And the ramp is out. This job was as un-fun as you would think. Probably took me around 2 hours start to finish. Getting those optos off may have been the worst nerve racking part. Pro tip, stuff a rag in each gobble hole before you start. You are going to drop something in one of them and lose 30+ minutes trying to get it the hell out. Ask me how I know...

Detailed photos of the process to remove in the next post.

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This is how it goes. Putting it back together should be a lot faster and easier. Famous last words...

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You think that's bad? Try doing the ramp, replacing all rubbers, adding a full set of Cliffys and full plastic protector set. 6 plus hour job. And whoever decided to have a gap under the rails needs to be bitch slapped for sure. Yeah I lost a couple nuts under there. While your ramp is out check back stops to both holes and the posts for the gate to the pop bumpers. All of mine were wobbly loose.

Haha, This post makes me feel like I got really lucky putting everything back together. No drops. From the pictures I put it back together mostly right! : ) The hard part for me was getting the optos BACK IN. Look out.

Bumpety Bump

I'll take a stab at it. There are several levels to get there. I believe every time you hear super jackpot you reached another level.

The last level is hitting alternate targets between man and dwarf that flash red. When completed it says load the wind lance. Shoot right ramp when loaded then when activated you hit the one red lighted dwarf target to kill Smaug. Usually with the upper flipper but can be with another random shot since your in multi ball.

Cheers man - that helps!

I wonder why the code team didn't implement "level 1 complete, level 2 complete, etc." callouts like in the Arkenstone modes. Still it's should be fairly easy to track that super jackpot call.

I agree, I REALLY think those callouts enhance the mini-wizard modes. On the other hand, killing Smaug is supposed to take you several tries - Smaug multiball remembers how far you got last time, and it's pretty cool when the game announces you can load the arrow , seemingly out of nowhere

Yeah I think it' would be nice to have but not essential. I keep meaning to watch someone else play and look to see how the animations progress in each level. I mean they start off in the mountain and end up in Laketown, but this would be helpful to have in one's memory.

I HIGHLY recommend unplugging the optos from the board underneath and leaving them attached to the ramp. Those things are stupid troublesome to get snapped back in. Make a note on each molex what port they came out of on the board. Ask me how I know heh heh.

FYI I emailed JJP asking if BOTFA code was complete and the response was yes. That's a disappointment to me.
I've also noticed another SNAFU with the code. If you start a mode with more than one ball in play that uses the windlance and a ball drains on the right, if the draining ball hits the rubber just right the ball goes back up hitting the precioussss switch and drops the windlance post and drains your ball. Submitting a ticket to get that fixed. That's a huge FU right there!

Well this would have been good to know yesterday...

I figured snapping them back in would be the easy part. Any good tricks for getting them back in?

Thanks for the advice on here. I ordered the Hobbit update kit yesterday part #. 53-005002-00. I also noticed my ball getting stuck sometimes just prior to the Smaug magnet between the break of two pieces of metal. I ended up putting in a small piece of metal tape (used on duct work) and that seems to have resolved the issue.

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Not really. You can see when you do it that the male portion of the plug is slightly wider than the hole its supposed to go in. If its to wide and you try to force it you are just bending the pieces apart which is no good. I tried to press them together as much as I could.

My only thoughts were that before you put the ramp back on get as much slack as you can in the opto wires. My left ramp entrance opto had no slack and I wasn't about to pull the ramp up again (it was already firmly in place) to see if I had a wire stuck.

Well, the optos are pressure fitted and yes multiple attempts weaken the "split pressure fittings" of the opto. Start putting the opto in at an angle with the fitting in the rear and use a butter or similiar to push the front side fitting and it'll drop in.

That's what I did.
Way easier than removing the opto's and less trouble.

The whole job took me about an hour and I cleaned and waxed under the ramp.

Sounds like a thread sticky needs to be added. DO NOT REMOVE OPTOS UNLESS FAULTY

Good info - as I was planning on removing my ramp for cleaning and to access the PF underneath for maintenance. I won't remove the optos whenever I do.

Thanks again!

I am NOT looking forward to replacing my ramp flaps. NOT.

It’s not hard at all, takes an hour the first time

JJP sends 1/8" pop rivets as well as normal 1/8" rivets with the flap kit. I used the pop rivets since I already had a pop rivet tool. The kit says use a 1"8 drill bit. NO - use the next size up. Drill from the backside and the rivet will come out super easy. My ramp looked like complete dog crap so I used a light grade sand paper and wet sanded it. Take care to not pinch any opto wires and let it sit for a day to dry off. When installing the new flaps make sure the flap orientation is correct. The longer angled edge needs to go to the inside of the ramp (next to the captive ball). Get someone to help you! Have them pull out on the outer edge of the ramp wall to give your rivet tool just a little more room and press down hard and keep the head FLAT AS POSSIBLE.

Thanks for the info! Very good info. It will make the process a little less painful. Cheers!

Could you share pics w/ pop rivets?

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced tool for using solid rivets on ramps? Looks like there are ~clamp-like tools out there that might work?

The cheapest pop river guns are ~$15. Just make sure it has different sized heads (whatever it's actually called I dont know). The default head is too big, the smallest head handles 1/8 rivets. Merely set the pop river in the hole on top of the ramp flap, slide the tool down the rivet shaft, ensure its flat as possible and squeeze the handle twice.

For what it's worth I just sent my ramp back to JJP to have them do the work. I had to pay for an hour of labor and shipping both ways. The tools I was looking at were most of my cost for sending it back so I decided to just have them do it. The rest of the cost was worth the piece of mind that it's done perfectly. It should be back here early next week.

I have a pop rivet tool and have done those, but have never done a solid rivet which would look better/correct.

I use this for all ramp riveting.

C.S. Osborne Rivet Setter Made in the USA No. 443 amazon.com link »

http://www.arbortime.mountainminded.net/html/the_better_tonka_rivet_tool_-_.html

I love this tool. Shipping is quick and the tool is very well made. I like using it more than my press. I would stay away from pop rivets at all costs.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Do you hammer it similar to a chisel (against an included base)? Easy to use?

No base included. Hammer against a piece of solid metal, like the top of a table saw. Wood is too soft I think. You don’t want the rivet to give. Hit it hard a couple of times to seat the rivet and that’s it, very easy, hard to screw up. I’m sure there’s YouTube videos on it.

Playing today, 50 multiballs running at the same time, flippers went dead...killed smaug without meaning to...can't do it on purpose but random insanity seemed to work.

No. A rivet gun does more than just clamp. It pulls, crushes and cuts the stem at the end, all in one squeezing motion.

LOL sometimes the game seems like this. But are you sure you are up to date on code? This is familiar territory of several versions ago. Just making sure!

That’s a pop rivet gun which I have. Asking about solid rivets which I’ve never done.

I am not up to date. Did they make it harder to kill him? If so I’ll never update

Theres literally no reason not to update. There was a smaug mb fix at at some point. Look, I've owned my machine for a couple months now. Have killed Smaug 9 times. 4 of the 9 was me actually aiming and intentionally killing him. The others, random arrows if you will. And of the 4 only 2 of them was actually done with the 3rd flipper. When you hear load the wind lance try to get a ball cradled on a lower flipper and use that instead of the 3rd flipper.

Game is working great and I’ve read in this thread the issues, mostly minor, some have had updating makes me hesitant. I still don’t quite buy the arguments against wifi updates in the year 2019. My kid’s $40 remote control car has wifi and I have to get the correct thumb drive, format, copy files blah blah on a $9000 man toy?

Updating is simple and 3.1 is a huge jump for this game. Just make it happen, took me all of 10 minutes.

OK. What's this all about? "** NOTE: Ensure you are already running the matching Full Install version before applying the corresponding Delta Update!"

So, if I don't have 3.1 running, I need to first do the "The Hobbit Full Install 3.10 [USA Mirror] *NEW*" AND then the "The Hobbit Change-log 3.10 *NEW*"

looking at the full install instructions page I'm back to the position of "do I really need this?"

The change log is a text document that tells you what has been done in the code. Nothing more. Just download the 3.1 full install and do the update.

For even more detail, go to the JJP Support Page, choose The Hobbit.

Download The Hobbit Full Install 3.10 [USA Mirror] *NEW*

The .iso file is big, like 4 gig big, it will take some time.

While the .iso is downloading go to this website:

https://rufus.ie/

Download Rufus 3.5 from the link provided on the page.

Rufus allows you to create a boot-able USB stick with the .iso that you are downloading.

Get a data stick, at least 8 gig in size. Use Rufus to create the boot-able USB stick. This will take maybe 15 minutes depending on how fast your PC is.

Turn your pinball machine off.

Open the coin door and plug the USB stick in.

Power the game on and let it do it's thing. The update will take 10, maybe 15 minutes. It will tell you when it's done.

Once it tell you it is done, shut the machine off and remove the USB stick.

Turn the machine back on and enjoy Keefer's magic that is v3.1.

Backup your current settings on a different usb stick first, otherwise all the settings will go back to the default settings and you will have to tweak the settings/preferences back in from memory.

solid rivets are easy.

Use the hanson hand ht-174 rivet tool:

https://www.erivet.com/product_detail.cfm?itemNbr=HT-174

Put the head end on a piece of maple or metal and pound them on.

One day I used the wrought iron railing as a support lol

too late

Is VUK strength a setting? After the update they are having a harder time launching the ball out. Takes a couple tries maybe half the time.

Settings - Coils - Ball Trough VUk

LTG : )

Thanks!

I'd also recommend turning Beast Multiball stacking ability off. The default setting allows stacking. When you turn it off you can no longer have Smaug and Beast multiball running at the same time.

That is the only factory default setting I changed.

The mini book display on my Hobbit stopped working. It lights up when I power up the game so its getting power but it remains black for the rest of the time never displaying any information or video. Any idea what to look for- is this a common issue?

thanks for the help