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The Next Generation of Digital Plunger is Here!


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#1 Noah Fentz

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 02:03 AM

VirtuaPin Cabinets is proud to announce a new digital plunger option to offer the community!

 

In a nutshell ...

 

CALIBRATION IS A THING OF THE PAST!!

 

You even have different plunger styles and colors to choose from!

 

http://virtuapin.net...products_id=105

 

VirtuaPin™ Digital Plunger Kit

 

$159.95  $139.95 (Save: $20.00 for a limited time only)

 

Plunger%20Kit.jpg
 

 

The VirtuaPin Controller is a USB adapter that allows Do-It-Yourself Pinball enthusiasts to build their own cabinet using real pinball controls providing analog inputs for nudging and bumping. This kit includes everything needed to connect a pinball cabinet to a PC. (6’ USB Cable, Cabinet Mounting Box, Plunger, Wiring)


USB HID Arduino Device
  • No external drivers or programming needed. Automatically recognized by Windows and Linux systems.
  • Uses latest generation Arduino megaAVR microcontroller for performance and reliability. Real-Time Game Interaction
  • Two axis motion sensor provides real-time x and y coordinates (joystick X and Y) for realistic nudging.
  • Automatically calibrates on each cold start!

Digital Plunger Support
  • Digital Plunger with Analog Input on the joystick Z-Axis ESD Protected Enhanced Inputs & Outputs
  • Supports 15 I/O connections (joystick buttons 1-15).
  • All inputs de-bounced. Software Support
  • Fully compatible with Visual Pinball, Future Pinball, HyperPin and more.

 

 

Plunger Rods:

Plunger-Black.jpgPlunger-RndBlack.jpgPlunger-TransBlu.jpgPlunger-TransGrn.jpgPlunger-TransRed.jpg

 

 

 


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#2 toolmaker

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 03:22 AM

Sweet!  Would love to see some video's of the plunger and nudging capabilities. 



#3 uberpinball

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 04:25 AM

Finally released huh? Gratz!

So when is VP gonna support it out of the box? Currently analog nudge support is for the PBW controller without any effort.

Edited by uberpinball, 08 May 2013 - 04:26 AM.

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#4 Noah Fentz

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 04:34 AM

Finally released huh? Gratz!
So when is VP gonna support it out of the box? Currently analog nudge support is for the PBW controller without any effort.

Tested updated versions of 914 and 915, and they will be available before they arrive at homes.

I'll put together some video.

It's pretty awesome to have no 'jitter' and not have to calibrate. I tested this all weekend at Allentown, and after addressing a few things, they are much more accurate than the previous kits. You won't snap the SATA or USB connectors, either.

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#5 uberpinball

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 04:46 AM


Finally released huh? Gratz!
So when is VP gonna support it out of the box? Currently analog nudge support is for the PBW controller without any effort.

Tested updated versions of 914 and 915, and they will be available before they arrive at homes.
I'll put together some video.
It's pretty awesome to have no 'jitter' and not have to calibrate. I tested this all weekend at Allentown, and after addressing a few things, they are much more accurate than the previous kits. You won't snap the SATA or USB connectors, either.
Yea, first thing I noticed was the colorful cable running from the plunger. No devil red sata cable there.

I'd test it like we talked about if it truly is a more accurate nudge than the PBW. Just send it over.

The self calibration alone will gain many more customers for sure because the calibration is a pain on the PBW. I'm sure now that you have production in house, the quality of the unit will be much better. The PBW has QA issues from my experience with 3 different ones having some type of issue with one being DOA on arrival.

Good luck with the sales. This truly will give pinball cab builders the best option for a complete keyboard, plunger, and nudge hardware input controller out there.

Edited by uberpinball, 08 May 2013 - 04:48 AM.

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#6 thewool

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 08:10 AM

Hello Noah. this sounds really appealing  :)

 

What does the plunger feel like in terms of the resistance and when you release it, like a normal pinball plunger?  Also is this essentially the same unit as the Nanotech but with tweaks?

 

Cheers.


Edited by thewool, 08 May 2013 - 08:29 AM.


#7 kruge99

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 10:45 AM

Will I be able to switch out the plunger rod and put in my LED Eyeball plunger?

 

 

Best Regards,

Todd.


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#8 Noah Fentz

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 12:41 PM

Hello Noah. this sounds really appealing :)

What does the plunger feel like in terms of the resistance and when you release it, like a normal pinball plunger? Also is this essentially the same unit as the Nanotech but with tweaks?

Cheers.
It's all modern hardware with much more accurate nudging and plunger position detection.

As for the plunger itself, I've noticed, at times, the Nanotech kit had plungers that seemed to have way too much tension. Our kits use only genuine WMS/Bally replacement plungers.

@Kruge - If your plunger rod works in the Nanotech plunger, it'll work in the VirtuaPin plunger.

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#9 Slydog43

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 01:51 PM

congrats Noah, I was very excited about this when you told me about it at allentown, I will order one when I hear back from others about their success.  Good luck.



#10 zeenon

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 02:57 PM

Paul,

 

Is this what is shipping in place of the Mot-Ion plunger that I have on order? If so great :) Can you ship the standard plunger rod with mine (Order #641)

 

Z



#11 kruge99

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 03:42 PM


@Kruge - If your plunger rod works in the Nanotech plunger, it'll work in the VirtuaPin plunger.

 

Good to know.  :dblthumb:   I just remember you saying one time that the currently available Nanotech kit didn't have a removable plunger rod.


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#12 Noah Fentz

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Posted 08 May 2013 - 05:19 PM

Paul,
 
Is this what is shipping in place of the Mot-Ion plunger that I have on order? If so great :) Can you ship the standard plunger rod with mine (Order #641)
 
Z

I'll be contacting everyone who currently has one on order and asking what they'd prefer. I now have both in stock.

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#13 chinzman93

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Posted 09 May 2013 - 04:16 AM

Are there any particular special mounting requirements for this? I have the Nanotech and this needs to be mounted higher in the cabinet and hard mounted (no velcro). Also is there any special setup steps for use in VP?



#14 Noah Fentz

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Posted 09 May 2013 - 06:53 AM

I would suggest still mounting in the front of the cab as close to the coin door as possible. Height is irrelevant.

I had our test kit mounted on the bottom, about 16"from the coin door, and it responded very well in tests.

I'm currently at the ER with my girlfriend, or I'd attach the user's manual. I'll try to get it up when I get out, but I cannot say when that will be.

For those concerned, she'll be fine, it seems. Just waiting on test results.

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#15 unclewilly

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Posted 09 May 2013 - 11:00 AM

Too bad I already threw away 300 on the old nanotech kits which wont stay calibrated.. Buying another kit would be pushing the same cost as my playfield monitor.

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#16 chinzman93

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Posted 09 May 2013 - 07:14 PM

I would suggest still mounting in the front of the cab as close to the coin door as possible. Height is irrelevant.

I had our test kit mounted on the bottom, about 16"from the coin door, and it responded very well in tests.

I'm currently at the ER with my girlfriend, or I'd attach the user's manual. I'll try to get it up when I get out, but I cannot say when that will be.

For those concerned, she'll be fine, it seems. Just waiting on test results.

Thanks for the info. No hurry on the manual. Hope everything goes well with the GF.

 

Since these all should calibrate the same, I would assume that would mean that everyone would be using similar numbers for gain and tilt sensitivity across tables. I assume there would be variations for personal preference. But if I am understanding this correctly, if I had 2 of these installed on 2 seperate cabs and used the same numbers for gain and tilt, and could apply the exact same nudge force on both cabs, the results should be identical?

 

If so, that would be very cool.

 

Also, I was wondering if you considered sending one these out to the Farsight people to see if it can be incorporated into the Pinball Arcade PC Build? It should be coming out in the next few weeks....months....years.... :wimper:


Edited by chinzman93, 09 May 2013 - 07:18 PM.


#17 JohnnyDoe

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Posted 10 May 2013 - 12:50 PM

Too bad I already threw away 300 on the old nanotech kits which wont stay calibrated.. Buying another kit would be pushing the same cost as my playfield monitor.

 

If Noah would give those that owns a nanotech plunger purchased through Virtuapin a substantial rebate, maybe I would consider it.

Because that product was not a 100% stable considering the price. No offense, Just stating facts, from my own experience and others from the forum.

So would I want to spend another 300 dollars getting what I should have gotten on my first purchase? Not so sure...



#18 Shakenbake

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Posted 10 May 2013 - 12:56 PM

Too bad I already threw away 300 on the old nanotech kits which wont stay calibrated.. Buying another kit would be pushing the same cost as my playfield monitor.

 

If Noah would give those that owns a nanotech plunger purchased through Virtuapin a substantial rebate, maybe I would consider it.

Because that product was not a 100% stable considering the price. No offense, Just stating facts, from my own experience and others from the forum.

So would I want to spend another 300 dollars getting what I should have gotten on my first purchase? Not so sure...

As a business owner for the past 20 years I'll have to disagree with you. Virtuapin was simply trying to provide a solution that everyone had been begging for. As with any new/small production product there may be things that are not perfect. I personally have used 4 of the Nanotech plunger kits and would say that overall they worked great for me. I don't know how much it is costing Paul to make these but I can guarantee he is not going to get rich off of this. I doubt there is much more room to be giving hefty discounts.  I look forward to see how well this kit works. It appears that a lot of thought went into what people are wanting.



#19 Noah Fentz

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Posted 10 May 2013 - 01:36 PM

Too bad I already threw away 300 on the old nanotech kits which wont stay calibrated.. Buying another kit would be pushing the same cost as my playfield monitor.

 

If Noah would give those that owns a nanotech plunger purchased through Virtuapin a substantial rebate, maybe I would consider it.

Because that product was not a 100% stable considering the price. No offense, Just stating facts, from my own experience and others from the forum.

So would I want to spend another 300 dollars getting what I should have gotten on my first purchase? Not so sure...

 

I would agree with this, had we been the developer/manufacturer of the Nanotech kit, but we weren't. We retailed them for the simple fact that we used them in our VirtuaPin products and we could then provide faster shipping (when they were actually available) than Nanotech. One of our major motivating factors for developing our own kit was having units sit, waiting for the Nanotech kits to be in stock. It was an easy decision to make.

 

What I am willing to do is offer a rebate for those not needing the plunger assembly. This kit would use the same assembly, so there is no point in getting a new one, unless you want the colored rod. Those could be easily switched out by the end user, too, so here's out it would be laid out with the current $20.00 off pricing ...

 

Complete Kit: $139.95 (Currently $20.00 off)

No Plunger: $119.95 ($20.00 rebate)

Colored Shooter Rod Only: $124.95 ($15.00 rebate)


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#20 kruge99

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Posted 10 May 2013 - 01:38 PM

Too bad I already threw away 300 on the old nanotech kits which wont stay calibrated.. Buying another kit would be pushing the same cost as my playfield monitor.

 

If Noah would give those that owns a nanotech plunger purchased through Virtuapin a substantial rebate, maybe I would consider it.

Because that product was not a 100% stable considering the price. No offense, Just stating facts, from my own experience and others from the forum.

So would I want to spend another 300 dollars getting what I should have gotten on my first purchase? Not so sure...

 

I would disagree.  I think if you compared the number of units sold vs. the number of complaints that resulted in a return for a verified manufacturer defect, you would see that, what I would refer to as the "defect rate", is well below 5% of the total units manufactured and sold.  If we had the facts, it's probably more like 1% is the defect rate in my humble opinion.

 

I often wonder how many people simply jumped on board the complaint band wagon and after a few tweaks or their defective part was replaced, simply didn't bother to say they got their Nanotech plunger working? This is the kind of thing that skews people's opinion one way or the other - not having all the facts.

 

 

Best Regards,

Todd.


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- It's called "The American Dream" because you have to be asleep to believe it.
George Carlin
- Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
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- "Reality check, Michelle, Talk about composure, Total lack of. He's a man-- About-- 12 Feet Tall--"
Carrie Kelly
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