You can always get the pinblades artwork instead of the mirror blades. Personally, I'm a huge fan of mirror blades but took a chance with the artwork for this title and think it's absolutely awesome!

Grats on the pin!

The laser is low wattage and is diffused further by being split. Steve Ritchie himself had hinted at the mod of drilling the hole bigger to increase the laser show. I don't see it any different from all those star field projectors that people have light up their rooms. I'm no scientician but not something that would worry me much.

I'm pretty sure I know who you bought this from, he posted about his mod after he did it. I remember thinking it looked really awesome and always planned to do that to mine. Can you tell if he increased the diameter of the hole or if he just opened up the other half of the circle?

Yep !

I 2nd frolics reply. People rightfully are concerned about eye damage from lasers, however the stuff that you really need to worry about is the more powerful high wattage types. Would I let it shine directly into my eye for 10 mins? No way. A passing flash here or there? I wouldn't worry about it.

If the laser were harmful, it would require a hazard sticker. At the least it should be in the manual. Why don't you contact Stern and ask if the laser is eye-safe or not.
"Don't look into the light!"

It has one. DANGER sticker right above the laser hole on the apron.

This is the main reason I did not put mirror blades on my machine.
Great question for an eye-doctor pinhead

This laser light is the red, I believe 680nm laser. I remember looking at the output of the laser and it is low, however I would not shine this light directly in my eyes and would avoid any exposure to it. I want to say it's a 5mw laser but I might be off on that.

Exposure to laser light is extremely damaging to the retina and to the macula of your eye. And it is irreparable damage.

That being said, a reflected flash from the ss on the head or off the translite probably would be at greatly reduced intensity since they are not gloss surfaces and would scatter some of the light. A reflection of the laser from mirrored blades would be almost the same intensity as the incident light.

I have the PinBlades art along with the black light mods and it's awesome.

Then there's the glass which probably reduces the power of the laser show . I'd personally be ok with it as is. However, you could always benefit from sunglasses during game play... as it might help deal with the sheer volume of lite coming from that PF. 8D

Well then. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Ok fellas..so I have another question.. What if the laser light was actually green now?

That is what we have installed on our PGX machine with UV PinBlade kit.

I have to say I'm liking the green.

Glad you guys like the PinBlade kit

Isn't green (laser) a more dangerous frequency to the eyes?

I'am getting the pinblades art, but not the lighting effects for both my machines, MEt and ST both premium models.

How do you make the laser hole bigger? I'am interested in doing this.

Green is higher on the human eye curve... it takes less power to do more damage.
I'd be very careful "modding" to the right power level.

Mine was modded so it includes a 1 Watt green laser. ( <-- That's a joke. Don't do it.)

Seriously though, in the manual there is a warning not to operator the laser with the playfield glass off.

The eye is more sensitive to the green wavelenghts than red. So even if the power was the same on the green laser your eye would be absorbing more enery than with the red.

Since our eyes are less sensitive to red thats why in submarines they switch to red lighting during battle stations at night. that way if they have to surface suddenly and abandon ship, everyones eyes adjust quickly to the darkness. If they were in full white light then had to ditch at night it would take a few minutes for their eyes to adjust and be able to see well. In sci-fi space movies or tv shows they go to red lighting during battle stations because it just looks cooler.

any pictures or vid of this light show?

I can post a video clip tonight.

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actually here is a picture I have..you can't see much of the green laser in this shot..but its there..

I hate green laser pointers because they are so freakin bright. Even bouncing off a projector screen they hurt my eyes.

Red is nice as well... I like both. Either way a very cool feature.. Now if someone can just figure out ho two make some smoke that is safe for the game play field so you can really see those laser beams...

that'd be easy, although I'm not sure of the long-term effects on the playfield and plastics.

dry ice in water and run a hose to the inside of the pf so the dry ice 'smoke' is inside of there.

I attempted to put a 30 watt CO2 laser in there but the first time the Klingon battle went off, it burned a hole right through the back of the machine. Anyone want an "airy" STLE really cheap?

Real Genius mod?