(Topic ID: 268677)

Playfield thickness

By pinstyle

3 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 8 posts
  • 3 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by pinstyle
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

    #1 3 years ago

    Can someone tell me what playfield thickness dimension are you working with in AutoCAD? I started my drawing with a thickness of 1/2" but then I remember reading somewhere that 9 ply Baltic is actually a 1/32" over a half. So I am wondering if I will have CNC issue if I continue. So far everything I see online gives a measurement of 12mm which is 1/2".

    #2 3 years ago

    https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/playfield-thickness#post-4442766

    You really should just design it to what you plan to use, which may be determined by availability and/or if you want to sand a larger sheet down..

    #3 3 years ago

    12mm is actually .472”

    This is what I used and all the mechs from pinball life work fine at this thickness

    #4 3 years ago

    I tend to over think things which I may be doing so. I guess I don't know enough about how a CNC interprets a file and what kind of adjustments can be made to compensate. For instance, if my playfield is drawn at exactly 1/2" thick, and I set up a slice of wood to be CNC'd that is either a hair over or under that measurement, what will the results be? I started to think about this factor just now while drawing the pockets for the inserts. I have no intentions of using the Home Depot crap wood for the final product, I am currently using it for the prototype for testing only but at this point I do not have any wood sourced for the final run.

    #5 3 years ago

    It’s all in how you program the machine and set your tools.
    Most would set up the top surface of the wood as Z zero and program all the paths as negative numbers in Z.
    If done this way you don’t need to worry about how thick the playfield was drawn in CAD when it comes to the inserts because they will be releative to the surface .
    What’s important is when cutting full depth you program it the exact thickness of the playfield so you don’t cut into the waste board.

    Some program z zero at the bottom of the playfield. All z values/paths would be positive. (or zero when cutting full depth)
    To me this is wrong for a lot of reasons.
    #1 being more likely to crash the machine. But to each their own.

    #6 3 years ago

    Alright, thanks Nate. Yea I just spoke with someone a little while ago who knows a little more about the cnc process and he said pretty much the same thing you said.

    What unit of measurement are you using? Do you think there is any disadvantage to using fractional? I can always change my unit of measurement within the program at any time.

    Also are you setting your inserts flush or raised a hair to compensate for any variation in the wood?

    #7 3 years ago

    I would program the inserts .245” depth.
    Leaving .005” to sand.

    I would skip fractional and go inches with decimal point.

    #8 3 years ago

    Ok, thank you for the advice. I have seen your Mad Max build, it is coming along very nicely. Great choice of theme and a very interesting layout.

    Reply

    Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

    Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

    Donate to Pinside

    Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


    This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/playfield-thickness-1?hl=sicknate and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

    Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.