New DIY USB Pinball Plunger

[gscott69]

I wanted to share my design for a DIY USB pinball plunger with everyone here. I know there are other proven designs out there already, but I wanted to try my own version. This shooter is designed to work with an inexpensive plunger available from multiple sources. I got mine for $20 from Amazon, but AliExpress is cheaper.
It requires a 600P/R 5VDC Incremental Rotary Encoder with a 6mm shaft, and an Arduino Pro Micro development board. Both available on Amazon and many other sources.
This setup emulates a USB mouse Y-axis movement. Other free 3rd party applications (vJoy and MousePlunger) are required for this to work with pinball emulators.

Links to all required parts and files are included in the instructions on my Google drive at https://bit.ly/diy_pinball_shooter

All of the files are all free to download and print. I want to give back to the community that gave me the opportunity to play pinball at home! Thank you to all of the amazing people who put so much work into making these tables, emulators, and front ends. Without them, life would be a lot less fun.

I made this for my laptop based mini pinball cabinet built from scrap wood and old parts. Since I’m limited financially, I wanted to use parts I already had on-hand. I use this rotary encoder and Arduino setup for my DIY USB arcade spinner, and I have a few left. Once I found the MousePlunger utility by NailBuster, I knew I had to make this. After several tries, I finally got the design that worked the way I wanted it to. I’m really pleased with how it responds, and the fact that it doesn’t need any calibration makes it very easy to set up and start playing.

Let me know if you decide to make one of these and how it works out for you. I’d love to hear some feedback from the community.

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[Thalamus]

I applaud guys like you, creating alternative DIY solutions that you share free for the community. I’ve, of course, already have a good working one. But, I still appreciate your work.

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gscott69

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