Glow in the dark pinballs, other neon colors

[saint]

Hmmmm... we wants the precious!

http://modmypin.com/

[Le Chuck]

Those would be sick in my TAF

[Nephasth]

Predator #112...

[spoot]

Thanks for this..........I was looking at having balls manufactured for my custom machines....now I don't have too.   

[pbj]

Meh.

Though I still want a soccer ball patterned one for my WCS 94.

[spoot]

Though I still want a soccer ball patterned one for my WCS 94.

That would be pretty damn sweet actually.

[ChadTower]

The reviews on Pinside from people who bought them were universally bad.  Filthy quickly... dented easily... just not up to the abuse of pinball.

[spoot]

Well, that's a bummer.   

[pbj]

Frankly, with pinball, if nobody has done it already there's usually a reason.  There's a lot of money to be made on shiny bolt on mods for collectors that don't actually play their games, though.

[ChadTower]

Do the ceramic balls react to UV light?  I think I still have a powerball around someplace.  I might have to dig it out and check.

[spoot]

Didn't care about the UV thing.........I just want Purple and Red balls for current project.  I doubt I'd be able to powdercoat a good/round ball.

[ChadTower]

Powdercoat wouldn't stand up to that anyway.  It would chip off before long.

[lilshawn]

what about sandblasting a ceramic ball and then soaking it in fluorescent dye?

[ChadTower]

Wouldn't that lead to a ball with an abrasive surface?

Dyeing worth a shot if anyone wants to use their $40 spare powerball to find out...

[Le Chuck]

What about color case hardening the steel balls?  It wouldn't be an exact color but you could get some nice swirls or blue and purple. 

[ChadTower]

I haven't seen anyone try that yet.  Pinball guys usually want very specific things so a variable output like that probably isn't on their radar.

[Le Chuck]

I haven't seen anyone try that yet.  Pinball guys usually want very specific things so a variable output like that probably isn't on their radar.

yeah, it's very much like Raku in that the results are different every time.  I'm not even sure it would work on a pinball that well but next time I'm at my FIL's house I might toss one in the furnace and try it out.  The key is in the quenching tho from what I understand.  Still on a C. Voltaire or something it could be cool. 

[ChadTower]

Would it roughen up the surface?  The main value of a mirrored ball is the least amount of friction on the playfield.

[Le Chuck]

I don't think so, it's an alignment change in the matrix of the top coat of metal but the surface details and smoothness of show parts are all preserved.  Commonly done on rifle receivers and knives.  Could be worth a shot, how much is a pinball?  You ain't out much. 

[ChadTower]

I don't think so, it's an alignment change in the matrix of the top coat of metal but the surface details and smoothness of show parts are all preserved.  Commonly done on rifle receivers and knives.  Could be worth a shot, how much is a pinball?  You ain't out much.

Old pinballs can be had free from anyone with pins.  New ones are $1-2.  No financial risk at all. 

[lilshawn]

okay okay okay i got it... a kilin. you sandblast the ceramic pinball, you coat it with fluorescent glaze made from uranium oxides... fire glaze onto the pinball and viola! glowing pinballs!

[Xiaou2]

Anything that has a coating, will wear quickly in Pinball machine.   The balls often get a very high spin on them, then smash or scrape into metal surfaces... such as ball rails, and often hit non protected edges... ball hops and such.

 To make a ceramic, I believe they use a powder format, and mold & heat it.   By adding the UV pigment in the mixture, it would be blended into the entire ball, rather than the mere surface... thus any scratches and damages, wouldnt look atrocious.

 The problem is that Ceramic balls are much lighter than steel.. and so they would not react the same.   The gameplay would be a lot faster, and less controlable.  Twilight Zone is a fairly slow game.. so the extra speed of the powerball, isnt so bad.

 Not sure if you can properly center a steel core inside of ceramic material... but that might be another option.

 Other ideas...

 An x-ray machineing cnc device
 2 part Ceramic half blocks partially fired, ball inserted & all bonded with additional Ceramic, fired completely.
 CNC device that can print the Ceramic on a steel ball...  and or a cnc that can print both steel & ceramic layers...
 Thin Steel string hung ball  (or maybe carbon fiber string?), centered in ceramic block mold
 Magnetically centered ball in chamber of ceramic mold

 A mixture of metal powder and plastic / urethane / and or ceramic.. to create a hybrid ball with low friction, colorable, and high density

 Chose another material altogether... with the same density, but is much more friendly to coloring in its mixture.


 Im not a materials expert..  but Im sure someone in the field could figure it out.  The expense of them however, might be beyond what many would choose to pay.  Ya never know though.   Pinball is getting to be a rich mans hobby, as machine prices jump in value yearly.

[ChadTower]

Sticking a powerball into any machine is fun to change things up.  Yeah, it doesn't react the same way, and that's exactly the point.

[Le Chuck]

You could use this: http://www.darkniteglow.com/ceramic/ 

Here's where you run into issue, you'd have to make a mold about 10% larger than a pinball to account for shrinkage during drying, you could also conceivably use a high temp steel ball bearing in the middle to weight it (and add ferrous properties) but that presents it's own challenges in mold building.  Then, once you fire, you'd only be able to go to cone02 (1900Fish) and most clays won't vitrify at that level meaning that it could be brittle and water absorbent.

Wish I had thought of something like that when I was doing ceramics full time, I would have played around with it.  As it is, I don't have kiln access, clays, or inclination now.   

[ChadTower]

Heh, that's way into things I know nothing about... and at $150/kg I'm guessing nobody will try it.   

[lilshawn]

a kilo of it would probably do 1000 pinballs.