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Button Mods for Pinball games on MAME cab
Hituro:
OK, so I was thinking of making a mod for my cab for pinball games. I have two side buttons for flippers, and a button on the front for the plunger. They're just happ buttons. But, would it be possible to rig an actual plunger to register a button press when pulled? And is there a way to set up actual flipper parts behind the side buttons to make them feel like actual flipper buttons on a pinball machine? I think I saw a video where space googie used solenoids for the flipper buttons. Just not sure how to do all that. But I just think it would be cool to play Visual Pinball and actually pull the plunger to get the ball to shoot.
gazz292:
well, solenoids are what a real pinball machine uses, you just get a little thunk as you press the button,
some people use industrial relays, but solenoids are cheaper, just be sure to use a quenching diode on the solenoid, otherwise the first time you press the button and release it, the back emf will blow the crap out of what ever input board you use (minipac/key whizz etc)
for the ball shooter thing, pretty easy to get a real pinball plunger assembly, and have a microswitch at the end for it to hit when released, tho to be honnest it wont be that realistic,
with a real pinball machine the plunger controls the rate at which the ball is fired, some skill shots require good plunger control,
there was an electronic plunger i read about that used a g-force sensor or similar to sense how far you'd pulled it out and sent the correct signal to the game, but that relies on the version of virtual pinball you use being able to use the info.
modern pinball machines dont use mechanical plungers, it's a button, or a gun trigger to launch the ball and control some in game features,
you do get a little thunk as the auto launch solenoid fires, but it's not as much as you think, and most people go way over the top with mame machines... thinking a mini earth tremmor is what you get when you press the flipper buttons,
of course if you emulating flipper knocks, you need to add the free game knocker solenoid, the pop bumper solenoids, sling shots, kickers etc,
to be honnest, a good sub on the sound system should re-produce most of the feeling of a real pinball game,
Hituro:
Hmm.. yeah I guess the whole solenoid thing would be a bit over the top huh... As for the plunger thing.. I've been thinking about it, and if I ringed the spring with a clasp, that when the plunger is pulled back, the clasp on the spring would press down on the button switch, when released, the switch would release, and emulate the plunger in Visual Pinball. Really all it is is holding the button down and then releasing it. But it would emulate the plunger well. I don't know though, you might be right about going over the top. Just was thinking of doing something different.
drventure:
Here's a pic of how I did my plunger assembly.
I've found it works pretty decently. True, it's likely not quite as good a feel as one of those (expensive) plungers that act more like a joystick, but it's surprisingly good.
The idea is to wire the switch to nomally closed contacts instead of normally open. Then assemble it so that the plunger holds the switch down all the time.
When you pull back, it immediately "presses" the plunger key. and effectively "holds it done" till you let go.
In VP and FP, this is the same thing as pressing the enter key and holding it down to pull the plunger back farther.
Like I said, not exact by any stretch, but it does feel surprisingly realistic.
Hituro:
So if you have it switched to normally closed. When windows or anything else loads up, don't you get problems with that key press being held down until the button is pressed? Also it's hard to see but I'm very curious about how you mounted the switch with the plunger. If that is the switch it looks different than a switch used on a button, and I'll probably need to find one somewhere if I knew what kind of switch it was :) But maybe just explain the normally closed thing to me. Because I always thought normally closed meant that the button connection is active continuously and the button press disrupts it.