luckily my dad is an amazing welder, he did a weld on the ball kickout on my LOTR that looks better and stronger than factory done, so clean. The ramps will be easy for him, I am truly fortunate.

I just got my playfield back from Chris Hutchins, looks amazing...really looking forward to getting this plus some additional upgrades onto my Stargate...

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looks AMAZING!!!!

If you want to sell your old pf once you do the swap, PLEASE let me know!

actually, can you PLEASE scan that pf before installing?

Not really sure you would want it...it is pretty roygh.

I would likely take it (assuming the price is reasonable).

Almost anything can be restored

SG was my 3rd game and I have been looking for a restorable pf for years now. I bought one form overseas that was so badly burnt on the back side that it was not salvagable. It also had a wierd factory mylar that could not be removed without pealing all the art.

I was lucky enough to find a populated sample playfield...had some minor wear but nothing drastic. When I get the old one out I will send you some photos...probably sometime next year as I still have a couple machines in work.

sounds great and thanks!

From a cradle, is your left flipper strong enough to make it to the top of the right ramp?
Mine only works if the ball is coming down the inlane. This makes it hard to spell STARGATE or get combos.

From a cradle? yes...all flippers can make all ramp shots easily.

Alright, that means it's worth it to install my spare flipper coil.
I would use the right ramp as a loop pass more often if the flipper was stronger.
I find a post pass from the left to the right does not work very well on a Stargate.

Can you give me your technique for cradle separation on a Stargate?
When I have two balls cradled on a flipper and only want to send one ball in play with precision, I often screw up and lose one of the balls.

I am no expert but when I am cradling 2 balls on one side and want to move a ball to the opposite flipper, I will try to lightly bounce the outer ball up and tip it with the flipper tip to the other flipper...there may be other techniques.

I would actually really appreciate this too. There are no high quality playfield scans of Stargate at the moment, and I would love to have one. Still, it's fine if you can't, just letting you know it would be really helpful.

That's the problem, when I try to lightly tap the flipper, it still goes all the way up and it launches the ball out of control.

Hmmm...not sure what to tell you, as I said, I am not an expert. How would I go about scanning the playfield? There were some touch ups made...

You can unpopulate the top side in the area of interest and use a flatbed scanner.
I tried to use a wand scanner once without unpopulating and that did not work well.

My problem where sometimes after exiting Eye of Ra mode the VUKs and Sarcophagus don't eject balls seems to have gone away. I did two random things -tighten a loose earth ground wire in the head to the shield behind all the cards and updated from GPROM 3 to 5. May just be coincidence or waiting to happen again.

I had to make two new ball guides. That was a lot easier than I expected it to be. 3/32 Stainless steel welding rod works perfectly.

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Hello Group,

i am back and have now time to start my new mods. e.g. the Glidercraft with leds and if i get another playfield also an wormholeffect in the playfield.

But my main aim are still my bad stargate ring. Do someone have a nice scan from that area?
Best
Jürgen

Cool Stargate mods would be dope! I wish someone would produce an LED version of the backbox rope light too (preferably in cool white or blue).

I became a member yesterday, picked up a Stargate (its heavy!!!) and it looks quite good, it has some wear on certain places but will cover it with mylar or a playfield protector and maybe touch up with some paint.

It worked when we looked at the machine before pickup, but when turning it on at its destination I just got garbled dmd. This is apparently due to 5volt, so will have to measure and probably adjust that knob. But before I can do that.... I need to enter the backbox. The key has been gone for many years apparently. Any idea if this is a standard gottlieb type of backbox key? (see picture below). Or might it be best to just drill it out and buy a new lock?

Its also "amusing" that the main playfield is covered in mylar, but not the crucial places like where the ball is dropped in the inlane from ramps

A good top shop with new rubbers, bulbs and cleaning will make it good =)

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Welcome to the club! I don't know about the keys, but you sure don't have to drill it out! There's just two screws to remove the lock mechanism. They've got a special head, but many bit sets include it.

I'm sitting on a player SG. Just got it in a trade. It needs shopped. I have no desire to get into this project. Plays great, cabinet looks good. Playfield looks like ass. Might consider letting it go.

Edenecho Welcome to the club! Other than the wear spots it looks like the game should clean up pretty nice. The lock looks like it's in the unlocked position... Have you tried removing the translite even though you don't have the key? Maybe some locks are just oriented differently from mine, I don't know. Either way, DavidMP is right, if you have the right tool you can just remove the lock without drilling it.

Hmm havent actually tried removing it. But I guess ill try just pry out those two screws, ordering a new lock with key from PBR anyways Will post back with some updates when I have some.

Also, anyone know if a playfield protector for this game has been made?

If those are security head screws holding the lock plate just go get a security screw bits, a set doesn't cost much. If you try to pry them out you'll be real sorry real fast. Use the proper tools and they'll screw right out.

I need some help. I have started going through all the mechanisms under the playfield. I am pulling everything off one at a time to clean, adjust, new sleeves... but I have ran into a few issues. There are two wires that have pulled out and I do not know where they go. I suspect they attach to the connecter in the picture just behind them, but I am not sure.

The other issue I am having is finding where the other connector is for the upper left VUK opto. I was not paying attention when I disconnected it and I am unable to find the corresponding connector. All the other connectors I have undone had corresponding stickers.

I would appreciate any help.

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Attached is picture of the connector showing all the wires going in. Hope this helps.

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Brunsie thank you. That shows exactly what I needed for that connector. Any insites on the connector for the top left VUK? I cannot seem to find where I disconnected it from.

campbellut I've looked and cannot find an A9P23 connector in that area. Looking at the schematics I wasn't able to find the opto sensor connector numbers - they just all say "A9J()" like it might be different between machines but I'm no expert at reading these schematics yet. Trying to trace cables, mine seem to be 14, 17, 19, and 20 - no 23. My guess is your connector goes to the pyramid trough - anything connected to it now?

Brunsie I figured it out last night. it connected to 17. I think it was labeled incorrectly. Everything is working now and put back together. I am finally able to play it. Thanks for your help. I would have gotten it working without knowing were the wired went.

There is an annoying bug in my Stargate. Sometimes when I'm in multiball with two balls left in play and I lose one ball, the machine turns the flippers off which makes me lose the last ball too. It could be a problem with my outhole switch and trough, but it never happens when there are 3 balls in play, so I'm leaning towards a software bug instead. I have Rev3 ROMs. Is this fixed in Rev5?

Sounds like a trough switch.

Never happens in 3 Ball is because the machine probably thinks you have 1 ball in play (even though you have 2) after one drains.

When you have two, and drain one, it thinks you have zero.

A trough switch is probably indicating a ball is there when it's not.

That's a good theory. I'll check my trough. Thanks.

EDIT: I'm confused, because if I have two balls and the machine thinks I only have one ball, then it would end the multiball mode but that's not what is happening. I now agree this is likely a trough switch problem, but I think the trouble starts when the second to last ball enters the trough, not earlier.

Hello all. I have a nice stargate Im thinking of getting rid of. Very nice condition, error free. Any thoughts on value?. Im on the fence with this game. Actually enjoy it and.hate to sell . I haven't seen many nice examples for.sale. any thoughts?

Judging by how you write, you seem to expect a decent amount for it. I like gottliebs, but....its still a gottlieb

Im in the club as of last night. Been wanting this one for a while now.

Welcome! I have leds from comet on the way, so next week probably i will do a full top shop and clean, change rubbers and leds, add pf protector and rebuild flippers/add decals. Planning to film the tear down process so hopefully it will be useful for others also.

I finally figured it out. Since the flipper is so steep on Stargate, the normal resting position of two cradled balls is one in the in-line and one on the flipper. If you try cradle separation a la PAPA tutorial from this position it does not work because the inner ball does not clear the slingshot. You first have to tap the flipper a little bit to make the outer ball go in the in-line and come back ending up with two balls on the flipper. In this position, it's easy to do cradle separation.

The same caveat applies to separate 3 balls cradled on the same flipper. Make sure only one ball is in the in-lane and two balls are on the flipper, then you can attempt separation.

WTH? Is this a NOS?!

Has anyone tried to paint the pyramid gold? On mine someone must have used very strong cleaner to clean the pyramid, taking off some of the original finish.The gold color under the clear STARGATE decal still shows the original color. I've sprayed test panels with gold and cleared, tried Tamiya gold leaf, slightly too light, Krylon gold leaf, no metallic, and two other brands of their gold leaf. Not even close.
I would think someone has done this before...Anybody?
I don't want to have brass plated, I imagine that would be costly...

I'd strip it down to bare metal and electroplate it with gold. Not too hard to do, and you can't get any better than that!

Thank you for the reply. How do you electroplate with gold? I haven't done anything with the pyramid yet, I sprayed test panels on white poster board using different brands of gold leaf, then clear over that. Nothing looked good enough.

They sell plating kits. You may have to plate with another metal first, like nickel. Might be cheaper to find a pro to do it for you, unless you enjoy this kind of thing.

Had the game for a few days. Noticed that this game is VERY dark in a lot of areas. I plan to resolve this with some illuminated posts and extra LED strips in certain areas. Or I will get pinstadium. Anyone got pics of their game with pinstadium yet?

If the Pinstadium guys made one for this game I bet it would look great.

I have a really nice Stargate for sale $2450. Open to trades. Located in NJ.

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Looks to be in really nice condition, should sell fast.