powerflash franken pachi

[mudfud]

yeah. I was almost thinking that a mylar layer over the acrylic cell might protect it from getting scratched up... or regular novus polishing.

I've seen how the acrylic gets scratched when used as the front window.

[emmadog]

Mylar on the playfield would definitely be a good idea. However other areas where the balls travel such as the chutes could be lined with strips of mylar on the track bottom. Also, as you sit down to the machine any wear on the chute bottoms wouldn't be seen. In did some research on various plastics and found out that acrylic and plexi are the same. One is a brand name for the other. Lexan is the more durable of the commonly available sheet plastics. You can find any of these materials in any dimension and cut however you want online. I'd prolly get a sheet of lexan around a half inch thick or something like that for the playfield if not planning on covering with mylar. Otherwise you could save money and use acrylic or plexi. Then 2 sheets of plexi-one for the solenoid assembly and the other for the mechanics on rear of machine. Plus more material to make up the frame. Then I'd cast most of the other parts myself so they'd be clear although it would be interesting to use an odd stock part for contrast. As I mentioned before I would do pretty much the whole thing clear including tulips and jackpot but it would be just as cool to have those particular original parts on there too. A myriad of adhesives for these plastics in various viscosities and strengths depending on what the user wants are available. So this project is totally doable and especially if you have milling machine for these materials. I also found drill bits and jigsaw blades designed specifically for cutting these types of plastic. Check out eplastics.com

[mudfud]

I ordered a sheet of mylar from ebay. cost about $30 shipped, but should be enough for 3 pachinko's. comes 27 inches wide, 5 mil thick.

once I use 18 inches for the front of the powerflash, I will have enough to share if anyone wants a sheet for $10.

any hints on getting it stuck down onto acrylic with NO bubbles?

[FREKKEN TEKKEN]

I ordered a sheet of mylar from ebay. cost about $30 shipped, but should be enough for 3 pachinko's. comes 27 inches wide, 5 mil thick.

once I use 18 inches for the front of the powerflash, I will have enough to share if anyone wants a sheet for $10.

any hints on getting it stuck down onto acrylic with NO bubbles?

In the Art World there is a technique for bonding two surfaces together very slowly with no bubbles at the end. Generally the back of the material to be laid down (this case the Mylar) is backed up with two slip sheets of a material that the adhesive does not stick to. The slip sheets are butted together on the back of the Mylar and very slowly pulled apart. At the same time a person is pressing down the small amount of exposed mylar backing with their hand or a small squeegee (SP). Thus by only exposing small amount at a time it eliminates the chance of large air pockets or bubbles to form. Hope that helps. Actually you could initially practice with inexpensive contact paper on a random surface to get the technique down...Good Luck!

[mudfud]

that sounds like something to do when I am feeling really OCD.

do you know if there is a youtube video to show the technique? what would you search for?

[FREKKEN TEKKEN]

This isn't exactly the best example but if you get the very basic principle and apply it to doing by hand rather than machine you will get it! Go to You Tube and type in dry mounting photo. It shows a machine essentially doing what you need to do by hand. See if that helps.
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This isn't exactly the best example but if you get the very basic principle and apply it to doing by hand rather than machine you will get it! Go to You Tube and type in dry mounting photo. It shows a machine essentially doing what you need to do by hand. See if that helps.

Sorry its the first one on the list of dry mounting photo.

[luckydog]

type in "install film" on youtube search

here's an example

YouTube - Installing ClearCal Anti-Glare Film for Glossy Displays

[FREKKEN TEKKEN]

Thats a much better example for that kind of application. I may have to pick up some of that material for my laptop.

[emmadog]

I did it w/o much trouble and no bubbles by myself. Only expose a thin strip of the sticky side and lay that down. Then slowly peel back the backing as you hold the unattached end away from the direction you are laying it down. That prevents you from adhering more than you are ready for. Easy day and it took maybe 5 minutes on the P flash. However if you do get bubbles I don't think they will outgas as they do for example with vinyl!!! Mylar is very stout stuff. It obviously helps ad well to have plenty of material that you can trim off later after application so you're not worried about lining edges up, etc.

[pinball wizard]

mudfud,there is a technique we use in the automotive industry for putting vinyl graphic decals on.it is wetting solution and comes in a spray bottle.wet the surface completely,place the decal,and squeegee the liquid out.this usually gets it bubble free,and allows final positioning before it is squeegeed.just make sure everything is perfecty clean,so nothing gets trapped under the mylar.

[emmadog]

And even more info for ya: I didn't do the squeegee and solution method as stated above. That is definitely necessary for vinyl decal material as that stuff is designed to conform to surface irregularities (depending on the type, some more than others) and is therefore "soft" which also means it traps bubbles easily. If you pick vinyl up with a knife blade it will hang limply down the sides of the blade whereas the entire sheet of Mylar will lift up. That's good for this application. I used 2 mil Mylar and it worked fine. Yours being 5 mils should be even easier to lay down flat. I'm not saying don't do the squeegee and liquid method-it can't hurt-but in my unprofessional opinion I don't think it's necessary.

[mudfud]

I reviewed some vids on youtube, and I think that the 5 mil mylar won't be too hard...

as long as I am really careful about the dust and go slowly. maybe need 4 hands on deck for this one. I like the idea of using the scotch tape to grab the dust bunnies, though.

will definitely video this phase of the rebuild when I get there.

plan to drive back up to sac'to tomorrow to start drilling and milling. more pix tomorrow.

thanks for all the ideas, guys. I love pachitalk!

[mudfud]

the latest franken poweflash updates:

cut the 2 x 4 foot acrylic into two pieces, one being 18 inches wide for the cell/backboard.

mounted the acrylic onto the powerflash backboard, for use as a template.

cut off the parlor labels and the circle logo of the bottom corners, for later remounting on the acrylic.

drilled holes through the bigger tulip holes, at first a hole saw, then we went out and bought some spade bits (much better, since the acrylic donuts get really stuck inside the hole saw)

started thinking about using a straight router bit with the ball bearing on the top, for running around the inside of the plywood holes and cutting the plastic (this will be next trip to sac'to)

I also spent time straightening all the brass nails for reuse on the franken machine.

good progress for one day, maybe I'll finish by the first week in january?

and there will, of course, be a video of all this to come

[mudfud]

more

[MrGneiss]

Wow, its going to be so cool!!

[emmadog]

Now THAT is cool!!!

[digital1]

This is awesome!You have been talking about this idea for a long time.Will you be drilling the holes for the nails? That is a lot of holes. for attaching the items to the cell you could glue them and glue a nail head over the hole where it should have gone.I love edge lighting on acrilic. It will light up the inside of each hole on the cell. It might even light up the nail holes.If all things are clear, You could install a 21x30 T.V. in the back and put the Cutie Honie machine to shame.

[mudfud]

hey digital, have I been talking about this for that long? guess I'm getting old and starting to perseverate. the sticking point was finding the "right" machine to convert, and finding the acrylic for a reasonable price.

in case anyone needs acrylic, I used freckleface.com

I thought at first it was some joke or scam, but it is a company in the midwest with a more legitimate name (that I looked up to be sure) that does wholesale plastic sales. apparently, they sell to individuals, too, if you are absolutely certain what you want to buy. the sheet of 1/2 inch by 2 by 4 feet was $150 at TAP plastics, plus tax, and this place was $75 plus $20 to ship, and that included buying the 8 oz. Novus products in the shipping. arrived in less than a week.

in terms of attaching the tulips and such, they come with short nails anyhow, so my plan was to use the original brass brads. I considered glue, but if I need to do any tulip maintenance, having the brass brads would be easier to pull.

in terms of the nails, yes, I have done a LOT of thinking about them.

I plan to drill the holes in the acrylic, at just a friction fit size. if they back out with play, I will put a dap of goop to keep them from moving. figure I have to be careful NOT to drive nails into the acrylic and crack the plastic.

I toyed with the idea of drilling the holes at 6 degrees, but then I realized that the 6 degree nails are mostly the ones on the horizontal lines, or near the tulips, and that the others were straight. besides that, I wanted to keep the nails as close to original as possible.

for drilling the holes, dad and I copied the powerflash face on a giant copy machine that architects use, then we decided that we have the ultimate template by using the wooden cell and drilling straight through into the acrylic with a depth guide.

I can hand drill this carefully, too, and it will be much faster than lining up the milling machine for every hole.

in terms of LEDs, there are so many possibilities. right now, I envision adding an LED to each microswitch and solenoid, so they highlight where the lucky ball went though. will add a jackpot light to the center and keep the stock lights.

around the edges I was going to experiment and see how different LED string lit up the plastic. supposed to be able to get a wall of transparent color, I think.

and, I will finally be able to add lights behind the column of cards on the right side of the cell. maybe find a way to have the lights race up and down with jackpots, or maybe randomly.

I look forward to any other suggestions from you guys/girls. this is definitely a work in progress, and I am always looking for ways to improve it.

emmadog's idea about casting the pieces in clear is fascinating. I can't quite wrap my head around how it would look yet, but as I get the cell in place, I had thought to work outward on the nishijin B chutes to show the ball path there. I just don't know how much of the B mechanism is going to show through the solenoid layer... maybe a second visible pachi with the rear parts skeletonized?

[compirate]

Then the only thing you need are clear pachinko balls and the entire game will disappear!

[Lt Teddy]

Now that is the machine I need. Would not have to worry about space.