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A new project for me. The goal: to re-create a pinball machine using as much hand-made material as possible, 3D printed, CNC, soldered, buzz words, etc. I have the playfield, it’s a used Attack From Mars that’s in really good condition. The only expensive parts I really intend to use from a real pinball machine have to do with moving the ball around. Kickers, flippers and solenoids, slingshot solenoids, ball trough – things like that. The game will be controlled all through VPM, right now using DOF (in theory) to power all the outputs. I did a test last night with two LEDWIZ powering the 64 lamp matrix and it works, with no discernible delay. This will be 3 LEDWIZ total. I’d love to, further down the road, avoid the b2s server and DOF altogether but not sure if that’s really possible yet. A custom controller should be possible in theory.
Anyways, I’ve just started so it’s a long ways from completion. I’ll be doing occasional video updates on it. Here’s the first one, please subscribe and like the video, I’d love to get more community input on this!
The next video will be a slingshot demo, followed by full playfield lights, and hopefully GI – need to read more about the DOF coding to control that kind of non-rom output.
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Wow Fren.
Tremendous project! I had a similar project, but I gave up :D
Good luck, you really deserve it.
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Cool project! looking forward to seeing this complete for sure! MORE VIDEOS!
@Ninuzzu you gave up!? IÂ find that hard to believe!********************************************************
Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
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Man you are really something, “Richard somebody”…
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Yea however it’s spelled
I gotta say, the music makes it seems more impressive than it ever has a hope of being lol
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how does this all get programmed? will you need pc running all the time or will a pie just be needed so it boots right up?
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Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
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That is way cool, you have access to some very nice equipment there.
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how does this all get programmed? will you need pc running all the time or will a pie just be needed so it boots right up?
It’s all going to be powered by a PC for now. If something comes along where I can emulate WPC95 on a Pi or something similar, that would be awesome, but right now the PC gives me a lot of flexibility! Here’s an example… P2K, swappable playfields… I can build the cabinet for this to be modular, the playfield can slide out and be replaced with another playfield. If I operate this half like a VP cabinet, I put a 30″ LCD in the backbox and have dynamic translite artwork for whichever playfield I install. This allows me to run PIN2DMD as well, any sound system I want, plus I get all the added DOF goodies that regular pinball players don’t get, like dynamic RGB lighting! Or even addressable RGBs?! The possibilities really are endless with this kind of setup. I am going to put UV and regular white GI lamps in here, and will be able to switch between them with the push of a button or change of the script. It does require running VP in the background but I can strip down the table to just be a switch test table, running b2s server as well. I think it should all work. Here’s a demo of the 64 lamp matrix running off LEDWIZ, I’ll hook it up to the table when I get my new lights in a week or two (China origination…slow shipping)
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nice! I bet you cant wait to get the leds wired in playfield!Â
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This is pretty cool what you’ve managed here… but what I’d think would be a challenge would be finding the game specific mech’s. Pop bumpers, slings shots and flippers are all pretty standard, but the mech’s for the alien’s to hop around and the drop down target for the ship and the shield mech that raises and lowers… are you thinking those could be 3d printed and withstand the beatings the solenoids and motors that drive them? I’m really excited to see what you do here… you’ve picked a pretty great game to start with, but I would think there may have been easier ones… i’ve got a fathom playfield I’d love to try to do this too but the in-line drop target assemblies are where I get stuck on how the heck to fabricate them.
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Well things like the aliens, there’s a few options. There’s a tough resin for the Form printer that probably could take the abuse but really the standard resin should be fine as well. I doubt I’ll use actual solenoids for the alien movement. It’s a minor mechanic so investing any money into decent solenoids seems futile. I’m looking at probably using servos for those parts. I also kicked around a few ideas for the 3 bank drop target and ultimately my best bet is probably acquiring the legit mechanical components for that. When i get to that point I’ll explore more options. Everything is really simple if you break down the components and movement so there’s nothing that can’t theoretically be recreated. It all comes down to what might be the cheaper option. Yes the cost of purchasing a 3d printer ultimately puts it’s use in this project into jeopardy however I’ve got occasional access to one at work so my cost on that may just come down to a bottle of resin. I am keeping track of how much I spend. I hope to be able to do this on the $2-$3k dollar range but I’ve easily surpassed $500 just on the playfield, LEDWIZ, LEDs, screws, solenoids… At the end I’ll probably separate the cost of the cabinet and playfield from each other since another goal is to make it modular. So I guess if I can escape with a playfield BOM costing $2.5k I’ll be happy. Definitely shooting for less though. $1.5k would be my goal. I’m a third of the way there but most of that will be spent on solenoids and other crucial mechanisms. Still a lot of stuff to craft.
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Bought some cheap used Data East slingshot assemblies. Looked at drawings and it looked like they lived up. They actually do! That’s a decent chunk of money saved. Even the screw holes line up… I touched them up. It’s tacky but it’s just a quick feeling of accomplishment while I wait for more parts.
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Mopar hemi orange! Good color choice
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Any new updates?
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Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
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I actually have a friend with an AFM playfield that I was thinking about doing something very similar – using VP to control it.
In a few weeks I will decide if I have the time to do it – perhaps we could help each other out?
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Definitely that would be cool.
After I get lights done I want to work on ramps because that’s going to be the biggest project. Need to work on a mold for the vacuum forming table…. For something like that I’ll probably need to buy or borrow the actual ramps though so the geometry is perfect. The rails will be ready enough to recreate without the real thing once I have the plastic ramps in place…
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I know a few pinball restorers from when I was last in the trade – I may be able to come across something!
The mechanisms wont be too hard to get used.
May have to change some of the programming at your end – at least I can work on the electronic side and share that !!
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I’m sure there are challenges I’ll run into with some solenoids… Especially where I replace them with servos or stepper motors… But I’m looking most forward to the add-ons this will provide. The RGB outputs, multiple GI options, adding things like actual rotating saucers, the possibilities are really endless here. The limits will be LEDWIZ ports, then it’s just a matter of changing the VB script to accommodate the mods.
OK I guess my biggest concern is latency. Using dof and emulating everything, there’s probably latency issues in at least slingshot and flipper action. That will probably need to be addressed. Maybe something like using a relay between the LEDWIZ and the solenoid and telling the script to always turn that solenoid on. Then it is only on when the game is active (ie. Tilting disables those solenoids) then wiring up the buttons directly….. And they only work when the relay has power. That least cuts out any delay I can imagine. Things like kickers where fractions of a second don’t matter won’t need that business.
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Well it took longer than expected to get most of my LEDs from ebay so it’s been on the backburner for a couple weeks. It’s also been pretty hot here in the “work room” so I haven’t spent any time working on this. I set up the slingshots and they work but am not going to fully wire them until after I wire up all the playfield lights. I have them all now and have a gameplan but just need a cooler day to work on it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mySHVpWuvnRs7KncYEjbzQT3A2ObU_nEamkW-BA_4bc/edit?usp=sharing
Here’s a viewable spreadsheet of the cost of parts I’ve purchased so far. I’m going to add anything to this list that I bought specifically for this project (minus tools I may end up buying that I don’t already have) – even if I don’t end up using them, or don’t use all of them. I’m including shipping costs, too, since that stuff adds up. The total price column is minus shipping, but includes total quantity, so if I bought 2 of something, the price listed is for both combined.
I’ll get a video up when I install all the lights and get the slingshots wired and have it hooked up to the LEDWIZ for a fun demo.
Obviously since it’s warm I haven’t been able to work on any VP Tables either! I do have two that are near completion. I’ve not abandoned VP just yet!
So far, I have spent $500.27 on parts and $27.72 on shipping. All in all not bad and I still have a lot of fabrication ahead of me that will save on BOM cost. I’ll be adding raw materials to the BOM though so it’s not negligible.
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Pictures and video!!!!
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Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
So if you haven't downloaded app yet what are you waiting for!?
for IOS and Android********************************************************
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