Off the top of my head look for....
Early run had bad metal flaps on the ramps and the left rail the returns the ball to the inlane had issues with the ball coming off the rail.
Check Smaug to make sure the head moves correctly

Sure others will jump in with more thing as well as better details

This tool is perfect, I have a couple of them.
Just use a piece of maple or a stack of hardwood floor samples (free from home depot, lowes etc...) as a backing die for it.
I have even used the end of a wrought iron railing as a backer. Its just the right width in most cases. You could also use a vise as a die if you have one I guess... lol.

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

Purchased ones like this as well and work great. Was able to put new flaps on plastic ramps without issue!

I know this has been discussed before but I cannot found a proper “solution” or a way I should proceed adjusting this.

My rollover seems to launch the balls at higher speeds and it’s also impossible to successfully complete “ L O C K “ on a skillshot because they give to much resistance.

Then I remembered that the previous owner removed the playfield protector which was installed in factory. So my rollovers are probably to high above the playfield? But I can’t see any way lowering them except to put washers between the screws and the playfield. But how were these rollovers moved higher above the playfield then in the first place?

Thanks for your help guys!

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

Thanks for those suggestions!

I like the idea of a twisting clamp that I can use rather than having to pound a rivet. Not that it's not a fine option, I'd just worry about clumsily breaking a plastic or munching the rivet.

For the pintonka one, is 2 3/4" deep enough for most ramp flaps? I presume so, considering it's hailing itself as designed for pinball application...

Since gold ring buttons are no longer available I went ahead and did some R&D work for anyone else that gets to this party late.

Remove your ring button and place it upside down in a bench vice. Make sure the vice is open just enough to allow the center part of the button to move. Cover the vice with a microfabric towel. One or two light taps with a hammer will pop the center section of the button out.

Grab some 600 grit sand paper and rough up the area the paint will go. This will make that area nice and cloudy. Don't skimp on this, when you think you have sanded enough do it all over again.

Wash the part to get all the dust off and get it nice and dry. Use blue painters tape to mask off the rest of the area. See my attached photos.

Google says Design Master makes the best gold spray paint. This can was purchased at Michael's for about $6. This is enough paint to make 50 to 100 buttons if I had to guess.

Nice light coats, allow drying time in between. I did three coats, two would probably have been fine. Allowed 15 minutes or so between coats.

Design Master recommendeds NOT using a clear coat so I didn't. I've rubbed the hell out of this thing and the color is holding with no issue. Amazing what a good sanding job can do for you.

Press the button back together and reinstall in your machine. Total cost per button for this MOD, somewhere between 60 cents and $1.20 if you use your existing button. Total time required was under an hour, most of which is watching paint dry...

It looks fantastic and now I need to order the fancy plate to replace the sticker on the lockdown bar.

I hope other find this helpful in the future. This is a super cheap was to make your game look even better.

Enjoy!
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Looks great and has the “look and feel” part of the beautiful hand crafted detail of the hobbit pin.

And the engraved plate over at Mezel MODs is out of stock now... Anyone know of another source to pick one up?

Even after owning it for 3 years it is still stunning to look at. Just gorgeous

Sound and gameplay are also incredible.

That mod and the gold coin flipper bat toppers from back alley are the only mods I have. I highly recommend the button plate mod if you can get your hands on it.

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It fits everywhere I have tried it so far. I bought it because the rivet press I have won’t work for certain situations (I have the press shown in pinrestore.com) . I did my TAF main ramp with the pintonka and it worked perfectly. It also worked great for the TAF plastic assembly at the back with the telephone on it. My press wouldn’t do either of those. I like it because I have no worries about hammering too hard and breaking anything.

https://pu-parts.com/the-hobbit-lockdown-bar-ring-button-platte

They also still have the ring button in stock.

I’m impressed with your result! The matte gold finish might even look better then the glossy one!

A little late to the party, #1257 arrived yesterday. Open box photo reduced price with factory fixes. Smaug had loose screws, was rubbing against ramp now fixed. Looks like they bent the ramp near the head to avoid the rubbing. I have an EOS error on the right flipper, no broken wire so I assume it is just a bad switch...thoughts?

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Also found this on the playfield by the bumpers...?

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Goes under the ramp it’s a diffuser for the ramp LEDs

Thank you

Nice. REALLY nice. Congrats.

New Hobbit Smaug LE owner and first time pin owner. I am loving this game. All JJP updates done, game manufactured late June 2016. Running Ver 3.0. Some minor damage in shipping to backboard decals/graphics and my vendor working to replace them now.

I have been a lurker for a while and this forum has been a great help with checking the game out and my deciding buy the Hobbit and what mods to do. Just starting to do mods and stuff on order, or waiting for me to get installs done (LED trough and backboard lights, plastics protectors, gold anodized lock nuts in places, Erabbor Throne, ring button plate, Cliffy's protectors, etc.)

Only thing I have had to do was bend plate on ball shield for loading balls and the info here made it easy to fix.

Thanks to all posting pics, issues and solutions.

Welcome! and WELCOME!

Bad switch isn't likely. They are leaf blade switches, you can see if both are intact. Clean by putting a piece of paper between them and gently hold closed while pulling the paper out. Tests - Switches - Dedicated.

If it doesn't register in test. Look at the other EOS switches for a broken wire. Or a connector not plugged in under the playfield.

LTG : )

Thanks, the other 2 flipper eos switches are working so I'll check underneath for a disconnect. I'll also pull it out and clean / inspect...

Great, except that doesn't mean you don't have a wire broken off. They are daisy chained together.

LTG : )

As I posted earlier, new TH owner and had to share to game of my life from the other night. Well over 40 minutes on 5 ball game with factory default medium settings. I have no idea how I did this, but my eyes were blurred and blinded by all the flashing, and my ears were ringing and overwhelmed with the sound of this game (had the new Polk 100 watt subwofer up too loud). Now I am beginning to understand rules and getting better at game each day. If i can just get there again!
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Wow that’s a awesome score, Congrats on your purchase. After seeing that great score I’m now motivated to start a journey to a GC on my game.

LTG, followed your suggestion, even removed EOS Switch to inspect, still not working. Left flipper and upper right are still working fine. Checked connections on main box and board J601, reconnected etc.. Where do I go from here?

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Hi Energyspike - your checking with a meter - correct?

Yes, metered all wires in the daisy chain and are good (EOS Switches are all good). All the wires, black / white stripe, black / brown stripe, black / red stripe and black at the connector to the IO Board are good. Could it be an IO Board issue? Thoughts?

That’s what it’s sounding like. I would go into dedicated switches tests, then pull the connector at the io board. With the connector off you could take a piece of wire and short the pins for black / black-brown. If nothing changes then it’s the board.

Ohm Meter the connector at the EOS.

Manually actuate the switch.
Does it close?

Continue to the next connector.

Manually actuate the switch.
Does it close?

Do this until you reach the final connector at the PC board, test again.

Verify there are no loose pins or bad crimps from the EOS all the way to the PC board.

Do this first.

Test that the connector at the PC board actually contacts the pins on the PC board.

Momentarily Jumper the pins on the PC board for that switch.
It should activate.

Check for loose pin or cold joint on the PC board.

Check and meter all fuses, check for loose fuse holders.

Question is, with the connector j601 pulled, does that clear the bad switch error? If not, while it’s pulled, does shorting pins 1 to 6 on the io board activate and clear the error in dedicated switch test? If so the io board is good at least

How often does smogs head move left to right? I can’t seem to get it to move in test and it moves very rarely during play. Like I can go entire days without seeing it move. It’s really weird. Mouth moves and lights work everything is connected as far as I can tell. I’m wondering if it only moves during specific events and I’m too busy playing to notice.

Smaug is very interactive - at least with version 3.1 (If you're not current do it)
The first two times you lock a ball he should spin and taunt you and return to the left.
When ramp lock lights for the 3rd time Smaug should turn fully to the right, staring directly at you and random taunts (thief, liar etc).

Smaug worked pre 3.1 but after he almost barely moves. Just the mouth. I can’t get his coils to test but also other coil tests don’t work as well that function during the game.

Damn I wonder how I can fix it

In test the Smaug coils are dark blue. Idk if that matters and it’s not throwing any codes. When I get home I’ll take the head off and make sure everything is correct. After 3.1 it moved randomly a few times but nothing like what you describe and it’s been a few days since it’s moved at all. I hope a motor didn’t burn out.

Pull out the knob on the fat white interlock switch on the left side of the coin door opening. Top one is high power interlock, bottom one is memory protect.

Anything binding your Smaug from turning ?

LTG : )

I’ll have to take a look tonight. I gave it a once over yesterday but only with the glass on, nothing detailed. I’ll take him off tonight.

See picture.

LTG : )

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Awesome!

Thank you for the suggestion. The IO Board is good, that was a quick way to check.

Thank you both for the help, Pinside members are awesome...

I narrowed it down step by step as suggested, it was the connector to the IO Board, I pulled out the black / brown stripe wire and bent the crimp wider secured back into the connector and were good (Holy crap Batman, to the very end). I learned a lot today and feels good to resolve. It is understandable that all that wiring and connectors and complexity of these machines, something so small can go wrong. I just got into pinball over a year ago and love it and hope to do small restore projects when I retire ( 5 years).

Love this game so far, it is everything that I expected after reading through this whole thread....

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Awesome sauce!

Wish i could find a recipe for Sweet baby Rays Kickin Bourbon Wing Sauce.

This is close :

LTG : )

I'm really happy with my Hobbit. I've had the game more than 3 years and love the game play and especially the reliability. I would say it's my go to pinball.

I probably shouldn't post this but I'm a little bummed out, maybe more than a little that my Woz RR looks like it has a board problem the lights get funky . Also I have had 2 throne room lights go out, it had some minor adjustments castle open doors etc. I recently purchased the 2.0 boards for insurance. Now let me get to the new DI which I have had for about 7 months. The trap door didn't work from the get go, had to get a tech to completely take it apart and reassemble. He also fixed the theater opto because it wasn't registering after 20 plays . Now I have the same problem on the theater opto. I'm not mechanical like most of you so these fixes are aggravating. This makes me very leery about getting Wonka.

Cheers.

There was a time we weren't either. We learn by doing.

Remove two screws holding clear plastic over pop bumpers and set to side. Remove plastic on left side of theater. Reove a couple locknuts and a screw or two holding theater in place and set theater to the side. Find the black plastic opto that popped out and stick back in. Then hot glue it or something. Reassemble.

LTG : )

Thanks LTG but that is not the one. I like the Kickin Bourbon WWing Sauce, i don't think their plain BBQ sauce is even in the top 23 from SBR's.

Sooo Smaug moves clockwise in test mode and in game but will not move counterclockwise in test or during the game now. Fixing to pull him off the board and take a look.

When I move him by hand he moves freely.

Edit: took smog entirely out after taking pictures. Everything looked good and tight nothing seemed wrong. Played with him a bit and sprayed him with air put Smaug back in and it works now? Lol. Anyways put about an hour into the hobbit and everything is 100%

Now it’s kind of hesitating today. I think the issue is one of the connectors is most likely vibrating out a bit. I’ll take him apart again and make sure all the connectors are very secure.

Nice to hear your Smaug is up and running. Smaug should move and say something when you lock each ball. When you light the third lock he should follow your switch hits(moving left to right depending on which switch you hit) until you lock the third ball, and that’s pretty cool to watch as your playing. Have fun playing one of the deepest coded pin IMHO.

Did you ever figure out the color temp. Looks super easy to make and install.

I'm almost positive it's 6000. I found the 4mm strip, just need to get it ordered.