Great Thread.

This is awesome! It looks like the Eli lighting kits are sold out.... Anyone have any of these lighting kits they want to sell me?

I'm sure they'll be back in stock soon. I just picked mine up a couple of weeks ago from them.

So - I fully realize I'm likely the last person on planet earth to install my Eli kit, but I was (finally) able to square away the time now that I'm home more and get this project done! I do want to thank Buckman for the videos and the follow-through on the thread, as your posts really helped to round out with good info when the Pinbits instructions just didn't go the distance.

I'm including a few pictures of my ramps for the sake of documenting where I drilled and installed zip-ties and a few others that I thought would be complimentary to the rest of the thread.

A few points to note on my install...

#1 -I used a 1/8" Plas-Drill bit and it worked an absolute treat. I drilled every hole from the underside of the ramp up through the "shoulder" and then removed any leftover plastic with a razor blade and the holes came out smooth and clean. I also added quite a few parallel/second holes so that I'd have proper thru-access for the zip ties.

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#2 - In retrospect, I probably installed too many zip ties, but I wanted to make sure that the fiber tubes hugged the ramp lip very uniformly and there were no sags along the run. Once the ramps lit up, they "blended" right into the ramp light show, and I barely even notice them from the topside.

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#3 - I used 1/4" heat shrink tubing to clean up the underside of the playfield and noticed that it made a marked difference in the overall brightness of the light runs and virtually eliminated the insert bleeding I was seeing before-hand. I'd now consider this a mandatory step, IMHO.

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#4 - While the ramps are off, it's an excellent time to go a little deeper on the time committment and remove the plastics and re-ring the whole playfield. I was still playing with all-original rubber, and several rings had begun to crack and show signs of coming apart. I switched to translucent Titans for the entire playfield and installed new flipper rubbers as well.

All-in-all an excellent mod and I really wish I had done this sooner. I really appreciated this thread, as it was a good running discussion on the best way to be successful with this install.

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HELP!!

I need a FIBEROPTIC KIT like this or something better... I bought and installed an EL wire that is teal and orange in color and just static. No mode integration which looks cool but just sucks knowing I could have a more advanced setup.

I also had a cracked right ramp and needed to change it out so Ive now pulled the right and left ramps and all of the EL wire in hopes that SOMEONE IN THIS AWESOME COMMUNITY CAN HELP ME FIND A COOL RAMP LIGHT MOD SETUP!

THANKS SHO MUCH FOR ANY AND ALL THE HELP!

Not sure what to tell you on the actual ramp other than to call Marco or Pinball Life and see if someone there can help you. Maybe another (large) distributor would have one hanging around...it'll likely be a hunting game more than anything else.

On the ramp kit - call Pam @ Pinbits and see if she can put one together for you.

Thanks a bunch!

I found the Ramp from an AWESOME Operator out in cali! I've been waiting to send him a special VT craft brew gift once this virus calms down a bit.
I rounded up a map of the area and setup a scavenger hunt type beer sampler so he can enjoy a mix and have a few t-shirts, stickers, bottle openers pint glass,snifter,ext. And make it feel like he was actually here going through the experience with me.

I appreciate the good people in this hobby of pinball, and find that some of the nicest people come from a hobby that I kept to myself in for SOO MANY YEARS!!!

I plan on traveling more for the hobby and being more involved locally than I have been in the past few years. All of this time spent at home with my wife and kids has made me realize how important my family and friends are to me.

Sorry,
got carried away there but I will be sure and email Pam. Does she usually respond to folks in a timely manner? I've received older orders from her in the past just been a while since I purchased protector kits from her.

Thanks again!

No problem. No idea on Pam @ Pinbits...I've had an order into them for a bit and it hasn't been acknowledged yet or shipped, so I'm not sure what's going on with their business.

it's been a bit weird for ages.

They seemed to ship orders, but never respond to messages. Lots of parts not being restocked.

Specifically, on the Eli ramp kits, I thought they had officially stopped making them. The TimeBandit one was available at one point, but I'm not sure of the status on it now.

Yes, this is true... I haven't received a message back from them. But they do seem to ship orders out. or they were doing so at least a couple years back? Hope all is well.

Thanks Herg I'll be looking into the TimeBandit rendition of this mod to see if I can track one down. I love spending money on machines that I've already spent tons of money on!

Just to follow-up... I did get the order I referenced above. It came in a couple of days ago, and was complete, so they are still in business.

I just checked their website, and saw the following update from earlier this month:

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And I did find their contact info on the website as well:

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So for anyone who doesn't get a response via e-mail, it'd be worth the call. I'd love to know if they can still put the kits together and whether we'd ever have access to spare parts for kit were they ever to become necessary....

I need a kit too...