DIY Skeeball

[retrogamedude]

Had an idea to build my own skeeball game and the wife gave it the ok, starting this thread to show progress and hopefully by the end I will have a working skeeball game.  A BIG thanks to the inspiration to this- thatpurplestuff for his thread which I have followed closely with my build and unclet for his measurements and pictures of the real game. I have some real skeeball parts that I will be mixing in with my home built parts as well as an arduino that I will be writing code to act just like the real game.  Any questions just ask away, hopefully I can get it mostly done before the end of this year!

Weekend 1 progress- cut down all the wood needed for the lane as well as part of the score field.  The lane itself is just under 10ft and is made from 3/4 for the sides and 1/2 for the lane itself birch plywood.  I tend to over engineer things so they can last so I went with plywood rather than mdf as its in a basement and could possibly get wet if something leaks.  Used pocket holes and glue to make it all rock solid

[wp34]

This is on my dream list of projects someday.  Looking forward to seeing your progress.   

[javeryh]

Holy crap.  This looks great already - you got more done in a weekend than I can do in a year LOL.  Good idea using the stretchers under the surface so it won't ever warp.  It looks solid!  How long is it?  Yet another thing to be jealous of that I don't have the room for...

 

[retrogamedude]

Holy crap.  This looks great already - you got more done in a weekend than I can do in a year LOL.  Good idea using the stretchers under the surface so it won't ever warp.  It looks solid!  How long is it?  Yet another thing to be jealous of that I don't have the room for...

 

Its for sure solid, did the i'm going to walk and jump on it test and it passed so a few skeeballs should have no issues.  The lane itself is just under 10ft, its going to be big but i have a full size basement in my house so should fit nicely in my planned arcade room against the wall.

[thatpurplestuff]

Looking great already, love the long lane and pocket holes!

Keep it up, I just got mine playable again for the first time in years and I forgot how fun it is.  I'll be following this build so if you have any questions I might be able to help with, just ask!

[nipsmg]

YES!! do it.  can't wait to see the the progress..

[retrogamedude]

Looking great already, love the long lane and pocket holes!

Keep it up, I just got mine playable again for the first time in years and I forgot how fun it is.  I'll be following this build so if you have any questions I might be able to help with, just ask!

Thanks for the kind words, I spent hours pouring over your thread to get ideas on how to tackle this so thanks again for your detailed work and best practices.  You should update your thread with current progress! 



Made a bit more progress last night, made a dado cut in the ball ramp for the ball to ride in along with a led channel to light up the ball ramp.  Should have changed out my table saw blade for a dado blade but did it the lazy way with a bunch of passes through.  Also put on the side to the ball ramp which turned out to be more challenging due to not having much room to put in pocket hole screws in the small 3.5 inch space half way inside the ramp.  Once done flipped it over and put on the metal cover and a plastic cover that I had laying around to see how it would look.  Was quite satisfying to see it slowly come together and my measurements werent too far off to have to rip it apart and fix anything....yet.  Next task is to start cutting the score area wood now that I have the ramp done and can match the exact width.

[Mike A]

Nice woodworking.

[bobbyb13]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- this is awesome.

[nipsmg]

That fact that you found that plastic cover is impressive, took me FOREVER to find one. 

[retrogamedude]

That fact that you found that plastic cover is impressive, took me FOREVER to find one.

yeah i lucked out and found a guy selling parts on craigslist locally, i was busy so the wife went down to some random warehouse to get them along with 9 balls and some other random parts and 2 cpu's all for 50 bucks. have 3 pieces total. wont be quite long enough but its a start! 

[javeryh]

Looks great.  Just the addition of that ball cover and ticket dispenser really makes it look authentic.

[zeorangr]

This is really cool - makes me wish I had space in my house for a skeeball machine!

[vertexguy]

Looking great so far!  Makes me want one already.  Keep it up!

[retrogamedude]

Finally got some time to work on the scoring area, turned out pretty well and is giant.  Have it propped up currently until i get a way to attach the ramp to the scoring area and finish up with placing the scoring ring backboard into the cabinet after i get the holes for the 100 baskets placed.  Had my shop dog helping me as well

[javeryh]

Amazing work.   

How are you planning to decorate the sides?  Any artwork in mind or maybe some woodgrain vinyl?

[Ond]

Seeing fresh new skilled woodworking in the projects threads is just really nice.  The only other Skeeball build that I know of is thatpurplestuff's, if wasn't for that I wouldn't even know what Skeeball was.

Great work.   

[SpaceHedgehog]

I'm the same - had no idea what Skeeball was - had to watch a video 

Looking like a really clean and sturdy build so far 

[retrogamedude]

Amazing work.   

How are you planning to decorate the sides?  Any artwork in mind or maybe some woodgrain vinyl?

Probably just going to paint it the same color as the original model S, which was red.  Might try a skeeball logo or something on the side though to make it look a little less plain.

[retrogamedude]

Decided to redo the sides of the scoring area, made the top part too large and didn't like the sharp angle as a real skeeball game has curves, had to design the curve and use my way too dull flush trim bit which caused some burning but game out pretty good.  Still need to sand them smooth and looks much more like the real thing.  Also cut the circles out for the scoring area lighting as well as installed the red beacon on top of the game.  Found some spare red oak that i used for a different project and made them the side supports to hold up the scoring ring backboard.  Put it next to the lane and was glad to see the beacon is still below the joists in the basement, yay for tall ceilings.  Tracked down some more plastic rail covers including the ticket dispenser cover which is awesome, now to work on the ball return under the scoring rings and work on the ramp.

[bobbyb13]

This is coming along quite well of course!

Sorry if I missed it earlier...
Did you have a donor available for getting the angles of the playfield right?

I imagine the original looking rolled part you have there is critical to this all working properly.

[retrogamedude]

This is coming along quite well of course!

Sorry if I missed it earlier...
Did you have a donor available for getting the angles of the playfield right?

I imagine the original looking rolled part you have there is critical to this all working properly.

I am going off of the measurements provided by another user Unclet on here as well as I went to a bar locally that had a model S and measured a bunch of stuff.  Surprisingly they didn't even ask what i was doing when i got out my tape measure and level.  The ramp is an original skeeball part from bay-tech so yeah if the playfield is off once i get everything on i can still tweak it if needed.  Half of woodworking is learning how to hide your mistakes!

[PL1]

I am going off of the measurements provided by another user Unclet on here

Those are a great resource.   

http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com/SkeeBall/SkeeballPics1.html


Scott

[retrogamedude]

Its been a few months and have been super busy but finally got some time to work on the mess in the basement as i refer to it as.  I finished up the ball return area for the scoring area.  Created a trough for the ball to fall into and roll down and then into the ball return on the ramp.  So far my slopes seem like they are working properly and might add some sound deadening on the inside as it can be loud.  Used my router on my track saw track for the first time and it was a delight to use. Added a shelf in the back glass to hold the score counter and ball counter.  Also knocked out getting the ramp built and the ball hop installed which involved a lot of climbing underneath of it and managed to get the ball return solenoid installed. 

Going to start priming and panting the scoring area while i finish up the ramp, still need to work on getting lane bumpers but baytek was less than helpful trying to find one similar to the model S, they have some different kinds but dont want to take pictures of each and cant provide samples, might just have to order some and hope for the best.

[bobbyb13]

Very slick.
This is some great woodwork!

[nipsmg]

Wow.  Amazing job.