203 replies to this topic

[EalaDubhSidhe]

One other thing - if you're modifying an old Williams, it'll seem more wasteful but you should go for a discarded later one - maybe WPC security, definitely WPC '95 - than an earlier DMD-era game. I may be wrong, but I believe Williams made the playfield space deeper around that time, and with that mini-field, you want as much height as possible to fit it and its pillars in. I'm pretty sure something like a No Fear, which gives you a back height of a good seven inches to play with, is deeper than a Hurricane.

[T-800]

Got most of the critical components modeled and placed in CAD. Looks like things are going to fit into place - couple places are a tight squeeze but from looking at a lot of other pinball machines in my collection, squeezing things in tight seems to be a common theme. Ended up changing the pop-bumper area quite a bit though - didn't really like the idea of a real pin having the ball banging off of pop bumpers into metal side walls (seems like a bad idea and poor design). Went with another thought of having it pronounce that orbit more and having a drop in the middle on the upper side - kinda like the skill shot from Funhouse where you can try to get it into Rudy's hide out. In this case the ball will drop and go to another VUK to kick it to the upper playfield so the player can try to start a mode right away... Guess we'll see how it works once I build it! In any case I'll be printing off a 1:1 scale drawing of the playfield with the hole and slot locations so I can start actually machining and building the white-wood. Time to start ordering parts and buying wood...
 WOOLY_3D001.jpg   122.52KB   88 downloads

[T-800]

Seriously, everybody should build their own machine, this is really fun...

Decided to take one intermediary step between CAD and the white wood and went with white foam core. Printed my playfield layout in 1:1 scale and adhered it to the foam core. Makes it really easy to literally push your components in place. Always cool to see what things look like in reality - there's always something that looks a lot different than you'd think. I can already tell from this step that there are a few tweaks to do, but overall it still looks like things should fit, even at this infancy stage.  image.jpg   134.82KB   113 downloads

[rosve]

That's a great start T-800. Impessive to take on this advanced table.

[T-800]

 photo (5).JPG   173.88KB   168 downloads

Worked my way through the foam core playfield and decided to make some "minor" changes that I hope will improve the flow of the game and make it more interesting.  Some of the more distinct changes - the new layout is a widebody design - this allows more room for the upper right playfield flipper shots, more room to adjust the widths of the center shots (it's funny how different STERN pinball games are from Williams' games in regards to ramp openings and other shots...  Williams' feel wide open and STERN's are tight as hell), I also tweaked the upper orbit to include an additional drop and moved a pop bumper down to the right outlane area.  That area now will also have some major action with the pandora's box shot acting somewhat like a fast loop as well as the right outlane drain mimicing Indy with a narrow escape save option.  The changes have been fun in demo mode at least, hopefully it all works together once I get it built...

 

Ended up buying a "Millionaire" pinball dirt cheap and basically gutted the entire thing and have been in the process of using similar components to build the rest of my pin.  I'm getting to the point where I'll start to build my own custom pieces to finish off the top playfield.  Then I'll integrate most of the hardware and electronics from Millionaire to get a "flipping" machine to lock down the shots - layouts and physics.  In the meantime I printed off a low res, crappy version of the playfield art on some paper and just used an adhesive spray to stick it to the white-wood for layout planning and to make the prototype build a little more interesting.  It's still a long way out, but I envision building this and getting it running 100%, then stripping everything and building a newer prototype with a CNC'd playfield with a high res, high print quality adhesive backed laminate applied to the playfield for a more "demo" quality build (but that's still many months out).  In the meantime, I'm hoping to get at least the main playfield flipping by Christmas time...

[DedRok_V]

Thats just awesome work. Cant wait to see the progress on this. Well done

[kruge99]

Wow!!  Soooo jealous right now T-800!!

[Aurich]

This is a really great project, love what you're messing with.

[EalaDubhSidhe]

I see some new ideas being added to it too. I am totally nicking that 'Safe Escape' for a future widebody game.

[MiguelLeao]

Man, you are my new allmighty. 

 

What you have made was awesome and it is only the start of an extreme experience.

When I grow up I want to be like you.

 

Thanks to sharing this with us,

Miguel Leão

[Joe]

Cool! now you flipper buttons should be dual stage ones.

 

also I was playing the VP table and hit a bug where it got all messed up about how many balls where in play in a multi ball and got stuck in a loop with dead flippers and end less ball draining and launching.

[T-800]

Cool! now you flipper buttons should be dual stage ones.
 
also I was playing the VP table and hit a bug where it got all messed up about how many balls where in play in a multi ball and got stuck in a loop with dead flippers and end less ball draining and launching.

Crazy!! I've never had that happen. Better make sure that doesn't happen in the real one...

I see some new ideas being added to it too. I am totally nicking that 'Safe Escape' for a future widebody game.

Nice... I learned a new UK slang word today. Maybe I can use it on some bloke tomorrow.
(Yeah, I really like the idea of the narrow/safe escape - rewards those who know how to nudge! Wish I was clever enough to have come up with it originally!)

[hassanchop]

looking great!
but you need to prove that those images are not photoshop fakes. i suggest a video 

[T-800]

looking great!
but you need to prove that those images are not photoshop fakes. i suggest a video 

Keep your panties on.  Hopefully I'll have a video to post of it actually flipping in a few weeks...

[s1500]

I like the Safe Escape there. Fail to plunge hard enough, and you're still in the game. A nice little mechanism. 

[Joe]

 

Cool! now you flipper buttons should be dual stage ones.
 
also I was playing the VP table and hit a bug where it got all messed up about how many balls where in play in a multi ball and got stuck in a loop with dead flippers and end less ball draining and launching.

Crazy!! I've never had that happen. Better make sure that doesn't happen in the real one...

I see some new ideas being added to it too. I am totally nicking that 'Safe Escape' for a future widebody game.

Nice... I learned a new UK slang word today. Maybe I can use it on some bloke tomorrow.
(Yeah, I really like the idea of the narrow/safe escape - rewards those who know how to nudge! Wish I was clever enough to have come up with it originally!)

 

need to have a switch for each ball in the Trough

[JavaJack]

Saw this today and thought of WOOLY

http://i.imgur.com/LVu4A.jpg

[T-800]

A little more work done - doesn't look like much, but took a while...  Plastics are all pretty much rough cut now and assembled to main playfield.  Ramps have been crudely prototyped using a thermoformer (was my first time ever thermoforming - had no idea how sensitive the plastic sheets are to timing - go too early and they're not melted enough to really flow over the master, wait too long and they're drooping down causing a mess...)  Targets are in there just for visuals (I haven't mounted anything to the base yet).  Funny how a couple of pieces of plastic and a ramp or two starts really making it look like a real pin...

 

 wooly_real_build_12_26.png   3.01MB   162 downloads

 

Can you tell what was photoshopped?  Yeah, ya got me, it was the cordless drill....

[The Loafer]

That's a nice pic t-800, but I thought you were going to post a WIP of your pin in progress?

[T-800]

That's a nice pic t-800, but I thought you were going to post a WIP of your pin in progress?

Baby steps...