Bob Frysztak's ST:TNG Repair Log

I purchased my first pinball machine in March of 2002.  I had played pinball quite alot in college, and worked for many years at a bowling alley to put myself through graduate school.  I had quite a bit of experience tinkering and repairing many machines over the years, and when the oppertunity came for me to purchase a machine of my own, I jumped on it.  Being a big Sci-Fi fan, I chose the machine that I loved playing the most: Star Trek: The Next Generation.  It has incredible challenges, a great sound system, and was simply my favorite.  I purchased the machine locally, and while it looked in good shape on the outside, I ran into problems almost immediately.  Cannons that stopped working, stuck flippers, dirty optos, broken ramps underneath, etc.  Not afraid to get my hands dirty, I spent nearly 30 hours returning this machine back to optimal playability, and hopefully a restoration that will last many years.  The list of my efforts is as follows:

Rebuilt all flippers with the original 11-17636 (high power) solenoids only the original prototypes shipped with.

Removed, cleaned and repaired all ramps, including the underside trough - which was cracked in no less than 5 places.

Replaced all rubber.  Upgraded flippers with white rubber (a little bouncier, but much more lively!)

Replaced pinballs with the high-gloss polished variety.

Rebuilt all kickers and return trough.

Replaced both cannon looms and rebuilt left motor.

Replaced drop target switches.  Wire-type kept breaking so I replaced it with a sturdier band-type switch - works great.

Replaced broken inlane plastics.

Modified (added) pop bumper cap under the Beta Quadrant ramp.

Modified the shuttle craft over the Beta Quadrant.  I removed the old, peeling stickers, cut out the windows, added lighting and repainted & added decals to match the shuttle as it appears on the TV show and movies.  Quite highly detailed.  Also added 2 crew members to the shuttle (Picard and Data).  To see my restoration of the Beta Quadrant shuttle, Click here - Now Available for Purchase .

Modified the Borg ship to look more like the actual ship in the TV show.  Modification included adding more cut-outs, adding pipes and beams, adding 3-D effects (build-ups and cut-ins), new custom painted acetate for cooler lighting effects, and new stickers.  To see the restoration, scroll down to the bottom of the shuttle mod page (also available for purchase) .

Modified Klingon Bird-of-Prey.  I took the lighted Hallmark Christmas ornament and added extra lights in the gun tips and realistic paint scheme (aztecing and panels).  This one is easy for anyone to do, since the ornament is readily available on eBay and it is almost the exact size of the original Klingon ship.

Added a 5" lighted Enterprise D (actually the Hallmark Keepsake ornament) behind the left-hand poppers (near the Klingon ship) and tied the lights into the shields, so that the ship matches what the playfield Enterprise is experiencing during gameplay.

Added a Furata Galor-class Cardassian warship.  These ships are VERY detailed, and just the right size for playfield toys.  Also readily available on eBay.  Of course I touched up the paint job to make it more authentic, and I am considering adding a little bit of lighting as well.

Modified right outlane (added bumper) at the urgent requesting of my 10 year old son.  Didn't help much, but a little better.

Replaced all worn optos and switches (9 total in various places).

Added neutral zone hole protector to prevent further damage.

Replaced neutral zone sticker with a FULL COLOR design of my own ( available for purchase ) - looks GREAT!

Replaced cheap white cards - Rules & Coin - with full color designs of my own (available for purchase ).

Added Red Mini-Domes to cannons to restore original 3D look of the prototype.  To see this mod, click here .

Replaced broken spring in trigger, and repainted it before reinstalling (lots of paint worn off over the years).

Added backbox "topper" of lighted styrene models of the Romulan Warbird, Klingon Bird-of-Prey, and the Ferengi battlecruiser.  I am currently building a fiber optically lit 18" Enterprise D which will hover over the playfield (suspended from the backbox) and be tied into the lighting circuits of the game.  I will post pictures when I am finished with it (couple of months, I hope).
last modified 10-25-2003