I (along with my 2 kids) have been working on a homebrew pinball for a little while now. Its not near completion (and not even close to as nice as some of the others) but I figured I would post it to at least let others see it.

The original idea was to get the kids involved to teach them about electronics , woodworking, 3d printing, CAD, programming, and the overall design process. We actually started with the boards and the programming. We used a raspberry pi (then moved to a beaglebone black) driving some mosfets via some MCP23017 io extenders. We started with a breadboard before creating our boards in fritzing. We wrote a quick front end in python.

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We the moved on to getting at least a flipping playfield. (and already creating quite a mess )

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My 12 year old created a design in future pinball and we translated it to the playfield..

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At this point we at least had something playable.

Moving on from our initial play field on sawhorses greatness, we decided to get started building a cabinet. 50$ in plywood later. (plus some stuff I had lying around) we at least looked more like a pinball machine.

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We also quickly decided that although our boards worked to drive the coils. (ok well the slings mostly) and register the points (again from the slings) there was some random interference on the I2C bus. Happy that the kids learned at least some basic electronics (and partially too lazy to sort that out) , we decided to move to a p3-roc board combo.

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We also decided to move to mission pinball in lieu of our home coded python. There was no issues there but having a community to do the heavy lifting seemed to be a good move. Here is my younger son testing the machine. (still in foam core glory)

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Now we had something that represented what we wanted shot wise (adding the right ramp shot) we decided to start working on the ramps. We (and still are) were torn between vacuum forming the ramps and 3d printing them. We decided to go the 3d print route. I have a printrbot play with a the extended bed modification. We are very limited to size but were able to start printing the parts.

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We even slid in the glass for effect.

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Then we started adding the pop bumpers (and some decoration)

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We then added some drop targets (from a mr and mrs pacman) and other figures as well as started placing the inserts to give us inspiration. You will also notice that we had swapped to a raspberry pi2 at this point.

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So we had a machine that worked well enough at this stage.

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After a bit of time had passed (life tends to get in the way sometimes) we upgraded to a raspberry pi 3 and moved to new newer version of mission pinball. It was now no longer running X and was running the front end in Kivy. We decided to depart from our DMD like display to go with something different (not sure if this will stay or not) You will also notice that this has now been moved to the arcade room as we felt it was at least playable enough to warrant that. We also added a single stand up target and a spinner as well as some more decoration.

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We then continued on our autocad fusion 360 design / 3d printing journey.

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Its now starting to look more and more like a castle.

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I was cheap and was printing with whatever color I had in at the time. Notice the ramps that have the castle like tops on them. We still have not decided if the right ramp should be vacuum formed or remain as is. I think the left one will stay at least.
We then moved on to clean up our crazy color scheme. Some Tamiya airplane paint and primer later and we ended up with at least something more uniform .

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We then continued to add paint (and some other touches)

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We also worked on some other details to spruce up our drab grey.

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We also painted the drawbridge and added a chain for effect.

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Now we started trying to figure out the play field art. (admittedly this is our weakest skill set)

We printed out a bunch of images ensuring to not use anything copyrighted.

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We kept adding as we went (and at this point we may make major changes to the art, we are truly not sure). The kids are really getting in to the store / modes etc. My 15 year old is working on all of the different modes based on the quests that the round table knights had.

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We then tried to draw a knight based on a how to we found..... the results were not as horrific as they could have been but this was the best the 3 of us could muster.... Working on plan D for art at this point.... more to come....... We do have some ideas.... worst case we hire an artist....

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I do believe we will make the scrolls (which contain the stories of the knights) smaller and the map bigger. (more of a background piece) and see where that leads us. We also have a magnet in the playfield between the flippers as a ball saver (not working yet but at least in) at this point. It is also not shown in all of the pictures but we have a pop up post on the back left side to stop the ball from being trapped behind the drop target. we still have not drilled for the inserts but I believe we all like the placement. We have a holy grail image on the spinner as well.

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. The kids and I are going to work on the art this weekend... Will post updates soon.

We have begun work on the art. It is subject to undergo vast changes but I wanted to post where we are.

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Right now its printed on a regular color laser printer (and taped together) so we can get a feel for what we like and don't. My older son was the model for the people on the back glass and play field. We have a ton more pictures (that we have not added the effects to as of yet) so its quite likely this will look drastically different. At least its a start and gives us an idea.

I realize the artwork is by far our weakest skill. I could look for an artist but it would defeat the purpose of the kids and I working on it. That being said, it is my hope that it will improve as we change and refine the design. If not , then its at least something that was our own work. (even if everyone else thinks its terrible).

There is nothing copyrighted that has been used in this design, all of the pictures of the knights I took (with the exception of the castle itself but that is creative commons license with reuse, though that may not end up staying). The map is several hundred years old and out of copyright. SO in theory I should be safe..... (Assuming that is what I should be worried about, I am just guessing as to the context of your message)

Ok, I got it now. I would hope they would not go after a one off machine but who knows these days. Could always rename it. It actually says Legends of Camelot but its tough to read. There is probably nothing the days that someone does not have some sort of claim on.

Spent some more time on the artwork (or rather how we are attempting apply it). We used a product made for arts and crafts called Mod Podge Photo transfer medium. Basically you reverse print what you want on a laser printer , coat the toner side of the paper then use a roller to smoothly apply it (toner side down) to the wood. Once it dries for a day , you wet the paper then rub the paper off revealing the image. We did single sheet yesterday and the results are encouraging. The end result can be cleared so we (in theory) should be able to get a decently strong finish. Here is our first attempt. Note the toner is directly on the wood now (not a piece of paper glued to the wood). The finish feels pretty smooth, actually better than I expected.

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We used the existing Backglass art we made for the first pass. We also have a second experiment with 2 sheets of paper taped together. Less optimistic about that one but want to see the results ( I assume there will be a visible line) It is currently drying.

If the tape method does not work the plan is to use the laser art for the play field but strategically have separator lines that can be air brushed in creating a seamless image. Will post updates with the results. I guess now I can add general arts and crafts to the skills the kids are being exposed to .

Here is an update of where we are as far as play field art design. (with some of the kids old toys thrown in for added effect) It is still just printed out on laser printer and laid down on the wood but I think it still gives us a good idea.

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While I personally think we are improving the overall design we have decided to look to a professional artist to assist us in our creation. We have found a person with the style that seems to fit the machine and we all agree on. (Hopefully she will want to assist) Will keep making revisions on our own but we are excited for the new possibilities.

Here is what I have. (had some parts already) Controller was the most expensive single part I bought. Could have used my homemade boards (and figured out the idiosyncrasies) or gone with open pinball project. I think this list is pretty inclusive but there are various screws and posts I used as well (most I had from other repairs / projects etc) I actually bought a complete firepower II play field to rob of parts but it was actually too nice once I had it that it will become my next project. I was able to acquire a perfect backglass already for it. Would have been cheaper option ($120 for whole playfield) I also build a visual pinball cabinet prior to this and had some part / experience from that to help me along. Here is a pic of that one.

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Cabinet
$50 Cabinet for plywood (I had some scraps to use for bottom and rear of back box)
$0 Shooter rod (had lying around)
$50 coin door
$0 legs (had them from another game I replaced the legs on)
$110 lock down bar assembly with latch
$0 Trim for back glass. (had)

Electronics
$35 Raspberry pi 3
$40 48V power supply
$19 12/5V power supply
$275 p3-roc
$200 (2) x PD-16 driver boards. $100 each
$120 (2) x SW-16 switch boards. $60 each
$0 amplifier
$60 monitor for display
$30 speakers

Playfield parts
$140 3 Pop bumpers
$80 flippers and mechs
$40 single drop target
$40 under play field magnet
$35 Pop up post
$21 3 stand up targets
$30 4 drop target bank. (eBay)
$30 2 drop target bank. (eBay)
$20 spinner
$20 wire ramp (eBay)
$35 Ball trough and various assemblies / coils / slingshots (eBay)
$20 Apron (eBay)
$0 Buttons and various switches (had)

Filiment for 3d printer. (Had 3d printer)
$20 1kg roll of filament

SO.... just over $1500 so far

Just a quick update. We did select an artist (as stated earlier) and we came to an agreement on terms , what we are looking for , etc. She is currently working on the sketches and I will update the progress as it comes. Starting with the backglass first.

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Wanted to do another update on where we were.

Here is an image of the initial sketch of the backglass art that I 'shopped onto an existing picture of our game.

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Stephanie, the artist we are working with (https://www.offbeatworlds.com) has done an amazing job capturing what we were looking for.

Still need to get the final art for the backglass and start work on the play field (the play field that is there is still the design from the kids and me) but I think this starts to show what the final game will become.

We have also decided to add a 2 drop target bank in front of the pop bumper to the right of the left ramp. Should be installing int soon. We are also still considering replacing the right castle ramp with a vacuum formed one.

Thanks to all for the positive feedback! We are open to other suggestions if you guys have them.

Not a huge update but I had the sketch printed on a large format printer (plain paper for now but plan to go to back light material for final) . Kids and I have been experimenting with placement of LED's and possible running some effects on the image with that. (maybe make merlins staff light up or something) Will be cool to see it in color.

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Hello, this is the eldest of the two children of matirwin posting on pinside for the first time. I'm bringing you an update on the table.

Rough Color Backglass

That's right. It's colored.

...And it's awesome. Anyways, we are working on putting the rough playfield art on now. I will keep you posted, folks.

(Edit from Dad... He has his own account now). Solis_Prime.... the newest pinsider (until the next one)