I'm having a love/hate relationship with Tron right now.

I got home from work this afternoon and decided to clean and wax my playfield. Then I broke out four new PBL shiney balls, rubbed them down with chrome cleaner that I use on my bike, (First time that I tried that.) and proceeded to play a game. After the first flip, I knew that my cleaner combination was something special. The balls seemed to just float on the playfield. Every shot was buttery smooth. On my first ball I had everything lit solid except the light cycle, and proceeded to start SOS. Now I'm jacked because this is by far the best I've ever done on this pin, and I'm doing it on the first ball! BAM, ball comes out of the scoop, I time my flipper wrong, it hits the U in Zuse, STDM. Shit. 91 million on the first ball. Ok, ok, I got this, all I have to do is start light cycle multiball again. No problem...... Problem, big problem. Three shitty balls later, and I end with a score of 106 million.

I wanted to smash that pin to smithereens.

But I still love it more than lamp.

I use Novus 2, followed by a polish of Novus one, then three coats of Blitz wax. It's so shiny after that you can see yourself in it.

You must have been an Owner of this sweet machine at one time. I am not sure where she has been, but I know she is in Studio G now and she isn't leaving anytime in the foreseeable future. Thanks for taking care of her and breaking her in easy. Wax on, wax off.....

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Pros won't come with LEDs from the factory. Selecting them is really up to your personal preferences

Pinsider Hooked was selling modded lightcycle kits for a while. You might check if he still has some. I think someone documented somewhere how you can modify the ornaments yourself if you want to save money

I mylar the shooter lane and the ball drops. Also there's a long mylar strip in front of the scoop, but you might add another square at the end of it to extend it if you find the ball is shooting over the strip.

I also removed the black rubber nubs to the left and right of the recognizer and replaced with dead drop foam that goes to the end of the ball guide. It helps prevent the balls from getting nicked by the edge of the guide as they go into the disc

You may find the game stays cleaner if you get rid of the soft black rubbers. Then again you might not!

New balls will help, then just use Novus on the ramps and wax pf occasionally.

Edit: Also the Stern cabinet protectors are very popular http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2711

All good advice except from that smartass QG

I wax the pf and novus the ramps every month or so. Not everyone waxes but I like the additional layer of protection and speed.

Definitely get the cliffies. One day the ramps may be impossible to find. I also mylar the shooter lane.

Rather than setting the game to 5 ball, set it to an extra ball at 25M or some value that is achievable but not easy.

Also if you have a powered subwoofer on hand you owe it to your boys to hook it up

Every time I click on this thread I see Centerflank's first post about the double wax coat, and I'm reminded that I really should wax Tron again... Guess it's wax time tonight

Let the record show DaveH slathers his balls with a heavy layer of wax!

Finally installed my blue disc, wow !!! After a fresh wax, there is some crazy English on that mother!!!

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pics please... is this similar to the ol' wax on wax off??

totally agree... TRON is one sexy bitch!

For anyone who has not been seduced by chili and still loves Tron, I thought I would share my experiences with wax and the spinning disc grime.

In all cases, I started with a Novus 2 cleaning of the playfield, which cleans off the black disc grime and any previous wax.

1) Mothers California Gold carnauba paste wax helped to slow down the accumulation of spinning disc residue. However, after 1 week of play, there is noticeable build up of black residue down the center of the playfield, the in-lanes, and the orbits. Some of the residue could be removed with a cloth, but most could not be removed except by reapplying Novus 2 which requires rewaxing.
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2) Turtle Wax Ice liquid wax has been keeping my playfield free of grime for two weeks now. There is very little noticeable black residue. What little black residue is on the playfield is easily cleaned up by using the accompanying Turtle Wax ice spray detailer, which is claimed to also be a wax booster. Neither the wax nor the detailer will stain plastics (such as star posts) or leave behind any white dust. I have also used the detailer to clean up the Recognizer targets.
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I have no idea if this wax works well on cars or if this is good for keeping other pinball dirt off the playfield. But for those who prefer keeping the black spinning disc, application of Turtle Wax Ice liquid wax, followed by weekly touch-ups with Turtle Wax Ice detailer and ball cleaning has kept my playfield clean of the black spinning disc residue and kept ball speeds FAST. And faster is more bester.

TRON will be on its way to TPF tomorrow.
Cleaned up with new clear rubber, flippers rebuilt and a fresh coat of wax.
I suck at taking pictures so please forgive me for the purple look. Its nice and blue in person
So what do you guys think leave in the 3D translite or go with the girls?
The game has a ton of mods...like most TRONs. I am going to put a price on it but really only want to sell if I get top dollar.
I am thinking 7K+
Really are not many games I would want to replace it.

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What the devil!? I guess I need to get on the clear disc bandwagon... The blue one grips, but not like that.... Unless my wax is just that good (1grand blitz)

I don't get it... I don't wax the disc area of course... Maybe the blue just isn't the same

Picked up a tron as my first pinball about three weeks ago, it was a PRO with 6000 plays on it. wasn't even updated to latest code. i dont know if 6000 plays is considered alot but i feel it was a good deal. Machine was a bit dirty and had original lighting. Here is a picture after a nice clean / wax. And of course a bunch of upgrades.

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So i've read about 50% of the pages on this thread. (yes i was board). The only couple of questions that i have are :

1. My slingshots are shooting the ball perfectly down the outlanes (both sides, tried adjusting outlanes by putting them on rookie mode) i would say 50% of my out lane drains are because of this. should i be shaking my machine or is it a setup problem. I've also noticed that my disk doesn't toss the ball around nearly as much as most of the videos in here.

2. when i was cleaning up the machine the first time. i have a pretty gnarly dirt line coming out of the arcade scoop, how should i go about getting that funk off. Nov 2 ain't doing the trick.

3. what kind of pf wax should i be using.

thanks in advance new friends, and if this is the wrong area to post this please let me know i will delete and move to appropriate area

Update :

When I get home from work this morning I was looking at my right ramp and noticed that my ramp is actually broke on both sides. I will need to replace the ramp : ( , never had anything to compare it to. can I go with an LE ramp so I wont have to drill holes?

1. My machine doesn't do that. Try cleaning the disk for starters. This works well for me: http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2651
2. Novus 2 actually worked very well for me on this.
3. I had very good luck with Turtle Wax Ice where other waxes have failed for the unique grime coming from the spinning disc: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-tron-lovefest-thread-i-love-it-more-than-lamp?tq=wax&tu#post-3000838

I find it interesting that Tron has some unique grime-protection needs.

Looks like I'm going to order a clear disc, I have the blue one installed, and I just don't see the action that the clear one gets.

I do use the blitz one grand wax, and I've always wondered if my pf is just too slick to see insane ball English.

Can anyone else confirm the difference between the German blue and clear disc?

Also, I don't remember. Do I need to remove the disc rubber from the clear plastic to remove the clear plastic disc from the motor? Pics?
Thank you guys

Finally cleaned the pinballs in Tron for the first time after this wax job. Did not realize they would pick up so much of the extra wax! Dirtiest balls ever! OK I obviously used way too much wax too. But man it plays fast

The disk will settle down with use. Just keep the playfield waxed and enjoy the cool behavior of the ball seemingly defying physics. One time the ball shot out of the disk and headed to the left in-lane. Half way down the in-lane it stopped and rolled back up and over to the right sling. The wax really lets it "float" across the playfield.

clean & wax

adjust ramp support post screws

replace balls

My new Tron... and an uneventful spinning disk battle

Before I go an replace the spinning disk and rubber, I wanted to see if there were other options. A friend (who owns a Tron) told me to just clean/wax the playfield and clean the rubber disk really well with rubbing alcohol and a microfiber rag to get the grip back. He said after a few games and the wax gets a work out the grip will be back.

I spent a lot of time on Saturday cleaning the playfield which I planned to do on my new machine anyway. After a few hours I am happy to report the ball is now being thrown around all over the place like it should. I even saw it shoot down to the left "C" lane (for CLU) and it was spinning so fast it reversed and went backwards up the lane about two inches and few out into the far left out lane. Crazy $hit man! Now I really have to be on my toes during Disk battles (which is the way it should be).

Got to Sea of Simulation few times but still no Portal yet. Someday.......

Lovin my Tron so far. Very happy with this purchase. Damn this is a fast game!

I opened a NIB Tron Pro a few years back (2015?) and the rubbers were absolutely dead. I'm guessing you'll be in the same boat. Other than that, show her some respect and wax the playfield before playing!

Hey guys so I finally got my Tron HUO LE up and running. It kept resetting and rebooting when I first hooked it up. I went over every single wire and did not see any loose connections. I think it may be my outlet, or even the reset button the CPU board, Im not sure, but it hasn't done it in the last 24 hours. I updated to the newest firmware from version 1.0! Anyways, this unit has never been played, so I used some product called

Wizard wax (https://www.amazon.com/Wizards-11033-Master-Polish-Sealant/dp/B005ZH10O8/ref=sr_1_1)

on the play field. Someone else on the forum recommended It. So I rubbed it in with a microfiber towel. How do you get into those tough areas underneath the ramps?? Anything someone can suggest. I think it looks much better, much more clean then before. Im about to install that mini cab mod, but Im scared, never done this kind of work before, Im new to pinball
Thanks!

Mo!

Hey Mo

Never used that product so don't know anything about it but someone here will. As for the hard to reach areas under the ramps, the best way to clean and if you want to wax that area is remove the ramps. As for the arcade mod, it should have instructions with it? if not I can email you a set, its real easy though you will be surprised how easy it is to do so don't sweat it, the other thing to remember is whenever you doing anything that requires dismantling or removing parts take photos for reference each step, that way if you get side tracked like I often do by my kids and forget where that one nut/screw came from and goes back, you can reference photos, its what I used to do the first time I ever did something I hadn't done before, got me out of a few screws ups

I went through the links that Snakesnsparklers provided and I think that just about covers how to make the light board so I wont step by step that process. I'll just outline the differences I did and the parts list I had.

Parts:
- Foam core poster board (cut to the size of the translight)
- mounting hardware for the board (same as the link Snakesnsparklers provided)
- LED light kit - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078X9MC23/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 (this is what is used to make the chase effect)
- 9 Ice Blue, 10 Natural White, 6 Sun Light Frosted 555 LED's (I went with Frosted to limit the chance of hot spots on the translight) http://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/2smd-ct-ft.htm
- 22 AWG for the lights. Bought a 65 foot roll for $7 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QTCBZ4I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00
- two 6 pin IDC connectors - https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=1598
- One 6 pin Z connector - https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=2887
- One Female .093" Pin and Socket Plug Housing (3 pin connector) - https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=4359
- Two Molex .093" Male Connector Pins 18-22awg - https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3893

For Wiring:
- I mapped out the light locations that I wanted. I did this by tracing the main parts of the PF over to my poster board. I used a spare translight piece of glass I have by laying it over the Tron translight and tracing the character outlines. I then moved over to the poster board and used it as a template. Probably would have been easier using wax paper and just poking holes through it in the locations I wanted. Hind sight is always 20/20 though. I went with the colors I did as I wanted to enhance the factory translight colors, keep things subtle and not get that christmas tree effect. The sunlight bulbs were meant to bring out the yellows of the translight and the Ice blue was to bring out the blues a bit. It's your translight so here you can chose the colors you want though.
- After locating where I wanted the lights to go I drilled holes in the poster board that was the size of the LED housing. This allowed me to push them through the hole and hold them in place fairly snugly. I still put a dab of hot glue on the back to keep them in place long term.
- Now that all the lights are mount it was time to wire them up. I decided to daisy chain the lights. I did this by bending the leads from the LED's to be straight and then stripping away the insulation from the wire at each light. I solderied in the wires and pushed the wires down on opposite sides of the LED. I split the board in half and use one wire for the perimeter lights and one for the middle lights. Each of those two wires went to one of the IDC connectors.
- Once I was happy with the wiring I hot glued over all the bare wire to eliminate the risk of a short if something touched them.
- The chase effect light strip was next. it is powered by a 6V batter pack or a 5V USB plug. I cut the plug off the adapter off the harness which opened up to a + and - wire. I extended the wire long enough to reach the 6 pin IDC connector that the other two light wires went to and used the supplied tap to adhere the strip to the poster board. This kit has several different programmed effects so I just had to select the one I wanted before mounting it. It retains that setting as long as you don't change it so no remote is necessary.
- The wiring from the lights to the IDC connector is now completed. I made it long enough to where the wire would reach to the hole in the back of the cabinet behind the DMD.
- For the other 6 pin IDC connector I installed the two male .093 plugs and installed them into the female plug. Make sure you put them in the correct holes though. On my Pig the ground is the top and the 5V is the middle plug. 12V is the bottom so using that would blow the LED's (like what I did on my light cycle first attempt ). The other end goes to the other 6 pin IDC connector. I daisy chained the + and - to match the LED light wires locations. Doing things this way allows me to remove the panel via this plug vs having to feed the wire in and out of the cab anytime it needs to be removed.

I hope this gives a decent idea of what was done. If anyone has questions let me know and I'll do my best to help with those.

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Going to take the ramps off my LE soon to clean & wax around the back of the playfield where I can't easily reach.

Was debating about flame polishing the ramps while I have them off. They're not bad, but some of the videos I've seen make it look like they can end up looking better than new.

Having never done it before, is this a bad idea? Can anyone tell me if they've flame polished Tron ramps without any ill effects like warping?

I assume I would definitely be best advised to remove all of the LE fibre optics, flashers, switches, etc?

Finally got around to removing the ramps from my machine to clean & wax the orbits. Found it quite intimidating, first time I've ever removed ramps.

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I think I've asked this before, but I'm replacing all the rubbers with Titan translucent silicone ones. How do I get access to the ones surrounding the disc? Do I need to remove the moving recogniser support bar? (LE). If so, how is this done?

My Recogniser isn't quite aligned centrally so I wouldn't mind tweaking it. How does it adjust?

Thanks in advance.

A good Tron weekend:
- Oiled the disc motor. Whisper quiet now. (So easy to pull parts off this game, after working on Cirqus Voltaire & Wizard of Oz lately)
- Clean & wax PF
- My boy got high score #4, *barely* missing passing my #2 & #3 scores, which I think he'll hit soon

Who wants to play for dollar bills w/ an 8-year-old? I could use some extra cash.

Thanks,
-Jason

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Pf is gonna be a hard find. Maybe a used one will show up, but at this point get ready to spend 700-1000 and up.

Oh I forgot you could you the clear protector on the pf and just forget about the insert raising… I don’t play mine too often but I just don’t care. I clean and wax and play the game.