Um, yes, sorta...

The hot glue was to keep the wire from shaking loose in shipping.
The pinned connector was suffering from a weak/cold joint from the surface mount process.

The hot glue definitely helped the pinned connector to stay on and function lol.

As with most electronics, if you can get the contacts to touch, it works!

Good job on the temporary fix.

Just joined the club for Christmas! Was curious if updating the code reset lifetime audits. Does anyone know? Also anyone who has a great playfield protector, does it cause air balls? My game seems to have a decent number of air balls right now off the beasts in the middle.

Mine came with a playfield protector and I hated it so much I ended up cutting it off. Best thing I ever did with this game. Game plays much faster and smoother with it gone.

Also not a fan of the playfield protector.. they look nice, but the play is no good.

This is really interesting. I recently picked up a low play HUO LE that has a playfield protector and even though I have the pitch at 7.0, it still feels floaty and the ball travel is just kinda weird. Plus, I feel like the glare off the protector makes the whole playfield look a little hazy. I don't put a ton of plays on my games so I really don't think I need a protector.

How much of a hassle is it to remove a protector? Do you literally just cut through it in sections and remove the pieces or do you have to disassemble stuff? Do you have to adjust the height of all the rollovers, pop ups and switches after you take it off?

anyone have a Smaug Gold edition they wana sell me?

LOL!
I did the same thing on my F-14. I cut it off too! Way easier than uninstalling it.

Carefully cut it off with a scissors. Uninstalling requires removing lots of parts including the flipper bats. I had particles getting under it all the time and had to lift it and blast high pressure air from my portable air tank to try to get them out. I had the older thicker one and still cut it out, so it's doable. You may have to make a tweak or two to switches, but they should work fine without it as you're removing and not installing the protector.

You're welcome to come over and play mine!

Just cut it off. I made some posts on this about 18 months ago in this thread with photos. Your LOCK roll overs will also have a protector on top of them that needs removed. Your up post in the left outlane will need adjusted down a touch. You will be shocked how much nicer the playfield looks when that protector is removed.

Thanks! Hopefully I can summon up the nerve to do it.

Wind lance adjustment. What worked for me.

1. I reduced the strength to the settings in the photo. I slowly reduced it until the speed felt like it was somewhat controllable. Strength is the force the ball is pushed out of the lane by the coil. (The delay is the time between when the ball hits the switch and the coil is fired, for kickback)
2. The ball was hitting the post right of the Radagast VUK. Dropping the strength reduced the force but it still hit the post.
I removed the 2 screws holding the left metal rail in the Windlance outlane from the side rail, leaving the top nut which holds the rail to the pf. No need to remove plastics and ramp etc. I placed a finger in the middle of the curve radius and gently increased the bend in the metal rail by bending the loose end towards the centre of the machine. After testing for correct adjustment, replaced screws.
Testing.
- By lifting the pop up post and putting a rag to hold it up under Pf. Lower pf and place ball in windlance.
- menu, test, coils, kickback. Pull coin door switch to enable coils. Start button fires coil.

I hope this helps someone. It’s really disappointing to get the kill Smaug shot and not get a chance at the shot as intended.

0C32676B-462D-46C8-ACC9-1E54BFFF99D6 (resized).jpeg

2715F8B2-1054-4BFC-A054-1B0DB5BE4D80 (resized).jpeg

seems daunting, but it will seriously take you 10 or 20 minutes. had to do it with my Dialed In.

make sure you use a sturdy pair of scissors or your hand will hurt for a while. maybe even a glove...

Sharing some "Awesome" from Eric ... pretty cool :

Flipper Code: (Left flipper for Letters, Right Flipper for Enter)
GAME
So: In attract mode: make sure you're on a clean slate by hitting the flippers together first.
Then: Left 7, R1, L1, R1, L13, R1, L5, R2

Report back to confirm you've seen the Awesome.

Fun

Epic!

Awesome

I normally skip the credits, but that was cool.

I bought this from Amazon to reduce the speaker noise. The noise went away but so did the sound from the upper speakers. With this connected all you hear is the bottom speaker and if you put your ear right up against the. Better solution available?

Also, as i reconnected the RCA cables, I realized the right speaker isn't working. I tried a different cable with the same result.

Any advice on either?

IMG_0582 (resized).jpg

Hey DylanFan71 , can I get you to try something? First, set aside that gizmo you have pictured. Next, please swap the left and right backbox speaker RCA plugs then turn on the machine and play some sounds. Specifically, swap J6 and J7 backbox speaker connections at the rear of the aluminum enclosure in the cabinet (leave the red / black J8 sub connection plugged). Does the right speaker now work while the left speaker does not? If so, both speakers are OK (I suspect this will be the case).

I'm really concerned that the Amazon item has a short or other issue that may have put an excessive load on the amplifier board. But don't despair - I can set aside some time to help you figure out what's going on. Just post your results and I'll try to keep up. PM me if I'm taking too long.

-Dan

Hey fellow Hobbitses...

I developed a mod to address a pet peeve of mine with the layout of this game. I really get tired of 1. not using the third flipper much, and 2. draining from rejects or dribbles out of the pop bumpers. I've always felt like there should have been a gate at the entrance of Bag End, but it's just missing. So I made a gate

Is this something anyone but me is interested in?

Operation:

Installation:

Installation:

This is neat. I don’t even remember the ball being able to go towards the out lane. It’s always just fell back towards flippers. I’d be interested in seeing how the game play dynamic changes. It would make killing smog easier with a nice feed towards that flipper

Hello fellow Hobbits! I am a new member of the club having recently purchased a Smaug editon (after looking for one for about a year or so.)

Lloyd has graciously helped me with a few issues including a stubborn D drop target. I am now having some intermittent audio issues.

The RCA cables that go into the computer box seem to be coming loose; I lose half of my audio in game, mostly speech audio. I reseat the red, red and white cables, inside the computer box and out. This usually fixes it, but lately the problems reoccur until I refiddle with the cables. Any ideas? Should I be working on securing the cables more tightly or ordering new cables possibly? Besides this issue, I am loving the game!!!

Do the RCA cables feel loose when they are plugged in?

They don't. I get a firm fit, but it seems to be the cables on the inside of the computer box that are the problem (the issues don't go away until I open the box and unplug and replug the three cables.) I need to reopen it tonight and see if they are loose currently, but when I plug them in I get a fairly firm connection, no real play or looseness. When the sound cuts out, it cuts back in occasionally during gameplay, especially if the pop bumpers or anything shakes, which makes me feel like its a loose connection. Definitely an intermittent issue.

That’s a neat idea. What does that switch do at the modified exit?

Gently squeeze the fins around the RCA plug a tiny bit and inside the female plug where the male plugs into.

Or hot glue to keep it put.

Or new cables.

Or weld the damn things.

LTG : )

Thanks Lloyd! I was trying to give you a break for a change in helping me so much gonna try this when I get home and give pinwoofer a call if it persists, he offered to walk me through troubleshooting on the phone.

I want to thank this board, among others on Pinside for helping me so much the past two years I've been in pinball. Great people on here for the most part, so willing to help others!! I wish everyone here a Happy and Healthy New Years!!!

Dan

Trumpanche, did you 3d print the plastic holder? If so, can you send me the file? I just had family over and the sdtm happened from the bumpers a few times, I would like to give this a try.

Thanks

The stock RCA cables are complete shit. If you are having issues I would suggest replacing them to eliminate them as the source of your issue.

I work in a high end audio shop. We have big wooden arches that hang from the ceiling in our lobby. When we open up a new demo unit that comes with the free black plastic audio cables they get thrown up on top of the wooden arches never to be seen or heard. They are truly awful.

The Hobbit I am babysitting has the audio noise. I've tried replugging all the cables in the signal path and will next be replacing them with better cables which will improve the sound as well as hopefully cure the noise.

I'd like to make sure there's a distinction between "speaker level" and "line level" RCA cables in this discussion.

Speaker level cables are heavy gauge (16-18AWG) compared to line level cables that are essentially filament (30-40AWG). Be super careful on what you are selecting if you replace your cables. It's important because a line level cable is lightweight and may heat up when in use, and may sound bad or be very unreliable. Good speaker level RCA cables are difficult to find and it may be a crap shoot as to what you'll get.

In my experience the heavier duty RCA speaker level cables don't go bad and don't cause noise issues. An easy way to check your speaker cables is to swap them and see if whatever problem you are having tracks the cable. To diagnose, wiggle them and listen - a bad speaker cable or connection should reveal itself quickly.

If you've done a swap of your cables (or possibly a previous owner) and are having trouble, I recommend a careful review of your cable type considering the above. (It may not be possible to determine this from a photo.) If you are not having trouble, please don't let this cause a panic.

Sadly there are line level cables in use on The Hobbit and Wizard of Oz . Shown in the photo is a "VIDEO" cable; it's hard to fathom a speaker level "VIDEO" cable and it also calls into question the right/left (red/white) speaker cables as well. I do not know if these are OEM or aftermarket cables. Posting photos might reveal a trend.

-PinWoofer

IMG959657_VIDEO_CR (resized).jpg

Thanks!

Yeah - I can tell you I certainly enjoy it more, but it’s my baby so perhaps I can’t tell if it’s ugly. I wonder if Buffalo Kevin or someone would be willing to take a shot at installing and streaming with it before/after...

joetechbob

This is how I tried to explain the benefit in the video description - does this make sense?

“ Exiting out the right side instead of back down the middle enables:
1. Shots on the Thorin captive ball to light the kickback, and
2. (when Super Jets is active) Shots on the lit DWARF drop target to 'kick over a barrel' - see the rule sheet, page 14: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-hobbit-rulesheet “

Thanks! Reseating every cable and playing with the prongs on each seemed to have fixed it, for now. I also didn't realize how many places/plugs are on the motherboard that can come loose. That seems to be the theme with issues on this game so far, "loose." Loose screws, cables, etc.

I was also confused by that "video" cable. As for the poor sound that Gogojohnnyquack referenced, mine was solved instantly with the installation of a ground loop isolator. Now I am back to dialing in my powered sub/game audio, trying to get the levels correct. Would like to hear more about the RCA distinctions PinWoofer , I am not ready to change out the cables but it definitely seems like I'll need a better solution down the line.

Thanks all!

sent a pm

So, I guess that DWARF drop target bank was ripe for a rebuild... Three out of the five coil stops were completely broken off, only staying in place by virtue of the tightly packed nature of the assembly

2021-01-02 15.51.23 (resized).jpg

Wow , how many games has was on it .

About 14-15000 games. I had it on location for a while before it got rotated to my basement

So one of my pop ups seems to travel just a little to far and is pinching some wires. I electrical taped the wires and I think moved them out of the way but with the playfield lifted I still get some spring back when I push the guide shaft all the way in (see video). The other ones push all the way in and stay in but the other one kicks back out a little. Any thoughts so I don’t end up ruining the wires?
Also, on one of my flippers when checking the EOS switch I noticed I get a little resistance pushing the flipper mech in. Is there lube I should put on it or is something going bad? Thanks

Never any lube. Turn the game off. Remove the two screws holding the coil stop on, slide coil down and let hang. Feel the end of the plunger - is it sharp on the edge or mushroomed - dragging in the coil sleeve ? Coil sleeve worn, cracked or broken ? Might be time to rebuild the flipper. New plunger assembly, new coil sleeve, new coil stop.

Does the flipper bat have a tiny bit of up and down play ( not back and forth ) ?

LTG : )

Hi all. New to this thread and tried searching but nothing definitive. After hitting right ramp which curves over to Smaug, the ball gets stuck pretty regularly just before the magnet at Smaug. Looks like the diverter, which kicks it into the left wireform, is sticking out a bit. Any advice?
thanks!

Could you post a picture please ?

LTG : )

I've gotten lots of interest and a number of questions about the Gate at Bag End and I realized I didn't explain it very well initially. I'm still thinking about how to make it available to everyone, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this is a cool thing. Here's sort of a summary that goes along with the installation video... Thanks!

The mod is intended to DRASTICALLY increase the use of the game's 3rd flipper by increasing the likelihood of the ball exiting the jet bumpers out to the right orbit instead of straight back down the middle. Exiting out the right side instead of back down the middle enables:
1. Shots on the Thorin captive ball to light the kickback, and
2. (when Super Jets is active) Shots on the lit DWARF drop target to 'kick over a barrel' - see the rule sheet, page 14: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/top...

The mod consists of:
1. Three 3D-printed plastic bracket components
2. A custom hand-formed galvanized steel wire gate
3. A piece of double sided tape attached to one of the 3D-printed parts

The mod simply attaches to the existing Bag End plastic and is fully removable/reversible. It only takes a minute to install - the hardest part is just taking the backing off of the double sticky tape

The mod is pretty discrete, and is even completely invisible if you have already installed Chuck's "Bag End" mod: https://www.pinworlds.com/the-hobbit-...

Note: please ignore the two holes drilled through the original clear plastic - that was part of a failed attempt at an alternative design for this gate.

Installation:

Very cool idea!
I am in for an Bag End gate.
I have also installed Pinworlds Bag End Mod

20200620_181152 (resized).jpg

I need a mod gate for between the bottom flippers too. I think this will drastically increase my use of the bottom flippers.

It had to be said.

I'm on it!

Hi. thanks for your help. Pic attached. When it gets stuck there it gets VERY stuck. Ball search does not help and only very hard shaking multiple times or taking off glass fixes it. Happens about once per game on average.

hobbitt (resized).jpg

Are your ramp welds broken? That mechanism got misaligned on my game when my ramp started falling apart...

12_Ramp_Assembly_Welds_Broken (resized).jpg