Quoted from Classic_Stern:

OK. I am jumping in here. Stingray ROCKS!!!!! Like Stars.
Stargazer (09 roms), Nineball, Quicksilver are the cream of the crop.
Ali, Seawitch, Biggame, Gamatron, Ray, Stars, Cheetah, Cat, Galaxy (new rules) - 2nd tier
The rest below this. They are all great games and I have owned all of them. My current line up includes I think 9 of them.
Anyway Classic sterns are the best to hell with the rest. ROCK ON!!!!

Quoted from OTTOgd:

Ali - yep
Hot Hand - yep
Lightning - yep
Quicksilver - nope
Stingray - nope
Star Gazer - yep

Quoted from dothedoo:

I'm not a huge fan of Galaxy either, but I have to say the game is a lot of fun when you can't tear it up via bonus. When the game makes you work hard and a "good" score is 400K, that's when it's fun.

Quoted from Gott_Lieb:

Also, can you hear the GI relay click in solenoid test, and how many green wires are going to the GI relay.

Quoted from Gott_Lieb:

Also, can you hear the GI relay click in solenoid test, and how many green wires are going to the GI relay.

Quoted from Gott_Lieb:

Also, can you hear the GI relay click in solenoid test, and how many green wires are going to the GI relay.

Quoted from Gott_Lieb:

And that is why I asked about the connector.

Quoted from Classic_Stern:

This is the Galaxy I just Sold. It was upgraded to 7 digits, all new clear plastics, MPU200 flipper style and the coveted S-plastic. You can see the changes in post layout to make it much more difficult and with the butter inlanes it makes it flow like magic.
[quoted image]

Quoted from Classic_Stern:

D

Sorry haven't gotten back with you but what Cotton ; slochar said above. Now you can replace only the link, paw and make sure you use a plastic flipper for less weight in the MPU100 assembly and keep the old spring if it's loose. All the new springs do is add bounce with the new flipper links cause they are typically to strong of a "K" value. use old springs if you can. This will maximize flipper power along with changing the coil to an S450. Just make sure the flipper plate is firm on the field. I always fill in the holes with a dowel on all my restored games and retap every flipper plate screw so it's firm. This ensures solid performance over the life you will have the game.
For post configurations look at the field. The 2 feeding the flipper use larger diameter. So it's hard to go down X,Y the outpost is a black nub you use to hold on plastics. Force that over the post. This creates a rigid outlane post but doesn't metal on metal the ball. this make the game hard. Also the lane guide remove the solid edge into the center of the field. This helps create an extra hard game.
The 7 digit ROMS are on IPDB I think. You have to add 1 wire to the harness

Quoted from woody76:

are they bally flippers? I had bally on my big game and was causing terrible ball hop. There is actually considerable size difference in the early bally and early stern flippers.

Quoted from CaffeineSlug:

Answering the galaxy flipper questions:
- mechs are original ("type 1" style)
- it's possible they're bally bats. Owner said they were Stern replacements, but I'm not sure where they came from. The "type 2" replacements on my meteor are definitely smaller, but would only make up about half the difference.
- repositioning the entire mech seems like a good idea, I didn't know how much play was available there. Long-term I think the machine will eventually get a new set of mechs, so I might wait until then just to put fewer holes in the playfield.
- machine is on location so I won't see it for a few days (hopefully). I'll take more pics this weekend.

Quoted from Tsskinne:

Beehive looks to already have a prototype done so I would suspect they will be running them soon.

Quoted from Tsskinne:

They do.
https://www.beehivepinball.com/product/coming-soon
Good old fashion way of screen printing as well, scroll down you can see the test ones.

Quoted from bluespin:

Here are two more options:
Check gott_lieb website for lockdown bars and pm Jim if he doesn’t have one listed.
https://www.jtamusements.com/store/
Find someone with a similar type lockdown bar and pay someone to make the tabs missing from your bar and weld them in place. Then buy the missing screws from pinball Resource.
Put up an ad with what you’re looking for. I thinner all mpu100 pins used the same screw type bar, and all mpu200 pins used the slot type, but someone else can confirm this.

Quoted from Tsskinne:

As of today there is one more Star Gazer in the world! Anyone been keeping track of roughly how many of these have been built by people in the community now?[quoted image]

Quoted from Tsskinne:

Three drop target banks and apron will be your harder to find stuff. Flippers and pops are available from pinball life, as well as standups. Spinners were hard to find but I think have been remade now. I actually ordered the three on this machine from Germany a few years ago.

Quoted from play_pinball:

Really the hardest thing to find is a reasonably priced donor game (OR just an old transformer since repro cabs are now available bare).
greatwichjohn makes the playfields and backglasses.
I’m making one out of a condemned Hot Hand soon. Not the “correct” transformer but for a 2-flipper game with a clear coated playfield I have no concerns about how fast it will play.

Quoted from cottonm4:

I had that problem when I put my Big Game back together. It did not do it before the restore but did it after. A real PIA. Finally, the coil seemed to settle down and the launches got back to normal, mostly. I do get an occasional push back and then the ball gets "stuck" inside and won't roll on out.
What I did the other day was bend a hump in both sides of the launch "fork"? for lack of a better word. And then did not screw it down to the play field very tight.
It is hard to explain. PM me if you need to and I will pull my apron and point out just what I did.

Quoted from Mad_Dog_Coin_Op:

Hello all - I have been trying to find a solution for the old Stern apron decals since our only option died with Pinball Resescue going out of business. I called in a favor and I'll report back the results. Here is my newly powdercoated Seawitch apron. I just sent it off to a silkscreen contact I have to get the art silkscreened directly on the apron. Fingers crossed.
[quoted image]

Quoted from Quench:

The Weebly MPU board has jumpers to configure the clock speed. How have you got them set?

Quoted from Quench:

The SB300 sound board has it's own timer chip. I can't confirm but would be surprised if the CPU board clock speed had any effect.
Have you run the memory erase on the Alltek? Corrupt data in the NVRAM has been noted to cause different sounds on Meteor.
Also are you sure the issue isn't the ribbon cable or the sound board itself?

Quoted from SR230CC:

Sound board was recapped. New ribbon cable. I’ll try reset again.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Do you have the ribbon cables plugged in correctly?

Quoted from barakandl:

The cpu clock speed can make a minor difference in the way a stern SB300 sounds. I am running the nvram.weebly.com mpu at 0.895mhz which is almost exactly what the original stern MPU200 used. So that replacement vs original should not sound any different because of CPU clock. It looks like Alltek might be using 1mhz for stern mpu200 mode but I don't think you will notice much difference unless you are comparing side by side.
Curveball. I remember testing some soviet clone of the 6800, (CM601 maybe?), and it caused the SB300 sound different too. Not much, but swapping between a real MC6800 and the soviet one I could here a difference.

Quoted from barakandl:

15v is normal. When the sol driver board is connected expect the 12v to measure around 15-18vdc.
That resistor does look like it is cracked, or maybe that is just the bands. Already a replaced once as it doesn't look original. From memory, 2.2ohm 2w. Just a low ohm series resistor on the 12v coming into the sb300.

Quoted from FantasticPinball:

I know a lot of you are doing scratch builds and Re-bodies. I wanted to sell my Seawitch playfields with an option of offering a fully populated drop in replacement, potentially with the full kit to assemble the entire machine. I’ve reached out to a few people making wire harnesses and drop targets. Often the small run production costs on these parts makes the project seem unfeasible. If there is interest, we can put together a parts list and cost it out. Maybe a bulk buy of 100 full kits would make it feasible. Anyone want to take on the shopping list as a project?

Quoted from cottonm4:

Repro cabinets are available.
Repro back glasses are available.
Mantis makes the ball guides.
Mantis is making lockdown bar receivers.
Third Coast Pinball makes the wire harnesses.
Pinball Pimp makes cabinet stencils.
Legs, levelers, flipper buttons and all other various and sundry items are available.
Alltek and Weebly for circuit boards
====================================
The pinch points for scratch builds are:
1) Lockdown bars ( Stern now uses spring clips to attach the lockdown bars to the cabinet. No receiver would be needed. ).
2) Drop target cages/assemblies
3) Stern style coin doors. ( Since the target market would be for home machines, an empty coin door shell that accepts no coins would be all that is needed).
4) Aprons
5) Stern style shooter rods.
I think many of the suppliers for most of the items that are currently available are mostly one-man operations. The nightmare? A sure source of supply today could be gone tomorrow.

Quoted from bluespin:

Marcos buys 95% of their pop bumper caps from PBR and marks them up 50% or more. PBR also sells coils, sleeves, posts, hardware, shooter rods, etc. If you buy $100 or more from PBR you get a 10% discount, so I recommend comparing pricing from both companies.

Quoted from bigguybbr:

Sounds like my old lockdown receiver. If the tab is broken off it will swing.
[quoted image]

Quoted from hisokajp:

same here

Good thing Mantis make Stern repro now

Quoted from Tsskinne:

I just dropped off a 3-bank and a 4-bank to a guy to draw up in CAD and have reproduced as well for anyone looking for entire mechs they are in the works.

Quoted from greatwichjohn:

FYI: I am getting into harness production in 2022. Hit a wall with Bally until I source out stuff that is not in stock or not readily available. So I will start with Classic Stern harness in the head for games like Nugent or Dracula that are in the shop. Have no idea on costing, so wait until production is under way. No problem with wiring source, & I will sub another 24 pin connector used in the head. Dracula Head in the shop pictures & Nugent set up for play.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]

Quoted from cottonm4:

Shawn at Third Coast Pinball is already reproducing wire harnesses for Quicksilver, Star Gazer, and Seawitch.
He does great work.
He is busy. You may have to wait a little bit.
https://pinside.com/pinball/biz/directory/1180-third-coast-pinball
Good Luck.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Will this help you out? The right hand side is a little clipped, but all the lights are there. I can take another pic and see if I can get it a little better. I have attached some ruled tape to help with sizing.
[quoted image]

Quoted from cottonm4:

I don't know if this will mean anything to you, but when I did the displays for my Star Gazer build and made my own lampboard, I used the side-to-side adjusting Uno displays.
You still have to cut the hole for the displays but it is only to allow for the displays harness to be able to hook up. Basically, the displays hole only has to be large enough for the display harness to pass thru.

Quoted from gdonovan:

Stargazer would work just fine with the smaller transformer. I used one on Seawitch with 4 flippers and it performed flawless at Pinfest.
500 plus games in 48 hours!