Quick question.

What is width of backbox?

More than 28 inches and it will be a struggle to fit in line up!

Time to sell some games

Most classic Stern are 30"

Wow, thanks.

That means if I find this title, I need a plan B..... sneak it into the lounge

Finally got a chance to sand and polish the playfield. This might be the very last warm day here for some time so got some outdoor pictures. First a picture with a reflection of my poor apple tree. Then a picture of the morning sunlight through the inserts...

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Oh Dear God...I totally forgot about this part...

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Your play field looks deep enough to go swimming in. Nice work. How many coats of clear did you shoot?

I think its a bit of an illusion. What you are probably seeing is the effect of wet sanding at the very end - This caused the edges of every single hole to swell slightly. Prior to wet sanding that playfield was dead flat. Now it looks a bit wavy, like those "glazed donut" playfields. Makes me a bit sad
Edit: Three coats (with very aggressive 400 grit sanding between each coat) just to level the playfield. Another two coats (required to completely bury the new rub-on transfers). Then one last coat. I stuck with 400 grit between coats because my last project (using 800 grit) had issues with adhesion (clear separating / ghosting around playfield posts). Unfortunately the low grit scratched the transfers in a few spots but I don't expect to see the clear separating this time.

I don't understand. Are you saying that I am looking at a play field that is wet with water? Like a flood of water? Of course, I cannot see that. I just see a nice looking play field.

By the time you get all the parts on and the play field glass on, some of the flaws you see will disappear.

Just finished repopulating (and re-soldering) the entire bottom of the playfield. Wow, so many broken light socket wires - just from moving the harness into a tray and then back again! The light sockets also feel "loose" so I imagine I will be back resoldering these soon.

I am hoping that I will be playing Quicksilver by next weekend but I won't count my chickens quite yet.

That looks sensational, If my quicksilver comes out that good I will be over the moon. Great work.

The playfield looks awesome! Glad the transfer decals worked out for you!

I know that I only ever created the graphic file for the text, but I know you did another set for the insert art too.
If you'd be open to sharing those, I'm certain some of the guys here would benefit.

I should send it to you first for review! Your set was 100% perfect. Mine...not so much. It was the best I could do with a 1 week trial of Adobe Illustrator! I will see if I can post it tonight- it's still on my PC at home.

OK, here is a PDF of the set of rub-on transfers that I put together during my one week trial with adobe illustrator. It will import into CorelDraw or Illustrator as "curves" not as text.
I can send anybody the ai file if they want to improve on this set. For example, if someone wants to add the Joos signature, reduce the width of the keylines etc...

Please keep in mind that it's not 100% perfect. I didn't have a scanner at the time so I wasn't able to use the original playfield as a layer nor was able to scan and replicate the signature. It does work fine if you are replacing all your inserts.

Thanks!

Black Text for Inserts - Final Outlines.pdf

WOW, those look sweet! I've got both a KISS and a Seawitch in the queue for restoration. Any chance you would be willing to share these as well??

-Jay

Holy Smokes! I mean, acrid, copious amounts of smoke! Who knew that a tiny little SCR could make that big of a stink!

SCR # Q52 on the Lamp Driver board burned up when I started the machine last night.
Am I correct in suspecting that a short in one of the lamp sockets has caused this?

According to the schematic, Q52 is connected to two plugs:
J2 pin 5 (connected to the light under the K insert)
J3 pin 13 - but the schematic doesn't say where this wire goes. I will try and trace it out today.

In the meantime, are there any other reasons why this tiny little SCR would blow?

EDIT: OK, I traced the wired and it goes back to the rectifier board (J3 pin 3). This is labelled as a LDA board return. It's connected to pins 1&2 (GI return) and pin 4 (another LDA board return). So this remains a mystery...
I guess I will just replace the SCR and just give each socket a thorough check before I power on again. I hope 5064's are the same as 5060's cause I don't seem to have any 5060's...

I have had that happen to a Gottlieb Haunted House.
Sometimes the SCR just self-terminates it's self and takes its self out of the silicone gene pool.

Just glad it was still in the garage when it blew, there was a steady stream of nasty-smelling smoke streaming out of the top of the machine. My wife would have freaked! I still can't believe that tiny component could cause so much smoke!

That's referred to as "letting the magic smoke out"
I hate that stink... and it tends to linger around for a while. If the sucker burned up that bad I'd have to think it's definitely a short somewhere.

I replaced the SCR and seems OK now. Unfortunately I didn't figure out what was wrong. For now, just happy to have it back in a "steady state" so I can start soldering those playfield sockets. I swear, 80% of the sockets are loose and flaky as heck! Going to take a lot of work to get this machine where I want it to be.

why not just changing the socket for brand new one... I alway did this when i swap a playfeild!

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So far every socket that I soldered is working great.
But brand new sockets would definitely look a whole lot better than these oxidized turds.

EDIT:. Here is an example, albeit a bit sloppy example, of what I'm doing. Oxidation on "teet"and "housing" is removed where solder will be applied. Then just soldered as per "normal". I am using little pigtails / jumpers this time so there is more flexibility with wire positioning after a bulb is inserted. I will definitely consider replacing these sockets in the Spring but I am in a bit of a hurry to get the machine out of the garage and into the house. It's -13 celsius outside and I told my wife she will have her parking spot back by the end of the weekend! I also have to change to winter tires and the tire rack is directly above Quicksilver! Hopefully Quicksilver will be indoors by the end of the day!

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OMG

Does anybody know what flipper coils and slingshot coils should be in Quicksilver? The old Stern parts manual has different coils listed than the coils that were actually inside my machine. I am thinking that an operator just changed to some " close enough" coils but wanted to check. Just wondering if the manual is correct or not.

I've created some nice paper work files recently.
There is a Self Test Display Numbers chart and a Switch assignments chart (dip switches).
Look on my website www.inkochnito.nl and scroll down to "Stern Electronics".
There you will find the game name with all the files.

Good luck with your restauration work!

Peter
www.inkochnito.nl

Inspiration for the back glass from 1978?
1978 HM (resized).jpg

Sometimes in a light bulb the fillament breaks and makes contact again at a shorter place.
This is in some way a short and takes out the SCR.

J3-13 should not be connected to anything...

The 2N5060 and 2N5064 are equal and can be used.
The 2N5064 has a higher voltage rating.

Peter
www.inkochnito.nl

It surely looks that way.
It's also mentioned in the ipdb.
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1895

Go with the Stern manual for Quicksilver.

The flipper coils (lower coils with regards to Seawitch and Bag Game) are J-25-475-34-4500.

QS, Seawitch, and Dragonfist sling coils are J-27-1500. Big Game is J-27-1700. ( I have not learned or understand the numbering system to know which coils are "hotter" ).

J-27-1500 has less resistance than J-27-1700. Thus, J-27-1500 is "hotter" than J-27-1700.

All polished up

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Beautiful job Tom!

Someday I hope to find one I can afford to buy

Seawitch is No. 85 and Stargazer is No. 98. Catacomb is not far away at No. 113.

It's a grin-maker.

Please add me to the list, I am sending a note to Lee as well.

That looks so nice! Awesome job! The inserts (and everything else) look perfect, did you use waterslides or rub on transfers? Did you redo the playfield text as well? How did you deal with the chasms left by the old triangular inserts? That, to me, was my biggest PIA. You should be very proud.

Finally got my machine out of the cold garage and into the house. Got it setup (mostly). Still lots to do like repin all connectors, rebuild rectifier board, finish apron, possibly repaint cabinet next year, etc... but nice to have it playable again.

Just a quick shout out to the previous owner (Mark B.) here in Edmonton. He gave me this copy of Heavy Metal magazine along with the machine. Thinking of framing it (or a scan of it) and putting it on the wall beside the machine.

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I was lucky enough that the text was still intact and cleaned up pretty good. I did use water slides, I also doubled them up to prevent any light saturation seeing that I plan on using leds in the inserts. As for the triangle I have to replace mine because they were unsavable. I when with the starburst which were a little over sized. With a little sanding they fit nice and snug.

Anybody have a replacement source for these caps? I'm replacing all the stand ups and want new caps on them

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5 for $4.89 on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/TCP-503-CERAMIC-05UF-80-20-PIECES/dp/B01N5O2FJT/ref=sr_1_9

Ouch, at 5 bucks a piece I might just use the old ones

The 0.047uF are fine for replacing the 0.05uF capacitors. 15 cents each. I've got to order some too, several broken or missing on my machine.

https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CCD-0.047uF-50V&cat=27

Guys I'm kicking around cabinet color "upgrades, the silver I'm going to go with a silver flake style. But for the black I was throwing as round a possible flip flop style paint. What's your guys opinions?

Or maybe a little studdle

Are you sure those will work? The volts are different

Yes they will work perfectly.

Spendy!
I just went down to my local electrical supply/surplus store and bought a bag of 100 for roughly $0.15 a piece (Canadian funds too!).

You don't need that 100v rating.
Buy these: http://www.taydaelectronics.com/10-x-0-047uf-50v-ceramic-disc-capacitor-pkg-of-10.html
They will work for all your switch capacitance needs.

Also, while you're at it. Get 1n4007 diodes.
They are a good all-around diode. Works well for both switches and coils.