On rebuild of mine, I was going to put a little self-adhesive rubber nub behind that post.

IIRC I worked with helping pinbits? design this ball trap "fix". TBH, it helped mitigate but didn't eliminate the issue. I ended up shaving down the part to an angle but still, didn't eliminate the stuck ball only further mitigated it. Keep in mind, at the time of working with them I really didn't know much about the pin itself. However, after "several" years I realized quite recently that the VUK has a bolt/rubber stopper that can be adjust to increase/decrease the over stroke/strength of the bell plunger.
Here's what I suggest (I plan on doing this myself). Take a pen and mark the threads so you know your starting point and adjust that bolt/stopper assembly upward reducing the strength of the stroke. Try to get it to where it barely has enough strength to "consistently" eject out the ball. This way, the hard rebound of the ball off the size of the cabinet doesn't occur which seems to be the main cause of the stuck ball occurrence.

Good approach. It's definitely bouncing over after hitting the cabinet.

Maybe I'll try some self adhesive pad on the cabinet first. The play field always tries it's best to fall off the track inside the cabinet when I lift it.

So, I upgraded to 10.0 with Shaker. That turned out great, but later on I noticed my right flipper didn't seem as powerful and maybe even had a very slight delay in actuating. I inspected my coils and I have the 20T upgraded coils installed. I went to pinball life and read that the diode must be cut off the coils before operation with 10.0 code. After cutting off the diodes the flippers now are erratic and stick on, so that definitely was not the right thing to do, so I will solder them back on. My coils sleeves and flipper mechs are like new. I'm now leaning towards flipper button switches - thoughts?

There should definitely be a diode on the coil. As far as flipper weakness goes, ensure the EOS switch contacts are adjusted properly and clean and the flipper button leaf contacts are clean.

The button leaf switches can definitely wear and become inconsistent. I replaced mine many years ago and the flippers have been great.

OK, need to tap into the brain trust here. I reinstalled my flipper coil diodes and made sure they were installed in the correct direction (have no idea why pinball life says to remove them) and flippers would not work. Checked both flipper fuses and they were blown. Installed new fuses and as soon as I shut the coin door the flippers actuate and stay actuated. I'm thinking I blew something in the power driver board. Any thoughts where to start looking? All other coils and flashers work when testing them.

Sounds like you definitely roasted a transistor on the solenoid board

I think you are correct - just need to know which one

From our website:
PLEASE NOTE: If this coil is to be used in a LOTR LE (gold edition) machine the diode will need to be cut off of the coil before installation!

Not an owner though I'd love to be someday, as LotR as a whole is my favorite movie of all time ...

Anyway, just wanted to pop in here and inform you, since I'm sure many of you love it as much as I do, that the Extended Cuts are heading into theaters via Flashback Cinema. FotR is on 9/17 & 9/20; TT and RotK should follow in October.

https://www.flashbackcinema.net/new-blog/fellowshipofthering

Roger that. I am running LE code, so I assumed that meant to remove the diode. Is the hardware different between the two?

I replaced the coils in my LOTR earlier this summer. Fuses were blowing…Replaced transistors Q15 and Q16 and it solved the problem.

This thread was helpful.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tech-lotr-le-flipper-fuse-transistor-failed

Yeah the diode should be dependent on that actual board circuitry, not the code. If you are running LE code on a regular game then the diode should stay.

By energizing the flippers without diodes, the collapsing magnetic field will send current back to the board, blowing the transistors. Get some IRL 540's and diodes and you should be good to go. If you can do some basic board work.

Thanks for all the help. I ordered 5 IRL540s (3 for backup), 2 new coils (just in case), 2 new flipper switches, and a flipper rebuild kit. I will adjust the new EOS to actuate when the flipper linkage is fully extended. I can do the board work no problem.

I think my initial problem was flipper leaf switches. I should have not cut the diodes off the coils. I appreciate all the help

Flipper power issues on a LOTR are almost always a flipper leaf switch issue.
Many of the original switches were manufactured wrong during this (brief) period. The plating sequence was incorrect making for very poor connections between the contacts on the switch.

Roger that. I bought the new ones from you (along with anything I have needed - great website). One thing I would recommend is changing the verbiage about the diode needing removed. I realize you stated (LE - Gold edition) in the description, but it can be confused with those people running LE code. I did not realize their was a difference between an LE and standard machine when it came to the flipper diodes.

He is what I came up with. I need to get one of those big lighted magnifiers, my eyes aren't as good as they used to be. This thing is very small and difficult to paint that white orb in the center.

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That turned out really nice! I highly suggest you also design Gandalfs staff and offer both up for sale unpainted. As long as you keep the price reasonable I think these would sell quite well.

I think that looks great. PM me if you have any interest in printing/selling one. I can handle the painting…but would take one either way.

Replaced Q15&16 solved the problem. I went ahead and installed the new coils, flipper mechs, and coils. Night and day difference. Crisp hard shots -maybe too hard. Might adjust down the power to low. I appreciate the advice that was given!

I don't think the software flipper settings do anything on LotR. (I think they were planning it but it didn't make it in.)

I did not know that.

Hi guys, I've just started a home rental of LOTR and it has Pinsound Plus installed.
I've installed, uninstalled and reinstalled different sound packs, and the one I've landed on is the Sjoend pack. The trouble I'm finding is it's all over the place. Callouts sound about right, but the music is either SUPER, SUPER loud or barely audible from one piece of music to the next. Machine volume is at 1.

I just can't get this right. I'm pretty sure I got these working ok the other day, but right now it's unplayable.
The current packs available seem to have been around for ages, so surely they're all fairly normalised by now?

Are you having success with Pinsound on this game? What is your goto pack? Are the packs available on the Pinsound database correct? Should I be getting them from somewhere else? Was the sound conversion done by the machine incorrect? (It did it yesterday when I was installing Sjoend)

Thanks in advance!

There's a setting in the game that turns the volume up for music/sound during certain modes (multiballs, etc). Are you sure that's not the difference? I'd have to flip thru the settings to remember what it is but if I remember it's something that can be adjusted / turned off.

I have a question about weapons for the figures, did some figures come with the weapons and some not? My Frodo has a sword and it looks like Sam had one as well but was broken off.

You can see the figures online by searching for lord of the rings armies of middle earth, etc. You will see most included weapons or staff.

Stern did not include those so they could not fall off and cause a malfunction. Apparently a previous owner added the swords to yours.

You can look online for action figure miniature replacement swords to find new ones.

Had a similar volume issue with my Pinsound Plus board. After setting the Pinsound Plus EQ and coin door volume level to my liking, the next time I'd turn the machine on, the volume I previously set increased by 30-35%. Searched Pinside, Pinsound Forums and Googled to find a fix for this issue and finally found one on YouTube in the comments section. Audio levels have been perfect since I've done this and I haven't had to change anything. I'm running only the Sjoend pack.

Here's what I did:

Check that your Pinsound board is running the latest firmware update. pinsound-update-23093.psrom2 (8 Sep 2023) https://www.pinsound.org/wp-content/uploads/releases/pinsound-update-23093.psrom2

Format the USB flash drive that you're using on your Pinsound board to FAT32. Just deleting the files on the drive won't work. You must reformat. I formatted mine using my Windows 10 desktop. https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1044735/

Once the USB flash drive is ready, download the zipped file for your machine. Don't unzip the file. Let your board do it. https://www.pinsound-community.org/index.php?/files/

Hope it works for you.

That’s interesting, because when I installed Pinsound in my LOTR, I heard nothing when I turned it on. I was confused, and thought something was wrong. I had always kept my machine volume at 1 or 2. I could hear the music very faintly as I turned it up. Finally, I turned my machine volume up to 15-20 and could hear it fine. Maybe my Pinsound volume is turned way down? For whatever reason, I needed my machine volume way up. Works great now! I love Pinsound on this title, and on BSD.

The mixes on the pinsound are good, but I haven’t found one particular that I really liked. The DE Jurassic Park mixes are better than than the LoTR ones based on my excitement level.

I ended up taking a couple of the LoTR mixes and blending them together. I have had to adjust the volume levels on specific sounds to get it right for me. My volume level is probably around 6.

I had installed a Pinsound board a couple of years ago, and it was doing the same; sometimes loud when turned on and sometimes low. Worked with the Pinsound guys for quite a while and never figured it out and had to return it. Shame, because I love the product. Wish I had of known your fix.

Interested in seeing Jurassic park music/sounds in a lotr. How do they blend together? Maybe you can do a demo video?

My apologies, I meant that I liked the sound mixes available for JP on the Pinsound site a little more than the LoTR and not that I mixed those together. Don’t get me wrong though the LoTR ones are still very cool and I still recommend them. For fun, I could look at combining and see what happens.

I have a separate file for myself where instead of collecting fellowship members you collect motocross riders and it has different songs for the modes. I suppose something similar could be done in collecting dinosaurs.

I mixed the Sjoend and The Wool mixes together. Used some files from each of those and that is what is currently in my machine. It’s not a professional job and has some issues, but I like it.

Searched everywhere and came up empty. Is anyone making the POTD top plastic anymore for the figures? If anyone has one please let me know! Thanks

Thanks. Saw those but it states they will not fit the 2003 version.

Hopefully earlier runs did fit the 2003…. Yeah I saw that one as well but that is expensive and you have to mail your POTD to them and wait for it to return. Not really trying to be without for that long. Was hoping to just do myself.

Pretty sure Pinball-Plaza sells the kit without the figures, I haven’t ordered yet but his looks really nice

I just completed this mod and the plastic fit perfectly, all the holes for the posts and screws lined up as they should. I used the etched with figures version. The seller mentioned to me, a couple people complained about the holes not lining up and I may have to drill a new hole. If you are going to undertake this mod with lights, drilling some new holes if you need to, should not be that big of a problem.

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I wonder if I did something wrong in the install. When I put the playfield glass on I decapitated the soldier closest to the flippers.

Looks great. Yeah I wasn’t sure if it was a totally different design/fit or not. Drilling a couple holes isnt a big deal. Question I’m assuming 2 of the 4 figures are going to be the same? I only see 3 different figures….

This is interesting - 4 figurines. The first ever POTD mod required drilling if lights were implemented other wise you just glued the figurines down. The figurines were also towards the back and wider part of the cover so I never encountered beheading lol. What's interesting is you have FOUR DIFFERENT figurines. The AOME branded Army of the Dead kit only has 3. Where did you obtain your dead figurines from?

I bought two sets, I really wanted four figures. I used different weapons for the figures that were the same. I also placed the two same figures furthest apart. The LEDs came premade as a set of 4 lights, which made things simpler and neater.

Maybe your posts are too tall?

I thought that was what you did with the figures. I am planning to do the same, looks great!

If the posts are any shorter the ball hangs up under the acrylic

Did you use a specific glue to keep them on?

Plain old super glue.