New pinball owner questions... (star wars data east)

monsterbaldy

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New pinball owner questions... (star wars data east)

Hey guys,

I recently scored a Star Wars Data East, it is my first pin. It seems to be in very good condition, but I am also not "pinball smart". I want to have this machine and keep it in good condition for the rest of my life... so I started with this:

1) Ordered new legs because it came with very weird 20" legs.
2) Ordered the leg protectors.
3) Ordered some of the Novus cleaner and polish.
4) Ordered new balls.
5) Ordered a new black rubber set.
6) Ordered a whole bunch of backup lamps.

I ran the system through the self tests and everything seemed to work great, playing it is also awesome and seems good. I have one bulb out but no biggie.

My question to you guys is

A) When you get a new pin what else should I do besides the replacement stuff I talked about up there and clean the playfield?
B) Any good web resources that have instructions about these kinds of things?
C) My playfield has what seem to be clear, very thin, plastic stickers on it. My friend and I have no idea what it is for, but our best guess is they are some sort of wear guards? Any ideas? They are not easy to notice but they are there, and in odd shapes and sizes. Like, there is a rectangular one that roughly covers each letter of star wars, and some triangular ones in other areas as well.
D) My volume pot seems to be coming out of my power supply!? Is that normal? I am afraid to touch it, I don't want to end up tweaking voltage by accident. But it REALLY looks like the volume pot.
E) What is the standard degree for playfield? 7 degrees? How much should I trust the level built into the cabinet?
F) How in the heck do you remove the balls on this thing?

Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH for any and all information.

-ben
 
yes it really is a volume pot on the power switch

that clear "sticker" is mylar its is in fact used to protect the playfield

other than that, clean and wax, and have fun!, welcome to the pidside!


to remove the balls, simply start a game with the glass off and remove them one at a time
 
Have One myself

Hey Ben,

Read up on the Data East link @ http://www.pinrepair.com/

Check the Regulator board, look at the CN1 plastic connector for browning and replace if needed. Ed @ http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/ has them. Also, look at the Caps on the board for leaking.

Check the POP bumpers paying attention to the plastic mounts under the playfield for cracks. If you pull the POP bumper lens off, you may need to lub the threads of the screws and spacers when reinstalling. On mine, they were rusting and a pain to remove. Striped out the phillips pan head screws getting them out.


I messed with adding LED to the GI lighting i.e. used some blue ones under the plastic set and under R2D2. Changed out the red pop bumpers to clear and add different color leds. Some of the plastic on mine were cracked and decals on the cab were worn. I blow the 599.00 and just replace all the plastic and stickers. I also added the 50.00 stainless steel holes guards.

Check and add the foam rubber on the back between the stand up target and metal stops if missing, those targets get $$ if replacing. It comes in handy to have a couple of the targets and a flipper button on hand should you brake them playing. Mine belongs to the wife so helps justified my other 93 pins. LOL

Happy Pinning. LOL
 
Awesome information guys thanks!

Astrofrog does yours have small pieces of mylar on it, a big piece of mylar, or no mylar at all?

-ben
 
Here are the hole protectors I added to a SW data east I restored. They work very well!

http://www.passionforpinball.com/

Fuse holders are issues on these machines. The metal is junk and does not hole the fuse tight enough, thus some lights may be out or dim. Might want to replace them...
 
Black rubber plays slow and makes your play field dirty. I'd advise against it unless you enjoy cleaning on a regular basis ;)

Honestly for home use I'd recommend removing the mylar. Freeze spray method followed up with Goo Gone to remove the adhesive left behind.

And most people use a pitch of 5.5 - 6.5 degrees. If you want the action even faster then 7. Just be careful as some games don;t play for squat with too high of a pitch.
 
Ah crud, I was trying to stay original with the black rubber.

I wish there was a full mylar piece available for the playfield as opposed to these patches, like there seems to be for other machines.

I think for now I will leave the mylar patches there. I will just disassemble everything enough to clean and wax the whole playfield, replace the rubbers, and do some of the easy voltage tests explained on the site. All the audit tests passed and it plays well, so things seem to be in ok shape.

The ramp might actually need some repair, but I am not sure. I should probably take a picture. Along the lines someone did some repair to it and I think they did it wrong... it has welding marks at 4 points welding the bottom to the sides... and I think part of the mechanism attaching the bottom of the ramp to the playfield is actually lose, but held down by the sides. It seems to play smooth and fine, just something for me to stress about.

-ben
 
congrats on the score, monster. i picked up a DE SW a while back.....it was my pin-grail as well.

still very fun, though you may want to look into making some adjustments to the gameplay now that you have it in a home environment. i took off the ramp saves, which cuts down on some of the ramp pounding and, IMO, makes multiball more important. i've also been playing with the extra ball settings, but haven't settled in on anything yet. it got waaaaaaaaaaaay up there at one point (99 ramps. yikes), and i adjusted it but it went overboard the other way (3 ramps? i think?).

anyway, just some suggestions. it's being professionally shopped right now (my wife's christmas present to me) and i can't wait to get it back. i plan to mess around with the extra ball settings some more when i get it back home....
 
I'm fixing up a DE SW for sale right now and my ramp is also cracked, but not too badly. I have an acquaintence that can TIG weld thin stainless so I'm going to stop by his place Friday. Hopefully it will be repaired and look good afterwards. I'll take pics before and after for grins.

I'd leave the mylar where the ball drops from the ramp. It helps cushion the drop a little bit. Other than that you are pretty safe removing any other mylar.

I also had to repair CN8. Must be a pretty common connector to burn up on DE machines.

I'm in the process of making a new Boba Fett plastic, it is the only one that was flat out broken. I got scans of the plastic from an RGP member and I plan on printing the artwork and fixing it to the underside of the new plastic. Hope it works.

Has anyone tried bleaching out R2D2's arms to make them match the body? Mine are kind of yellowed. I wonder if this would work:
http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/Using+Retr0Bright
 
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New pinball owner questions... (star wars data east)

The Number 1 thing about using the Black rubbers on a pin is.. Kinda hard too notice when the game is starting too get alittle dirty.

I really don'nt understand how black rubbers could slow a machine down? There the samething but only black right?
Hey guys,

I recently scored a Star Wars Data East, it is my first pin. It seems to be in very good condition, but I am also not "pinball smart". I want to have this machine and keep it in good condition for the rest of my life... so I started with this:

1) Ordered new legs because it came with very weird 20" legs.
2) Ordered the leg protectors.
3) Ordered some of the Novus cleaner and polish.
4) Ordered new balls.
5) Ordered a new black rubber set.
6) Ordered a whole bunch of backup lamps.

I ran the system through the self tests and everything seemed to work great, playing it is also awesome and seems good. I have one bulb out but no biggie.

My question to you guys is

A) When you get a new pin what else should I do besides the replacement stuff I talked about up there and clean the playfield?
B) Any good web resources that have instructions about these kinds of things?
C) My playfield has what seem to be clear, very thin, plastic stickers on it. My friend and I have no idea what it is for, but our best guess is they are some sort of wear guards? Any ideas? They are not easy to notice but they are there, and in odd shapes and sizes. Like, there is a rectangular one that roughly covers each letter of star wars, and some triangular ones in other areas as well.
D) My volume pot seems to be coming out of my power supply!? Is that normal? I am afraid to touch it, I don't want to end up tweaking voltage by accident. But it REALLY looks like the volume pot.
E) What is the standard degree for playfield? 7 degrees? How much should I trust the level built into the cabinet?
F) How in the heck do you remove the balls on this thing?

Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH for any and all information.

-ben
 
The Number 1 thing about using the Black rubbers on a pin is.. Kinda hard too notice when the game is starting too get alittle dirty.

I really don'nt understand how black rubbers could slow a machine down? There the samething but only black right?
I'm not the only one to feel this way about black rubbers. HEre's one of many articles on the usage of black.
http://www.flippers.be/basics/101-adjust_pinball.html

And FWIW a few OPS I know won't even use black.

I removed the black on my LOTR and the game play is ridiculously better. Black is just a poor performer.
 
Yes on small square Mylar

Mine has the thin mylar over the Star Wars letting above the flippers; I did'n mess with them in fear of screwing up the letting. I did have the half moon shape ones on the kickers. I removed the kicker ones and the small square one at the force hole and replaced with bigger/new ones. I also add some in front of the flippers and a larger one at the jabb hole.

Yep those black rubbers can muck up the PF wax. I did have to replace the rubbers on the posts at the ramp and deaf star with the correct ones. R2D2 is white on this one so did not have to clean it, did replace the decals. The fuse holders were good on it; my DE Tommy was in need of all fuse holder replaced since PO solder the fuses to them.

If you look real close at the switch lighting on the PF, some have clear covers (looks like thin mylar) installed before the PF was inked. At least that's my take on it.
 
i get the fact that black rubber can make the playfield dirty. but how in the world would the rubbers, in and of themselves, slow down gameplay? or play differently than white?

i guess if you don't take care of your machine and let the "rubber debris" build up, it could affect gameplay, but that's the only way i can think of that it would have any bearing whatsoever...


is that right? wrong? other?
 
Thanks for all the great info and the heads up on the hole protectors!

So my to-do list is now:

1) Disassemble and CLEAN playfield (and leave existing mylar)
2) Wax
3) install hole protectors
4) Reassemble (and replace all rubbers and blown top loading bulbs)
5) replace all balls
6) Check the boards/batteries/voltages/etc
7) Switch to the new standard height legs with protectors
8) Turn the volume up to 11
9) Play until I die.

For the cleaning I am going to use the Novus cleaning solution (sparingly) and a microfiber cloth. Any advice on what to use for the wax?

Also, does anyone make repro ramps for this thing? It's such a small simple piece that gets so much use, I'd rather pay for a newer more sturdy one than deal with trying to perfect the welded scrap metal that is there.

-ben
 
White rubbers are a bit softer then black rubber which gives it more spring to the ball. Black rubber hides the dirt real well. White rubber looks better and when they start getting dirty you know it is an indication that it's time to clean the playfield. Nice clean white rubber just gives the playfield that cleaner look to it. I really disliked the black rubber on my machine, it just looked dull to me.
 
So anyone have any hole protectors for sale for SW DE, or know where I can score some? Marcos is sold out, and passionforpinball hasn't responded to me.
 
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