Hi,

Would you believe it; you wait for several years for a source for Tommy Blinders and then two turn up at the same time!

Having had a Tommy machine for some time that was missing the Blinders assembly (but it did have the servo controller board), and being unable to source the elusive blinders I decided to design and manufacture a replacement. I am qualified in electronics, software and mechanical engineering so felt confident in getting a solution that would work.

Work started in December using FreeCAD and after a few prototypes and lots of testing I have a very solid working solution comprising of the mounting base plate, top blinder, bottom blinder, arm, servo and return spring. They will be supplied as a complete working assemble; just attach to the the playfield, plug into the servo controller (available from Marco if you do not have one), adjust and you are good to go. Please note that this is a complete redesign and as such the part are not compatible with the original design.

It is pure chance that my blinders mechanism and the excellent looking solution from biglebowski have appeared at the same time. We are not connected in any way and both solutions have been developed individually. What do they say about buses!

Please find below a few images of the blinders and assembly.

They are currently on sale on Ebay at http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322004812189?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2648

Thanks for looking.
Bakerman

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Thanks for the positive feedback. Yep, I am thinking of selling them and the would be a lot less than 700 bucks! I have a set on ebay at the moment and I was going to let the market decide the price; if they go for a price that makes it interesting for me to make some more I will; if they go very cheaply I probably will not bother. What price I find "interesting" is to be decided!

Well done Da_Vagrant; hard lines MauriceSTYS! I will package them up today and they will be collected tomorrow morning.

The market has spoken and the market has decided on a price of 152Euro. This is just about sufficient to cover the costs so I will go ahead and get a few sets made and at least I can be happy in knowing that a few more Tommys will be complete. Just to confirm that the price will be 152Euro for a complete and fully assembled and tested Blinders assembly (top blinder , bottom blinder, mounting bracket, servo arm, servo and return spring). I am sorry that I cannot do anything on the shipping costs.

I expect it to be couple of weeks before the new parts arrive so please be patient. When they arrive I will put a set on Ebay, but if anyone would prefer to deal directly with me (still using PayPal) I can take 5Euro off the price as we can share the Ebay commission costs saved.

DaVagrant, I was thinking about doing a very low cost controller board as well, but as there are solutions out there I did not bother. It may be something for the future but I have many other projects that I am looking at to commit to this.

Thanks for looking.

Just a quick update. I am manufacturing three complete assemblies at the moment that should be ready for the end of next week (there is quite a lot of printing involved). One unit is reserved for Maurice, so if you are interested in either of the other two please let me know. I will only be printing more, in small batches, if people ask for them; I will not be holding them in stock.

Thanks for the great feedback; I'm very happy to know that another Tommy is on the way to being a complete working machines again. Good luck with the servo controller. I was going to design one of those as the same time but saw that there are already other options out there. It maybe something that I get around to later in the year as it would not take long to do.

Really appreciate the information about the outhole metal flap; I will add it to the installation notes. Is it OK to use your two images for the explanation?

I will send you a file including the eyes. It is not the very best resolution but it seemed fine for me. Maybe someone out there has a high resolution scan of the eye?

As promised I have gone ahead and manufactured three complete mechanisms (see photo).

Please let me know if you want a set; MauriceSTYS are you still taking one? Please pm me.

When these have gone I will not be making anymore without enough orders to make another small batch like these.

On to my next project; designing replacement parts for my Nell log mechanism!

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Two of the three sets have now been taken; one left looking for a good home in a Tommy.

All the assemblies are now taken, so please contact me if you need one as it will have to be made to order. Thanks for looking.
Mike

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad that the installation was as easy as I designed it to be.

I like your red rubbers on the flippers; they almost look like a gel. I will have to change mine out from the boring black that I have!

Enjoy your Tommy.

Hey Maurice, thanks for sharing these. They look much better than the file that I have. I will reprint the stickers using your new file and replace mine I think.

Well, I'm going ahead and getting another three sets made. One set has been reserved, one set might be taken, so that leaves a third. PM me if interested.
Thanks for looking.

Update: The three sets have been printed and I hope to find time to assemble them next week.

Well, I have been assembling them today and will test the three sets tomorrow.

Two of the three sets have been sold and will go out on Friday. Gump79; I reserved the last set for you as you "definitely" wanted the, but you don't answer my e-mails. Do you still want this final set or can I let someone else have them?

I have had a few questions about the servo controller board and how it can be tested to see if there is a servo problem or servo controller board problem. This is not a definitive test but you can measure the voltage level on the signal line whilst your Tommy is in blinder test mode:

Red contact is the +5V line.
Centre contact is the 0V line.
The last contact is the signal used to control the servo.

With a DMM set to DC volts you should get:

Blinders closed: 0.64V between 0V and signal.
Blinders open: 0.38V between 0V and signal.

Do not get to hung up and getting the exact voltages as above, it is more important that there is a discernable change in voltage between the two different states. I hope that will help anyone wanting to see if their controller board is working before ordering any blinders.

All gone. I do not plan to make any more at the moment. If anyone needs one in the future please let me know, but I will need to produce them in small batches to keep the costs under control. Maybe a waiting list?

Having received an order for a set I have decided to go ahead and manufacture another three sets. Please let me know if you want one of the remaining two sets. Thanks.

Well, the three sets have been completed and one set sent out to a customer here in France. I will keep the other two sets in stock until sold.

One more assembly sold, leaving one set left in stock. It would seem that the market has been satisfied for now so when the final one goes I will only make new ones on demand, as and when needed. Unfortunately, the change from making three at a time to one at a time will result in a price increase form 152 Euro to 190 Euro for the complete assembly. So grab yourself a bargain if you want the last one at 152 Euro!

All gone. Please contact me if you want an assembly making. Thanks for all the positive feedback and purchases.

Just to let everyone know that Best Of Pinball in Germany will soon have these in stock and they will be acting as exclusive distributor in Germany. I can and will be happy to take orders directly of course.

Now back in stock at Best Of Pinball, or available from me.

Hi,

A little off topic, but I installed a shaker motor in my TOMMY yesterday. See:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-whos-tommy-club-can-you-hear-me-members-only/page/13

and printed a new part for my R&B Nell Log. See:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/data-east-pinball-club/page/15

Cheers.

I had someone order a few of these together so I have gone ahead and had some extras made at the same time. Therefore I can currently supply the blinder assembly from stock.

Cheers.

Thanks Maurice - great pinsider and very happy that your TOMMY is still with you; never selling mine.

Thanks for the positive words Manoliki. Just to avoid any confusion I am Bakerman, not Maurice.
Cheers.

Sounds like the TNT servo board is an excellent solution and a perfect match for my repro blinders.

Hi topcat, PM me and I'm sure that I can get you sorted.

As the last one sold ages ago I now sell the complete assembly (blinders, mounting bracket, servo, return spring, fixings and eyes) for 190€ plus shipping. They have all been assembled and tested on my TOMMY.

I went through the pain of designing and making these as I could not have my TOMMY not having the very thing that makes the game so unique!

PM me if you need them.