Shooting the ball back to the hopper

[Youngjedi]

Hi All,

I had an idea yesturday on the way home from work. I've seen posts about ball lifters and cyclic mods, and I was wondering if anyone has attempted the following idea...

Install a second shooter motor in the pachinko. the played balls would be delivered to the second shooter (which is hooked up to the main shooter and fires at the same time) and shot up through a clear tube back up to the hopper. Is there enouph energy to shoot the ball straight up? also, a 'Y' divertor would have to be installed in the tube so that if a ball doesn't make it all the way up, it would be returned to the bottom for another chance.

This idea would mean that for every ball shot through the play field, another would be returned to the hopper.

I would love to try this out if anyone out there has a spare shooter assembly collecting dust.

[johntofva]

Sounds like a fun project....

[arbycoffee]

the tube would need to be a hard tube, you would lose to much energy in a fexable tube.
if it does't make it up and comes back you would need to route it to the spent ball, because you are stacking up shot ball on top of each other.
Sounds vibable for a way to cycle the ball bck to the reward hopper.

[drcrippen324]

problem is it wouldent keep up in a feever as it drops 15 balls for every one shot if you can hit the sweet spot

[Lddrizzt]

I think it could be done.
Look at how the ramp is made to shoot the balls onto the play field, There is a gap at the bottom for balls that don't make it, put that gap over your spent ball tray.
As far as keeping up with the fever, you shoot more than you win usually, so the hopper (which will need to be bigger) should have enough balls in it to cover it. yeah you will be getting back more than you shoot during the fever, but what about all the balls you shot to get there?

[Youngjedi]

The fever is a good point, but I would only be interested in shooting the spent balls back up, not the winning balls. I would move those by hand back up to the hopper. The addition of a ball return really pays out during those looong hours of play where nothing happens...we've all been there.

[birdbrain]

just semi cyclic it and everything comes to the front lower tray

[TilionMtl]

it could be a bit noisy too, to have an other shooter to shoot to the upper tray

[electronrancher]

Sounds like a great idea.

Biggest problem would be the "singulator". To separate a (sometimes) big stack of balls into one at a time, and then whack that one up to the top without a jam. You can always use a pre-made singulator and solenoid intended for a production pachinko, like you said, which would get rid of the issue.

Do you have a spare shooter mechanism? In my estimation, the shooter in my old Janken box would easily whack a ball the 4ft required to get from the dump tray below the machine cabinet to the ball hopper above it.

Like Arby said, vinyl tube would eat a lot of momentum but... do you need a ball guide at all? With a little tuning, couldn't you make an L-shaped PVC jig that shoots a ball up through empty air to another (much wider) u-shaped PVC jig to return to the hopper.

Now that would be cool! Reminds me of this motion exhibit in front of the tech museum in San Jose. It looks like a simple (20-ft-high) toy but that beast shoots balls through all sorts of amazing acrobatics several times a second, all-day every day. After watching for a while, you realize it is extremely reliable and consistent. Newton's law at work!

[Supersaiyan]

Sounds nice if you have spare motor somewhere. Please post pictures if you will start the project.