PQTaggart
New member
Restoration of a DataEast Star Trek 25th anniversary pinball
This is going to be my worklog on the restoration of my DataEast Star Trek 25th anniversary pin. I'll spare you the usual overview pictures but will show before and after pictures for the different work stages.
I bought it on ricardo on 7.10.2010 for 850.- CHF - my first pinball! Pick-up was one day later, 150km from home, 2x 1.5h drive. The state: gameplay 100%, pretty dirty, some wear around the drop holes, heavy wear around the VUK. Some plastics damaged (cracks) and Jeoman Janice was missing the upper part of her head. Klingon metal piece (lane divider) missing. Blue running lights not working (board missing in backbox). Rubbers old and worn. Transporter working fine. Cabinet speaker was disconnected. Launch button and its casing but partly destroyed but operative. DMD has non working pixels in half a row in the lower right corner and possibly some gas leakage (not sure though), cabinet in rel. good shape with some small scratches and dried chewing gum - yuck(!). Under each button (start/launch) a 1cm hole was drilled. Backglass in good condition, only some scratches from the transporter-motor in Spock's body (fixable).
08.10.10: Started cleaning the playfield and interior of cabinet. Re-attached wires of cabinet speaker (bass),adjusted some switches (sling-shots, bumpers) and the game was much more active afterwards.
09.10.10: By just looking at the lane under the playfield I wouldn't have guessed it was made of clear plastic. It was closer to a nickel coated something. Luckily I've found a hint about some dealers not cleaning it, when restoring this pin, which causes the dirt to be carried back to the surface by the ball. So I disassembled enough to get it out (some lamp sockets, moving target motor and plugs). After thorough cleaning with microfibre towel and alcohol and giving it three layers of Turtle wax, it almost looked like new and felt like a baby's but.
before:
and after: 
BTW: I did not remove the micro-switches from the lane. If you're careful enough, it'll work just fine. Proud of my work, I reassembled everything carefully but made one capital mistake: The lane screws near the VUK had no plastic tubes to limit the amount they can be screwed in. As a decent craftsman I screwed them in to my usual wood-screw-tightness - without noticing that I was lifting the paint on the other side of the playfield. Darn! Such a beginner's mistake! Well, I am a beginner in regards of pinball maintenance but not in fiddling around with nuts and bolts. I was able to undo part of the damage with a hammer and a small metal bar - but not to my complete satisfaction. At least I was able to put everything together and the game still worked fine.
10.10.10: After watching all of PinDude's videos on touch-up and clear coating twice (highly recommendable!) , reading pinrepair's articles and Zitt's worklogs on restoring a Bally StarTrek and a Gottlieb Black Hole and getting some good advices and help from him, I decided to be bold, strip my playfield, touch it up and clear coat it.
16.10.10: Playfield partly disassembled, everything packed in plastic bags, wires labeled, a lot of pictures taken
17.10.10: Plafield's empty (except for some lamp sockets that are attached directly to the board). I decide to leave them in place and use some of these yellow ear plugs to protect them when clear-coating. Much more dirt - I'm happy I decided to do this.
This is going to be my worklog on the restoration of my DataEast Star Trek 25th anniversary pin. I'll spare you the usual overview pictures but will show before and after pictures for the different work stages.
I bought it on ricardo on 7.10.2010 for 850.- CHF - my first pinball! Pick-up was one day later, 150km from home, 2x 1.5h drive. The state: gameplay 100%, pretty dirty, some wear around the drop holes, heavy wear around the VUK. Some plastics damaged (cracks) and Jeoman Janice was missing the upper part of her head. Klingon metal piece (lane divider) missing. Blue running lights not working (board missing in backbox). Rubbers old and worn. Transporter working fine. Cabinet speaker was disconnected. Launch button and its casing but partly destroyed but operative. DMD has non working pixels in half a row in the lower right corner and possibly some gas leakage (not sure though), cabinet in rel. good shape with some small scratches and dried chewing gum - yuck(!). Under each button (start/launch) a 1cm hole was drilled. Backglass in good condition, only some scratches from the transporter-motor in Spock's body (fixable).
08.10.10: Started cleaning the playfield and interior of cabinet. Re-attached wires of cabinet speaker (bass),adjusted some switches (sling-shots, bumpers) and the game was much more active afterwards.
09.10.10: By just looking at the lane under the playfield I wouldn't have guessed it was made of clear plastic. It was closer to a nickel coated something. Luckily I've found a hint about some dealers not cleaning it, when restoring this pin, which causes the dirt to be carried back to the surface by the ball. So I disassembled enough to get it out (some lamp sockets, moving target motor and plugs). After thorough cleaning with microfibre towel and alcohol and giving it three layers of Turtle wax, it almost looked like new and felt like a baby's but.
before:
BTW: I did not remove the micro-switches from the lane. If you're careful enough, it'll work just fine. Proud of my work, I reassembled everything carefully but made one capital mistake: The lane screws near the VUK had no plastic tubes to limit the amount they can be screwed in. As a decent craftsman I screwed them in to my usual wood-screw-tightness - without noticing that I was lifting the paint on the other side of the playfield. Darn! Such a beginner's mistake! Well, I am a beginner in regards of pinball maintenance but not in fiddling around with nuts and bolts. I was able to undo part of the damage with a hammer and a small metal bar - but not to my complete satisfaction. At least I was able to put everything together and the game still worked fine.
10.10.10: After watching all of PinDude's videos on touch-up and clear coating twice (highly recommendable!) , reading pinrepair's articles and Zitt's worklogs on restoring a Bally StarTrek and a Gottlieb Black Hole and getting some good advices and help from him, I decided to be bold, strip my playfield, touch it up and clear coat it.
16.10.10: Playfield partly disassembled, everything packed in plastic bags, wires labeled, a lot of pictures taken
17.10.10: Plafield's empty (except for some lamp sockets that are attached directly to the board). I decide to leave them in place and use some of these yellow ear plugs to protect them when clear-coating. Much more dirt - I'm happy I decided to do this.
