Seperating rollover 'stars' for cleaning?

Scramble1981

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2005
Messages
1,349
Reaction score
56
Location
Skagit, Washington
Hey, I have a Bally EM (Capt. Fantastic) and the rollover inserts are quite dirty. Is there a tool available to spread open the tiny prongs to seperate the 2?
I'm afraid I'm gonna break it.
 
jewler's screwdriver or two. I use one to keep pressure on the star, and another to go around slightly spreading the retainers until it pops out. Occasionally a single retainer will snap, but what else can you do with 30 year old plastic?

Side note: I used Westley's Bleache White and a toothbrush to clean the white star inserts. They came out looking absolutely brand new.
 
why not just cut the bottom off of the star and remove it,then install new stars.you will eliminate the risk of breaking the insert and your stars will be minty fresh again.
 
With a very small screwdriver you can lightly pry one of the insert tabs back while putting pressure on the bottom of the star pushing it up. Don't try to bend the tab, just move it enough so it can let the "barbed" part of the insert clear the tabs.

The only replacement rollover stars I could find were in bags of 5 at 10$ a bag plus shipping...hardly worth it in my opinion as I only have 2 stars on my machine.
 
With a very small screwdriver you can lightly pry one of the insert tabs back while putting pressure on the bottom of the star pushing it up. Don't try to bend the tab, just move it enough so it can let the "barbed" part of the insert clear the tabs.

The only replacement rollover stars I could find were in bags of 5 at 10$ a bag plus shipping...hardly worth it in my opinion as I only have 2 stars on my machine.


See a few posts up. ;)

As for my experiences, I had 5 star rollovers. I broke off one single retainer tab when I got impatient on the first rollover I tried. Each rollover had 4-5, I can't remember which. The other 4 rollovers went smooth. I had to take each insert out multiple times as I had to clean out the inserts from the clearcoat process until the operated smoothly.

So technically, I have taken out 20-30 star inserts with this method.
 
I use my pocketknife to very carefully spread the retainers while gently pushing on the post of the white star.

Be careful as those retainers are brittle.
 
Back
Top Bottom