Now cables to take the power up to the top of the playfield to the LED pods.
There are two short and two long. The short ones are the left ramp, the long ones are the right.
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This is how each cable will connect to its respective driver board. Note the direction of fit. The cable runs away from the board.
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Left ramp. Cables go through the cross hole. No need to remove the cross, they fit easily.
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This hole is near Sparky and I believe is a flasher hole for the premium/LE. It is unused on the pro. If you have Total Lightshow installed you will probably have a red socket in here as I do.
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Drop out the socket.
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Feed the two long cables through this hole and connect each of the cables to the remaining LED driver boards.
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Replace the socket.
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Route the main supply cable back to the backbox and connect to the Matrix Interceptor like this..
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Leave the cables for the LEDs sitting like this for now. Fibres are added to the ramps next and then plugged into these cables.
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This is one of the two ramp fibre optics, with LED pods attached. This ships assembled as in the photo.
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Close-up of the LED pod.
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When fitting cable ties, ensure the go in in this direction. The cable ties sit up-hill from the wireform cross member.
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Take your wireforms out of the machine. Super easy in Metallica.
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Start with the fibre roughly in place and loosely fit the cable ties at each cross member. DO NOT tighten the cable ties yet.
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Get everything in place and check that you have placed the fibre symmetrically around the ramp. You want the ends to overhang the same amount.
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Snug everything up. Don't overdo it. If you choke the fibre you may compress it beneath the tie.
Decide here if you want to add any extra cable ties to control the fiber around bends in the wireform. You can see that I have added two extra in the lower section of this ramp.
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Snip off the cable tie overhang.
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LED pods should be sitting like this. Two extra cable ties right at the end there.
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Ramp going back in. Get it this close, ready to connect the black cables to the LED pods.
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Connect the cables and make sure the LEDs are working. You can have the machine on here. If the LEDs don't work they are backwards and just need to be rotated. The pods will spin with moderate effort around the fibre.
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Slide the ramp into position ensuring the pods are sitting above the wireform and neatly on either side of the metal ramp.
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The black cables can be arranged to head vertically out from behind the cross and straight up to the wireform, where they can be secured with a black cable tie placed close enough to the metal ramp so the ball clears it. Because everything is black here they are invisible from player viewpoint.
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View of finished install from player angle.
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Repeat on the other ramp. The black cables approach from behind Sparky and towards the back of the LED pods. You can't see them and I haven't bothered to secure them. As they are ribbon cable they have some structural rigidity and sit very neatly.

I think it will be ok. SDMD is on TX and TLS is on RX (machine POV). I see little conflict. I'm not establishing 2way comms via my board.

Depends on whether you are going for two bulbs per side or three. If you are drilling your lane guide and adding a third bulb, then leave one of the factory sockets on each side as your white, then add the red and blue. If you are using two, then drop both factory out and replace with red and blue.

I am in 7/16 post-rubber hell! Onto my third supplier now. I have everything else ready to ship Tron and Met ramp fibre kits once the rubbers arrive and prove to be usable.

They go inside the LED pods, around the optic fibre, to hold it in place. I show how it works in a video a while back. They are arriving from suppliers either too hard, or with too small a hole in the middle.

Complete replacement RGB GI on any game is dead. The board will always be able to drive it, but I am not continuing the R&D on the bulb solution. I got close, but it's too expensive and a job that I don't think a lot of people would want to tackle.

Fully interactive ramp optic fibres, that behave like they do in Tron are coming for ST, yes. ST ramps have a wider edge than Tron in places, and the clips I have made so you can fit the optic fibres without drilling your ramps won't fit. I need to get them made to a new size, and then do all the test fitting.

Sigh, three strikes and I'm almost out on these damn rubbers. I have one last supplier I can think of and have ordered those so will be about a week delivery.

These are the shitty little things that cause delays that are hard to plan for. Goodness knows what can suddenly pop up to throw out a well intentioned manufacturer of a full machine. This is why you will never see me complain about delays from other people. I have lived it. It's frustrating and embarrassing, but it happens, all the time, to everyone. All the hard stuff can be locked in and ready to go, and something so simple, so seemingly banal in the scheme of things, can just suddenly shut the whole line down.

Now, anyone want 300 7/16 post rubbers, lol?

Beautiful work. I really should do this on my own machine, haha! I will make some install notes as well, but Eric did cover it very well.

That actually sounds like a cool place, hehe.

Last order was from Marco. Still waiting. Should be any day given previous deliveries.

Well, who doesn't like a ramp up in production?..

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Rubber issue solved and starting to box up Tron kits. Here is what's in the box. Ask if you can't tell what anything is, but I think each item has been covered previously. Not in stock on the website yet. I want to get them all packed and ready to ship before stocking them. You pay, they ship. Like all my stuff.

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I'll try keep all informed as best I can.
I have just decided on one FINAL tweak to make this the best I can. I have to have two types of fiber clip. I thought I could get away with one, but the installation has been bugging me as not 100% perfect. Some sections of the ramp have a wider flange and I was putting the short ramp clips through the post holes. It works but I would like it neater. To that end I am going to get my CNC wire guy to do a run of larger clips. This will be needed for Star Trek anyway. Pic below of what I mean.

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I will have clear install videos available. You can check out the install videos for the Metallica GI Theatre as a guide. The back box components will be the same. Then put the fibres on the ramps. Hardest thing there is getting the ramps on and off (which isn't hard). Then a couple of components screwed under the playfield, then run some cables. Give yourself a Sunday afternoon to do it and you will be fine.
Wait till you sober up before turning the power on.

You are the man, Kev. Officially my number one customer.

Argh, this cross mech. It's giving me gip. I really want to get it working, but I can't seem to get it together. I have been trying to redesign it so that I am not just copying Stern's mech, but maybe that's not such a big deal? If I did a straight up rip-off it would be quicker, but I'm a bit uncomfortable with that. Obviously, it's crazy to redesign something simply for the sake of respect. Redesign should only be to improve the engineering, and that's not really going to happen here.
Maybe I just get on with it as a straight copy. A bit like shakers I guess. Aren't they all the same?

Well, it is just a generic piston with a rotary switch actuator. Hardly patent material. Ok, I'll get back on it.

Making, making..

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You definitely want at least a 2.x version. That gets you all the upgraded engines. After 2.0 came out the additions from then on were mainly further support for new gadgets.

These clips have been ordered and are in turnaround. I am packing kits at the moment. Won't be long.