Ali
Stern Electronics, 1980
Big Game
Stern Electronics, 1980
Catacomb
Stern Electronics, 1981
Cheetah
Stern Electronics, 1980
Cosmic Princess
Stern Electronics, 1979
Dracula
Stern Electronics, 1979
Dragonfist
Stern Electronics, 1981
Flight 2000
Stern Electronics, 1980You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider thelaw.
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SG plus well but I don't think it's anywhere near worth the monies. They've been going for over 3 for quite awHile, the first high priced Stern from what I Remeber. (and by 3k I mean 4)
My guess would be Seawitch for 2k+ easy...and I never see them up. But I guess we know you don't see many of these come up.
Quoted from Whysnow:yeah, but I bet there would be a whole segment of the typical LE buyers that would buy it just because it is LE and has new art...
I don;t doubt people would buy it...but 500? Are you watching all the reviews and talk aboot what people like now? I don;t know if there are enough old school folks to make up for the people raging against no bash toy or ramps.
I wish they would try though
Quoted from DRDAVE:The wide body Sterns were hit and miss.
Great: Cheetah, Big Game, F2K
Not so great: Iron Maiden, Viper, Split Second
Too true. Split second, Maiden, free fall are all boring as shit... Viper is by far the worst.
Not usually a fan of replacing things to Classics but goddamn those OG metal light boards are the worst design ever. Got some ready to install in my Meteor and nine ball.
Tommy I think after putting in a shit ton of games my standing count of hitting Dragon fist spinner on the fly is still at zero. 
Quoted from semicolin:Which part do you need? The switch? The plastic star insert?
Actually now that I get it all together...I picked what maybe a willimms button but it appears to be very similar other than the round/octagonal bottom shaft (?) ...so I think all I need is the name to this type of washer clip on the end holding the bottom on and I can see if this will work.
20190705_173704 (resized).jpgQuoted from frunch:This is great info--thank you!
Another question about the bushings: does anyone know what lengths they are? I have a few different ones laying around and want to determine which i can use for my classic Stern's.
Shit I just measured my type 2 and cant remmeber off hand.
Type 1 I don't think you can buy anywhere?
Quoted from jkashani:Anyone have a PDF manual for Stern Nine Ball? If so can you please share. Thanks in advance.
https://www.ipdb.org/files/1678/Stern_1980_Nine_Ball_Manual.pdf
Quoted from cottonm4:Lawman, do you have a buffing wheel?
Yeah but it's an actual sticker covering. Haven't noticed it on other but my Stars has a literal sticker covering the metal. It's in pretty bad shape so after Evaporusting the stuff can be pulled off the metal 
If I'm repainting I could probably just wire wheel all the stuff off it was just weird to me when I saw it and wondered what the deal was.
Quoted from cottonm4:Can you take another pic from a little farther away to add some dimension? So I can see what part you are showing.
[quoted image]
Yeah these are the coin door trim pieces. You can see what I started with here, a real mess. So it looks likeit's peeling off like a paint layer, but it literally is stuck on and pulls like tape; Weird! The color looks more like a bally Flat iron than the hammered silver.
It's looking like a full wire brush and then repaint to me?
EDIT: This is after a 24 hour evaparust soak
20190427_221645 (resized).jpg20190726_002542 (resized).jpg20190726_002628 (resized).jpg20190726_002640 (resized).jpg
Quoted from cottonm4:I have a power oscillating tool and sanded all of my door parts down to bare metal and hit them immediately with the hammertone paint.
Heeeey I got that tool, always looking for a reason to use it 
Thanks so much!
Quoted from jkashani:I put leds in my inserts on my nine ball, hooked up the altek led driver board and attached the wire from the led board to a control lamp but I still am getting flicker? Compared it to my lightning with leds and I don’t think I I did anything wrong. Anyone have a similar issue? If someone had one that is working with leds can you advise as to where you hooked up the wire from the led board. Thank you
Swap the strings...are you sure it's the....fat wire I think?
Quoted from HHaase:Are all the flickering lamps on the same metal plate?
Appears the 7 & 8 (maybe 3) ball which I believe are diff plates...and 173K. Then throw in a 4 ball.
As great as Sterns are the plates are THE WORST thing in pinball...evar. If I hadn't replaced mine with LED boards I'd rather rip those things out and install sockets.
So, did you go in there and fiddle with them, un solder move the wire to the socket tit and see if they work then? So goddamn finicky.
Quoted from TractorDoc:If you saw this one, then you did indeed see a thread on disassembly/reassembly for a Stern Coin Door.
YES...there it is!
Quoted from HHaase:...
Unfortunately, since BGResto can't do mirrored glasses,...
He might be able to if you supply the mirrored backglass itself. Apparently the paint can be stripped off them and then new paint put on.
Quoted from grandy:I'm thinking to just replace everything with the 1" posts - is there any good reason not to do this?
Thank in advance.
Well if I'm hearing you correctly you might not have clearance for the plastics since the smaller posts go under them + a screw on top
Quoted from grandy:In general i like the plastics lower because then there are less "bare bulb in eye" moments.
Fair as I use LEDs, but will put incandescent in when it's in your sight line.
Maybe you're not being silly at all, maybe just try it and see. Anything that will take down the number of "Hey can someone tell me where the short posts go on my machine" is fine by me 
Be ready to maybe take a hit, literally, on your plastics though if they're lower. More of a chance they could get hit but I don;t watch games in super slow mo so no idea what it really looks like.
Quoted from cottonm4:There has to be a story on this. Speak!
My friend picked it up... And then I bought it from him!
So really not much of a story. I didn't even ask him anything I just needed it in my
Hands.
Gonna need some work, but hey it's got a real bagatelle gate so that's something
Quoted from Gott_Lieb:Does your friend have the initials MW?
Yeah that's the one.
Funny how I'm not one Facebook so I didn't know he picked one up....and none of my other pinball chums told me aboot it even though they know I've been looking for a long time.
Oh you pinball rascals!
Quoted from cottonm4:So that's it? It sort of fell into your lap? No endless miles of highway hypnosis? No thrill of the chase? No getting bent over on the price?
Shit, he even delivered it
I'd say i love it when that happens but this might be the only time so it's a little new.
Quoted from cottonm4:I have a tip for you...
Thanks for the tip!
I was thinking of leaving that switch plate off completely, and attaching the switches to it first, and then the plate (with the switches) on to the already attached drop housing?
I'm aboot to look at my pics to see if it's possible and which one goes where as the switch plates are not all the same...possibly for no reason whom knows.
Edit : of course the switch plated have to be screwed from the inside of the housing... Oh tricky stern
Quoted from cottonm4:Tricky Stern is right.
I am in the slow process ( I just love spending money) of installing molex connectors for the switches and coils for the drop targets. That way, you just unplug the DT assembly at the molex and undo the four screws that hold the DTs to the play field.
I'm considering that for the bumpers for sure. All you'd need for the drops is the switch plate to be able to thread in from the back. Unscrew the plate, 4 screws to the bottom PF and done? EDIT: oh duh the coil...
Anyway, we all do this for the love of doing it. Like...I can't wait to find out what I did wrong here and have to redo all of them 
it's always something.
Quoted from Flynnyfalcon:How big is your tumbler??
Mines not big, but if I could go back I would get the biggest one possible.
For all the pieces you see of mine I got do in a smaller unit, but it took multiple loads which means week or 2 and that dust gets everywhere.
Thats inside... If you can do it outside No worries.
I got the smaller harbor freight one originally, put trough pieces in it and ripped holes in it right off the bat; seemed cheap.
Quoted from getadam:Redoing my Nine Ball cabinet and am getting the Pinball Pimp stencils. Would love advice on paint type and colors to use. Thanks a bunch.
The orange is straight rustolium "Real Orange" as far as I'm concerned. Found in any store
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079KHPDYW/ref=twister_B07N9F6HL2
I'd love to see how it comes out. My Nine Ball is good but some other Sterns I could do.
Quoted from Whridlsoncestood:Anyone have a pair of yellow pop bumper caps for a catacomb. No idea what these go to but they don’t belong on here.[quoted image]
Quoted from play_pinball:What are y'all using to scrub those things so shiny?
For anything that will fit a tumbler is the best way to go IMO.
For the bigger stuff I use a wire wheel.
Non shiny/chrome pieces anyway 
Novus 2 for those
I used to use walnut then corn to finish, then someone said you didn't need both so went with just walnut and it was perfect. But yes it is dusty as hell, and I am in the process of building a hood to put over it to dampen sound and control dust. Buuuut if corn works just as well and is less dusty that could be the way to go!
Good info guys.
Quoted from Isochronic_Frost:What size is recommended for pinball parts?
If you are going the Harbor Freight route, I would get the bigger one. The 5lb one isn;t good for fitting bigger parts like drop target housing pieces, it will end up ripping a hole in the side
I wonder has anyone used this one? This is kind of the shape of the one I use now and is a decent size. Of course you have to do multiple loads, you can probabl;y fit everything at once in a 18lbs
Quoted from frunch:That looks great! I've never done any touch up with before, but I'm considering giving it a shot. Out to curiosity, what kind of paint did you use? Any specific brand or variety you can recommend?
Acrylics, Ceatex opaque is a good for your standard colors, but you can get real close to matches with Americana brand, of course there are like a million colors.
You biggest/easiest diff'rence you can make with classic sterns is re-blacking you key lines (limes). There going to be blown out on probably any game you encounter. It's easy to do & makes a huge diff'rence.
For brushes, I love these ones you can find at Michaels...when it reopens. They aren't with the hobby brushes at my store, they are with the real acrylic brushes. A nice 2/0 is small and super good quailty
https://www.michaels.com/artists-loft-roma-round-brush/M10213645.html?dwvar_M10213645_size=4
Quoted from Redketchup:You have to put clearcoat over it to be sure the color match
Only if you're clear coating it after.
You could be waxing, mylar, can clear etc
EDIT: Oh sorry I didn't see this was aboot the cabinet.
But yes I can clear the cab
Quoted from woody76:project Nine Ball Value?
Really depends on how bad the wood is in the middle. But starting @ 2k and going up would be easy these days...er.. before Corvis anyway.
Quoted from Tyamry:I'm looking for some opinions on what you guys think this Stars is worth.
Wrong spinners & drops to start. Art 'touch up's' in the middle? Csnt see on phone nut thatvisnt shocking. 1000-1200?
Quoted from A_Bord:Good advice. I never get a good sense of what can be done to keep the sanded/polished metal from corroding again. Is wax enough?
Quoted from cottonm4:A light coat of rattle can clear will help.
It's needed for sure
Quoted from chuckwurt:Zero interest from me. I think these things are horrible.
X1000.
First thing I do is rip them out and throw them away. Better to put effort into the over 2" tophat posts Pinballlife never has in stock.
Quoted from northvibe:My Galaxy came without the bee hive plunger. I have a new bee hive but what hardware and what’s the install look like for that? Not sure if I’m missing something else but it doesn’t seem intuitive.
It s just 2 screws from the cabinet....as long as you have the metal piece for the cabinet they go through
Guys, remember those posts probably aren't always going to work for tall starposts, only short ones. And a lot of these you plan to swap out will be tall, ie sling area.
Of course you can switch to the smaller ones...which I had to do with Catacomb until i get some longer posts in
Quoted from play_pinball:I replaced a bunch of the carriage bolts with t-nuts and 2” post studs from PBL on one of my F2K’s. No issue on either 1” or 1-3/16” posts.
Hmmm...yeah I'm starting to wonder myself.
I I'm justvreallt hung uk on the fact I couldn't the 2" to work on Catacomb , but that was CPR...wonder if there's a diff'rence?
Edit: or simpler I just wish I could remember wtf I did with the other 3 Sterns I own man losing your memory sucks.
Quoted from Mr_Positive:Picked up a Wild Fyre yesterday in hopes of converting it it to a Star Gazer. After looking it over, it seems much too nice to sacrifice. Looking for advice!!
Well convert to Stargazer if you're trying to make monies on it and that's your goal.
It's waaaaaaaaay low on the "best players" (Yancy's masturbation aside) list of Stern games to be spending thousands on.
Quoted from Isochronic_Frost:Posted this in the Seawitch club but cross posting because I find this very interesting.
Anyone know what’s up with these very different plastic posts?
[quoted image][quoted image]
Ones a tall and ones a short, often used on games of this era. Those aren't Stern posts though that I know of, but I've never owned a Seawitch.
Tall can often go holding up the plastics, with the shorts underneath....or all talls like slings.
Quoted from dothedoo:[quoted image]
Shit man I aint got time for a tiny Dremel tampons....wire wheel and be done!
Quoted from northvibe:and the far right is the wood screw post that looks like a bally part but out of stock, so it could either go with the DE version or the gottlieb one? thoughts?
I just use these for tophat replacement https://www.pinballlife.com/machine-poststud-530-5010-02.html
Quoted from Mathazar:BTW - with this drop target business behind me now, here's the next mod I'm considering doing on my Meteor:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-2021-new-code-for-stern-meteor-1979/page/6#post-6742784
Blah.
Quoted from sethbenjamin:Seeing as you are already in the territory of replacing the coil anyway, why not treat your machine to some brand new flippers...
I don't even know what's up with pinballife pricing, but the entire assembly is $3 more than a rebuild kit so why the hell not
https://www.pinballlife.com/classic-stern-flipper-rebuild-kit-left-and-right-flippers.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/full-flipper-assembly-for-classic-stern-machines-031980-to-021982.html
Quoted from Goforth:I think I'm tightening down the bolts that hold the flipper shaft pretty tight, but maybe they just need to be tighter.
1. Crank those bad boys down Adam, I mean really tighten them more think you would.
2. Are they new flipper bats? If reusing the old ones, they can have their old wear points in the metal and can "walk" toward the old holes. Sometimes swapping them will fix it.
Quoted from TxJay:Anyone happen to have the handle for a lock down bar receiver for an early SS Stern?
Quoted from cottonm4:... I don'y know if he will just sell a handle but it never hurts to ask.
TxJay can you post back if you are able to get just that peace please? I need one as well.
Quoted from wolffcub:OOPS! I think the blue and the white need to be moved over one space to the left but you already know that.
I don't think so....I didn't even tough that connector before a rebuild so I'm sure I jibered something else up.
Quoted from TheLaw:Guys, I dont usually post things like this, but I MAY have made an error somewhere
Well I have feature lamps & GI if I remove either of their fuses from the rectifier board...so they must be crossed somewhere. Unsoldering the GI power to Gi areas didn't fix it so more work on the way.
Well is that the coil windings around the lower X coil?!
If it keeps blowing the 1 amp, you got a coil (that coil looks funky), diode. Ir transistor problem.
Do you mean the one thats still hooked up doesn't work in coil test?
Quoted from Quench:Any chance the EOS switch screws are too long and are digging/cutting into the flipper coil?
HA! Just had that with my FG!
For the record it's symptoms were it wouldn't activate the flipper unless you were holding the EOS closed, even though it was closed with continuity.
Quoted from TheLaw:Guys, I dont usually post things like this, but I MAY have made an error somewhere
[quoted image]
OK...I'm getting slightly annoyed. Controlled lights are GI without a fuse, then they pop back to Controlled with fuse.
Crossed up somewhere but can't figure it out. 3rd Rectifier board I've tried so that doesn't seem to be it.
Quoted from cottonm4:What happens if you pull the fuse for the GI lights and then do the controlled fuse action you did in your video?
Huh, what a smart question.
It doesn't light any of the bottom lamps at all, but does light all the controlled lamps in the middle
Quoted from TheLaw:Huh, what a smart question.
It doesn't light any of the bottom lamps at all, but does light all the controlled lamps in the middle
That's what I assume...so I took all the wires off and I can't find it under the PF. It's somewhere...as the Yoppsicles grounds have continuity with the Cabinet ground braid; which I don;t think they should.
For even more info you may or may not care aboot it started like this.
1. Power up game, Controlled Lamps fuse blows but all lamps work normally (GI & CL)
2. All Lamps work normally with either CL or GI fused, so crossed wire somewhere you'd think so I...
3. (Only GI fused still) Started removing Red GI power connections under PF to isolate until they were all gone and no more GI but CL working correctly.
4. So started removing Blue CL connections under PF (still only the GI fused) until I got down to the bottom, and with only 2 (maybe 3) CL connections the 2 sections turned into this hybrid mix of always on like GI, but also pulsing like CL.
So...wtf
Well I could def try a test running a new faux CL wire to the first string of lights from Rectifier and back to see if that works.
Lord knows on a problem like this it will end up being a grounding issue not involving blue wire and that will be a soul crusher somehow the CL are grounded to the cab ground, and that ain't right
After a give a quick swap out light board and triple check that's not it
Quoted from cottonm4:The flippers are not fused. Are they working? They draw power directly from the rectifier board with the blue-white wire.
Nope...nothin
Edit: let me reboot everything and take get back later.
I see I have the classic rookie 8 pin to 9 pin screw up on J1, so this should take me back to orginal coils working but still burning up on J1.
1 issue at a time 
Thanks for the help Cotton
Edit2: back on track at least. Re-connectored and now it's "just" an over heating GI issue, all coils, flippers, switches, displays working. So just some old fashioned leg work tracking that down.
Quoted from killerrobots:I have a Meteor and was wondering what the options were for putting it on freeplay? I did search the thread but didn't see anything pop out.
I think Barankandi boards have a free play Stern option right?
https://nvram.weebly.com/
Quoted from killerrobots:What if I stacked a switch on top of the start button switch and tied it to the coin mech. switch such that it triggers a credit right before a new game?
Quoted from bluespin:What if you set the replay value in the menu to 10,000 points? That will award a free game every time that you play.
Low replay is even easier really.
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:As for outstanding issues I've got several lamps out, so I'll probably repin both lamp connectors to see where that takes me.
It will lead you to shitty old lamp sockets, like everything in the thread
Cheapest shit possible.
Yoppsicles take care of that
Quoted from chuckwurt:SOLVED: the wood screw from underneath the playfield for the GI bulb was contacting the post screw from the right side of the spinner bracket causing a short. Moved screw and all is good!
Always the weirdest dumb thing!
Quoted from PantherCityPins:Just double checking before I choose powder coat colors. Correct for a Stern Freefall is the darker grey same as Bally? Gunmetal grey? I’ve seen a couple pictures with a lighter grey but those could be replacements?
Strangely there are 2 pics on IPDB with the Bally color but I would GUESS those are incorrect? Possible Freefall was diff'rent but I wouldn't know why and would go with the standard Hammering personally.
Quoted from rcbrown316:... Looking for opinions on yoppsicles and yoppsicles vs the ones pinball life has:
https://www.pinballlife.com/classic-bally-stern-insert-led-pcb.html
Both work great and the same
Quoted from play_pinball:I think I have a couple extra from Pinball Rescue but here are the Marco ones, which I feel like are cheaper than the used to be?! https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=stern+coin+door+decal
If you're not ordering more stuff from Marco and don't wanna pay $10 shipping on a sticker, send me a PM and I can dig up one of mine to resell.
Is that the good one though? I remember there was a high quality one and a bad one
Quoted from play_pinball:Not sure what you mean. Pinball Rescue (Australia) had great quality printing so maybe it was another one or did you mean one of their two designs was bad? I could dig them out and look later.
I'll check as well. I thought the Marco one was just a sticker and not really foil or something. And maybe someone in this thread made a good one we all bought...tractordoc? I'll check when I can
Quoted from play_pinball:Oh that’s the credit button sticker, not the logo decals. Yeah Pinball Rescue’s credit button decals were nice quality foil. And the logo decals were very slightly more “correct” in their letter kerning / aspect ratio than the Marco ones. Honestly I used a couple Marco logo decals and for $3.99 they’re not bad imo. I never notice the difference between the games in my gameroom, even side by side. You really have to get close.
Oh I apologize; getting everything confused! 
Quoted from snyper2099:... Let's not pretend that a classic Stern was manufactured any better than other pinball makers at the time.
They are manufactured worse, hands down. I dont know anyone that doesn't think this.
Quoted from sullivcd40:I meant alcohol with me is more effective than novus 2 with me, just for the sake of clarity.
Yes of course. ME is sandpaper, that's why it works so well. I'm with you, use it all the time. The ONLY thing I use carefully.
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Ann Arbor, MI
