Somebody brought in a Stern STARS Pinball Machine that was COMPLETELY DESTROYED - Let's Fix It! 

I always feel encouraged with these videos, because when I see something THIS far gone, it gets fixed up one small step at a time....and it makes me feel better about big messy projects I have here. My current "messy" project is a 1961Seeburg Jukebox that hadn't been working for 30 years. It's getting closer each day. I wish the Jukebox techs showed the same kindness as guitar amp techs. When I was a rookie at guitar amps, I got lots of great help. In the jukebox world it seems to be "buy my book or go away"..... I'm dyslexic dammit!, books are torture. One dude made some DVD's on the topics I need, hopefully that is going to be the ticket. I'm not dumb, I just learn differently. Your video series makes me NOT afraid to try out fixing up a pinball if one comes up in the auctions for chump change. I like to fix things, but I don't learn well from manuals and reading. I can use the diagrams, but a visual "how to test" is the best tool I could ask for!

You never fail at making me laugh Ronnie "I think that's drywall" haha

Customer: It's dead Joe!! Joe: Challenge accepted.

This machine is the automotive equivalent of a "ran when parked" Craigslist ad, lol! I have no doubt you'll return this bad boy to its former glory though!

Bless you Ron for taking on another late 70s classic. The pinball Gods are smiling.

Every pinball machine deserves a chance! Glad it landed in your hands to fix it, Ron!

The rectifier board, solenoid board, and MPU board all have those little plastic "padlocks" on them. So there should be someone's company name on those padlocks to tell you who worked on those boards.

Pins and classic cars are never to far gone.. you need skills and deep pockets !

My favorite kind of projects! They are the most satisfying to restore.

Thanks for the shoutout my buddy Ron, I know-lol! Actually Joe is partly right. Big Daddy Kane's "Ain't No Half Steppin'" did reach number 52 on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart. Billboard in 1988 didn't put out rap charts. Largely but not totally because they thought Rap Music was a fad like Disco music. I don't know the exact year Billboard started making rap charts. They certainly had them in the early to mid 200O's. My job at the Newspaper was to input all the various charts like Country, Pop, Rap singles and albums into the system. The charts would be listed in the Sunday edition of the Newspaper. Great video and this Stern is cleaning up and coming along nicely.

I'm just rebuilding a stars now too. Had to do a cabinet swap, it was sitting on a wet floor and rotted. I took a memory lane cabinet and painted and re stenciled. I bought the CPR playfield, backglass and plastics. It's looking almost like a new machine

Awesome to see it coming back to life. A lot in this state would have been scrapped, it's great to see this being saved.

Got to see this before in person and I think the dirt actually protected the play field. This should turn out very nice.

My daughter inherited a Hollywood Heat pinball machine from my sister when she passed. It doesn't work - a few lights turn on. This will be a project for us. This video was enlightening in how you approach troubleshooting. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Thanks for sharing this video!

The reason that the boards and displays of Bally and Stern Electronics are so similar is that when Sam and Gary Stern bought Chicago Coin and founded Stern Electronics they purchased several other companies as well. One of the companies they bought was URL Laboratories the people who designed the boardset for Bally. This basically gave them a back door to the design.

Oh snap! Another classic pinball video series. Wow, its just like Christmas!!...wait, it is!

Stern Stars... interesting... looks like a modified version of Meteor or vice-versa. Keep it up there with all the repair videos and hints!

1:25 that's the cocaine from over the years

Great video Joe, liked how little fix here then a little fix there started the heart beat of the machine. Can not wait for the next one. I am going to jump ahead but how to clean the plastic pieces on the playfield? Huge thumbs up

Starting with some crap! Literally starting with crap. LOL

Man, that Fluke 23 has some kind of patina on it. I bet you had it many years and it's earned you mucho dinero. Show it some love and give it a bath.

It's alive....micro farad🎶... thanks Ron for another fun & entertaining pinball recovery.

Hello. I Enjoy your content. I Look forward to seeing more of the out come with this machine. Best Regards Sir... Good luck with the new store

Let the resurrection begin! Here's to you! Good luck! You can do it!

looks like a great game I like the layout‼️®™️

:) still playing catch up,but very happy to see this beauty ! thanks guys !! x

Those blue tags look like the ones TNT put in al the machines they work on. It would be cool to check with them as it could complete the history of the machine 😀 Love the work you do Joe and videos, one day I hope to have a real Machine until then I keep playing my VM one. You got a thumbs up 👍👍👍👍 from me.

That burnt device is a MOV - metal oxide varistor. Over time they can break down and burn up. That's why newer surge protectors connect a thermal fuse to them - so they don't start any fires.

the person who thumbed this down was the rat who lived in the backbox.

That varistor, lol. Looks like it got struck by lightning.

I don't know, but that looks like it has a hell of a lot of potential❗️ just by the very first look of it, especially in your hands‼️®™️

Think of Varistor like Resistor. Except it varies depending on Voltage/Heat. Basically you are saying it right. Versions of them can also be used as input surge current protection or a "soft start" of sorts as well as overvoltage protection :)

The +5vdc on the driver board leaves on Pin#13 to power the MPU board & what else? then Loops back to the driver board on Pin#25 to power the solenoids driver transistors?

Everybody else is all excited about the Star Wars show, meanwhile I cant wait to what Ron has to fix, clean, or paint next.

Thanks for introducing me to Lakeside's It's All The Way Live, I didn't know it, but I am diggin' it :D

I would secure the wire on the back of the solenoid driver board with hot glue.

Looking forward to this turnaround.

you may have been exposed to the Bubonic Plague LOL

Varistors can cool-off and work again.

What is that yellow plastic thing that looks like a padlock on the solenoid board? Thanks Ron.

ah yeah . I'm with this. I'm just gonna sit here laid back to this nice mellow video, you know? (aint no half stepping)

Who is playing Sonic in the background when I am trying to get edumicated on classic rap?

Love that game.

I know people can catch chlamydia from koala bears.

I love that bird poop touch must of been in a Orange Storage facility.

Seeing this machine made me realize my Bally Future Spa machine is in so much better nick than this, and I thought it was a shitbox. It runs but the flipper coils keep burning out lol

The gonorrhea comment reminds me of a joke. Two sergeants were like, "Let's get drunk, we're sergeants." Then they were like, "Let's go find some women, we're sergeants." They soon developed lesions somewhere and saw the doctor. "What did the doc tell you?" "We have gonorrhea." "What's that?" "Let's check the dictionary. It says it is a disease of the privates." "That's impossible. Surely we couldn't have gotten that. We're sergeants!"

Dose the rectifier get hot? Would that be the reason it's always on a heat sink?

Gonorrhea isn't your concern with mouse nests. I'd be more concerned with Hanta Virus! Lol

I have a Stars machine that was stuck up in an attic for over 40 years in a school. Can you provide me any direction on how to get the parts to replce the plying field.

Hi Ron, thanks for another great video. Where do you get the 15000uf cap? Thanks.

im goinna check out my brother donnies videos, thanks for the heads up 👍👍👍

microfarad (lol) . So many videos recently. Did we finish the jukebox? Did we finish the 8 ball. Maybe I need to catch up.

what are those plastic lock looking things?

Touching mouse droppings or breathing in the dust particles can cause Hanta Virus Very lethal

what are the plastic locks about on the circuit boards?

Hey Ronnie what's that blue plastic padlock thing on the board at 17:40?

Oofs my germaphobia was going off I was thinking hello haunta virus my old friend while you were touching mouse nests in the pin. o.o Call me paranoid but I always use gloves and in that instance a mask as well. o.o

Only during a nightmare can you catch those kinds of communicable diseases

holy shit i had one of these in the early 80s

Gonna be a good series Ron, Ya haven't got a gorgon hiding in the back to do?

this machine had been destroyed by mice the connector & loom got replaced as mice chew thru everything so the bit thats buned out was a result of short circuit caused by mice also some part of the board would be damaged

The Black Death! Yea man 🤪

Oh dear god.....

Transformer has little bit higher than rated voltage output without load, it's normal._

Time line wise.. in-between Galaxy and Meteor?

4:00 Rat nesting scared me, because they always chew up wires in cars. Turns out, that the Car Manufactures started using soy-based wire insulation in 2000. So, any pinball machine BEFORE 2000 should be fairly safe from mice & rat destruction to the wiring!? Have you seen any wiring issues from the varmints?

Lol should of read the Title before i asked a now redundant question.

I see you have a little bird-A-poopie on your playfield.

Stern Stars Detroit Edition It could have been worse, at least the paintwork on the side and the backglass are OK.

Original “ain’t no half steppin” was by Heatwave ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pKjkwpgKMd8.html

Gofundme for a HEPA filter for Ron.

Nothing you can’t fix

🤦

how ugly is this. You could also heat the house with that wood ? i would be interested how you repaint the playfield. I see a similar star trek pinball next to me with almost no colors on the board anymore...

Pronounced Vair ist tur

Too funny. Ewww. Ewwww ewwwww

Isn't it Lymes disease you can get from rodent pee? Hope you wore gloves!