57 replies to this topic

[rickh]

I am releasing a spin on the Little Bang Board.  Changes and Improvements are:

• Buttons are activated by pulling to GND
• Added option for either LIS3DH or MMA485X accelerometer
• Added interrupt line for accelerometer
• ADS1115 module option for increased ball plunger accuracy. Regular Pico ADC is still supported.
• JST connectors have been replaced with two each, 2.54mm pitch 10 contact terminal blocks.

Here is an image of the PCB:

 

 

New version retains expansion port for an output board (I'm still working on this) and is still Pinscape Pico compliant.  Special Thanks to MJR for the design review.   Comments, suggestions and recommendations are always welcomed.

 

Regards,

 

Rick

Edited by rickh, 05 November 2025 - 07:21 PM.

[rickh]

Folks,

 

I started thinking about what I should include on my Little Bang expansion board and I came up with a brilliant idea.  I could make a couple minor modifications to my expansion interface and it could accommodate MJR's Pinscape DIY Power Board.  This would give us 16 high power outputs and 32 Lamp outputs (1 amp each).  I still need to groom the PCB before posting the project on my GitHub page.  PCBs will not be available for a couple months.  Below is the new schematic.  

 

 

 

As always, questions and suggestions are always welcomed. 

 

 

Rick

[rickh]

Folks,

I have uploaded all the fab and source files for the Little Bang Board on my GitHub page, https://github.com/r...ttle_Bang_Board

.

Regards,

 

Rick  

Edited by rickh, 14 November 2025 - 08:08 PM.

[rickh]

Folks,

 

If anyone is interested in a Little Bang 2.0 PCB or kit, let me know.  If I can drum up some interest I can get some boards ordered before 11/27/25.  The price of PCBs is dependent on how many I order, the more the cheaper. 

 

Regards,

 

Rick 

[rickh]

Such an overwhelming response!  (my tongue fully pressed against my cheek).   I had zero interest.  So, I figured I would do something slightly different.  I took MJR's Pinscape Pico Main Board design and I gutted it, so that now the board has 24 inputs and 16 PWM capable outputs.  Again, this is a DIY project, but is fairly simplified (as compared to the Pinscape Pico DIY Main Board).   I call this this the Pinscape Jr. board.  It has everything that the Little Bang 2.0 has, plus it has 8 more inputs and has 16 outputs too.  

Let me know what you think.

Album: Pinscape Pico Jr DIY

20 images

0 comments

 

Regards,

 

Rick

Edited by rickh, 05 December 2025 - 02:41 AM.

[rickh]

I placed an order for 25 PCBs for the Pinscape Pico Jr. Board.  In addition, I bought all the components to stuff them with.  I'll be selling these as kits for $13-$14 per kit. 

 

Regards,

 

Rick 

[mjr]

Wow, that's a great value, thanks for making that available.

[rickh]

Wow, that's a great value, thanks for making that available.

Mike, Thanks for all that you do.  You made it possible.

 

 

Regards,

 

Rick

[Smitty2k1]

Hey I'm new here but interested in this board. I'm building a tiny 22" machine w/ 15" back glass from Game Room Solutions. I was planning on using a generic zero delay USB encoder with my mini pc but this looks like a good way to potentially include a real nudge instead. Id be interested in a complete kit if any are available? Also would this work on Linux (vpx-standalone)? I tried searching for "intense arcades" but couldn't find anything.

Edited by Smitty2k1, 10 December 2025 - 07:43 PM.

[rickh]

The Pinscape Jr runs on MJR's Pinscape.  As far as I know, the programming and GUI runs only on Windows.  Of course, MJR can answer this more accurately than I.  I transferred my website to another hosting.  It will not be up and running until next week.

[Tesla]

Also would this work on Linux (vpx-standalone)? 

 

VPX-Standalone is only Visual-Pinball functionality like VPX, B2S-Server, etc.

 

You can use a pre-programmed Pinscape board in VPX-Standalone, but I know of no way to actually re-program it (when rarely needed). A Windows/Linux dual-boot is one solution I can imagine that should work (or even just a Windows laptop and a USB cable).

Edited by Tesla, 11 December 2025 - 03:41 AM.

[mjr]

The Pinscape Jr runs on MJR's Pinscape.  As far as I know, the programming and GUI runs only on Windows.

 

Right, exactly.  The device itself is perfectly happy to connect to Linux, since the host connection is USB, but as Rick says, you'll need a Windows system to run the Config Tool.  As Tesla pointed out, if you can set up dual-boot with Windows, you can switch to Windows when you need to carry out config tasks, and otherwise stay in Linux mode.  I imagine you could also run it under a Windows VM session under Linux.

Edited by mjr, 11 December 2025 - 05:13 AM.

[Smitty2k1]

Thanks everyone, rickh I just send you a PM

[rickh]

I got my PCBs today from my favorite country, China.  I have some parts that are still outstanding, but I was so eager to stuff the board with the parts on hand and this is the results so far.  My first impression is that this PCB is fairly large; it is slightly smaller than MJR's Pinscape Pico DIY Power board.  However, the wire terminal blocks should make this a very easy project to implement.  Let me know what you think.

 

  

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Rick

[Smitty2k1]

I still haven't built the first board I got from you but likely will the week or two after Christmas for the small build I'm doing for a friend. Planning a larger and fuller featured build in 2026 for myself and may buy one of these pinscape pico boards. Did you also mention somewhere you have a low cost plunger option to go with these boards? I'd be interested in more info I've got some more space in this small build than expected.

Edited by Smitty2k1, 24 December 2025 - 02:57 PM.

[rickh]

Smitty,

 

Merry Christmas.  contact me at rick.horwitz at yahoo.com concerning a ball shooter

 

 

Regards,

 

Rick

Edited by rickh, 25 December 2025 - 04:11 PM.

[destruk]

You might want to send your email address in a private message or add characters so the bots scraping the site here won't pick it up.

[rickh]

I finally completed assembly and debug of the Pinscape Jr PCBA.  The good news is that it works, bad news is I missed two nets for the button multiplexer that required three jumper wires to resolve.   So, the kits will include the three jumper wires to make it good. 

 

Regards,

 

Rick