Quoted from LOTR_breath:

Full playfield protectors have all the holes cut out for where everything sticks up through the playfield. It would be a royal pain to install one on a CV. They are best suited to older games that have a lot of sunken inserts because the protector will make it play like flat again. I think there is a Cliffy type protector made for the Ringmaster hole, but I don't have one on mine. Just clean/wax the playfield and enjoy playing it. Put new balls in if they don't look new already.

Quoted from LOTR_breath:

I have the exact same issue. I've thought of taking it all apart to clean it but don't want to drill out the rivets. Mine is green, BTW.

Quoted from Chosen_S:

Or zip ties done right looks good too...
You don't need a playfield protector in a home environment, if you plan to put it on location to earn money, then maybe consider it, otherwise it's just a product to cause some folks to jump. Keep the pf waxed and you'll be golden. Look around for Vid1900's how to threads and learn pinball till your eyes bleed. Also, there's a good book on eBay I wish I had bought years ago..."pinball machine care and maintenance" lots of good reference for the new guy. If you can fix stuff on CV, you can fix stuff on almost anything, it's crammed with just about every piece of tech in pinball.
I think the haze in the neon plastic is typical, the only way I cleared mine up only a little bit was flame polishing it; not a task to learn on this piece though...
Oh also, I think it's sort of a right of passage with CV to learn to lower the playfield down just right with out breaking the dmd plastic, slow and steady
Have fun with your new game!

Quoted from bobukcat:

It will eject any balls that are locked or in the VUK too, the idea is that you grab them before they go back into the trough.

Quoted from Coyote:

How? If the shooter lane gets filled up, where would the rest of the balls in the trough kick out to?

Quoted from Elevatorman:

I'm in the club.
I'll add pics tonight.

Quoted from weaverj:

i had highwire problems when i first got my CV. i put rollers in, but they didn't really fix the issue. the switches worked better, but then i got balls stuck like you're having, i think. the big fix was moving the switch arm to the second nub on the switch assemblies. this loosens the tension on the switch to let balls roll easier over them. absolutely no problem since.

Quoted from weaverj:

are your balls magnetized, sticking to each other?

Quoted from LOTR_breath:

In the side show mode where it says "Fire that Cannon", the normal behavior is it will fire when you hit the button, but only every few seconds. There is no switch for the ball down by the solenoid so the game has no way of knowing the position of the ball. You get points every time the solenoid fires, whether the ball is there or not. You get extra points if it goes to the top and trips the switch in the single lane.

Quoted from bobukcat:

Might want to check to see if the Acrobats shot can be made properly, you can always adjust the ramp and guides later but it can be tricky to get it right, otherwise the ball flies off the wireform on hard shot or won't make it all the way on marginal shots.

Quoted from bobukcat:

With regards to the metal guide that holds the Blue Nub of Death on the right side of the "SPIN" loop that is unobtanium https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wtb-cirqus-voltaire-center-ramp-metal-protector#post-3068129 and many people have been looking for over the years. I talked to Kerry at Mantis and he said he could definitely produce it but he needs someone to send one to him so he can get all the measurements, etc. You'd receive a spare for your efforts and would be helping many owners who don't have one on their games (yours truly included). If you're willing to lend yours out for a week or so please PM me or send a note directly to Kerry - thanks!

Quoted from bobukcat:

That's crazy, I've e-mailed them at least a dozen times about that part and they have never responded once! Please PM me once you receive it.

Quoted from shovelhed:

Heres a pic of the gi almost fixed and some inserts. I have to place a order with cointaker to correct the rest of the colorbomb.

Quoted from someoneelse:

You've heard wrong. The metal thing is complete BS, does not hold up at all.
The plastic protector set is one of the greatest, most functional and cleanest ("original looking") mods ever. It completely corrects the heavily flawed original design. Also the magnet "fling" is stronger due to the plastic "lid" and it also fits the Ringmasters top much nicer than the original metal disc.
It's made for original production PFs. If you cleared the inside of the hole or are using a repro-PF it will likely not fit correctly. If it would be lose (unlikely, mine fits 110%) it wouldn't damage anything, it's made from a rather soft, flexible plastic. And it's ultra thin on the top, you can hardly feel the rim on the PF at all. I think that's why it's so incredibly expensive to make.

Quoted from Coyote:

Not made any more. Haven't been for a long while, unfortunately. I was lucky, I found a pinsider selling one and picked it up. I bought one for both of the sample games I used to own, and when I get CV back into my collection, I'll put this one on it.

Quoted from someoneelse:

Not sure if a 3D printer is up to the job. It's a very sturdy but kind of flexible soft plastic. And it's extremely thin at the edges. It's not rocket science, but it is a special sort of plastic.
It sits in the hole like a car rim...if you get what i mean?
Maybe this picture helps.

Quoted from someoneelse:

Orbit Pinball: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/are-orbit-pinball-still-around
In the thread it says they are made from nylon. Makes lots of sense. PDI probably just sold all the remaining Orbit stock, not sure if they ever produced them by themselves. But you can ask Joey, maybe he knows more?
The top plate is made from standard hard plastic. It is much smaller than the original metal plate as is needs to sink into the ring, no edges on the PF any more. It's a complete re-design of that area, not just a simple add-on-cover-up mod. In the lowered position the ball rolls smoothly over it, no ball distraction at all.
It's hard to take a representative picture of it without taking the glass off...

Quoted from jasonbar:

In the mail are: rubbers, blackout mod, Ringmaster hole protector/cover, coin box, standup targets, pop bumper skirts, green shooter rod spring, clear flipper buttons (which I'll backlight), 3x roller switch for locks, leg protectors.

Quoted from weaverj:

i believe the blackout mod is when a game has a mode where the gi goes out, like neon multiball on CV, the backbox gi is modded to go out at the same time. did i get that right?

Quoted from bobukcat:

What is "multi-strike" multiball?

Quoted from arzoo:

The screw is just slightly curved on top. I'll have to see if I can find a flat one with the correct thread gauge (probably not going to be easy).

Quoted from jasonbar:

Howdy-
I'm rebuilding my Boom! balloon assembly, & there are 2 things that don't seem right.
1: The manual shows 1X item 57, 23-6626 Grommet, between the bumper body & cap ("Boom" plastic). My game had no grommets, just 1 small shim (Velcro?) between the bumper body & cap at the hole closer to the point of the teardrop (the screw closer to the flippers).
Are there supposed to be 2 of these grommets? For shock absorption?
2: For the little lamp PCB assembly, item 16, is there anything holding it in place, apart from its 2 wires? It was rather cockeyed when I opened up the pop bumper, but I have it sitting a bit better now. Just seeing if it should have some further retention.
Thanks,
-Jason

Quoted from Bodacious:

Hi all,
Do you think CGC will do a remake of CV?

Quoted from woody76:

I have a gorgeous restored CV for sale in market if anyone is looking. new everything with cleared playfield.

Quoted from arzoo:

That's a good idea - I'll try a different switch. Thanks.

Quoted from sparechange1974:

Thanks! It's blue.

Quoted from sparechange1974:

I'm going to keep it in there for now. What color is yours? I didn't realize they came with so many different colors. I realize this may be subjective, but what seems to look best on the game? What about the multi-color? Is that too much?
Anyway, I'm just having so much fun with this game. It seems like a fairly straight forward rule set, but what a mechanical marvel and great in the looks department as well!

Quoted from branlon8:

I’ve had this problem, but it only seems to happen on multiplayer games. I always figured the computer had gotten confused. With two physical ball lock systems (juggler and highwire) CV does a good job of keeping track of things. Also, sometimes I think it has dropped both balls off the highwire wireform if I just made my fifth ramp shot with one ball already on the highwire and started strike an arc multiball.
On a similar note, I notice in the pinball arcade software version of Cirqus Voltaire, at the beginning of highwire multiball all the balls roll off the wireform together in a bunch. On my CV it drops each one separately each time the post going back up shortly before releasing the next ball. Do all non-virtual CVs drop the balls separately or is there a menu setting I have overlooked which adjusts this ?

Quoted from branlon8:

I think there’s a screw like this on the plastic around the ringmaster - I think it’s on the left side.
I was able to figure out why the highwire dropped the balls one at a time at the beginning of HW multiball. The 2nd switch was holding the 2nd and 3rd balls briefly. So I bent the switch a bit to let the ball roll freely so the the switch wasn’t registering. After numerous iterations I got it working right.

Quoted from Sethman:

Do we have any talented CV owners with 3D printers?
Is it feasible to recreate the Orbit Pinball ringmaster protector in nylon on a printer?

Quoted from pacman11:

Alright any of you guys experience any issues with the F103 fuse that runs solenoids 1-8. It’s a 4amp fuse but I am tempted to increase to a 5amp. This fuse controls the magnet at the top of the ramp and just like my lord of rings I up the fuse and now don’t have any issues with it blowing. Any thoughts?

Quoted from pacman11:

Yeah sometimes those magnets like on my Lord of the rings blow those fuses pretty easy.
I’ve read online about changing those fuses to regular size slow blow fuses instead of those little GA fuses and that works too.

Quoted from pintechev:

My swap/restore is done! New playfield cleared by Ron Kruzman, new plastics, posts, rubber, regrained all the metal, new rails by taylorva, new pops, basically I replaced nearly everything on top, cleaned anything I couldn’t replace (ramps were new last year). Came out great!
My favorite game, well worth the effort, did a ton of pre-planning and got the swap done in less than a week. I love vacations from work when I can just work all day. Probably 50 hours start to finish.
With the new playfield, the game is fast and much, much harder than it was before. It’s a brutal beauty that’s as much fun to play as it is to look at.
Marc

Quoted from sparechange1974:

Contact Galactimus-He may have some info on these

Quoted from pintechev:

There’s not a lot to it:
1. Remove the Neon ramp from the game
2. Drill out and remove the rivets that hold the ramp together
The neon tube has wires that protrude on both sides and are just hand twisted together.

Quoted from BallyWilliams:

Thanks For that.
That's alot for a beginner. I'm spending my time sorting damage so to drill out stuff will be a first haha
Out of curiosity are you aware of a video tutorial or decent visual guides on this job?

Quoted from jasonbar:

Stripped the top side, cleaned a few times over, waxed 4 times, tumble polishing or hand-polishing all steel. That took almost 5 months on the calendar (not much time to work on this...kids...).
Finally ready for re-assembly, with all new flipper mechs, new coils, new sleeves, new rubbers, new bumper parts, etc! Good thing I took oodles of photos--my memory isn't nearly good enough to remember how to put it all back together! =O
-Jason

Quoted from JReedie:

Hi everyone some beautiful machines in this club. Today was a really exciting day for me as I put down the money for my Cirqus Voltaire. This is an absolute grail pin for me and I cant think of any other machine I'd rather own more than CV. Cant wait to get it in my flat! Its been on location in a small coffee shop in London so needs quite a bit of work doing but still a great machine.

Quoted from JReedie:

Yes it does. Apparantly the transformer and ballast (i think thats right? I dont know much about neon) have just recently been replaced. The Neon is a very nice blue. Still waiting for the machine to be delivered im super excited.

Quoted from Chosen_S:

Has anyone else had a difficult time keeping leds in the slings? Mine pop out all the time, any solutions??

Quoted from Yelobird:

Picture of the complete assembly in the lowered position. Ringmaster lowers flush with playfield minimizing air balls and adds a clean look to both the playfield and worn edge of ringmaster hole. Let us know if there are any questions.
The Mod Couple

Quoted from Sethman:

http://revolutionarypinball.com
http://revolutionarypinball.com/proddetail.php?prod=cvring_prot
A long time in the making, and after considerable effort by Frank, the original CV Ringmaster hole protector is back on the market available again!

Quoted from Sethman:

Paging galactimus
I had a similar issue with USPS shipment to my address as well. He will get it corrected for you.

Quoted from whthrs166:

Just found this.... LOL this is my game (Buyer) I have seen HEP games (TOM, TAF, MM ect...) go for 15k. It was a deal for what he was asking and I am very pleased with what I got!

Quoted from Coyote:

Yup. Exactly.
Usually it's only needed once, as a 'trace pattern' (a 'copy' of the design, laid out on paper twice, for profiles) is made, so that it can be reproduced.
My last trace got lost down in Georgia, and then my last neon tube (to make a trace *from*) shattered on it's way out here to WV.

Quoted from Chosen_S:

I believe at its core, they're 12v led strips, also if you're keen enough, you can actually cut them much much shorter than every 1 ft... I don't need to upgrade mine, but they sure got me thinking

Quoted from Chosen_S:

It looks pretty good, even up close, With the RGB, you can see a very slight break between the LEDs, with the solid colors, there is no break between the LEDs whatsoever. It also makes my eyes feel weird looking at it the way that real neon makes my eyes feel .

I guess one of us is going to have to take some time to play with this
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Quoted from Chosen_S:

I’m against it too, I was kind of hesitant suggesting it, but who knows... leds are all the rave, blah blah blah
I love the application of this led neon for a lot of things

Quoted from Coyote:

You have a mis-registering switch. In switch test mode, roll a ball down the ramp, one at a time, and watch the lock switches.

Quoted from jardine:

What have you guys done with your scrolls to attache them? I want to put them on but don't want to screw them into the backbox...and not sure about double sided tape on new decals?
Any ideas please.

Quoted from jardine:

I don't mind them personally. Just want to see what they look like on, you may be right..haha

Quoted from jardine:

Yeah, wondered about the double sided tape. The residue would be easy enough to remove one would think if they ever needed to come off. It's really the only option that I can think of.
Cheers.

Quoted from Rozeks:

Joined the club today. Have a little bit of work to do (small adjustments, rubber replacement, etc), but this is one of our dream pins. Will no doubt have some questions for the group as we explore this thing
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Quoted from jardine:

My next thing to do is change all the rubbers on this beast. I have heard good things about Titan so I am going to try them. Want to stick to white as I think the original colours looks best. Not one for going purple, blue, translucent...etc.
Can anyone confirm if they have bought the kits from the Titan site and any sizing issues? I've found this which gives a pretty good explanation of why they added or changed some sizes so was going to go this: https://www.titanpinball.com/kits/index.php/view/id/575

Quoted from jardine:

Thank you for the reply! It's why I choose this kit...seemed to be the best when it came to explaining why you did what you did!
I'll order through our local distro and make sure to rate it so it might help further purchases.

Quoted from jasonbar:

Anybody have a spare 04-10253-1? The bracket that holds the blue rubber block to the right of the ringmaster.
They seem to be unavailable anywhere.
My machine has the mirror image part, 04-10253. This is dorky, as ringmaster orbit shots that enter on the left bounce off it on their way out the right. Doy.
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I have a temporary "solution" in the meantime *blush*.
[quoted image]
Thanks,
-Jason

Quoted from jasonbar:

Oooh, please tell me a bit more!
If you've got the P/N or manual details handy, or can just at least point to where it goes on the machine, then I can do some digging to find the deets.

Thanks for the tip--In my recent search, Pinbits was one of the many places I'd found that was OoS/Discontinued on this P/N. I contacted Pinbits & got an instant response telling me that Marco has them. Nope, Marco has the mirror image part. I then pointed this out in a follow-up to Pinbits. No reply yet.
Thanks,
-Jason

Quoted from jasonbar:

In under the wire! Just under 2 years!

Quoted from bobukcat:

I hadn't seen that one before, looks like it's thinner than the Mod Couple one I have and may not cause so many rejects. Do you get any ball hop from it when the RM is down?

Quoted from whthrs166:

My Ring Master needs a very gentle shake right before he releases the ball to launch it! If you shake it too hard he will just dump it off down the play field every time. When you shake the game gently it will move the ball (Magnetized) around the screw that is in the center. That will get it to launch when he releases it.

Quoted from partyguy1516:

Well the most expensive game of operation I’ve ever played is over. Used my dremmel to cut a pretty deep slot and ended up having to use an impact gun to get the screw out. Waiting for the replacement from pinbits, but the difficult part is over. I ended up cutting even a little deeper than the photo shows.
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Quoted from bobukcat:

The field service kit that was issued included instructions for adding a post with a rubber ring there but I have zero desire to drill a new hole into my PF so I just deal with it. It doesn't happen excessively, the game is pretty quick to raise the RM if it gets stuck and initiates a ball search and if a ball gets stuck there during a MB hitting the RM usually dislodges it, therefore I just live with it.

Quoted from PhillyArcade:

This game must have been hell to vend when it was out. Out of all my pins I own and previous ones I've owned over the years, I get more people saying "Circus Voltaire is not working again!" Balls stuck, air balls, broken rubbers, and the list goes on! But I'll never sell it I think my buddy found the ultimate CV sweater though!
[quoted image]

Quoted from Gotfrogs:

Are you referring to the ringmaster? If so, did you bend the pring to get it aligned with the playfield hole?

Quoted from mamawaldee:

Had our CV since 2006. Purchased non-working from a retailer for $3200. All it needed was a shooter rod. Overpaid at the time because I didn't know any better, but I guess I got lucky considering the prices for them now. At least it was in good shape overall.
A while ago I bought a bunch of stuff to spruce her up a bit, LEDs, mirror blades, about a grand worth of mods in total. Then we moved to another house so it sat folded up for about four years. I just now started installing the Cointaker Premiums that have been sitting in the cabinet for all this time. I'm about 3/4 done with the playfield. Never having put in LEDs before, I'm a little shocked at how much of the underside has to be disassembled to get to all of them, especially around the ringmaster. Also discovered that about 10% of the LEDs are defective. I got them so long ago there is no warranty. Luckily for the hard-to-get locations the LEDs are functional.
I'm cleaning the inserts as I go. They are in good shape, don't seem to be faded, but I'm pretty disappointed with the resulting brightness so far. I'm probably (definately) spoiled by the MBrLE that sits next to it, that thing is so bright it lights up the whole basement. I love the illumination on that game, CGC really did it good; but it makes every other game in the collection look like crap
I was hoping to get CV up to that level of luminance but it ain't happening with this kit.
So I already know I'll be changing the LEDs again. Seems like what I have is maybe just a tad brighter than the incandescent were. I want my CV to be visible from space. Any suggestions?

Quoted from Extraballzz:

Hi, I recently acquired a CV in beautiful condition but I just can't sleep at night knowing that I don't have the scrolls. If someone has a set to sell please pm me.
Thanks

Quoted from Pbgixxer:

Just did mine today . Just pull the 4 screw and remove the plastic . The dmd will pull out with the wood trim . [quoted image]

Quoted from Pbgixxer:

The plastic is held on by two screws on the top and two nuts toward the middle . As soon as you unscrew these pull the plastic off . The wood trim is just sitting on the threads . Just pull it forward . It might be hung up on the threads.

Quoted from Completist:

Each product does a separate thing, so the LED OCD board won’t do what the GI OCD board does or vice versa. I have both in my CV and pleased with the results. GI OCD retains the GI dimming effect for WPC-95 games which i personally like. Others may not give a shit about that, and there’s probably a subset of owners who don’t even know that feature exists.
The OCD board allows you to make the backbox GI “active”. You assign those strings to behave the way one of the pf GI strings do. When they turn off, dim, flicker or whatever, so will the backbox lights.

Quoted from The_Pump_House:

Has anyone used MRS switches for the high wire lock switches?

Quoted from Kare9:

When I got my CV it was clear that it needed a cleaning, but the underside was also very dirty. Most of the mechs were covered in a sticky brown film which kinda reminds me of flux residue. This was unacceptable so I removed all the mechs, disassembled and cleaned everything. I’m wondering a couple things as I am done this process.
1. I’m considering cleaning the switches that still work, is there a best/easiest method? Not desoldering and ultrasonic cleaning I assume?
2. Has anyone encountered this brown sticky film before? I don’t notice it on the topside, kinda stumped.
3. There doesn’t seem to be a good schematic or drawing of all the top side assemblies/plastics/hardware. Seeing all the hacks under the play field has me seriously doubting the topside, ideally I would like to restore the top side too, how do I determine what is missing/out of place?
Not sure it matters but I also discovered after buying that this game was re imported and was originally 220v
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Quoted from jardine:

For anyone interested I got Jady swinks Pinball to make the very hard to find LHS Ball bumper guide!!
Someone on here was charging way to much (as I'm in Australia so the conversion was killing the deal for me), so I contacted Jady and he got this 3D printed!! $32AUD was perfect!
Amazing work and thanks to swinks
All you need to do is tap or thread the hole to 2.5mm and then go to any hobby store for the grub screw and your done!!
Highly recommended!
So happy I can finally play and not worry about killing that guide rail or my balls.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/YL9VL2VWV/04-10253-1-lhs-ball-bumper-guide-pinball?optionId=202657515&li=shops
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Quoted from JagDaniels:

Hey guys are there any shops to get the high wire ramp ? The metal one with the locks ? I tried to bend my ramp as suggested, after 2 hours trying i was near to hammer this game down into pieces
I also think the roll over switches maybe work worse than the original one.
I bend in every kind of ways, also i tried to position the ramp in different ways to the post, but no success.
Any pictures of how this ramp should be placed ?
Greetings Dan

Quoted from Soulrider911:

Finished my CV wall art project over the weekend thought I would share with you all! Being that I LOVE CV, but am not lucky enough to own one, this is my fix
First I needed to make some rails to mount the playfield to in order to prevent warping and I need an inner flame that I can mount the larger frame to.
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Painted and used existing holes to mount the inner frame to
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Now starting to get the outer frames measured, cut and laid out
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And time to stain the wood!
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Wood frames mounted up!
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So for the LED's I first use a huge piece of plastic and trace the locations of the playfield inserts
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Then I use the clear plastic as a template to poke holes in a piece of cardboard and layout the LEDS, this is the most time consuming part.
[quoted image]
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I 3D printed some parts to fill the ringmaster, boom balloon, ball eject, and rollover switches so I can light them.
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Parts installed in the playfield
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Last with a little arduino code we get a real nice radom pattern that cycle 6 different modes![quoted image][quoted image]