Yes, on the left. On the right parallel to the shooter lane it’s a bit of a pain to get all them off so I tried to get away without it and that was a mistake. I couldn’t get the decal lined up properly in the back but you never see it’s a bit sloppy there unless you are working on the table.

It all looks good from the players perspective.

Aah man thanks a bunch!

The mylar on my right orbit was in rough shape so I removed it while shopping the machine. Mistake. I didn’t notice the damage until a few days ago. New Mylar in place, but the damage is done. Oh well, it’s a player machine and I still love it dearly. Lol

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Augh..that sucks. Did the same to my TZ and lifted off a corner of one of the door inserts

PinJim; somewhere I saw a pinball company selling a waterslide decal for that place.
I think it was overseas; maybe ministry of pinball.

That should be fairly easy to repair when you want.

Mine also has mylar bubbling there; but I haven't made any effort to correct because of stories like yours and a local friend of mine.
Maybe one day I'll strip the PF and give it some attention. But given the complexity of the PF; I think it'll be a project I tackle when I retire from Day job.

Got the LCARS art blades in today... but want to cover the bare wood near the glass with some black paint and let it cure before putting on the blades...

What’s the best kind of paint to use/application method if I don’t want to pull the playfield and all that?
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To be clear, I do plan to lift the playfield. Just don’t want to take it completely out of the machine.

I’m not tough enough.

Thanks, I’ll have to search for them.

I probably wasn’t 100% clear in my original post. I had zero damage there when I bought the machine, and the artwork didn’t come off when I removed the old mylar. The damage was a product of having no mylar there and playing a few hundred games. It was an error on my part. I assumed the diamond plate could handle the ball drop. Apparently not.

Answering my own question about the paint. After some more googling and stuff I found this helpful thread here on pinside that answers my question.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/best-touch-up-paint-to-match-black-cabinet-and-black-sides-in-pins

Translite here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/sttng-owners-club/page/69#post-5198354

I’ve also been looking for a topper. Gonna attempt to cobble together my own.

I’d like to find a whole new overlay for the speaker portion of the back box. Not just the grills, the whole plastic that goes over the DMD and stuff.

Alternate translites are usually on ebay. One dude "pugsotoys5zpt" sells a bunch of them, and if you message the guy he usually has others available or can tell you when they are. I had his Stern Star Trek one and like it quite a bit, well made and looked great.

Alternate speaker panel huh? Never seen one for STTNG. I like the one it has now tho where it looks like the front of the bridge and the DMD is the viewscreen. Might need to get clever there.

TiltTopper makes a sweet Stern Star Trek topper and I am pretty sure they did a TNG version... but I don't see the TNG one on their site anymore? Might want to reach out.

The lit speaker panel kit from LightedPinballMods is pretty amazing, you might take a look there

Hi All

I´m in need of you experience and practicality

I just returned from a trip and the left flipper in my ST TNG is acing up: it goes up when the button is pressed but does not come down for a while. I've noticed that the coil does get hot, but measuring the resistance in both left and right coils it is practically the same (actually the left one has a slightly higher resistance than the right). The voltage arriving at the pins is exactly the same in the test mode, but the "Hold" test mode does not move the left flipper (thus ruling out eventual Opto problems apparently).

Mechanically the flipper seems to move as the right one, no hardness or friction etc.

Any ideas or pointers?

Thanks and cheers.

PS: I have made some 3D printed components for my machine that can be used in machines with LED lamps to enhance the illumination patterns. Should I post them in this topic or open a new Topic just for that (and announce it here obviously as a thank you for all the help you give me)?

Mine does something similar but different. My left flipper goes up and then immediately loses power and goes back to it resting position even though I am still pressing the flipper button. This has been happening off and on lately . So as long as we are having flipper problems I thought I would share mine

Thanks

Put the game in switch tests and hit then release the flipper button, do the two optos register correctly? If the interrupter gets warped or broken it can get stuck and not move back out of the opto slot.

Flippers work by enabling the ground.
This sounds to me like there is a mushroomed, magnetic flipper plunger, and/or a broken flipper return spring.
But I guess it might also be a bad opto or the circuits themselves.
That's said; I'm not sure I've ever heard of the circuits themselves causing problems like this.

At some point this weekend I am going to paint the model I printed - have not had any time to do anything so far, but I should be able to do a bit tomorrow. I also need to re-think the printing and see if I can get it to print so I don’t have to sand anything afterwards

Anyone have a spare Alpha ramp? I know new ones can be purchased, but was hoping someone that did a restore had a decent condition one that they're not going to use.

Question for the team: is the upper right flipper supposed to be able to make it up the ramp consistently? Or is it more that you have to be very precise and have the ball rolling at just the perfect velocity? I don’t make it up the ramp terribly often, and when I do, it feels like it just barely makes it. I’ve rebuilt the flippers but I’m curious if the coil needs some help

That shot, when hit cleanly should easily make it through the diverter back to the return ramp, if it doesn't it definitely won't have enough momentum to make it to the borg lock when lit. That doesn't mean you won't get rejected or roll-back shots when not hit cleanly but it should be pretty makeable even without a lot of momentum from a loop shot.

Perfectly clear answer. Thank you. This confirms I may need to check my rebuild job on the flipper

The flipper rebuild will likely fix this, but in it doesn't its also very important that the transition from the orbit ball guide to the flipper is smooth. When I restored my STTNG I aligned this by bending the ball guide so that its edge was exactly inline with the edge of the flipper rubber eliminating any bounce or air gap.

Thank you! I will check on this as well - I suspect some adjustment is warranted

I also need a subway, if anyone has a spare. Mine is beyond repair.

This looks like it is in stock. https://littleshopofgames.com/shop/ramps/star-trek-the-next-generation-subway-ramp/

I have a used one that most likely has some damage at the entrance. I’m away from home now but can take pics when I get home. If you want it, you can have it for the price of shipping.

Some new translite options available.

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Man that top one is especially great!

Thanks, here it is on a game

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Those are pretty cool! Nice job.

Small suggestions... I kinda feel like it might be better without all the LCARS stuff on the bottom, although it’s not too bad... however the TOS movie era red alert stuff in the lower right corner really shouldn’t be there.

Fair enough. Im open to opinions and critiques. I may or may not make changes. I thought adding the red alert symbol to the translite would be a good opportunity to mod bg lighting. I was a huge fan of this show when it aired but have never owned the game. I assumed it must have some "red alerts going on and a dedicated bulb or flasher to it? I know comets matrix system is great for adding or moving bulbs.

If you have the metal sticker kit that Zitt sells, he includes a “Red Alert” icon that goes on the upper right flasher, which I believe is the same image

Project: The Inner Light

Hi all, as requested I am sharing the progress on my work to enhance the illumination on my #STTNG machine. Most (if not all) things should help other machines too.

My focus is to help LED lamps look really good on the board.

I've done a few experiments and interventions, and here are two:

1. The reflector

I designed a plastic reflector that can snap to the head of the LED #555s and can be positioned to direct the light in a right angle from it. So all lamps positioned parallel to the playfield can really shine

The problem that bothered me a lot is very common: see image below.

And the reflector changes the quality and distribution a lot!

You can download and 3D print (or have it 3D printed) freely from: In this Thingverse pageuse a white filament or glue a aluminium foil inside it (mine are white, it works very well).

This current version is the first working design and I have already thought of some improvements, but I'll wait for your feedback to modify the current version.

2. Frosted Plastic
I used some leftovers of frosted plastic (1mm thick) and cut it to fit the bumpers and to diffuse the light on some G.I. lamps that shine into the player's eyes. The result we awesome. Nice illumination and more spread out light.

Check the images.

This is the beginning of my Inner Light project where I enhance the lighting on the STTNG by minimally invasive and totally reversible means (no permanent alteration to the machine).

Future experiments include:
6V led strip to illuminate back part of the machine (above Borg Ship), 6V G.I. compatible LEDs/Strips to illuminate underside of ramps when these are "active", additional elements on the G.I. to clear parts of the field that are shadowed or dark (like to the lower left of the Neutral Zone, etc.).

Cheers and enjoy! And any suggestions, criticisms etc. are welcome.

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The sticker is not part of the vuk kit. Separate.

Hi,

I finally came back home and did this.

The optos are registering fine, the only weird thing is that when the left button is released suddenly the plastic flap that activates the optos vibrates activating the Opto1 a few times very rapidly in succession. Can this cause troubles?

And the Opto idea still does not answer why the flipper hold (weak coil) option does not work in test mode...

I checked the flipper activation set and there is no mushrooming, the coil fine and the plunger does not seem magnetic (any ways of testing this besides touching it, when the machine is powered down, with a ferromagnetic tool and seeing if it attracts it?)

Opto: see above.

Cheers

Activating just the hold flipper test is not enough to move it most times but if you move the flipper up manually during that test it should hold it. The other test is to turn the game off when it's sticking up, if it drops down it's electrical, if not it's mechanical.

The phantom opto triggers when the button is released I've not really seen before, may need to change or bend the spring piece to address it.

Correction. But you DO sell it! And it looks really good

Coming along with the enhanced shuttle craft... will be applying the PinFarmer decals soon

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Getting kinda jelly tbh.

yeah; sorry - was shorter than normal in that reply... on phone; hate typing on mobile.

A DLP printer would probably be better. It doesn’t make any ridges between layers. If you want to share your file I can give it a try and show you the results.

I printed the enterprise (phone beside for scale) and it has nice details and no layering.

You can also see the fine detail on the Bird of Prey (gun especially).

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Really nice! I'm not investing in a new printer any time soon, but this print is just for sizing purposes (and the sizing on this one is a bit too small!). I'll check out the DLP printer - I guess I have read about those. They are just now getting to be priced for consumer use; I'm not dropping 10K on a printer for a shuttelcraft toy! I suppose I could look at a printing shop, but that gets expensive fast.

They are nice but the compromise is print area size. The details are insane though. I use the Anycubic Photon. I have yet to try the clear resin(useful for lighting).

Mike

Wow, quite a bit less $$ than I thought. Thanks for the info!

No problem!!

Mike