Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Raspberry Pi & Dev Board => Topic started by: orizzle on January 16, 2016, 04:22:39 pm
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Hi all,
I used to play the game Pop-A-Ball when I was a kid in the arcades. Now I want to create my own. If you don't know what that game is, here is a quick youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VDlMx52Mug (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VDlMx52Mug)
My question is, what can I buy to sense the balls are on a specific card (in a specific hole) and to make the balls pop? I am fine with coding the software behind but trying to get a feel for what hardware I need. I found some weight sensors for around $10 each, but with 25 or so holes, the project gets expensive quickly.
Any suggestions would be appreciated - thanks!
[Change the "https" to "http" and the video will embed instead of being a link. ;D -- Scott]
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This video you speak of?
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My bad, don't know where the link went: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VDlMx52Mug (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VDlMx52Mug)
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Instead of doing weight sensors you can do a IR line break sensor. (https://www.adafruit.com/products/2167)
Put a set in each hole,when the ball falls in it will break the beam sending a simple code (in/out) or how ever you want to do it.
I guess the hard part would be separating each set as a different card. You said your good at coding so I will leave that to you.
As far as the ball popping part it looks they could be little solenoids. One for each then a main one to push the whole playing field.
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For the sensors, you might want to look at IR LEDs/sensors from adafruit. (<$2 each)
This one (https://www.adafruit.com/products/2167) is a beam-break-style pair that have been used for skeeball builds and pinewood derby timer triggers.
This one (https://www.adafruit.com/products/2349) is a reflective-style pair that might work.
For the ball "popper", you might want to look into pinball solenoids like Vertical Up-Kickers (VUKs) -- this may take some experimenting to find the right one to launch the ball with the desired amount of force.
Scott
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I'm looking at some cheap solenoids on eBay and watching a few youtube videos. It seems like the cheap 12v solenoids probably won't pack enough punch to launch balls of that size. Has anyone tried anything similar?
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As for sensing the balls you can also use the switches that are common as coin switches.
(http://www.amusementdistributors.com/images/medium/891-1116-16.JPG)
When it comes to popping the balls, compressed air can be an alternative perhaps? You could scale it down and use standard ping pong balls...
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For "sensing the ball", you could use a 10 cents photosensor: when when the ball is in place, the photosensor goes low. This should work with pingpong (read "weightless") balls too
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As for popping the balls, could you use one piece of plywood, under the play field, with a pin for each hole.
Then have a solenoid move the plywood up and down. All the pins would move but would that matter?
The solenoid would have to be pretty hefty, requiring a power transistor to turn it on, and may be noisy, so this may not be desirable.
Or something like this, but you would need one for each hole:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sol-102/miniature-12vdc-push-type-solenoid/1.html (http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sol-102/miniature-12vdc-push-type-solenoid/1.html)
And with just about any solenoid, you are going to need some type of driving circuit.
Edit: just read the customer comments on that solenoid, it may not work for what you want. I'd order just one first to try if it were me, if I decided to try them.
Edit again: If you used the one piece of plywood idea to move all the pins at once, you might could use a servo motor with a crank in the center of the plywood to move the plywood up and down in one servo revolution.
The panel wouldnt have to be plywood, it could be a lighter plastic sheet.