Wow. Well, good luck to anyone buying this overpriced garbage. Hoping a modder can build a better, correctly-priced version. Damn. Stern has hit new lows consistently.

Has anyone seen any decals or anything made to dress up the base of this topper yet?

I am sure I can make something. ANY Ideas would be helpful to what people want. I can make decal inserts, custom graphics or maybe something cut from acrylic as a front faceplate. Is that workable heat vent in the front middle? Chuck

It's been a month that Stern has had my topper (#202) that doesn't work and still nothing. Is everyone waiting this long for them to fix something so simple. BTW, my R2 did nothing when plugged in, it only lit up.

Yes indeed

Stern has had my topper for a second attempt at repair for a couple weeks now. When I first got it the head was offset to one side and was rubbing on the body when it turned. Upon opening it after I received it back from repair it looked exactly the same - like nothing was done. I'm told I'll get a replacement this time but no eta on when. It this one has problems I'll be returning and done with Stern accessories.

It showed up in the mail today looking as lopsided at it did the last two times I sent it back. I'm not even putting it on the game this time. I have asked for a refund and am contemplating cancelling my Beatles topper order.

that's pretty sad. I would contact stern directly and express your displeasure. at these prices, not only should it have worked the first time, but that's really rubbing your face in it when they can't get it corrected after 2 attempts.

and that being said, we, as consumers need to start standing up and letting these companies know that they need to make things right or face the consequences of losing our business. price increases need to be justified (at least partially) with quality increases as well.

You really shouldn’t be contemplating at this point. Jmho.

They finally shipped it yesterday...hopefully they fixed it unlike the others in this thread.

It really sucks what you've gone through with your SW topper, and I can understand why you would want to buy any more toppers from Stern. But, the Beatles topper has not had any of the issues that the SW topper did, probably because it has no moving parts. Unlike the SW topper, it also significantly contributes to game play as it can be difficult to know how many loops you are away from Beatlemania without the topper. Beatles toppers were unobtainium for the past few months before Stern did the recent small run so I wouldn't count on them being available indefinitely.

I have the same problem that drjeff112 had...motor just doesn’t move. Makes sounds, lights up, motor doesn’t turn or even test. WTF Stern?!?

Wife got this for me as a Christmas present and it just arrived last week. Haven't played it much but with the 2 games I've had time to play, it seems to be operating 100%.

C’mon Wacky, you disagree?

I bought my SW topper from Hemispheres pinball. He said he opens every SW topper from Stern and checks them for the known issues, most of which are listed here and makes sure they work as they should. Mine has shipped and is supposed to be here Saturday. I will post the results. Modfather, decals or acrylics to accent the topper would be amazing

Clearly the margins are good at this price but that's crazy. How shit is the quality that you have to open every single product before you have confidence to give it to a customer. Also how over priced is this thing that they can spend how ever long it takes to open it, inspect it, set it up, test it, then repackage and just eat that cost. He has to be eating at least an hour labour on ever item.

Yes but he really is trying to do right by his customers and he said the flip side is that he doesn’t have to worry about returns. I would buy from him again, if all goes well with my topper.

Yeah I can't fault him at all sounds like a great distributor, it's the product that would concern me.

Got my Topper today! I highly recommend that if you want one, you buy it from Hemisphere’s
Pinball. Mine works perfect and looks perfect. He opens each topper and checks them all out and performs any corrections that have been mentioned here. I took a closeup video of it working and installed but it won’t let me attach it to this post.

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Unbelievable. Reading all these posts with defective units at this price point and they don't even test the "repair" just blows my mind. Thank god they don't make any medical instruments....

got mine after waiting 3 months, broken and head will not turn

Just curious - Your pic does not show the 4 bright white lights that shine up through the oval openings that light up R2D2. (see comparison pics) Was that just a camera glitch?

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Where they flashers? I think I remember hearing they were flashers?

Not flashers.

As far as physical appearance they look like flashers as the base is the same as a #89 bayonet flasher but in the SW topper they are just normally on and bright, but not at a flasher brilliance. In certain topper modes they do turn off/on.

I just took the pic when the lights happen to be off. They light up my ceiling like everything. Works perfectly. Wish I could post the video

You have to post on YouTube and link the video to Pinside.

Unfortunately, Stern was not able to fix their own product after a month. I called my dealer and he told me to bring in it. He said he would swap it out for one that works and he'll deal with Stern on getting the broken one fixed.

Fortunately, I now have a working R2D2 topper...yay!

Good dealer !!!!!

Basically here are the two most common issues with these toppers that can cause them to fail. One is the position and heat shrink on the light socket leads shorting against the case. And the second is the clamp that holds the motor can loosen and allow the motor housing to spin and short out the node board. If you feel comfortable removing the cover, these can be easily inspected and fixed. To me it is best to inspect for these before ever installing it in the first place. First remove the R2D2 head noting that the third screw is actually hidden as one of R2's projectors. Then remove the entire cover. Inspect the leads on the LED sockets and make sure the heat shrink is shrunk down and has adequate coverage and turn/bend the leads so the are further from contacting the case or anything else metal. Next find the clamp holding the motor in place and tighten the heck out of it. This is a $750 toy, so proceed at your own risk.

Or it’s the drive gear as written up in post 1062. Still works great.

That is definitely something that has to be checked, as it was a problem on mine once I took it apart.

My guess is most of the people who have the issue where the motor doesn't work at all have had the motor control board short as described by John_I. On mine the heat shrink on the wiring wasn't done properly on the motor and had slipped off the terminals completely. Wouldn't be a problem normally because those terminals shouldn't be anywhere near anything metal, but if the motor starts turning in that clamp, which can happen if the drive gear is fubared, all bets are off.

I had Stern ship a new motor control board, and new motor just in case. I replaced everything, made sure the drive gear was right, the position of the motor was correct, terminals were protected just in case, and everything has been great.

I didn't check this when I had mine apart. Deciding if I want to take it apart again...

I would. for what you paid for the thing (and since stern's qa/qc is severely lacking), I would do everything possible to make sure that everything is as it should be with the heat shrink tubing to reduce/eliminate any potential electronic shorting

You know, I had forgotten about that. When I first installed my topper I had a problem with those 4 white lights. I accidentally noticed that when I applied slight physical pressure to the front of the topper case that all 4 lights would go off and then come back on. A quick exam revealed that the 2nd from the left bayonet socket had the shrink wrap not fully covering the lugs allowing one of the lugs to intermittently touch the grounded mounting bracket. Rotating the wire lug out of harms way fixed the problem. At the time it was a small issue with a quick fix but now I see others had the same issue. Fortunately the Spike Node is designed to tolerate this type of short and remove the LED power until the short is cleared. At least that part is a neat design!

Amazing. This thread has turned into the Star Wars Topper repair thread. What a complete piece of overpriced crap.

They only paid $750. What’d you expect? Un-fricken-believable. Keep lining up people...

Here is the worst of the unshrunk sockets in mine. Nice to finally have this thing on the game. I made sure everything was right before I installed it. Works perfectly. I love it.

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On mine the lug with the yellow wires is stiff but can be rotated vertically keeping it away from the mounting bracket. A 2 second fix, easy peasy.
I love mine as well. Works perfect!

Hi

My R2 is working well... well he is looking left, right, centre and spinning 360.

However R2’s head is rubbing the black ring between the body. I see scratch marks on the ring. Watching R2, when he goes round his head spins not quite straight on his axis..

Anyone else have this issue?

Thanks

Yeah, all of the R2 head movements I've seen are not perfectly planed to the body. I haven't seen or read about one that rubbed the ring; until now.

All of the R2 Toppers should be disassembled, tediously checked and re-assembled before use.

While mine is slightly off axis creating a very slight wobble while rotating, it's not enough for R2's head to touch the body. Perhaps just re-seating R2's head might help? He's only attached with 2 blue Phillips screws in the back plus to the right of the front red light, unscrew the silver knob. I don't remember what those 3 points are attached to but perhaps you can raise those mount points slightly to make a difference?

I remember long ago someone mentioned in this thread that you could buy the Sphero R2D2 droid for like $30 - so I did a few months ago. I'm just now getting around to designing the framework to mount this on top of my pin as a poor man's topper

What you see here is just the framework - testing for fit and stability. Once I add lighting and make it look like it's in the back of an X-Wing, I'll have paid less than $100 and can take it out so the kids can still play with it

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...or you can do like I did and get the R2-D2 topper as well as a Sphero R2-D2, BB-8, BB-9E, and R2-Q5 droids...

(Wait...I'm not done yet...)

...then go to Disneyland and build yet another R2 droid that rides around with you in a backpack and interacts with stuff in the park as you walk by it.

It's truly amazing that I'm still married. And where's the damn nerd emoji when you need it???

Ha. You would think on a forum like this it would be mandatory that it’s included for use. I def resemble that remark.

Wait - what? That really exists?

Yep. The guy at Droid Depot told me to make sure not to turn the droid off as I walked around the park. Apparently, it receives signals throughout the park via Bluetooth and reacts to certain things as you pass by. Of course, once you get home, you're beat. It's fun while it lasts, though. And don't even get me started at the insanely-overpriced light saber you can build. Thing is made of metal and feels like it weighs about 5 pounds. Coolest thing ever...especially since you can change out the crystals to change the color.

Now, aren't you glad Disney's shut down and just saved you hundreds of dollars?

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This is so nerdy! Definitely something a grown man shouldn't have.... that being said... SIGN ME UP FOR ONE WHEN THE PARK RE-OPENS!

Decided to take R2 apart and check him out.

This is what I’ve found
Lamp holders look OK, shrink wrap is secure.

But.. the outer metal ring on the 4 tall Stand off posts only has 2 screws securing it!?

I’m guessing it should have 4!?
But they are not aligned properly,

Anyone else got this?
Oh and my topper 039/500

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Looking at the picture gallery of this thread (top) all the ones including mine have 4 screws.