All about pinball! Homebrew, custom pinball builds, DIY tips and tricks, lessons learned from creating my own machine from scratch, pinball repair, unboxing NIB pinball machines and whatever other shenanigans that occur along the way.
Watch This Old Tony’s spring making video. If the wire is in an annealed state, you could use the same principal he uses to create a spring on his lathe. If you can get a section of dowel of the correct diameter and add a mandrel that you can chuck up in a drill press, you can drill a small hole in the dowel for the rest of the wire and hand turn the drill chuck while guiding the wire. From there, you can basically cut individual coils out of it and be guaranteed to have the diameter consistent from coil to coil. Even better, find a socket of the appropriate diameter and bolt it to a block of wood drill a hole through the wood so that you can insert a metal pin so that you can insert a section of wire between the two and then draw the wire around your socket “mandrel”. Clamp the wood to your workbench and have a blast with your new cheap bender
is there an updated fusion file of the finished ramp i could grab? i got the one from your google drive but it looks to be pretty different from where you ended up
Absolutely amazing! One suggestion is that the stairway should turn into a ramp during multiball, obviously no idea how to do that, myself...but seems like a decent idea. Happy building and keep up good work.
What code are you using? C++? Python? Also, I see you’re wearing a FAST shirt. What made you choose FAST over P ROC? Any unbiased advantages/disadvantages you can share? Thanks man you’re awesome.
mmm ... I like to uncomplicate things (usually because before I am done its too complicated, so I hope to achieve success before that happens. lol).. Since creating a hole to match the 'EXACT' shape I would be happy with a narrow 'trim' around it. by that I mean create the shape but make it 1/16" to 1/8" bigger - this avoids need to be 'exact' to the contour. then place the item in it, add epoxy resin to fill in the gap. scrap and wet wash the surface flat, then sand to plane it all the same. Don't think bubbles would be a big issue but can let a vibrating tool sit on it for a few minutes. So instead of the difficulty being getting the outline exact to fit, you design for how good it looks. which is what we need to spend our time on anyway. it would also be 10x faster
for the stair case there is a way to avoid using a 'belt' of buckets. instead have a slanted set of buckets that just go up and down. With a 'floor' of each bucket slanted so that when a ball is inside it, ,that it slants towards the back holding the ball in the back corner, when that bucket raises high enough to clear the bucket above it - the ball rolls into that bucket, and so on to the top. This gets rid of need for magnets (dont want to magnetize the ball), simplifies the design (no need to chain them into a belt). All that is mechanically needed is to raise them one at a time to go from bucket to bucket (this can be done with separate motors, a Cam system, or a rotary wheel system using just one motors). it also allows programing the game so as to move the buckets based on game actions. IE raising bucket 1 step per hitting a bumper with a 2nd ball ,etc. More complex systems can be devised as well, such as a sequence of, lets say, 5 'buckets' (just slanted plates that are bracketed by fixed walls on each side), that can be controlled to form a ramp (all set in same parallel angle) or a bucket lift (slanted to capture a ball at each plate) just by programmatically changing the slant and height of the plates. This system can also be used to 're;ease' the ball back into the play area if you somehow 'fail' (instead of climbing to the top and entering a upper floor area, the plates flip to slant backwards so the ball rolls back down into the lower play field instead.
@@thepinballroom With XY Ink printers (especially super accurate ones) you have a whole nother world printing options and tools to mess with.. The suggestion to find an RGB is best since it prints pure red, green, blue, CMYK color space printers need to mix colors to get them (R/G/B colors are called 'primary colors' for a reason LOL). One method is to use the colors like you would in screen printing (Ie one color at a time laid down in space) or even like a engraving machine. like printing one pixel of color1 and then print the next pixel in color2 an let the human eye blend them into a smooth color. These kind of effects can be super awesome (and sometimes confusing to the eye - which is a whole nother level of awesome itself). However that method requires printing the actual pattern to 'see' it and iterate till u get what you want. (too expensive for general printing. I guess what i am saying is don't be locked in to doing something like everyone else does, IF that is what u want to explore.
Месяц назад
Hey Steve, been following you for a good while and while I started building my own pinball machine from scratch before ever discovering your videos, I did get quite some new and very good ideas from you. So big thanks for that! As far as the new upper playfield, it looks very slick! I did a similar thing for the outside sign of my wife's barbershop. Thick acrylic, engraved pretty deep (for more effect, especially in daylight) and RGB LEDs from the bottom and sides. However, what I feared all along is really starting to show after it being in use for a while: The front (top, in your case) will get scratched and buffed (in my case due to weather conditions and in your case due to balls moving and skipping over and on it). That, after a while, really has a negative influence on the effect that a lit-up engraving has. Have you thought about that and perhaps have something in mind to minimize or manage that? Thanks and keep up the absolutely amazing and inspiring work!!
Awesome project! Clearly a lot of work, but your restoration is an inspiration! And totally agree with taking lots of pictures I would be so lost without doing that
it's mostly painful to watch you play pinball... but this looks fantastic. i'm still watching through your clips. might be a little tight in some spots (hard to see) but overall it looks like a fun game. would be very interested in seeing you do a video recap on how you'd do things differently on another one ie. lessons learnt and such. i'm just starting to scratch out my machine on paper so i'm gathering tips from you :)
That is a pretty, pretty etching on the underside of that upper playfield. And it'll look DYNAMITE when lit up, too. My only concern: hopefully the drop targets won't be visible... and they're not... but that's the beauty of etched acrylic and lighting - great work!
Just here to join the choir of praise. Amazing work! Getting that update in after a few years of the plywood must feel incredible. Also - Looking forward to seeing how you did your flashers!
That turned out fantastic Steve. You are really killing it now. Still think you need the lighting truss going up both sides, and across the front with about 4 comet spots on it facing the stage to give it that real stage look. However, regardless, that is a beautiful piece, and really set it off. Nicely done.
This is my second time through your series and im sure it wont be the last time either. Entertaining and super educational. Thank you for all of the detail and care you put into this project. I cant wait to dive back into my project. Life has been absolutely insane the past few weeks, but i can still watch these before bed!
In the vid you show the wiring of the mechanical switches... I see the soldering iron and you building crimps/wires... but can't quite make out where your attaching. Do you have any guidance on how to wire in the mechanical switches , pics, or links to resources on how to do this?
You mention the opto boards are a 4 wire connection, but don't show any details on how that's done. Do you have pics/links of how the opto boards are wired? I have the same troubg and am struggling with getting info on how to do this. Also, curious if the Optos are powered by the switch 5v line or some other way.
Sorry, I don't know if I ever cover anything specifically about crimping connectors or not in another video. For the trough, there are switches on the bottom. I can't seem to post pics here - email me at thepinballroom@gmail.com and I can help you better with images
The optos should be powered by a 5v line, but they burn out easily and really need the current limited appropriately. I'm using the FAST opto emitter control board they sell to achieve this. Again, email me and I can go in more depth
