My cabinet...work in progress

[Denhomer]

Apparently it's been 4 months since my last post... Time flies.
I have no news on the ball feeding system, bit stuck there... I had my original idea, but then I saw the post from Drunkenclam who ordered ball feeders straight from the source... and I decided I needed to look into that. Still working on finding a way to easily get the balls to those feeders.
But, I did other things...

I started on my 'control panel' which will contain power switches for all pachinko's, ball dump / counter to allow for won balls to re-enter the system. I also included a touchscreen for controlling a computer which will provide music in the gameroom. Hopefully I can also use the computer in the future to hook up all the machines for statistics.

DSC00698.jpg It's the little panel in the corner which will be used... Couldn't fit an 8th pachi in there anyway...
In the picture you will also spot my latest pinball addition
DSC00699.jpg On top, we have the touchscreen, the green button below is the master switch for the panel below (it didn't have a separate master switch and would leave the power-led burning all the time, so I added another switch)
And left bottom is the power panel with 8 buttons. It's normally used in DJ equipment, but I figured it would do nice here...
I still have quite a gap free, which will, in time, be used for the ball dump/counter.

[MrGneiss]

Wow, thats Rad!!

[Card Shark]

Love the design!!

[Denhomer]

Very small update:
I added a support for the ball trays under the machines.
DSC00949.jpg
I also put the led bar on some supports so it is aimed at 45°, the same as the wall, which gives a better light spread.
DSC00950.jpg
Currently, I'm trying to do the ball storage on top of the left side, a little 1000 ball container where the supply mechanism starts.

[Card Shark]

Looking better and better!!!

[SteveFury]

You do great work Denhomer.

When is the party??

[Denhomer]

Time flies when you're having fun they say...
Since the last post I've been working on the ball distribution system.
I don't have pics for the moment, will try to snap some tomorrow.
What's been done:

• I've made 1 pachinko fully connected to the ball supply gutter
• Ball gutter has been fixed, less sloping, etc...
• Ball reservoir on top is done, connected to ball lifter, with 2 buttons to start/stop the ball lifter to fill the ball reservoir. This strategy start filling the reservoir only when it's nearly empty, fills it up completely and stops the ball lifter. This way my lifter doesn't have to turn on so much.
• Pachinko silencer installed in my own kyoraku stadium frame... Finally I can enjoy the pachi's without earplugs when turning on.

TODO's:

• Make 5 more ball supply gutter connections
• Fix ball drain, it's not fixed to the table, and sometimes moves out of place.
• Cover everything up with front paneling
• Search for lost balls... you probably can imagine that behind the pachinko's and on the floor there are many balls lost while working
• Add a way to re-enter won balls back into the system without crawling under the table...
• Enjoy

[Denhomer]

Pictures as promised
Top ball reservoir, you can see the 2 buttons that control the ball lifter. These are regular arcade buttons, they can take some serious abuse
DSC00970.jpg
View down the ball lane...
DSC00973.jpg
Quick overview shot of the pachinko wall
DSC00974.jpg

[luckydog]

great idea on the arcade buttons

[Denhomer]

great idea on the arcade buttons

Thanks, they are non-clicky, and quite soft to press, to a stack of balls can quite easily press it. Only disadvantage if you compare it with the paddles from a ball lifter, is that these take 3 cm in height, so you have to really drill them through the box you're putting them in... Not a problem for my home made box, but not something you can do for replacing a paddle in a machine without altering it.

I must admit that it's not entirely my idea, as the 'Ball Dozer' also uses an arcade button as a ball sensor...

[KimbaWLion]

I wish you MADE ball dozers again... They are an awesome idea and I did not get any at the time...

[Denhomer]

I wish you MADE ball dozers again... They are an awesome idea and I did not get any at the time...

I'm not the one who invented the ball dozer, I was just lucky enough to get one... It was made by our member Berzerk.

[KimbaWLion]

ah yea I remember now it was awhile ago!

[mxfaiman]

They are an awesome idea and I did not get any at the time...

Might still be able to.

Balldozer - The Pachinko ball lifter

Got email and everything under the impressum page.

[KimbaWLion]

I think he even posted here that there would be no more, but I am not sure about that...

[Card Shark]

I tried contacting him a few months go but no response.

[Denhomer]

Alrightie, got a special update

The part of my system that catches the balls from the gutter and makes them into 1 row of balls was not doing what it should... Often, balls would end up in stacks of 2 and they wouldn't go through the pipe to the machine...

I looked how my machines managed to get the balls to the motor in 1 line and I observed 2 systems:
some use a zig-zag system which annoys the balls so much they eventually walk in line
DSC00977.jpg
others have this little weight above the level of 1 row and gently push the second row of balls down...
DSC00978.jpg

I figured that with some simple and quick woodworking I wouldn't be able to make a nice zig-zag system easily, so I went for option number 2.
I've seen different systems that use this and it works well, all use a slighly different weight too and one in particular (don't have a picture for this) used a pachinko ball as weight, which sounds nice, as I got some spares

Making one of these weight holders out of wood would cost me a lot of time, and might look/work less than optimal, so I decided to go pro.
In this day and age, something called 3D printing makes it easy for people like me, to create cool looking plastic/metal items without having to order a couple of thousand.
On to the model:
674x501_719666_586888_1349035952.jpg

It looked good, so I sent it to the printer (Shapeways). When it came back, it looked like this:
DSC00980.jpg (ball added afterwards for showing how it should work)

Now, install in system:
DSC00975.jpg (tilt your head a bit, it's the white thing in between the wood)

And it works
Now, you might be wondering, how much does this take out of your wallet? The answer is 10$ for 7 of this little pieces... Not extremely cheap, but it beats having to make it myself.

Conclusion: 3D printing is good for small things that need some precision

[Drunkenclam]

I spy led strip lighting

Looking good Mine is still work in progress in my head. Although I have now fitted the orange lifter to a piece of wood with brackets, Ready to mount in the cabinet.

[Denhomer]

Yeah, the led strips give a nice color flood over the ceiling They are RGB, with a remote control, not infrared, but just wireless, makes it quite handy to control
I'm getting them straight from china, which keeps the price low (30€ for 5m)

[Denhomer]

A new year, a new update
Apparently it's been more than a year since I started working on this... awesome
I started adding paneling to cover up the whole system.

Here are some pictures of the progress
Notice the paneling on the left hand side in front of the control panel and the paneling above the machines (eventually this should hold battle counters)
DSC01113.jpg DSC01114.jpg DSC01115.jpg
Some impressions with the leds turned on and the light off...
DSC01116.jpg DSC01117.jpg

The panels above the machines can hinge down using concealed hinges.
The panel to the left hand side uses Lift-off hinges to secure the door and a little magnet to keep it shut.