Convert pinball to virtual pinball

[BillyCarpenter]

A ton of parts were delivered today for my new build. The fan that I ordered is sick. It's small but man does it move some air. It's a bilge pump that is used in the engine compartment of a boat to remove toxic fumes.

The model is: Atwood Turbo 4000.

When I turned it on, it sucked up a screw that was laying close to the intake. Kinda caught me off guard when the screw hit the wall on the other side of the room. lol

I have it mount on the top of the backbox and the air hits me right in the face. That's gonna be a nice effect.

[BillyCarpenter]

Thought I'd give an update.

I'm glad that I decided to redo the electronics in my VP. It's much better in that many of the ports are now PWM - Pulse Width Modulated. So, instead of every output port being a 1 or 0 (on or off) the signal on the PWM ports can be vaired to control the speed of a motor or the brightness of a light.

Also, I bought the expansion board and am now able to add more devices such as stobes, fans, or whatever. The new boards also offer more protection.

I have been working on this rebuild every chance I get. I'm going to painstacking lengths to make sure it's perfect. Or as close as I can get it.

Any wires that need to be spliced are being soldered and heat shrink applied.

It's surprising the chanlleges that I've run into. Here's an example.

There are 2 kinds of push buttons that I'm using. On is the micro-swith type. That works for navigation thru the software (games) but not so much for the flipper buttons. It causes a delay and throws the time off pretty bad. The solution is to use a leaf-spring switch. That's what's used in a real pinball machine. But after installing, I still had to adjust the "contacts" on the leaf springs. They look like "points" on the old car that used a distributor cap. Some of you know what that is? Anyway, I adjusted until I got the "points" almost touching. With the naked eye, it's hard to tell because they're that close. I pulled out my ohm meter to make sure they weren't. The end result is now the signal is sent from the button to the PC as soon as you press down...you don't have to fully press. The timing is now perfect.

I also encounter a lot of drama getting the AC/DC graphics printed for my cabinet. This is partly my fault for sending all the money upfront. I thought I got ripped off. The owner stopped answering my calls and would occassionaly respond by text. I got excuse after excuse. This has been going on for a couple of months. I think. I've lost track of time. We're talking about $375.00 so as you can image, I was upset. I had to play it cool and FINALLY he refunded my money. Except for $50 that he kept. He's a fucking crook but I was happy to get most of my money back.

I found a new company to design and print my graphics and he's almost ready to ship. He's a good guy.

Well, that's all for now.

[allan]

The solution is to use a leaf-spring switch. That's what's used in a real pinball machine. But after installing, I still had to adjust the "contacts" on the leaf springs. They look like "points" on the old car that used a distributor cap. Some of you know what that is? Anyway, I adjusted until I got the "points" almost touching. With the naked eye, it's hard to tell because they're that close. I pulled out my ohm meter to make sure they weren't. The end result is now the signal is sent from the button to the PC as soon as you press down...you don't have to fully press. The timing is now perfect.

My family have this old Nissan mini pickup that had been serviced by the same guy for the last 6 years. It struggled to start for a while and its been in for repairs but does not get any better. Talking to the mechanic he explains that he just can't put his finger on the issue and it must be a wiring bug. So i had a look at it the point were so covered in carbon it was ridiculous. Went back to him and ask him when last he changed out the points and condenser. To my surprise he did not know what I was referring to. He actually did not know how this basic system worked he assumed it was an electronic system with a distributor for timing. 30 years later and that Japanese motor still runs flawlessly.

Yea fair of you to assume that even mechanics in these times does not know what points are.

So when are you starting on the next VP?

[BillyCarpenter]

So when are you starting on the next VP?

I never say never but unless pigs start to fly, I don't plan to build another one. Between the hardware and the software, it's a real bear of a challenge. Not to mention that finding the parts is an adventue. To be fair, a lot of that had to do with this being my first build and doing the trial an error thing until I found what works best. Did I mention the woodwork? My last name is Carpenter but I mostly suck at capenter work. Not no, but hell no.

My family have this old Nissan mini pickup that had been serviced by the same guy for the last 6 years. It struggled to start for a while and its been in for repairs but does not get any better. Talking to the mechanic he explains that he just can't put his finger on the issue and it must be a wiring bug. So i had a look at it the point were so covered in carbon it was ridiculous. Went back to him and ask him when last he changed out the points and condenser. To my surprise he did not know what I was referring to. He actually did not know how this basic system worked he assumed it was an electronic system with a distributor for timing. 30 years later and that Japanese motor still runs flawlessly.

Yea fair of you to assume that even mechanics in these times does not know what points are.

I spent a lot of time working on vehicles back in the day. It went from points to a rotor cap to coil packs.

[slimslob]

Thought I'd give an update.

I'm glad that I decided to redo the electronics in my VP. It's much better in that many of the ports are now PWM - Pulse Width Modulated. So, instead of every output port being a 1 or 0 (on or off) the signal on the PWM ports can be vaired to control the speed of a motor or the brightness of a light.

I remember decades ago either Popular Electronics or Electronics Illustrated had an electronics project for slowing down electric windshield wiper by pulsing the voltage to the motor in stead of using a rheostat to limit current. It applied full voltage during the pulses to avoid having the motor stall.

[BillyCarpenter]

I remember decades ago either Popular Electronics or Electronics Illustrated had an electronics project for slowing down electric windshield wiper by pulsing the voltage to the motor in stead of using a rheostat to limit current. It applied full voltage during the pulses to avoid having the motor stall.

There's actually a movie about the man who invented the windshield wiper delay. It's a great movie. The name: Flash of Genius.

Long story short, Ford fucked him out of his invention and he desended into insanity. I won't say anymore. Give it watch.

Trailer:

[BillyCarpenter]

The AC/DC vinyl wrap for my VP cabinet arrived today. I had to move heaven & hell to get this done.


I like it??



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[BillyCarpenter]

There's a couple of major additons to the VP that I'm working on. One of those is the sound system and I went way overboard. This has got to be the baddest sound system ever in a pinball machine.

Here's what I have:

350 watt Kenwood amp.

6" Memphis Audio Speakers

12" powered Klipsch Home Subwoofer. (big fan of Klipsch)

I'm listening to youtube on it right now and the bass hits hard and the midrange and highs are very good.

The other addition I'm working on is adding addressable LED's that work with the ROM's of each pinball machine. This is the most complex of anything I've done thus far. More on that later. It's a work in progress for many reasons.

[copier addict]

There's a couple of major additons to the VP that I'm working on. One of those is the sound system and I went way overboard. This has got to be the baddest sound system ever in a pinball machine.

Here's what I have:

350 watt Kenwood amp.

6" Memphis Audio Speakers

12" powered Klipsch Home Subwoofer. (big fan of Klipsch)

I'm listening to youtube on it right now and the bass hits hard and the midrange and highs are very good.

The other addition I'm working on is adding addressable LED's that work with the ROM's of each pinball machine. This is the most complex of anything I've done thus far. More on that later. It's a work in progress for many reasons.

You have no one to blame but yourself how complex this project has become Billy. Lol. Although I'm sure the end result will be awesome.

PS: Just so others know, this comment is meant to be humourous, not an attack.

[BillyCarpenter]

You have no one to blame but yourself how complex this project has become Billy. Lol. Although I'm sure the end result will be awesome.

PS: Just so others know, this comment is meant to be humourous, not an attack.

What's up, homie? I knew you'd miss me. lol


You have no idea how complex this project has become. Once I'm finished, I'll go into detail about the things that I've done and what it involved.

PS - I just went and picked up all the metal parts from the powder coating shop. Check it out. Perfect color match with the AC/DC graphics.





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