Built his own PINBALL machine AWESOME ****************

[koolmoecraig]

http://members.aol.com/specialwhenlit/CustomPinball/index.html

[Nannuu]

Whoa yeah!!!!  That is the perfect show to make a pinball for too.  Man I wish that was still on.  That is most impressive.

[ptpeter]

that is tits.

[BROKENARCADE]

One of the most impressive things I believe I have seen in the hobby.

[Ken Layton]

That guy did an excellent job. He should open his own pinball factory!

[jcroach]

Wow.  How does he keep the balls from smashing that LCD screen?

[MYX]

That is iamazing. Anyone who has seen the under side of a pin knows how good of job that is. Good grief and the programming... Yeeeek. Not for me man. I love pinball, but trying to figure that all out... NO WAY.

Now if Randy developed the PinWiz. Just attach it to a board, add balls, and play, I'd buy one. But alas...Reality.

[DarkBubble]

 

Despite the simple playfield, that it flat amazing!

I'd love to be able to do that, but to have to learn the programming aspect would be the killer.  Maybe if someone could code a simple program that could handle the software side of it, so that the user would only have to set the parameters, audio, video, etc. and just hook it up to a computer MAME-style, then maybe...

I need to add one more thing to my "When I get rich..." list:

-Get that guy to build a custom Ranma 1/2 pinball machine for me.

[toasty]

unreal.  Serious skills. 

[ChadTower]

You'd be surprised what you can do by just changing the layout of the playfield without having to actually reprogram anything... just find an existing game with the ruleset you want and rearrange the playfield to suit.

[TheCaptain]

Wow.  How does he keep the balls from smashing that LCD screen?

Probably some sort of thick plexiglass screen.

Edit: Well, I don't really see one, so I'm figuring that it's screen is probably tough enough to take any punishment a stray ball might be able to inflict. It looks like it's pretty hard to get up there.

[yugffuts]

I was thinking about this the other day.  Isn't the tech more or less there to be able to build your own pin interfacing with a computer? (I'd prefer a computer, because you're not limited by the game you are using as your base, and because it's probably easier for most to write a script than reburn custom roms).

For example, you could build yourself a table, and wire all the switches to an IPAC 56 input.  Run a script on a PC in the cabinet the same as VPinmame does.  The only thing I can't figure out is driving the solenoids.

If you get it set up with some kind of a common molex connector, you should be able to swap out PF's and load a different script very quickly/easily, too.

I'm sure someone knows 10x as I do about pins (at least)...what is keeping us all from building our own?  And yes, I realize that 56 inputs is probably not enough for a new style pin, but it would be a start. 

[ChadTower]

There is supposedly already linux based software that can completely drive a headless pin.

[mahuti]

I'll admit that the guy has skill. I have an EM pin, and it's not an easy job to work on it. Plus, the art and details look fantastic. That being said, though, it looks kind of boring... no knock down targets, only 1 pop bumper.... there's not even any slingshots on the rubber channels down at the bottom near the flippers.

The game LCD controls being pin driven, that's cool, and so are the ramps, but the bread and butter of a pin isn't there. Great craftsmanship and ingenuity, but there are definitely some crucial elements missing.

[yugffuts]

There is supposedly already linux based software that can completely drive a headless pin.

Supposedly?  Is this in development, , or is it out there somewhere, and you just don't know the name?  Why headless?  Do you mean no DMD?  Seems like that would be easy to do with an LCD monitor.  That enough questions for you? 

If this already exists, I can't believe there isn't already a BYOPM forum set up.  I can't be the only one intersted in a project like this.

[ChadTower]

I've seen web pages and articles about it but didn't really go that far into it.  Supposedly to replace the head on an early SS pin but not drive displays.

[yugffuts]

Interesting.  A google search for homemade pinball turns up a few, but they seem to have built some custom hardward to get it to work, and are at least a few years old.

I was thinking an add-on to VP, which would work like this:

Add a mapping feature for all switches that can be hit.  This would be targets, dropdowns,  slingshots, rolloevers, etc.  Bring up a mapping feature, which will list all these elements in a grid (so left slingshot can be assigned to any key, for example).  Similar to the Ultimarc IPAC configuration.

Then wire the left slingshot switch to that key on an encoder.  When you play the game, the ball hits the left slingshot, and passes that key back to the PC, which awards points (and drives the slingshot solenoid, somehow). 

It would probably be easy to do outside of VP, but if it could be added on, any existing scripts for games could be used.  Just recreate your virtual playfields and play the real thing.

Anyway, I'll stop hijacking this thread.  Maybe I'll start a new one about this...

[ChadTower]

You do know you are loosely describing a pinball driver board, yes?

[ptpeter]

damnit the website is down b/c of bandwidth.

[yugffuts]

Yes, loosely. 

My point is, it should be fairly simple to interface VPinmame with an actual physical table, using an Ipac or other encoder to register the hits.  Offload the solenoids to a different board, and that should do it.

I kept poking around, and this looks like what I am describing.  They seem to be designing to play existing games without the old hardware.  Notice the key mapping features they use.  Wiring up the switches would be tedious but simple.  I may download and play with this for a while, although the hardware board they are testing is not available yet. 

http://www.pinmame-hw.com/

[ChadTower]

Well, when you mention the IPac, basically, that's the function of the PIA chips on the driver board. 

[yugffuts]

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear.

The point in time where BYOAC'ers can build there own pinball machines will be when:

1) They don't have to program/burn their own roms
2) They don't have to modify/hack existing boards to play their homebrew games
3) Parts that are needed are cheap and readily accessibly.

Seems to me that using the pinmame-hw mapping utility, and the VPinmame scripting, I can get 60% of the functionality of a pinball machine with parts in my house (old PC and IPAC).  That will cover logic, scoring, and DMD displays (not to DMD necessarily, but to an LCD monitor, at least).  The solenoids and lights are the only problems, and these guys seem to be working on it. 

[AE35]

That is amazing!!

And on top of that, I LOVE Futurama!!

Nich

[ChadTower]

When you state DMD/LCD is a requirement you are dismissing the vast majority of pins out there.  In the grand scheme of pinball, only a small % of pins have a DMD.

[yugffuts]

Well, I thought it went without saying that and EM or SS game could also be made.  If it were me, and I was building the project, whatever style I ended up with COULD have it's score displayed on a monitor.  An EM-reel style, but displayed on a LCD monitor, for example.  At least until an actual EM score reel could be used.

Is there a reason why you are nitpicking what I am saying?

[ChadTower]

No, I am sorry you feel that this is a lecture rather than a discussion.  You can continue. 

[yugffuts]

Sorry, you keep going sideways on me.  In no way meant to be a lecture. 

I was actually hoping for some input on why what I am babbling about could work/won't work/is stupid/etc.  I'll start that other thread now

Edit: Stupidity (typo)