*yay for progress* Future Pinball build

[ccmathome]

This is my 2nd project just waiting on the parts  specs: 32" play area, 19" back glass, 3ghz duo core, 2gig ram, winxp sp2 and think ill use the keyboard hack. dont know if im going to make a cab or convert one as I really dont have the woodworking skills.

UPDATE
sides are cut



tonight I think ill take the 32" out of its case and make the front back and bottom tomorrow if I have the time ill also make the back box

[Gamester]

I'm just guessing, but it seems like a 32" play field might be a bit small to try to do a conversion.

Good luck, and make sure you keep us posted.  Lots of pictures!   

[BobA]

With a 32 inch play field it will probably be easier to make your own cab then alter a real pin.   If you can get one cheap/easy then it would be worth the work to convert it but if one is not easily available the a build your own would be easier.

[ccmathome]

Ok Ive got my pc parts both screens and wood, still missing a few things coin door and legs but i can get that stuff later hope to start work tomorrow.

I'm going to try and make the cabinet, not very good at woodwork but going to try anyway

[ccmathome]

Got the lcd taken apart to find out that it wont work without finding a way to easily ground the 2 little boards   might have to leave it in its case




If anyone has any ideas to do this easy im all ears

AH IDEA if i cut out where I put the white lines id kill 2 birds with one stone how to ground it easily and mount the boards there just wont be any going back after 

[ccmathome]

Last 2 days been raining so was unable to get much work done, anyway i have the bottom front and back cut tomorrow i think ill start screwing and gluing it

lol made a mistake here


I was going to have the ends on the outside but now there on the inside

can hyperpin play music in the table select?

[ccmathome]

well after a few noob woodworking mistakes got the main box almost ready for paint

lol put the wood on the wrong side

much better

main box screwed together kind of happy i didnt use glue

just need to sand down the wood filler then going to prime it


hope to have the guts in sunday

[SpaceHedgehog]

Watching this one with a lot of interest.... 

[ccmathome]

got the cab painted all black for now, have about 20 future pinball tables setup only ALOT more to go 

[ccmathome]

finally got my coin door and legs installed now it looks more like a pinball machine instead of just a box still need the art and have no idea what im going to do



Im thinking of starting over becuase i really dont like the wood i used, I dont know ill see if i can make it work
right now i have about 80 tables ready to go, by the time im done with this build i think i wont want to play it

[Franco B]

If your not happy with it I would start it again before you get too far in. It wouldn't take long to cut the panels again if you clamped some more material to the side and template routed it.

The last thing you want to do is finish it and wish you had took the extra time to make it perfect. If you don't, every time you look at it you will get that sinking feeling instead of pride.

I'm just starting to plan mine at the moment and I have a couple of questions.

Are you having the back glass monitor vertical and masking off the bottom part for the DMD? Did  you think of using three screens? Any reasons for/against?

How are you handling the ball launch and nudging?

[ivwshane]

What is it about the wood that you don't like? The texture?

[ccmathome]

My back glass is going to be horizontal because its only a 19" think its alittle to small for it to be vertical, I didn't think of using 3 monitors, may cause more headaches then its worth. I did have a plan for a plunger but my coin door is so big I don't have the room for one so going to use a button, as for nudging I haven't decided yet eather buttons or u-hid-g.

heres the idea for the plunger


The reason I don't like the wood is its hard to shape and it chips easy

[emphatic]

The reason I don't like the wood is its hard

That's not what she said. Sorry couldn't resist.

[drventure]

It's pretty easy to use a standard cherry switch for the pinball plunger. That's what I did and it works great.

The trick is, you wired up to the NC connection instead of the NO

That way when the plunger is at rest, the switch is engaged, but there's no connection

When you pull back the plunger, it DISENGAGES the switch, when then MAKES the connection (acting like a button has been/is being pressed).

Let go the plunger and no more key presses.

[ivwshane]

It's pretty easy to use a standard cherry switch for the pinball plunger. That's what I did and it works great.

The trick is, you wired up to the NC connection instead of the NO

That way when the plunger is at rest, the switch is engaged, but there's no connection

When you pull back the plunger, it DISENGAGES the switch, when then MAKES the connection (acting like a button has been/is being pressed).

Let go the plunger and no more key presses.

Does the pinball software turn the "button press" into data that translates into how hard/soft the plunger hits the ball? Basically does it turn a digital signal into an analog one (or emulates an analog signal)?

[drventure]

No, the pinball apps i've played with rely on an "amount of time you've held the key down" to determine how far back to pull the plunger.

It ends up working out pretty realistically because when you pull back, the enter key is pressed and effectively "held down" till you let go.

I believe Future pinball now has support for a real analog plunger input, but I don't recall seeing any support for it or anyone who's hacked together something to support it. Without special hardware, +that+ could be a real trick, but I suppose it'd be doable with enough work.

The switch trick that I describe is +really+ easy though, and the end result is pretty dang good.

My pinball plunger looks like this. That switch is actually a roller switch (ie it has a little roller on the end of the metal lever), but otherwise, it's just a standard ol arcade button switch. You can get roller switches at Happ for about 5$

[ivwshane]

Sweet! That's easier than I thought.

Next I need to figure out how to integrate a u-hid to handle tilt functionality.

[ccmathome]

From what I've been reading about the u-hid-g it seems easy to hook up and configure

[Franco B]

Thanks for the plunger info guys. I didn't realise some of the emu's/tables use the delay to adjust the launch speed.

I have looked at a couple of projects where they used a 'analogue' plunger. I'll have to go and read them and find out exactly how they work and what emu's etc they are for.

In regards to the U-HID-G, has anyone seen a review of it anywhere?

[ccmathome]

drventure did that plunger come with that mounting plate or did you use something else, i need something small like that to fit my plunger, I dont have much space

[ccmathome]

Been working on the side art this is what i have sofar



and