Complete STTNG - Flipper Rebuild, left, Right, Upper Right - First time using a soildering Iron! Subway clean and Ball Popper, Opto Rebuild and other things:)

[cmrl9]

5 months later and over a grand dropped into the machine, some of it necessary and some of it not! What have I done:

Replaced all the rubbers
Cleaned the machine, playfiled and pastics
replaced all the balls
gave it an instruction card
replaced the gun spring
Replaced most of the bulbs with Comet LED super bright
Replaced the canon covers
Fitted a cliffy catapult protector
Totally rebuilt all the flippers, new assembly, new coils,
Cliffy netural zone protector, the good one that does'n fit over the playfield and interfer with the shot!
Metal subway protectors fitted when I cleaned the subway, a total pain to do. Prevents the subway cracking at the ends and where the ball drops
Fuses, some incorrect and just for the hell of it
New plastic for glass at top
New plastic surround for translight at top
Some LED wedge type bulbs, not all, could;nt be bother the take apart some of the electronics to get at some
New non key lock, the old key one was the wrong length, when you nudge the door, which you did when playing it would reset
New metal Ball hopper assembly, ordered by mistake, but turned out one was a bit rusty. (could be cleaned up with the right tools)
New Seloids for all ball hopper assembly, replaced mising/incorrect brackets, rebuilt, Replaced spliced wiring. New Molex connectors.
new interupter plastics for flippers.
New selonoids for subway divertors, one was incorrect. Replaced both.
Replaced missing screws and nuts.
Replaced all the optos, Ball hopper optos, subway optos, left gun optos, 13 sets in all. probably more *lol*
Replaced Frengi plastic, the original had cracked. Kept as the machine has all original plastics.
New canon wiring looms, rebuilt left cannon, fitted new optos, selenoids, wiring
Change all the rubber gromets that stop the plunger hitting the end of the assembly
Replaced flipper buttons
Pinball heaven repaired and checked the Fliptonics Board. Several problems with it, fixed the left flipper hold problem.
Pinball heaven reparied and checked the Power Driver board, couple of problems with it, general elumination problem now not present, Fuse errors (caused by me)
Fish paper bought and fitted to the ball hopper assemblys
Gun handle powder coated in black
Probably some other things I've missed

 

[cmrl9]

Whats left to do for another time.......

 

[cmrl9]

Need to rebuild the right cannon, have new wiring loom, optos and seleniod, but its a total pain to do. (took 4 hours to do the left one... yes I know I'm sure there people out there who can do it in 15 minutes )

Will enjoy playing the machine for a bit before I replace.

New playfield glass, the one I have has some minor scratches and a chip at the top, can't do this to after lockdown. If it ever ends

 

[cmrl9]

I was warned by people on the forum that Star Trek is a bit of a beast, especially for a total newbie who up until 5 months ago had never picked up a soldering iron.

I can confirm they are correct When its not working It's a total pain, so many components that its diffcult to troubleshoot if like me you don't know what your doing, however its been fun to fix and its forced me to learn about thing like diods and not fitting the coil the wrong way round!

Having put weeks of man hours into the machine, I can honestly say its been fun to work on, esepcially as there nothing else to do with lock down!

 

[cmrl9]

Finally, I would like to thank all the forum members who have kindly respond to my cries for help and head scratching. Without you it would never have been fixed, stuck in a corner like a giant coffin, taking up half the living room, moking me for me engineering incompetence

 

[BigIan]

Big respect for getting stuck in.

loads of bodges came out of the wood work whilst doing that. Looks like it’s a good job and all working (for now) they don’t fail that often especially when everything has been gone thru and repaired/tidied up which should hopefully give you months of error free play.. you have also added a lot of value to the game if/when you come around to selling it..

the amount of work you have done on this will set you up for working on pins in the future, you will wonder how companies get away with putting so little into the games now days in comparison (yes i know the rules are deeper etc but still a lack of toys/mechs etc)

 

[cmrl9]

Big respect for getting stuck in.

loads of bodges came out of the wood work whilst doing that. Looks like it’s a good job and all working (for now) they don’t fail that often especially when everything has been gone thru and repaired/tidied up which should hopefully give you months of error free play.. you have also added a lot of value to the game if/when you come around to selling it..

the amount of work you have done on this will set you up for working on pins in the future, you will wonder how companies get away with putting so little into the games now days in comparison (yes i know the rules are deeper etc but still a lack of toys/mechs etc)

Thanks, yes a fair few bodges appear when you take every thing apart ! I would say the two most painful things with the machine are the subway, which is partly why I replaced the optos, I figured if im taking the thing to bits I should replace the 30 year old components. I could tell by the colour on the white plastic they have never been changed and cannon, its a little difficult to work on as it has to be reassembled and soldered in place on the machine.

The next owner would be very happy, for me its not a keeper (I might change my mind), thinking of selling around August/Sep time, once I have played it for a couple of months.

Hoping to maybe do a trade plus cash for something I'm interested in.

Yes, in that regard its been a good machine to own, its complex and I have learn't alot. The only thing I would't tackle is circuit boards, partly becuase it doesn't cost that much for a professional to resolve. If I had some junk ones to play about with I doubt its that difficult, just like plastering requires considerable skill to get it right, but not that difficult when you do. (I can't plaster!)

Yes, brand new machines, except for perhaps Jersey Jack, always seem lacking with Toys and mechs, probably the part I enjoy the most when playing.

 

[cmrl9]

Spoke to soon, incomplete.....

Problem with Outhole Ball trough Assembly, selonoid failing test, fires intermitantley.

Upon investigation there are two problems the plunger and a wire to the selonoid is damaged A outhole Ball trough assembly rebuild.



Its the machine that keeps on giving, problems.

 

[Colywobbles]

Most older Ball/Will are like that but good on you. Going in on the deep end is a steep learning curve and you have excelled and probably now understand the nature of these beasts.
Keep up the good work and fight the fight to keep these classics alive.
Col

 

[cmrl9]

Most older Ball/Will are like that but good on you. Going in on the deep end is a steep learning curve and you have excelled and probably now understand the nature of these beasts.
Keep up the good work and fight the fight to keep these classics alive.
Col

Thanks, it teases me with an hour or two of play and then, nope not quite fixed

 

[cmrl9]

Ordered new seloniods, springs, plungers for the ball trough assembly and Catapolt.

If i'm taking the ball trough assembly apart, I might as well clean it, its the last bit I haven't! If its off it easy to unsrew the brackets for the catapolt to change the spring.

While the machine was up took a picture of the worlds most expensive sand paper! Fish paper imported directly from the states *lol* the instructions told me to do it.......



To be honest I have seen now no faults with the ball hoopers, but that might be me adjusting the brackets rather than the bit of insulating paper!

 

[cmrl9]

BAll trough assembly, rusty springs, rusty plunger.......


Flith! .......

 

[cmrl9]

Not any more! shiny and clean and back on the machine. Fitted new coil ,springs, rubber

 

[cmrl9]

Whilst is was in there tool out the ctapolt coil and spring, and gave it all a clean

 

[cmrl9]

Opto Trough....before

Yuk











Opto trough after......

NEw coil, springs, rubber and a clean



Catapult coil before......




Catapolot coil after, new coil, spring, rubber and a clean

 

[cmrl9]

Turned the machine on run tests all working fine, played game working fine however after a couple of game its would sometime say "locating balls" when you tried to presee the start button..... interesting problem

 

[cmrl9]

Ran all tests, working fine.

Tried to clear out balls only 5 balls cleared out, lifted the playfiled up the ball fell back to the BAnk drop target whole at the top of the machine. No balls present in trough.

Ran test with individual balls, divertor working fine, ball hoppers fine, catapult fine, switch edge fine, all fine.

Looked on line for people with similar problems, one person seemed to hoave this problem when the machine was moved and it was'nt level.

Moved the machine.

Set the machine up for 10 balls, played 4 full games, ran every mode including the final fronter, scored over 3 billion, machine plays fine.

 

[cmrl9]

Any one have any thoughts about the "locating balls" message..... machine is playing for 1 hour no errors at all, haven't seen it since lifting the playfiled, running all test, moving machine. Anything to worry about or just a one off star trek glitch!

 

[BigIan]

I’d be checking the trough optos if it continues but I wouldn’t be worrying about it as yet.

could also be the trough itself, they can get pitted and effect the rolling of the balls, thee is an insert that sits on the bottom of the trough and stays flat for easy rolling..

but as I said, I wouldn’t be worrying about it until it does it at least relatively regularly

 

[cmrl9]

I’d be checking the trough optos if it continues but I wouldn’t be worrying about it as yet.

could also be the trough itself, they can get pitted and effect the rolling of the balls, thee is an insert that sits on the bottom of the trough and stays flat for easy rolling..

but as I said, I wouldn’t be worrying about it until it does it at least relatively regularly

Thanks an hour play no issues as yet.

The trough is pretty smooth no pitting seems to roll well

 

[cmrl9]

5 months later and over a grand dropped into the machine, some of it necessary and some of it not! What have I done:

Replaced all the rubbers
Cleaned the machine, playfiled and pastics
replaced all the balls
gave it an instruction card
replaced the gun spring
Replaced most of the bulbs with Comet LED super bright
Replaced the canon covers
Fitted a cliffy catapult protector
Totally rebuilt all the flippers, new assembly, new coils,
Cliffy netural zone protector, the good one that does'n fit over the playfield and interfer with the shot!
Metal subway protectors fitted when I cleaned the subway, a total pain to do. Prevents the subway cracking at the ends and where the ball drops
Fuses, some incorrect and just for the hell of it
New plastic for glass at top
New plastic surround for translight at top
Some LED wedge type bulbs, not all, could;nt be bother the take apart some of the electronics to get at some
New non key lock, the old key one was the wrong length, when you nudge the door, which you did when playing it would reset
New metal Ball hopper assembly, ordered by mistake, but turned out one was a bit rusty. (could be cleaned up with the right tools)
New Seloids for all ball hopper assembly, replaced mising/incorrect brackets, rebuilt, Replaced spliced wiring. New Molex connectors.
new interupter plastics for flippers.
New selonoids for subway divertors, one was incorrect. Replaced both.
Replaced missing screws and nuts.
Replaced all the optos, Ball hopper optos, subway optos, left gun optos, 13 sets in all. probably more *lol*
Replaced Frengi plastic, the original had cracked. Kept as the machine has all original plastics.
New canon wiring looms, rebuilt left cannon, fitted new optos, selenoids, wiring
Change all the rubber gromets that stop the plunger hitting the end of the assembly
Replaced flipper buttons
Pinball heaven repaired and checked the Fliptonics Board. Several problems with it, fixed the left flipper hold problem.
Pinball heaven reparied and checked the Power Driver board, couple of problems with it, general elumination problem now not present, Fuse errors (caused by me)
Fish paper bought and fitted to the ball hopper assemblys
Gun handle powder coated in black
Probably some other things I've missed

We can now add to the list of thing chaged:

Replaced the coil, sorings and cleaned the outhole ball triugh assembly

replaced the coil, spring and cleaned the catapult assembly

 

[cmrl9]

Got to the bottom of the missing 6 ball.

At the top of the playfiled the subway cliffy protector had moved and was stopping the ball, it was also blocking one of the opto's,.

 

[cmrl9]

.

 

[cmrl9]

Been playing regularly without any problems

However I thought today I would tackle the right cannon as have the replacement parts.

Took some pictures as a reference



bit dirty







Surprise, Surprise, the wiring loom had been tapped to hide broken stuff, so turned out needed replacing




Fitted, new plastic tubes

 

[cmrl9]

Turned it on and ran some tests......

 

[cmrl9]

Interesting problem, the opto was set to always open, not working.

Desoldered new optos and put back old working ones

 

[cmrl9]

Still an issue,

Looked at wiring loom, turns out two of the molex connectors on the new wireing loom was the wrong way round, don't have the right size molex tool to change so swapped the wires around to match the correct wireing.

Soldered back on to new opto's

 

[cmrl9]

Ran tests all passed

 

[cmrl9]

Wife and I played a couple of 10 ball games no problems! Playing great

 

[cmrl9]

Only five things left to do.

Lost two canon screws, think I threw them out by mistake, can't find them anywhere so will have to order a couple more. I think I have the orginal old ones in a box of parts.

The kickback a litlte old and filthy I might as well change this, not paying £5 delivery for 2 screws! as I've pretty much changed everything else on this machine, whats another £20 between pinball

8 bulbs for the mission selctions are not LED's these are the last of the bulbs, all will then be LED's except the flashers.

New feet

New Glass