pinball flippers

[Nefesis]

is there anywhere where i can get actual pinball flippers and a ball launcher for my cab?

[RacerX]

Happ has them.

http://www.happcontrols.com/amusement/pinball/95008600.htm

http://www.happcontrols.com/amusement/pinball/reparts2.htm

Then there's always Ebay.

[Goz]

You can also find them at Centsible Amusements
 http://www.centsibleamusements.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=214

Hope it helps

-Goz

[patrickl]

I was wondering about these things too. The look cool, byr is there a way to really use a ball launcher in vpinball? By that I mean that the amount of extention of the plunger would translate into the speed of the launched ball.

[mp2526]

This is where I get most of my pinball parts

http://www.marcospec.com/

[TheOtherBob]

Check out John's Retroarcade site.... he did a nice job of adding a plunger to his cab.

http://www.johnsretroarcade.com/cabinet.asp

[Nefesis]

i know John's Retroarcade didn't do this, but when wiring the ball launcer couldn't you just put an orsdinary pushbutton inside the cp so that the end of the ball launcer rests on it. then wire the nc and com and the pushbutton, so it is normally closed like a kill switch. when you pull the launcer back, the button is released and it is like the space bar (or whatever key you have it hooked up to) is depressed until the launcer hits it again. the longer you hold it back, the harder the ball will be launced. attached is a (pretty crappy) picture depicting what i'm trying to say. you can see the wires leading from the nc and com parts of the pushbutton microswitch.

[crashwg]

I think that may acctually be what John did, except with an optical switch.  I'm not entirely sure on that, but I sent him a message asking so.

[Inaba]

A kick ass pinball place is: http://www.actionpinball.com

They have killer customer support.  I buy all my pinball parts from them.

[patrickl]

i know John's Retroarcade didn't do this, but when wiring the ball launcer couldn't you just put an orsdinary pushbutton inside the cp so that the end of the ball launcer rests on it.

Well, I thought his website says you can't use a normal switch because it would bounce. I guess he uses it by pulling on the plunger and letting it go, but I don;t see how that works. Don't you need to hold the enter key to determine the force of the launch? So if you press on the plunger to fire you could use a microswitch yes.

I really hoped there would be a way to pull on the plunger and let the force of it decide how fast the ball is launched. That would be much more like a realy pinball machine works. I guess I'm just dreaming there though.

[Tekman]

This is John from John's Retro Arcade.

The main goal I wanted was to simulate the actual pull and release feel of a real plunger.

I actually used a normally closed switch at first. I quickly found out that was not the best way for several reasons.

- As the plunger is pulled and released, you are stuck with a bunch of bounce (like repeatedly hitting the switch very quickly) from the spring action of the plunger. VP cannot handle this and the ball release becomes very intermittent and crazy

- You get a very unrealistic "thud" sound as the plunger just hits the switch and stops

- After a short period of time the switch quickly wears and gets knocked out of alignment.

The opto switch is a perfect solution for the problem.

- Maintains the full pull and release feel

- No wear and tear

A debounce circuit is still needed, as the switch should be mounted as close to the tip end inside the cabinet to offer the most realistic feel for small pulls of the plunger for light shots. If not the plunger will bounce like crazy as it settles back into position.

I'm not doing anything super cool here. The opto circuit is just used as a simple switch. No sensing of ball speed or anything like that. The shorter the plunger is pulled, the quicker the launch switch is pressed. The longer the plunger is pulled, the longer the launch switch is pressed. Just like using the keyboard.

Sorry for the book!  

[patrickl]

Ah ok. The duration of pulling the plunger determines the launch speed. How could I have missed that    Thanks for your explanation! It really does look very cool and it adds to the realism of the game.