urbecrisch- I will absolutely share the total cost at the end of the project, and give a rough estimate as to how much I've spent so far. In regards to justifying paying a lot for Skeeball, after this project is done I might write a tutorial on how to spend this much money on a project while not getting murdered by your significant other.
Materials:
$130 for MDF, wood, etc
$30 for vinyl flooring
$30 for rubber molding
$50 for 3" birch balls
$40 for screws, bolts, washers, L-brackets, rivets, door stops, misc hardware
Tools:
$20 4" hole saw
$30 rivet gun
As many people have said in other threads, if you can get your hands on a used Skeeball machine that doesn't break your bank you should buy it and refurbish it. This project is going to end up being more expensive than I anticipated, but I've got to say that it has also been really fun planning and working on so far. I still haven't purchased anything for the legs, net or net frame, ball release solenoid, paint, or plexiglass. I'm hoping to use some pushbuttons that I have lying around for the scoring triggers, but if those don't work I'll also have to shell out another ~$40 for Cherry wire switches. Some of these purchases can wait, but the scoring, legs and net are pretty crucial to a fun game of Skeeball.
I got my cut lines drawn on to the MDF tonight, so I'm hoping to get the ramp frame cut out after work tomorrow. If I do, pictures will follow.