Author Topic: Stern Stars Reconditioning  (Read 1638 times)

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Offline Freiherr

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #15 on: December 20, 2013, 03:17:36 PM »
Good idea to prevent the wear line down the apron. I noticed on the newer Sterns, the mylar strips were introduced with The Avengers.
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Offline Freiherr

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #16 on: December 20, 2013, 03:21:21 PM »
By thw way, nice progress, Nino.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2013, 03:23:07 PM by Freiherr »
If you don't remember the 70s then you were on drugs.
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Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #17 on: December 20, 2013, 07:00:31 PM »
Ahh I wondered about the wear on the apron from the ball down the outlanes.  I was thinking of just putting on a heap of layers of paint to prevent/delay wear in that area, but mylar would probably do the trick.

I believe some were powdercoated, so using more paint might not be the answer. I use a thin coat of paint - maybe only 2-3 coats and then clear. Mylar is something i picked up from the DE machines. They were plastic - but had the mylar strip.

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Offline howzat

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #18 on: December 23, 2013, 05:12:00 PM »
Hi Nino
The owner is going to get back a great old Stern from the golden era    :lol

The colours are similar to Cosmic Princess   another great Stern
Im sure he will have lots of reliable fun  playing this one           Howzat

Offline ktm450

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #19 on: December 27, 2013, 01:35:01 PM »
Very nice work mate  ^^^

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #20 on: December 28, 2013, 12:14:14 PM »
Coming together with all the new parts installed into the rebuilt mechanisms. These are mounted back into the game.











I had to repair the Lock down bar assembly that is located on the front of the cabinet. There is supposed to be a rivet holding the handle, but at some stage a previous owner had to break it as the assembly was jammed when I got it. I stripped the assembly, straightened it out and then came up with a system using an old Bally "collar" that just fit. I ended up bolting it together and drilling out some space for the nut in the cabinet. It will work well with this repair ;








Backglass was in VERY good shape for a classic Stern. Most are peeling around the bottom of the glass, or around the lit areas. this has some lifting, but nowhere near what it should have ! I sealed the backglass to arrest any deterioration.





Electronics

The boards were ok, except the MPU board which had a lot of corrosion. It is repairable (from a hobbyists point of view), but we chose an Altek from PBR. I upgraded the other boards. The power supply board was upgradeable, so I ended up using it.


Before ;





After ;





The MPU connectors J3 and J4 had slight corrosion in the the pins, but I replaced them all. I find many "reconditioned" machines with only the corroded pins replaced ! ALL the pins in the connectors need to be replaced. this takes time, but ensures reliability and also stops the new pins from being "infected" from the pins left behind. In some games, I just change the pins if they don't "connect" well with the boards. You can see in the picture below, the yellow wire has a broken pin. It looked fine after I inspected the connector, but the "fit" into the pins on the board were poor.





Boards completed ;




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Offline 4_amusement_only

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #21 on: December 28, 2013, 12:51:57 PM »
Playfield came up amazing. Great stuff

Offline pinnies4me

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #22 on: December 28, 2013, 01:03:23 PM »


Looking very nice!!  ^^^
“If you wanna escape, go up to a pinball machine. There’s a magic button on the front that takes you to a world under the glass and makes the the rest of the universe disappear.”

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #23 on: December 31, 2013, 11:09:20 AM »
Completed Game pictures ;

I'm very happy with the playfield ;





Backglass is sealed and I did a small repair where the white was missing from the aircraft.





Completed game pictures. The legs and front door were repainted and the legbolts are original Sterns !











The game plays great and is a bit of a sleeper title. I love the chimes !
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Offline oldskool1969

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #24 on: December 31, 2013, 05:33:44 PM »
very very nice
great game to boot
congrats to new owner
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Offline Ballywannabe

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #25 on: December 31, 2013, 08:29:10 PM »
Sweet :D  Just needs a credit button sticker from Pinball Rescue and a gromet in the apron and it will be good to go %$%

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #26 on: December 31, 2013, 09:26:55 PM »
Sweet :D  Just needs a credit button sticker from Pinball Rescue and a gromet in the apron and it will be good to go %$%

I have a grommet lying around here somewhere, so I'll post it to the owner  %$%
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Offline Freiherr

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #27 on: December 31, 2013, 10:15:01 PM »
Outstanding work Nino. Looks like it just came out of the box delivered through a time machine.
If you don't remember the 70s then you were on drugs.
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Offline Strangeways

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #28 on: December 31, 2013, 11:20:18 PM »
Outstanding work Nino. Looks like it just came out of the box delivered through a time machine.

This was more a "recondition" than a restoration, but as I kept working on it, I found that the original condition gave me an opportunity to really make the game shine. Early Sterns are often overlooked as a poor man's Bally, but they really are a lot better than that. I still rate Galaxy and Meteor, and two of my keepers are a Flight 2000 and Freefall. There's real value with the classic Sterns.
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Offline pinball god

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Re: Stern Stars Reconditioning
« Reply #29 on: January 27, 2014, 11:50:47 PM »
You just can't beat a nice clean pinball. Nice job mate
Still loving my Metallica Premium