Sorry, not an owner yet. Been looking out for one of these beauties in my area, but what is happening with these prices? Two in the market right now and they are both at $5,800? It's a great pin, but seriously. Maybe if they cone with a 6months warranty .
Wow. I guess I won't get one in the near future after all.

This should be a t-shirt:

STTNG - Cleaning Optos since 1993

Pinball resurgence is making prices totally nuts, across the board it seems.

ever since i removed the subway and cleaned that, my optos have been just about flawless. i think a dirty subway is one of the main contributors to so many people having opto problems.

No doubt. It accumulates and stores the dirt/crap.

Kind of like the top of the fridge and ceiling fan blades...

I just put mine up at $4900 but would consider best offers. I think I have about 4500 into it not including shipping. It's in nice shape but in constantly having to clean the optos, so it's just not the low maintenance pin I need. It's a fun one though, and I love the theme. This was my jam in college...

Cleaned mine for the first time since getting the pin less than a month ago. It was black and nasty. Once everything was stripped off I did the dishwasher trick. Put it on delicate/china and no heat dry. Came out like new!

IMG_2427 (resized).JPG
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nice! dishwasher eh?

Yep, read a post with another Pinsider doing it to his (See Below). I also put the two acrylic screw on covers in there as well all three pieces came out sparkling clean.

Post #15
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/sttng-how-difficult-is-removing-the-subway

So... basically do this while the wife is out of town; or before you disconnect the washer perm... before replacement. Got it.

Correct, do it while the wife is at work and then run it a second time afterwards to make sure it's cleaned out before you put the dirty dishes back in.

Quick update on my ball loading problem.. the brass arm for "drop down" broke off.. I found in my cabinet and was wondering what it was.. looked like it was repaired once already. Will be ordering a new one. Thanks pin guy for the suggestion.

It looks like my drop target is either broken at the bottom or not lined up properly which is causing the ball to bounce too much. Thanks Zitt for the suggestion on that.

With a quick wax and a few adjustments & parts I will be starting to take down some high scores on here

Slowly working on this project pin... rebuilt the left flipper and found this extra wire hanging around it, it's light blue or gray with green stripes. Can anyone help me find where it needs to be re-soldered to? Thanks!

IMG_4494 (resized).JPG

dotsxl!

Sure you are in the right forum?

I could be disoriented from the closeup shot, but the area around the flipper doesn't look like a STTNG Pin but I'll still answer your question, it's an optical transmitter wire for row 5. If this pic is from a STTNG, it would most likely be under left lock Sw 2.

mystery pin (resized).jpg

Is this cftbl?

Ha ha ha, totally CFTBL, I'm working on both right now and posted to the wrong forum. Doh

Pin_Guy is a badass though eh?

Yup, informative and this cracked me up. Also amazed jorro could name the pin from such little under the playfield info.

i've heard "opto nightmare" from a few local guys i talk to. is this game really that bad? i'm pretty good with maintenance on my pins; borderline anal. that could be a bad thing, if i have to clean optos nonstop. am i going to regret getting one of these things, or have the issues been blown out of proportion a bit?

It can appear daunting at first but in my experience once you get the subway, trough and VUKs out and cleaned up really nice, ensure the solder is solid or reflow it on the optos at the VUKs, make sure the connectors at the OPTO control board are all solid you'll be good to go (all of this is just part of a thorough shop-job anyway). Can stuff fail, of course - it's still a pinball machine - but I don't think it's much worse than any other game of the same era.

great way to put it. ty.

pin guy pointed out the insert

the position placing of it gave it away

Its not as bad as people make it out to be, if for some reason repetitive cleaning is needed to make them work, I would start looking elsewhere for the source of the problem; perhaps corroded connectors dropping the voltage, 12V low on the opto board to start with would effect them all. Keep in mind if the voltage to the UV LEDs are low to start with, the light they produce will be dimmer than it should be and the less tolerant they will be.

In my opinion, unless your machine is filthy, cleaning an opto should not be a repetitive function, if you go back to it a second time, break out your meter and if the voltage is good at the LED, just replace it.

Cost to purchase enough IR LED's to replace every one in the machine is less that $10 + shipping.

I've had my game over six years and I had to really go through it when I first got it. Once I cleaned everything up really good, the optos haven't been an issue since. In fact I haven't had anymore maintenance on this game then any of the others I've owned.

Can you post your source for the sender/receiver LEDs? I'd like to refresh the ones on my game.

I usually get these but they are out of stock right now

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Fairchild-Semiconductor/QED123/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvAL21a%2fDhxMh7mfA56bpVlNrxBWbhazdE%3d

If you need them right away, they're available on reel tape but cost an extra $0.03 each

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Fairchild-Semiconductor/QED123A4R0/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvAL21a%2fDhxMuzwbd0aUTVlcmjZAhHJjo8%3d

EDIT: Oh you asked for the receiver also, these rarely fail but if you are buying parts from Mouser anyways, may as well pick em up.

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Fairchild-Semiconductor/QSD123/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMs50KUSuyRkpqmW%252bYzaTd1q9STaPEHpE3Y%3d

I imported a filthy STTNG from Italy last year I've been working on, actually just replaced the ramps, cleaned up the playfield and cleaned up the optos and replaced a few and played a few games. No problems losing balls. I'll have to run some tests and do more work, but it's not that scary, I'm pretty much a novice on pin repairs and I got mine running well.

appreciate the pep talk, guys.

Drop target release parts came in and installed. Tumbled the hardware to get a nice shine. All ready to re-install.
Subway was completely disassembled and throughly cleaned.The pivot points were cleaned then greased. Thanks to Pin_Guy for explaining what areas require grease on this machine.

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i'm considering purchasing a Star Trek: The Next Generation and would like some pointers.

Are there game-specific things I should look for/check?

Thanks!

There is so much information on this particular topic on the forum.
With that said I can tell you a couple things to look for if you are fortunate enough to view the game in person before you buy. Ask the seller to remove the covers on the cannons (it's only four screws) and look at the the eight wires coming up from the Play field. Because they rotate during game play these wires fatigue and break. I had to replace both on my game when I purchased it $40 for both harnesses shipped. The other thing on this game is the drop target assemble at the rear under the borg ship. It has a brass finger that releases the barrier and on mine was broken. This can be easily be checked in the test menu and if broken not bad to replace and the parts are available.
Then of course it's the normal 90s pinball stuff to look at. Battery leakage, poor maintainance and bad soldering repairs.

Great game and I'm thoroughly enjoying mine.

I'd add to make sure the cannons turn with a ball loaded.

The factory grease can turn to "glue" on the shafts. Mine would turn without a ball ball in them but slowed to a crawl with a ball loaded.

Its easy to fix but its something to check.

in addition to the cannons and the drop target, play it for a while and make sure it doesn't start any unexpected multiballs -- dirty or badly soldered optos can cause this, and it's very common.

also, check the subway for cracks.

Exactly why I posted here. A ton of info and unsure where to start.

I wanted to give a short review of the Playfield Protector for STTNG. This is version 2 from Playfield Protectors in Germany.

Pros
1. Covers the entire playfield anywhere the ball will roll to protect from wear.
2. Very thin and glossy. Looks fantastic.
3. Ball roll is very quiet.

Cons
1. The ball spins more and when it hits a post / bumper etc. lots of ball hop.
2. Ball speed is excessive.

Excessive ball speed and lots of spin does nothing for the enjoyment of this game. The ball hops/ bounces around uncontrollably. I have had it on for about a month. I had also installed one of these on a GOT with the same results. The playfield is in really good condition, so I was trying to protect it. Probably going to remove it and replace the playfield years down the road if I need to. Hope this helps anyone considering a playfield protector.

Plunger069, do you think that leveling the game so the pitch is less aggressive is a solution then?

I have it set at 6 degrees . Seems to be more a problem when the ball hits the posts or targets. It will deflect off a post, hit something else and take flight. I believe that excessive spin is the problem. The game played fine before I installed the protector. The only adjustment I did was to decrease the pitch from 7 to 6 degrees

I think a lot of the issue could be related to the decrease in pitch. Recommend you try setting it back to 7 deg.

I will try increasing the pitch. This should actually slow the ball on the way toward the ramps etc., but be fast coming back to the flippers.
If this doesn't work I will have a nice, slightly used playfield protector for sale.

STTNG plays better at steep angles anyway.

I am finally going to do that tieback fix on sttng. Going to put on 1 new wire from the drop target coil (18 guage???) Then solder all 4 wires together, the 3 purple wires and the new wire. Any suggestions for doing this? Solder all 4 then use a wire nut? Also thinking of replacing that connector on the aux board, the connector that has that thin purple wire that needs the tieback. Mine is all original, no connectors have ever been replaced.

Not sure what connector or pins I need.

This?
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/5792-10818-07

I have no solder, no wire, no soldering iron, no crimping tool. Any suggestions would help, was thinking of ordering everything from Marco to save on shipping.

Would this wire be ok?

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/STELLAR-LABS-24-16047-/24-16047

Why would you even need to do this? The game is in your home, right? I've never understood why people think they need all this excessive playfield protection in a home environment when these things are made to go out on route and get 1000s of plays.

I agree with plastic protectors since they can break from a single random airball, and hole protectors since we've all seen those get chewed up. But full playfield protectors are complete overkill. Keep your game moderately clean and you will be fine. I've had STTNG for about 15 years with nothing on the playfield what-so-ever and it doesn't look any different than the day I got it.

The only thing I worry about on STTNG is the shield inserts. I have a perfect HUO game with 450 plays and I was thinking about putting the playfield protector down so that I don't have to worry about the shield inserts looking bad ever.

As soon as I read this I was thinking of the old saying "If it aint broke, don't fix it!"

No need to put a new wire or solder anything. Read this write up my friend made here for tie back fix.

http://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/13-sttng-tie-back-mod-best-way.3954/

After many blown transistors, melted coils and one new 8-driver PCB, I finally did this on mine, never had an issue since.

If I do it this way though, like this pinsider suggests then I'd have to replace or add connectors?

http://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/13-sttng-tie-back-mod-best-way.3954/

Can you show me exactly what to buy to do this? I've never done any connectors, not sure what exactly to buy. Thanks!

Will this work?

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/5792-09612-00
and
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/CT156T

Is that wire for the aux 8 board 22 guage?

Thanks...

Pic I got online for the fix...

ST Tie Back8[1] (resized).jpg