Palantir Glass Ball, Backbox Warming Filter

• Left VUK switch does need replacing ASAP

Still not registering 100% and have to wait for ball search. No part yet. Replaced a #906 Flasher behind the ring.  They don't last as long as in my other games, is this caused by vibration?  Impact when the playfield bumps back into place from the extended position?
If so, it really needs a spring loaded hinge. Tried a Yellow #906 Flasher bulb behind ring, but couldn't see much difference.
Should order a "9FLUX Super White" or even a "9FLUX Matrix Amber" LED flasher for there.  Maybe Amber Flashers for inside the ring and below the sword lock would look good.

• Fitted a Palantir glass ball that was sent to me as a gift by Steve Marsh, a fellow LE owner in the USA.

He buys the 30mm globes from Christalier in Washington 98002 (the State WA).
Best things about this mod: Inexpensive, perfect size, easy to fit and no more screw threads in the Palantir! With a colour change LED behind it's bright!
Leon's site shows fitting the globe, so follow his steps.  Fairly sure that site is by Leon Borré based in Belgium, we've been using his “Pinball test ROMs” for years!
Can't read it in Dutch, but Google can (almost) translate and it says screw threads "It is like an ugly worm in an apple"  Nice one Leon! A fantastic mod idea.

• Next up, the PinballPal backbox warming filter finally arrived and was easily fitted in minutes. Spent more time taking the pictures of it! Thought a backglass wouldn't need a filter, but missed the difference between backglass bulbs (lots of #44s) and a Stern fluorescent tube. The gold effect now looks way better with the warming filter.

Used one of the supplied "film gels" to get the warming effect I wanted.  Worth the $10 + shipping.  It helps tone down Korn's famous "black outline" and "HD" effects, if you follow that.  If not, Google rec.games.pinball for HD and then regret reading it forever.

Both mods fitted on my game.
It's very hard to take an accurate picture of the blackglass and warming filter, and looks much better in person. I'm using a single "film gel". Enjoy!

Left VUK (or Shire) switch has issues

Noticed a few times the VUK switch was slow, waited for a ball search in multiball to kick out of Shire. Wife played it and complained about it too, she's a better game tester than me. Less forgiving if it goes wrong. Sure enough, I watched her get 3 balls all stacked up in the Left VUK until a ball search.

Switch wasn't sensed at all in the diag switch test, even though I could hear it click. Took apart game to get at switch, which is not fun. You have to drop the VUK mech to get at it. The switch wasn't working on "N.O. and press to close". But it was working on the "N.C. and press to open" side. Strange. After messing with it on a DMM set to buzzer, it started working again as it should. Put it back on the switch matrix and it was fine. Put it all back together and it works. Have ordered "2 x 180-5116-01 Stern Fork Switch VUK" from P4P*. I pay GBP £5.40 a switch in the EU, so double the USD $4 that Pinball Life charges. I need to have a replacement, as this switch will get flaky again at some point.

Tweaked the sword ball lock mod I made on 10 Mar 2010. The 2nd locked ball was resting on the wireform and not rolling down the sword correctly when released.

Drilled another hole about 1" further down from the top of the lock shield for the wireform to go in. The idea is that the wireform sits on the lock shield closer to the right angle turn.
The hole is around 3/16" from the edge, a bit closer than the original mounting holes. This gives the balls more clearance and moves the guide up the sword.
Rounded off the edges on the base at the top. It's still held by the wireform and double sided tape, but now more from the middle. This seems to work as expected. Update: This extra original ball guide was removed on April 5th.   It works fine with one when set up correctly.


Put the correct swords on the figures, and posed them. Noticed that the example slideshow quoted in 11 Mar 2010 has the Merry and Pippin facing the other way.

On my game they have their backs to the inlanes. My wife thinks I'm like the "40 year old Virgin" will the AOME collection action figures!