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It's Time To Build A Homebrew.


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Now that I have the Williams targets scoring a lot more reliably, time for some better looking unbreakable targets I think.

 

Something to bring them into the future with the reliability of the old design but ones that score this time and look a whole heap better.

 

This is what I come up with...

 

The top of this picture shows a standard Williams red target beside my new clear poly carbonate target.

 

Ajm0viSl.jpg

 

Picture also shows the clear targets in the target assemblies.

 

wRkaTm7l.jpg

 

Target in mech with magnet attached to test in the tester to make sure the switches are happy.

 

OlquSQYl.jpg

 

ha11d8el.jpg

 

Seeing as the targets are made of clear poly-carbonate, why not throw in some LED back lighting?.

 

It is this LED back lighting of each target I need to make my own target PC boards actually.

 

I need to add another one of the switches to detect the target in the up position so one colour lights the target but have provision for more LED colours to back light the target of required.

 

I'll update went I have the PC boards made up displaying the back lighting.

 

I wish I had a multi target Williams machine like a Stellar Wars to have a good look at how good these back light targets actually look on a machine.

 

What is real interesting is the original Williams target PCs do actually have a spare set of tracks on the top of the board that would be ideal and in the right location for soldering a single switch and with a slight modification to the tracks could also hold the LED and resistor to light the target in the up position and go out once the target was dropped.

 

Have a look at this Williams target PC at the top and you can see the two tracks at the top with termination holes ready for wires to attach to the board.

 

k3c4QnBl.jpg

 

Does anyone know what these tracks were actually for?

 

Maybe used on Hot Tip, World Cup or Contact?

 

I have no idea but curiosity has me wondering.

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  • 1 month later...

A bit of a look at parts for the HomeBrew.

 

Some may be used. Who knows..;)

 

They may be replaced with something else.

 

I think this Bally flipper assembly will at least be used on my Black Pyramid when I finish it.

 

It uses longer Williams plungers, (Firepower and later), but small flipper coils with spacers between the coil and backstop which allows the plunger to be in the coil further from the rest position so more plunger in the coil for a stronger start of the stroke and the spacers allow the plunger to go further into the coil, (about 3mm out the back), before hitting the backstop therefore using all the coil's magnetism.

 

The stroke will remain exactly the same but it should make for more power at the start of the stroke.

 

Another plus is the parts, plunger, link and pawl are all later model Williams.

 

kPBmePu.jpg

 

PQul1ZK.jpg

 

Replica Williams banana flippers made of 4 layers of Lexan. Not for the main flippers on the HomeBrew but something a bit different..

 

The yellow ones are original Williams TimeWarp bats...

 

R9ffEsE.jpg

 

There is nothing wrong with my originals but I wanted to do this to them...

 

do3RdPI.jpg

 

aV1Kk2B.jpg

 

YMFRGDz.jpg

 

That is a micro switch in the bat and it triggers a pop bumper switch that fires the pop bumper coil which is now the flipper coil. I'm simply re-purposing a pop bumper circuit on the board for each of them.

 

Idea is the bananas flipper will fire the ball back but in a far less predictable path to normal flippers and the rubber will also add to the speed the ball comes back at. Not a shot you really want to aim for and a bit different to a normal pop bumper.

 

I need some ideas with this one...

 

I want to control some RC servos for gates etc but I want the control circuitry as basic as possible not using micro controllers at all. The servo only needs two positions with no in between like a normal gate is.

 

These are the servos I'm looking at using...

 

s-l1600.jpg

 

Anyone know how I can use them for simply two positions?

 

I'm not righting off simply wiring power wires direct to the motor itself and bypass the internal control board and pot.

 

It is mainly the power of the servo and the full open and closed positions I'm after along with the servo's small size, I just need a simple way to drive it.

 

The servos are likely to be controlled by switched illumination bulb circuits so what I'm after is an interface between this and the servo drive itself so light on and servo opens, light off and servo closes.

 

Thanks for any ideas on this "slight technical problem".

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I need some ideas with this one...

 

I want to control some RC servos for gates etc but I want the control circuitry as basic as possible not using micro controllers at all. The servo only needs two positions with no in between like a normal gate is.

 

These are the servos I'm looking at using...

 

s-l1600.jpg

 

Anyone know how I can use them for simply two positions?

 

I'm not righting off simply wiring power wires direct to the motor itself and bypass the internal control board and pot.

 

It is mainly the power of the servo and the full open and closed positions I'm after along with the servo's small size, I just need a simple way to drive it.

 

The servos are likely to be controlled by switched illumination bulb circuits so what I'm after is an interface between this and the servo drive itself so light on and servo opens, light off and servo closes.

 

Thanks for any ideas on this "slight technical problem".

 

Whatever the final solution you should retain the servo functionality else will need to worry about additional complexity around position control and detection.

I don’t think you will get control much simpler than this:

https://makezine.com/projects/control-a-servo-motor-without-programming/

 

For the servo itself, M-1502 would be more durable than the SG90 you are considering.

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I like this control circuit...

 

http://www.ef-uk.net/data/images/servo-driver-schematic.gif

 

About the flipper coils with the spacers. I'm now thinking why waste space with spacers?.

 

What if I made new coil bobbins the correct length but put a dividing wall in the bobbin so the first half of the coil, the same length the coil is now and the extra length of the coil the spacers are using ATM is divided by a wall with the extra length the size of the spacers so basically a flipper coil with two halves.

 

This would allow me to wind both windings on the one coil but keeping the windings totally separate from each other.

 

Wind the main half of the coil, the pull up winding only and wind the extra backend of the coil bobbin solely for the holdup winding.

 

This would stop the heat from the hold up winding from effecting the pullup winding and should cut heat build up dramatically in the coil as the two coils would be separated.

 

It would also allow me to use thicker winding cable, 18 or 19 gauge as the pullup winding at 6-700 turns instead of the normal 22-23 gauge as the thinner winding cable heats up quicker and is used solely for cost and the thicker cable is simply to thick to use for that many windings when trying to get the holdup winding on the bobbin as well.

 

The holdup winding is wound on the 2nd half of the bobbin using the normal 30-32 gauge at 1000-1200 windings.

 

Like I said, the idea is to keep the heat from each winding separated.

 

I think I will try this separation of the windings on a normal Williams long coil bobbin by simply making a wall to fit the standard Williams long bobbin and rewind the winding back on separately to prove the theory.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a question regarding the servo driver I'm hoping someone has an answer to.

 

The circuit is pretty straight forward but it is the switching and the best way to go that has me wondering which way to go about it.

 

Probably best to explain how it works and what I want it to do for my use....

 

EhWWQvl.gif

 

The servo is connected to the right hand side of the circuit..Power, 5vDC is connected to the left hand side of the circuit.

 

The two red resistors, the blue resistor, the 270k and a cap set the signal frequency to the servo control to tell it to drive the servo to the default position.

 

You use the red 10k pot to adjust the servo's default position.

 

There is a switch, (circled in red), that closes shorting out the 20K pot from the above and this gives the servo it's non default position.

 

It is this switch that I need to alter and the part of the circuit I am not sure of.

 

This circuit is designed to be driven by a switched illumination lamp running on a Williams system 7 driver board which is a PWM supply.

 

My problem is what part can I use to replace the switch with that bypasses the 29K pot when the switched illumination bulb is on?.

 

I don't want to use a relay and was thinking an opto coupler with the lamp supply driving the opto's LED but in this circuit, it isn't going to switch to ground or positive, it is jumping a resistor and this I am not sure is possible.

 

To make the opto work off the lamp's PWM supply I was thinking a zener diode so it is either on or off but I really aren't sure the opto's switch will be able to short the blue 20K pot.

 

Anyone have any ideas? I have drawn the board's artwork except for this part.

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I've re-thought this board. I'll thinking I can do it with Cmos chips instead of a 555 timer. Deep down I hate the 555 IC, just to many variables in quality especially these days.

I'm thinking a CMOS 4093B gate with one resistor can give me the required pulse chains I need..

 

-a 1.5ms pulse will make the servo turn to the 90° position. Shorter than 1.5ms moves it in the counter clockwise direction toward the 0° position, and any longer than 1.5ms will turn the servo in a clockwise direction toward the 180° position.

 

As the 4093 contains 4 Schmitt trigger NOR gates, I figure I can use one gate to supply the pulse stream to have the servo drive to the open position and use another gate in the chip to supply another pulse stream to have the servo drive to the close position.

 

Both of these pulse streams will be produced while ever the machine is turned on and I can use the other two remaining gates in the chip to control which of the pulse streams is selected to control the servo.

 

As I'm using the gate open light to control this board that intern drives the servo, this board and servo "should " be able to replace the existing gate mechanism in existing machines so not solely for my HomeBrew.

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Well I think the 4093 will do nicely. I can use a gate to turn a pulse stream on and off and with this "Frequency Calculator" on this page, I can work out exactly what sized resistors and caps will give me the required Htz to control the servo without me needing an oscilloscope.:D

 

JX3NYYK.jpg......Servo fully left...

 

 

hQgydvz.jpg......Servo fully right...

 

 

I need to change the 74c14 chip for the 4093b chip so I have gates I can easily control exactly as described here.

 

e0ICX0F.jpg

 

Both gate types are exactly the same but the extra input terminal on the 4093 allows me to turn the gate on or off exactly as I need.

 

So there is each pulse stream required to drive a servo either fully left or fully right. I'll put in a pot on each circuit so I can fine tune exactly how far the gate opens either way because I am never going to need the servo fully open and closed every time.

 

Midway position of a servo is 1500htz by the way.

 

Now I have the resistor, cap values I can design the board and seeing as the two pulse streams only use one of the 4 IC gates each, that leaves two vacant gates I can use still in this 40 cent IC chip.

 

One to detect when the light is lite and activating the ball gate and the other I'm thinking a completely different way to control a pinball ball gate.;)

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Another change to the plan. More a cost saving.

 

Incredible but often the case, cheaper to buy something that nearly does what you want and modify it than build what you want from scratch.

 

One of these and use it as a daughter board for the mother board I make that handles the control side of the project.

 

82031.jpg

 

I make the mother board so this board plugs on the top of it after I modify the daughter board with suitable pin connectors.

 

The mother board has all the signal and power wires attached to it and has multi turn pots to set the required end strokes of the servo precisely.

 

It will also contain the circuitry to detect when the servo is to be in the default position or the non default position.

 

I'll will also include a 5volt regulator on the mother board to power both it and the daughter board as well as a circuit to allow the servo to oscillate the servo from the default position to the non default position should this feature be required.

 

A couple of drive circuits to switch on LEDs on the playfield to indicate if the gate is open or closed I will also need.

 

While this project is supposed to replace the normal gate/ coil setup used on a pinball it is also for driving one way gates open or closed or could be used for any movement required on the playfield.

 

Things like auto dropping of drop targets instead of coils, giving movement to figurines or making things like ball cannons move rather than big motor gearbox setups used on games like T2 or the rocking bridge on IJ.

 

The main advantage of servos is how precise they can be controlled and there ability to reset back to the required position should they vary by a ball hit etc.

 

A couple of days and the servos and servo tester boards should arrive so I can start sorting this project out.

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3 servos arrived today. Pity the testers didn't as well.

 

I hope it was an Aussie supplier of the testers as quoted and not just some Aussie middle man ordering from China as I could have done myself for a whole heap less money.

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Just to give a bit of an idea how this will work sort of, I have this found video to demonstrate.

 

[video=youtube_share;P-vbWRBx03Q]

 

Biggest changers are I am making a control board to work this tester board.

 

The control board will have this servo driver attached to it as it has a programmed chip on it that handles the driving of the RC servo and I hate doing software so better to just buy this "servo tester" and I work around it.

 

I'm thinking while I will use this board to drive small RC servos mainly, there is no reason why I can't increase the drivers on the internal servo board inside any servo to drive a much larger DC motor but still controlled by a pot so a much larger motor working as the servo.

 

The electronics really doesn't know what it is driving, it simply knows drive a motor till the pot it is turning matches that exactly what the board is set to.

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  • 5 months later...

Bit of an update. Servos and the control board seen to work just fine.

 

So good I will use one in this design. It is a "feature" here and not a playfield.

 

You have to use your imagination on this one as I'm buggered if I can draw a good picture of it.

 

Idea is a hanging pinball ball that hangs via a cable and has it's lowest point directly in front of a Williams Banana flipper.

 

Hanging as in airborne, no playfield under it. Just playfield under the one banana flipper and the one ball return lane because I need to mount the flipper mech and the ball return guide on something.

 

When this portion of the machine isn't being used, a servo raises the ball above the flipper and the power to the flipper is disabled.

 

When it is active, the servo lowers the ball, now in front of the flipper and you can use the flipper to smack the ball at a target or targets that are in the arc of the swinging pinball.

 

Once the ball is hit, it travels in it's arc past a one way diverter that swings away when the cable that hangs the ball pushes it out of the way, the cable goes past the end of this diverter arm, the arm returns back to it's normal location,about 45 degrees to the ball's arc and the ball once finished it's forward swing comes back and the cable supporting the ball hits this one way arm and the cable and the ball slide back being diverted to the side with the ball return guide directing the ball back onto the flipper like a normal return lane only not at any time is this ball actually rolling, it is airbourne.

 

A bit to hard to understand?.

 

A golf practice range where you hit the balls from a first floor but the golf balls are hanging and the targets are off the ground.

 

Why a banana flipper?. Not set in stone and probably depends more on the how difficult this shot or shots are.

 

Where do you hang a pinball in a pinball machine to allow this feature to work?

 

The cabinet is totally different to the normal 50 year plus pinball cabinet design.

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Now to drill a hole through an old pinball. I'm thinking an old rusty pinball, put it in the drill press vice and see how I go boring a hole in it. Rusty because I think I'll paint it white and paint sticks well to rusty metal.

 

I'm thinking it should just be mild steel a pinball is made of and not hardened or am I wrong.

 

This got me thinking, has anyone tried an aluminum pinball?.

 

Not suitable for a magnet based machine or those using prox switches but what about normal machines?

 

It would be lighter so it should be faster like a ceramic ball but weighing less, it should possibly stop breaking playfield parts.

 

I suppose the big advantage would be no rust though.

 

Yes I know, why try reinventing the wheel but this HomeBrew IS all about trying new ideas in pinball.

 

Thoughts on this idea and also where to get 1 1/16" aluminum balls from?.

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Now to drill a hole through an old pinball. I'm thinking an old rusty pinball, put it in the drill press vice and see how I go boring a hole in it. Rusty because I think I'll paint it white and paint sticks well to rusty metal.

 

I'm thinking it should just be mild steel a pinball is made of and not hardened or am I wrong.

 

This got me thinking, has anyone tried an aluminum pinball?.

 

Not suitable for a magnet based machine or those using prox switches but what about normal machines?

 

It would be lighter so it should be faster like a ceramic ball but weighing less, it should possibly stop breaking playfield parts.

 

I suppose the big advantage would be no rust though.

 

Yes I know, why try reinventing the wheel but this HomeBrew IS all about trying new ideas in pinball.

 

Thoughts on this idea and also where to get 1 1/16" aluminum balls from?.

 

I think you should delete this post and never speak of this again ( @moderator ).

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Ow I was afraid I was stepping dangerously towards a lawsuit for possible trademark infringements or something.

 

Aluminum just seems a better alternative to steel for the "aerial pinball" side of this machine.

 

With no friction on the ball as it is hanging, I figure if I can drop down the weight of the ball but still maintain the speed, less damage "should" occur.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Something totally different was my promise on this HomeBrew including the cabinet design. A couple of forum members have been told what I was planning along with a few mates but seriously, I don't think anyone really knew exactly what I was talking about.

 

Thought it about time to show a rough drawing of exactly what I am designing.

 

As much as I would love the pinball purists to love the overall design, I am not necessarily expecting that.

 

The main reasons for me going so far away from the traditional pinball design are many but here are just a few.....

 

- to attract non pinball players that will never play a traditional looking pinball no matter how good it is.

 

- to allow far more depth in design that anyone, pinball player or not, knows the object, to get to the different levels.

 

- to allow simple rule sets but still have an interesting game play that requires flipper skills with the emphasise on flippers as flippers will most likely be on every level.

 

Here is what I am designing....

 

VUNUa9O.jpg

 

The top of the head height is roughly that of a standard pinball as is the flipper button heights however the glass is on a much steeper angle. The backglass is a little less than half the height of a standard pinball.

 

Yellow layer is the traditional pinball playfield level location and size, ( not used in this design and is there solely for reference only)

 

Green layer is the now standard full sized playfield most game play is played on. It is actually longer than the standard if need be.

 

Blue layer is the first upper playfield.

 

Purple layer is the second upper playfield.

 

Red arrow is the rough level of the average player's eyes and the red lines are what the average players line of sight would be to demonstrate just how much of each playfield the average player should be able to see.

 

Well there it is, out there for all to see. Yes it is just a drawing at this stage but all pinballs are that at some stage.

 

I am not set on exact dimensions but the picture is pretty much to scale.

 

Other noteworthy parts in the cabinet's design are the cabinet is designed to allow for easy playfields swapping by the owner, (If I sell these things) , and future playfields with different games that can be at different heights within the cabinet as well as different size playfields....IE...smaller length upper playfields and you can go up to 4 levels instead of three on future game designs and rule sets.

 

The idea is the machines are made in parts. The bulk of the electronics and power supplys are in the cabinet/ head.

 

Once you own a cabinet /head, future playfields can be put in it at your leisure as new designs become available once and if this machine gets out of prototype stage.

 

The cabinet and head have a steel tubing inner skeleton with a variety of mounting points the playfields attach to allowing for different mounting heights and playfield sizes on future requirements and designs.

 

Wiring to each playfield is at the back of each playfield and uses common PC style connectors, not pinball only custom wired multipin connectors.

 

Each playfield can be totally removed from the cabinet but still remain plugged into the machine for ease of maintenance and adjusting.

 

I would also like to encourage custom playfield layouts designed by the owner so they have a hand in designing something for themselves that is totally unique to there machine providing it stays within the electronic requirements and dimensions restraints of that particular level of the machine.

 

Much more to explain in my plans but this is just to give a hint of what I think the future of pinball could be.

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Sounds really interesting!

 

I love it when people try to take pinball in different directions. I'm really looking forward to seeing a prototype in action.

 

Is the idea that the ball moves up and down through the different levels? Or will each level have it's own ball?

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Sounds really interesting!

 

I love it when people try to take pinball in different directions. I'm really looking forward to seeing a prototype in action.

 

Thanks and I like seeing different ideas being tried myself.

Is the idea that the ball moves up and down through the different levels? Or will each level have it's own ball?

 

Either, depending on the design of the particular game.

 

It could be land the ball in a hole on a lower playfield and that kicks a ball out on a higher playfield for example and that way you could use a smaller ball on the smaller playfields for example.

 

I have a design of a raising ramp with flippers on it you control to get the ball to the right height of the other playfields.

 

I have also designed up a ball elevator that uses ball pockets similar to those used on Bally's Mousin' Around and they capture the ball and then raise to the right level playfield required.

 

There are so many variables just to get ball play onto other playfields, you may now be seeing why I say this allows far more depth in design.

 

Any time a playfield becomes active with a ball on it, it will be the only playfield that lights up and has power to it's flippers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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