Here's my direct fit replacement for the captive ball plastic (-04) on Willy Wonka Pinball. JJP was happy to send me a new one but it was going to cost $9 to ship it. I made one while I was thinking about the shipping cost until I remembered they owed me some new drones for my Dialed In so I paid the shipping at that point. Wouldn't have made sense otherwise for 20 cents worth of plastic.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4679354

20200914_095500 (Large) (resized).jpg

Some sling protectors I made for my Willy Wonka.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4679386

20201017_113438 (Medium) (resized).jpg

The topper I made for my Willy Wonka. It was the first thing I designed in tinkercad and the second thing I printed on my 3d printer.
It barely fits under the glass. Clear for the smoke bubble and whatever color you want for the topper. I actually ended up spraying mine brown textured stone paint or some stuff.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4679412

20200617_210205 (Large) (resized).jpg

Yes, PETG,edited my post.

What width did you print at? Looks like some pretty fine layers, 0.1 or 0.2mm nozzle, or did the paint fill it in some?

So we're posting all our thingiverse links here?

I made a few more functional prints.

JJP pirates - fixed ramp support (PMC has the better adjustable version of this)
JJP pirates - 2x target support
JJP pirates - black pearl opto clip
Stern xmen - minified wolverine (for the newton ball mod)
Stern - generic target support brackets

https://www.thingiverse.com/koopertrooper/designs

The picture you see isn't painted. it was probably .4 nozzle and at .2 layer height because I didn't know any better at the time. I now have a .2 or .3 nozzle on my ender and print as close to .08, .1, .12 layer height as much as possible.
I ended up painting it because I thought I'd be making another one but never did. It's in my game now as you see in this picture taken 3 minutes ago.
20201208_182356 (resized).jpg

PETG is certainly the best choice for this type of regular use thing.

Frustrating though, haven’t been able to get a clean print with it personally

Some cool tools I use for pins routinely on Thingverse...

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=fuse+puller&type=things&sort=relevant

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=soldering&type=things&sort=relevant

Which one of the fuse pullers do you recommend? I've found the yellow plastic one that cones with the kit to be useless. I have a special pair of metal pliers that work well, but I have broken the glass a couple times.

I know what you mean. You have to slightly raise the nozzle from where you have it set for PLA, as you’re not supposed to squish it as much. I got some amazing prints out of it for a while, and switched to ABS recently. Thinking I’ll switch back soon

My ABS prints always curl and split at layers. PETG, I can at least get usable prints, but with much more stringing. I have a different powder coated build plate that I use specifically for PETG, and that helps prevent it from welding prints to the normal plate I use for PLA. Finally, I also struggle with PETG remnants in the extruder when I switch back to PLA. With all the challenges, I avoid using it, despite it being stronger.

I'm learning that A) ABS smells pretty bad, and is toxic, and people are switching to PETG as a result, and B) you need a small, temp controlled enclosure or a room (I just close my office door and leave!) in order to avoid the curling. It seems to need a lot longer to cool down, and must do so slowly, so if it get a blast of cold air (even minimally colder), it will start shrinking, which leads to the curling.

Yes I was printing with PETG the other day. All going well for the first 30 mins, so I walked away. Went to check print 20 mins later and it just started separating from bed. Heat pump had started and cooler air comes out before heat. That's all it took. Reprint with vent closed and portable heater on.

I have been having great luck with the prusa and prusa PETG. Although I have to say i used Hatchbox PETG once and it was problematic. The Prusa PETG works great for me. parts come off the build plate pretty easily, Then i peel off the Toothpick and the border with a flat razor blade, Give the plate a quick shot with Scotch brite and wipe with Alcohol. (that's if you can find any Alcohol) and on to the next part. I never watch the machine anymore. It just works. I don't even wait for it to heat up and start first layer anymore.

Of course having said this in a public forum, the house will probably burn down tomorrow....

Great to hear. I have a Prusa coming this week.

Yep. My Prusa is also set-and-forget. I’m going back to PETG after I finish this roll of ABS though.

If you don't mind paying the premium Prusa is definitely the way to go. Just shit that works, by people who care and never stop trying to make it work better.

I use dedicated build plates for each material. I prep the plate for PETG with Windex, and alcohol for the PLA (per the Prusa manual). I get excellent results with both, and haven’t had any issues switching between materials. I do push a little extra through during the change filament procedure just to be sure.

I really like the Prusa filaments, both PETG and PLA. I wish shipping wasn’t so costly. Hatchbox PLA is a little stringy. Amazon Basics PLA is a stringy mess. I could probably dial some of that out with my slicer settings. I just haven’t spent the time and effort.

We run three ender3s nearly nonstop and only run PLA because we don’t have access to good ventilation to run other material. These ender3s, which we’ve upgraded some parts, have pretty much been flawless. We have replaced a hot end on one, and get an occasional clog, like one every few months, but otherwise, they work well. We do have to re-level the bed every now and then, which can be a pain, but I’d say it’s pretty rare. No adhesion issues, we use acetone to clean the bed. What’s the main benefit(s) of the Prusa, which costs 4x more? Is it that they are more versatile and handle a broader set of material better?

Automatic bed levelling
Z-height control to the ten-thousandths of a mm
Even after upgrading springs, I had to re-level my Ender after -every single- print. Never have to level again ever

Keeps track of settings for individual filament material when you change

Automatic filament loading, including when the sensor detects filament has run out. The print immediately stops and records its last position until you refill it

Pretty sure the slicer is better than CURA, I never have runaway code errors or have to stop a print halfway through to re-slice and rotate the object on the bed

Dual z-axis threaded rods so no “sag”, no wearing down rubber wheels

Spring steel magnetic print surface. This is a game changer. You can get multiple for various filament materials, and you can take the whole thing off and flex it to pop all the parts off. Even ABS, even PETG. And you -don’t have to re-level afterwards!

And the biggest one for me: no constant fiddling snd tinkering with the printer just to get it to do it’s job

Lots of people have great experiences with the Ender. I was not one of them. I upgraded the fans, extruder, firmware, countless other parts, and was still spending hours messing with the printer. That couple hundred bucks hurt at first, but my time is way more valuable. The Ender was the best sales job for the Prusa ever. As someone else stated earlier, now I just hit print and come back in a few hours and it’s done.

Thanks, those are some nice benefits. If we start having issues, I’ll be looking toward a Prusa.

I do feel it's paid for itself in time savings worth it - I'm mostly printing little bits and bobs in between work calls right now, although have also started on building a full-size R2-D2, so I'm printing a lot of the little accoutrements (the arms, the grilles, knobs, etc) that aren't metal parts. It's pretty awesome to come into my office and see a part I actually *recognize* lol!

If I buy another printer, it will definitely be self-leveling... no matter what the cost. That's a feature that pays for itself.

I've heard these are well worth it https://www.amazon.com/Creality-Printer-Upgraded-Leveling-Sensor/dp/B082HWLNBD/ref=sr_1_3

I have one of these on my Ender 3. Game changer.

So those don't actually level anything though right? They just sense the tilt and accommodate for it in Gcode as it prints?

Correct.. ideally you want to level out the bed mechanically, then let the sensor re-adust itself. And it's also not just so you don't have to level the 4 corners, it does warp compensation for other points (depending on how many you have programmed to measure).

However, as long as your bed is level, and you lock the corners you shouldn't need auto-level. I know someone is going to comment "yea but wouldn't be nice if it did it automatically?".. No, I would rather print on a flat surface because compensation just means the part is just going to match the warp of the bed, but at least it'll stick.

There’s a way to lock the corners?!

Yep, get rid of the springs and install solid spacers. My CR-20 Pro came with solid spacers and a BLTouch from the factory. Which would have been awesome if the bed wasn't warped. I removed them, installed yellow springs and a glass print bed and went from there. I have the same setup on my Ender3.

I created some thin wheels to eliminate the springs and lock from the top on the ender3. It uses brass inserts, if you want a set of 4 let me know I'll ship you some.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3420517

I use these ones - probably 30 percent infill, but they're quick to print and I usually print off a dozen or more in case they break.

Very useful in tight spots.

And for resin printers/washers, ventilation is required. The chemical smells must be ventilated or they will damage you over time.

I'd recommend a prusa mini for a starter instead of a ender3. Yes, it's literally double the price ($380 vs $190), but the number of improvements over the ender3 are substantial and a better starting point for the 3d printing experience.

Have you used the Mini? I'm curious about it, but I don't have any experience with it as far what the real tradeoffs are vs the Mk3. $380 is definitely a reasonable price, the Ender was $300 not long ago, and people were putting enough mods to get it tuned in after that to raise the price quite a bit.

I pooh-poohed it initially (how could it be as good as the MK3/3S/3S+?), but decided to get one to check it out. It's very nice. It has features I wish the MK3S+ had, like the color screen with images of what you're printing and more stats at print time, USB instead of SD card storage, and wifi printing (yet to be enabled in firmware). It seems to print at about 95% or better the quality of the MK3S+. It's not *quite* as good, but unless you have one of each to do a print on both, you're not going to notice the difference.

The two main things I don't like are the spool handling and the external power brick. That said, I would have no problem recommending it - it's easily the best value in its price class. Getting an Ender3 and modding the crap out of it makes no sense to me because in the end you still just have a nice Ender3. Way back, I sold my Ender3 rather than go that route. The Prusa mini is next level for the entry level class. I actually bought another one after trying the first. I'm up to 6 printers and 8 extruders (2 of the printers are dual extruder) now with this addition, and some weeks I'm still maxed out on throughput.

Before I start reinveinting the wheel, anyone has designed a WPC speaker adapter to use identical speaker replacements on both sides of the DMD (I'm thinking of upgrading my CFTBL) ?

I was thinking about this recently also and saw a need. Figured might as well make some cutouts for LED strips while I'm at it. Nothing yet, but the existing speaker models would be a good starting point.

How does CFTBL mount? I just did these over the weekend for my NGG. Haven't installed them yet but the sizing looks good.
20201214_141519 (resized).jpg

Just finished my second model and print. This is a great mod from Mezel Mods and you can purchase it here for a great price. His version also has a diffuser, I just made the cover. https://mezelmods.com/collections/star-trek-pinball-mods/products/star-trek-pinball-warp-ramp-light-diffuser

The reason I chose to model this and not buy it was simply because it was a little more complex a shape compared to the speaker ring and I am trying to work my way up. I didn't make the diffuser so I painted the inside with a chrome paint to help it reflect the light a little. I forgot to take a picture before I installed it but here is what it looks like and it really makes a big difference just by blocking out the other light shining behind it.

I learned a lot about resin printing with this one and filament is the way to go for simple shapes like this. I had a lot of issues with suction and ripped of supports. I know my FEP was cloudy and a bit of a mess but my plan was to change it after printing this. It took me 3-4 attempts to get it to print and clearly I should have changed the FEP first. I didn't print it the way its picture just put it that way for the image.

It did turn out great in the end and I am super happy with it. Credit to Mezel Mods it was a great idea and very cool mod.
Capture (resized).PNGCover1 (resized).pngCover2 (resized).png

CFTBL is a pre-DCS Williams, so it has two different speakers, one 5" midrange on the left, and one 3" tweeter on the right. Most replacement speakers for pinball machines are 5" in size and provide an adapter plate to reuse the existing mounting holes for the right speaker. That's what I'm trying to find here. Although I'll probably end up redesigning one if I can't find it.

Led strips would be more difficult to add, because the right hole for units with a wooden speaker panel is smaller in size. It's hidden behind the grill, but it's there nonetheless, and of course would require a smaller led ring compared to the left one.

Alternative is to widen the opening

More details here:
http://dziedzic.us/wpc_speaker_replacement.html
and here
http://dziedzic.us/wpc_speaker_wooden_display_panel.html

Yeah...looks pretty bad just sticking lights behind the different sized holes, in my opinion. I've also seen some pictures of the actual speaker holes cut in the Williams speaker panels being really rough looking.....as in, not really round as much as they look like someone tried to make them round with a jigsaw or something. I'm sure that wasn't a big priority for them from the factory as they are normally hidden behind the speaker grills. Any rough cuts like that should also be hidden by the plastic cover on the front of the panel (at least on the left side). So if you are wanting to light them up you might want to work the panel over first. If you are going to mount a bigger speaker on the right side, lit or not, you might as well give it a bigger hole..

Lopsided Creature (resized).jpg

WPC left (resized).jpg

WPC right (resized).jpg

Great thread. Have a printer and a ton of filament I intended to start printing. Now I will.

New 3d printer, new Stern JP = T-Rex skeleton 3d print for above the pin. Meant to use as a topper, but ended up being too big once I assembled it, so put it on a shelf behind the pin. Not my 3d plan, but thought it was worth sharing.

20201216_210427 (resized).jpg

So share! Looks cool. Where can one get the file?

This one is Morpheus amazing Tombstone mod for BSD. This took a lot of sanding, shaving and fiddling to get it to fit. It was just the next step in difficulty for me.

The big question for me is what’s next, anyone have an idea for a pin in my collection?
2C417E78-A909-486D-9C0E-A72B98F72CA3 (resized).jpeg500101B8-1561-49DB-92DF-36F0720777CB (resized).jpeg

This looks like it.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:275091

Yep, that's it. I printed at 140%, which as it turns out is a good size for viewing, but longer than the top of the backbox head. Classic Homer Simpson move.

Do you have a cannon mod for your ACDC? And if so, are you happy with it?

A custom cannon shell would be a more ambitious project to tackle.