Complete Stern Lightning refurb

[AlanJ]

I bought this earlier in the year as an almost working game, i got it going but it really needs a refurb, so spent yesterday evening and this morning stripping it down.

A number of the leg bolt plates have stripped threads, so the legs were wobbly. new ones ordered. The cab has various bits of plywood missing and lots of dinks and dints. It will be stripped back, repaired and re-stencilled. The playfield isn’t too bad, and no replacements available, so will be cleaned, rerubbered and new plastics as a few broken.
The electronics are a bit hot and miss, so will attempt to make it more reliable, either repair or replace boards.
Coin door needs a strip and repaint.

It’s a great game so plan to keep this one.

 

[stumblor]

Who needs sleep when there are pinballs to repair!!

You're a machine Alan. Keep up the good work.

 

[replicas]

Fantastic game with great game play.

 

[AlanJ]

cabinet repairs, paint stripping, coin door dismantled and rust removal.

 

[AlanJ]

more sanding, filling and repainting the coin door


Didn’t like the std grey coloured door, so opted for a black hammerite instead.

 

[AlanJ]

more sanding, filling, sanding, filling, priming, painting.
We have switched from wood filler to car body filler. it seems to adhere better, and is stronger on rebuild cabinet corners.

 

[HomerRamone]

You already got stencils for this ?

 

[AlanJ]

You already got stencils for this ?

Hi yes I have.

 

[AlanJ]

The rewarding bit

 

[Biff]

cabinet repairs, paint stripping, coin door dismantled and rust removal.
View attachment 147667View attachment 147668View attachment 147669View attachment 147670

Snap, same table cloth as us!

 

[AlanJ]

Coin door looking a lot nicer. I’ll use the old playfield plastics as inserts in the illuminated coin slots, once i get around to pulling off the old ones.

 

[Jay Walker]

Stern video games such as Berzerk used to have black coin doors, but without the Credit button.

 

[HomerRamone]

Stern video games such as Berzerk used to have black coin doors, but without the Credit button.

Coin detected in pocket. Insert coin.

 

[Jay Walker]

That's it, and "Chicken, fight like a robot"

 

[AlanJ]

Here’s the std colour stern coin door, on my meteor. i really don’t like the grey against the mainly black cabinet, this one will also be black when i get around to refurbing it

 

[AlanJ]

Too cold today to get a good paint job done, a few smudges which i’ll need to touch up once it’s fully dried.

 

[Jay Walker]

Like so much Stern hardware, the door was inherited from Chicago Coin, or in turn from CDI. Mechanical shooting games, etc, can be seen fitted with it in old movies and telly shows. And this forum.

 

[AlanJ]

Like groundhog day. i like to keep the stencilling horizontal, so it takes 2 days per side, ie main cab is 6 days in total as has 3 sides requiring stencilling. the backbox takes 4 days. Then allow another few days for clear coat top layer.

 

[AlanJ]

Managed (just about) to complete the second side of the cab and the first side of the backbox.

It really too cold to spray paint. and i’ve got a few duff patches. i’ll have to hand sort them once the paints are fully dry and cured.

In cold weather the paint seems to flake up in places.

I am going to have to move the next cab repaint into the main house to help get a better paint finish (or wait until next summer!!)

 

[new forest pinball]

Hi Alan, @AlanJ
Word to the wise........
“Flaking up” normally occurs in lower temperatures due to the primer/undercoat not being cured. From experience, in cooler weather conditions
Wait 10-14days for primer to cure first before applying any top coat. (Problem is 2 weeks later it’s even colder , then you cannot apply the top coat anyways!.......)
Nice to see some stern classic ss machines getting the love and respect they deserve. Keep it up Alan, enjoying this thread, shop logs are a refreshing change from the Pinflation handbag yeilders.
K.

 

[AlanJ]

cheers keith, makes sense.

 

[AlanJ]

on the final bit of cabinet and backbox painting.

 

[AlanJ]

some better pics. all the stencilling is done. I’ve also replaced the broken leg bolt plates, so no more wobbly legs!

 

[AlanJ]

Busy day today

first replace the broken leg bolt receiver brackets and get its legs on


then start to reassemble. coin door first

then all the cabinet stuff, power, knocker, flipper switches, mains filter and on off switch. speaker and vol control, tilt board, etc etc


head on


coin door surround and lock down receiver


score display insert


boards


playfield


need to check all wiring, the try powering up. externally still need to put on the side rails.

 

[AlanJ]

Tomorrow i’ll replace all the playfield plastics and get this finished off.

 

[AlanJ]

Got it all back together, but the blooming thing wont boot properly. I've spent hours today, even tried a brand new MPU board, which boots but then hangs up. Anyhow, back to basics. tested all voltages from rectifier board and then from SDB board - all good.

Stripped out the sound and voice cards and also disconnected scorbit.

Success I get the new and then the old MPU to boot and play a game, no sound. Tried plugging in scorbit - no boot, or inconsistent. Think the old headers / plugs need replacing and whilst they work with the old MPU board, the dont appear to connect to the slightly different scorbit pins. Anyhow, removed scorbit. All good again.

Wired in the sound cards - it booted and ran for a while then hung up, then wont boot. Suspect sound card is the issue. the main chip MC68A40P can cause MPU to halt or not boot if faulty, so I removed that and it booted ok - of course no sounds, but I did get voice from the voice card!

Cleaned up the sound chip and cleaned its sockets, re-inserted and it now boots and the full sounds are restored. Might need a new chip if it causes problems again.

Im going to leave scorbit out of the equation for the time being.

Next job - the playfield new plastics.........

 

[AlanJ]

The plastics replacement on this are not as straightforward as most pins. there is a couple of vertical pieces that have riveted metal mounting brackets. I don’t have a rivet machine, but i managed to find some very small nylon bolts and nuts.



I could paint the heads with chrome paint, but once i fitted it, they’re not very noticeable.

Finished the coin door


Machine is all back together, now time to play it!!!

 

[newdos]

Nice job Alan!!

Cheers

kev

 

[replicas]

Great job Alan, fun machine to play.

 

[HomerRamone]

This is one of the machines I vaguely remember from my yout - before I even had the slightest interest in pins. Not quite as memorable as Centaur but I do remember it.