Complete First attempt at cleaning my STTNG and replacing all the rubbers

[cmrl9]

Hi, I recently purchased my first pinball a STTNG and after the second week decided to clean it as it was filthy and most of the rubbers had corroded.

The ramps all had light surface rust and a little black in places.

I bought 6 shiny new balls, novus1, 2 and 3, light sand papper, autosol, comet clear white LED and black rubber set with one yellow post. (I like to keep it original looking)

and got to work:

 

[cmrl9]

 

[cmrl9]

 

[James]

Whats the sandpaper for??? Don't use the sandpaper on the playfield ffs.

 

[cmrl9]

What I did:

I washed all the plastics in soapy water to get the dirt off and let them dry.

I lightly sanded all the ramps and cleaned with autosol (twice).

I used novus 3 and then 2 and then 1 on the playfield.

On the plastic I used novus 2 and then 1.

It appeared all the palstic might have been original as part numbers printed on them and clearly hadn't been removed for a very long time (if ever).

Changed the blubs I could get at to LED>

What I didn't do:
go any were near under the playfield, yes I know the ball trough will need a clean, but to be honest a little scared at the moment of things in the dark place

60 hours later results are pretty good:

 

[cmrl9]

Whats the sandpaper for??? Don't use the sandpaper on the playfield ffs.

The metal ramps, worked great

 

[cmrl9]

 

[cmrl9]

Surprising I manged to put it back together with out any left over screws!

All working, until a couple of games in, top right flipper fuse gone (I believe) Biglan going to assist with my electrical incompetance!

The borg ship is a ittle dirty, but I prefer it like that and left it alone. Looks more like a spaceship. I also like the originality of the machine, so have left as is

 

[cmrl9]

Whats the sandpaper for??? Don't use the sandpaper on the playfield ffs.

Before sanding

 

[cmrl9]

View attachment 117444

Before sanding

After sanding and two polishes

 

[carl lawrence]

Chrome rails use kitchen foil

 

[bartron]

Satin paint for the inside of the cabinet walls

 

[bartron]

Belchromes for the habitrails

 

[cmrl9]

Satin paint for the inside of the cabinet walls

Thanks, wondered what type of paint, not going to do that for a little bit

 

[cmrl9]

Belchromes for the habitrails

Thanks, autosol seemed to work well, there nice and shiny now

 

[cmrl9]

Chrome rails use kitchen foil

They were too rusty for kitchen roll, tried that at the very start. 180 sandpaper extra fine, then autosol got them shiny and looking like new

 

[cmrl9]

Satin paint for the inside of the cabinet walls

Does it need sanding first or could I touch up with it?

 

[bartron]

Just go over the whole lot with the same paint no need to worry about matching then.

 

[Balazs]

Hi, I recently purchased my first pinball a STTNG and after the second week decided to clean it as it was filthy and most of the rubbers had corroded.

The ramps all had light surface rust and a little black in places.

I bought 6 shiny new balls, novus1, 2 and 3, light sand papper, autosol, comet clear white LED and black rubber set with one yellow post. (I like to keep it original looking)

and got to work:

I can recommend the transculent rubbers and post leds and new ships. Looks cool to me but maybe we have diffetent taste.

 

[bartron]

Good work, NexGen can be quite daunting for a first teardown.
Did you clean the subway too ?

 

[cmrl9]

Just go over the whole lot with the same paint no need to worry about matching then.

Thanks, will do. On my to do list.

 

[cmrl9]

I can recommend the transculent rubbers and post leds and new ships. Looks cool to me but maybe we have diffetent taste.

Looks great, where did you get the ships? At the moment I quite like its original. It appears the plastics, playfield, side art are original. My thinking is if the DMD goes then a colour one it is!

 

[cmrl9]

Good work, NexGen can be quite daunting for a first teardown.
Did you clean the subway too ?

Thanks Barton, yes, initially I couldn't work out how to take the ramps off. I didnt realise they slotted into the plastic. I took it slow, lots of pictures and did half at one time, the other half at the other. The biggest difficultly for me was not removing the switches and wiring off the ramps. There are two rubbers that are a pain to change, one in the upper part of the payfiled under the borg ship and the other under the launch ramp.

A lot of the rubbers where really corroded and stuck to the plastic, took a bit of elbow grease to get it off.

It looks and plays really nicely now, not perfect, but for a first attempt pretty good.

I left the subway, I didn't go anywhere near under the playfield. Although after lifting up for a left flipper problem (don't know how to fix), the top gate problem (fixed with BigIan guidence), dirty launch ball diods (fixed on my own), its probably not as bad as I first thought! I might give it a go once the machine has been fully working for a bit.

At the moment I have zero knowledge on the electronics, but beginging to understand it a little.

 

[bartron]

If you don't clean the subway the playfield will get dirty quickly.
You will need to dis-assemble the diverter. you will need imperial Allen keys to undo the grub screws and to mark the position before you. Undo them

 

[cmrl9]

If you don't clean the subway the playfield will get dirty quickly.
You will need to dis-assemble the diverter. you will need imperial Allen keys to undo the grub screws and to mark the position before you. Undo them

Thanks, will attempt it at some point, in the next month or two. Unless I get bored which case sooner! The subway looks a little dirty