Did you check & test the Knocker coil Chris? and also the coin door lockout coil if connected. If the Knocker coil locks on it will smoke as it's not fused (via the 1 amp playfield fuse) also the coin lockout if that's shorted as that's not fused as well & can burn before the 7A F4 blows.

Should be fairly similar wiring. Do you have solenoid voltage at the rectifier board (test point 5)?

Is fuse F4 good?

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Didn’t check the coin door. The knocker has been disconnected since restoring so can’t blame her

Here is one for a Hot Hand.

https://www.ipdb.org/files/1244/Stern_1979_Hot_Hand_Schematic.pdf

I feel like there was mention of a cheaper way to order swinks drop targets in bulk at one point rather than using shape ways? Anyone? I've got like five sterns in various states of repair/shop/build and wouldn't mind to order like 50 or so if the price was reasonable (which it's not really through shapeways unfortunately).

Reach out to swinks directly. He'll occasionally do bulk orders and sell direct.

I still have stock of the Classic Stern Tombstone Drops - roughly 55 left across the 2 versions - $10 AUD each + postage

And can do 5% discount if you got 20 or more

So the smoke “I think” was unrelated. Found a gummed up/burnt coil sleeve in the ball trough which wasn’t allowing the mechanism to fully move. Replaced the sleeve expecting that to be the issue but nup. Vid below showing boot procedure. Same outcome whether audio cable in or not.

Sorry in advance for the dumb question, when reading schematics / pinouts, does the 1 (see photo) go to the topmost part of the MPU? In other words, I would plug the molex in with 1 closest to the top of the backbox assuming my MPU is installed right side up? I'm pretty sure I've got 3 wires backwards but I also realized that none of the molex have the white plastic thing to block people from installing the molex upside down. This was my mistake and now it's been a few weeks and I don't recall which way I had the molex plugged in. I notice on the Alltek boards there is a small '1' at the top of each connector, I assume this means this is where 1 goes?

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Correct, pay attention to where pin 1 is marked on the PCB. NOTE, the lamp driver board connectors have pin 1 at the bottom for some stupid reason! MPU and SDB have pin 1 at the top.

Thank you

One more quick question, will SB-100 games boot/start without an SB-100 installed? I'm under the impression I'm not able to get to 7 flashes on the MPU, I'm getting 6, but the displays are blinking 00's like it's in attract mode. The coin door is dead even though I have tested the wires and connections. I thought maybe I wasn't getting the right voltage to the solenoids but that's not the issue either as I have the correct voltage at the rectifier. I can't enter test mode, add a credit or start a game. I was going to use the arduino/BSOS to run this so I didn't bother trying to repair the SB-100 that came with this, but I want to make sure that's not my issue before I spin my wheels for no reason

You do not need a sound board attached and working for any game in this architecture.

You mentioned some connectors possibly miss-wired/backwards. Did you attempt to boot the game that way?

This has been a huge pain in the ass, but really happy with how it's coming out. One more coat of clear and polish I think.

All inserts but blue and amber replaced with opaque to hide the LEDs. Laser engraved big blues and shoot again - really dig how you don't see the engraving until lit, then it pops. Made vinyl stencils and airbrushed all new key lines, along with touchup. It's not perfect, but it's gonna look and play killer when I get it back together.

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You have done a very nice job. Looks good !

Thanks. I'm trying not to think too hard about what a pita it always is to put one back together. At least with an original playfield I don't have to double check every measurement like with a repro. and since I can't put a ball on it for a good while I've got time to screw with that at least, lol

Classic Stern owners: did Stern use the same (impossible to find) slingshot arm from 77 to 84?

Still holding out hope for a reproduction.

Yes, it’s actually the same(ish*) design used on Chicago Coin games too.

*there’s an extra armature for the scoring switch since EMs needed that, but otherwise it’s the same.

Lazer cut part = easy
bend =easy
stamped curve = hard
collar & orbital rivet die = hard

anyone have a spare Ali pop cap? need 1 bc ours has a star trek one on it

Hi all

Just got a Seawitch with a sound issue. It makes a continuous noise when it boots and it doesn't stop until you start a game, then it's totally normal from then on.

Also the volume at its lowest is still really loud. The volume will go up even louder but won't go quieter than the lowest which is louder than most games on full blast!

Am I right in understanding there's an IC That deals with volume?

I have made a thread about the above issues but no responses yet so thought I'd muster the stern club
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-seawitch-makes-noise-until-you-ve-started-a-game-

It could be lots of things causing this. Is the sound board original with it's original capacitors? If so, I would replace all of those first.

Such a solid game with new code running.
Dick and I designed a topper to house external speakers and LED flasher strips; I haven’t had time to build mine yet but once I do I will post pics and video of it in action.
He designed a special lamp board which is easy to assemble, which connects to the Arduino and the flasher effects are synced up to game play.
In his prototype he just had flash strips in the topper, but if you were so inclined, you could add them to the playfield (under the back plastics along the rear wooden rail, for example) or underneath the cabinet as well.

I’m planning to tinker with it a bit and see what works on the playfield. The game really should have had flashers and it feels like a much needed fix to me…just need to set aside the time to work on it!

I just purchased a F2K yesterday and the first thing I realized is the inlane guides are the art plastics. I suspect someone has figured out a metal inlane guide and put some standoffs on top of it for the art--any leads?

Great pick up. Check out the club thread. There should be examples of putting a spacer on top of a clear plastic inlane and then the art plastic.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/flight-2000-club-members-and-fans-welcome

thanks, I should have searched over there too! I just thought this might get more traction since there's a few of these with the same configuration.

Is there a name for these white posts in early sterns? Not sure what to look for if I want to replace some. Closest I've found was "spacer" but the part didn't look quite the same.

Could these just be replaced with modern rubber posts?

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They are just plactic tubing used in tight and / or out of sight places on Classic Sterns.

This part from Pinball Life is a nice substitute.

https://www.pinballlife.com/6-x-78-nylon-round-spacer-14-od.html

Trivial to make if you know someone with 3D printer, I make Bally ones.

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Those are way to fancy for a Classic Stern.

They do look pretty on a new scratch build though.