TreeHouse Club
Stefan Mader, 2022Made a lot of cables today, but i have some error on the pc, so no flipping today.
And you might notice, i put the cobrapin on the playfield now. Thats way better than having all cables go from the playfield to a second board with the electronics. Didn't think of that before.
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Quoted from MeesterPieter:wow, nice project again, you're going like a runaway train
Thank you very much
Those slings are crazy strong. Reminds me of my nephew running around the backyard after a couple doughnuts.
Quoted from TreyBo69:Those slings are crazy strong. Reminds me of my nephew running around the backyard after a couple doughnuts.
Haha, yeah already took the power down a little. I started with the values i have on my other homebrews. Funny that it is so different here.
Mounted the switch and up downpost for the lower playfield and did some basic code that shuts of the flippers while the ball is on the lower playfield. And the lower slingshots are actually fun as i hoped 
IMG_20210929_205300.jpgIMG_20210929_205306.jpgIMG_20210929_210911.jpgIMG_20210929_210915.jpgIMG_20210930_141927.jpgIMG_20210930_141934.jpgQuoted from MeesterPieter:looking good
thank you, with the lights in now, i can start coding some stuff .
i do really like the way you fit it into an arcade cabinet,when you're bored you might wanna steal some idea's from "the pinball circus"
Quoted from MeesterPieter:i do really like the way you fit it into an arcade cabinet,when you're bored you might wanna steal some idea's from "the pinball circus"
, i had circus on my mind, when i first thought about this project. It is such a unique machine, love it. There is another one that has an arcade cabinet. and plays vertically (with mirrors), called "Varkon". also a really cool and unique machine.
That’s a good illustration of the beauty of your platform. Those Microcontroller modules are inexpensive to replace
Quoted from Cmartin1235:That’s a good illustration of the beauty of your platform. Those Microcontroller modules are inexpensive to replace
Yes that is true! I have ordered another cobrapin and thomas will ship me two blue boards as well. So the damage is minimal. Just the stupid feeling that this could have been easily avoided stays.
Quoted from stefanmader:Just the stupid feeling that this could have been easily avoided stays.
I know that feel very well. Got lucky on my last build - blew the solenoid fuse while the game was on and barely avoided frying the controller for switches in the process.
I have fried a p3roc once. Don't really know what i did wrong, but redid a couple of things and checked everything 5 times and it worked out the next time. Frustrating but that's how you learn a lot
If u homebrew I think it’s a rite of passage to fry at least one controller board. I fried my fast nano board a while back with a stray pinball that fell and connected 5 and 12v on the board on the way down. Good learning experience
Quoted from Mbecker:If u homebrew I think it’s a rite of passage to fry at least one controller board. I fried my fast nano board a while back with a stray pinball that fell and connected 5 and 12v on the board on the way down. Good learning experience
Oh wow that sound horrible. I also hat balls fall down in the cabinet. Fortunately nothing broke, but that was a very scary moment...
Made some cabinet work. Mounted the monitor and a back door. And tried out something new for wire ramps. I don't have a welder, and i'm having a hard time with welding and soldering the ramps. So this time i thought i try this special glue out. I love it, it is a really strong bond,much stronger than my soldering the last time. Also mounted the sub woofer.
and made an apron plate.
its not the time to make the cabinet pretty yet, but i am thinking i will put some foam on the side and carve it a bit to make it look like tree bark.
IMG_20211011_215529.jpgIMG_20211011_220034.jpgIMG_20211017_100426.jpgIMG_20211017_100430.jpgIMG_20211028_150957.jpgIMG_20211028_151015.jpgQuoted from MeesterPieter:Nice, doesnt the copper bend to easy?
It bends easy yes, but it is totally strong enough. With 4mm thickness.
Quoted from Mbecker:We’re you soldering or brazing? If you go with.. I think it’s bronze wire.. brazing is a great option with a blow torch and brazing rods. Pretty dang strong. Looks like that glue will work good tho
I was trying it with a blowtorch and soldering wire. I have mixed feelings about this, sometimes it worked really well, oder times with the same technique, no success.. Also i might have soldering wire that is not the perfect material for that.
So the glue worked well when it has much touching surface. But when i glued an additional rod 90 degrees to the ramp so that i can screw it to the playfield it didn t work that great...
So i have made a 3d printed version now. I think it looks way better. I might try metal rods again with 3d printed parts to hold them in place. I seems to work good for sonic spinball.
Also im not sure if you can see the inlane inserts when there is a big 3d printed part there.
IMG_20211104_194243.jpgIMG_20211104_194256.jpgif you switch out your standups for rollover droptargets you can also use the space in the top left corner for something else
I'm not sure i can fit the drop targets, i will need some space for one single droptarget in the left space. I plan to make a platform there for the monster excavator which will be an enemy. I will try to use a smart drop target to raise the the bucket to reveil the monster head. It will be a tight fit with the drop target bank and my subway.
I might buy a 4bank and try it out. 3 for the excavator and one for the goose. I could put a rubberband behind it and just reset it at every hit.because of the goose it wouldn t make sense to reset it when all 4 are hit.
Quoted from stefanmader:I was trying it with a blowtorch and soldering wire. I have mixed feelings about this, sometimes it worked really well, oder times with the same technique, no success.. Also i might have soldering wire that is not the perfect material for that.
So the glue worked well when it has much touching surface. But when i glued an additional rod 90 degrees to the ramp so that i can screw it to the playfield it didn t work that great...
Ah yea— sometimes I had similar issues but usually seemed to be due to both pieces of metal not being hot enough. It’s a bit finicky for sure.
Quoted from Mbecker:Ah yea— sometimes I had similar issues but usually seemed to be due to both pieces of metal not being hot enough. It’s a bit finicky for sure.
Maybe there is a sweetspot, how hot it should be.. Hm well anyway not my favourite thing to do. Maybe i just have to get into vacuum forming, and that will solve all my problems
Quoted from stefanmader:I might buy a 4bank and try it out. 3 for the excavator and one for the goose. I could put a rubberband behind it and just reset it at every hit.because of the goose it wouldn t make sense to reset it when all 4 are hit.
could be nice to make another hole behind the targets that goes into your subway
Quoted from MeesterPieter:could be nice to make another hole behind the targets that goes into your subway
that's not a bad idea, i'll keep that in mind when the drop targets arrive. just orderd a 4bank
This project is looking great so far, I'm a big fan of anything outside of standard game dimensions!
It's interesting you bring up the shaker ball games and Varkon. I got to play a Varkon for the first time recently, and I was surprised how good it was. The vertical effect was a lot more effective than I would have thought, and changed how I experienced the game significantly. I've been thinking about making a mirror/"vertical" game myself since, there's a lot of design space in that format I think.
thank you,
i would love to play varkon. maybe someday..
making such a game sure would be fun. those machines that i saw, it was very hard to get a feeling how long the playfield is, very hard to see inside.
i guess that would create a limit of what is possible with such a machine, you'll nee a certain angle and then the machine shouldn't be too wide.
and varkon has solved that with its gameplay in a really cool way.
would love to see you make such a project
Made some things for the powerswitch and sound system. Will make 3d printed speakercovers and a panel for volumecontrol. Also the pc powerswitch is still in the mail.
And successfully put the drop targets in instead of the standups. Tight fit, but it works. Didn't have time to connect all the cables yet. And i have a hard problem with the subway to the lower playfield. The ball will just drop straight down the middle. Thats a hard one to solve.
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Quoted from MeesterPieter:fits very snuggly
Oh yeah hihi. I am very happy about the drop targets , it is just so much cooler with the extra action happening in the playfield.
Quoted from stefanmader:I'm working on lot of projects at the moment, but still now and the a little bit of time for progress.
thats the way to go, also gives you more time for inspiration
starting to look good
Bigger upper playfield. There will be a centerramp at the normal playfield that feeds a vuk which shoots the ball up to the big upper playfield. I will try to put some rubberposts there to stop the ball and make it roll to the flipper slowly.
I am thinking that the donkey kong like shooting barrels won't be barrels anymore. I think it would be more fitting when a treehouse roof hides the coil.
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Reichenau Im Mühlkreis
's-hertogenbosch
Kansas City, KS
