Stern Factory photo shoot

[Byte]

Here's an interesting photo shoot at the Stern factory:

http://totallycoolpix.com/2013/07/a-glimpse-inside-a-pinball-factory/

 

[DeeEff]

Photo 5's caption:
"A worker opens up a box of ball bearings used for a pinball machine at Stern Pinball in Melrose Park, just outside Chicago, Illinois."

Uh, ball bearings??

Nice photography though.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

thats what pinballs are steel ball bearings but it just so happens that they are fun when you put them on an inclined plane with leverage points, rubber and electricity

 

[Timelord]

Absolutely, Skill_Shot. We used to source through Berry Bearings in Chicago, IL

 

[sotie]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I've always wondered what uses those as ball bearings? Big Rig a DOZER? Tank?

 

[Timelord]

They were and still are an off the shelf SKU, so anything with a large rotary shaft.
Heavy machinery, large air handlers (some commercial buildings have air handlers that are several stories themselves and have shafts of over 12 inches diatmeter). They were not even a special order item.

Timelord ...

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I was thinking bearing packs in rotating assemblies large wheels or under a excavator cabin, bearings are bearings but these are BIG so whatever uses them in theory should be BIG but pinball might be that exception and cheating at marbles

 

[DeeEff]

I'm familiar with different bearings and all, but aren't pinballs manufactured *as* pinballs?

(another childhood illusion shattered...)

 

[Timelord]

I'm familiar with different bearings and all, but aren't pinballs manufactured *as* pinballs?

(another childhood illusion shattered...)

Yikes, didn't mean to shatter anyone's childhood illusions.

But sadly, no...

Timelord ...

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Yikes, didn't mean to shatter anyone's childhood illusions.

But sadly, no...

Timelord ...

TZ's Powerball was, and I'm assuming the glow-in-the-dark balls used in Viper Night Driving were as well.

 

[Jeff Strong]

TZ's Powerball was, and I'm assuming the glow-in-the-dark balls used in Viper Night Driving were as well.

So DeeElf's childhood illusion wasn't completely shattered. Nice!

 

[Timelord]

Good point, Sean.

I had not considered those, LOL !

Timelord ...

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

inside the viper glow ball is a bearing eventually the rubber coating cracks off to reveal it.

 

[superballs]

inside the viper glow ball is a bearing eventually the rubber coating cracks off to reveal it.

And we were making so much progress here. 1 step forward and 2 steps back

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

the ball in my BIG GUNS bagatelle in the back box is plastic