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(Topic ID: 257054)

How do i calm down these leds....

By pinzrfun

4 years ago

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Latest reply 4 years ago by pinzrfun
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#1 4 years ago

ACE

pinzrfun

Pinside+ Frequent

Belleville, MI

11y 90,300 4,305 20

Well, I blew a hundred bucks on Comets Black Friday sale - mostly warm white frosted, I want to brighten up a couple backboxes and lighten the load on the G.I. string on T2 and try adding some color without clown puking it -

Anyways, I got some clear red 2SMD leds for behind the red lettering on the translite to punch it up a bit, but there's a noticeable red "flashlight" effect that's bugging me. Shoulda got frosted apparently (which I usually do) because all the other (warm white frosted) translite led's look great. It's not super noticeable from across the room really, but i know it's there and damn it, it's gonna bug me. So I was wondering if there are any tricks to diffusing these somehow, maybe putting a little wax on them? Hit them with sandpaper?

They're actually more red in person, the color is nice, pics kinda wash it out. I also got 2 packs of blue, one frosted, one clear, just to play around with the GI. I thought maybe adding some around the perimeter under the blue plastics, just experimenting in the pics - my game room is definitely a no-clown-puke zone and will remain so -
20191207_064322 (resized).jpg20191207_064406 (resized).jpg20191207_064441 (resized).jpg20191207_064448 (resized).jpg

#2 4 years ago

ERW

chuckwurt

Pincinnati

10y 193K 31,342 16 13

It’s the clear lenses. Try frosted.

#3 4 years ago

???

HighVoltage

DMCS Pinball

8y 92,550 3,485

OP
Quoted from pinzrfun:
So I was wondering if there are any tricks to diffusing these somehow, maybe putting a little wax on them? Hit them with sandpaper?

As someone who also suffers OCD from crap like this, I appreciate the brainstorming! Here's another goofy idea I've heard people have done on clear bulbs. You can get some red acrylic paint (less than a dollar at local hobby stores) and just paint the tip or whole lens to reduce the hot spot or improve dispersion.

But in general you want to stick to frosted or dimmer varriety LEDs in the backbox.

#4 4 years ago

???

Mike_J

Pinside member

13y 99,550 5,399 58

Quoted from chuckwurt:
It’s the clear lenses. Try frosted.

Agreed. The frost acts as a diffuser.

#5 4 years ago

KNT

Coindork

Pinside member

Cave Creek, AZ

7y 147K 4,623 20 74

Quoted from chuckwurt:
It’s the clear lenses. Try frosted.

This ^^^

#6 4 years ago

HWK

Hawk007

Pinside member

11y 63,400 1,618

much easier to put bulb condoms on them. Diffuses the light and makes it look much better. Then next order get some frosted red or even better frosted pink. It makes the red pop more.

#7 4 years ago

ACE

pinzrfun

Pinside+ Frequent

Belleville, MI

11y 90,300 4,305 20

Quoted from HighVoltage:
As someone who also suffers OCD from crap like this, I appreciate the brainstorming! Here's another goofy idea I've heard people have done on clear bulbs. You can get some red acrylic paint (less than a dollar at local hobby stores) and just paint the tip or whole lens to reduce the hot spot or improve dispersion.
But in general you want to stick to frosted or dimmer varriety LEDs in the backbox.

Heck, I have some red touch-up paint - now that I think about it, I think we also have some of that frost-in-a-can Xmas stuff too! I seem to remember once seeing something about sanding the rounded edge of the bulb flat to disperse the light too. I'll order some red frosted next time I place an order, but in the meantime this'll give me something to do lol.

Thanks guys -

#8 4 years ago

HWK

Hawk007

Pinside member

11y 63,400 1,618

And as a bonus the white light beams behind the letters will stay whiter with pink behind the red letters.

#9 4 years ago

ACE

pinzrfun

Pinside+ Frequent

Belleville, MI

11y 90,300 4,305 20

Quoted from Hawk007:
And as a bonus the white light beams behind the letters will stay whiter with pink behind the red letters.

I'll try that - thank you!

#10 4 years ago

RUS

russdx

Pinside member

8y 60,800 2,084 5

get some sand paper and lightly sand the clear lense to defuse it using high grit

#11 4 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

11y 158K 58,764

Remove them

#12 4 years ago

ACE

pinzrfun

Pinside+ Frequent

Belleville, MI

11y 90,300 4,305 20

Quoted from o-din:
Remove them

Oh, come on, o-din...we all know your position on leds, but from a perfectly practical standpoint, I've already replaced the GI connectors on this thing once, T2 is well known to have a stressed GI circuit....

#13 4 years ago

SBS

o-din

Pinside+ Addict

11y 158K 58,764

OP
Quoted from pinzrfun:
I've already replaced the GI connectors on this thing once, T2 is well known to have a stressed GI circuit....

Yeah I've done it to just about every 90s Williams with better connectors and they have worked great ever since.

#14 4 years ago

DLS

bigd1979

Pinside member

Hagerstown, MD

10y 137K 14,191 8 78

Scuff the clear lens with fine grit sandpaper which will basically make them frosted lens.

#15 4 years ago

ALX

donjagra

Pinside member

14y 72,100 3,402 10 34

Black sharpie the top of the bulb. Just like a car headlight.

#16 4 years ago

---

ForceFlow

Pinside Moderator

9y 236K 31,324 268 14

Pretty much the only time I use clear lenses are on EM games when bulbs are visible in order to simulate the look of incandescent bulbs.

Otherwise, everything I generally use is either frosted or has no lens.

#17 4 years ago

RPG

tilted81

Pinside+ Addict

11y 104K 2,389 45

As mentioned, I’ve used sand paper to scuff just the tops. It works great!

#18 4 years ago

ECB

erak

Pinside member

Grimsby, ON

15y 122K 3,749 5 86

Get a milk jug. Cut some small squares out of it. And hot glue the square to the top of the bulbs.

#19 4 years ago

PBP

PopBumperPete

Pinside+ Frequent

12y 99,300 4,034 8

Try beer
a few cans and you wont notice
(I don't think it is that bad)

#20 4 years ago

ART

OLDPINGUY

Arts Arcade

12y 171K 12,507 7

Wax Paper behind the lettering in the translite.

#21 4 years ago

SPB

onemoresean

Pinside+ Frequent

8y 97,050 812

I use a Scotch Brite

#22 4 years ago

Tuukka

Pinside member

Lempäälä

5y 78,350 1,747 16 18

Replace leds with #44 or #47 (cooler) incandescent bulbs, an it will look like the designer intended.

#23 4 years ago

ACE

hailrazer

Pinside member

Manchester, GA

7y 54,300 485 16

Quoted from Tuukka:
Replace leds with #44 or #47 (cooler) incandescent bulbs, an it will look like the designer intended.

The designer would have used LEDs if they were available. They used the best they had. It wasn't always what they wanted just what they had.

#24 4 years ago

ACE

pinzrfun

Pinside+ Frequent

Belleville, MI

11y 90,300 4,305 20

As a follow up -

Frosted led's for the win (next time i order leds). I tried sanding the tips and a couple of the other suggestions that weren't too ridiculous, and aside from drinking a few more beers, this seems to be the way to go.

Thanks for the suggestions guys -

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