Just want a replacement for the original.
The one I have has serious vibration problems and has been "repaired" many, many times. I tried to clean it up a bit and replaced the resistor that was most troublesome, but it still has issues.
So the new school ones with surface mount resistors etc, are they really better or is it just hype?
"Surface Mount" is for all practical purposes "unrepairable" - that's why we stick with through hole components on all our boards at Homepin. Surface mount is used in pinballs for ONE reason only - cost cutting! For other applications such as MP3 players etc that's fine - they are made by machines in huge numbers and only cost $10 so disposable is OK.
We will be making these trough boards but that is in the future. I can assure you ours will use "big ugly resistors" but upgraded to 3W as they are now the same physical size as 2W of yesterday. Ours will also provide additional support for the resistors and include the grommet vibration mods.
Actually I don't think the resistors are ugly at all - they look quite cute with their stripy coloured bands.........
We are also looking at making late model Stern boards as they are failing at a horendous rate and are becoming unavailable as a spare part for machines as new as Shrek!!!!
Ours will be upgraded to use through hole parts
