Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider faust.
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This is a separate thread to follow the apron developments and the lighting mod updates (ramp lights).
Current status:
3 protos made; it fits on the pin
Made some small mechanical adjusments and improvements. Second batch here in a week. After that it will be one production run.
I’m doing the mechanical work, Vimtoman
works on lighting.
Another Pinsider is doing the airbrushing.
Current status: see picture
47BCF15B-99A9-49C6-A37F-4DF911F36AEE (resized).jpegRegarding the apron there is only one noticable change for the next iteration; we dropped ‘limited edition’ for now.
Yes, even though we already gave it 6mm more space to the left on this one but was not enough (well we could’ve known when measuring correctly 
).It was on the improvement list and the next one will be clear.
Also improved: fixation of the apron, thinner metal.
the holes:
they will be 3D structured, yes. I will post when there are results.
Quoted from colonel_caverne:How work strobes effect? It can’t be permanent imho
It starts now when Ambush multiball is started, but lasts now a fixed amount of time (Per's strobe mod).
It is difficult to have a simple detection on when the multiball ends. If this is possible then the strobe could go on exactly the amount of time of the multiball.
Maybe @vitmoman has some ideas...
Quoted from delt31:so this apron comes with a strobe effect too during ambush?
Yes sort of, concept of the apron you can find here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/545#post-5772713
The strobe is not my invention put from Per_
About the apron:
After the prototype we made the following revisions:
-'Weapon ready light' is now in the left bottom, acid hole has moved up
-The proto had not enough spacing for the Motiontracker; fixed
-Pictures of the proto that is painted will follow shortly.
-Added easy fixing mechanism for the apron
The design is now final and all features are now fixed:
-Fully black coated apron
-new ballthrough cover metal part from stainless steel (polished). Should also help reducing bouncing back of balls into the through
-Dynamically lighted Alien logo (see videos above)
-Adjustable ambient lighting front side apron (around the flipper area)
-Adjustable strobe lighting for ambush mode/xeno
-Acid burn holes (3D)
-'Weapon Ready' text lasered out in left bottom that blinks with the 'extra ball' light in red.
-symmetric apron and now a centered drain between the flippers (the original is off-center in case you have not noticed)
-Space is left for scorecards and I will make magnetic scorecards. 1 scorecard has the weapon info on the 4 weapons, the other scorecard is currently just art.
-No visible screws (detail)
Now my summer is over and I'm back to work, so things move much slower and I will make only one small production run for those who want one, and if there is interest. I need a minimum of 15 orders for this. I will collect orders for 2 weeks. I don't want to do much more either and I have a maximum of 25.
I will probably need 5 weeks to make them. So mid-end October before it's finished. I can only work on this a few hours every couple of days.
The apron is configurable, pricing is as following:
The price including all the options went up a little higher than expected, but is now EUR 462.- when I make 15 at least.
It comes plug and play with wiring harness.
-I can make the same apron also without the 2 acid burn holes: 45 euros less (and you can stick on magnetic score cards)
Optional: Limited edition text, as shown on the proto: +24 euro (not lighted), but has a white perspex under it.
Optional: Magnetic scorecards: no price yet. Can't be much, I guess 15 euros per set.
For those who want to buy you can PM me.
2 options: 100 euro deposit and the rest when it is finished, or full in advance.
Instructions for connecting/building in the PCB mod (requires some tools and patience).
Getting the lights on the ramps (the most work).
The lights go on the indicated spots of the picture (obviously).
Let's start with the hypersleep ramp (red lights on my pin).
WIRES OF THE LIGHTS:
There are 2 ways of installing the lights.
Option 1:
The wiring needs to end un under the playfield. I choose to drill a 1.5mm hole in the plastics of the hypersleep ramp and put the wires straight down. See orange arrow.
Option 2:
this is putting the wires behind the plastics and run them down.
FIXING THE LIGHTS:
The lights have M5 thread and a nut. Unfortunately there is not enough room under the plastic to fit a nut. I stuck the lights through and with a small dot of glue they stay at it's place. Another option may be a C-clip or locking clip, but I have not found a fitting solution for that. Suggestions welcome.
Electronics in next post:
IMG_4966 (resized).jpgIMG_4967 (resized).jpgWiring:
The PCB has 1 connector +wire fixed to the PCB. This is the 5V supply and goes on the Heighway PCB (labeled spare flashers)
There is per PCB one blue wire, this needs to be hooked up to the blue wire of the switch. I wired the blue wire all the way up and squeezed it in at the switch itself; see picture.
The red/black wire needs to be connected to the 2 lights. The wire are all long enough and need to be shortened.
Depends how you do you cable management; I will post some more pictures on that later.
IMG_4968 (resized).jpgUntitled (resized).pngThe production run has arrived with the announced changes.
Summary:
-left bottom now has weapon ready light
-Motion tracker has correct spacing
-The most on the right side is removed and there is a new stainless steel ball through metal part which should reduce also the amount of bounce back or stuck balls
They are now being coated, then lighting and acid burn holes will be added.
pictures if final result in a few weeks
67E5F8BC-8B79-4DF7-A7C8-58CB7E23200E (resized).jpegB2B54881-25B6-41AF-ACF4-E21148322103 (resized).jpegFDF6D3B8-4A8A-44B6-B59F-C506B736BF46 (resized).jpegPricing and options in this post:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-apron-amp-lighting-mod-#post-5847728
Logo lighting:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-apron-amp-lighting-mod-#post-5823617
The configuration options are as follows:
-with or without acid burn holes
-with or without magnetic cards
-with or without 'LIMITED EDITION'
And for the do-it-yourselfers I can also provide the powdercoated apron only and you can make something yourself (I had a few questions about this).
PM me for info.
I have a few sets left.
Note that the posted picture of yesterday is only the metal apron. they are now being coated and need to fit Vimtoman's lighting & wiring harness.
One addition:
I have 2 kits of ramp light kits left over because 2 buyers dropped out in the end.
I have 1 set with blue lights (ike in this video/post:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/542#post-5756119
and one kit with orange lights.
2x PCB+ wiring + 4x mini lights and free shipping to wherever you live 240 euros for the kit.
PM if interested.
Its my last 2 sets and I will not make more. Do-it-yourself-ers can get the PCB schematics.
Note that these lights are not the 1:12 lights, but 1:16 lights that can only be bought at Pistenking.
Good suggestion, I have yellow acrylic left and will try that.
personally I liked red because its more associated with weapon fire button.
Quoted from delt31:Looks good
Can that light by the flippers be turned down a little? Might kill some of the tension....
Yes, you can dim or change the color and there are several lighting patterns for the logo. Same goes for the strobe effect. @Vintoman gave some explanation in this thread before.
Our goal is an apron that you can configure to your liking, hence the 3 different ordering options and the tuning options.
Finally had some time to work on the acid burn holes and the weapon ready light.
Please see current status attached.
Not finished yet, but I want to share the progress at least.
I tried yellow/orange and red inserts for the Weapon Ready (flashes with the extra ball button).
Note that this is not the final black finish, this is my own proto apron.
96E76CD5-20A3-4199-8CC0-AD6432552076 (resized).JPG
IMG_5541 (resized).jpg
Update on the production:
-As Vimtoman posted, all lighting is finished+ wiring harnesses here. Vimtoman will give a full update on all lighting features at the end (some are shown in the videos already)
-Production run of the steel aprons is on the way, takes maybe 10 days. Then need to powdercoat and then acidburns. I'm the slowest here in the process .
Don't expect anything shipping out within 5-6 weeks; I'm doing this in my spare time and don't have much of it due to work & family life at the moment.
-I've added the Nostromo nametag as an option. Will come back to that.
-I tried some different powdercoatings on the proto, will show the results soon.
-Scorecard artwork still unfinished.
Well the artwork is still missing here, and I have a black top which doesnt help (most LE's have green).
Personally I like a little minimalistic style with not too much stuff.
Tried a matt and gloss powdercoating on an apron.
I choose to have the powderedcoat with this 'structure', just like the coating that is on the side armor & top of the game.
I like the matt finish the most so far
ba327240-fd81-4b40-9670-9c4d826add7a (resized).JPGbe15c2d5-7d31-44bd-a072-1e2025649e3c (resized).JPG
Final design for the metal and the apron installed at my friend Maurice who has a green LE.
We moved all acidburns to the right for a more balanced look.
The apron will be matt, I think everyone likes this best.
024FB7A3-BE17-44CE-9327-0FFD59328089 (resized).jpeg063F08E0-2F1D-4877-A1F7-B913DCB4D3A0 (resized).jpeg3B55C7BF-B0C8-4CEC-BBD6-9FA3BBC7502F (resized).jpeg
Some extra info on the strobes:
The strobes are 24 leds on the apron itself.
It is very bright and the effects reflect nicely back via plastics and the screen because the leds are built in horizontally.
It doesn’t show that well on the video, but in the dark I find it perfectly tuned.
With the leds focussed around the flipper area it is the strongest there where you look the most.
Its almost the same size, but symmetric. It looks much larger because it now takes the full width of the game. The plastic apron doesnt cover the shooter lane.
To be extra clear: It’s the smallest size possible keeping it symmetric and without taking out the entire ball guide system.
I didnt like the off-center apron. If you look closely you will see that the plastic one did’nt really fit and that Heighway cut the ball drain hole larger to make it fit. Its actually a full throttle apron that is in the game, which wouldn’t be a problem if the bottom area would have stayed the same.
3EAC10F8-ADCB-4AD6-9C97-32F962AE576C (resized).jpeg
How we solved it: The right side drain the apron is folded back, so the ball disappears after the revive lights:
BFB07B6E-6DD1-4A96-9B5A-8AB4419136F5 (resized).jpeg
So the extra space can be filled with artwork: all shown aprons up to now have no artwork yet, keep that in mind
Ideas and feedback welcome.
9CD1199D-C177-4C14-98C4-702126E012F7 (resized).jpeg
Actually I experimented with adding a UV led in one of the holes (havent tried fluorescent paint yet).
The led didnt give a nice diffuse light and I ordered some other leds to try.
It just gave a purple spot actually
Some very dim lighting may be nice in the acid hole because it is about 4-5 cm deep and you don’t see much of it in the dark.
To answer your question: yes you can remove it and repaint it.
I’ll be posting new progress soon.
Thanks for all the feedback!
I have some different flavors of the apron in production now:
-With Ltd edition/without
-Acidburns on one side
-Without acid burns at all
-Without the 2 holes in the apron, but with the hole on the side where the ball kicks out
This is it, there are no more new versions of the metal being made for now, but if there is enough demand for something else I can always see if I can make something else. Metalwork takes 7-10 days to make, then I need to powdercoat. So the making is the easiest, the drawing/prototyping took the longest (and testing if it fits), which is all done.
I have started prefabricating the acid burn holes. I can make 2-3 a week about at the current pace.
I'm super slow, sorry.
Untitled (resized).pngno holes (resized).PNG
Update: All aprons arriving 28th (November). Then needs powdercoat and finish. Almost there!!
In the mean time I'm experimenting with lighting of the acid holes, but I'm not promising anything
First aprons are ready, see below.
Fun fact; the acid burn hole sits exactly above a round hole in the playfield, so you look straight down in the cabinet.
The red you see in the picture is the cointaker shaker motor
For those who don’t like this it can be closed off.
72188E04-E108-40EE-880E-827422E60C5E (resized).jpeg89F07C02-E7DF-4772-8654-10F4E079265A (resized).jpegCAB8E130-31FE-4476-8B42-FF7AF5E77A2E (resized).jpeg
Update to everybody: I'm contacting everyone regarding balance payment and shipment. If you think I forgot you, write me a PM.
Thanks to everybody for their patience, I've been slower than a snail in hibernation as we say in The Netherlands.
But it is a fun job to make them. Every acid burn is different.
Instructions for wiring:
Attention:
Some of the aprons did not survive the shipment in one piece, and the glue parts detached.
This is no problem; see below for example pictures of what goes where, and you can stick it back on.
Attention 2: check at Step 3 the pins of your game
Attention 3: Shut down game before step 1.
Attention 4: Some aprons need very light adjustment to fit, see STEP 8 before you start.
Step 1:
-Remove old apron (2 screws on the front side)
Step 2:
Remove the post from this picture:
8 (resized).jpg
Step 3: Take the wiring harness from the bag for the 2 PCBS. Put the playfield up and connect the power plug on the indicated position, and put the stepper motor connector aswell on the indicated spot (it says 'XENO MODES' next to this plug). Take the XENO connector off, and put the wiring harness in between.
VERY IMPORTANT: SOME EARLY MODELS HAVE PIN 1 AND 2 SWAPPED ON THE PINBALL. ONLY CONNECT WHEN YOU SEE '1' AT THE EXACT SAME SPOT AS THIS PHOTO. OTHERWISE CONTACT ME.
10 (resized).jpg15 (resized).jpg
STEP 4:
There are 2 wires already connected to the light under the apron. Wire them down through the indicated hole (together with the XENO wiring harness).
Wire them as you like completely down and connect them to either the LAUNCH BALL button or the EXTRA BALL.
I recommend hooking up 'WEAPON READY' to the launch ball button.
9 (resized).jpg
STEP 5:
Connect the lights of your WEAPON READY and optionally CYCLE WEAPONS (not all aprons).
There are 2 'forks' on the wire. They slide very easily in the existing connectors of the lights. Just take them off, put the fork in, slide it back on.
Small point of attention: put the fork on the side indicated with the orange arrow (the side that is not flat, the fork will slide in the M shape).
BROWN WIRE=BLACK
YELLOW WIRE=RED
12 (resized).jpg13 (resized).jpg14 (resized).jpg
STEP 6: Connect the wiring harness to the apron.
There is a small pink wire in the bag, bridge this between the 2 PCBs as indicated below.
Before I permanently installed the apron, this is where I tweaked the lighting. So you can put the apron upside down on top of the game and power it on.
Mood light should work straight away, Xeno strobes work only after booting the game (30+ seconds).
2 (resized).jpg16 (resized).jpg17 (resized).jpg
So you can play around with the settings with a small screwdriver. The Xeno logo effect changes only after the animation is done, so when changing the potmeter of this one, best press RESET to immediately reboot the animation
STEP 7:
Mounting the apron:
You can turn around the apron and mount it. The stainless steel part should fall through the hole where the post was removed.
There are 2 pins included to lock it at the bottom (OPTIONAL); it will stay in place without it.
As a third option, you can also screw the metal plate in place (see picture below).
This option is intended where the stainless steel plate is NOT permanently attached to the apron, so the apron sits basically on this thing.
For those who want this, remove the stainless steel plate from the apron (it is fixed with double sided tape and some hot glue; should come off with some effort).
You can also screw it AND leave it glued; this will give a very robust fixing.
6 (resized).jpg5 (resized).jpg
STEP 8:
Fixing the apron:
There are 2 ways to do it:
I included some 0.5 mm plates with self tapping screws; tighten them as indicated below.
These plates SHOULD BEND INTO AN U SHAPE. There is not so much room, so these plates are designed to bend around the metal bracket.
The fast way is to use 2 zips and connect them as indicated. The apron should line up in the middle between the 2 brackets, but yeah it is Heighway so I'm not sure if it is exactly the same.
1 (resized).jpg
STEP 9:
Check the ball clearance as indicated below. There should be a few mms of space. Because it is a tight fit, the seating is critical.
If the ball can't pass, do the following:
-Tighten very well in step 8 to pull the apron back
-take the apron out, and bend the front side slightly in (indicated with the arrow). It's 1.25mm steel and can be adjusted easily, and it won't break.
18 (resized).jpgI think I've helped out most people that got a LEGO box instead of a plug n play apron.
Sorry about that!
By the time the first reports of hotglue letting go arrived, all were made and shipped.
I warned most users already about it.
Funny thing is that it seems to be rock solid here....
Twister said it may be due to temperature changes (in combination with the powdercoat).
In any case I will never use it again anymore.
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Litchfield Park, AZ