Like they say, pinball machines are hard to make. Hope you don't give up and manage to get this done.

Is the art just iterating on what you already had for the PF, or a new direction?

Nate,

What motivated you to cnc your own inserts? Because you can? Or did you find an issue with the available stock out there? I'm asking because I am probably going to cnc a playfield in the near future and want to get it right the first time.

And... curious about the planned playfield art process. Clear-coated Re-printable overlay?

Direct print seems to be significantly spendier but if you don’t mind that - everyone I’ve heard had it done was super happy with it vs mixed results with overlays. I’d def go with direct and an auto clear on top if possible

All the work that goes into a home brew to me more than justifies the price of getting your final playfield direct printed.

If I have my own cnc router and want to make a suggestion, does that make me an armchair quarterback?

Seriously, I just have one thing to point out that you've undoubtedly already considered, but, as we know ... unlike the material you usually mill, wood shrinks, grows and warps. Even the highest quality plywood used for playfields will warp a little bit. So, two important factors are

1. A perfectly flat work surface (obvious) and
2. A way to get the entire piece of playfield (corners, edges and middle) to lie perfectly flat (not always easy)

If you don't, you'll find that some inserts fit perfectly and some don't due to the slightly difference in depths.

Both are fairly easy to accomplish if you plan ahead. I jumped in and learned my lesson after the fact. So, my suggestion is, after you have your plywood sheet mounted and before you click RUN, attach a plunge thickness indicator to the spindle and have it run through a grid pattern to measure the surface height across the entire sheet of plywood. That way you can address any imperfections before you start cutting. If you create a g-code file that pauses at each point on your grid (just long enough to read the depth gauge) it will go fairly quick.

OK, that's all.

Happy to see this is still moving forward. Such an incredible amount of work and talent as well. I might have said this earlier and too lazy to look but for the love of God, send the final PF off to Kruzman and have him clear it. This project is quite honestly just too damn nice to half ass it!

FantasticPinball Can get you setup with a direct UV playfield. He did mine on League and am super happy with it. I had a vinyl sticker before and the direct is night and day!

How so? Can you get a little more detailed about the night and day? What was the cost difference?

The more I look at this, the more I cannot help but feel like what would be the absolute most killer look would be to have someone airbrush this onto the PF and then clear coated. Probably not a very realistic idea - but I think that would be over the top awesome.
I normally haven't cared much for the artwork the homebrew community has come up with, but this is super, super nicely done. When you're done, you're going to absolutely mop the floor with the other competitors.
PS, every time I see the title of this thread (Witness!) I freaking laugh. It's like a command being given from God almighty himself lol

Nice job, the art looks great

Looks awesome!! Are they going to do plastics too?

art is looking fantastic!

Metal will severely limit light dispersion. Ask your friend. If they're sick of it, they'll tell you. And plastics will be a smaller, faster job, at least.

Yeah. Sling plastics are front and center and important but you could phone in the rest.

Yeah, tire tracks, smoke bellows, flames, etc on orbit plastics, etc. None of it on the same level as what's on display on the PF.

Interesting and simple solution to a complex problem. The scoop I used from PBL has a ring that the ball rests in to allow it to settle in a stable position before the eject coil send it back up. Do yo have something similar so the top entering ball does not ricochet away from the eject firing position before being fired?

I'm disappointed. I expected you to have magnetic launchers to really get those balls moving. Just borrow some parts off a NASCAR pin and you're set, no designing necessary.

That's awesome, so idea is that it can shoot two different ways?

10-4, I missed your explanation above on the coil to knock a jammed ball down. Looks great. I would use the poly if it holds up and add an led to make the scoop flash when its going to shoot the ball out.

Stick one of those car door mini-projectors opposite it just below the PF and project flames on it when it's going to eject.

Nice work. I bet it lights beautifully. How did you machine the inner curvature of the scoop?

So shiny, so chrome

The artwork is awesome !

This thing looks wicked! Hope to see it at Expo.

I'd go to Expo just to see this in person. Thanks for sharing all this with us. What an amazing project!

I totally agree with your stance. It's cool people take their "whitewood" stuff but to show up with complete working hardware, finished software and complete artwork might be a first? lol
Besides, that gives you plenty of time to get that *cough* clear coated *cough*

Are you planning on adding a shaker? I think that would be such a nice edition especially considering the theme being used.

Looking at the Ride Eternal insert, it might be nice to make the insert a bit bigger and do something like Indy's ETERNAL LIFE insert where the text is screened over the insert, lighting up the words.

eternal-life-insert.jpg

Or, alternately, put a Valhalla symbol on the insert, since that's what they're always talking about in the movie.

valhalla.png

It's always hardest right before the finish. Looking great.

On your Apron "dashboard" you might want to experiment with attaching the needle for the speedometer to a spring tube attached to the servo rather than directly to the servo arm. It should give you a bit of analog bounce that way so it looks like a speedometer would on a 1960s/1970s era car instead of too-crisp motion of a direct servo attachment.

I was looking at the Apron, and boy I cannot help but think it would be easier/cooler to use an LCD screen and have that part software driven. A person could get super fancy and use a touch screen and get as complicated as you please.
It also allows you to customize the layout at any time if things don't feel quite right.

Personally, being an old hot rodder, I like the Guage approach you're going for. Screens are all over, but analog type stuff is still Hella cool. I hope you pull that off rather than just another pin with a screen on an apron.