazers has 1) made me want to try this at some point in my life and 2) have a frank self-assessment and realize I don't currently have the skill set to even attempt this. But 3) I'll probably try it at some point. Anyone have a general parts/mech list so I can start the accumulation phase?

Mike

Can you spray paint from a rattle can? Yes
Can you solder? Yes
Can you solder well? No
Are you comfortable with lots of hand tools? Yes
What kind of tools do you currently have? Literally everything.

What parts do you currently have? Very little. I have a second Seawitch, but not really interested in turning that into the donor game: still have hope to bring that back from the dead, and possibly use sale proceeds to fund Stargazer parts.

Is there a particular donor game that makes the most sense price wise? I'm picking up a project meteor, but have a wild opinion that I can get it back up and running. But a cheap project may make more sense for the conversion than going some mad route of new cabinet, all new parts, etc.

Finally, any idea how much this might run assuming you have a project game lying around? Ballpark in my head is around $2500 in parts (playfield, backglass, harness, boards, wireforms, stencils) plus another $500 in miscellaneous parts. Plus the donor game and about $10K in labor.

So my question is does this make sense now that Yoppsicles can be had? The boards for Meteor are $44, the sockets I would assume are ~$44, and the bulbs (if you go LED) probably another $22. I'd probably just go the Yopp route and be done with it for ~$40 total.

Anyone have a high resolution image of the Stern Electronics Inc. logo? Looking to get a banner for an upcoming pinball show. Thanks-

Mike

Anyone know if there is a source for Stern ball trough switches? I just broke the arm off one of mine on Nine Ball, which is a depressing feeling.

Looking for a lockdown bar for a star pinball machine. Picked up a beater game and it come with one. Thanks

Trying to rebuild the chimes on a Stern Stars and was wondering if anyone knows what kind of parts I need to rebuild it. Will Bally grommets/eyelets work or do I need something else? Steve Young said he got bad feedback on a set he sent out, so trying to piece together what I might need.

Hey gang -

Having an annoying problem with my Stars. Left bank upon reset is having two of the three drop targets go back up, but one out of 6 or 7 times, the middle target doesn't reset. The small problem is that this instantly awards 500 points to the player. The bigger issue is it occasionally screws up the game's ball state logic and advances to the next ball if the trough kickout is slow or takes multiple attempts to kick out from the trough. Want to use this in a tournament so it's problematic.

Any ideas? Not sure what to do about the ledge if that is the issue.

Thanks

Mike

Targets are new, spring is new: coil stop is loose at the head where it is "riveted" into the stop, but the large bore part (A-378) is unavailable from most vendors - waiting on Action Pinball to return from vacation to see if he has one. It is an aluminum sleeve and I'll get some nylon replacements but I don't have the larger bore size on hand. Will let everyone know when those parts are replaced and if any difference is noted. Thanks.