Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: seanp on March 28, 2005, 02:27:19 pm
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So I want to run Visual Pinball in my newly "complete" (is it ever really complete??) cab, and the flipper buttons are the easy part. I've been pondering the nudge/tilt and plunger pieces, and came up with this idea. If I understand correctly, a pedometer measures the impact of your foot with the ground, which swings a pedulum on a spring past a magnet to rocord a "step". I'm thinking of rigging this switch to be my nudge/tilt switch - a bump of the cab gets translated into a button press. My question for those with more circuit experience than me - how likely is it that I can make this switch & PCB work with something like an IPAC (where we're running +5v through to detect button presses, correct?). I can identify the points to solder on the PCB, but need to know how to measure or determine how much voltage is used, etc.
Am I crazy? Can this be done?
-Sean
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Don't go to those lengths.. it's MUCH easier.
Most "Tilts" on video games involved a standard leaf switch with a large metal blob attached to the end of the longest leaf. (like a 4 ounce magnet or chunk of metal). It doesn't take a lot of movement/hit to the coin door to make the contacts touch and trigger the reset.
I would presume pinball games are similar, and may use 2 or 3 of them (one in each direction x y z) attached in parallel to trigger the tilt.
You can make one of these out of a used leaf switch, hot glue gun and a rock or piece of metal.
Redemption games usually used a plumb-bob... a heavy 1# piece of metal hanging from a string with a wire attached. Surrounding the plumbbob is a circular ring of metal attached to the other wire. Any movement of the game will result it it bouncing against the outer ring and resetting the game (perhaps for 10 seconds or so as it swings)
You could make one out of a ball attached to a string covered in aluminum foil, with a 12 gauge romex ground wire made into a circle around it and mounted to a board. Cheap and easy.
The final option is to (CAREFULLY) take the mercury bulb out of a home thermostat. These have 2 leads attached to it, and the mercury inside the bulb makes contact between the leads when tilted. Mount it with a plastic clip at the right angle so it just is outside of making contact, but would fall and make contact if bumped. You may need 2 or 3 of these depending on how many planes you need to detect bumping (x/y at least)
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a pinball "tilt' sensor is just a plum and a round hole for the plum to center in. the plum is one polarity and the hole is the other, when they touch TILT!
(http://www.lakesidepinballparts.com/pinballplum.jpg)
(http://www.lakesidepinballparts.com/tiltbracket.jpg)
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Nudge and Tilt are going to be two entirely different mechanisms in a virtual pinball machine.
The Nudge on a real pinball machine is actual movement of the machine itself.
There is no circuitry, etc... for this.
The Tilt function on most virtual pinball machines is triggered by a "too much nudging" condition, rather than physical movement of any equipment.
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The easiest way to simulate nudge on a virtual pinball machine is a second set of flipper buttons for the right/left nudge.
If the game supports front nudge as well, you can either put a third switch on for this, or can wire the right/left to a relay, so that the combo will close a third switch, simulating the front nudge.
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I played around with a mercury switch solution for this, but found it too buggy to use effectively in the heat of a game.
The other problem is that you need to debounce the mercury switch to keep it from retriggering the input until it stabilizes.
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