Galaxy is alive and big thanks

[deep six]

Its been a big learning curve but yesterday I finally got the Stern galaxy going. When I recently purchased 2 new (old) machines I decided I had better learn how to fix them. Cue flashback to 1990 when I bought my first pin a Williams stellar wars.

The old Stellar Wars was a fun machine but when it broke down I was at a loss as to what to do. Found a guy from word of mouth who was supposed to be good at fixing machines.
He came around, looked at stellar wars, hummed a bit, said the boards needed rebuilding. At the time it was quite expensive but I figured, if the boards are re-built should mean no more problems for a long while.
I agreed and he pulled the boards out promising to send them off to an associate somewhere in sydney who had a test bed and get them rebuilt.
I don't remember how much it cost but it was in the hundreds.

Finally got the boards back in the machine and it went for maybe 20 hours and then died again.
I ended up selling (or giving away) the machine for a couple of hundred dollars.

Anyway, the point of all this reminiscing is I now know a lot more than I did 4 months ago. I have been able to rebuild the rectifier board and repair the MPU and solonoid driver board and its really all because of the kind people on this board who helped and encouraged me along the way.

My thanks goes out to all the people here who took the time to read my posts, politely ignore my sometimes dumb questions and offer me advice. You all know who you are so a big thanks.
A special thanks is due to Skybeau who welcomed me into his workshop, helped me fix my solonoid driver board and responded to my frequent emails for help. Thanks Ken.

So now the Galaxy is up and running I am turning my attention to my other machine, my Hankin Howzat. This should be quite a challenge as its not just a simple matter of looking up Pin Wiki for tips on what to do and how to do it. So no doubt I will be back on the tech board posting many and varied questions.

I look forward to the day when someone will ask a question and I will have enough knowledge to offer an answer and return the favour.

Cheers

Ric

[Steevsee]

It's a great feeling when you bring a non working game back to life.

Keep up the great work. 

[Skybeaux]

That's no worries Ric , glad i could help out 

[Strangeways]

The main point is that you enjoyed the process, found the resources to help you and you have a game you know you can maintain and play without any problems !

[howzat]

Hi Ric   well done on getting your Galaxy going  that must make you feel good being able to do it your self

Mr pinboligist  has got my Howzat going it has taken a lot of work  but it is worth it as its fun to play

He might be a good one to ask if you need some help   It has a ghosting problem with the score displays but he will try something eles to fix it and then it should be perfect

in time I will paint the cab to finish it off     good luck with it all    Howzat

[deep six]

Hey Ian

I got my Howzat working last weekend, I now have all three machines running, well sort of. Galaxy has a few issues with weird stuff happening relating to credits, Howzat is short a couple of coils but all playable.
I'm now thinking about getting another machine but probably should wait a while til the gloss has worn off the current crop.
Here is a pic (somewhat out of focus) of my games room.

[ajlaird]

Love the Howzat because it features Dennis Lillee - I can still remember him taking his run up all the way back to the fence at one ground!

Cool collection there, certainly not your mainstream type games. It is fun to see some of the different titles that are out there.