Proof is in the pudding! I have always been serious about this project and I’m very proud to have some tangible developments.
Feast your eyes on the VERY FIRST EVER *NEW* Orbitor 1 Rotor Sensor board!

A HUGE thanks to pinfixer for making this possible.
These two are prototypes to test and ensure they are working properly.

Once we ensure these work flawlessly, they will go into production!

Pretty excited about these developments.
Once these are fully tested, we’ll talk about costs and offering just the Rotor Sensor board for sale.
Of course this is just one step, I’m still fully intent on building the entire motor assembly.
ORBITOR 1 WILL LIVE!

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The double axle will be an interesting part. I’ll make it happen somehow! I’m sure some small motor manufacturers like mentioned before will have options for me.

I’ve already got a second test machine volunteered to ensure redundancy in the results!
Wish me luck, this will be a moment of truth for my personal scratch built O1. Fingers crossed!

Oh these will definitely work! Even if we have to redesign the board, which I doubt.
Luck moreso for my franken-pin Orbitor. It’s using a Magic transformer, Lightening Harness and everything else is cobbled together by pieces and parts. Theoretically it’s all correct.

Pins don’t always care about theory, I’ve had Stern MPUs give up the ghost whenever they feel like it!

I haven’t updated yet but the boards were sent back for tweaking. The power was getting to the motor and everything was operating, but the bumpers weren’t scoring or registering at all. Unfortunately the horseshoe opto went obsolete basically when they made this game, so we tried 2 different styles you’ll notice. Neither worked.
We may have to switch the method we use regardless. We shall see. Hoping we can source a new opto but I will tell him that we can use something different, ie current sensing.

Just an update letting you all there is not much progress being made currently. The pandemic has prevented my board-maker from getting access to the Orbitor 1 he has being using.

I figure maybe I can start getting some estimates for foam bumper replacement since I know that was a popular request.

That’s awesome, thanks for linking these! The VSU-1 was getting ridiculously hard to find and expensive! It’s great that it’s being reproduced now. Definitely gonna grab one.

The pandemic really screwed my original plans, thanks for the reminder! It’s taking way longer than I wanted, my own Orbitor is still sitting out of commission, but now it’s time to go at it again.

Work has restarted on this project! Never fear!

That’s what I figured! That is ingenious on Stern’s end. It’s a shame we didn’t see more of these bumpers.

Excellent! I greatly appreciate this and look forward to submitting to the local fab place herbertbsharp mentioned as well as others to see how much it will cost. I’m very confident that we can get at least 50 sets committed to owners out there. These bumpers are failing left and right at this age. By finally producing them we can foster the love that Orbitor 1 deserves!

Big update coming tomorrow!!

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Did I say tomorrow? I meant tomorrow next week!!
I visited PBR last Wednesday and talked with Steve. He approved my post of this info, however, please don’t hold him responsible for this endeavor which is my undertaking. He will NOT be remaking anything for this, however he was getting pricing for BRAND NEW motors from Multiproducts.

We talked a lot about pricing and quantity, so I hope everyone who responded to my poll was serious.
These motors will be pretty damn expensive, I’m not gonna lie. This will take some time, but Steve is willing to work with me securing the motors then I will make complete assemblies.

If you want your original motors rebuilt, Steve can do that for you, he rebuilds them and does a fantastic job. However if you want complete assemblies, stay tuned.

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Right now the plan is to price out motors and get a committed number for interest. I have learned an incredible amount from Steve. After explaining some of the roadblocks I’ve encounter he offered such simple, 5-second solutions. I don’t see any further “issues” at this point aside from the minor opto difficulties (which Steve also has a solution for). It’s now a matter of actually getting these parts ordered and fabricated.

The rotational motors are actually different, so I was wrong. Apologies.
There is a clockwise and counter-clockwise motor. We’ll order half of each. Steve suggested 25 of each. I suggested 50, it is reasonable to me that many owners would buy complete replacements just to be safe because I highly doubt we will ever make more unless demand really goes vertical!

The only thing Steve isn’t interested in is the foam spinning bumper itself. The minimum quantities are an issue. We are seriously gonna be stuck with a crapload of these foam things if we order them. Right now, it’s not a concern of mine, if we have to order 500 foam bumpers, so be it. Hope you guys like spares!!

*At this point the plan is for me to create the assemblies, Steve has no interest and will not do it, period.*

Correction on the previous info. Steve DOES NOT rebuild motors. He said these ones for Orbitor 1 are awful and take way too much work.
Your only option will be to buy new motors from me or Steve, once I put together the order, he’ll have a few for stock.

We discussed the project a bit more as well. The new run of motors won’t be plug and play. You need to transfer the aluminum block and pin at that top of the shaft that the bumper attaches too. They will not come like that from the factory. It was a custom-milled part Stern attached themselves.
These spinner bumpers are gonna be quite the adventure to make. Prices is not cheap!! Multiproducts also changed the minimum from 50 to 100.

Still moving forward at this point!

Update for transparency:
I’m working on opening a barcade locally, and that’s been my main focus for the past couple months. We are opening next week, and I’ve fixed up most my pending pinball projects to route at the barcade!

Thankfully this has cleared out the workshop and Orbitor 1 will take priority. My partner has also been grilling me about it, and very badly wants to play it!

There hasn’t been any meaningful progress made on the Orbitor 1 motor replacements, since my last post. I’ve been trying to locate whoever “Phoenix pinball” is that had reproduced those Opto boards posted earlier in my other thread. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/orbitor-1-a-scratch-build-reaching-for-the-stars/page/4#post-6339766

Other than that, the earnings on these route games can help fund this endeavor. It’s quite expensive for all these materials and motors, and because of the complicated timeline of the past few years, I won’t be taking any sort of money or payment for these until they’re plug-and-play ready.