19. Invention, intellectual property and income¶
This week there was not much to do. I was finishing my pinball machine.
This week I will outline the future of my machine, how I will update it and where it will end up.
Final project¶
The current plan is for the pinball machine to only have three working components: the paddles, the bumpers and the launcher. In addition to these, there will be the board and electronics, but they are less relevant. Electronics is only interesting for the point of view of Fab Academy, and the board needs to be redesigned and tested a couple more times in order for it to be functional.
New things¶
After the machine is done, I will most likely continue working with it. Making a pinball machine has been a long term dream of mine, and this thing shows promise.
The things that I will probably finish before the end of Fab Academy will be covers for the visible solenoids in the paddles, and a hinge system that keeps the playing surface in place, and makes it easier to get into the electronics.
After that, the development will probably slow down quite a lot, as I will have other commitments in my life that I also need to attend to.
The device still needs some way to detect the ball. Currently the bumpers have a mechanism for ball detection, but it was designed in a way that cannot be used anywhere else. Most likely I will need to use some kind of switch system. If the ball is too light for that, then I need to figure something out. Maybe a light sensor, even though I do not like how that could be triggered by external light sources. There are a couple of other options as well, but all of them need to be tested and designed, and all have some kind of trade-offs.
At some point, I will also have to make a proper case for it, with lights and everything, and a glass cover, but that is one of the last things that needs to be finished.
Final resting place¶
The machine needs to be somewhere. The current prototype does not really have any uses, as it is just a prototype. It is also a bit too big for presenting at the FabLab. Maybe as a set piece that people could play with it, but the current power design is annoying, is it need be both plugged in and connected via USB cable.
As such, I think it will remain at my home. If I ever finish the machine, I might start discussing with people about where should I put it. If the machine is good enough, then I will quite likely find home for it somewhere. I know a couple of places that could be interested in a custom made pinball machine, as long as it is easy to maintain and looks professionally made. If it ever get to that point, there might be some money to be made here.
In order to get there, the parts need to be designed and tested, a graphic design needs to be made and everything needs to be documented for maintenance. This hobby thing needs to get professional.
But this will most likely stay as a hobby project. And I’m happy with it. If other pinball hobbyists get some ideas from this (like making their own solenoids), I think this has done its job.
License¶
I will license all the components in the final project under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license.
All source code is licensed under MIT license.