Non ghosting bulbs help prevent ghosting and not really flicker. Ghosting is where the bulb is supposed to be off but there a little current that slightly lights a led bulb. Non ghosting bulbs add a little resistance to prevent bulb from lighting on weak charges. Dimming is the fade effect in game or power saving mode in attract mode that led bulbs don't handle well and flicker.

Always hated the Borg ship in the back of Star Trek The Next Generation. So after many hours, I have made a replacement mod:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/borg-cube-upgrade-mod-to-star-trek-the-next-generation-sttng#post-3311654

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Incredible mod! I always hated that Borg ship.

Wow, they really upgraded the convention quality. Really wish I went this year and not the previous. I even saw they had ST pinball machines in the lobby. Thanks for the photos, wish I went...

Well... TBH; Creation events are all about separating you from your cash. While they extended to 5days... I kinda felt like they were stretching 4-ish days of "content" into 5days. I'm *want* to want to go to next year's STNG's 30th convention - I'm not sure I want to funnel more cash into Creation's wallet.

CBS / Paramount are definitely putting their marketing force behind this convention... and that's not a good thing. Case In Point: Creation cock-blocked any discussions about fan films in this convention. They actively prevented attendees from asking questions about fan films with the stage actors. It was funny because a few hours later WalterK actively discussed his Renegades work specifically in regards to how he didn't like the new guidelines and so they just stripped all ST references from the work. I don't know if it was in retaliation to Creations "new policy" or just him being candid with his thoughts.

It wasn't too long ago that Creation had "contests" for fan films or was it ST music videos. IDK. Regardless, this is one of the main reasons I don't want to support Creation with any more money.

They didn't have pinball machines in the lobby.
Pinball Arcade was there with a booth populated with a Stern Premium and a Williams STNG. Amazingly they both withstood the hordes of trekkies! They had a VR rig for the new stern arcade; but I didn't get a chance to check it out.

Oh I see, it was in the vender area.

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As for creation, I forget the guys name that organizes the convention. In my opinion him alone is capable of destroying the entire thing. I have gone to several Star Trek conventions, LA, SF and Vegas and he is a total dick. One of "many" examples, one of the staff made a mistake on something trivial and he lectured and yelled at him in front of the entire audience. I think his ego is under the impression that the convention is all about him.

yeah. Some people don't handle stress well. I don't have any specific knowledge of him... but I do understand that he needs support of CBS to make it "official". Just not happy with the way was handled this year.

To make matters worse; they're decision to support "Rio" - an off strip hotel is not good.
That hotel is RUN DOWN and is poorly maintained. Our floor (13) has the light fixtures rotting off the wall. Cue in the fact that atleast 3-4 elevators were non-operable (an apparently have been for years) is just stoopid. It's a damn casino and you can't maintain your property?

Given the week cost me north of 3k... I don't feel like a good ROI.

I think it was at the Rio when I went as well... Is it always at the RIO?

Yes. since it moved from the Hilton where the Experience used to be

Hello all -
I just found this little friend in my Star Trek Premium tonight - it looks like the vengeance drop target broke clean off. I'm a total idiot about tech stuff...can this be reattached, or do I need a new drop target? Anyone know the best place to source a new one if needed? Is it a simple or tricky bit of work to replace/repair? Any help would be much appreciated, as my buddy is totally addicted to this machine and will be miserable until I get it up and running again.

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That's the mezelmods drop target. Same thing happened to mine. I ended up pulling the lighted piece out from underneath as well and put the original back in. It's 3d printed material and done in such a way that doesn't hold up to the strest of the ball because of the horizontal material.

You can try and glue it. But i would put an original target back in. While you're buying it order a new catch and a blue spring as well. You may run into the wretched drop target issues with the replacement.

Ah, I forgot that was a modded version of the drop. Thanks for the tip - I may have the original drop still to put back on if I can find it.

Not my cup of tea...

ST miracle!...Sort of.

There's been a single half of a column on my ST's dmd toward the right side out for a couple months now. Was playing a 2 player game with my wife tonight and while playing she pointed it out and touched the column and it fixed itself. It lasted for a couple games and then crapped out again. I then pushed on the spot and it once again fixed.

So the question to you guys is: Is that column doomed, or can I take some action now to actually fix it?

Fun experience none the less. My wife thought she was a pin guru for a short while.

I've seen some references somewhere about identifying the column pin on the display and using some conductive silver "paint" to fix it.
Is this an STNG or a different game (like stern)?

If I were you I'd examine the display for cold solder joints in the area.

It's a Stern ST. I'll give it a proper look later today. Would be cool if I could fix it.

Spent the evening installing Cliffys on the new ST Pro. I've read posts saying that you have to take off the ramps on the left side to install the scoop protector. I managed to do it without removing the ramp. I Removed the screws along the left side of the pin, that gave me enough flex to work around the ramp. It was a pain in the neck, but it was possible to remove the shield plastic and scoop cover. The only problem is the screw holding the curved ball guide. None of my ratchets fit under the ramps and the angle was too much for a screwdriver. Took me awhile but I eventually figured out that I could get a socket onto the screw and then used an L shaped hex wrench to turn it. Managed to loosen it enough that I could install the scoop protector. Reverse the process and you're done.

ST Premium

new mod

Are you Stern ST owners putting Cliffy's switch slot protectors on your inlanes?

Where the ball drops from the ramp return? Absolutely...I noticed wear after the first few hundred games.

I find the Cliffy slot protectors pretty ugly and put mylar down on the ball inlane drops .

Yes. I put them on after someone posted a pic of wear at the drops.

Mine started looking a bit beat up so I put some mylar down. I bought the precut square ones and just cut them in half.

Started having some trouble with my ST premium today and it auto starting missions when starting a game. After hitting the start button, it will either start the first selected mission and wait for the ball to be plunged, or it will let you move one mission (either left or right) and then it selects that one and auto plunges. I checked the diagnostics and didn't see any alerts, but wasn't really sure where to start looking. Has anyone seen this before? Thanks!

I did. Put the pin in switch test mode and hit the pf with your fist looking for vibration induced switches.

Mine turned out to be a misaligned onto on the warp ramp

Yes, this is a classic example of the center drop target falling off the plastic shelf that holds said target in the upright position. This results in the auto plunge you describe.

The fix is easy but takes a little trial and error on each machine. You can find posts on it in this thread. I had the problem also...I'm a total newb and was able to rig up the fix.

Is your score still zero when this happens? Sounds like a switch is triggered making the game think the ball was plunged. Test all the switches and optos by hand. Bang around the playfield and see if that sets off a switch. I had one opto going bad that did this. Make sure the drop target is also functioning correctly in the test menu.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the suggestions! Jawjaw- the score sometimes is zero and sometimes isn't...it seems to be random.

So I put it in active switch test mode and banged on the playfield a bit and two switches seemed to go off/on in kind of a flicker pattern. One was bottom bumper which I adjusted the plastic around it a little and that seems to have gone away. The other one now is red target #3. Is that part of the drop target assembly or where should I look for that one? Seems that might be the culprit.

I'm going to say this again...it's the drop target. The problem is mechanical. The target is slipping off the shelf.

I'm guessing red target 3 is one of the red matter targets. Find it by pressing on them in test mode. Then check the gap on the leaf switch. It may be too close.

It took 3ish years, but I finally got to 5 Year Mission!

What a rush. Almost completed it as well.

Was on ball 3 with an EB from the Vengeance already secured. Had 3 modes left to go. Got to the last one, KB3 and drained. Completed KB3, and then the nerves really kicked in. Proceeded to brick the Vengeance shot to start 5YM at least 4-5 times. Got double dangered recovering one of the shots, but finally manged to put it home.

It's time to sip on a beverage to calm my nerves while I grin and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

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Nice! Did you play enough of it to get a feel for the rules?

Impressive, ectobar. I'm still trying to get to enterprise amok. I get the nerves thing, too, anytime I start getting close. Sure makes it tough.

5YM just seems like it's hit every shot 3 times. Think I just had the warp ramp left. Not sure if the shots reset or not after that.

Lost a ball and was down to single ball and the mode ended and was back into normal mode and almost immediately drained. Wish I would I have hung tough for another mode, curious to see if they are worth more points the second time around.

Was hard to keep my cool at that point though as I was pretty much already trying out my sweet 'made it to 5YM' dance moves.

When first setting out to get to EA, I think it's a good idea to abandon your normal routine. Aka, don't worry about points/combos. Take your time. Take it slow. Cradle up and just make the shots you need to move forward. Get some of the level 2 modes complete before you get to KM, that way once you complete KM, the remaining task doesn't seem too daunting.

The next episode of Star Trek: Continues is online:
https://vimeo.com/178685237

I rather enjoyed it... As is typical of most star trek episodes; it seemed to pull some likeness to the current climate here in America and shine a light on it.

I for one hope they continue to make episodes or find a way to work with CBS to continue the project.

Can someone tell me where to find a "Kelvin" ship mod??

Off topic sort of, Star Trek Online - the free to play mmo launched on Xbox one and ps4 if anyone is interested. I played it on pc for a while.

I don't normally watch fan productions, but these are unusually good. It actually feels like you're watching TOS. I wonder how they were able to get this online. I know they were basically finished with production when CBS laid down the hammer on fan films.

Documentary: For The Love Of Spock is now available for whoever kickstarted. I watched it last night, it was very well made and enjoyable/sad to watch.

For everyone else it is available the 9th: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fortheloveofspock/

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Like this:
http://pinball-mods.com/oscom/modifications-do-it-yourself-uss-kelvin-stadiumleds-p-8.html
Or did you mean a completed ship? I might have a prototype I could sell you if interested. Contact me via PM or via the website.

I'm just guessing; but they probably feel like they had the right people on board at CBS. Not sure.

Can someone please tell me if there is something between this plastic and the Alpha ramp on STTNG? There isn't on mine but it seems like there should be something there to support the ramp. Thanks in advance!

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I bought mine for like $7 on eBay, took less than ten min to mod it for my pin.

Picked up the Pinball Refinery pinblades and LED lighting kit at Pinfest and finally got around the installing them. Somewhat of a challenge to install the upper left standoff, but otherwise pretty simple project (maybe 30 minutes). I removed mirror blades for these and definitely like the effect. The LEDs only shine during Klingon multiball. It's very cool.

Here's some shots that should help anyone doing the install.

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Thank you,Irishbastard!!

I have the same configuration with the pinblades; I thought the purple led strips were a little too bright so I hooked them up to one of my PWM aux channels and dim them to 25% and 4% during normal and kmball respectively.
If you are interested in how I wired them in; let me know.

Sure, please post or pm me. Thanks. It is a bit bright of the room lights are off. Also does somewhat wash out the stock lasers. Thinking I need to upgrade to the bright laser mid

regarding stern star trek pro

So I've noticed that on the right ramp and right orbit shots the lights under the "combo" insert (the arrow under the insignia insert) are a lot dimmer than the rest of those inserts on my game. I had the playfield up today to do a flipper rebuild and was gonna swap some extra leds into those inserts and noticed that they are circuit board leds... are these replaceable or what is the best way to change these so they match the brightness of the rest of my game? or am i just cursed with dimmer inserts

This is a known issue and not unique to you. Somewhere in this fairly long thread, or perhaps a different thread, someone came up with a solution. I'm sorry I don't remember where, but you can probably search for it.