Stern Star Trek: Warp Ramp LED Mod

One of the items that somewhat bugged me about my new Stern Star Trek LE Pinball machine, was the LED in the warp ramp popup insignia. Specifically; I always thought the two SMD red LED didn’t quite fit where it was placed in the machine.

Photo Credit: Kawydud@Pinside
Original LED in Popup. Photo Credit: Kawydud@Pinside

The plan was to “replace” the LED round lens with a laser cut lense which duplicated the artwork on the insignia’s plastic. To this I disassembled the plastic by removing the four screws… and took the plastic to my HP scanner where I scanned the art into my computer. Then using Corel Draw, I traced the Red Arrow from the plastic art:

Portions (c)2013 Stern Pinball
Scanned Plastic with New Arrow Art

I recreated the arrow using red; then added the black border around the plastic to block light and give a round area to mount the new LED. Once I had the recreated arrow; I broke it into two laser cut pieces. One would be cut out of the matte/diffused Red acrylic which was used on the Stern Star Trek Pop Undercaps. The second would be cut out of 1/8″ opaque black acrylic – this piece serving as an outline for the red piece and support from the LED.

I took these files to Techshop.ws where I laser cut several of each piece for experimentation later at home. Once the laser cutting was complete; I used the black cad files to laser etch some 1/4″ plywood to act as an assembling aid/surface. When I got home; I used the plywood and some wooden toothpicks to clamp the two pieces together:

Acrylic Clamping
Acrylic Pieces Clamped for Bonding

With the pieces together; I used some acrylic bonding solvent to glue the two pieces together. I let the acrylic bond overnight.

The next afternoon; My Comet Pinball Red LEDs had not come in the mail – so I decided to go ahead and use the original LED for experimentation. I cut the round lens off the original LED using a new XACTO knife and then using some two part 5minute epoxy; I glued the lamp to the new lense:

LED Clamping
LED Clamped to new LENS w/ 5minute Epoxy

I allowed the epoxy to cure for about an hour. I then reinstalled the plastics and the new LED assembly:

LED Clamping
Warp Arrow LED Installed

I’m really quite happy with the way this turned out. It defiantly spruces up the warp assembly.

Stern Star Trek: Comprehensive Mod List

With the help of the Pinheads at Pinside; I’m attempting to put in one place; a comprehensive list of Stern Star Trek Mods. Ground rules are as follows:

  1. The Mod must be unique for the Star Trek machines: Pro, Premium, or LE. General Stern mods are not allowed.
  2. Mods are sorted by assigned category alphabetically – then by Price ascending (not including shipping). No special treatment will be given to any vendor.
  3. Mod Name should be descriptive and will link directly to manufacturer’s site first; in the absence of that the Primary distributor.
  4. “corrective” mods are not allowed; use this Thread:
    https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-star-trek-summary-of-fixes
  5. Where possible; Original Pinside thread / announcement should be included.
  6. If the mod is specific to a particular flavor of machine; it must be noted.
  7. Mods the cease manufacturing and are permanently out of stock may be removed from list without warning.
  8. Mods must be accurate to the JJAbrams universe.

Additional rules or changes to the rules may be added as the community provides feedback.

Manufacturer’s are free to request addition, provide corrective input, or request to be removed from this comprehensive list. Suggestions to improve this list are welcome. Post here or by private IM.

For the moment; this list is a living shared spreadsheet on a google drive. Only I have editing rights; for the time being. Eventually I’d like to figure out a way to post this list here in the thread for easier first pass glance.

Spreadsheet is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2nkk3mbCcFQMDFicU5Ram9zM3M/view

At the moment – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Category Item Lowest Cost Pinside Thread Notes
Art Vengeance Spring Cover 10 Thread Pro Only
Art Blue Sling Covers 20
Art Pop Bumper Mod 26 Thread
Art Star Trek PopCaps 71.52 Thread
Art Target Decal Set 37.99
Art Star Trek Pinblades 65 Thread
Art Metal Apron 225 Pro only
Display ColorDMD display for Stern Star Trek 399 Thread
Lighting Vengeance Nacelle Mod 2.36 Thread
Lighting Warp Ramp LED 5.95 Thread
Lighting Dome Flash Covers 9
Lighting Warp Ramp Light Defuser 15 Thread
Lighting Vengeance Visor 18.95
Lighting Vengeance Dress Kit 20
Lighting Speaker Panel Spacers 24 LE only
Lighting Warp Ramp Chase Lights 25 Pro Only
Lighting Vengeance Explosion 27 Thread
Lighting Vengeance Drop Target 30
Lighting Nebula BackBoard Mod 44.35 Thread
Lighting Stern KBOP WingLEDs 49.24 Thread
Lighting Interactive Vengeance 75 Thread
Lighting Green, Blue, or Red Laser Upgrade 63.17 Thread LE/Premium only
Lighting Green Laser Upgrade 105.99 LE/Premium only
Lighting Blackout Mod soldout Thread
Lighting GI Dimmer w/ Blackout $187 Thread
Mechanical ColorDMD Adapter 18
Mechanical ColorDMD Adapter 38.22 Thread
Mechanical Cliffy Protectors 66
Toy USS Kelvin 0
Toy USS Kelvin w/ Stadium LEDs $69 Thread
Toy Klingon ship 169.24
Toy Enterprise ship 175 Pro only
Art ALT Translite & decals Discontinued (175) Thread
Art Lasercut hinges and siderails discontinued? ($155) Pro Only
Lighting Nebula Lighting Mod  discontinued? (65) Thread
Art Star Trek Lockdown plate discontinued?(40) ?Pro Only?
Art Micro Display Mod discontinued? (124) Thread
Lighting Backbox LED Kit discontinued?(255)
Toy Klingon ship discontinued?
(
60)
Toy Klingon ship discontinued?
(90)
Thread
Toy Enterprise ship discontinued?
(155)
Pro only

Updated 7/4/2018