Pinball Mod: a possibility.

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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

Yeah, the rollovers, the special when lit target, possibly the spinner and the drop-in thingie. I'll know more when I actually have the table and the room to work on it.

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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

Sol the pi already has the capability to do discreet switching. Well hell, this won't be that hard. Wonder how fast it'll play the wavs, the sound clips need to play the instant the switch is made. Well I won't worry about that until l I need to..


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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

Wow, what was I drinking? Anyway, I guess I really own the pinball machine now. Even though it was my brother's. there's room enough in the basement.


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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

Might have to rethink this project. Ebay has one for sale for almost a grand.

I got the machine back yesterday. I also found a picture of the instruction card so I can make one now.


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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

Hmmm, what if I compromise and keep the table intact. I mean restore it to very nice condition. BUT I also add in some of the mods I found on this forum. What if I also add sounds via a Pi. Hmmm, lets pick seven or eight playfield switches. Add a wire to each of the switches that, when the switch is closed, fires a relay that closes a contact on the Pi which plays a sound file. Probably in an OGG format, something really fast. What if I have a list of fifty odd sound files that play randomly when the relay fires? I was hoping to play sounds (movie audio clips from the 70's maybe?) relative to whats happening on the game but that seems really hard. Or at least really complicated. I'd need the Pi to fire up when the game power switch gets turned on. How long does it take one o' those things to boot up? What kind of program would it take to 'listen' for a switch to make and play a 1/2 second audio clip almost instantly?

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Post by Flack »

Check out this page and see if you can make heads or tails out of it. I think ICJ and Pinback might be of assistance here.

http://pi4j.com/example/trigger.html

As for your other question, I think a Pi will boot in 60-90 seconds on average.
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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

This might sound dorky but I found a 1973 quarter in my coffee change at work. I'm saving it to use in the pinball machine. I COULD put a switch in the thing to enable free play BUT I feel strongly that the quarter aspect is a part of the overall experience. What I am going to do is disconnect the coin reject solenoid so any coins put into the thing will just come back out the coin return. Then I'm going to re-position the credit switch so ANY coin inserted will trigger a credit. So you have to actually insert a quarter in order to play but it will just drop back to you.

Also changed the special bonus for an extra ball instead of a free game because... well, because all games are free but an extra ball means a higher score, and we all want higher scores.


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Post by Jizaboz »

Man I want to roundhouse kick those fucking yuppies that put that pinball machine in the snow

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Post by Jizaboz »

It's like every time you're watching a TV show or movie and there's a barfight.. and someone HAS to throw someone into the pinball machine. NOT THE PINBALL MACHINE!!!

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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

Update! OK, finished the coin return mod. It wasn't that hard


Here's the coin return solenoid. When the machine is turned on it pulls the coin reject bar closed. That way if you drop a coin in the machine when the power is off it just drops to the return chute. Keeps people from getting mad if they do dumb things like drop money in unplugged machines.
Image

This is the actual credit switch. I had to move it under the coin return chute instead of the cash box chute. I modified the trip wire to go around a corner or two and added a piece of aluminum duct tape for more better triggering. The coin return chute is a lot bigger then the coin box slot.
Image


This is why I decided to do this mod this weekend. I was at the coffee machine at work last Wednesday and in my pocket change I found TWO 1974 quarters. Obviously it was a sign. The exact year quarter I had been searching for and here's two of them just looking at me.


Image


Here's the finished mod. It happens quickly so there's not much to see. A (1974) quarter is put into the slot, drops down, hits the credit switch and goes back to the coin return slot. Yay!
[youtube][/youtube]

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Post by AArdvark »

I'm kinda kicking myself now. I could have just set the coin mechanism to reject all coins by turning an adjustment screw on the mechanism instead of cutting the solenoid wires. Oh well.


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Post by AArdvark »

Update: Cleaning the score reels and other mechanicals in the back box. Pretty groungy after all these years. The intricacies of these things was daunting at first glance. All these little doo-dads and springs and pawls and other stuff. All it takes is patience and a well lighted work area. I didn't take any pictures but I'll link to that other Bon Voyage forum post and pretend it's mine.

Just took apart and cleaned this unit...

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AArdvark
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Post by AArdvark »

Almost done cleaning out the score reels. How they designed these things without a computer is beyond me.

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Post by AArdvark »

OK, now it's getting a little weird. This morning I found TWO MORE 1974 quarters in my coffee change. What are the odds of getting four quarters from forty something years ago out of the same coffee machine in less than a month?

What's that word? Synchronicity?

What does it mean? WHAT DOES IT MEAN!


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Post by Tdarcos »

AArdvark wrote:Almost done cleaning out the score reels. How they designed these things without a computer is beyond me.
And that's the difference between an electrical engineer who learned how back in the days of real hard-core electronics, when you used vacuum tubes, transistors and relays to perform the work of circuits, and today's engineers who have it easy with a cheap $5 computer that can do the work of a thousand mechanical components.

I remember the days of the 1970s and early 1980s when telephone switches were literally switches and relays, and you could actually hear the "clunk" and "pop" of relays connecting the circuits to complete your call.
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Post by pinback »

Tdarcos wrote:I remember the days of the 1970s and early 1980s when telephone switches were literally switches and relays, and you could actually hear the "clunk" and "pop" of relays connecting the circuits to complete your call.
You'll forgive us if our confidence in your memory of that time period has waned in the last couple days.
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Post by AArdvark »

I wanna hear more about the mean streets of Denver back in the days of wine and roses.

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Post by Flack »

AArdvark wrote:I wanna hear more about the mean streets of Denver back in the days of wine and roses.
Everything went downhill after Slash left the band.
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AArdvark
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Re: Pinball Mod: a possibility.

Post by AArdvark »

Found TWO more 1974 quarters in the coffee machine at work. They both went straight into the pinball machine. Freaking weird man, just weird.

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Post by Tdarcos »

pinback wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2017 11:30 am
Tdarcos wrote:I remember the days of the 1970s and early 1980s when telephone switches were literally switches and relays, and you could actually hear the "clunk" and "pop" of relays connecting the circuits to complete your call.
You'll forgive us if our confidence in your memory of that time period has waned in the last couple days.
Well, you have to realize something. During the 1970s and 1980s I lived in Long Beach, California. The local telephone company was General Telephone of California (GTE), not Pacific Telephone. GTE was an independent telephone company, not part of the Bell System the way Pacific Telephone was. This meant GTE's telephone switches - as well as phones and other equipment - were either made by its manufacturing arm, Automatic Electric, or if you were fortunate, other companies like Northern Telecom or ITT.

The California Public Utilities Commission referred to General Telephone of California as "the worst telephone company in the United States, bar none." Watch this 1980s commercial where GTE even admits its service is so bad people are throwing eggs at it's spokesman!



So yeah, I do remember. What leads you to believe otherwise?
Alan Francis wrote a book containing everything men understand about women. It consisted of 100 blank pages.

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