STTNG — Trough, Gun Mech & Opto Board Repair
The Machine This Williams STTNG (1993) came in needing attention on all the classic STTNG things; trough optos, the left gun mech, the main opto board, and a poor prior LED swap all needed addressing. STTNG is probably the hardest WPC game to maintain is which is unfortunate, as the game is really fun to play (when it’s working well). Trough Opto Repair Trough opto failures are extremely common on WPC widebody machines. Over time the opto board connector solder joints crack and fail, or the opto pairs themselves just die and stop reliably detecting balls. All trough opto connectors were reflowed, which resolved most of the issues — but one opto pair was still reading marginal after the reflow and had to be replaced outright. It’s still worthwhile to repair these boards as a set of new widebody trough boards are still $100 for some reason. ...