Homebrew: Gottlieb Surfside-EM

1

0

-1

#1 1 year ago

OP

KJK

k-j-k

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

2y 12,500 3 1

I'm converting a Gottlieb Surfside (1967) to a solid state using an arduinoMega and PC/python. More details to come. I got it working with the original solenoids but now I want to replace the old flipper mechs with modern ones and switch to 50V. I ended up buying new stern style mechs, and I'm not really seeing how I can semi-easily couple that to the Arduino given it is two prong. At this point I don't really want to go the MPF and off the shelf controller route as this is more of learning experience.

Anyone have any recommendations on how to get the voltage cut down when the EOS is triggered on the new stern mechs? If it helps I currently have 5V connected to the flipper leaf switches which is directly wired to my mosfet, but I may also have the flippers controlled with the microcontroller later.

Maybe my best bet is to get a three prong set up with some kind of newer style mech? any recommendations for that option?

0

#2 1 year ago

III

TreyBo69

Pinside member

5y 136K 8,451

I'd just swap out to a System 11 style flipper and use an EOS to make the switch from high to hold power. Much easier for what you're doing and its a solution that worked for decades.

Just make sure you use the high voltage contact EOS. If you bought a modern Stern mech, the EOS is low voltage and not suitable for making the power switch.

https://www.pinballlife.com/full-flipper-assembly-for-williamsbally-machines-from-031987-to-111991.html

0

#3 11 months ago

MZN

Malzon

Pinside+ Frequent

Brisbane

2y 23,250 3

Interested to read your post k-j-k. I've recently finished building a homebrew control system for a 1978 Stern Memory Lane using an Arduino Due (Due has same layout as the Mega but faster processor) and c/c++. The playfield came with 1978 flipper assemblies with eos switches to activate the integral hold coils, so I didn't have to design for the eos issue you described.

I've read that using pwm control with a low duty cycle on the control signal is the usual way to handle EOS for the modern flipper assemblies you've got, (not reducing the actual drive voltage). So you would program the Arduino to detect when the EOS switch is closed and then output a pulse wave modulated (PWM) control signal to the flipper mosfet driver gate, e.g. a train of narrow pulses that overall are on for something like 20% and off for 80% which averages out to be enough to hold the flipper in the energized position without burning the coil. There's a lot of info in Arduino forums about creating pwm control signals (e.g. https://docs.arduino.cc/tutorials/generic/secrets-of-arduino-pwm)

There is a guy here in Australia, MaxtheCat, that has rebuilt an EM machine using an Arduino Mega, including controlling the score reels. Might be of interest to you. Here's the link to his posts.

https://www.aussiearcade.com/topic/96821-em-converted-to-run-using-arduino/page/2/#comment-1228996 Looking forward to more posts about your project.

0

#4 11 months ago

OP

KJK

k-j-k

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

2y 12,500 3 1

This is great information Malzon, just what I was looking for! After some reflection I bought some 50 volt coils similar to what TreyBoy69 recommended, should be snappy enough for my needs. The PWM solution is great, would need some robust code to handle the pulses and all the other stuff happening, or maybe just a dedicated controller for flippers.

I may as well start this build thread now, the reason I picked an Arduino was because I read some blogs about an Arduino/EM conversion and figured it would be a fun thing to learn and good place to start since I knew nothing about this type of thing. It was year and half ago that I saw a Surfside in pretty bad shape in Kansas - this is the old add https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/archive/123406
It was heavily water damaged and falling apart, major corrosion on the mechs on the bottom of the cabinet, back glass is bad, switches and coils are in very bad shape, I figured it was a good candidate for a conversion. So I spent a year rewiring and wrote some pretty bad code which was able to start a game with the front coin door switch, manage the balls and all switches, give an LCD read out of the multipliers, score, and current ball.

After getting a semi functional game I realized that it sucks hard. EMs are fun and interesting, they are just not something I want to spend time on fixing/recreating. I'm a big fan of Steve Ritchie games and if I'm going to stick time into something, its going to play fast, have some simple modes and hopefully have replayability, and not take itself to seriously. As an aside, I live in Chicago where this game was made and I right on a public beach on lake Michigan, last year I got a 25 foot Cape Dory sail boat and have been getting into that scene. The theme of this table will stay, I love the art work and the history of it. I plan to try to get working some modes relating to 1960's beach movies and some yacht rock. There will be a potato bug mode

there is so much awesome in this clip.

I'll post some images now of the semi functional EM version of the game, and maybe in the next week or two give a update of the more modern inspired version. Moving forward I think I will still control scoring with Arduino as well as the solenoids, .......learning to use interrupts. I also have threading working with python enough to get sounds, score display and video/images working the monitor backglass.

1 (resized).jpg

2 (resized).jpg

3 (resized).jpg

4 (resized).jpg

5 (resized).jpg

0

#5 11 months ago

MZN

Malzon

Pinside+ Frequent

Brisbane

2y 23,250 3

Interesting, challenging, project! I see from the ad what you mean about the machine needing a lot of work. Beautiful artwork though. The plastics look OK , which is a bonus for a machine that age. I haven't seen your concept of recreating the backglass on a video monitor before. Looks like you cleaned up the BG damage (near the upper left score reel) for the video image. When you say "I also have threading working with python enough to get sounds, score display and video/images working the monitor backglass." are you using e.g. a Raspberry Pi running code written in Python to do that? Will you be ditching the Arduino Mega entirely? I initially used FreeRTOS with my project to emulate multi-threading but it ended up not being necessary, mind you I only had to write code for an early solid state machine with chimes, not a modern machine with video and electronic sound. Potato Bug clip is a hoot. "It's my pleasure to give you pleasure!" Ha ha. Long haired Englishman singer, bit of a dig at the Beatles I guess. I can see you're using WS2811 LED string for lighting, which is what I ended up doing too. Looking forward to seeing more when you get the time.

0

#6 10 months ago

OP

KJK

k-j-k

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

2y 12,500 3 1

I used MS paint to touch some parts up on the back glass and then a online site for image correction/sharpening. I have an old lap that will be running the python, it talks with the Arduino Mega over serial, only using a Mega because it has a crap ton of pins. Using ChatGPT quite a bit also!

I have a ton of other projects going on at the moment, but I did manage to install a new ball trough, an auto launch kicker, 3D printed a scoop, and now just need to write some simple code to test multiball. I also torn down the playfield so I can start designing the Italian bottom. New stern style legs were added to the back and it has a lot more angle to it now, hopefully once I lower the playfield I can squeeze in low profile ramp or two.

1 (resized).jpg

2 (resized).jpg

By k-j-k

1 year ago

Topic Stats

You

Find in topic

Linked Games

Topic Gallery

k-j-k

TreyBo69

Malzon

k-j-k

Malzon

k-j-k

Reply

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!