i want to try to make a DIY pinball nudge

[bossyman15]

i want to make it just like the one used in real pinball machine. but course it will be used in vistal pin so it will need to have 4 different metal sides divided by plasic rings.

see my pic

each metal section will be wired to left, foward, right nudge and the rod itself will be grounded.

i'm sure it should work but its finding the parts that's hard.

i will go over to homedepot and see if i can find metal ring and plastic O rings and rod of some sort.

[trcroyle]

Why not just get four tilt switches? Mouser has them for just over $1 each. 10 degree activation seems sensitive enough for me. Someone probably even makes a three terminal switch, then you'd only need two.

[NoOne=NBA=]

You're getting tilt and nudge confused.

The tilt switch in a pinball machine is there to prevent people from hitting the machine too hard.
The nudge, which is what you are trying to reproduce electronically, is controlled entirely by physics on a real machine.

The best solution I've found to simulate the nudge effect is to have two extra flipper buttons that will do a left or right nudge when pressed separately, but produce a front nudge when hit simultaneously.

Mercury switches work, but are a pain to get positioned properly, and will most likely require a debouncing circuit to keep them from triggering repeatedly when activated.

[bossyman15]

ok i got metal ring and bolt which i may use as a rod.

but i couldn't find plastic ring so i though about using Electric Tape. will the electic current pass through the tape from metal to another metal?

[RayB]

There was a great thread some months ago about many different methods that could be used, along with pros and cons. I think it would be worth it to refer (or resurrect) that thread.

[whatisk]

The best solution I've found to simulate the nudge effect is to have two extra flipper buttons that will do a left or right nudge when pressed separately, but produce a front nudge when hit simultaneously.

Is there any special setup needed to get the both pressed together to be front nudge? In my cab I already have the buttons for left and right nudge, but never gave much thought on how to do the front nudge.

[NoOne=NBA=]

It's software dependent.

If the software supports logical inputs, like MAME, you can just program it to have Right=Right NOT Left, Left=Left NOT Right, and Front=Left AND Right.

Most of the commercial pinball applications don't support this though, so you'll need a circuit that will interpret the inputs for you.

I am attaching a diagram for a circuit that will do this, using (3) 5v DPDT Relays.
Without studying the current limitations, etc... on all the various encoders, I am reluctant to release any other ways of doing this.
The nice thing about this circuit is that it isolates the encoder terminals from the 5v source, and isn't USING the terminals to drive the relays.

You might have Randy, or Andy, suggest a different circuit, specific to their encoder, for accomplishing this.
I don't want to be responsible for a rash of warranty claims for either of them.

[RayB]

Here are other threads discussing ideas. Unfortunately, some of the kool concept drawings people made are no longer working. 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=21686.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=7178.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35969.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36338.0
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=34331.0