i saw these and I was tempted and then confused. are these like plastic protectors that you put on the machine when lifting the playfield in and out and then once your all set up you take them off? are they basically just thicker plastic covers that just slide off and on easily?

bummer, ok thats the next thing I want to add to my game, I've never added blades before so this will be my first. i just think mirror blades on this one will be awesome. Ive kind of taken the approach to go as loud an obnoxious as possible on this machine... with the siren up top (which i still feel like could be crazier) and then I put leds even in the flashers so it really goes buck wild and then while listening to everybody dance now; its basically a night club party!

Yeah, they are nice and thick but still flexible. After you take the glass off you slide one down each side between the playfield and the cabinet. The ones I linked have magnets that try to hold them in place while you lift the playfield up.

Cary Hardy just put up a how-to video about this!

wowzers!!!!! thank you!!! I have to do this, doesn't look too hard either.

sweet thank you. ordered em! spending way too much money now... got to cool it for a while.

I ordered the same ones you linked and they work great. Although, mine don't have magnets. They fold flat for easier storage, but that also means they tend to slide up and down a bit as you lift/drop the playfield. I picked up my set just last year, so I'm not sure if mine are newer or older than yours.

You all have me interested in mirror blades now. Has anyone tried the ones from pinball haus? I like the price a lot better than Cointaker.

https://pinballhaus.com/shop/parts/cabinet-parts/mirror-blades-stern-data-east-bally-williams/?v=7516fd43adaa

I've also put those blade protectors in my PBL cart for future purchase.

Contacted ColorDMD and went through their troubleshooting. Looks like the chip is stuck so he's going to send me another board for it. Hopefully that fixes it. I did see some GI light connectors that are crispy burnt so I'll be replacing those.

Saturday morning reminder that all orders for the 3-piece protector/deflector set closes at 8:00am Central on Monday, and there will be no exceptions.

Please PM me if you are interested in purchasing a set and/or my apron cards & DE chrome decal.

Thus far the following have placed orders:

BozoTheClown
kba78
Krentz
Sirgbster9
slizzap
Willie68

This will be my last alert before the 8:00AM Central cutoff tomorrow morning regarding ordering the 3-piece plastic protector/deflector set. As a reminder, the set is $50 including US shipping (international shipping extra).

Thank you to everyone who has purchased thus far, and I will be providing tracking info via PM when your package ships.

Thank you for letting me get in on these outstanding mods at the last minute.

Looking forward to improving this vastly underrated pin!

wow ya I should have shopped around a bit i purchased the mirror blades from that youtube video recomendation which was pinball decals inc and dang after shipping im at 180 bucks!!!!! Hoping they cost so much because they are some how magically better than the rest. I normally trust that carey guy, but he probably got them comp or cheap because of his following or whatever. Let me know if you end up getting yours cheaper and Ill know for next time. wow expensive!!!!

Paid full price for them. Nothing comp'd. If I get a product sent to me for free I specify that.

Never seen or heard of this website. If the mirrors are good I would like to know! I'm all about saving some money. I'll order from this site on the next overhaul and see what happens.

wow super good to know and thanks for all the info you put out there, I've learned a whole bunch from your vids!!!! that haus website is probably a killer on shipping since i believe its based out of australia but coin taker is also cheaper than the place your purchased em from. But the place your purchased em from does claim to be the original and the best. Ive never had mirror blades so no way for me to compare.

Ps. I totally purchased world cup 94 because of your video, it was my first major pinball purchase and I love it, so thank you!!!

My LW3 has had pinballsidemirrors on it for a few years now. I did not use the screw method to attach them because the screw would stick out just a small amount past the blades. I decided to use a heavy duty super thin double sided tape. Like I said earlier, it's been on for a few years now with no issues.
Unfortunately www.pinballsidemirrors.com is no longer in business, I'm not sure if they got bought out by someone else or what happened there.

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got the plastic protector set, thank you. looks great, also got the cool instruction cards, but now don't have a lw3 pinball anymore. So if down the road anybody sees this post message me and Ill send you stuff same price i paid. thanks.

I'm getting ready to order LEDs to replace all the incandescent in my LW3. I found a spreadsheet with all the lamps listed which is super helpful, but I'm looking for some input/opinions on what flavor/brightness of LEDs to go with. I'm planning to go with white for all GI, but I'm wondering if I should color-match inserts or just go with white everywhere? Also the bulbs with the little rubber covers/condoms - should I order colored LEDs for those? Go with white and re-use the condoms? Color-match the condoms? Or buy new condoms? (sorry for saying "condoms" so many times)

1SMD? 2SMD? Cool, warm, or sunlight?

I have never dealt with flasher bulbs. Anything I should know there?

I had somebody recommend leaving an incandescent bulb in the topper beacon - thoughts on this?

Any other lighting tips that I should know? Colors that enhance anything, mistakes to avoid? I generally go pretty conservative with colors to avoid the "clown puke" look. I want this game to be bright and eye-catching because I feel like it fits the action movie aesthetic, but I also don't want to blind players or myself.

Thanks for any input! I know this tends to be a matter of personal opinion, but this is only the second game I have worked on so I haven't really developed my own opinions yet.

Can you point me to the spreadsheet? We've replaced most of our PF lights with LED's, but still need to do the backbox and flashers and there are still a few PF lights that we'll get to when we replace the rubbers.

We used Comet NG Sunlight for most of the GI and PF white, yellow, and orange lenses. We used Comet NG Red for the Pops, ramp red, gun muzzle flash, and all PF lenses that were originally RED. We used used Green for any Green lenses. We also used Comet NG Red and Green wedges for the ramp, but I need to order a few yellow for areas like this.

Not sure NG is really required for this era of machine. It'll save you a bundle if not and you just get the equivalent in regular LED's. It's made a huge difference as the PF before was really dark in low light and very hard to see the ball in the lower area of the PF.

Attached is an image of what I'm planning for the backbox and how our PF looks right now with the lights we've upgraded to LED.

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Thanks for the input! Here is where I found the link to the spreadsheet: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/dataeast-leathal-weapon-3-lw3-lamps-flashers-scheme

There's a lot of good information to be found when searching around Pinside. I referenced that info as well as the guides available on Comet's website when determining what I like. Using that info I've done a complete LED swap on 3 pins so far and the general rules I've developed have worked consistently for me. Below are my general rules for LEDs. Keep in mind I'm in the camp that prefers for things to be as close to factory as possible (skipping the obvious incandescent vs LED discussion). If the lamp/insert was designed to be a specific color, I'm going to match that color as close as possible. I don't like things much brighter than originally intended, but I feel there can always be exceptions. I favor using LED and GI OCD boards, and for that reason I never use non-ghosting bulbs. With that said, my general rules are as follows, in case it helps you on your quest:

- 2 SMD for GI (Playfield)
- 1 SMD for GI (Backbox)
- 1 SMD for inserts
- Incandescent bulbs for flashers (LEDs are just too harsh for flashers, and the frequency they're used makes heat a non-issue)
- Color match all inserts, but two exceptions come to mind:
* Orange inserts should use pink LEDs
* Yellow inserts is the one color I play around with on every pin. You can typically use a cool white here, and most yellows I've tried just don't look right. However, I recently tried Comet's newish "Golden Yellow" and I'm now using that in all my pins for yellow inserts...so far.
- If the bulb has a condom, color match the condom, and continue to use the condom (With that said...check here for something new that I haven't yet tried: https://www.cometpinball.com/blogs/blog/colored-lens-indicator-bulbs)

When I get stuck on a specific insert and I'm not sure if it looks right with the LED I selected, I remove the bulb, turn on the flashlight on my phone, and shine it through the insert under the playfield, and look at it from the top. I would argue that's technically what it "should" look like. This obviously could be an argument for just using a white LED, but clearly you're trying to make the color pop a bit more. However, there's a fine line between making the color pop, and changing the shade of color. One of the trickiest inserts I've had to match so far was the 6 mode inserts on Attack From Mars. I bought the game with regular bulbs and I could've swore the inserts were green (they looked green with the incandescent bulbs), and so I bought green LEDs. When I looked at others playfields in comparison, every single one I saw was more like aqua blue. I took the bulb out, used my phone's flashlight, and confirmed that was the case. I then pulled out the green LEDs and replaced them with cool whites. Lesson learned: test and verify yourself.

I've seen people strategically color match backbox GI, and I played around with it myself. I'm not a fan, as the examples I've seen are making the colors just too strong compared with the same backbox with original bulbs. It becomes too saturated and IMO not what the original was intended to look like. But...to each their own. Test it and see what "you" like. Ultimately, I ended up only using white in the backbox (warm/cool/sunlight depending on the game...I'm matching whatever I do for the playfield).

For Lethal Weapon 3, given the cool tones (abundance of blue) on the playfield, cool white is really well suited for the GI. I can also see why Willie68 split between warm and cool in the backbox.

Take before and after pictures/video and see what you prefer. Have fun.

Great info, thank you so much! I haven't seen those colored lens bulbs from Comet, I might have to try those out. Interesting point about flashers, I didn't consider keeping the incandescents in place, but that would save a bit of cash! And your tip about keeping the inserts from being too bright makes sense and changed my mind about going crazy bright on this. I have seen a lot of games with super bright LEDs in the inserts and you can barely read the text on them.

Just joined the club! My first dmd game. Not perfect by any means but it’s fast and fun.

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It's a really fun pin with a variety of video modes. I've bought and sold a lot of pins in the past 5 years and LW3 is still one of my wife's favorites. Actually, she didn't care for it at first, "ok, ok, ok" ... but she now laughs about how cheesy it is; and she loves the target shooting video mode.

Congrats! It's a fun game. I recommend Chad's code update, it transforms the game.

I also have a special force that lives next to my lw3

A Cards and Red Wings fan?! That’s unusual. Enjoy your new pin!

JUST got my game today and plan on putting it on route. If you have any spare kits. I'd love to snag one!

not sure who needs this, but I reproduced in Fusion the original gun toy that goes over the shooter lane.
I printed mine in PETG black and it came out great, it is identical to the original made by DE.
Then all the hardware was transplanted and added rivets just like the original.

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I’m interested. I swapped to the black last action hero shooter and the chrome doesn’t make sense anymore.

Can you finish these in chrome like the factory original? Mine was flaking off when I bought it and is pretty sad looking. Been looking in vain for a replacement.

I think my chrome one is pretty decent shape. If I switch to the black I’ll pm you some pics and we can figure out shipping costs.

No, PETG will not have that shine in silver or chrome, you can use other filaments that do have that colour scheme but I do not like printing PLA. Feels cheap and it is really not a durable print. I only print PETG.

I am happy to donate this design to the community and you guys can print it in any filament you like!

Happy to help however I can, I actually have a spare black one (as I was experimenting) and another that did not turn out perfect, but I painted black.

Alternatively, I can help others without a printer BUT it takes me away from other projects and I might be a little slow...Let me know!

I will try to upload this design to one of those websites, never done this before so bare with me.

Sounds good. PM me if you decide to go that route.

Thanks!

Listed my nice LW3 for sale:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-lethal-weapon-3-4150-delivered

Really nice one! hard to find these in this shape. Mine is in identical shape (slightly better than yours tbh) so it is very nice. not to compete or anything, just saying this is a good looking lw3! cheers.

Just listed mine as well if anyone in the tristate is looking. I will be adding the black gun barrel before it goes.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-great-playing-and-looking-lethal-weapon-3

I have to say I have the best looking Lw3!

https://www.printables.com/model/527208-lethal-weapon-3-pistol-muzzle

cheers

Nice dude

Hi. Anyone knows what plugs here? Manual says NU

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Traced to this connector near the coin door. The cables ends there. Makes the whole thing pointless.

Is this wiring for other data east games or what?!

Why is this? What's the benefit of having this wires?

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Hey guys does anyone know if cn21 is suppose to be missing a top left pin for the ribbon cable? I just want to make sure this is the likely culprit before I fix it?

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Totally fine

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Thank you! Geez I looked for a while may need a new DMD.

WEIRD ISSUE!

I walked up the my LW3 on location, and the flippers don’t work, the shooter lane doesn’t work, and when you hold the flipper button it activates the kickback/laser-kick.

Any ideas what would cause this?!? This is the 2nd major issue it’s had and the power supply was recently rebuilt. The other day it was locked up with no images and total garbage in the RAM. It ruined 30 years of audits I was pretty upset!!

I’m sorry I do not have an answer for you, but I’m just shocked and pleasantly surprised that someone still has this old classic on location! Bravo, sir!

The mesmerizing eyes of Mel Gibson deserve to be revered by all.

I’ve got all the weird ones on location! LW3 is fairly popular.

Turns out Q3 fried for some reason. Not sure why. Blew up the fuse which also powers the auto-plunger and flippers.

Hi, during a game I found the piece you see in the first photo on the playfield. The dimensions are the same as the one in the third photo, do you have any idea where it can be unscrewed from? Thank you

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First of all thank you for answering me, unfortunately it's not the one because it is regularly screwed in place

I only found the 2 in my game