(Topic ID: 220286)

Reach for the Stars!.. Stern Stars club.. Space travelers welcome.

By o-din

5 years ago


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  • Stars Stern Electronics, 1978

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There are 576 posts in this topic. You are on page 4 of 12.
#151 4 years ago

Super cool. I’ve never seen a NOS stars playfield. Congratulations. You find a game and never let it go.

#152 4 years ago
Quoted from animesuperj:

Scanning stuff is super easy when it's already torn apart and available, lol.
Playfield scans located here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1x7jam91bOeGHctZYC7Wn1b7qJ6kwdaNL?usp=sharing

@animesuperj, these scans are excellent. Much less lens distortion than I am used to seeing from stitching playfield images together from a flatbed. Can I ask what scanner you are using? There were only two scans in the batch that I had to push and pull a bit to get aligned.

#153 4 years ago
Quoted from A_Bord:

animesuperj, these scans are excellent. Much less lens distortion than I am used to seeing from stitching playfield images together from a flatbed. Can I ask what scanner you are using? There were only two scans in the batch that I had to push and pull a bit to get aligned.

Awesome, glad they're usable! I have a HP Scanjet 4670. It's a see-through scanner, so it's easy to see where you need to overlap. I also extend it about an inch over the edge of the field. As long as that space is consistent, the scans are generally aligned pretty well. I just eyeballed all of the spacing, so glad to hear they were easy to stitch together!

#154 4 years ago
Quoted from DK:

I’m looking for a nice condition Stars. Doesn’t have to be working; just aesthetically nice. I’ll pay a fair price and donate to pinside. Thanks!

Reaching for the stars bump!

#155 4 years ago

animesuperj has done us a solid. We're going to have custom, one-off, fair-use, non-copyright infringing hardtops in no time.
Full_Playfield_Working1_small.pngFull_Playfield_Working1_small.png

WARNING: This is a work in progress. Do not attempt to use this low-resolution image for playfield repair.

#156 4 years ago

So who has a Pantone color guide to match the colors on their playfield? I saw in earlier posts that peeps were matching Krylon rattle cans, but that's not quite good enough for the playfield.

#157 4 years ago
Quoted from pavel_one:

So who has a Pantone color guide to match the colors on their playfield? I saw in earlier posts that peeps were matching Krylon rattle cans, but that's not quite good enough for the playfield.

I'd agree. I used krylon for the cabinet colors, I know they weren't going to match playfield. I'm happy with how it turned out, but I'd imagine we'd need to color match better for the field. Some white areas were repainted (under the plastics) and some of the red touched up. I'm sure there's been some other fading on it, as well.

#158 4 years ago

Wow! I've never seen a stars playfield where the white was actually a nice bright white before.

#159 4 years ago
Quoted from animesuperj:

Awesome, glad they're usable! I have a HP Scanjet 4670. It's a see-through scanner, so it's easy to see where you need to overlap. I also extend it about an inch over the edge of the field. As long as that space is consistent, the scans are generally aligned pretty well. I just eyeballed all of the spacing, so glad to hear they were easy to stitch together!

I have one of those scanners as well. I made a story pole out of a scrap 1x2 board for scanning that I clamp to the playfield with marks on where to align the scanner for each scan, makes it easy to get nice straight alignment.

and thanks for the scan.

#160 4 years ago

So how does a hardtop get made? Would love one for this game!

#161 4 years ago

More progress! Head hadn't been on the game in over a year. Pretty happy with how things are coming along. Should just be a lot of focusing on the playfield soon.

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#162 4 years ago

Happy to join the club!
Need to replace the rectifier board and bring it back to life.
The playfield / plastics seem good, just needs some cleaning.
Should be fun, can’t wait

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#163 4 years ago

I am so happy to discover this board! Apologies for a long first post, and if there’s a better place to go, please let me know.

I just came into a Stars machine – it was my parents', and they are moving and gave it to me. About 5 years ago it was non-functional, but I found them a repair person who got it running again. Now that it’s in my house, I want to give it a bit of TLC. I’ve been scouring the internet for answers and I tend to see conflicting answers, so I figured I’d ask for advice right from the best source – other Stars owners! I’ve done some basic stuff – replacing burnt bulbs, replacing the rubber, but I have a few questions still:

-Cleaning the playfield. I’ve seen just about every answer out there, from Novus to Naphtha to other things. Seems everyone has a different opinion. My question – what should I use? The playfield is original, and a bit worn (some exposed wood especially near the bonus lights where paint faded).

-Drop targets. When the repair people worked on it five years ago, they put in new drop targets. These targets have a “hood” on the top, unlike the originals. Now, when there’s a solid direct hit on the targets, they don’t drop – I guess they just “bounce” off the rubber behind the targets (or maybe the ball is staying caught on the hood) and they stay up. Any guesses on solutions? I’ve seen advice like replacing the springs, but they seem fine, (they’re 1 inch long – is that right? I don’t know the proper length and can’t seem to find the answer.) Don’t know what else to do here.

-Second drop target issue – when the drop targets “reset”, sometimes one or two of the targets immediately drop again. How would I go about fixing this?

-Fixtures that won’t light. There are a couple of fixtures that won’t light regardless of trying to replace the bulb. Do I need to replace the light fixture? If so, how does one do that? It looks like soldering might be required – yikes!

-Paint/refurbishing. This is probably beyond my wheelhouse/skill level. Any recommendations if I want to completely refinish the playfield? It would need paint no doubt. This is probably a job for someone else, though!

Thanks for any help you can offer. Excited to join the family of Stars owners!

#164 4 years ago
Quoted from cb1234:

-Cleaning the playfield. I’ve seen just about every answer out there, from Novus to Naphtha to other things. Seems everyone has a different opinion. My question – what should I use? The playfield is original, and a bit worn (some exposed wood especially near the bonus lights where paint faded).

Stars came with a super tough topcoat, so I gave mine the alcohol and magic eraser treatment to take out the dirt and ball swirls, then novus 2 to polish it and then Blitz wax.

Aftermarket drop targets that have been available suck as they should not have the hood and they are too flexible.

However Swinks has come up with an alternative and decals are available.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/32ZWWGUAM/classic-stern-upgraded-drop-target-13a-11-rib

If you have lights that don't work in the GI they are usually the sockets, which can sometimes be cleaned or manipulated to work or just replaced, controlled lamps for inserts are usually a trasistor on the lamp board.

#165 4 years ago
Quoted from cb1234:

-Cleaning the playfield. I’ve seen just about every answer out there, from Novus to Naphtha to other things. Seems everyone has a different opinion. My question – what should I use? The playfield is original, and a bit worn (some exposed wood especially near the bonus lights where paint faded).

The enemy of good is better. Clean gently. Then wax with a carnauba based wax. I would use novus 2 maybe once but I would accept a little ground in dirt. The more aggressive you are the more paint you will remove.

Quoted from cb1234:

-Drop targets. When the repair people worked on it five years ago, they put in new drop targets. These targets have a “hood” on the top, unlike the originals. Now, when there’s a solid direct hit on the targets, they don’t drop – I guess they just “bounce” off the rubber behind the targets (or maybe the ball is staying caught on the hood) and they stay up. Any guesses on solutions? I’ve seen advice like replacing the springs, but they seem fine, (they’re 1 inch long – is that right? I don’t know the proper length and can’t seem to find the answer.) Don’t know what else to do here.

I can't speak for Stars with the hooded drop targets, but they usually function OK even if they are not "correct". Hard to tell what is up without pics. So do the drop targets with the hood act noticeably different?

-Second drop target issue – Likely a spring issue. The spring holds the target forward and when it is hit it gets "unhooked" and falls. If it doesn't stay up there is probably a problem with the spring tension. You could cut a little length of the spring and bend it so you can reattach it and see if that works. I would go for 4-5 coils to start.

For the Fixtures that won’t light. -Soldering is not too bad. If you don't like soldering you really won't like the other things that can go wrong.

For bulbs that won't light it is either the socket, the wiring (rare), the connection between the board and the wire, or a problem on the board itself.
If you have a good bulb in there and put it on lamp test and then wiggle the bulb and socket you can usually see if you can get the bulb to light even for a second. If it does your problem is on the socket. If it doesn't light at all I like to jumper that socket to a working socket to see if it then lights (take a piece of wire and hold it to another controlled light that is lit where the colored wire connects on each socket). If it does light then your problem is not the socket, it is not getting power as when it got power it works.
There are fixes to make a socket work again if that is the problem (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nics-american-pinball-tour-aka-im-coming-to-fix-your-games/page/14#post-3805597) or you can just replace the socket. I also find that if I am feeling lazy sometimes just adding extra solder to the bulb end itself will make the connection tighter.
If the problem is a connection on the board you should look at the schematics https://www.ipdb.org/files/2366/Stern_1978_Stars_Manual.pdf and then wiggle that wire at the board. sometimes that will show you that that is a flaky connection. If so you are probably trying to re-pin that connector.
The problem could also be on the board itself, but start at the socket and work back.

-Paint/refurbishing. - This is better left to a professional or do a lot of reading on it. Often times it is better to leave it alone. The enemy of good is better! Most people prefer a slightly worn playfield to a poorly touched up one.

#166 4 years ago
Quoted from TKDalumni:

So how does a hardtop get made? Would love one for this game!

I'm having some made up using .030 PET-G. Save for any copyright infringement complaints, I will let the extras go for cost, somewhere near $100 plus shipping. I'll let you know how it turns out.

#167 4 years ago

I am again requesting anyone with a decent, unfaded Stars playfield and the ability to match Pantone colors, please take a minute and give the codes for the RED, YELLOW, ORANGE and BLUE. That would be wicked cool of you.

#168 4 years ago
Quoted from pavel_one:

I'm having some made up using .030 PET-G. I'll let you know how it turns out.

That's awesome! Hope they turn out! I'd be interested in one if there's any extras!

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#169 4 years ago

Sweet! That'd be badass on the hard tops I'd take one off your hands.

#170 4 years ago

o-din and QuietEarp - thanks for the advice! I did a very gentle cleaning and a carnauba waxing, - it doesn't look grimy any more and the ball moves smoothly - that's good enough for me!

I managed to get all the important lights working, so that's good.

As far as the drop targets - I installed new springs - it helped the "auto drop when resetting" issue. Still happens, but rarely. Also seemed to help the targets drop more often with a direct hard hit, but it's still not perfect. I'm debating purchasing the 3D printed original-style targets without the hood that o-din linked to - has anyone bought these? I'm hesitant to drop $60+ on six of these unless I'm confident they'll fix the issue!

#171 4 years ago

What’s everyone’s preferred setting for the 100k roaming shot after all stars are collected?

I have my game set to award 100k as many times as you can hit the shot.

#172 4 years ago

Same for mine.

#173 4 years ago
Quoted from pavel_one:

I am again requesting anyone with a decent, unfaded Stars playfield and the ability to match Pantone colors, please take a minute and give the codes for the RED, YELLOW, ORANGE and BLUE. That would be wicked cool of you.

All PANTONE solid coated:

Blue: PANTONE 647 C
Orange: PANTONE 1595 C
Yellow: PANTONE 7404 C
Red: PANTONE 1795 C

#174 4 years ago

100k repeatable. It's the most fun I think.

#175 4 years ago
Quoted from chubtoad13:

What’s everyone’s preferred setting for the 100k roaming shot after all stars are collected?
I have my game set to award 100k as many times as you can hit the shot.

Mine is set to award a Special (replay), as in factory setting and what it says on the playfield for that roaming shot.

#176 4 years ago
Quoted from A_Bord:

All PANTONE solid coated:
Blue: PANTONE 647 C
Orange: PANTONE 1595 C
Yellow: PANTONE 7404 C
Red: PANTONE 1795 C

Wicked! Thanks much.

3 weeks later
#177 3 years ago

Pinball Fan no doubt

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#178 3 years ago

Hey! I have a Stars project pin I am going through. I admit I am a noob at this so Im asking for a little help. I replaced the MPU and Solenoid boards with the Alltek ones. When I turn the machine it shows the over voltage light on the MPU so nothing boots up. When I took the solenoid board out I had a wire that was soldered to CR20. I traced it back to being spliced to this yellow wire that looks like it went into J3. Anyone have any idea of where this yellow wire should go? I don't see it on my wiring diagrams anywhere that shows where it should connect. Thanks

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3 weeks later
#179 3 years ago

http://ikehamill.com/2020/03/21/replacing-the-m6800-with-an-arduino-nano/

Ran across this project for adding additional rules for Stars. Had anybody tried this out?

#180 3 years ago
Quoted from 8bitrobo:

http://ikehamill.com/2020/03/21/replacing-the-m6800-with-an-arduino-nano/

Ran across this project for adding additional rules for Stars. Had anybody tried this out?

The author also has a Pinside tech thread on it:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/replacing-the-m6800-in-a-stern-mpu100-with-an-arduino

#181 3 years ago
Quoted from 8bitrobo:

http://ikehamill.com/2020/03/21/replacing-the-m6800-with-an-arduino-nano/
Ran across this project for adding additional rules for Stars. Had anybody tried this out?

Why change the rules of an already perfect game?

#182 3 years ago

Finally got the game back together and playing. A couple things to iron out after the restore - but nothing (hopefully) overly complicated. Mostly seems to eb switch adjustments, maybe replacing some light sockets. The chimes aren't.....chiming? The coils are firing, but the plunger/tip isn't actually hitting the chime. Wondering if I put them in upside-down. One or two of the displays are missing digits, so have to look into that. It was doing that before I torn it down, so no change, which is a plus. BUT - given all that - it's assembled and I could play a game again!

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#183 3 years ago

My first pinball, purchased in 1988.... the only one to stay in my collection for 10+ years.

My guess is that line in the middle of the playfield running lenght wise (in the middle) was from factory. Been there since day 1 of me owning it.

Would love a hardtop overlay. This game deserves it!

but then i would want the new backglass from CPR also...

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#184 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballsteph:

Would love a hardtop overlay. This game deserves it!

You'd have a much easier time just touching up the paint, as far as Stars' go that's in pretty damn good shape. Overlay might be overkill.
Yellow is the only touchy part, the red & black are super easy. So is the orange although doesn't look like you need any.

#185 3 years ago
Quoted from DK:

Reaching for the stars bump!

Shame-less bump

#186 3 years ago

Never had a ball get stuck there before...

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#187 3 years ago
Quoted from chubtoad13:

Never had a ball get stuck there before...
[quoted image]

haha....so THAT'S why people even out cupped inserts

#188 3 years ago

Anyone think STARS is better than Quicksilver?

Trying to figure out whether to abandon QS search and go for one of these.

#189 3 years ago
Quoted from Shapeshifter:

Anyone think STARS is better than Quicksilver?
Trying to figure out whether to abandon QS search and go for one of these.

I don’t think thats an even comparison but keep looking for both

#190 3 years ago
Quoted from Shapeshifter:

Anyone think STARS is better than Quicksilver?
Trying to figure out whether to abandon QS search and go for one of these.

Well you can pick up a Stars cheap as you save up for Quicksilver

#191 3 years ago

I really enjoy Stars. This comes from someone who owns nine ball, meteor,and a seawitch as well as stars. I put Stars right up there with those. I think itll be the next classic stern to go up in value.

Mike

#192 3 years ago
Quoted from Shapeshifter:

Anyone think STARS is better than Quicksilver?
Trying to figure out whether to abandon QS search and go for one of these.

I love my Stars and don’t know why there is so much hype on QS. Maybe I don’t know the game well but when I play it at league, it doesn’t strike me as one of the top classic Sterns. Just my opinion though!

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#193 3 years ago
Quoted from spandol:

I love my Stars and don’t know why there is so much hype on QS. Maybe I don’t know the game well but when I play it at league, it doesn’t strike me as one of the top classic Sterns. Just my opinion though![quoted image]

Beautiful Stars!

#194 3 years ago
Quoted from spandol:

I love my Stars and don’t know why there is so much hype on QS. Maybe I don’t know the game well but when I play it at league, it doesn’t strike me as one of the top classic Sterns. Just my opinion though![quoted image]

It's got a sexy alien lady. Pin heads love sexy alien ladies.

#195 3 years ago
Quoted from chubtoad13:

Beautiful Stars!

Thanks! Finished the restore not long ago.

#196 3 years ago

That looks incredible. Great job.

Quoted from spandol:

Thanks! Finished the restore not long ago.

1 week later
#198 3 years ago

The demand is Fathom like!!! Hahaha

2 weeks later
#199 3 years ago

I FOUND ONE! Yay! Thanks to a local that really put the net out and get me one

#200 3 years ago

I’ve looked at videos and I’ve looked at the photos here. Are the Advance Bonus When Lit rollovers just never lit?

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