(Topic ID: 258735)

How to build pinball Playfield Lights - Video Tutorial

By HurryUpPinball

4 years ago



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    #1 4 years ago

    I have been building custom playfield lights for my pinball machines for a little over a year and wanted to share a tutorial I just put together documenting the build process. These lights can be built using items ordered from Amazon and the lights cost around $60 a set to build. I created two versions of this video - a full version for those who want to build the lights and a short version for those who just want to quickly check out the process. A big thank you to Fytr for his forum post "Poor Man's Stadium Lighting" which contained a bunch of great information regarding building your own lights.

    Short Version:

    Full Version

    #2 4 years ago
    Quoted from HurryUpPinball:

    I have been building custom playfield lights for my pinball machines for a little over a year and wanted to share a tutorial I just put together documenting the build process. These lights can be built using items ordered from Amazon and the lights cost around $60 a set to build. I created two versions of this video - a full version for those who want to build the lights and a short version for those who just want to quickly check out the process. A big thank you to Fytr for his forum post "Poor Man's Stadium Lighting" which contained a bunch of great information regarding building your own lights.
    Short Version:

    Full Version

    So these are just static, always on light strips? That doesn’t work for most games that make use of gi or other lighting effects. I see you have it on afm. What happens during strobe mb where everything goes dark? For me, the value in mods like this are the interactivity with the game so you don’t lose the ambience, and that’s a more difficult to do. even a sound activated controller would be better than a static controller. Apologies if you are making it interactive, didn’t see it in these videos I skimmed through.

    #3 4 years ago

    These are in fact static and always on. Since these are 12v and most of the newer pins are 5v in the GI, I have not figured out a way to tie into the GIs so the lights power on / off based on what the pin is doing. My build process for these will continue to evolve and I will post some updated videos with any major updates. That is the main reason I have been building them as static lights with a separate power supply. Strobe multiball is one of my favorites and I would love to figure out a way to integrate that into these lights.

    #4 4 years ago

    Love these. And I also love that they stay on during gameplay. Stern likes to cut out the lights during multiballs or hitting certain shots and I hate it. I need to see the ball to play. Thanks for posting!

    #5 4 years ago
    Quoted from Aflacjack:

    Love these. And I also love that they stay on during gameplay. Stern likes to cut out the lights during multiballs or hitting certain shots and I hate it. I need to see the ball to play. Thanks for posting!

    Thanks Aflacjack - I’ve learned a lot from the tech forums here on Pinside and wanted to help others like they have helped me. I am waiting on my side art to show up and then I will put together an install video and link it as well.

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    #6 4 years ago

    If you built or are thinking about building the lights in my first tutorial, here is a video detailing the installation process of the lights on my Jurassic Park pinball machine. I made Long and short versions of these videos. If you want to build these lights, be sure to watch the full versions of both.

    Full Version:

    Short HurryUp Version:

    4 weeks later
    #7 4 years ago

    Do you have a link to Amazon for the items needed. Thanks

    #8 4 years ago
    Quoted from HurryUpPinball:

    These are in fact static and always on. Since these are 12v and most of the newer pins are 5v in the GI, I have not figured out a way to tie into the GIs so the lights power on / off based on what the pin is doing. My build process for these will continue to evolve and I will post some updated videos with any major updates. That is the main reason I have been building them as static lights with a separate power supply. Strobe multiball is one of my favorites and I would love to figure out a way to integrate that into these lights.

    There is a way to do this. I have built similar lights. You can connect the lights to a 6v relay.
    ebay.com link: itm

    #9 4 years ago
    Quoted from Spiderpin:

    Do you have a link to Amazon for the items needed. Thanks

    If you follow this link to my YouTube channel and select the how to build playfield lights video (short or long version), all the items are listed in the description for the video with links to Amazon.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzdHAPosu-ImTOht-WjUTAg

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