It isn't clear to me what is going on there and why it works. You cut the fork off and then bent what is left under itself? Don't you want to bend it upward so it puts more leverage on the switch?

Replace the switch with a Stern Star Trek vuk switch.

See post 1871 for part number.

What drummermike said and bending the end of the switch. Something like this:

Capture (resized).PNG

The arm presses on a white micro switch at the base of the arm. If the arm is bent incorrectly, the switch will always be pressed down, not press down at all or not press down with the appropriate weight, location, or motion of the ball. All switches of this sort work this way.

Right, I get that... But the suggested switch from ST works the same way...

I suspect that the Y switches are more prone to failure. The ball hits a much wider area, the metal arm is thinner and extends further out. This means a heavier load.

I installed Cliffy's to protect the shooter lane and now most of the time, my auto-plunger fails to plunge the ball far enough to exit the lane. The ball seems to catch on something near the plunger and falls back onto the plunger which is a pain during multi-ball as multiple balls get stuck there. I can manually plunge the ball without issues. Did I install something incorrectly?

IMG_3930 (resized).JPG

Check the lip of the Cliffy at the trough exit, if it extends pass the wood that could be your issue.

Tough to tell but that's what it looks like in the photo. It needs to be back just off the edge of the wood, it can't be hanging over the lip of the bevel.

It is currently flush with the edge of the bevel and not hanging over but I will back it off and see if that helps....Thanks!

Sometimes even that is enough to skew the angle of the ball and the auto plunger just won't strike it right. I have had miss aligned cliffies cause weak auto plunges, I've even had it make the ball jump when plunged. Sometimes it only works on auto plunge and when you try to plunge it is weak or of angle. You just have to play with the location until you get it right.

I use 2 part protection, with mylar in the shooter lane and then keep the cliffy back a little from the edge so it doesn't affect the ball.

Curious question for all you LOTR owners. Why does the LE have lower ratings than the standard game. Is it because of the figures being absent? Is it the back glass “dick”? Do they play different? I would think the LE to be the better game because of the thicker clear coat. You can always add the figures and other mods to match the standard if that’s what your into, but gameplay wise is there a difference?

Jealousy. That's why.

I guess it's just hard to think of the LE as an LE, as it's a from a time when Stern were only just starting to think about doing special editions of games. The actual gameplay and playfield doesn't vary at all, neither does the game's artwork. I believe what the LE had was the actual glass with the infamous dick, gold rails, a LE number? Gold legs and of course absent figures. I think it also has a shaker fitted too. Why it has a lower rating however, I have no idea, apart from the missing figures it's exactly the same game. And as you say, just buy figures and add them in. I don't understand why the LE has a lower rating at all.

I have wanted a pin forever. I used to think my first pin would be Silver Slugger, but a few years ago I vacationed in a house that had a Lord of the Rings with a Balrog that didn’t work. I still loved it. So when I was able to get one, I was looking for a great HUO original LoTR that had a few mods.
It is even better than I remembered. What a fantastic game! I loved the brass legs and trim. I have been scouring this site for tips and have found great advice. I’m looking for mods I want to add. My most desired is Jays Palatir mod but it looks like it is no longer available. Any leads or alternatives? I don’t think I will ever sell this pin!

0D999F58-DEDD-4D2C-AB62-1368280687EF (resized).jpeg

8D0768A8-8C6A-49E1-B43A-6F803D907E1C (resized).jpeg

Has anybody changed the LE back glass to the standard translite? Since the LE is painted glass I suppose you would need a new frame to mount the standard translite.

There's really not a "frame". Just plexiglass with the translite taped to it. Then the 3 plastic trim pieces and the bottom lift channel. All the plastic pieces are available from PBL, Marco, etc.

All my translites have actual glass not plexi. You would just need to order a piece of glass the correct size (locally would be ideal if you can find it) and then the plastic pieces mentioned above.

Nah, it's def the beard dick.

The beard dick is there on the regular version too, it's just not outlined lol

Right, so the beard dick isn't so pronounced that it's poking me in the eyeball. My jerk friend pointed it out to me (hah!) and ruined the LE for me. I hadn't considered an alt-translite when I bought my LOTR, but in hindsight, that would work....

I'm happy to join the ranks of the LOTR owners! This thread has been great to learn tips about this machine. I do need your help identifying a missing part already.

In the attached photo you see a yellow bulb socket hanging behind the plastic. It appears that the socket will just clip into the plastic. The manual shows I need a 906 RED bulb there. Is the bulb just sitting there naked? Or is there a red lens it should be sitting inside?
IMG_20190122_091501 (resized).jpg

Yes, it sits there exposed.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/04-0906R

The gold was a little too much for me when I first saw the translite on the LE version. I know it's on glass and that is great, I just would have rather they kept the image the same and maybe metalized part of it or something fancy rather than just drawing a ridiculous gold outline around all the details. I would have definitely swapped over to the regular trans if I owned the LE.

Thanks DCFAN

Jealousy AND penis envy

Disable your backbox light - the dick is much harder [to see].

You're welcome.

She cried...

Can’t find a plastic set. Any tip?
Also wondering what’s must to do when fixing my pin to nice and good condition.
Mods, cliffys...

Has anyone had reset issues with a whitestar game? Mine has reset twice now after about an hour of playing. Measuring 4.9 volts at the board. Is this to low? this issue isn't happening consistently

After I put my ColorDMD and nvram in, I had several random resets but they stopped and haven't reoccurred in weeks now. Did you make any changes to the machine?

Quite often this is related to 5V dropping below watchdog threshold. If the 5V is good on the I/O driver board, check the connector from CN2 on the CPU / sound board to J16 on the I/O power driver board, especially J16 seems to get crispy over time resulting in voltage drops and resets. Reseating J16 and CN2 might help solve the problem temporarily

For more info, see pinwiki

I pulled and reseated both of those connectors and I'm going to see if that fixes it. If not, I was made aware the 5v can be adjusted which I'll try next.

All my mods are on an external power supply. No recent changes, but it's been a while since I played it this much.

I have some more of these ready for your LOTR apron. Pm me if interested.

Mod - For Sale

LOTR Apron Magnets Archived

New (selling multiple, business) - “These are brand new custom apron magnets. Very high quality!! Use these to cover up the girls on your LOTR Apron. Please see photos. $24 + $6 shipping. Sorry, magnets are expensive...”

2019-02-03

Howell, MI

Jimmyhonda

24 (Firm)

Archived after: 43 days

Viewed: 357 times

Status: Not sold: Decided to keep game

If you measure 4.9V on the I/O power driver board, it should be enough. Yes, you can adjust the voltage with the potentiometer on the board but be careful in not raising the voltage too high. Btw, I had the same issue and planned on adjusting the voltage but couldn't find out which way to turn it to raise the voltage and was afraid I'd fry some components and ended up not doing it - reseating J16 temporarily solved the resets for me but at some point I'll have to re-build the connector

I had a similar issue with my LOTR; The voltage was fine when I checked it, but the game would reset randomly during a game.

I hooked up a voltmeter with a min/max function, and found that my meter beeped to signify a new low voltage threshold at the exact instant the game reset, checking the meter showed that the 5V had dropped to 4.6 causing the reset.

All I did was reseat the boards power connector and the problem hasn't returned...if it does, I'll likely replace the header and connector.

Just to follow up on this. Tonight I soldered speaker wire directly to the cabinet speaker. Hooked it up to my sub and not only is the sub still not working, but I had little to nothing coming out of the cab speaker. Disconnected from the sub and it's all back to normal. So at this point there seems to be no way to be able to use a sub with pinsound.

For reference, the other line in channel is connected to MMR and sounds fantastic

I have my pinsound plus in my LOTR hooked up exactly like this and it works just fine.

Guys,
I have a couple issues really making my lotr not fun. The big one is my left flipper. During some multiballs it goes dead or won’t hold or is very weak. I think I may have noted a possible reason in the flipper switch. The contact is very different on the left side compared to the right. The left side has little raised parts that look like they make a precarious connection while the right just has flat blades. I will include pictures, if someone could please tell me if this looks normal.

Second, I did see what appeared to be colordmd resets mid game, it briefly flashed “stern lord of the rings” and then went on as usual. No concurrent symptoms. Could this be related to the power drops mentioned in recent posts? Or something else?

All help will be greatly appreciated.

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It looks like the gap for the left flipper is very large compared with the right flipper.

I believe the skinnier style contact is the new version of the switch. The idea that it will clean itself when operated. These are what I installed in my game at the shop when I started hewaring reports of the other switch behaving badly.

I do agree, the gap is a bit large on the switch, though I am not convinced that would result in the issue you are having.

A quick test would be to flip the left and right flipper switch and see if the issue follows. You can also look closely at the contacts on the switch once removed to see if they are whole or not, or worn out.

Best wishes!

Andrew

Do they both behave the same in the switch test? That is an easy place to start.

Based on your description of the flipper fading, it sounds like your coil is getting hot. I'd verify that the EOS switch is working. Also, check for wear on the plunger and link. Verify that there isn't a lot of play in the flipper up and down (there should be a little so it doesn't bind/scrape on the playfield).

If you are still running stock coils, you may want to try out the medium power coils:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1065-apb-enterprises/01414-new-stern-pinball-medium-power-coil-lord-of-the-rings-gnr

It could also be a failing transistor on the board, pretty common on those.

Thanks for the flood of advice everyone! I’ll do some more troubleshooting and see what comes of it. Great help!

I've got a nice LOTR that's starting to show some ball trails down the inlanes and outlanes. I'm still relatively new to the bobby but did a bunch of reading on Vid's threads but it's almost too much info. I tried a bit of Novus 1 on the ball trails but they don't really come off. So hoping to confirm here, a little Novus 2 to get rid of the ball trails and then wax. I picked up the P21S blue lid (apparently silver is better) but it's already in the mail. This is a LOTR owner approved course of action I hope? I don't want to do anything that could wreck this beauty

Also do you guys wax the ring ramp? Right ramp? Any other areas for wax recommended?

Yeah, you can use some Novus 2. I have some small (2") foam pads that I can attach to the end of my drill to help buff out stubborn ones.

As for the wax, some is better than none, but the blue lid P12S has bees wax in it and isn't as durable as the "pure" carnauba. So, if you can get the Silver lid, get that. Or any of the other Vid suggests.

As for what to wax; everything that the ball touches: Playfield, Ramps, targets, habitrails, etc.

My method for LotR and other clearcoated playfields: clean up with novous 1 or if necessary novous 2 using a small amount on a cotton t-shirt scrap. Clean all the residue off with a little novous 1 and get the plastics, plastic ramps and playfield clean and slick. I clean the grime off metal ramps with simple green. I then wax the playfield with carnuba turtle wax. (rub it on, let it sit an hour and buff it off with cotton scraps)

I rarely need novous 3 unless I'm cleaning off 25yrs of uncleaned grime and very dull clearcoat. I clean that with a little simple green and then novous 3 polish until it reflects my overhead light about as clearly as another area where the ball does not go. I normally do that by hand with a lot of elbow grease. Maybe get the dremel out to polish some dull mylar.

If you err on the side of caution, at least you will do no harm.

What brand is the silver lid wax you are talking about?