This was my last update before they arrived in the US, there was never any indication that they left Australia.

IT ARRIVED! I think it looks great but wont know for sure until its installed in the machine.
A couple of things that are immediately noticeable between the remake an original

1) The remake has a textured back
2) The front side is high gloss and very smooth which makes me wonder if it would autograph well, it also contains tiny horizontal scratches that are visible when the light hits them just right, these may not be noticeable when installed and backlit.
3) The R and TM symbols are missing.

The remake is a little darker than the original but looks very nice.

As promised here are a few pics to go by
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Hi Everyone,

I encountered a weird problem with my STTNG recently: the fuse for the Drop Target Down solenoid burnt and I replaced it. Checked all connections and wires, the solenoid, etc. Everything was fine. Yet in the game the Drop Target was not working well. Ran the tests and when I test other "close" solenoids like the Drop Target Up the Drop Target Down solenoid is activated! I miscalculated the time activating the others in the test and ended up burning the solenoid.

While I wait for the replacement can you guys illuminate me on why is this happening? I don't want to burn it up again

Thanks.

Okay I’m stumped. My ST:TNG has been working perfectly for weeks and I got the Test ding on startup today after having not opened it for weeks. I got the following error messages as shown in the pictures below. What really has me stumped is that I can enter the cannon test and move the cannons left and right with the coin door buttons and it shows that they open and close. However, when I pop the hood and manually depress the left/right limit switches on the guns, it doesn’t register in switch test mode. Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Looking through the manual now for troubleshooting ideas.

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Those are the opto switches under the left VUK and right VUK where the ball comes out to the cannon. You will need to test if these and the other optos are working around the game, such as the entry to the borg ship.

In test mode. with all the balls out and the back drop target down, your switch matrix should look like below.

Also, the limit switches to the cannon do not get tested in switch edges. They get tested in the left and right cannot test as you were doing.

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That's it! Manually cycles those vuks and all works now. Thank you!

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Are the balls being diverted to all three vuks when you first turn on the game and all 6 balls are in the trough? (The 3 vuks are the left and right cannon and the left most vuk to feed to the left in lane.)

If not, getting those errors could mean that the diverters under the playfield that are controlled by coils may not be working correctly to get the balls staged to the right places.

Errors are gone and the test game worked. Going to give it a few more games to make sure all is good.

I suspect you have a shorted drive transistor for the drop target, also ensure you have the tie-back mod completed to protect the 8 SDB.

Hi. I do have the tieback mod. The kind folks in this forum helped me with that a while ago.

Which transistors do you mean? The TIP102s or the 2N4403 in the 8-Driver PCB?

I am very rusty on my electronics, but I found this schematic the manual. If I understood correctly it could be Q5 or Q13, right?

Thank you very much for your help.

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Hi,

One last comment on this: the switches test is sometimes misleading because it says there is a switch problem when a given switch was not actuated in the last 90 balls, and that may be due to the way the machine is being played or some other thing that prevents the switches from being used... See the image from the manual (pg 1-35). In my case, I simply cycle (activate) the switch mentioned and run the test again. Most times the message is gone. The remaining instances indicate something more substantial.

Cheers,

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It could be either but usually it's the TIP102, so Q13 in your case. You should be able to test it with a meter in diode test (with the game off!).

This is true but for the switch in question on his it should NEVER trigger that error because that opto is where one of the balls should be staged when the game powers up / at the end of games. This is why mbelofsky asked it it was properly staging balls and that all six balls are in the game.

OK, I'll check it. Thanks (and thanks for the clarity on SantaEatsCheese problem as well).

Cheers.

Lots of good advice has already been provided in this forum but I'm going to toss out one more. A bad ribbon cable can also cause this issue as the LS576 driving the whole board expects its inputs to be a logic high or logic low level; Unfortunately the engineer that designed this board took no efforts to ensure these inputs could not "float" which would result in an unpredictable output from the flip-flops. There is a mod to this board to prevent an open input from burning stuff up ... scroll down to the This 9 pin bussed resistor SIP‎ portion at https://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation

Anyone ever make an LCARS style topper? Could be cool. Add red spotlights during borg mode for red alert.

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Got a question on setup, perhaps this is a newb question - I had noticed that I was getting a frustrating number of right side drains. Left-right/side to side wise, I'm spot on 0 degrees. I don't have a bubble on my game, but I hear you should generally have the playfield at an angle of 6.5 degrees.

My iPhone has the Measure app that uses the accelerometers to figure out angles. I placed it flat on the playfield right where the flippers are. I was at 3 degrees. After adjusting the front levelers all the way up and the rears as far down as possible I got it to 5 degrees. My garage slopes outwards, STTNG is facing up hill so I'm guessing that's what I'm working against.

What process do you go through to set this? Thanks!

I just use a bubble level, but I also deal with the uneven garage floor. Sucks but what are you gonna do?

You really want to get to 7 to 7.5 degrees. That will help cut down on the side to side action.

You could always slip a 2 X 4 under the back levelers.

I believe Pinball Life sells longer levelers too or you could get some pinfoots (generic name) and only put them on the back.

Installed today, I think it looks great.

Original
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Backbox lighting reference
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Public service notice that all of my Star Trek products are on sale for 16% off for Captain Picard Day until 6/19/2020.
See: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1day-only-sale-capt-picard-day-6-16#post-5048311

In the middle of an above-average game tonight, my left flipper died, no longer moved. Popped it open to see the plunger linkage broken in half. I rebuilt all three flippers several weeks ago using a rebuild kit from Marco's....this is the second flipper to break (same plunger linkage)!

I wound up putting the original plunger back in with the rest of the rebuild parts to get back up and running in 20 minutes. Normally I've been pretty happy with Marco's stuff but two breaks in as many months?
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That's pretty weak sauce; Marco.
I haven't had a single linkage break on any of my games. I rebuilt mine about 2 years ago with parts from PinballLife.com... haven't had any issues.

That is pretty weak. I almost always use flipper parts from PBR but have had good luck with the ones from PBL too, not sure I've ever bought those from Marco but who knows where those links come from and any of the suppliers could end up with a bad batch from the manufacturer.

Just picked up yesterday after a 9 hour round trip. already have color dmd on the way, any suggestions for mods or upgrades? It came with plastic protectors and outlane extenders

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Pinsound. Definitely a must. Better speakers won't hurt.

Then you can go with some fancy lit ships, side blades, metal decals to cover the metal poppers (from Zitt ).

I converted mine to LED including GI (stay away from colored GI it makes the game darker than it already is). You need the GI-OCD board however in order to have the GI do what it's meant to do (dimming the shields for example) if you use LEDs.

Make sure the tie back has been done. Blown boards are no fun.

This ^^^^^ and remote battery holder / NVRAM before anything else. Then I like the ColorDMD LCD version for this game, I'm not a big fan of adding lighted ships to the game but some colored LED flashers in the Borg Ship can really make that POP, just match whatever color windows (green or blue) it has in it.

Thanks. Most of the products talked about here are currently on sale thru 6/19 for Captain Picard Day.
http://pinball.click/STNGMods
I personally think the ColorDMD is the best mod for this game. I have yet to try Pinsound on any game.

+1000 for the 9 hour round trip. I'm not sure I could do that.

Got it for 3.8 so i dont feel too bad

Stop copying me!

Do mirror blades work well in this machine? I know some B/W widebodys get a little tight with mirror blades and the playfield.

It’s kinda tight on the one I finished up. I test fitted them with using a nylon washer on each side to spread out the cabinet slightly.

Here’s some info to help see what you think.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/sttng-a-refresh-for-future-generations/page/4#post-5648067

Mine had lots of room to Install. Better than my other pins, but test fitting or gauging will be the best. All cabinets have a little different tolerance in them

Thank you for the advice everyone. I'd like to do mirror blades. Had to ask because my indiana jones is too tight for them and I was assuming same year/company machines might end up with the same outcome.

I think it depends on who built the cabinet... and what machine CNCed the Playfield.
IE it's random what machines are tight and which aren't.
i don't do mirror blades; but I have beat the hell out of my art blades on Stern Star trek.
as I result; I havent installed my Monster bash side art yet.

Had a STNG owner ask me to design some apron cards, so I wanted to offer them to all owners. While some of the design came from a public version of cards out there, these are completely redone from scratch using original graphics (nothing taken from the current cards). Everything was redone in high resolution and an instruction card was designed to perfectly match the title card.

The cards are printed on OEM ultra gloss photo paper using OEM inks on a photo quality printer. I then laminate them with a clear gloss vinyl, cut to size, and color the edges so you don't see a white perimeter on the card when installed.

I sell the set of cards for $10 which includes US postage ($12 international), so please PM me if interested in purchasing.

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Nice! Have a pic of them installed?

I’m thinking a different color might work better. Possible? Maybe black with white writing? Would that match the rest of the apron better?

I’ll be posting pics when they arrive in the mail. Mr_Tantrum has made several different cards for my games and always does great work

Weapons systems refit with new cannon looms and online, Captain.

Big thanks to Commander dsuperbee for the loom install.

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Those look nice, even with me nit picking 'Warbrids' (and a couple other typos on the Objectives)

Anyone know of a cannon harness in stock? I rewired my left cannon and it was a PITA.. Let alone the dick move of not having the wires the correct color if I ever sell it

ebay.com link: itm

You're the man. Thanks again Pin_guy

Note: There was a run of plastic links where the formula was not right.
------ If the link plastic is too hard, then it has a high tendency to break.
------ I went through the same problem when Williams closed their doors
------ and the distributors had a "last batch of flipper kits".

Is this something thats actually admitted by Marco or just YMMV going forward?