Star Trek resto PART III. STTNG.

[Pinfan]

Thanks for the kind words guys...

Some more work on the STTNG...

The flipper mechs were rebuilt, new flipper kits plus new coils were installed. These have been put aside ready to install back onto the pf.

Stripped and rebuilt pop bumper assemblies. All new parts have been added including the metal rings..

Seeing as 2 out of 3 of the metal yokes were broken I chose to go with the heavier duty Gottlieb metal yokes. They are a lot more robust. I did not want to get back in there to do it again!  

All the under side of the inserts were cleaned with Windex and a cotton bud. To me this makes a huge difference and is done on all my machines. For the 2 minutes extra work it sure is worth it.

I used the TC polishing kit on the pf. I was quite content with the outcome but nothing a hand job couldn't do!  

I also re globed all inserts and GI through out the pf not including the light boards.
 
There was three switches that were shot, middle rollover and the left and right outlanes. I replaced all 3 with new ones.

It is only just now starting to show its potential!  

last pic shows the cleaned inserts....

[beaky]

WOW! thats one good looking playfield.

[Pinfan]

Another few hours with very little progress..  

I am really enjoying restoring this pin! It is a lot of work but real satisfying.

Another quality aspect of the restore is that i have the STTNG series running on DVD in the background as i am working on the pin..  

OK- to business-

All the spot targets and all switches through out the game had their points (switch) cleaned and gaped accordingly.

This took me quite a while as there is a heap of targets and switches on STTNG. Time consuming but well worth it for the reliability.

Once the switches were all cleaned the target faces were cleaned with Shellite then with Novus 2 and re installed back onto the PF.

All spot targets also had new foam installed behind the face of the target.

The larger neutral zone target had the original decal removed. The target was also cleaned with Shellite and a NOS target decal was placed onto the target face. There was no need to mylar over the decal as this was a NOS decal which was already coated with mylar.

As most STTNG the neutral zone hole is chewed, as was mine...A Cliffy protector was installed to cover and further protect the hole.

Easy work with not much progress but most satisfying knowing that these switches are all going to be 100 % operational and reliable as the hard work has now been done.

Happy days..  

[MartyJ]

 

You've lifted the standard even higher on this one Marco.  Awesome looking machine.

[ddstoys]

That playfield looks like Glass Marco well done again

[Pinfan]

Strip, clean, rebuild!  

Strip, clean, rebuild!  

Strip, clean, rebuild!  

That's what i have been doing the last couple of days...

Catapult, ball trough, slings, poppers, upper divertor, kicker, up kicker, pop bumpers and ball shooter assemblies were all stripped, cleaned and rebuilt.

I have also installed the flipper mechs onto the playfield and installed and fixed the new bats...

I had a problem where 2 out of the 3 poppers had their connectors chopped off and the wires soldered and joined together, and then covered with heat shrink. My subway ramp was also like this.

Before cutting them away from the PF i numbered both sides of the wires as in some cases coloured wires did not match on the opposite end. This was done as a precautionary measure.

I asked around for some help and thanks to Beaky for supplying me with the pin out diagram which helped me out a great deal.

You can see in the pic white tape on each individual wire on 2 of the poppers, ( explained above) i left them on for when the time comes to re assemble the poppers, as an insurance just in case i muffed up the wiring order that Beaky sent me.

Take note of the new connectors.

Not much to see but a couple of pics wouldn't hurt...  

[ddstoys]

That last photo is brilliant i use the toothpick but hold the bare flipper with my hand while trying to tighten them ill be using your method from now on Marco

[Caveoftreasures]

orange flipper rubbers, interesting choice.  actually looks pretty good on STNG .   

[Strangeways]

Thats EXACTLY how I adjust the flippers, and it works a charm. I've tried using other methods on my ToM, and I found that the ball kept hitting the slings on wide shots !

[Pinfan]

That's what the roll pins are for.. 

The only way to get them 100 % accurate .

[ajlaird]

This is coming up a treat.

Have you kept a rough log of the time spent on this? No doubt it has been many hours of work.

[Pinfan]

This is coming up a treat.

Have you kept a rough log of the time spent on this? No doubt it has been many hours of work.

Sure have Andrew.

I won't reveal how many hours just yet but let me just tell you that it is like restoring 2 pins at once! Huge effort !

I ponder what someone could/would charge for an effort like this or any restore to this depth ???

It always leave me thinking !

[ajlaird]

This is coming up a treat.

Have you kept a rough log of the time spent on this? No doubt it has been many hours of work.

Sure have Andrew.

I won't reveal how many hours just yet but let me just tell you that it is like restoring 2 pins at once! Huge effort !

I ponder what someone could/would charge for an effort like this or any restore to this depth ???

It always leave me thinking !

Unfortunately it is very difficult to charge a decent per hour rate for this sort of work because the time just adds up to way too much to be worth it to the buyer. Say you have spent 50 or 100 hours doing up a machine, then you would be looking at $2000 - $4000 for a $40 per hour rate. In my opinion this sort of rate would be fair and probably on the low side given the skill involved and the intensity of the work. However, spending $2000 to $4000 even on a machine worth $4000 will be money that almost certainly cannot be recuperated on the sale of said machine. And that's without even looking at any rubbers or other parts needed.

[Pinfan]

There’s not much else I can do on the pf as in re assemble. I have left the pf as bare as possible in able to carry it myself back into the cab for when its time, just in case i have no one around to help me.  That bastard is heavy!

So I started working on the cabinet.

The entire cabinet and HB were stripped completely. All parts were left aside in their designated sections for me to attend too..

The HB was unscrewed from its supports and pulled off away from the cab.

Light board was unscrewed away from the HB and left aside in order to be dealt with individually.

All boards were pulled as well.

Now the tumbler starts working full time again. 

~ TIMBER SUPPORTS IN THE CAB ~

Both had previously been chewed up by the damage PF slide/lock in rails. These timber rails both needed to be replaced. I will address this at a later date.

As i have mentioned previously the PF slide/lock rails were damaged and for quite a while the PF was chewing on these timber rails. To add more scars to the wound it started chewing up the side of the cabinet.  

You will see the extent of the damage in one of the pics.  

[Pinfan]

A little more progress.... 

The HB was masked in order to be ready for removal of the decals, sanding and painting.

The decals have been removed and the HB has been patched up and primed ready for the decals.

The HB support arms ( attach the HB to the cabinet) and the speaker panel bottom metal trim/guide were cleaned, sanded and wiped with Shellite ready to be painted.

3 coats of gloss black and 3 coats of clear were applied on both items. Quite happy with the way they turned out.