(Topic ID: 118228)

Stern Galaxy - Story and pictures...

By Triumvirat73

9 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 6 posts
  • 2 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 8 years ago by Triguy
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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  • Galaxy Stern Electronics, 1980

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#1 9 years ago

First of all, HI AGAIN EVERYONE!! It's been over a year since I've been active here so it feels great to be back! Life has been a whirlwind on my end for the last year or so and, sadly, my pinball addiction has taken a rather unwanted backseat for longer than I'd like to admit. Guess it's time to catch up and get back into the action!

Anyway... A few months back I was contacted locally by a fella with his family Galaxy in dire need of refreshing and he asked me if I could help. I told him that my time was unfortunately very limited at that point but if he was interested in leaving it with me I'd be happy to pick away at it when the opportunities permitted. He was happy to do so as it was just collecting dust in his downstairs family room so I had him bring it on by and put it in my work area.

Well, he brought the machine over and we went through the laundry list of issues with it. First off, it was DOA. No lights, no sound, no anything. He said he'd had it for many years and his daughters used to love playing it with they were young but it started developing problems and it had been unplayable for several years. He wanted to get it back up and running so his daughters, now young women, could enjoy playing it again. Fair enough!

Upon cursory inspection I noticed that the rectifier board was fried, there were cracked solder joints, there were countless BAD hacks and splices throughout (clearly the machine had spent many years on location somewhere before becoming a home machine), blown fuses galore, and it was just generally in pretty rough shape. I won't bore you all with the many, many gremlins that surfaced throughout the course of the "refreshing", but suffice to say it was a bit of a challenge to bring back to life!

Anyhoo, thankfully my schedule has gotten back to normal recently and I've been able to spend the time needed to bring it back to it's former glory so I thought I'd share the story and a few pics of the game, present day.

First off, I tore the playfield right down and did couple of deep cleans and double-waxes. Shaved the shooter lane and relocated the playfield underside brackets as they were pulling out and sagging. I installed all new playfield plastics, rubbers, complete LED replacement, fuses, new rectifier board, switch cleaning/adjustments, decal replacements, did some light cabinet retouching, and general cleaning and shopping throughout.

Fast forward to this afternoon... This nice fella, his wife, and his daughters, come by to see the machine fired up and to see if there's anything else they'd like done before arranging pick-up to bring the beloved family game back home. The daughters, now in their teens, hadn't seen the game lit up and playable in years so I was a bit nervous about it meeting their expectations. I bring them down to the shop, dim the lights, and fire the game up... Well, they just flipped out! They were SO excited to see it back up and running! And to see the machine all cleaned up and blinged out with LEDs was something really special for them. The looks of awe on their faces really made my day. The girls played the hell out of it while I went over everything that was done to the game with the parents, showed them the manual I printed out for them, and explained how to change the game settings, make adjustments, cleaning tips, etc. It really warmed my heart, and re-invigorated my enthusiasm for these amazing machines to see this game being so genuinely enjoyed.

The moral of this (long winded) story is that this "hobby" is clearly more imprinted in my DNA than I'd ever thought, and even if you take a break from the madness, try and find some time to fall in love with it all over again!

Enough with the blathering, and on to the pics... I apologize in advance for the low-light pictures, I know they aren't ideal. I'll snap some new pictures tomorrow in proper lighting before they come by to pick it up and bring it back home...

Thanks all for taking the time to read and, once again, it's great to be back!

Cheers,
Greg

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#2 9 years ago

Here's a few more shots I took just before they arrive to pick it up.

These are supposed to be much brighter but apparently I have a thing or two to learn about photography.

Cheers,
Greg

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2 weeks later
#4 9 years ago
Quoted from Triguy:

What is the red button on the front of the cabinet?

It is a button that was installed by the previous-previous owner that added credits for home-use. It was far from a clean install, but it serves it purpose.

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