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)