How to Build a Pinball Machine
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How to Build a Pinball Machine
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#2So, flippers are more complicated than I thought; they have a microswitch and two coils in the solenoid for quick impulse response with low holding current. That's fascinating!
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#3Reminded me of this [1] that looked like a really interesting project to undertake, especially when you can create your own theme.
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#4So, flippers are more complicated than I thought; they have a microswitch and two coils in the solenoid for quick impulse response with low holding current. That's fascinating!
They are fascinating :)
Also, flipper EOS switches are leaf switches, not microswitches.
Through the early 90s the flipper button switches were also leaf switches. In the early 90s some time after the introduction of the Fliptronics system by Williams/Bally, they switched to using a plastic opto-interrupter and U-shaped opto(s) rather than a leaf switch.
Games with upper flippers often used ganged leaf switches and later dual optos to allow independent "staged" control of lower and upper flippers on the same side of the machine. That allows you to press the flipper button in half way to engage only the lower flipper, and then all the way to also engage the upper flipper(s).
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#5That seems like a lot of work. I suggest starting with pinball restoration. I bought and restored a Creature From the Black Lagoon [1] which took about six weeks work. There's a very active restoration community and lots of parts suppliers, and just getting inside a real machine will give you lots of experience if you want to make your own.
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#6Nice!
I've always wanted a physical version of Partyland from Pinball Fantasies (DOS game from 1994).
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/pinball-fantasies/screensh...
Like this guy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/felipesanches/sets/72157594271...
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#7I've lost most of the month to zen pinball on ps4.
I'd never really considered pinball as a way to spend my time before, but I now see it as a future source of RSI in my wrists.
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#8I've lost most of the month to zen pinball on ps4. I'd never really considered pinball as a way to spend my time before, but I now see it as a future source of RSI in my wrists.
30 mins on this bad boy is guaranteed to bring on adrenaline induced RSI http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1000
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#9That seems like a lot of work. I suggest starting with pinball restoration. I bought and restored a Creature From the Black Lagoon [1] which took about six weeks work. There's a very active restoration community and lots of parts suppliers, and just getting inside a real machine will give you lots of experience if you want to make your own. [1] http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=588
Pinball restoration is a hoot, just make sure you get someone to show you the ropes. Start with a flipper rebuild - don't attempt to do a play-field swap without someone who has done it before. There is a very active international hobby community over at [1] Pinside who will be eager to show to the ropes. There's plenty of mod options available, such as [2] replacement of all globes with LEDs, [3] replacement of the plasma DMD to full color LCD DMD's, [4] to playfield swaps to brand new reproduction playfields.
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2-2dlTH_wg
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7E_DgtkJY
[4] http://de.myalbum.com/Album=W3DHWYNS || https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-new-star-trek-the...
Re: How to Build a Pinball Machine
#10The recent pinball machine 'Wizard of Oz' by Jersey Jack under the hood runs Ubuntu and the recovery image is available at http://www.jerseyjackpinball.com/game-specific-downloads/ and it works quite well under VMware. If ever wanted dig deeper software wise into what goes into a modern pinball machine this is the place to start. Boot the image with 'init=/bin/bash' and your in.