(Topic ID: 130434)
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Rob Zombie's Spookshow International
Spooky Pinball, 2016
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Houston, TX
1 week later
Quoted from 2Kaulitz:Nice well it work for AMH too ?
AMH runs on REV5. RZ will run on REV7. THey are almost 100% compatible but some slight code changes and cable changes will need to be done to get AMH working on a REV7 board. Should be possible tho 
Quoted from kaneda:I didn't get my number. What does that mean?
Just means you are a troll 
https://twitter.com/LnghrnEngineer/status/678800681206059008
More progress on the new Pinheck Design. Pretty full of parts but there are still some opening for more features.....
1 week later
Oh I am adding a add-on area on the board that will have I2C and have access to the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V power rails. Think of module add-ons for mods?
Going over the board with Ben at the moment before I route the new test connector (edge connector labeled J12). The PHAM (PinHeck Add-on Module) area is 3" x 2.2" and has connection to the PIC32 (main MCU) I2C lines and 3.3V, 5V, and 12V. Gonna add another RGB connector and pinout the last of the left over I/O.
Quoted from Whysnow:Wait... Do people really do those crappy edge connectors still?
Your entire PC is filled with them! J12 will just be used for testing and diagnostic. Someone has to test these boards coming off the assembly line
Quoted from Whysnow:Yeah but i don't pull connectors on or off of boards in my pc ever. Different application. Edge connectors for pinball boards are junk. There is a reason nobody else uses them any more. They suck on old gottliebs, trust me.
Did you just stop reading my reply after the first sentence?
Quoted from roc-noc:Nice work! As someone who has worked in the industry for years, I really appreciate a nice layout with clear labels. I also like the use of large enough resistors so I don't have to use a microscope to probe and replace them. Keep up the good work.
Labeling isn't complete yet either. I usually do the silkscreen last when all the parts are in there final location so I don't have to redo work again 
Also here is the part number for that edge connector that will go on the test jig 11216-060 http://www.amphenol-tcs.com/doc?id=2086
It will only be used for testing boards before they ship up to Chuck. Our current testing involves plugging in cables to all the connections and a mix match of programmers and USB cables. With REV7 it will just be plug board in and then press a button on the tester.
Its secondary function is to act as a play field "replacement" where someone is programming a game and doesn't have the play field and cabinet around.
The end user will never use this connector and it won't be used inside a game itself.
Quoted from iceman44:Can you tell us where this is going to take place? Will it be 5v or 12v? Can't figure out where its going on the diagram?
It will be 5V like the other RGB Connector except the I/O lines will hook into the Prop side instead of the PIC32 side.
Quoted from snakesnsparklers:RTC added just like that? Wow I can't wait!
Who in the hell do you think we are? We are Team Spooky!
What Ben said. The new EEPROM is hooked up to the PIC32 side of the board. I have to add a couple more fuses to the board that Chuck wants and we will be building a set of prototype boards. I am really looking forward in seeing how people use the PHAM (PinHeck Add-on Module) part of the board to add mods to their games.
Quoted from FawzmaGames:The overview was updated with missing info
**Edit**
Totally forgot about this. This mode has an infection mode (Feels so Numb). In fact all modes have it, but this one is on by default. There is a user setting to turn infection on or off for each mode. Infection mode is a way to stop people from replaying their favorite main mode over and over. What this means is, after you beat a mode and you play it again; if you fail the mode you go into infection mode.
Everything goes dark and a green heartbeat/pulse sound/light starts playing. The DMD will have an infection meter that goes from 0 - 100% . This is a timed (about 70 seconds) event where you have to hit 3 lit targets in a random order. If you fail to complete the infection mode, everything dies; forcing your ball to drain.
One twist to this mode, (it's user settable) that is, your flippers are reversed.
I am glad we have someone like Fawzma programming the PinHeck System.
Adding more fuses to the system. Fuses for the GI and Servos. Added more input protection on some of the I/O. In the process of adding some TPS2592 ICs to the 12V and 5V input of the board. These are over voltage and over current protection chips to protect the board. Since I am aiming for this revision of the board to be very mod friendly I want to make certain it is hard to kill the PinHeck board. Also new name for the PHAM. PinHeck Addon Board / User Logic Optional Universal Slot. PHABULOUS
TPS2592 footprint. Really complicated layout. Page 34 here on the datasheet. http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/405/tps25926-769962.pdf
Getting closer to finishing the new board revision. http://i.imgur.com/wlHjIeK.jpg
Quoted from Whysnow:that would be AWESOME!!!
Parker/Ben >> any chance of this? Headphone jack would be really great for this game!
The PinHeck board already has a 3.5MM TRS audio connector. This feeds into the audio amp Chuck uses. We won't be providing a headphone only jack on the board but with the PHABULOUS (PinHeck Addon Board / User Logic Optional Universal Slot) connector it would be possible to add a dedicated headphone jack. With the right bit of code tweaks you could make it work easily enough. I figure the best way to do this would use a TRS jack with a switch in it so it can detect if your headphones are plugged in or not.
Someone get working on this
I did change out the 3.5MM TRS audio connector to a gold plated model that is a bit more robust to help eliminate the problems we had with the silver plated version on REV5. For some reason I couldn't find a PTH style gold plated 3.5MM TRS connector so I went SMT on it. It has pegs so it should be hard to accidentally remove . Part # SJ1-3513-SMT for those that want to know.
Quoted from iceman44:Way to go Spooky and Fozzy! Building a great team
And you have the "Longhorn" engineer, what more could you ask for.
No "quotes" about it. 2011 Grad in ECE at UT.
FawzmaGames. Instead of achievements on a phone say like it records the high score of different things. Like number of zomibes killed or items collected. So you have a Score HS list and a HS list for all the items collected.
1 week later
Almost done here. So the edge connector for the testing setup ended up not working. It required smaller drill holes for the vias then what I wanted to budget for the PCB manufacturing. Instead I will build a test jig that has "pogo" pins on it. I have built a couple of these for other people and is a fairly standard way of testing. I am pretty bummed out I won't be able to use that sweet edge connector tho 
Updated layout image http://i.imgur.com/wcUpt6J.jpg
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Quoted from zombywoof:Ben, will code updates be Mac friendly?
Yes. REV7 will work with Macs since you won't be plugging your computer into the board to update it. You can but we now have an update method that just involves dumping the new file on the SD card. We never could figure out why REV5 never liked Macs. The hardware was the exact same as the development kit and the same low level firmware on the FT232 (USB->UART) and it still failed on Macs. Linux seemed to be fine.
Quoted from Pinballpal:Is this board going to be in rob zombie? Is their going to be an option for a shaker motor or real knocker in rob zombie?
Yes this is the RZ board set. It has a shaker motor and a knocker connector. Whether it gets into the code is up to Fawzma. You could add a real knocker to AMH as well with a little bit of code kungfu
Quoted from FawzmaGames:I think you need to get a PID added to FTDI bundle so Mac know what its looking at. something you work out with chipkit or something. There are also configuration settings that I have no interest in messing with related to FTDI.
Almost like the chip you are using isn't recognized as an OEM type device.
It was recognized as a standard FTDI uart on PC and Linux. There is a program called FT_Prog that allows you to look at all the meta data on the eeprom and set PIDs ect. The settings on the chipkit was the same as a stock FT232.
Prototypes have been ordered. The two protos will be red PCBs. I am taking suggestions for colors for the production run we can do anything besides black and white. Those are really hard colors to repair in the future if something bad happens.
Quoted from roc-noc:We ran black solder mask on a batch of production boards years ago and found it difficult to find production shorts between traces. It happens in fine pitch multi-layer boards. Green was much better but not as cool looking.
This. Red will work. I can try to get a darker red for production tho
Quoted from snakesnsparklers:Ben or Parker mentioned a few weeks ago that it would be possible to hook up an an aux audio connector. I forget the details, but it may need to be through the new expansion board. Bottom line is they will make it possible and I want a headphone jack too!
You could easily go from the 3.5mm connector on the PinHeck board to a switched 3.5mm panel connector that gets mounted to the front of the machine then back to the amp. Would need a N.C. 3.5mm TRS or something. I will look into an addon thing people can buy.
Quoted from lllvjr:On amh plugging a headphone directly into the 3.5mm jack on the cpu board, the level set from the factory doesn't provide enough power to run the headphones. Can that be increased?
If it can't be increased we would have to use a separate headphone amplifier built into the door like we did for the Jjp kit.
Yeah we will need a separate amplifier for headphone. There is no amp on the PinHeck.
Quoted from benheck:Get a 128 byte RAM RFID card to store your name,etc and slap it on the glass when its your turn. Put the reader under the plastic apron, and the plastic becomes useful!
Almost all phones have NFC built in. Could use that instead
Quoted from Jazman:Rev 7!?! Jeez... needs better engineering...
REV 1 is the all PTH board Ben has. It has the pic32 dev board plugged right in it. REV 2 was the first board I worked on. Basically rerouted and fixed a ton of issues. A couple green wires where needed that we missed in converting REV 1 from one EDA tool to another for REV 2. REV 3 worked well but we had to change some features which lead to REV 4. REV 4 had to be hacked up a bit to add even more features. This board was in Chicago Expo 2013 AMH if I recall. REV 5 finalized all the features and was the production board for AMH. REV 6 was to fix some manufacturing issues we have with REV 5 but was scrapped when we started work on REV 7 to add more features. REV 7 will probably be the last revision for the Pinheck and anything else we will move to a new system name (SUPER Pinheck System ).
The system supports a color LCD DMD and has plenty of I/O. As long as Chuck doesn't do anything insane that needs more horse power it should last for awhile. I am against putting a computer with an OS inside a pinball machine. Maybe someday we will have to but we are going to get by as long as we can with talking to the metal
1 week later
For some real news. Down here in Tejas we are running the 2 prototype PinHeck REV7 boards. SMT only today. Will solder the through hole parts tomorrow. Will post pictures once the solder paste warms up
Quoted from pballinhd:Ship those circuit boards to Charlie asap. He doesn't need to pick them up at TPF.
Yeah once they are tested one will go up to Chuck and the other will stay down here till we 100% are sure the new board revision is solid. Maybe I should just hand deliver these to Chuck 
Quoted from Mitch:Just a question, dont know anything about circuit board design, How come it still uses a coin cell battery instead of a NVRAM? Ive noticed stern still uses the coin cell battery to. Is there a advantage to this?
To keep the real time clock (RTC) running. The battery is not used for keeping scores or settings. That data is stored in non volatile EEPROM.
The RTC basically just keeps current time.
Quoted from jalpert:Technically they can, but it's rare.
Yeah I have never seen a coin cell leak before.
Quoted from snakesnsparklers:No need for NVRAM if it already has EEPROM to save to. There is nothing to replace with NVRAM on the pinheck board since it never used battery backed RAM to begin with.
This is correct. NVRAM can not keep time. Having a RTC on the board enables us to do mode swaps and certain time madness modes.
Pinheck REV7 so far tests 100%. Waiting on the new programming cables so I can test the pinouts of the headers.
Everything I can test is working on my end. The new programming cables arrived yesterday and the pinout for that was confirmed working. A board is going up to Chuck and he should have it by Monday. Once confirmed working in RZ we will move forward with the production run.
Green board under the Pinheck is a "bed of nails" style tester. It has a bunch of pogo pins (electrical spring contacts) that push into the bottom of the board. This will enable us here in Texas to quickly test and program the Pinhecks which is currently the longest step in the process. I will take a better picture once the whole thing is done.
1 month later
https://twitter.com/LnghrnEngineer/status/716043447539359744
Moar Pinhecks. Our fab here is turning out Pinhecks for the RZ run.
1 week later
https://twitter.com/LnghrnEngineer/status/720385676399620096
Got the test jig for the PinHecks working. The old method of testing took around 15 to 20 minutes to test. This jig does it all in 1 minute 15 seconds. Should be able to supply Chuck much faster with boards 
We are shipping Chuck a bunch of stuff today.
https://twitter.com/LnghrnEngineer/status/721093421537079297
Quoted from Whysnow:just waiting on boards from the sounds of it...
20 games built and ready for boards/testing.
Time to buy a second machine Parker?
Main problem was testing the board sets efficiently and consistently. I have been working on a new test fixture that fixes these issues. Old way of testing was very error prone and took over 15minutes. Essentially was a bunch a cables you had to plug into the board and watch LEDs blink.
New method is an actual test fixture that auto tests all the connections on the board. Testing and programming takes 1minute and 52seconds. Consistent testing across all boards.
4 weeks later
Quoted from Whysnow:looking forward to playing the game more, but my last feedback still stands (unless things have dramatically changed post MGC). The game is unbalanced and does not use code well to balance physical risk/reward. Competitive play needs to be factored in for lastability in homes where 1 dimensional strategies of coding can make even a great layout boring and a wood chopping event.
I need more time on it in a better play environment to give more constructive feedback, but in general terns I think games being delivered is just the start of code and it feels pretty beta from what I played at TPF and MGC. Last we talked you insinuated coding was pretty polished in your mind and you were busy with dominoes and the next game already.
In my opinion after the first 100 get delivered is when you will start to get the real and valuable feedback. until then it is fanboys and limited play in a less than optimal show environment.
I like the game when I got to play it at MGC buuuuuuuuuuut I may be biased....or not.... up to you
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