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Plan 9 from Pinball Machine

This is the description of a final project as it was at the beginning of the Fab Academy. Many things have changed since.

My final project could be a pinball machine. It requires laser cutting (for the cabinet and board), electronics and 3d printing (for the bumper caps and probably molds for the rails).

The todo list for things that need to be figured out for a pinball machine is quite long. It might be too complex to actually build from ground up. And at the same time, it is quite boring as a fablab automation project.

Manufacturable parts

These need to be tackled one by one. Some of them are quite complex to build.

  • The board

    • And the casing
    • And the walls ( from another plywood board, lifted a bit )
    • Plywood could warp, so that needs to be handled somehow.
    • Should probably be finished last
      • But started first for testing
      • Last because the layout is determined by what parts are accessible

  • Paddles

  • Ball feeder

    • Could be simple gravity based system

  • Ball launcher

  • Bumpers

    • How to attach to board
    • How to detect the ball and trigger the solenoid (the ringed switch is hard but probably necessary)
    • Could the ball sensors be magnetic sensors? Light sensors?

  • Side Bumpers

    • Rubber band? With a solenoid?

  • Rails

    • 3D printed would probably be too fragile.
    • Maybe acrylic tubes?

  • Rollover Switches

    • Either a hole with a hinged switch or a switch with a long arm.

  • Score keeping apparatus

    • High score is probably unnecessary
    • 7-segment display

  • Lights

    • LED strip around the board.
    • LEDs under the board
    • The under-board LEDs need transparent holes in the board

  • Sounds

Solvable problems

Power management

Buy list

Pull solenoid with 1cm range (for paddles and bumpers) Springs

Initial designs

More of them in Week3.

Process of designing initial parts

Needs to be figured out

  • What angle should the board be.
  • How many of the parts can be manufactured here, and how much should be bought.
  • The ball feeder.
  • How the ball rolls on the board.
  • How to add springs to solenoids. (Or buy springed solenoids.)
  • How to add relays (or transistors) to bring higher voltage to solenoids