Leaf switch no more

So one thing I wanted to eliminate was leaf switches, and for good reason:
1. They are expensive.  $5 at a minimum, and they are essentially copper strips with carbon pads.
2. They wear out.  Those tiny pads with sparks wearing them with every hit means you'll be replacing them
3. They can get damaged.  How many old pinballs have you seen where the strip looks more warped than a noodle?
4. The contacts are exposed, so they also get dirty.

I thought about creating a mechanism to use a common cherry switch you see in joystick buttons, but then I found this:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sms-196/spdt-snap-action-switch-w/lever/1.html

In small bulk (I need at least 7 for my layout), they are only about $2 a piece.  They come with nice long arms that extend almost a full 2 inches beyond the body, they handle up to 15 amps, and they are fully enclosed so they are far less likely to fail.  I plan on buying some of these, then model them up so I can create a bracket to mount it.  The bracket will have slots so that I can also adjust the position to tweak how much force it takes to set it off.  Often you have slings where the leaf switches aren't straight, and the sling solenoid doesn't always fire.


One other problem I thought of today, the cabinet I have is late 70's, which means it's very boxy (doesn't have the angled cabinet).  Because of this, and the fact that the back of my playfield has objects that are 4 inches higher than the apron, it's going to make the flippers 6" away from the glass.  This also means I have to make custom lockdown hangers to drop the front of the playfield down into the cabinet.  This isn't really the issue though, my issue is that this is if I make the playfield parallel with the cabinet, this means no playfield angle :-0

I believe I have a solution, pretty sure Sega/Stern legs have the same bolt pitch, so I can put Sega legs in the back, keep bally/williams in front (3" height difference).  The other 3" can be made up with the leg levelers (down in front, extended in the rear).  I can also buy longer levelers from Mcmaster if I need more height.

Trough installed

In order for it to fit better, I did cut a slot into the bottom rail for the solenoid to slide without hitting, but it seems like it functions nicely.  Now I just need to get the rails installed and wire up some buttons.


I also ordered a 24" LCD monitor on friday.  It's refurbished, but they took paypal and since I had funds in there it's as if it were free.  $110 shipped isn't too bad for a viewsonic
http://www.viewsonic.com/us/va2431wm.html

backbox fabbed

Well it's done.  Gaps are bigger than I wanted, I think I needed to make the dowel holes a bit deeper.  But with glue filling them, sanding the transitions, and adding some paint / decals it should look fine.  Mounted the speakers tilted down so the sound hits you.  I did have to add 4 screws to help stiffen up the joints a bit.  2 dowels per joint was just not sufficient.  I still need to drill the mounting holes that line up with the cabinet threads, and add a cutout in the center to route cables through.

Also got the siderails done.  Was going to use the bandsaw, but a co-worker told me maintenance has a shear for straight cuts.  It was only 36" wide (which makes it hard to cut since my piece was 36" plus I'm cutting at an angle), but after splitting up a 12" wide piece it fit just fine.

Basically I'm doing this to not only not worry about my gaps between playfield and cabinet, but I can add sideart without worrying that I'm going to scratch it (it's part of the playfield).  And bonus, in theory, I could play a game completely outside the cabinet since it will be completely enclosed.

another small update

So I'm building the backbox.  The right angle clamp tool is great.  I went ahead and drilled my 15/32" holes, dribbled some glue, and hammered 1/4" diameter dowels into the holes.  Once it's pounded together, I let it sit in the clamp to keep it at 90 degrees as it dries.  To be sure it stays that way, I'm going to do just one joint until it dries.  I may buy 3 more of these at some point so I can build an entire box all at once, and have a cured box in the morning.  I also cut holes in a separate piece to mount the speakers, they included a great template to mark the holes.

I checked my tracking, the aluminum sheets are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow at work, so I'm going to try to get those cut tomorrow and bring them home for the weekend.  If I manage to get everything mounted, I may be flipping by next week.. into an empty abyss :-)

Foam-core here we come!

small update

So I went ahead and ordered the aluminum sheet for the sides (going to split it myself).  Onlinemetals.com had the best price, also seem to be the most reputable, plus they accept paypal to boot.  I had it shipped to work both because it's $2 cheaper than residential, and because I'll need to cut it anyway (there's a nice big bandsaw).  $26 for 12" x 36" x 1/16" thick 5050 aluminum aint bad.

I also decided to paint the trough parts.  Even though you'll almost never see them under the apron, I just didn't like how bad they were pitted.  I debated it because I was worried the ball would start flaking off paint, but I did buy appliance paint which is partially epoxy.  If it's hard enough for appliance abuse, it should handle a shiny steel ball in a home envoirnment.

I also ordered this handy little tool I had no idea existed!
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007GIN24/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I should have figured something like this existed.  Basically it allows you to make a 90-degree joint in wood by clamping them in a perfect 90-degree vise.  This will really come in handy for the backbox, not to mention other stuff.  I'll probably use dowel pins + screws to make a nice strong joint.

speakers + amp came in

So after fedex delivered a day late, I'm definitely happy, $40 well spent.  The amp puts out clean sound, as do the speakers.  I could distort them if I went past halfway, but the sound is cranking pretty loud at that point.  I got some pretty good bass even with the speakers out in the open, it should really rumble once it's mounted in a panel inside the backbox.  Here's a quick test video:

Old playfield stripped

I'm realizing there's less parts I could use from the donor playfield than I realized.  I have completely new flipper assemblies which I'm glad I bought.  Old pinballs didn't have nearly the oomph, plus the mechs are probably pretty worn at this point.  I'm definitely re-using the trough assembly, doesn't seem like you can easily buy a new one even if you wanted to (at least not for cheap).  Going to re-use the sling mechs, but I'll be replacing the leaf switches.  Not going to have pop bumpers, and if I did I'd buy new ones.  Thought about salvaging the spinners, but they're usually a pain to work with.  I salvaged whatever screws that didn't have stripped heads, saved the dirty bands just so I have something temporary should I decide I need a wall.

I do have the flippers all assembled, in theory if I wanted to I could wire them up and start flipping, but it would be pretty senseless since there's no barriers.  At the very least I need to order the aluminum sheet to make the side walls.  I'd also like to figure out how I'm going to do the ball drain.  The trough I have actually fastens from underneath on the left, coming up to the top through a hole mounting to the top right.  I think to keep things simple (at least for now), I'm not going to have any ball save mode from the ship (like woz).  Once you drain, you get a chance to rack up some bonus points.  Eventually if I get some more channels, I may have a mode where if you hit so many targets, a door opens up that you can shoot into which launches the ball back onto the playfield.  I'd rather tackle that later so I don't get bogged down.