Thursday, December 30, 2010
pinball in the house
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Soundboard
So I realize there's no way I'm going to design an I/O board. Don't have the time, don't have the patience, and I figure if it's too hard for me, it's probably hard for many others. It's my intent to make the simplest pinball possible so that others might also build one when they thought they couldn't.
Initially I thought using an IPAC board connected to a PC with soundboard software might be the easiest, but this is also the most wasteful. I mean your having to run a PC which will end up using at least 100W of power, plus boot time, plus cost of Operating system (if you want to be legit). So then I thought what about those little recorders. They have them in greeting cards, keychains, etc. For each target that makes a noise, I could have one of these boards hooked up, and then have one of those rocker momentary switches activate it
Of course, most of these boards make you record with a crappy mic, and if you ever decided to replace all the sounds (new theme, updated sounds of current theme), you'd have to dig the boards out, re-record, install them back in. Then I found this:
For $5 on ebay, you get a board with a removable memory chip (which sticks into a USB dongle), and depending on sample rate you can record up to 52 seconds (wave or mp3). I figure this is probably the simplest and easiest way to add sound to a pinball without complicated logic. I would probably nix the weak speaker and run every board into one main amp/speaker system so it sounded good.
Initially I thought using an IPAC board connected to a PC with soundboard software might be the easiest, but this is also the most wasteful. I mean your having to run a PC which will end up using at least 100W of power, plus boot time, plus cost of Operating system (if you want to be legit). So then I thought what about those little recorders. They have them in greeting cards, keychains, etc. For each target that makes a noise, I could have one of these boards hooked up, and then have one of those rocker momentary switches activate it
For $5 on ebay, you get a board with a removable memory chip (which sticks into a USB dongle), and depending on sample rate you can record up to 52 seconds (wave or mp3). I figure this is probably the simplest and easiest way to add sound to a pinball without complicated logic. I would probably nix the weak speaker and run every board into one main amp/speaker system so it sounded good.
Pinball theme
The ultimate question. What theme would be the coolest? What would bring you joy to keep you motivated to keep working on it? I thought office space would be neat.
Think about it. You could have the fax machine getting banged around by the ball while an audio bite played "PC LOAD LETTER? WTF DOES THAT MEAN?!" You could have a lower playing field like blackhole
And then play the soundbite of Lumberg talking to Milton "Yeaaah.. we're moving some new people in, so your going to need to go ahead and move all your stuff to the basement"
Of course, probably a funnier theme that would fit a pinball title would be Tommy boy.. something like this:
Have a blue GTX in the middle of the playing field, everytime you hit it, it plays chris farley going "What'd you do?" And then you could have that scene where Tommy is in the buyer's office and starts messing with the cars on his desk
Or how about when Spade starts beating Chris with the 2x4?
Think about it. You could have the fax machine getting banged around by the ball while an audio bite played "PC LOAD LETTER? WTF DOES THAT MEAN?!" You could have a lower playing field like blackhole
And then play the soundbite of Lumberg talking to Milton "Yeaaah.. we're moving some new people in, so your going to need to go ahead and move all your stuff to the basement"
Of course, probably a funnier theme that would fit a pinball title would be Tommy boy.. something like this:
Or how about when Spade starts beating Chris with the 2x4?
Eureka!
I should be working on my MAME cabinet. Am I? Of course not!. I finally got an idea of how to do the flippers. I don't want to mess with solenoids, and I don't want to mess with 48v power supplies. I thought "What else could I use as an actuator for flippers? something simple, something cheap, would be nice if it ran on 12v.. Wait! How do power locks work? It's an actuator, and it runs on 12v! Seems like most have about 1-2lbs of force, some of the bigger ones used on trucks are as high as 10lbs (little bit more weight than a gallon of milk). If you've ever seen how an power door lock actuator works, it's pretty simple. Basically it's a high speed motor, and has a gearbox to increase torque:
I decided to start off cheap and simple, bought a heavy duty door lock off ebay for $5 shipped, what can I lose? I mean if it's too weak, I can certainly use it for something else (power door lock for a bedroom door?) If this actuator really works out, I can use it everywhere. I can use it on the flippers, I can use it to eject the ball to the ramp, I can use it to move objects, I can use it to create my own bumpers.
Then I realized.. If I could truly create a 12v pinball machine, how simple that makes it. Most pinballs need 40-50v power for flippers, 12v for the electronics. If everything runs on 12v, it not only eliminates a power source, but 12v power supplies are cheap cheap cheap. I once modded a friend's dart machine to run off a computer power supply to replace the linear transformer that died, and it totally worked. All you have to do is create a load (couple LED's on the 3.3v), and it stays on (ATX turns off after 2 seconds if there is no load).. Computer power supplies, even in the 400 watt range can be had for $20 new (less if used).
Also, 12v is much safer than 48v (try shorting out a 48v battery and see the sparks that fly off it).
Know what else? 12v means it could run off of a car battery or AGM cell. That's right, you could in theory have a portable pinball that needs no AC power. And then, add a solar panel or two to recharge the battery, and you have a truly off the grid pinball machine.
Lights? I would totally make everything LED. White LED's are just as bright as incadescent (especially regarding a pinball machine). Most LED's run on between 1-3v. My rear 3rd brake light is an array of LED's. Had a friend help me build a simple circuit (LM337 that ensures 12v from the car battery since it can range from 10-14.4v). Then once you have a consistant 12v supply, you run a group of LED's in series. In other words, let's say you have 2v LED's, and your voltage is 12v. That means you wire up 6 LED's in series, and hook up 12v. Wire up another 6 LED's in series, hook up to 12v (and so on). Why don't I just use a resistor to reduce voltage? Guess what, when you do that, your wasting energy through heat. Why fight it.
So then I thought "Ok, so I could actually build what I want with simple parts. Now how would I design the playfield?" Like I've said in the past, I find the pinball emulators so hard to work with. I do however have great skill in solidworks since I use it everyday at work. And you know what, in just an hour time, I was able to model up this:
Now I can lay out the playfield exactly how I want (even multi-levels)
I decided to start off cheap and simple, bought a heavy duty door lock off ebay for $5 shipped, what can I lose? I mean if it's too weak, I can certainly use it for something else (power door lock for a bedroom door?) If this actuator really works out, I can use it everywhere. I can use it on the flippers, I can use it to eject the ball to the ramp, I can use it to move objects, I can use it to create my own bumpers.
Then I realized.. If I could truly create a 12v pinball machine, how simple that makes it. Most pinballs need 40-50v power for flippers, 12v for the electronics. If everything runs on 12v, it not only eliminates a power source, but 12v power supplies are cheap cheap cheap. I once modded a friend's dart machine to run off a computer power supply to replace the linear transformer that died, and it totally worked. All you have to do is create a load (couple LED's on the 3.3v), and it stays on (ATX turns off after 2 seconds if there is no load).. Computer power supplies, even in the 400 watt range can be had for $20 new (less if used).
Also, 12v is much safer than 48v (try shorting out a 48v battery and see the sparks that fly off it).
Know what else? 12v means it could run off of a car battery or AGM cell. That's right, you could in theory have a portable pinball that needs no AC power. And then, add a solar panel or two to recharge the battery, and you have a truly off the grid pinball machine.
Lights? I would totally make everything LED. White LED's are just as bright as incadescent (especially regarding a pinball machine). Most LED's run on between 1-3v. My rear 3rd brake light is an array of LED's. Had a friend help me build a simple circuit (LM337 that ensures 12v from the car battery since it can range from 10-14.4v). Then once you have a consistant 12v supply, you run a group of LED's in series. In other words, let's say you have 2v LED's, and your voltage is 12v. That means you wire up 6 LED's in series, and hook up 12v. Wire up another 6 LED's in series, hook up to 12v (and so on). Why don't I just use a resistor to reduce voltage? Guess what, when you do that, your wasting energy through heat. Why fight it.
So then I thought "Ok, so I could actually build what I want with simple parts. Now how would I design the playfield?" Like I've said in the past, I find the pinball emulators so hard to work with. I do however have great skill in solidworks since I use it everyday at work. And you know what, in just an hour time, I was able to model up this:
Now I can lay out the playfield exactly how I want (even multi-levels)
pinball ideas floating in my head
Ok, so to re-iterate, this is a long term goal that probably won't happen for a while, but everytime I think about it I get excited. Probably the person that plants the idea in my head more than anyone is ben heck. Oh no, it wasn't enough that you built a custom Bill Paxton pinball from scratch, now your making a custom pinball based on the TV show lost. He mentions building custom I/O boards for handling all the lights / solenoids / scoring / display and I get discouraged. If I were to ever build one, it certainly wouldn't have any intelligence.
I did find this video where a guy basically used the metal pinball and some wires to join contact, and the same IPAC board to interface keys, cept instead of joystick/buttons, your simply using the same terminal to press keyboard commands, which in turn makes sounds play in a free program:
http://www.soundplant.org/download.htm
Then I found an old video jeri elsworth made where she said when she was 14 and built her own pinball, and didn't know enough about electronics, she hacked a calculator (bypassed the buttons, and made traces to make the contact to press a button and then the plus key to add it).
I may totally integrate something like this too. Granted it's not flashy, it's not keeping count of millions of points, but it's better than no scoring. Like she says in the video, you would still need to block it from going the opposite direction so the logic doesn't get screwed up (+ 1 instead of 1 +).
Then I also came across this site:
http://www.millisoft.de/pinsys_en.html
Apparently some german college students have put in a lot of work to create exactly what I'm (and every other custom pinball builder dreamer) looking for. It's an I/O board connected to a PC, "easily" configured software for controlling everything (lights, solenoids, scoring, display, etc). They talk about text editors which I'm not keen on. I tried creating a virtual pinball inside future pinball software and I just got lost (someone should write a book for dummies). Also there doesn't seem to be any pricing on the site, so who knows what it costs.
Always been fascinated by marble machines, always thought it would be cool to create some sort of crazy multiball with a simple lift system like this:
Of course do you know what would be REALLY cool? If someone somehow integrated features from this beloved classic animation from sesame street (would HAVE to play the song too):
I did find this video where a guy basically used the metal pinball and some wires to join contact, and the same IPAC board to interface keys, cept instead of joystick/buttons, your simply using the same terminal to press keyboard commands, which in turn makes sounds play in a free program:
http://www.soundplant.org/download.htm
Then I found an old video jeri elsworth made where she said when she was 14 and built her own pinball, and didn't know enough about electronics, she hacked a calculator (bypassed the buttons, and made traces to make the contact to press a button and then the plus key to add it).
I may totally integrate something like this too. Granted it's not flashy, it's not keeping count of millions of points, but it's better than no scoring. Like she says in the video, you would still need to block it from going the opposite direction so the logic doesn't get screwed up (+ 1 instead of 1 +).
Then I also came across this site:
http://www.millisoft.de/pinsys_en.html
Apparently some german college students have put in a lot of work to create exactly what I'm (and every other custom pinball builder dreamer) looking for. It's an I/O board connected to a PC, "easily" configured software for controlling everything (lights, solenoids, scoring, display, etc). They talk about text editors which I'm not keen on. I tried creating a virtual pinball inside future pinball software and I just got lost (someone should write a book for dummies). Also there doesn't seem to be any pricing on the site, so who knows what it costs.
Always been fascinated by marble machines, always thought it would be cool to create some sort of crazy multiball with a simple lift system like this:
Of course do you know what would be REALLY cool? If someone somehow integrated features from this beloved classic animation from sesame street (would HAVE to play the song too):
Taste of pinball
Looking at lots of videos on youtube.. Everything from hacking an arcade pinball to run your own code (PROC)
To people handcrafting their own pinballs from scratch using existing switches:
To this REALLY amazing completely mechanical (no electrical at all) pinball machine
I may at some point build something similar like the last one. I'm fairly electrically stupid, and I REALLY like mechanical because it's easier to fix (and doesn't require power), and I like the idea of trying to make something modern with an archaic approach. Flashing lights and sounds are cool, yet destracting. There's something about a nice clean raw table to make it fun.
Also the other day I stopped at a gameworks to play some of the newer Stern pinball machines, namely IRON Man and Avatar. I must say, both played very well, and it's good to see there's still creative pinball designers around.
To people handcrafting their own pinballs from scratch using existing switches:
To this REALLY amazing completely mechanical (no electrical at all) pinball machine
I may at some point build something similar like the last one. I'm fairly electrically stupid, and I REALLY like mechanical because it's easier to fix (and doesn't require power), and I like the idea of trying to make something modern with an archaic approach. Flashing lights and sounds are cool, yet destracting. There's something about a nice clean raw table to make it fun.
Also the other day I stopped at a gameworks to play some of the newer Stern pinball machines, namely IRON Man and Avatar. I must say, both played very well, and it's good to see there's still creative pinball designers around.
DIY pinball
So like every pinball fan, I dream about making my own custom one. Ben heck made his own bill paxton pinball:
But of course I think Ben Heck is a genius
Then there's jeri ellsworth:
Who is also a genius (though not complete, she seems like she can tackle any mechanical or electrical challenge).
Then there's me, a mechanical engineer who could probably BUILD a pinball table, but I wouldn't have a clue how to keep score, much less drive a dot matrix display. Of course I also don't have to aim that high either to have a functioning pinball. I also thought about ways of simplifying pinball. Ideally I wish someone would invent an open source program where you could setup target values, even combo values, multipliers, etc. But since that doesn't exist, I would have to do it manually.
To start off, rather than going with the standard solenoid flippers (which wear out, get weak "especially if you keep the flipper on for extended periods of time"). Also, solenoids usually run off 50v, and need capacitors to store a charge, and it has to be pulsed (complicated). I thought what if I just created flippers that were driven by a fulcrum attached to a servo. Turns out they now make high torque servos, one I found has a quick .030 second operating speed:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9982
Now for the targets. Every target should have a sound, which could be difficult to do through circuitry. However (again keeping it simple), I thought what if I wired the targets with a switch, which activates a simple sound chip:
http://www.amazon.com/sec-Button-Recordable-Sound-Chips/dp/B002KRI5NK
Then it keeps each target separate, easy to replace, easy to reprogram for custom sounds. Now as for scoring, I thought maybe if each target somehow triggered an LED with a specific flash (say 1 flash for each 10 points), and an LED diode would receive this data and pulse to some sort of generic scoreboard.
But of course I think Ben Heck is a genius
Then there's jeri ellsworth:
Who is also a genius (though not complete, she seems like she can tackle any mechanical or electrical challenge).
Then there's me, a mechanical engineer who could probably BUILD a pinball table, but I wouldn't have a clue how to keep score, much less drive a dot matrix display. Of course I also don't have to aim that high either to have a functioning pinball. I also thought about ways of simplifying pinball. Ideally I wish someone would invent an open source program where you could setup target values, even combo values, multipliers, etc. But since that doesn't exist, I would have to do it manually.
To start off, rather than going with the standard solenoid flippers (which wear out, get weak "especially if you keep the flipper on for extended periods of time"). Also, solenoids usually run off 50v, and need capacitors to store a charge, and it has to be pulsed (complicated). I thought what if I just created flippers that were driven by a fulcrum attached to a servo. Turns out they now make high torque servos, one I found has a quick .030 second operating speed:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9982
Now for the targets. Every target should have a sound, which could be difficult to do through circuitry. However (again keeping it simple), I thought what if I wired the targets with a switch, which activates a simple sound chip:
http://www.amazon.com/sec-Button-Recordable-Sound-Chips/dp/B002KRI5NK
Then it keeps each target separate, easy to replace, easy to reprogram for custom sounds. Now as for scoring, I thought maybe if each target somehow triggered an LED with a specific flash (say 1 flash for each 10 points), and an LED diode would receive this data and pulse to some sort of generic scoreboard.
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