Thank-you!

In regards to the ringmaster protection, since my game had minor damage I decided against it. I will try to really just dial my ringmaster in but it is all in pieces for a deep topside clean.

Brite caps ligthining from pinball life. I went red and re drill the holes to make it fit.

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I'm using this one and it's worked perfectly. https://revolutionarypinball.com/proddetail.php?prod=cvring_prot

Does the ball roll over true? At least as well as the thin metal original part?

Cosmetics aside, does the mod cause the ball any more distortion?

After some shipping delay, I finally am officially in the club with a beautiful CV machine. What better way to get to know it than to have a few little gremlins up front, so here we go - I'm losing pinballs in the ringmaster device. If it helps, I had two missing pinballs, and I put the playfield all the way up (couldn't see them in the subways) and back down (to the rest, but still angled back), powered on and the ball finder kicked on out the VUK by the Ringmaster, and was still missing one. When the Ringmaster came up in the test I saw it right under the head (at the top / 12 o'clock) and then when I put the playfield back to normal (all the way down) it eventually came out the VUK. I'm hoping its as simple as magnetized balls (is that a common?) and will be checking this shortly, but just curious if this is common, and if so, the most common errors/fixes.

Answered my own question, playfield angle measured at the flippers was 6.5, at the ringmaster, just over 5%. So I just averaged out the playfield angle and jamming now. Really fun game!

Magnetized balls only happen when you use the wrong balls. And believe you/me it does happen, and it sucks. Yes I bought the super hi polished balls and it did not take long before they were stuck together like peas in a pod.

It took all of 3 games for my chrome balls to become magnetize and worthless. Need the carbon balls for CV. The magnetism was really noticeable in the ball trough.

My backbox circus luck switch err’d, because it hadn’t been hit in some time I guess. Manually triggering it clears the credit dot. With that said, the cannon never hits it in my game, but I have no idea if there is something I have to do or if it’s just random. Watching the orange ball, it it fires, hits directly above her hand and drops straight down, never really getting near the switch. Basically following the path I’ve drawn on the attached picture. Am I doing something wrong or do I need to adjust something?

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I’ve also had 2 flipper dead, GI’s/lamps out (DMD stays on), 3-5 seconds, then reset (twice tonight). I’m going to assume this is the WPC reset issue that the daughtercard bandaids, but has a power voltage supply issue?

There is a blue colored ball that is slightly heavier than the orange one. Once I changed it, my game hits cirqus luck far more often.

I’m going to look for the blue ball. But now I see what’s happening. It’s hitting the clear raised disk that is above the red ball and bouncing back. Is that disk too big or non-standard? Attached screenshots from the slow-mo video (sorry for awful glare), show the progression from hitting the clear disk an bouncing back.

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The clear plastic disc should be there (circumference should be the same as the red bell art work behind it). I think if you try the slightly heavier blue ball it won't ricochet off the disc as far to the left thereby allowing it more opportunity to fall straight down into cirqus luck lane.

So this reset issue, I’m starting to think it’s a software issue, and not a power issue. Only because every time it resets, it goes to Sideshow mode, and the ColorDMD never shuts down. Sideshow mode randomly pops up, playfield and flippers go dark/dead, and it takes about 3-5 seconds (DMD on the whole time, playing the sideshow animation), before it gets a reboot, testing, etc. I’m running 2.0HC (which I saw isn’t official, but looks like it has a ton of improvements). I just ordered a replacement (actually ordered 2.0H Mayne different?), and also 1.4. Hoping that fixes it. Has anybody experienced anything like this? It’s a bummer just had 107M on my second ball it crapped out. Finished the full wizard mode though which is super cool!

Resets are not a function of software, they occur when the power supply voltage for the CPU drops too low. There are a whole list of reasons of what can cause that voltage to drop. There is also a procedure that outlines what to check first. A couple of things that I would check first are: Make sure that all of your boards in your back box are tightly secured. (nothing loose) Make sure all your plugs are snug and pushed in all the way. Reseat all of your ribbon cables. Also a good push/wiggle test with the game on can reveal alot. Gently push on your ASIC on the cpu board. Gently wiggle wires/plugs just to see if it cause the machine to reset. Afterward check your 5v power supply at the driver board to see what the voltage is. If you dont find anything at this point, then you should go to the procedure and start from the beginning of that procedure. actionpinball.com/tech/reset

Thank you, this is all super helpful. I’ve had that reset issue (on TAF) what makes this one unique is that before it resets, it starts playing the sideshow music and animations on the DMD, even if I didn’t hit the sideshow. It absolutely could still be an undervoltage issue (and I’m prepared to do that) just seemed weird that it’s tied to the sideshow music/animations, which made me think it could be software (I’ve had roms go bad too). I’m going to do the wiggle test, I didn’t do that (but have on a DMD driver issue on another WPC). Thank you!

Swap the plastic disc with a actual steel bell, it's very easy to do, looks better, delivers a real bell ring and the ball bounces off of it more predictably.

There is a steel bell in a box in the cashbox, so should be easy! Previous owner thought ahead.

I joined to club this week with a really nice restored CV. I had a slam tilt issue (ringmaster down switch wired backwards) I sorted out and just have a couple issues left to address or general questions.

Ball Plunger - doesn’t make enough contact with the ball resulting in a really weak launch. At rest, the plunger rod is some distance from the ball (the ball is resting against the auto launcher ). Is my plunger rod too short ? What is the measurement of the lenght of the rod sticking in to the cabinet?

Also, my balls do not “stack up” when they are locked on the high wire. When you lock a ball on the high wire it only stays for a second or two before being release back in to play. Is this a setting?

No, it is most likely one of the lock switches not making or out of synchronicity with the others. The CV lock system is really sensitive. The switches have to make all the same way. Because of this a lot of people use the roller arm switches for the lock. I did not. My lock works perfect so If it Aint Broke Don't Fix It. Sometimes a lock switch will change state when ball is in the lock, this results in the game releasing the ball prematurely. Use the the switch edge test and check your lock switches. It maybe best to just put a whole set of new ones in there and be done.

Just read the whole thread since posting that and see lots of suggestions on that issue. That said, does the tournament play setting disable the high wire lock ball hold?

Wouldn’t those switches be a good candidate for a magnetic switch replacement?

I have had a couple of CVs. I can only advise off my own experience. The CV lock has sensitivity issues. Once it is dialed in with new switches, it will work properly for a long time. I don’t know anything about tournament play settings. I Don’t use them.
As for a redesign on the lock, I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel here.

I don't have access to my game but I think there is a setting to disable physical ball locks and it may only be in the Home ROM. This was added to prevent erroneous multiballs in tournament play which can happen from either the juggler or the high wire locks if not adjusted well.

I decided to go down the ringmaster protector rabbit hole since it's hard to get consistent answers on what is good, what is out there and then what's actually available.

So my first step was order a replacement new top plate, a williams replacement. Now that I have it I can't help but notice how thick and heavy it is, my existing "plate" is much thinner and seems to be glued on the top. I had just assumed that was original. So my first question is, will this NOS top plate that is frigging solid damage my play-field? Kinda seems like it will. Feel free to share your experience with this as I am all ears. I will report back what I think of this top plate (NOS) I ordered from marco...

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/04-10946

That’s the top plate I have. The outer edge is super thin. That’s the part that takes a beating and why you replace them.

The thin piece is flexible, so if the ringmaster sits too low it will flex and not create a ball hangup.

I probably would have bought the top from Mantis as he uses a few more spot welds for the plate.

There is a mod out there (modcouple?) that uses a nylon type top plate. From reading its just tougher to get the height perfectly aligned on the ringmaster.

I have nearly zero pinball friends so my CV doesn’t get played very often. Factory style plate is good enough for me.

I have an unopened mod couple ringmaster protector set that I don’t need. PM me if interested.

Anyone got a spare lightning bolt plastic? I’m missing the one in the rear left corner on the ramp

Literally just caved and bought a plastic set for this and the big DMD plastic, wish I could have found that lightning bolt one alone from somewhere.

Finally got my CV pretty dialed in. Waiting for the neon ramp light replacement and I had the tab on the right flipper that held the coil stop was completely broken off. Not sure how it kept working ok like that but it was. Got my highwire correctly holding balls and releasing them.

This machine is difficult to light with LED's (transparent plastics like over the slingshots) without blinding the shooter.

I put in frosted colored LED. I got it with all cool white and it was blinding.

I used Cointaker slow color changing LEDs for the slings and they are not blinding at all. The color changers with the clear sling plastics really pop/but they are not overbearing.

I plan on installing PinStadiums. Looks like they do not drown out the neon (which I was worried about)

I took a short clip of one of my recent CV streams. We have the Pinstadium Fusions and have the UV tied to the ringmaster flasher, and one flasher tied to the neon and keyed to the neon color. This clip gives you an idea of how much it floods the game, but because I can tie one of the Fusion's flashers to the neon and key it to that color, it looks really nice in person. This may be WAY WAY too much if you're trying to just light the playfield a bit -- the regular pinstadiums would be better.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/960053583

To be fair: I think the Fusions are overkill in most games - TOO much color. We thought we'd give it a shot on CV because the game is so colorful and we like the effect (we also have a "red" flash tied to the boom balloon and a pink flash to the "join the cirqus" light.). You mileage may, of course, vary

Semi-annual post that I'm still looking for the white "tub" that goes behind the backglass and holds the ball, coil, and lights. If anyone has one for sale please let me know!

Does the video make this seem more intense than in real life? IDK if I like how intense that is, just seems like a wizard mode or jackpot light show constantly.

Edit: regarding the white tub, only flaw with mine is yellowing from incandescents on the front, the back cleaned up perfectly, but finding a solvent that will make the front all white again is proving difficult.

The video for sure makes it look more intense, but you can dial it even crazier (or less intense) with the app. The set we have has 5 different bulbs it can attach to for "pulsing" the lights, as well as the regular set lights. If you're just going for "I'd like the playfield to be lighter", this would be like swatting a mosquito with a bulldozer. I agree though that in most games, this is too much. We have a normal Pinstadium set in our Theatre of Magic and don't have the flasher attached, and we love it. I've got it set at a warm white with some red in it, and it makes the playfield just look evenly lit.

My white tub developed a crack in it before I purchased it, and every time I need to take the backglass off (admittedly not too often) it gets a bit worse. It's at the point I'd do pretty much anything to not take the backglass off.

Ahh cool, I'm looking into pinstadium now so very much appreciated. I fixed my cracked tub with clear epoxy, I think it was jb weld brand. It doesn't harden as much, the flexibility is tops, so far so good.

If you're not looking for all the crazy flasher options (which I think are SO over the top) then there is a thread on creating your own stadium lights. I own a set of PS that I bought back when they first came out and they're in my RZ. I like them, but especially for just playfield lighting, they're insanely priced.

Based on the thread, I bought all the materials to build my own and I have enough parts to build 4 full sets and lots of extra common parts to build several more partial sets. All this cost me less than a single set of PS. I think it will work out to $60+ per set with full RGB+W wifi control. If you would rather pay a premium for a drop in solution, then PS has you covered.

I'm usually a "pay someone to do it for me" kinda guy with these DIY solutions, but I don't want any stadium flashers, and I could buy at least one, maybe two additional pinball machines for what PS in all my games would cost.

Hey CV owners. We just brought NOS backbox overlay decals to the market and wanted to give y'all first dibs on the stock. There's not too many of these around anymore, and we'd love to keep your machine looking pristine! Find it at https://www.pinballinc.com/

Happy Flippin'

-Turner

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I picked one of these up. These were unobtanium. I have a new back panel just waiting for mine! Thanks Guys!

Scott, right?

You we're our first order since we put them up. Thanks for your support!

-Turner

Hey does anyone have a spare Ring master spring assembly they would sell? Part number 04-10939, thanks guys I can't find one for sale anywhere and that plate the ringmaster sits on top of is incredibly mushroomed.

Thats Me. It's nice to know you guys have our back.

Just an FYI here guys, If you have ball trails in your CV backglass in the Cannon Ball shooting track, use a magic eraser to remove the dirt that is in the ball trail. If you do this whenever you start to see the trail from the cannon ball, it will make it disappear. Then follow that up with a good wax. I did this to my game but I had to remove some Mylar someone put there that just covered over the ball trail. Once I did this, it looked like new. Very pleased with the result. Also make sure the Magic Eraser is wet. (water only)

https://www.shop.freddys-pinball-paradise.de/index.php

Scroll down and this website has them in stock. It's in German, but I'm sure they will ship international. I'll looking getting some in NA in the future.

I really appreciate the tip, looks like it will cost over $100usd...yikes!!!

I used magic eraser but was very upset to see the clouding it caused, novus 3 followed by novus 2 cleared it up a lot but I still have deep scratches under the black marks I cleaned up...

Do you guys think I could take the orbital polisher to this thing? Maybe I will just wax it. Thanks for the tip!

Hah, check out the level of mushrooming this game has endured. Who would fix this spring vs buying a new one for $120usd shipped?

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That game has seen some play!!!

Oh ya! Compounded by the fact that it was sitting almost an inch above the pf in the “up” position so the ball just bashed it on every rm hit lol.

Hey folks, just joined the club a couple weeks ago and I have a couple of questions regarding the ringmaster.

What is the best way to remove the plastic head? Mine has 2 screws in the back of the ringmaster which I removed the other night. Once that was done, I wasn’t sure if I remove the head by prying apart the ringmaster, or pull up from the top to slide it off??? Kinda scared to pry too much as it seems to be very fragile. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Also is there only 1 light/bulb in the ringmaster head? Reason I ask is my rm seems to only light up on the right side of his face. I figured a bulb may be out, or the wiring is pushed to 1 side.

One other question....why is the prototype ringmaster so much more than the other(I’m assuming) more common one???
Is it that much more desirable???

Again appreciate the suggestions/advice in advance and I’m SO thrilled to finally be in the CV club.