That's How I Roll! (Skeeball build)

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drventure:
Doh! :dizzy:

Guess I shouldn't respond to posts so late. My eyes get fuzzy.

Sorry about that. Nope, never seen 2' pvc at lowes or home depot, or anywhere else for that matter!

samej71:
Happy belated new years :)

Been awhile since my last post. Not sure what the status of your build is, so I thought I'd weigh-in on the LedWiz and the Woot lights.

You can use ULN2803 to drive 500ma devices safely with a 25ma signal and an external power source. The ULN2803 can be purchased for $.35 to $2.00 or so. Along with the price, s/h will vary by store, of course.

Here are a couple articles doing something similar:
http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/cols/nv/vol1/col/nv6.pdf

This is a slightly different take, using an NPN transistor and a couple of other components (ie, diode, resistors, led) instead of the ULN2803. Maybe $5 in parts. In this example, it is used to control a relay which is, in turn, controlling a 120v outlet.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorial_info.php?tutorials_id=119

I've toyed with a similar idea for higher-draw lights both on top of the scoreboard, but possibly embedded along the rails to selectively light the rings and alley, possibly with UV (blacklight) LEDs for some "moonlight skeeball" action. :)

--James

samej71:
One more thing.... :)

I've tried to think of what could be used to protect the sides of the alley...plastic chair rails, etc.

While I don't really like it, this is the best thing I've been able to come up with so far that can be easily bought from a number of places: the protectors that power cords (and any other cords) are put into across walkways to keep them from getting damaged as well as keeping people from tripping on them and causing other havoc. Anyhow, the flat bottoms of these could be glued or somehow otherwise attached to the sides of the alley.
For example:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xr5/R-100669768/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
They're bulkier/bigger than I'd like and not cheap, either. I've also wondered if the bathroom floor moulding (from the rings) might work on the sides, but I'm not sure how we'll they'd attach to the sides or if they'd be too tall to even work. For that matter, I'm not sure if the cord protectors will be too tall or not.

On an unrelated topic.. If you get some time, would you post the flash file you've been working on? I'd love to play with it, even though I have nothing built to use it on. :)

--James

saurian333:
I would guess that the floor molding would work OK. It's designed to be stuck to a flat surface, and if it's too tall, it should cut fairly easily with a sharp blade.

thatpurplestuff:
First, thank you very much everyone for the kind words and informative posts. Sorry for the lack of updates and replies... work has been incredibly busy and I've been taking a lot of it home with me, leaving little time for much else. Also, our finances have put a temporary hold on the Skeeball build, but I should be back at it in a few weeks.

drventure & samej71- thank you very much for the info about the lights. I haven't begun integrating them yet but your input has been very helpful.

In terms of the rings discussion, PVC is a bad idea. Ixliam (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,29727.0.html) used it for his rings and promptly bought actual Skeeball rings on eBay after his rings were chipping and cracking. For anyone considering building their own Skeeball machine, I would STRONGLY advise against using any material that doesn't have a significant amount of "give" to it for the rings, otherwise you're looking at the wooden balls getting chewed up with dings and dents. After seeing the abuse that the scoring area takes through average use, I'd be willing to bet that all I would have left of the actual Skeeballs is wood shavings if these rings weren't made of this rubber molding. If I recall correctly from another thread, actual Skeeball rings are custom made by GoodYear and are essentially white wall tires without the tire portion, making them perfect for absorbing impact while retaining the integrity of the rings. I've gotta say that if I were to build another one of these, I would use the rubber bathroom molding again in a heartbeat. It may not be as perfect as the real thing, but it functions nearly the same and I'm not lying when I say that one of the first things people ask when they see the game up and running is "Where did you get the rings for Skeeball?!"

That being said, I have given a lot of thought to using PVC pipe below the scoring area to direct the balls to the return chute at some point. Not high on my list of things to do but it's something I may want to return to before I consider the machine "finished".

samej71- In regards to that rubber cord cover, I actually have some of that stuff in use around the house so I held it up to the Skeeball machine. You're right about it being a bit bigger than it needs to be, but it doesn't look half bad and it would definitely take the punishment. It's a bit pricey as well but one 15ft strip would be enough for both sides.

Also, I have received several requests for my Skeeball software. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I really want to clean up some things before I distribute it (plus there are a few gameplay bugs I have noticed in playing it for the last few months.) Rest assured that I will releasing this software, but again I want it to meet my minimum standard of quality before I make it available for public consumption. Now that I know that there is a demand, I will make a point to speed up my work.

Thank you again for all of the interest in this project.

I've been bad about updating, but as things at work slow down (and the garage warms up a bit) I will hit the ground running with this project.

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