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The Hobbit, many air balls and stuck balls on top of the playfield?
- Thread starter Spadge
- Start date
Fixed mine. On the support post for the lamp right next to the right upper flipper there was a small black cable tie for some odd reason that was blocking a ball to drain past. Snipped off and now fine, can't see any reason whatsoever that the tie Watson there!
Just a barmy auto correct, bloody iphone :-/
Now working on 2nd minor issue, one of pop up mech's getting scored almost immediately and dropping down after a brief moment (in this case, the Goblin).
Mech tests fine, switch seems fine, thinking maybe vibrations possibly.
Definitely an issue with the lead switch behind the creatures head.
Leaf switch sorted (just tweaked backwards) and the pop up working fine now. Happy with 2 straight forward fixes.
Thanks for the cable tie tip, mine was doing exactly the same, never would have guessed that the ball would fit through the gap with the tie removed, but it does.
At least when a ball gets stuck you eventually get awarded another ball.
At least when a ball gets stuck you eventually get awarded another ball.
I have also had to fish two pieces of stuff plastic card out from under Smaug which were trapping balls (that I couldn't see or understand why). I presume they were packing things, it's fine now.
The issue with the mech pop ups going straight back down were fixed my bending the leaf switches behind the creatures heads back a bit, can be done with just the glass off.
Touch wood that's it for now
The issue with the mech pop ups going straight back down were fixed my bending the leaf switches behind the creatures heads back a bit, can be done with just the glass off.
Touch wood that's it for now
Only other issues I have now are the sound inteference (which I haven't got round to looking at yet), the Smaug magnet doesn't catch the ball 50% of the time (no biggie though as it doesn't affect gameplay), and the left lane kickback sometimes doesn't work when lit. Apparently the last one will be sorted in the next update 1.94, which some people already have.
. dupe
the smaug magnet often does not catch the ball
i have instaled 2 hobbits this week one had no inteference and the other did i am led to believe that jjp has a fix for this
i have instaled 2 hobbits this week one had no inteference and the other did i am led to believe that jjp has a fix for this
I have seen the magnet fail to catch it once or twice, but its no biggie as it is always captured (which makes you question why there's the need for a magnet).
Will give it some play Monday and hope all is good in terms of stuck balls now (save for the barrel riding). Had no sound problems at all, maybe worth checking the audio connections on the back of the PC in the cab?
Will give it some play Monday and hope all is good in terms of stuck balls now (save for the barrel riding). Had no sound problems at all, maybe worth checking the audio connections on the back of the PC in the cab?
I tried the connections first day, no luck.
I believe @thewool has posted a solution to the sound issue on pinside, by fitting a ground loop isolator, might have to try that.
120 games so far and not had the ball stuck on a barrel.
Getting Beorn target switch error in test, but think it's because it never seems to get activated.
I believe @thewool has posted a solution to the sound issue on pinside, by fitting a ground loop isolator, might have to try that.
120 games so far and not had the ball stuck on a barrel.
Getting Beorn target switch error in test, but think it's because it never seems to get activated.
if you are getting lots of air balls martin you can always adjust the power of the flippers in the menu
Yeah, I'd upped them to 22 on reading some Pinside forum, but I think its a combo of that and the table angle. I prefer it nippy rather than slow. I'm going to have another play around with it. I've sorted 2 of the minor issues with it and just now it seems the ball ending on the right barrel thats a rare irritation.
Also Chris, if you come across minty TOM or TAF (or both) let me know as I'm looking to upgrade both of mine, I got them a while ago before I got serious and whilst they're both in fine fettle and play well (and have all the extras I add) I'd like more pristine versions if possible.
Also Chris, if you come across minty TOM or TAF (or both) let me know as I'm looking to upgrade both of mine, I got them a while ago before I got serious and whilst they're both in fine fettle and play well (and have all the extras I add) I'd like more pristine versions if possible.
the last one i set up i had the levelers at pretty much max and it played great never seen any ball hang ups on the barrels
picked a nice tom up yesterday but i cant resist doing a super minty on it but god knows when i will have the time
picked a nice tom up yesterday but i cant resist doing a super minty on it but god knows when i will have the time
I've also pulled out 2-3 of these stiff bits of plastic out of the Hobbit and one which was in the Smaug itself, preventing ball movement - took me a while to sort as I was getting odd drains and things going wrong. Looks like plastic packing of some sort.
D
Deleted member 181
Finally got to play this the other day .... and woah!!! What a game, being a woz lover I kinda new I would like this and sure enough once again after playing a JJP machine it made all the others seem like old tired boring relics .
Way out of my reach price wise now sadly.
Congrats to all you lucky owners out there
Way out of my reach price wise now sadly.
Congrats to all you lucky owners out there
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2011
- Messages
- 2,840
Agree in that when you see this game in a line up, it makes all other games just look dated and old.Finally got to play this the other day .... and woah!!! What a game, being a woz lover I kinda new I would like this and sure enough once again after playing a JJP machine it made all the others seem like old tired boring relics .
Way out of my reach price wise now sadly.
Congrats to all you lucky owners out there
But, so far, haven't got the same fun factor from it. Maybe it is a game needed in the home as it is so complex with Keefer ruleset, I had no idea what I was doing when I put a dozen games on it.
Got my first ball stuck on a barrel last night, must have tempted fate! Think it was from an airball off a rising beast mech.
It's a bit intimidating at first, the rules aren't very clear, but once you understand them it's a whole lot more fun. Better than WOZ in my opinion.
It's a bit intimidating at first, the rules aren't very clear, but once you understand them it's a whole lot more fun. Better than WOZ in my opinion.
Hey Hobbit owners... tonight my orc popup stopped working with the hit switch permanently on. Lifted the playfield and the green/white hit switch wire has been cut clean in two. The other 3 mechs have a tie wrap holding the wire to the side, but even if you raise these by hand the tie wrap is pinched on maximum extension, on one the wire has been flattened and this would eventually be severed. I've raised a case with JJP but it's **** poor this has happened after a few weeks. One would think the main hazard to those wire is from the mech movement and they should be 100% out of the line of fire.
I would advise all Hobbit owners check for the tie wrap and look for signs of wear to the hit switch wires. I've asked JJP to clarify how they should be setup and will report back. Mine was missing the transport tie-wraps that had to be removed before play, not sure if this is anything to do with it....
I would advise all Hobbit owners check for the tie wrap and look for signs of wear to the hit switch wires. I've asked JJP to clarify how they should be setup and will report back. Mine was missing the transport tie-wraps that had to be removed before play, not sure if this is anything to do with it....
Thanks for the heads-up will check tonight/tomorrow.
I had seen this as an issue on Pinside and did check the mechs before I started playing they appeared fine and was thinking of checking again soon so will deffo check tonight/tomorrow and report back.
Its also worth checking screws and nuts are all nice and tight whilst the playfield is up, as again I have seen on Pinside that some screws and nuts have been found in the cabinet, not sure where from that is the issue but worth a thorough check while the the playfield is upright I reckon.
I had seen this as an issue on Pinside and did check the mechs before I started playing they appeared fine and was thinking of checking again soon so will deffo check tonight/tomorrow and report back.
Its also worth checking screws and nuts are all nice and tight whilst the playfield is up, as again I have seen on Pinside that some screws and nuts have been found in the cabinet, not sure where from that is the issue but worth a thorough check while the the playfield is upright I reckon.
The unofficial fix for this is to install a washer under each beast mech screw (only one screw is necessary). I had to use two washers on top of each othere as I didn't have one with the right hole size and outside diameter. The first pic shows the washers installed with the mech down, wires are to the right. The second pic shows the mech up and you can see how the washer has restricted the pop-up height so that the tie-wrap and wires are not pinched. Took 5 minutes to install this on the three other mechs, if only this was done at the factory but apparently it's unapproved.
Cheers for the tip about under the playfield, will take a look what's there.
Cheers for the tip about under the playfield, will take a look what's there.
Also just for info here's a pic of the snipped wires. They have been cut in such a way that there is very little slack to splice them back together. I really recommend people install the washer fix so as to avoid this.
