Finished this design last night. Hopefully this works better. At the very least, it should be far more durable for testing. Parts are printing. I'm headed to the shop to cut the aluminum backplate.
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Hey Pinteresting, glad you joined the Facebook group, I don’t get on Pinside much so please update your progress and/or your finished game on the Strictly Custom group!
Heh. Sorry guys. I always forget how screwy work gets this time of year. I'm crazy at work for another two weeks. I'll get you guys some updates.
As of right now, I've been working on some mechanics. Basically stuff I can do on lunch and at home. You guys saw this before but it was version 3. This is now version 7 and I think it's our winner...for now.
This is the motorized drop target wall. I've remodeled it from scratch because it was driving me nuts. Before it gets mounted, I'll take it apart and replace the plastic switch plate with a steel switch plate. The Pololu Maestro is currently mounted to the servo motor mount for ease of wiring and to keep things clean.
Nice mech!
Quoted from jwilson:That thing is amazing and all, but seems overly complex
If you 3d print parts, you can add all kinds of extra elements with low effort on the same piece. If you use folded steel that is not possible, or would need multiple parts to do the same function.
Also this is in plastic and not metal. You would need larger material thickness and more bracing to obtain the same strength.
jwilson Strength is not a strong point (no pun intended) with 3D printed parts from this type of printer. You have to do what you can to make parts far stronger than you would normally. The intent was to make a part that works and places the top of the targets very close to where it will need to be in the closed state. This will allow the servo and controller to be less accurate. The original unit I made was great until you slam the steel ball into it a thousand times.
DDDwingmaster Nailed it!
Quoted from SpaceGhost:jwilson At the time, I tried buying one of the motorized units from AFM. The parts were not available. They may be now but I hate waiting.
Impossible to find whole unit. Carrier guide and brackets are available. Motor and cam and motor bracket not so much unless you want to pay $$.
Yours looks great!
not to get completely off topic, but you would have thought that parts like these (especially in the case of AFM) would become more readily available when PPS started reproducing MM and AFM, but that doesn't appear to be the case
it would definitely make it easier on people like yourself trying to use an existing mech rather than having to re-design it from the ground up
I like the idea of improving the old unavailable design.
I struggled to find parts for mine. Ended up making the metal bracket myself and luckily finding a geared motor to drive it.
I think it can be further improved by removing the whole rotating cam section completely and using something like a spiral rod on a motor to raise and lower the targets.
Mbecker Yeah. I found parts here and there but it would have costs quite a bit to put them together. Also making 5 of these machines, I wanted to do something that was easy to reproduce.
j_m_ I called PPS to see if I could buy one. They would never reply or call back so I figured that they were just not interested. I agree. That would be great for them to sell them to a pinball parts supplier.
MarkInc Thanks. I would have preferred to buy something that is already tested and ready but it just didn't work out that way. I would like to have used bearing glides and a lead screws also. That would have been super solid state!!!!
I'm just finishing the cnc work on the new playfield although I have to do another couple passes to get the mounting holes put in. The more complex the playfield becomes, the more work it creates. Crazy how much more work it is to add small holes into the new design.
This is the Version 9 playfield coming up. Very excited for this one. Really looking forward to this version.
Where are you getting your blanks? Is it official Pinball Ply or something else?
The reason I ask is I thought that stuff was unobtanium unless you were willing to buy a traincar load.
Currently, we are using 15mm Baltic Birch. It's a high grade plywood that has alternating grains. 15mm is approximately 10 layers laminated with the outer layers being thicker than a normal piece of even cabinet grade plywood. That's probably about as close as we will be able to get. It's a little thicker than a normal playfield at 15mm but we are adjusting where necessary.
Quoted from SpaceGhost:Currently, we are using 15mm Baltic Birch
I believe playfields are a hair over 1/2" (so there's an allowance for sanding both the top layer wood + inserts). 15mm is 5/8, but I suppose an extra 1/8 isn't going to affect any mechs.. your post screws might get a little short for engaging into the t-nuts on the bottom?
Quoted from toyotaboy:I believe playfields are a hair over 1/2" (so there's an allowance for sanding both the top layer wood + inserts). 15mm is 5/8, but I suppose an extra 1/8 isn't going to affect any mechs.. your post screws might get a little short for engaging into the t-nuts on the bottom?
You Americans crack me up a hair over 1/2 an inch is 13mm.
Pop bumpers will be definitely affected if it's not bang on , maybe routing from underneath to take out the excess for critical mecs.
Quoted from kaboom:a hair over 1/2 an inch is 13mm
I understand 'a hair over 1/2 an inch' means 1/2 inch + a hair.
Google says... the thickness of a pinball playfield is 17/32'', or 0.53125'', so a hair would be about 0.078 cm or ... 
over half mm.
Actually, the 15mm birch plywood is .5415" thick. They advertise as 15mm but there's always some variation. Playfields are all slightly different. All plywood is different. The manufacturers may list it as 17/32" thickness but it will almost never really be right on.
This is what I get...
Attack from Mars: .5215" thick (13.23mm)
Getaway - Highspeed 2: .5302" thick (13.47mm)
Kiss: .5227" thick (13.27mm)
Last Starfighter: .5415" thick (13.75mm)
Measurements:
3/8" (.375") = 9.525mm
7/16" (.4375") = 11.1125mm
1/2" (.5") = 12.7mm
9/16" (.5625") = 14.2875mm
5/8" (.625") = 15.875mm
So far, we haven't had any issues with the thickness. I believe that most pinball components are designed with some tolerance to allow for varying materials otherwise the plywood would have to be dead nuts on. We know that's just not possible unless you go with another type of material.
Panel your basement with 1-8. Or maybe you could number, date what version, you and your team sign them and sell them.
Quoted from SpaceGhost:Hell yeah. I think ol' version 9 is worthy of a clear coat.
oooooo... a guessing game. I'm going to guess that it's some new alien technology that allows you to see natural disasters in the future, and I say that this one is a tornado
or maybe I'm completely wrong and this is the flat eye from some metallic cat-like beast 
MustangPaul LOL. I know right? It's a shame to throw them away but they are no good once we make enough changes.
j_m_ Holy crap! How did you know?!?! You have one of these too?!
Oh Snap! Scott in our group sent me this.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/rogue-ones-gary-whitta-tells-us-his-plans-for-a-last-st-1824988120
We gotta hurry!
Quoted from SpaceGhost:Oh Snap! Scott in our group sent me this.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/rogue-ones-gary-whitta-tells-us-his-plans-for-a-last-st-1824988120
We gotta hurry!
I know I'd go see it and own it when it comes out.
Quoted from SpaceGhost:Oh Snap! Scott in our group sent me this.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/rogue-ones-gary-whitta-tells-us-his-plans-for-a-last-st-1824988120
We gotta hurry!
I just was going to post possible sequel
This is a different link has 4 pics of sequel maybe pics http://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3492021/rogue-one-writer-working-last-starfighter-reboot-check-concept-art/
Check this out! Jayson Time from our group put together a test of two LCDs running off the same processor. It looks really good. Man I'm excited about this thing!
...and a test print on the backside of acrylic for backlight purposes. The colors came out really nicely.
audihere Lewis!!! LOL. That's awesome.
swillie Thanks. The next test will be on glass. We'll see how that goes. The LCD stuff is amazing.
Time blows me away with the skills.
MustangPaul Yeah. I think the final may be on Lexan if we don't end up on glass.
Wolfmarsh Thanks. Very excited to get somewhere on this sucker.
Buju Yeah. Can't wait to hear some of it.
swinks Thanks. It's getting there.
Quoted from jwilson:Yeah, that long format LCD is exactly the sort of thing custom guys are looking for.
Yes indeed!
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