For the two figs with capes so I shoved the led in between the capes and the back of the figs. For the fig without a cape I just glued the LED to its back.

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Thanks!

Also - how is your Ring illuminated? Looks nice

See post #10095 on prior page for a step by step.

Does anyone know what this piece/mod is called?

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https://cointaker.com/products/lord-of-the-rings-etched-acrylics

There's a stock piece of plastic there because the ball will come off the wireform. It's ugly, but if you take it off, your legolas ramp shots end up in the outlane. People have at least 3 solutions for dealing with the ugliness:

1. Make that piece of plastic bigger! But etch words on it!
2. Get Some brass rod (pretty cheap off Amazon, and enhance your wireform. Maybe you are better at bending brass rod than k am. Someone used to sell these pre-bent, but no longer. Gotta do it yourself.
3. Get pinworlds hobbit house mod which goes on top of this plastic and makes it look less noticable or more intentional.
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i made this
https://www.2niro-pinball.com/luminous-convolux-the-shire/2450/

Is this metal piece that sticks up at the back of the Orthanc tower normal? I never noticed it before but I was having a good game and trying to hit the Gift of the Elves shot for my 5th slice. I usually use the bottom right flipper and wrap the Pippin shot all the way around but for some reason even if I hit a good shot it lost momentum just around the Orthanc shot. Wasn’t happening before in the game.

Then I saw this sticking up and during the game I was thinking if it was like a code to make the last couple slices more challenging but when I drained and started a new game this piece still seems to be up.

Edit: Just played a quick game and even the plunger shot was getting caught on the metal sticking up, forcing the ball into the Orthanc tower. Then when I hit a Merry shot that wrapped around it went over the metal knob post and the post went and stayed down. Is this a gameplay thing where the post comes up and stays up intentionally?
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It's a diverter. It should not stay up. Raise up the PF and see why it's binding up.

Ah, ok thanks.

Would you happen to know which shots should trigger that diverted? I know the orbit shots for The War of the Ents mode does.

However, when I just qualified Pippin it seems to divert the ball into the Orthanc tower so not sure if that’s correct or not. It may make sense so it doesn’t go all the way to Baradur but a subsequent left orbit shot after Pippin was qualified did make it all the way to Baradur. Then when doing the Witch King mode I hit the left orbit and it diverted into the Orthanc tower.

I can’t recall if this is normal or not as I never really paid attention before. The diverter does seem to be working so I think it would be weird if it’s randomly triggering on orbit shots.

It shouldn't be up on a plunge, so it is sticking for sure. Like you said, it should be up for war of the Ents and during play it is often up to help you get souls to start ROTK multiball.

It activates when you go through the right inlane and shoot the left orbit for POTD. Also like you said for War of the Ents. It also activates on either orbit shot when one of the MBs is ready, I think maybe Two Towers. The diverter is known to have poor ability to divert on a strong right orbit shot. It works much more reliably from the left orbit. There are some fixes for this but I've never felt the need to dig into it.

Question about the Balrog:

Is there supposed to be any sort of rubber over the front or back of the base? Pics of mine attached.

I occasionally get a ball stuck behind the balrog and the left ring ramp post during a multiball. Its usually in there enough that a budge wont remove it so you just have to wait for the end of the multiball and the balrog to go back into his resting place to free the ball.

Any solutions to this?

Thanks!

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Yours looks normal.

Where is the ball getting stuck?

Back left corner of the balrog when it is deployed. So the ball winds up stuck betwrrn the left ring ramp post snd the left rear corner of the balrog. It sort of winds up being a convenient thing when it happens since it guarantees a ball is parked safely during a multiball…. Perhaps its a infrequent enough occurrence to not worry about?

Well if you hit a ball that doesn't climb the ring ramp right when the balrog is closing then you will stick a ball. That's expected I would say.

I never get a ball stuck there. Is Balrog fully open?

Not sure if it will help your problem, but those rubbers are old and cracked. I would replace them with new rings.

Good eye - i just got this pin and am working through a variety of fixes and maintenance items. Added this to the list

My Balrog stays open just enough to let a ball out if it gets trapped. Maybe it’s a limit switch adjustment that’s needed.

so i love the led strip in the ring above. I am gonna steal that. But when I go to do that, I want to spruce up the ring itself.

My ring... i guess all of them, have this terrible wavy pattern. Even images of new ones have this

Is this an artifact of a flat decal going on a non-flat surface, or what?

I have a replacement decal. I guess my plan would be to remove the old decal, sand down the ring, and spray it with a gold paint, and then put a new decal on it. Has anyone tried this? any recommendations on specific paint to use? Any tricks on avoiding the wavy pattern? I thought about cutting away excess clear parts of the decal. not sure how that would look.

I'd hate to end up worse than I started.

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I haven’t seen anyone do this. Perhaps buy a new ring?

Hi everyone!
I would like to show you the mods I make for this fantastic pinball machine.
If you are interested, please visit www.dystopicpinball.com and contact me via email/whatsapp for further information and prices. Thank you

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I recently sold my second and most prized LOTR, so I’ve left the club again, for now. LOTR is still my #1 pick for best Stern pin and probably my favorite pin overall. It’s just awesome in every aspect. Code is legendary, and Destroy the Ring is just a great, reachable mini-wizard mode. Also my favorite game to add mods to, with the POTD figures, the volcano, the ring of fire, Pinsound, the list is long. It was tough to let go of, but went to a family that absolutely loves everything LOTR, and they are having a blast with it, just their second pin.

So I’ll sign off with a picture of just the LOTR painting I have left, and Banjo, alone a top Lonely Mountain. And my sad DTR best time of 1:21. I knew I could do it in under 30 seconds, but I always flubbed the ring shot, and once it just didn’t register the ring switch. But what a mode and game.

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You've made a big mistake.
I only sold my original LOTR to fund a LOTR Gold Edition back in 2007 (?).
So I have 21 years with LOTR, and I couldn't be happier about it.

I wish I could find a nice one in my area. I got in to pinball too late haha. Holy grail theme right here

Does anyone have a list of all the bulbs you need to do a full LED conversion?

Also, what LED bulbs from Comet match the warm incandescent look best. I want to keep that look as close as possible.

Thanks!

Couldnt find where I originally found this here, but this is what I used with some modifications.

Best led conversion involves the ocdled board.

And the comet warm whites are the ones you want for gi.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AMfgqSx6CONrXw0tBQ8sucsd7wiVSB2cASlilaRADR0/edit?usp=drivesdk

Here's some inspo. I mostly used the spreadsheet above, some modifications.

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Hoping to hear back from PersonX99

But if anyone has a lighted whip for the Balrog to sell please let me know incase he doesn't have anymore

Does anyone know how to make the lighted Balrog whip?

no but I know how to search pinside!
from the maker
"It is an 3-strand EL Wire whip that Balrog holds"

so just find electroluminescent wires in the desired size/color, and wire em up to the balrog flasher (with any necessary circuitry to ensure the el wires get whatever their spec'd for)

Thanks, I did read that as well. He has a few on hand so I just bought one.

I've owned 3 LOTRs, and noticed that the shooter lanes have pours and wax seems to get caked up in them.

Anyone else notice this, a d how have you been able to clean it?

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I've seen this on many pins, it just depends on the grain of the wood in that spot and how much clear was applied. I avoid this by placing a mylar strip on the shooter lane for all my games. Cheap solution and takes just 5 minutes to do. You can usually get in there with a Q-Tip and your choice of cleaning solution if it's not too ground in. Worst case if it bothers you and you can't get it clean (or if there is ground in dirt) you can give it a light sanding and apply mylar over it. I have had to do that on a few routed pins I've purchased where the condition of the shooter lane bothered me.

Mine looked like that after sanding and cleaning with ME + rubbing alcohol (to repair other damage). I tried cleaning with naphtha, still persisted. In the end after a few rounds of lightly applying some Boos block oil that I use on our wood cutting boards soaking in, it looked fine. This was with clear in that area seemingly worked away to nil so take that as you will.

My new to me LOTR came with an uninstalled POTD acrylic. It was only the acrylic panel so to install I believe I need new posts to mount it to.

I see pinballlife has 1-1/16" star posts and 1-1/2" double star posts. Will either of these work to install the acrylic?
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What's involved in installing NVRAM on LOTR?

Do I cut the battery holder off the board, and then just pull out a chip and replace with the NVRAM?

You dont have to cut the battery holder off unless the batteries have corroded . Remove batteries install ram do a factory reset.

The problem installing that plastic with the star posts is that there are metal ball guides that run down the left and right edges of the existing POTD that have to be installed under the posts. They don’t let the star posts sit flush without notching them for the guides, because the screws aren’t long enough to accommodate it all. I haven’t really figured out a solution to this issue.

One more things, for the LED OCD boards, do I need both the GI board and Insert board of I plan to convert all the bulbs in the game?

I had done this many years ago on my first LOTR, and can't recall buying two boards.

Just need the insert one for LOTR

Ok cool, so no GI board needed?

I posted a photo of my POTD a couple pages back. I used 20 gauge wire without any acrylic. It was easy to install and looks much cleaner than the acrylic IMHO. Perhaps consider that approach.

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This post might be helpful: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-lord-of-the-rings-journey-begins-members-club/page/174#post-7123621

Now I'm confused... What's a Gizmo board?

Also, sounds like the LED OCD Insert board is not the way to go?

Anyone??

I have 2 LOTRs at home right now.

One was built in May 2006 and the other in November 2006.

Interestingly, the earlier build has standard switches for the flippers, and the later build has the stacked one that loons like a double contact.

Anyone know anything about them changing flipper switches at some point?

The later build also has the switches installed diagonally, where the other is just vertical.

Outlane post question:

What is the “factory” position for the outlane posts? Mine are currently set at the topmost holes.

Middle I believe.