Thanks. It's probably because I put more effort into them than the "professionals".

I bought a set of drop target decals only one time; for my first pinball machine (judge dredd). I was very disappointed in them, $15 and I took one look and new I could do better.

Here's my typical process: I find a suitable image and re-touch it until I'm satisfied with it.

I then do several black and white test prints with varying sizes until I get the image to the desired size.

Then print out on glossy photo paper. I use an Inkjet printer, nothing fancy. Select "best" for the image qaulity and "glossy photo paper".

You can print out directly on sticker paper but the colors aren't as vibrant.

I then take sticker paper, spray it with 3m spray adhesive (I think the one I use is for fabric). Let it get tacky....15 seconds. Then lay the photo paper over it....image side up of course. Wax paper over the image and then I put several thousand dollars worth of my old text books over the top. I let that sit for a day.

Next day, I cover the image carefully with packaging tape. Lay it down slowly so no air bubbles get trapped. I dont use mylar because I found it doesn't go on as clear.

All that's left is to cut out the image.

I had mine custom made from stickeryou.com.
I think they turned out really good.

I also ordered mylar drop target protectors from action pinball to go over. They are holding up great.

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Got a good laugh out of this line!

Has anyone replaced a leaf switch with a micro switch for Firepower? I'll be replacing my displays and MPU board soon, and I'm concerned about the outhole switches. What kind of micro switch is needed for outholes? Please post picture.

Copy what is in Williams High Speed.

If it ain't broke don't fix it? I do not know how replacing boards is related to the outhole switch, but if the outhole seems to work reliably, save yourself work. If it it's flakey, replace it.

I have been flipping my lead switch contacts around as I have problems with them though. Did the top rollovers first as they were not reliable

The outhole switch isn't usually a problem. You're probably thinking of the trough switches themselves. During the run of Black Knight, Williams released an update to microswitches because the leafs had proven unreliable.

There are a number of newer Williams multiball games you can get the trough plate from. It's been years since I did mine so I've forgotten which game the plate was "from".. but there are two microswitches on the plate, and one stands alone.

The original setup with leaf switches:
fptrgh01 (resized).jpg

Converted to microswitches:
fptrgh02 (resized).jpg

Just keep in mind, microswitches go bad, too. They are literally just a set of small leaf switches inside a package. They do tend to last longer in general, though.

Richard

Overkill IMO. Leaf switches MTBF is a lot higher than microswitches, and adjustments are a lot easier. What is your concern specifically about the switches?

While you can certainly do it, it's really not needed. The micros' arms can be a chore to get correct if you change to them.

Ok, I took the suggestion here to print my own decals...but I decided to do extra and confuse myself. So any opinions...glossy or matte?

PXL_20240516_210230652 (resized).jpg

presumably you are going to put tape/mylar over it to preserve the printing, right? If so, the sheen of the paper doesn't matter, only the sheen of whatever you put over it.

Yep, I protected the bottom one with gloss PET and the other with embossed PC (like spinner decals) and can't decide which I like better...

stick them in the machine with the lights on and decide. you dont want to find out you've got a bad glare after the fact

Well, that's a bit of a problem...

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How many Firepower’s have you done?

Well, clearly I need 2 playfields, one with stand-ups and one with drop targets to swap in and out right? Doesn't everybody

Haha good point. I remember you doing one before. You helped me out with the insert decals on mine.

Yep, so I figured I already had some of the artwork, so why not redo my original playfield as well. Although, I did have to do some more to repair the blown out areas. I'm thinking I still have some work to do on my halftone repair above... But the ship looks ok to my eye.

Does anyone know the size of the screw at the top of the left in/outlane that goes through that very skinny metal standoff? I tried a #4 (I think) screw and it's too big. Sadly I don't have the original screw any longer.

Sounds like you don't need to make that decision today.
I applied the decals with the drops installed no problem.. just stick them up there when the game is done and then decide....

#5 & or #4
#6 screw is to large.
#5 screw is used for leaf switches.
or a bit smaller #4 screw.
The metal spacer is
https://www.actionpinball.com/parts.php?item=HWR06-071206

Just replace the original MPU and Driver board with BARAKANDL's combo board. Man, this thing plays like new. Barakandl... Thank You, Thank You!
This fixed my start problems and issues with the trough and some switches. Even the score display looks clean now and the right special light now works. (that special light rarely worked) Even though the displays are much improved, I purchased new Whites displays from Barakandl. That is next.

New combo board (resized).jpg

Reading Barakandl's direction about replacing the displays, he says.."Remove 1/4A high voltage display fuse from the power supply board"
Please, what fuse is this? And do I re-connect when done?

firepower power board (resized).jpeg

new disply white (resized).jpeg

The one I circled in Red. And no, if you are replacing the original displays, you won't need to replace it. The new displays do not use the High Voltage, so it's best just to remove the fuse to turn off the circuit permanently...

Pinside_forum_8184758_0 (resized).jpg

I would be lost without you guys and Pinside. Thank you!

Are you familiar with Williams updating BK to microswitches in the ball troughs because of the unreliable leaf trough setup? Retrofit kits were made available for the earlier BK's. Multiball games from that point on were microswitch trough.

There's no need to worry about correctly bending the actuator arms on the microswitches when you use the correct parts. The microswitch ball trough comes with switches that have prebent wireforms specifically for the trough.

Williams recognized a problem with reliability and solved it. If you think that's overkill or unnecessary, I respectfully disagree.

Richard

Original question was about outhole not trough. No reason at all to do the outhole switch to micro.

Correct, which was the very first sentence in my reply to their question. You'll also note in my pics where I converted my Firepower to microswitch trough, the outhole is still original leaf, as is the entire rest of the machine.

Richard

New "Topper" for FirePower

20240603_074856 (resized).jpg

I do not think so but it that StarStream?

It's a star ship from "Gundam Seed" aile striker.

I chose it for being very similar to the firepower ships.

It looks very similar.

Anyone know where a person can get the outlane stickers / decals - that say FIRE and POWER on them like in the pic attached to this?

I have seen them on a few machines for sale. If it is in this forum excuse me if it is a dumb quesiton as I have not had time to look through all the posts onthe machine.

firepower outlane stickers (resized).png

Not a sticker... It's an extra pair of plastics that are available in the CPR repro set. Not sure if they are available separately.

Thanks for the info - looked like a sticker to me but makes sense - someone should make them and rake it in selling them for $20 and cost of maybe $4

RE: www.firepowerpinball.com
Finally the site is back up & (I hope) better than before. I finally bit the bullet and rewrote the entire front end in Wordpress again after my hosting company (Hostica) was acquired by StablePoint. In the transfer, they decided to delete my Wordpress installation and backups. I had the Databases, just wasn’t able to re-link them to the Wordpress site. I’m not a SQL programmer! Anyway it’s the same content, only a few links aren’t populated and I’m getting to those soon. Owners here are doing some great upgrades to your Firepower(s)… Happy flipping!
-Richard (AlienPoker ♥️ ♦️ ♥️ ♠️)

30C-497-1 (resized).jpg

You could make them… I have a template for the lane guides. You can cut them out of the clear platstic CDs that come in top when you buy CDs or DVDs to record on. You leave the metal lane guides below and add nylon spacers and longer screws. Shoot me a PM… it isn’t hard.

Here's some designs I made years ago which were on an early site. I put them above the metal lane guides like on BK2K or BK. It looked pretty good, so I'm not surprised that FIRE and POWER lane guides were included in the CPR repro set. Here's the link to my lane guide designs:
https://firepowerpinball.com/2ya/0-checklist.html
There are some PDFs you can print for "shopout decals" about halfway down and some other interesting info.
-Richard

Just did this too. I like it and I agree with what you said. Looks better too. I enjoy the right orbit shot more now that it can loop around to the spinner.

You did such a nice job on the documents and they are a great resource. So helpful when working on these boards and games. Thanks for making them.

I removed the left gate but ultimately put it back in. I love the right orbit shot to the lanes.

I liked the idea of a skill shot, but it just felt too much like a punishment with it gone.

Yep, it's fun when you can hit the right orbit and get it to come all they way back around to the flippers.

To me it just adds to the difficulty, which I like.