LOTR LE Shaker Motor

I have heard recently that someone blew up their CPU (and maybe I/O Driver board too) trying to add a (non kit) Shaker Motor to their LOTR LE.  A replacement CPU part number 520-5300-00 will run you $350-400 (US dollars).  Maybe less to fix, but it may not be an economic repair.


BTW - Do not be frightened of buying the right kit (Stern rev B) and doing the install.  The LOTR LE was designed to allow you to add this feature.  Ask questions if you are unsure of something!  The Shaker Motor is a great addition , maybe the best $170 I've spent so far.


So although I covered a few things about my Shaker Motor install here, I'm going to revisit the main points.   A link to the Scan of Shaker Rev B. Install Instructions

You will have to take the measurements from the instructions and create a template.  I think printing the template example scaled to double size would be very close.  e.g.  the 2” distance measures almost exactly 1” at actual size in the PDF.

Some IMPORTANT points to note:

Wiring Harness
The BRN/GRY wire 72” it talks about on a male connector.  This connects to a BLU/YEL female connector  coming from the head that can be found at the back of the cabinet on an LOTR LE.  It has a single BLU/YEL wire in the same place as the BRN/GRY wire in the 72” harness. 
  

The RED/WHT connector is short and will exactly match another RED/WHT connector found in the wire harness on the LOTR LE around the plumb-bob tilt area..

Motor installation
Tape the bottom of the cabinet with masking tape where you expect the holes will exit, and use a sharp 7/32” wood bit.  Let the drill do the work, don’t push hard. Clean up the bottom of cabinet to your liking and tape the 4 “T-nuts” into place, but don’t hammer them in.  Then as you screw down the motor tighter from the top, make sure the T-nuts are sinking in to the cab bottom and not spinning.

If I could do it again, I would move the template for the shaker mounting holes about another .5” (half inch) away from the left edge of the cabinet and towards the coin box.  Only .812” was indicated on the template. Hole position away from front of cab at 4.375” is perfect.  Doing that would let you take the cover off the shaker motor (for adjustments or oil, in future) without having to remove the Shaker Motor PCB above.

Destroyed the Ring in 20.66

Oh Yeah.


Great time on Destroy The Ring today, previous best was just over 30 secs.

Today I hit all four lane / ramp shots and made DTR in 20.66 secs, probably can't do it faster than that.  Haven't had a high score or new DTR time in ages, so it felt good.

Funny and accurate LOTR review. Great read.

Spotted this link pinballreviews.com LOTR link.
"Worm" has a great review and you can tell he has played the game lots and knows it well.

Shire VUK Problems

Left VUK went flaky again.  That switch was last changed for a new one at the end of March, so it lasted less than 6 months!  Take into account that I have been away in the USA on business in May for 3 weeks and then on holiday all of July.  The switch gets hammered in gameplay, but should last longer than a few months.  The old style Williams VUK design (or the use of optos on upkickers) seems to work for years.

Discovered during testing with a ball resting in the fork of the switch, that a slight pressure at the back of the switch blade would trigger a closure.  So I took two needle nose pliers and put a slight bend upwards on the blade about 1/4 of the way along the switch body.  This fixed the problem, for now.  Doubtful that it will stay fixed once it goes out of adjustment.  Bummer.

AOME Figures for Sale

Published a new tab showing new original LOTR AOME figures for sale in the UK.
Willing to post elsewhere for actual postage costs.

Ring Made switch #47 getting stuck closed

Had a connection problem (don't really want to call it an opto problem) where game was seeing "ring made" switch #47 close during a game, even though no ball was in the ring.  Symptom in a game was having mode start without shooting the spinner/ring shot also the magnet could not grab the ball correctly.

Normally the opto transmitter shines bright red LED light into the opto receiver.  Through some transistors on the opto amplifier board (and logic gates) the CPU "sees" this as an open switch.  If the transmitter LED fails (or the light is blocked by the ball), the receiver changes voltage and the switch is detected as closed.

The opto went on / off during a switch test when the ring was banged or the glass slid back in place sharply.  Looking at the opto amplifier board mounted to the right of the backboard there was a 2-pin connector that had been bent right over, probably the transmitter opto to the ring.  Turned off game, bent the pins up straight and plugged back in connector.  Switch test showed the "ring made" working only when it should again (stick finger in the ring).

At least that fault was fairly easy to diagnose and fix.