Not really "homemade" as much as up-cycled for a different purpose:
I made a post about them here:
(Topic ID: 65459)
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider goingincirclez.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
2 years later
Here's my rotisserie I designed and built a few years ago for under $100. Used a 4x4 post; gusset plates; 1" pipe nipples, flanges, and unions; an L-channel; and some clamps. An old 2x6 was used as the center span brace; I experimented with making my first mortise and tenon joinery and forgot to account for the swing of the playfield, but it was easy to rip-notch it to fit. I'm sure one could easily rig a 2x4 span of their own.
I find this has numerous advantages over pipe-framed DIY and other commercial rotisseries: note you can attach handy hooks and other hardware to the posts, and bins to the cross-brace. The unions lock securely in any rotated position. The assembled rotisserie has an open floor between the ends but is very stable, and breaks down easily for storage. To accommodate different pf lengths, you can adjust the nipple segments. And did I mention it is DIY cheap with common materials....
1 month later
You shouldn't lift using the base panel. They're not meant to lift or bear the load of a 200+lb game!
Even if there are braces (sometimes there aren't), usually there is a 1/2" to 1" gap between the brace and the bottom panel (as you know because that's inevitably where every #^&%@ dropped screw wants to go)...
It is a TERRIBLE idea to flex the panel a half inch when it often has only 1/4" or less extra width locking into the side slots: you might crack the panel (remember, the manufacturers used whatever scrap / crap material was convenient for this non-structural part, so is it even in good shape to begin with?), or even pop the panel out. And sometimes the braces aren't too sturdy either: I've seen them loose (with short tenons and/or glue cracked from age), and it was not hard to imagine them buckling and popping out of the side walls. The braces support a small load from above. They're not meant to bear the full load of the game once the legs are off the floor. Maybe bearing the weight of a lifted game will be the thing that finally *makes* them loose. Do you feel lucky?
Always lift the cabinet side walls. You can slide the cart under from the side (it might take a couple tries to find the right center balance point as every game is different), or use boards to extend the cart platform width if inserting from the front.
Maybe I need to quit buying wrecks 
Still, I'd rather not chance it or give Murphy any more openings than he's already got on me. All it takes is "that one time"...
Besides, there's a reason the "professional", purpose-built pinball lift carts are long enough to lift the front and rear walls of the game, NOT just the bottom panel.
1 year later
Regarding the debate about "filing switches" and what one should use, with the wisdom about not ruining your fragile gold-plated low-voltage contacts in mind, may I present some anecdotal evidence toward a possible DIY solution that might work with discretion:
I was recently finishing a Time Fantasy to take to a show. It has 5 lane-change rollovers. Two of them were flaky, in that they worked about 75% of the time. I'd used all the previous tricks: fiber business cards; crisp dollar bills; the same soaked with alcohol (which I have found really gets the grime off contacts but makes the card/bill self-destruct), etc.... but in all cases the fix only lasted a few dozen plays if that.
With time running out before the show I finally decided to buy new switches, but they were out of stock. ARRRGH! So as a "well crap, what have I got to lose" desperation experiment, I made my own burnishing tool to be more aggressive than a business card, but less than a file.
I used an old flipper bushing gap fork tool, some double-sided tape, and some thin 600grit sandpaper (from a modeling kit). I laminated both sides of the gap tool with the sandpaper. Passed it between the switches (turns out the flipper tool is the perfect length, thickness, and durability for cleaning a properly gapped switch). There was some slight metallic residue on the sandpaper to prove they were "cleaned" but did I actually ruin them? I took some "spare hackable parts" with me to the show just in case.
But my cleaned switches lasted the entire show (and afterward) trouble-free! One was 100% fine, the other acted up about halfway through the show but with another quick pass of my "desperation cleaner" was fine again and has remained so. I've since used it on a few other switches that were inconistent trouble points in other games with similarly good results.
Again, I wouldn't necessarily say this should be the first go-to method for cleaning... but if you're reaching that "line of aggravation", as your last attempt before replacing a switch you can't obtain or replace easily, or for troubleshooting a project to determine what's actually broken or needs to be bought, this method might be valuable.
1 week later
Been pulling my hair out trying to troubleshoot and adjust a Stern drop mech from Flight 2000 (a 9-wide mech populated by just 5 targets). The coils worked, the targets worked, and they would all reset and drop "by hand" but every time I installed it in the game, one or more would not drop or reset properly and/or reliably. This difference in reliability whereas my "hand resets" worked 100% of the time when it was out of the game, versus the electrical pulse of the game, was maddening.
This heavy bulky mech was annoying to remove time after time, and the game's self-test is too primitive, requiring to let it cycle all the solenoids to return to the drops: I was going to hear it in my sleep. And was also worried I might strip the holes in the playfield, bad enough just 4 screws hold this thing in.
Finally I remembered that in the box of power adapters I never throw away, were at least two from old desktop printers. Many of those are around 30V DC... just enough to fire a coil - and test a full mech - at the bench without having to install in the game:
Just identify the + and - leads from the adapter, wire in some insulated alligator clips, then carefully and quickly touch them to the coil lugs: POW!
This worked great! With full visibility of the mech topside I could finally see that the pawls on the small coils were ever-so-slightly out of individual adjustment, in response to the coil's rapid firing (vs. my quickest "hand flick"), requiring various tweaks. Those adjustments - probably due to 40 years of wear on the parts - were stupid finicky and took several more tries at the bench, which easily saved me over an hour of back-forth-in-and-out-of-the-game-and-test-mode-again nonsense.
So if you have an old printer, don't throw the power brick away...
You could even plug it into a game's service outlet to test mechs in-game, with caution.
Quoted from Dr_Dude:Great technique! That honking DT-mech is in Nineball as well, so having both F2K and Nineball I've had my share of adjusting it. In my experience, the biggest problem is related to the super-long lift bar at the bottom. In fact, there are two versions of the lift bar, the later one being more robust. Basically, you need to sort of twist/torque the bar such that the one end is a little higher than the other, as otherwise some of the DTs will not quite fully reset and will auto-drop immediately. Ideally, seek out the slightly better lift bar if you can. I've also seen one where some extra metal was welded on to stiffen it. There are other tweaks you can do as well (which is what you seem to have done).
I don't know which version of the lift bar I have (mine is more like an L-channel) but I know the adjustment you're referring to. Previous owner(s) had set the far side (away from the coil) about 1/4" up. Which obviously helped it work, but then the targets on the end wouldn't sit flush to the pf when down either, and that also bugged me.
Fortunately on my mech, you don't have to "bend" the bar: there are set screws on the connected crank (you can see them in the photo I posted), so just loosen them, pivot the crank to adjust the height, and tighten.
And using my bench-test procedure I was able to lower the bar to properly level and flush rest, yet get the drops to function properly by adjusting the individual drop pawls (and replacing wonky springs, etc). But that's a real PITA requiring removal and possible disassembly... so for quick / op-level adjustments, the bar adjustment is understandably far easier!
10 months later
That's a pretty slick bulb tester package, and I like the fuse testing pads. Great concept.
A few years ago I made my own bulb tester out of a spare 6V wall wart, a plank of shim wood, and some salvaged sockets. It's ugly - actually more like hideous - but works great and I'm surprised how often I use it! I use it so much I should probably make it look nicer...
...however, one feature you should consider adding Karetaker is double sockets for 44 & 555. Because many LED bulbs are hard to tell apart: Warm? Cool? Sunlight? Dark or Light purple? 1 or 2 SMD brightness? You might think you can remember to distinguish them, but this can be surprisingly difficult. I finally added double sockets to my tester for comparing bulbs side by side - that simple hack made things far easier!
Quoted from Karetaker:As far as your tester being ugly my first one was as well. I'm not even sure where that one is anymore. They don't have to be pretty to work they just have to be pretty to sell.
LOL you were warned...
...but for the cost of upcycled/free it's lasted several years and hundreds of uses so I won't complain. Finding that adapter with the status LED was un unplanned bonus which I highly recommend: it's great to not wonder "is this thing on?" when investigating troublesome bulbs!
1 month later
Quoted from cottonm4:With wheels ( that get expensive real fast)
Forget the wheels... just the wood is about a Topper's worth o' dollars at today's lumber prices 
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider goingincirclez.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat 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+!
