The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => Restorations => Topic started by: zitt on December 26, 2012, 03:18:04 PM
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A few months ago; I bit the bullet and got myself a Techshop.ws (http://Techshop.ws) membership for the Austin/RoundRock location. While not cheap; I expect to make good use of the money spent.
For those that don’t know what Techshop is... in short it’s a “gym-membership” type of place which has over $500k in high tech machinery which the hobbyist can use once they’ve taken the required safety courses. Austin has a Waterjet, 2 shop bot CNC machines, mills, laser cutters, cnc sewing machines, tig/mig/welders, sand and powdercoating , etc.
My first course was Shopbot CNC ... Last month I completed Waterjet.
This means I’m now able to use either of these machines.
For the last couple of years; I’ve been wanting to do my own pinball table. Those that know me... will already know the subject matter in question.
About two months ago; I settled on a plan.
Goal:
Create a Star Trek: Mirror Universe pinball table.
The plan; Scan in a 1979 Bally Star Trek pinball table. Mirror it. And customize it for the mirror universe.
Before (my previous PF/machine restore (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=89593)):
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3304/3553670524_4e6b03109b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/3553670524/in/set-72157621587695680)
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2425/3552861941_b05f09bed1.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/3552861941/in/set-72157621587695680)
After: (click the picture to get a larger higher rez on flickr)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8080/8306623052_84d8b03afb_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8192885096/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Yeap; that’s right... the shooter lane will be on the left side (evil grin) and will have a negative feel. What has been done:
Re-colored the playfield; fixed worn areas (in computer). Then flipped the playfield.
Areas changed:
1) “vectorized” nearly all aspects of the PF.
2) removed “reversed” text and replaced with Star Trek: series font.
3) USS becomes I.S.S. Enterprise.
4) Space Station K0 becomes Battle Station K0
5) Transporting people become their “mirrored universe” counterparts complete with sashes and skin.
6) “enter Hyperspace” becomes “Avert Subordinate Promotion” “by thwarting and assassination conspiracy”.
7) “jump to warp” becomes “Employ Agonizer on Crewman”
8) “where no man has gone before” becomes:
“Your Mission: Conquer all worlds and civilizations to expand the empire like no man before”
(may be too wordy)
9) “Ready Photon Phaser” becomes “ready photon torpedo”
10) Spelling “bally” becomes “Terra” (Terra meaning Earth. Short for “Terran Empire”; the mirror universe’s “federation”)
11) Removed same player shoots again language; opting for “shoot again” text over insert.
12) Drop Target Special becomes Terran Empire logo.
13) colorized planet with purple glow like the re-mastered series from cbs. Not sure I like it... may go back to original look.
You’ll note that I’ve removed all the switch lanes from the design. The plan is to design a set of hall effect pcbs which replicate functionality without slots in the PF.
I’m curious how Kevin O’Connor would have approached a project like this.
Anyway; interested in what you guys think.
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I also did the inital CAD work on getting a CNC-ready Playfield.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8224/8302202671_083029fd58_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8302202671/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
My next step is to see if I can source some inserts from Pinball Resource. I'll need to do this before I commit to keeping the same sized inserts as on the original.
Merry Christmas to all!
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I've been working on the Plastics for the machine...
remember to click the images to get larger/higher rez renderings
Here's what they basically looked like on a prototype machine ... I re-did the text here:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8068/8223651958_62ed9cc2f1_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8223651958/sizes/k/in/photostream/)
Why ProtoType? Well... YEllow/Silver uniforms do not fit the theme of the known Mirror Universe... That and I really enjoy the Busty Blonde. :D
So; now I needed to "mirror universe" it up.
However, I'm kinda torn between two designs. First; here's a screen cap of Scotty put on one of the pieces:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8205/8222575205_f89f42dfe1_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8222575205/sizes/k/in/photostream/)
Changes:
1) Busty Blonde has been Mirrorized.
2) Spock has a beard.
3) Uhura has been Mirrorized - complete with black stockings.
4) Those.... um... who-knows what has been removed and cartoonized-screen-caps of Kor and the Romulan Commander have replaced them. With the req factional logos in place.
5) Scotty Screen cap from Mirror Mirror.
My issue with screencap is it kinda looks out of place with cartoonized Evil-Spock and Evil-Uhura... but "matches" the screencaps of the foes.
Option 2:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/8223651192_601a38c494_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8223651192/sizes/k/in/photostream/)
Took a screen cap of Scotty from The Animated Series (TAS) and heavily modified him to make it a mirrored version.
I'm also thinking about putting Evil-Sulu on the other arrowed plastic. But depends on which direction I got in.
Should I loose the arrows on these plastics?
Which should I go with?
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great work, interesting what you have done and will be watching, please keep us updated.
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I reckon you should cartoon up the other images as well.
The cartoon images fit with the rest of the theme, playfield etc.
Great idea by the way. ^^^
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I reckon you should cartoon up the other images as well.
The cartoon images fit with the rest of the theme, playfield etc.
Great idea by the way. ^^^
Thanks - yeah; I've stopped work on the plastics ... for now; because I have a better more expensive idea.
I hope to have something new to report in a couple of months (on the plastics part).
The inserts have been spreadsheeted up; now I just need to call PBR to see what they have in stock - since they aren't taking email orders until the 3rd.
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Yeap; that’s right... the shooter lane will be on the left side (evil grin) and will have a negative feel. What has been done:
Progress looks great so far.
I have to ask about the shooter lane on the left. You wouldn't happen to be a fellow southpaw by any chance? ^^^
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Nah. I'm a righty.
I just figured it's fux with enough people to make it intersting. :D
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Been in touch with Kevin at www.tavco.net (http://www.tavco.net) ; unfortunatly - the printer purchased by the Austin / RoundRock Techshop is only 24in wide... and the 4mil pressure sensitive adhesive film I wanted to use only comes in 36inch widths. The only material that comes in 24inch is a non-adhesive roll; meaning I'd have to find some kind of adhesive to attach the graphics to the PF.
He did put me in contact with a local printing company:
http://www.aclaustin.com/ (http://www.aclaustin.com/)
whom may have a large format printer which can print directly to the Playfield; which should make it easier to create as I won't have to "register" and "line up" the graphics to the inserts/table.
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Mid week last week; I activated my Techshop.ws membership and schedule myself for the Laser cutter SBU on Saturday. No; I didn't feel like I needed the SBU; but given my issues with my personal laser cutter - I still needed to make some progress.
After class; I scheduled a 2hr block on Laser cutter#2. I wanted to use the Laser cutter to create the Inserts I'll need for the new playfield. I went to Regal plastics earlier in the week and got some material:
Translucent White @ 0.25"
Translucent Yelllow @ 0.25"
Transparent Green @ 0.25"
Transparent Yellow @ 0.25"
Transparent Orange @ 0.25"
I already had Transparent Red @ 0.25" so didn't need it.
No; I didn't need all these colors to exactly match the existing Inserts; but I wanted to experiment to find the right mix for what I wanted on my pinball table.
I drew up some inserts in CorelDraw X4 ... and decided that I wanted to take three different tests:
1) Try Transparent Inserts without anything. Just "clear".
2) Transparent Inserts Frosted.
3) Transparent Inserts Clear with a "spiral galaxy".
4) Transparent Inserts Frosted with a "spiral galaxy".
I figured; since I was creating my own table... might as well add some enhancements for some added details. Hence the spiral galaxy might look good.
I also figured that I don't really like "clear" inserts; some frosting would hide the bulb filament and/or the electronics/LEDs under the inserts.
Here's a Corel rendering of my work:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8323/8396591885_4dc3fc9ec8_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8396591885/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
For the frosted; I hit the acrylic with a 220 grit orbital sander... the followed up with the sandblaster. The spiral galaxy would be etched into the acrylic with the laser cutter.
The Translucent White and Yellow look really good. Here they are compared against existing inserts and being back lit by a White #555 LED:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8071/8397646746_a37d98fbde_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8397646746/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8469/8397646190_c8a220ff84_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8396591885/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Now for the Red 0.61 insert test:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8363/8397650170_04943ae87f_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8397650170/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Top is the clear insert, bottom is the frosted insert.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8047/8397650696_6cfafb4d59_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8397650696/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Top is the clear/spiral insert, bottom is the frosted/spiral insert.
Let's try the a bigger insert... how about the shoot again insert.
Before (stock/old insert):
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8396563565_eb2c0ba38b_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8396563565/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Clear/Spiral:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8493/8397648516_1d4a67ce1f_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00//8397648516/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Frosted/Spiral:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8188/8397649638_c5eec69987_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00//8397649638/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Based on the current tests; I gotta say I'm diggin the Frosted/Spiral inserts. I wouldn't do the spiral galaxy for every insert... but as an emblieshment to specials like the green; red; amber inserts. I think they do a good job of defusing the led light while adding a little something extra.
I ran out time on my 2hr block in the laser cutter today. I didn't get to the transparent yellow, orange, and green. But I have a block allocated to me for sunday afternoon. As a result; I'll withhold final judgement as to the inserts until I have the other tested.
That's all for now; see you guys tomorrow.
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looking good Zitt, I personally like the frosted inserts and love the spiral effect - WELL DONE
I am guessing you are based in the US, as haven't heard of the workshop facility that you have access to here in Aus - sounds great though.
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Yes... frosted ones look bloody great.
I have a Star Trek myself waiting patiently in the queue and may well do something like this myself... much much better!
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I can’t claim originality here... as I remember the XENON machine at a past TPF which had NIXIE tubes instead of the standard VFD displays. I always thought they were cool.
Now that I’m designing Star Trek: The Mirror Universe; I’m thinking that I want to put NIXIE displays in the machine instead of stock Bally displays.
I’ve been doing some design work; and have come up with the following schematics which use the IN-12A tubes from Russia. They are nearly the same digit height as a stock display and and are relatively inexpensive compared to other tubes.
The Schematics are posted here for review... I’ve never designed a display before... so will probably need to do some design tweaks once I get the Tubes in.
http://www.Pinball-Mods.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bally7Nixie.pdf (http://www.Pinball-Mods.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bally7Nixie.pdf)
I went 7digits instead of 6... so they can be used in other machines. I’ll either de-pop NIXIE_A7 or figure out how to make my Bally FW run a 7digit display.
Anyone see anything obvious?
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Youve got to love the Ruskis for continuing to make Nixie tubes.. i love them too and is the main reason why i sourced a RALLY COMICS.
That schematic comes out far too small for my eyes.. so can i ask what chip you are using to drive the nixie?
I bought nixies etc from Ebay to make a clock.. also sourced a HV driver and the 7141(? memory!!!!!) chips very cheaply
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Zoom into the PDF
It's a 11x17 sheet
I'm using a CMOS latch w/ tristate
And a bcd to decimal
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I did finish the inserts a couple of weekend ago; but had a puzzle to put together - more on that momentarily.
Here's the Clear Yellow and Green inserts. I didn't bother to photo each version; since I pretty much decided I like the frosted Spiral Galaxy versions.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8091/8443976094_323e1c4154_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8443976094/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
I didn't need to clear yellow; but I cut them anyway... because I need the smaller peices you'll see next. I think I'm going to use the clear yellow inserts to represent the 3X bonuses.
Observent people noticed there some details peices on the CAD drawing I showed earlier. These detail peices are for the Nacelle graphics in the original playfield. I was always... dissappointed these warp nacelles didn't light up on the original PF. So; I wanted to see if I could change that on The Mirror Universe.
Anyone like Puzzles? If so... have I got some fun for you:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8476/8442883881_9e18e80d69_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8442883881/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
All kinds of colors of the rainbow. And no... I not real fond of puzzles.
I laser cut some plywood in about the size of the nacelle image on the PF. and put together the puzzle of Yellow, Red, Orange to replicate the nacelle. Once I had the 20some odd peices in the correct order I "tooth pick" clamped the pieces tightly together:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8217/8442884497_e340aee898_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8442884497/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
and then used some acrylic solvent to glue the pieces using capillary action. I made sure these peices were tight together to ensure a tight bond was formed. I haven't really tried to "Break" these parts; but I've dropped them a couple of times and they haven't shattered.
I made two with the Yellow/Orange/Red/Yellow combo - the identical combo as the PF graphic. Since I had the peices; I went ahead and created a combo which more closely resembles the Enterprise... W/ Red as the main color; orange/yellow/white.
Once I had the pieces welded together with the solvent; I need to make them level. However, I notices that even tho I cut these parts from the same file; their with minor gaps between some of the pieces where they didn't meet. I didn't want to see unfiltered light come from between the acrylic. I pondered; thought about Epoxy w/ some kind of dye... but remembered that I created some crafts with the wife many years ago. It was some plastics stainglass in a bottle. I had pearl white; but couldn't find the Red or Yellow. I tried Michaels... and all they had was some sh1tty martha stewart glass "paint" for $4 a bottle. "Meh" I thought. So I waited until Monday when Hobby Lobby would be open. A lunch trip turned up the exact thing I remembered:
Ruby Red Gallery Glass (http://www.plaidonline.com/gallery-glass-window-color-ruby-red-2-oz/84/16015/product.htm) and the Sunny Yellow (http://www.plaidonline.com/gallery-glass-window-color-sunny-yellow-2-oz/84/16004/product.htm). These two oz bottles were like $2.75 a bottle. Using the bottle applicator; I filled the cracks with the appropriate color. I didn't get the Orange- because I wan't sure Pumpkin Orange would match the acrlyic orange. Since red and yellow always border orange; I could use one of the two. I used pearl white for the center "star" on the red insert.
Once I had the cracks filled; I proceeded to attempt to use the orbital sander to help level these inserts; at which one of the yellow inserts went flying into the neather regions of my garage. a quick search didn't turn it up. At that point I went to manually sanding these parts flat.
The result?
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8501/8442886631_cd19a997c9_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8442886631/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8336/8442887373_239b5d27c8_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8442887373/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
And the money shot:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8508/8443976710_63855a0eb7_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8443976710/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
I like the red a lot better than the yellow.
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I can’t claim originality here... as I remember the XENON machine at a past TPF which had NIXIE tubes instead of the standard VFD displays. I always thought they were cool.
Now that I’m designing Star Trek: The Mirror Universe; I’m thinking that I want to put NIXIE displays in the machine instead of stock Bally displays.
I’ve been doing some design work; and have come up with the following schematics which use the IN-12A tubes from Russia. They are nearly the same digit height as a stock display and and are relatively inexpensive compared to other tubes.
Just put the finishing touches on the silk screen for the Base board for the Nixie display.
Here’s a image of the boards as they stand today.
Base Board:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8043/8435073222_ea73228105_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8435073222/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
Display Board:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8044/8435074684_c835b3d456_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8435074684/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
New features added:
1) The “Right angle” Display board has surface mount LEDs under the tubes; the idea here is that when the display is “active” meaning PlayerX is up... the switched LAMP driver on the side of the display turns on these LEDs causing them to backlight the display ... to help identify which player is active. A Brightness POT on the baseboard controls the brightness.
Opto-Isolated the “lamp” input from +5V logic.
2) I added decode logic to support 7digit display ROM hacks:
Update 6 Digit Bally pinballs to 7 digit (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=7digit%204555&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinball4you.ch%2Fokaegi%2Fpro_d7.html&ei=UXELUc-bB4a9qQHtxYCABw&usg=AFQjCNFW3AqXRyuket2Yw5hpUvZ07hspTg&bvm=bv.41867550,d.aWM)
where buy D5 =1= D6 causes the 7th digit to become active. U3 & U4 provide this functionality.
Feature is jumper selectable to for native 7digit or Rom-Hack 7digit mode via JP1.
3) Clearly labeled Test Points with voltages. Added 80V test point.
4) Additional decoupling caps near U1,U2,U3 and well as a bulk cap for 5V.
5) Nixie tube display board is at a “right angle” to the base board (like original); but is back set far enough so “front” of IN-12A displays are near same position as the VFD display.
6) HV areas “inside” dotted lines. Generous ground planes to help with thermals.
7) Same PCB sizes as original.
The Schematics are posted here for review... I’ve never designed a display before... so will probably need to do some design tweaks once I get the Tubes in.
http://www.Pinball-Mods.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bally7Nixie.pdf
At this time; the design remains my copy-protected property! Once I've proven the design; I'll consider open-sourcing the design for others to build.
I went 7digits instead of 6... so they can be used in other machines. I’ll either de-pop NIXIE_A7 or figure out how to make my Bally FW run a 7digit display.
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Nice work on the inserts, both types look great ^^^
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very cool zitt, interested to see the displays running, definitely keep us posted.
what is the name of the centre that has all the machinery - interested to learn more what they provide.
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what is the name of the centre that has all the machinery - interested to learn more what they provide.
Techshop.ws
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Some impressive work there!
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what is the name of the centre that has all the machinery - interested to learn more what they provide.
Techshop.ws
cheers
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Tonight I finished the CNC work on the Playfield as I have a 1pm reservation on the Techshop.ws CNC machines for Saturday. Earlier this week I got some Russian Birch in 4x8 sheet to create the PF on. The veneers/cores look to be dense and high quality which should yield a good looking PF.
The CNC simulation yielded this rendering (click for full size image):
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8511/8474540991_99a4478df8_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8474540991/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
The simulator says 44minutes of machine time – but I’m guessing it’s gonna be longer than that.
With luck by 6pm; I’ll be back at home with a fresh playfield.
There are two things missing from this PF at the moment – One is the ball lane and the other is the beveled edges of the kickout hole.
I’m not sure yet how to generate these with the tools I have on hand. I need to learn Cut3d and figure out how to incorporate it into the design. I’m hopeful I can add it later after the PF is already CNCed or do some of the work by hand.
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It is possible to do it later on but it is important to say have 4 reference holes in the underside of the playfield so when you come back at a later stage you machine these 4 reference holes mirrored in say a bolted down piece of MDF. Then place 4 dowels in these reference holes and then slide and lock in the pf over these dowel into it's reference holes and bolt this down.
With the pf zero'd in do a air cut above the playfield as you would to stuff it up this late in the game and check your location for the 3D v cut and slowly drop the z down until you are done.
I have done this alot when I needed to machine both sides of things but before you go to do your first stage this weekend add 4 x reference dowel holes preferably in each corner.
Hot that helps
going well ^^^
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<Sigh>
This weekend was suppose to be the weekend for real progress; sadly – it didn’t happened.
On Friday; I went to techshop to check on file readiness and water jet a unique piece for the Playfield.
Turned out all the work I’d done (6hrs or more) in the Trial version of Cut2D wasn’t usable in the production version Techshop had. Those a-holes think it’s cute to prevent files created in the trial version from working in the production version unless you spent 500 on the full version. OFcourse the Trial version only outputs from their trial library so I couldn’t export tool paths. I recovered; but I spent a lot of late night hours rebuilding the CNC files. I understand a company wanting to protect their IP – but this is just well – going too far.
I kept my Saturday reservation time - as I worked OT to get the files repaired... When I got to techshop; I realized the didn't stock a full line of Collets for the Shopbot. They only stock 1/4" and 1/2" collets and they don't provide a drill collet for drill bits. I needed a 3/8" ER25 collet and a drill holder for the PF. I don't blame them really - they clearly stated as such in their SBU for the shopbot. I mis-read it. This puts the Pinball table on hold until I get an 3/16" and a 3/8" ER25 collet for the machine. I proably also need to get a v-cut bit and/or a ball nose bit to do the kickout hole and ball lane.
Now onto the unique piece I was to water jet. I built the file in CorelDraw. Let’s just say CorelDraw is absolute crap when it comes to outputting DXF files. When I bring it into FlowPath to generate the waterjet files... the parts have in-exact curves and broken lines. I have to repair it in FlowPath which takes about an hour. When I take it to the waterjet; the part some how grew by 1.2x ... not that I caught it at the time. So; 40 in aluminum and 40 dollars in machine time is down the drain. I’ve recreated the design in a real cad program and we’ll see about cutting it in a few days when I get more material.
After about 4 weeks; my 12A Nixie tubes arrived from Russia. First thing I noticed is that the numbers are upside down to what I thought the proper orientation was. To make matters worse the Library that I dled for the Nixie tubes was incorrect and the pin numbering was off. This renders one of the two circuit boards for the nixie displays invalid. I’ve fixed the pinout in the library and have re-laid out the display board. Plan on submitting it to BatchPCB tonight. I think the PCBs are running behind because of Chinese holidays... so not sure if I’ll actually get the PCBs in time for TPF’13. I gambled by committing the PCB before I had the tubes... and lost that bet.
I did get my ColorDMD for the STNG installed last Thursday... so at least that went well.
Hoping your weekend was better,
John
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still sounds good and the good thing is you have worked out the solutions to the problems, look forward to seeing the work that you have done.
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Tonight was a good night. I figured out the toolchain to take the ball lane and kickout hole from Sketchup into the CAD software.
I used Sketchup 8 to create the files (easiest 3D software I can barely use). Once I had the file created in Sketchup; I exported the model to a 3D model in DAE format. Then I used Meshlab 1.3.0 (http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/) to convert the .dae into an .stl which could be read by Cut3D. Here’s the models as the look in MeshLab:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8110/8493491483_d338988e98_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8493491483/in/photostream)
Once I had the tool paths figured out; I imported the .v3d file into Cut2D and aligned it in the file. The simulation shows me this:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8111/8494591124_47e41ab98b_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8494591124/sizes/l/in/photostream)
This should allow me to cut, drill, and carve the PF in one "session" on the shopbot. Simulation told me 1hr 7minutes... but I'm skeptical. :D
I couldn’t figure out why the Ball lane path is “etching” the non-lane wood. I tried a couple of things but they didn’t seem to make it better – only worse. So; I plan on leaving the 1/4” ball mill a little higher when it’s cut to try and avoid the etches.
Collets are on order via Fleabay since Monday... I’m going to order the 1/4” ball mill before I got to bed (I hope).
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looks good, do you know the cut speed (mm per minute) as I would of thought just under a hour once everything is up and running is ok.
are you going to spot screw holes etc in the understand as then some locator holes will be beneficial.
Thankyou for taking the time to post the info as it is interesting. ^^^
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looks good, do you know the cut speed (mm per minute) as I would of thought just under a hour once everything is up and running is ok.
No. I'm not sure of the cut speed on the shopbot and the birch plywood. I think the longest time is the mill thru for the inserts and outline. Next is proably the ball lane.
The longest time is proably going to be tool swaps and re-zeroing the tool to the PFs.
are you going to spot screw holes etc in the understand as then some locator holes will be beneficial.
Lost me - your phrasing through me off.
Are you asking if I am drilling screw holes in the PF? If so; yes. The 1hr time includes drilling 7 different screw hole sizes. Some thru the board. Some @0.3" inches.
Basically; I'm drilling all the holes I should need for the top side; including ball guide rail holes.
As for the bottom; I'm not drilling anything except what is drilled from the top side.
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looks good, do you know the cut speed (mm per minute) as I would of thought just under a hour once everything is up and running is ok.
No. I'm not sure of the cut speed on the shopbot and the birch plywood. I think the longest time is the mill thru for the inserts and outline. Next is proably the ball lane.
The longest time is proably going to be tool swaps and re-zeroing the tool to the PFs.
are you going to spot screw holes etc in the understand as then some locator holes will be beneficial.
Lost me - your phrasing through me off.
Are you asking if I am drilling screw holes in the PF? If so; yes. The 1hr time includes drilling 7 different screw hole sizes. Some thru the board. Some @0.3" inches.
Basically; I'm drilling all the holes I should need for the top side; including ball guide rail holes.
As for the bottom; I'm not drilling anything except what is drilled from the top side.
yes that is what I meant with SPOTTING the screw holes
with the cut speed, it all depends on the combination of machine and router and cutter but you should easily achieve 1000mm per minute but could go up to 2000 to 6000mm per minute. You probably have been taught this but ensure that you slow the cut speed for tight curves / corners otherwise the machine will over size the cut due to momentum going one direction and then radically another. Also on any multi-depth cuts, offset the initial cuts but have the final cut - cut the size you want and it cleans up the cut lines of the previous depth cuts = just looks nice. Hope I haven't confused you.
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What an awesome project you have going on there . $$(
Sure is a major undertaking .
I will be keenly watching your progress on this one.
Your insert design looks excellent too ^^^
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A while back; I put the breaks on further work on the Plastics. The reason I stated was that I was working on a plan to knock your socks off. Tonight is the moment I reveal the plan and work that has been done.
When I realized my art skils were not up to the task... I decided to consult a professional. I approched a well known Star Trek graphic novel artist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Purcell) with the project; and he agreed to do the work on commission. It wasn’t cheap; but I decide to do it because I was spending so much effort to make this a one-of-a-kind original; that it would just stupid (in my mind) to leave the plastics art to an armature artist like me.
The schedule we settled on was for him to deliver me Pen and Ink drawings electronically by this past weekend to enable me some time to create the plastics prior to TPF'2013 (http://texaspinball.com/tpf/). Monday he delivered the drawings.
Oh; and BTW: I'm retaining all rights to the art for now... as I have worked out final rights with the artist. No one is allowed to reproduce these for any reason.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8366/8511257991_1b9a4b0bb4_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8511257991/in/photostream)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8524/8512672233_22e9f79782_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8512672233/in/photostream)
Now that I had the ink files; It was time to do some photoshop work on it ... I decided I wanted to color the drawings rather than hire another professional; thereby spending more bank.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8228/8514255335_0c129e6c09.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8514255335/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
TBH; I'm very pleased with the results.
Gordon did an EXCELLENT job giving me the baseline for the art don't you think?
I may do some more work on Sulu as he looks off with the teeth.
Comments / Suggestions?
Now I need to send him the plans/Ideas for the BackGlass. First; I have to scan the existing backglass and measure the critical parameters. So; now is your chance to provide ideas for said backglass; I want to get him something by Friday.
On other fronts, the Nixie tube boards and digikey parts came in today... I’m only missing the backlight leds ... once I have them; I’ll be ready to start assembly.
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PM sent
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Nice work on the plastics *%*
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The Mirror project was put on hold for the last three weeks... First due to the SxSw Intel LANfest I was hosting... and then Texas Pinball Festival this past weekend. Now that I had the Pins back in the Garage'cade; I've refocused my effort on the Nixie Pinball Display.
I hand assembled the base and display boards and soldered them together.
I didn't want to commit the untested display to my Bally Star Trek... so I needed to figure out how to facilitate debug.
First problem was how to supply 190VDC to the HV section. Some googling found me some 555 timer circuits (http://www.google.com/imgres?q=555+nixie+tube+power&hl=en&sa=X&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&biw=1393&bih=833&tbm=isch&tbnid=BZXnSvyR9RDqXM:&imgrefurl=http://ramon-electronica.blogspot.com/p/555.html&docid=BYOz9d6P8GuZkM&imgurl=http://talkingelectronics.com/projects/50%252520-%252520555%252520Circuits/images/170vSupply.gif&w=335&h=300&ei=t0tNUcL7GLObyAGHjoH4BA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=164&vpy=416&dur=577&hovh=212&hovw=237&tx=102&ty=116&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=163&start=0&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0,i:126) which would run off of a 9V.
Had most of the parts except a 250V 4.7uf cap and a pot. A trip to Frys solved that problem.
A bread board and an ATX power supply and I had a 190V psu. The ATX supply provides +5v to the display and +12V to the 190V psu's input.
Here’s a picture of the prototype 555 190V Nixie supply:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8376/8582243194_bcb6bfaab8_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8582243194/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Initial debug turned up a dumb assembly mistake..– I swapped U1 & U2 despite the clear labels on the silkscreen.
I hardwired the display inputs to only lite digit 1 and display an 8 (1000b). 8 because it's the digit which uses the most current given the largest area. This will allow me to verify the anode current before committing to a final anode resistor. To "latch" the 8 digit; I used my RatShack Logic pulser to toggle the LE pin.
I was able to empirically calculate the Anode resistor using the built-in test point and pot. 21.4k... now I just need to find some 22k 603 resistors to make it work. 21.4k gives me 2.5mA of anode current which is typical for the NH-12A tubes I’m using.
Here’s the top view of the display boards:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8250/8582242778_d57b161af6_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/858242778/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
And the money shot for the backlite display:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8582241420_9602f2ee06_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8582241420/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
I decided early on that I wanted the backlite to be purple rather than some other color because I thought it’d contrast nicely against the orange digits.
You can see the testpoint and Anode pot right below the Nixie tube. Obviously; these will be de-poped for “production” boards.
Here’s a picture I just thought was cool. A result of playing with camera shutter times:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8379/8582240840_1d67306544_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8582240840/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
With the resistor calculated; I need to focus on creating a Display tester so I can run the display thru all the digits and functions.
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Someone mentioned using an Arduino to drive the pinball display as a tester.
Initially I dismissed it because I had an “activewire” microcontroller board here which was collecting dust.
Turns out the activewire board only has drivers for WinXP... none for Win7.
While at Frys today; I saw they had some Arduino usb devices for fairly cheap. I ended up getting a Nano which had 14DIO pins – barely enough to drive the display.
A few hours later; I had a working Pinball Display tester:
http://youtu.be/kz3ikA82iH8
I’ll publish the code later; but thought you’d guys want to see the display functional asap.
Tests all the digits and the BLANK functionality which is between the 9 and the 0.
Next step is to desolder the current display PCB and build a fully populated display based on the latest PCBs. Once I have a fully populated display; I can test all the digits and the 7digit emulation capability.
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Today; I verified the Nixie Pinball Display as completely functional.
I populated all the nixies on a FabB Display board; installed all the backlit LEDs and ran the full test against it.
All the digits work; and the emulation works as expected. Setting A5 = A6 = 1 emulates the 7th digit.
I haven’t checked for the 7th digit in non-emulation mode; but expect it to be low hanging fruit.
I did find that the 300k resistors along with the 110V “bias” voltage via Zener was necessary. Without the bias; some digits would see ghosting in non-active digits. By driving the anodes and Kathodes to 110V when not in use; the digits won’t flicker.
Here’s a video of all the digits working:
http://youtu.be/7Eys2KxI20g
Next step is to finalize FabB of the base and display boards while the changes are still fresh in my mind.
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Those displays look amazing.
Thanks for sharing.
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very cool displays ^^^
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Displays are great!
I was already quite interested in this project but now I'm impressed and wanting more.
I can't wait to see what you come up with for the rest of the machine.
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While I try to figure out what is wrong with the jumper selectable native 7 or 7 digit emulation (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=270984) for the nixie tube display; I've been working on the two of the plastics I had forgotten about.
I forgot about the orbit/arch plastics which are at the top of the PF. Might as well bang them out before I try to make the plastics. I scanned them into my computer a while ago; and took this time to clean them up and vectorize them. I tried to color match them against the new plastics shown previously - reusing colors and the like.
Additionally; I put some extras on the plastics - namely an Klingon D7 Cruiser, the ISS Enterprise, and a star field. I got the Enterprise from the promo plastic (https://www.google.com/search?q=bally%20promo%20plastic%20star%20trek&tbm=isch) which I scanned in and cleaned up.
The result:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8526/8620290629_f2b22f04f2_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8620290629/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Any other suggestions?
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More debug this wkend seems to point to the 4555 1to4 decoder circuit.
I pulled the tristate buffer (u4) and solder bridged the outputs of the 1to4 decode straight to the transistors thru a 9.1k resistor.
The display does the same thing without U4.
This points to U3 (cd4555) being the culprit.
Now; given I’ve already verified 7 digit emulation with the arduino which doesn’t work in the machine; seems to be a clue.
I’m leaning toward the output of the MPU being TTL compatible; but not CMOS compatible. I don’t think the signal to the displays is meeting CMOS high requirements for digits 5&6. According to my mpu schematics; the digit enables are driven directly by the output of a 6821 PIA.
So; next step is going to be to wire in an oscope to see what D5’s levels are.
Then figure out how to solve if hypothesis proven.
This pretty much sums it up:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8262/8632599249_da4589aa47_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8632599249/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
PeakToPeak; my displays (digit enables) are only getting 1.6V for a high. Well below the cmos “good” for a 1. This is measured at R44 and R43 closest to the connector on stock displays.
This is the reason why my Nixie design isn’t working. I can design around this with either a transistor or some other translation logic; just not sure why the value is so low.
I see why it works on stock displays as all we need is for the high to be > ~0.7V to turn on the digit enable transistors in the original design.
Just need to confirm with other pins / people that they see similar results. I only have the one Bally Star Trek; no other era pins.
By confirming other pins; we can determine if this is a design change is warranted.
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I did some "dead bug" rework to the existing display; basically epoxing two SMT 2N3904s to the top side of U3. I cut some traces and soldered a 20K ohm pull up between VCC and the collector of the transistors. Emitters were tied to ground. Bases were connected to the series resistors currently present in the schematic.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8536/8638427889_3b9e31c864_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8638427889/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
The goal here is to work out the kinks in the design so they can be incorporated into a FAB B board and be relatively confident the design will work out of the box.
Because the BJTs are single transistor inverters; I needed to rewire the input to U3. I wanted to reuse the existing CD4555B chip already present to keep the design simular. Turns out that by swaping A & B inputs vs the schematic; the following boolean logic become obvious:
U3A Q1 = !B*A = D5
U3A Q2 = B*!A = D6
U3A Q0 = !B*!A = D7
Remember that when the MPU is driving A5 or A6 high; the BJTs invert that to be an active low. So the boolean math makes it logical.
The result (finally):
Click here for YouTube movie (http://youtu.be/c7Q9Ry00e2o)
Here are some pictures of the display installed in my Bally Star Trek machine:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8240/8638427991_df552a6ce5_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8638427991/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8539/8638427933_52f2b723d9_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8638427933/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
Known issues:
Digits are too light when running in multiplexed mode (in a real machine); plan to drop the anode resistor to ~2.7k from 22k to brighten the digits. Not a good idea for non-pinball machines which aren't multiplexing the digit enables; but should be fine for more machines.
Need to "fix" the native 7 vs emulated 7 digit jumper selector given the need to re-invert D7 in native mode.
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Updated schematics are posted here:
http://www.Pinball-Mods.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Bally7NixieFabB.pdf
Fab B changes:
- Changes around D[5..7] (solution for A5 & A6 digits not lite-ing):
- reworked for transistor inverters with pullups.
- U3A rewired to enable proper output with inverted signals.
- U3A always enabled ( !E tied to ground ).
- U4 I5 & I6 pull from Q1 & Q2 outputs instead of main connector so that cmos levels are observed at input of U4.
- D7’s resistor moved to base of Q20 and reduced resistance given below.
- D7’s non-emulated mode drives D2 which is now a SCHOTTKY diode so that lower Vf(D2) doesn’t impact ability to drive Q20 directly.
- Additional Boolean math notes around U3A decode logic.
- As observed in Nixie newgroup (among others); Added R70 and R71 to bases of Q6 and Q5 to help protect cmos logic in the event of a shorted MPS-A42.
- Reduced VR1 from 110V zener to 91V Zener to keep “standby” voltage rail lower than Nixie striking voltages.
- Changed R62 to 1% 30 ohm resistor to enable LED current measurement via ohms law.
- Added J5 to R62 to enable pads for LED current setpoint measurements.
- Collector / Anode resistors reduced from 22K to 2.2k to enable brighter digits in multiplex mode.
- Stuffed anode/kathode standby resistors. Was empty, is 300k.
- Changed TP4 testpoint. Was 80V is 90V.
Please let me know if you see anything of concern.
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This weekend; between income tax sessions; I worked on the PF Apron... I scanned the original into the computer:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8256/8651451546_e46d7eaf48_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8651451546/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
As you can see; some TX tax labels, scratches, and some minor rusting makes the apron less than ideal for a project like this.
I've decided I want to replace the logos and text... along with proably changing the base coat to black. Here's my inital revision:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8101/8651451570_8df7b4432e_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8651451570/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
I'm just not sure what I want to do with the two triangular pieces. I've kinda already done the Enterprise on the arches (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8620290629/in/photostream). The imperal sword is already present in the center graphic on the apron... and I also have a plan for something else later in the project.
I thought about doing a mirror Kirk in one of the peices; but that would cost more for the artist to do.
Anyone got any suggestions?
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Love your new center decal but I think the original Bally logo looks pretty cool for the triangle pieces.
Also the man shape logo is already a mirror image (I think).
What about keeping the right side the same as the original and having a mirror image for the left?
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honestly; not a huge fan of the bally man there. It's does pay omage to the original in some way tho.
Not off the table; but looking for other suggestions too.
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what about some beam me down scotty beams on the triangles that direct the focus to the game cards
or
just all black apron with some stars or warp speed effect
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Still haven't decided on what to do about the apron; so was hoping that work on the Shooter Scale would trigger some creativity.
Here's the old scale:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8105/8659056457_5dd6224940_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8659056457/sizes/z/in/photostream/)
Because the PF has been mirrored; the shooter is on the opposite side of the PF. This means the existing scale cannot be used. Therefore my plan is to duplicate the scale and mirror it so it'll work on the correct side of the PF.
Once I had the measurements done in QCAD (DXF); the plan is to waterjet it at Techshop then then bend the piece on a metal break. Since I'm waterjetting a new piece; might as well make it Mirror universe:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8124/8659055817_6d085a5b43_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8659055817/sizes/z/in/photostream/)
I decide to replace the generic scale with a Terran dagger cutout and changed up the scale a little bit while still paying homage to the original. The plan will be to do some powercoating / laser etching to make this scale look correct.
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My Friends on the DFW Pinball list made a suggestion to improve the shooter scale by putting the scale as a warp factor. The result:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8254/8665914913_e7af41c9d0_m.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8665914913/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Inspired by TheAngryAngel’s TOS crew (http://theangryangel.deviantart.com/art/Star-Trek-TOS-Crew-166580809); I began working on the apron triangles. I started by changing the color of the insigna “frame” to red so it would match the background I picked in Rev0. After playing with Photoshop; I decided while it was an awesome piece of art... it didn’t really match the mirror universe; so I began the search for high rez mirror universe photos from the original episode.
Using his work as a “template”; I began to photoshop in the various mirror alternates. Dropping Chekov as he hadn’t join the crew yet. In his place; Marlena Moreau (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Marlena_Moreau).
For the other triangle; I decided a “credits” listing would be appropriate.
Rev 1:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8394/8679203265_b428033bd7.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/8679203265/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
At the moment; I think I’m going to lay down the black and reds using powder coat; maybe even the outlines. As far as the pieces themselves; I’ll going to try to see how direct printing looks. If not; I’ll print them to plastics and bolt them down to the apron.
Thoughts / Comments?
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looks good, why not powdercoat the apron and then have the deals printed on vinyl
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I’ve completed assembly of FAB B of the NIXIE tube displays. The emulation and 7 digit native modes work as designed. I’ve posted a youtube video with it installed in the backglass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcyABnz11KA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcyABnz11KA)
Obviously; the 7digit modes do not work “ideally” with a machine designed for 6digits. I may spend some time in the future to make a 6 digit “right angle” board if there is enough interest.
Need to confirm in a 7digit machine that it works properly. I already have a volunteer.
Next step is to write a blog post with schematics and pictures.
Need to send the boards out for Black PCB fabbing.
Also completed Rev0 of the Proximity sensor PCB. Got them back from oshpark today and they look good right now. Waiting for parts from Digikey before I can start assembly and debug.
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Things have been quiet here lately... why? Well; I had to put the ST:M project on hold so I could build a storage shed in the back yard. Public Storage was charging me nearly 400/mo to store my projects... that was money I could be spending on the Mirror Universe... or a ST:LE. Luckily, I completed that project last month.
I've been slowly working on the cabinet for this project. I'm reconditioning a fairly beat up Bally Star Trek cabinet. What've done is re-glued the front corners... and stripped the paint off 3 of the sides of the machine with CitriStrip.
Right now I'm experimenting with Cabinet prep. I've put the first coat of ebony wood stain on part of the cabinet. My goal is to get the wood dark enough to simulate the black of space. Then I'm going to do a custom stencil set to paint the ISS Enterprise firing on the Planet.
Has anyone done wood stain instead of regular black paint? Were there any Solid State machines with Stain instead of paint?
Worst case I'll just paint over the stain... but I'm kinda hoping I can get the wood dark enough with stain to make it look good.
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As I stated; been working on the cabinet for the Mirror universe project. I bought a couple of "project" Bally Star Treks from a fellow pinball collector out of Shertz a few years ago. These have been setting in storage for a while... and were very rough.
I took the cabinet with the most flaking and damage as the donor cabinet for this project. Here it is in all it glory:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7298/9388668821_14fee080a8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388668821/sizes/l/)
I began by stripping all the hardware (coindoor) and side rails off of the machine so I could access the state of the "bones" (ie wood) of the cabinet. I noticed that the front corners were beginning to separate.... also some of the plywood cores were starting to come apart.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3685/9388668735_198747eb2c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388668735/sizes/l/)
First I used some white gorilla glue to repair the plywood core:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5512/9388669517_99c0c73c97.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388669517/sizes/l/)
Then I used ratchet straps to re-glue both sides:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3713/9388671371_35deb5fca4.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388671371/sizes/l/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5486/9388674289_e78b55b050.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388674289/sizes/l/)
I CNCed a diamond shaped piece out of MDF and glue it in the old shooter hole:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7459/9391451924_d9fa9e6743.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9391451924/sizes/l/)
With that I began stripping the old flaking paint off with CitraStrip along the way I tried to save as much of the wood as I could. When possible; I reglued the laminate back to the plywood... or used some wood filler to fill in the rough areas.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7381/9388678725_89c8fbd055.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388678725/sizes/l/)
I also repaired the bottom - not pictured. 3 of the four sides had lost the plywood under the grove... which means the bottom would probably fall out at some point. I fixed this by saving as much of the plywood core on the 1 "acceptable" side... then using quarter round pieces from Lowes. The quarter round piece was secured with the same gorilla glue and some 18 gauge pin nails.
I bought some mill wax ebony oil stain as I wanted to stain the cabinet black instead of paint. I wanted something "different" looking. Here's one side stained with several coats. Looked like absolute trash...
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5454/9388682315_0fd55d234d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388682315/sizes/l/)
That just would not do AT ALL.
The next day I went to our local WoodCraft store ... they seemed to have a better selection of stain.
Since I was in new territory on this project; I decided to get a couple of product. The first was a Ebony Wood Dye (http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2020491/22650/general-finishes-water-based-dye-ebony-pint.aspx) product and the second was a Black Water-based Stain. The guy at the store claimed the dye would dye the fibers of the wood in a "molecular" like fasion ... while the Stain is pigment based (and would act more like paint). I added the later. I figured I'd buy both and try it on the cabinet.
After I got home; I stripped the back of the cabinet and put down some test swatches:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7373/9391457716_4091d678e9.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9391457716/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Upper right hand: Ebony Dye
Upper LEft: Satin Black Stain
Lower Right: Stain over Dye
Lower left: 50/50% mix of both
I didn't like the ebony stain as is... as it still had a purple/blue hue to it.
The stain looked ok; but had a paint like view.
The Dye under Stain had what my mind thought was the best of the two. The Dye in effect raised the wood grain a little; and the stain still let the overall look like a satin look. The 50/50 worked; but wasn't as vibrant as the Stain over dye.
With this decision; I proceed to dye then stain the cabinet. The Outsides of the cabinet were stripped of all paint; then dyed then stained. The inside of the cabinet I decided to lightly sand the interior then spray it with a Satin Black spraypaint from Rustolem. I also sprayed the bottom side with the same Satin black so it'd look more finished.
The results:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7402/9388685471_5a5ae70054.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9388685471/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3693/9391440246_ecb9deecc4.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9391440246/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Yes... I proably could have save myself some more time by just painting the cabinet with some latex black... Or any black paint; but I kinda wanted to have the wood grains show thru the background. I may regret this decision later... but I'm currently very happy with the way it turned out.
Tonight I worked on the stencil design for the cabinet. Obviously; it's going to be a black background; however, I wanted to pay a nod to the original cabinet design. I traced the existing design and pulled it into Corel Draw. Given Black background; I still wanted to keep some of the same colors in the stencil. So the stars became Yellow. The planet Yellow/Red... and The Phasers became blue. I going to make the Enterprise BattleShip grey.
I removed the Klingons ... instead having the Enterprise fire on the planet. :D
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2870/9391592036_087e15fe5d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9391592036/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Still need to work on the front design... and the Head. I'm thinking about keeping the Head design the same... but change the blue background to black.
Thoughts?
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looking good, how id the playfield going?
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I love your dedication to this project.
I think your idea with the front art will look great.
I really like the black background. It makes the other colours stand out more, especially the blue phasers.
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looking good, how is the playfield going?
On hold. I've been trying to find a magnetic proximity detector design which would work to replace the switches... I haven't had a lot of success :(
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looking good, how is the playfield going?
On hold. I've been trying to find a magnetic proximity detector design which would work to replace the switches... I haven't had a lot of success :(
I use to use these on cnc machines, and wanted to apply them to a pinball
http://www.sick.com/group/en/home/products/product_portfolio/industrial_sensors/Pages/magnetic_proximity_sensors.aspx
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Sorry for the late reply, but I used a product called sikens (unsure of the spelling). I put 2 coats on 100+ cypress posts for my landscaping and they are very dark but still show the grain. It is very expensive compared to a lot of other stain brands. Its a German product.
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Did some more work to the side art; terminating the phaser beams on the planet. Not ideal; but probably the best I can do with a stencil application.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3737/9404446783_53fed0d6e0.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9404446783/sizes/l/)
I also worked on the front art; "inverting" the shooter location and making the color scheme similar to the sideart.
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2837/9404446601_d9eaa14fb3.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9404446601/sizes/l/)
Not sure about the text at the bottom. Again limited by a stencil; but need to look at this further.
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After visiting with Modders-inc.com at Quakecon 2013; Lockman, MrRed, and I picked up a donor head from DonW in Garland. Don graciously donated this head to the Mirror Universe project. Very much appreciated these guys help in getting this head to Austin.
It started life as a Supersonic head... and was a rough from a paint flaking/ding perspective. All of this mattered nothing to me... as it was going to be dye/stained black just like the cabinet. Here are some before shots of the head:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5513/9512131005_21e82b338a_n.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512131005/sizes/l/)
The back vent hole were coming apart; good because I wanted to improve the ventilation anyway...
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3759/9512132275_a28cbcd817_n.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512132275/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
I went about destructing the head... to create new vent holes. Since eventually I plan to put more than just the original boards in the head... I decided I wanted some active cooling (IE DC FANs)... What better way to integrate vents... but using something from the Enterprise.
Using the great work by colosseumbuilders.com, I recreated the Enterprise's impulse engines in CAD using the following as a guideline: (http://www.colosseumbuilders.com/enterprise/ComputerModel/Impulse/005.JPG) (http://www.colosseumbuilders.com/enterprise/ComputerModel/Impulse/index.htm)
The resultant CAD file yielded the following rendering of the DXF file. In order to practice for the upcoming Playfeild CNC work; I wanted to practice with by CNCing out these vent holes in the Russian Plywood. Ken and I went to Techshop.ws this past Saturday and CNCed the back vents:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7442/9514990206_34a66be6d9.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9514990206/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Once I got home; Saturday night I began re-assembling the head:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7362/9512144389_3cdbbb2c9d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512144389/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7387/9512140993_4a08d9a2ab.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512140993/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5514/9514928680_e497c0e6c8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9514928680/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Then I lightly sanded and vacuumed the inside of the head to prep it for interior paint:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2816/9514932204_29eba71594.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9514932204/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
This time I decided to paint the inside prior to staining the outside; so:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5539/9512145417_84a196f52f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512145417/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
After the interior dried; I needed to replace the Veneer which I removed during the deconstruction phase.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5538/9514936254_8a555770d8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9514936254/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
I thought about going to woodcraft to get it; but really; I didn't want to drive 30minutes in traffic... so I opted to get the iron-on type from Lowes. It comes in a roll; and you melt the glue with an iron.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7317/9514934120_5c37c61442.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/951493412/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
The smaller roll of veneer was on clearance; so I opted for it... but turned out to be a hair short. I filled the seams with Plastic Wood filler so the seams wouldn't be visible on the back without a close inspection.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5467/9512149105_d7336a3221.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512149105/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Not sure what I'm going to do about the small section... worst case I'll apply a patch after-the-fact.
After some lite sanding with the orbital sander the back and the head was ready for the Black Dye:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7296/9514940052_55460ce971.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9514940052/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
followed by the Black Stain:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3788/9514943168_ed73e4bdd2.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9514943168/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Even the bottom didn't escape the black of space...
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5525/9512151939_2a8a129f4c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512151939/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
The plan is to let the Stain/Dye cure overnight. Then I'll begin to spray the Polycrlic Satin clear coat over the stain to seal the wood and prep is for future Stenciling.
My head did not come with any of the metal trays for the displays... if anyone is parting out a early 80s Bally Solid State machine... I'd very much appreciate the opportunity to obtain these trays for my Nixie tube displays. Please PM or email me. Thanks!
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While waiting on the Head to cure... I decided I wanted to do a little something extra for the background of the cabinet - approx where the Klingon ship would have been. I debated internally in my head of I wanted to go this far... in the end deciding "it's my machine; make it yours!".
I did some looking around on google images for Hubble space telescope pictures when I came across this picture of the M82 Galaxy:
(http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/images/medium/heic0604d.jpg) (http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0604d/)
Remember to Click the image to get higher rez shots you can zoom in on
Now that I had the picture... it was time to figure out how to get in on the cabinet. I had some White backed Water slide decal paper for my color laserjet; so I figured I'd give it a shot. Some water slide work... some Airbrush work... and we are left with two similar yet uniquely different renditions of the M82 galaxy on either side of the cabinet:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7324/9512135603_7265076296.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512135603/sizes/l/)
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3714/9512138265_91cf803952.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9512138265/sizes/l/)
I coated the airbrush/decal work with some Matte clear spray paint while we waited on the head to cure.
I knew I wanted to do something different with the background black... that was adding holographic gold and silver flake to the topcoat before I stencil. So I did some google searching and ended up purchasing some gold and silver flake from PaintWithPearl.com (http://www.paintwithpearl.com/flakestore.htm). The idea was I wanted to have a star field over the black. Nothing really special about this webstore; other than they seem to be the most competitive w/ regards to color selection as well as price/ounce.
I mixed about 1/8 a tsp of silver and 1/8 tsp of gold into the polyacrylic clearcoat I was going to spray over the black stain to seal it. With my Harbor Freight spray gun I sprayed the cabinet and head.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3667/9518983617_b55f12d521.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9518983617/sizes/l/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5550/9518986961_9fb7b27fe0.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9518986961/sizes/l/)
In retrospect; the metal flake at 0.004 inch was just too small... looks more like star dust; not a starry night. Ideally; I'd have gotten several sizes and mixed them for a more random look. Here's a close up showing the gold/silver flakes:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5525/9518985785_a935f0530f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9518985785/sizes/l/)
Here's an attempt to capture the holographic nature of the flakes in the sunlight:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3739/9521774884_fcb664fbb7.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9521774884/sizes/o/)
If I had it to do over... I'd proably have used less "dust"... and gotten some larger flakes to try and break up the eye candy... I may still try to apply some bigger flake; but honestly... I don't want to spend more time / money on the internet. Maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow.
In general; I'm pleased with the result... just need to put the finishing touches on the stencil designs so I can start that process.
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very cool and becoming a work of art
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I like the fleck a lot and will bear it in mind for future projects..
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Looks great ^^^
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I love the M82 Galaxy on the side!
Looks awesome.
I had no idea you were going to go into so much detail with this project when you started but I'm glad you are.
I can't wait to see your Nixie displays in action, actually I can't wait to see the whole finished product.
This is shaping up to be quite a spectacular project.
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Thanks for the kind words guys... appreciate it.
This past weekend; I intended to wrap up the Impulse Engine modification to the Mirror Universe pinball head. Unfortunatly it spilled over to Monday; mainly because I couldn't get my Laser cutter into a completely operational state. :(
Anywho; The intent was to make the vent holes to look like the Enterprise's Impulse Engine. To do this I created a stencil using the same scale and rendering as before. Since My laser cutter only has a 12x24 table; I had to only do 1/2 the stencil opting to flip it for the opposite side. Here's the stencil I created:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5322/9552886452_abab80a729.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9552886452/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
I laser cut this out of dry erase poster board and sprayed it lightly with some stencil spray adhesive. Here it is positioned for the left Impulse Engine vent:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7411/9552859188_fdf3042ddd.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9552859188/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Since I didn't have any grey spray paint on hand... and it was near or after midnight; I opted to spray with primer grey:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3690/9550046635_d44c094291.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550046635/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
I then flipped the stencil (after the primer had dried for a couple of hours) and sprayed the other side with light stencil adhesive and then grey primer:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5474/9550048937_9b16c60c87.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550048937/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Now I needed to do some shading of the upper piece; So I used the drop pieces cut from the stencil as a stencil. Adhesive and some transparent black airbrush paint:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2889/9552841808_bb34af149b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9552841808/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Next I needed to stencil the center panel lines. I had already laser etched the panel lines into the wood; but I decided attempting to hand paint the etch lines would be problematic. Cue Stencil number 2:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3671/9550095925_7a407cde1f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550095925/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Adhesive, positioned:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7364/9552843110_b7b3aef6b2.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9552843110/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Sprayed with Black Opaque Airbrush paint:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5337/9552847252_656b41d1c6.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9552847252/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
With the Stenciling complete; my attention returned to the Vents themselves. When I CNCed the wood; I also Laser cut a grill based upon the original render of the engines. The CorelDraw file looked like so:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2865/9550096001_06c547d19a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550096001/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
As you can see; there are two grills (finger guards if you like) and two 60mm Fan brackets. The grills were a particular bitch to cut... The heat would cause the grills to warp. I went ahead and cut them; only to find that one of the long lines broke on one of the grills. The result of these grills it pictured here:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/9550065545_6081643947.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550065545/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Upon reflection; I determined that the cause of the warpage was proably the amount of heat "transferred" during the long cut lines. The "spaces" between the grill lines were about 0.1"... while the solid part of the grill was ~0.8". This ratio was critical to the look I wanted (and to match reference photo). I also knew that the long runs were just too flimsy; so I had to modify the grill design to keep more "solid" acrylic in place. This would strengthen the grill and should help reduce the heat-induced warping. Design Rev#3:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7424/9552886444_6cbb9645b2.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9552886444/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
I also changed the order of cut on the file. I opted to do the periphery outline AFTER the center grill portions were cut. Again in an effort to minimize heat transfer and aid in preventing cutting mishaps if I had to restart the cut.
Here's the Laser At Techshop.ws cutting the Rev3 grills:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5465/9550407465_81c6f89a92.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550407465/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
With the new grills complete; it's time to begin the assembly of the fan brackets:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3734/9550060229_c36018397b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550407465/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Installed:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3730/9550059493_4f26f58d77.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550059493/sizes/l/in/set-72157632324309845/)
And the Test fit along with overall shot:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5448/9550066983_e5bf8723eb.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9550066983/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
And a Closeup of the grills:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2838/9552855540_3123d87c82.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9552855540/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
With that the back of the Star Trek: Mirror Universe head is complete. The grills were wrapped up and stored safely until the final stenciling is done on the sides and the whole piece is clear coated.
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If that is the detail for the back of the game, I look forward to seeing the rest of the pin, nice *%*
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As mentioned here (http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/switch-matrix-active-high-or-low-pulse) and here (http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ballystern-as2815-3051-soundcard-redesign),
I've been working on a plan to add sound effects and background music to the project. To this end- I'm currently redesigning the AS-2815-3x/51 soundcard with modern components; specifically, I'm replacing the TTL PROM and 4bit counter which are both getting rare / expensive with a single MAX 3000 CPLD in 44pin PLCC. The CPLD cost 1.50 is single units... where the TTL PROM and 4bit counter are in the 5-6 range. The CPLD has just enough room to replace all the logic chips and house both sound PROMs for AS-2815-32 and AS-2815-51 designs. The -51 proms can be selected via a jumper wire. "In theory" it should work with any game listed with the AS-2518 boardset (http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?mpu=18&searchtype=advanced).
The sound effects tie into the existing switch matrix and run off of a raspberry pi.
The card should be a drop in replacement for existing card using mostly SMT components to keep PCB costs down.
IF anyone is interested; I posted my rev-99 schematics here:
http://pinball-mods.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Pi_AS-2518-50_rev0_web.pdf (http://pinball-mods.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Pi_AS-2518-50_rev0_web.pdf)
Still need to take free gates and tie them up so they don't float.
Also need to renumber components now that the layout is nearly complete. Then generate SilkScreen. I put a small prototyping area under the RazPi... just incase I need to do some rework.
Hope to have the design committed to OSHPark by the weekend.
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Just caught up with this again . You are a man of many talents Zitt . Fantastic effort so far and so much attention to detail ^^^
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Thanks for the kind comments.
A couple of days ago; my custom stencils came in from TwistedPins (http://twistedpins.neoreef.com/products/?ProductID=46). I started with the head because it was still on the hydraulic table from the fan installation. I decided I wanted to use the same head stencils as the original bally; just change up the colors a bit.
I started by laying down the yellow stencil:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5340/9809090656_88dc2e92ba.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9809090656/sizes/o/)
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3765/9809143453_67a2ffa06e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9809143453/sizes/o/)
At this point; an improvement I'd suggest to these stencils is that for the first layer... the "red" covers should be removed. IE the planetoids shouldn't have any masks "inside" the oval shapes. That way you lay down a solid color and the second color (red) goes over the yellow so there are no registration offsets. This is what I did; I went ahead and removed all the squiggly shapes from the planetoids.
With the stencil ready; I taped off the surround areas with newspaper and put down some grey primer. This was done mainly to get the "grey" which I had chosen for the enterprise. Yellow generally goes over light grey than black so I sprayed everything.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3715/9809144933_2e9606ea02.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9809144933/sizes/o/)
I waited overnight for the grey primer to cure then masked off the enterprise grey and sprayed down some "Gold yellow" spray paint. I decided to use spray paint as it is easier to clean up than trying to spray the sign lettering enamel I used for the Bally Star Trek repair many years ago.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/9809097096_a9b54dd6a3.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9809097096/sizes/o/)
I let the yellow dry about an hour before carefully removing the masking. Here's how the first stencil turned out:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7372/9809094986_b509769165.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9809094986/sizes/o/)
Another night time cure to let the paint harden before I put down the red-orange stencil. I decided I wanted the planetoid to be the same colors as original. The difference was in the Enterprise as you'll see in a moment. I sprayed the planets and then the Enterprise-shadows as "Driver blue".
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5338/9809074465_7af5c501ef.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9809074465/sizes/o/)
I let the orange/blue combo cure in the TX sun for a few hours; then removed the masking. The Result:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/9809151013_c1e40b838f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9809151013/sizes/o/)
There were some slight registration issues with the blue and grey; but really not that bad. Again; If it were me; I'd have created the stencils with the entire Enterprise in "yellow" and then have the "red" overlay cover the yellow to avoid the registration issues. I'm guessing TwistedPin did the stencils that way so someone could just do a single color... but really; the Red fades long before the yellow; so in my mind the yellow stencil should cover all the areas Red+yellow.
Anyway; I'm digging the custom Enterprise colors. Thoughts?
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I'm thinking about how to get stereo out into the world from the RazPi which would be mounted in the backbox on the Mirror Universe. Traditionally on later model pinball machines; they shrunk the vertical size of the backglass and put a speaker panel in it.
I don't want to do this because it would be non-traditional to the look of the machine.
As a result; I'm left with an issue which I could use the communities help with... Similar to what Jags did here:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/custom-sounds/page/3#post-1121158 (http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/custom-sounds/page/3#post-1121158)
I'm looking at mounting some speakers to the backbox in some way. I'm looking for suggestions as to what might look "trek"-like. I came across these
(http://www.logitech.com/assets/46083/z553lg455x500.png) (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/speaker-system-z553?crid=47)
but the price is kinda :EEK: and while high-tech looking; doesn't really scream TREK to me.
Anyone have some older speakers (cheap/gift) which might be mod-able to the a Trek theme? Any other suggestions on speakers? Anyone got some Logitech marketing contacts? ;D
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I think the location like jags would be good, not too obvious but effective.
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how about a topper made with some of those outdoor rock-looking speakers and a borg cube subwoofer.
Yea I know - not too good. Just brainstorming here.
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you had me ... until; borg cube. Mirror Universe is too early for the Borg.
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Technically, I think the Borg was around, they just weren't on the show yet %$%
I suppose a sub could be put about anywhere.
Actually I kinda liked the asteroid reference with the rock speakers too. My opinion, but I think you'd want to add something cool and more than just a couple asteroids sitting atop the backbox. Can't think of anything yet though.
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How about some speakers in the shape of the Enterprise nacelles on top of the backbox?
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How about some speakers in the shape of the Enterprise nacelles on top of the backbox?
There's an idea! going to give it some thought.
Now my attention turns to the stenciling of the side cabinet. First color... yellow:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3824/9944077904_553c7f9af6.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944077904/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5483/9944176713_b565201871.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944176713/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5506/9944178493_c98a529b62.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944178493/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5458/9944060825_d660b5c88d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944060825/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Once the yellow dried overnight; I pulled the stencil up:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7404/9944069065_769776ed91.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944069065/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Yeap; that's right... The use of the waterslide decal came back and bit me in the butt. The stencil pulled the toner right off label.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3730/9944073146_2c7271fba5.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944073146/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
<sigh> ^.^ @.@
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After many choice explicatives; I decided there wasn't much I could do now... so I went ahead and continued stenciling the grey; opting to see what (if anything) the Enterprise would cover. Ofcourse; I designed the decal location to be where the Klingons were; so I knew it wouldn't cover jack... but it made me feel better. I also figured if the next stencil pulled up more; I could fix it once and be done.
Down goes the Enterprise stencil..
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7419/9944071025_08a6b044e2.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944071025/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
This time I left the protective backing on the section which went over the waterslide decal.
I sprayed the grey primer and let it dry overnight. The backing protect the label; so I proceeded to cover the paper areas with the black stain to match the color of the cabinet. I then re-airbrushed to blend the new black with the background image. I then re-sprayed the holographic flake and clear coat as best I could with airbrush.
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2878/9944092404_1c3b6db2dd.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944092404/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7331/9944098194_8054a84b58.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944098194/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Good as new? no. but, not too bad I guess.
Now for the orange stencil.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7374/9944194293_db5e406932.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944194293/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
The orange wasn't Red enough for my Nacelles... so I sprayed them with cherry red.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/9944080055_4825902a01.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944080055/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
And finally; the blue phasers:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7309/9944086266_7a575045bf.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944086266/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Ofcourse; the blue phasers crossed over the nebula - I had to use some of the stencil to prevent paint bleed. At this point more toner came off; so I had to do some more repair. The result:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7323/9944198913_445a3e2371.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944198913/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
I'm not real happy with the blue phasers; they tend to not showup well on the black without a grey border. Not sure what if anything I'm going to do.
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Stencilling looks great shame about the lifting
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Now my attention turns to the front stenciling... First the Yellow:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2840/9944089356_f1f1181863.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944089356/sizes/o/)
I decided that I'm going to start "wrapping" the images under the cabinet to give it a unique look.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3790/9944104986_462a45f6b3.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944104986/sizes/o/)
Orange:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/9944128554_77cb3d28d8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944128554/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7447/10008888154_39cfb7c213.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10008888154/sizes/o/)
Grey:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3776/10008963666_2a80c50c27.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10008963666/sizes/o/)
And the final result:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7458/10008911355_e673986100.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10008911355/sizes/o/)
With that; I've completed one of each side of the cabinet. Now the "Busy" work of finishing the other sides of the cabinet begins.
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Cab artwork is looking great ^^^. I think you made a good recovery from the lifting *%*
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Thank you sir!
In between stenciling; I waited for the LED test boards to come on a slowboat from china... I received them early last week. In short; I wanted to do some insert testing with some LEDs to find the "optimal" LED current using my inserts from earlier in the build. I didn't want the inserts to blind the player... but I also wanted to make them look right. As a result; I used the following circuit to vary the current thru the LED:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7378/10008953666_415793dc8f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10008953666/sizes/o/)
Basically the single 2n3904 transistor is operating in constant current mode; R2 is empty and the current is measured via the emitter resistor at R8. This particular board was designed to have two uses.
1) Enable "current" test early on...
2) Then after current is known; remove the active circuitry and simply populate the resistors R2 and R4.
Three of these boards would be used to lite under the dual lane inserts. For the LEDs; I went with 0.5W LEDs from Kingbright. the AA3535 series. I went with high power so that I could keep the currents low but still get plenty of photons from the LEDs. This was recommended by a friend in the "know" and I really appreciate his advice.
For the test boards; I went with smart prototypes out of china because they allowed me to order White silkscreen. The white silkscreen will help reflect and stray photons back toward the insert.
Here's the board installed under the test playfield. It mounts with two wood screws; and allows the pots to be adjusted.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5493/9944212413_19c603636b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944212413/sizes/o/)
Here's how the board looks from the top w/o the laser cut inserts:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/9944102805_7d3a4cf5c1.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944102805/sizes/o/)
Here's what I think the inserts should look like during play:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7376/9944208003_b784a67812.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/9944208003/sizes/o/)
With this the measured currents were as follows:
Neutral White: 36.1mA ~= 41.2ohm 1/4W at 5V supply
Red: 24.07mA ~= 86.6ohm 1/4W at 5V supply
Given these are 150mA peak current LEDs; I'm not operating them anywhere near their peak currents. It should help prolog the life and keep them running cool.
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I've been quietly working on the remaining cabinet stencils and should be ready to clearcoat the cabinet by next weekend. I'm thinking about going with some 2part DuPont™ ChromaClear® 2370S™ Flexible Matted (http://pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/visitor/common/pdfs/b/product/dr/ChromaSystemLV/H-19460_2370S.pdf) if I can get it locally. Between stenciling sessions the house got struck by lightning about a week ago... so I've been digging out of the random bad electronics and such. One of which is my Color LaserJet which I need to finish the apron.
Anyway; tonight after dinner I did a marathon session at Techshop... leaving just after 10pm. The main thing I did was put the "base" on for the Apron. Like the cabinet; I wanted it black with a holographic star field. So I did a base coat in black and followed it up with some clear powdercoat with the holographic flakes in it. Here's a closeup shot of the powdercoat:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2810/10397687593_d8d972c7c7.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10397687593/sizes/o/)
I'm planning on waterjetting the inlayed pieces out of some 22ga steel and then doing a heat transfer of the graphics onto those pieces. Here's a mockup of the overall look; if it works as I hope it will.
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2815/10397549016_95507c034e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10397549016/sizes/o/)
A massive order of PCBs are on the way from Hong Kong ... so I expect to be working on various electronic boards... including the 5 Nixie Pinball displays over the next few weeks. More later.
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I've been busy the last few weeks on other tasks including some PCBs for the project. I submitted another set of 4 PCBs to the china fab house last night so was able to spend some time on the apron.
Early last week I had a few minutes after work; so I went to Techshop and waterjetted some apron pieces out of some mild steel sourced from lowes. After cutting; I sandblasted them and This weekend I put them under some 220grit sandpaper to remove the coarseness added by the sandblasting. Once I had a smooth surface; I powdercoated them with some "Mirror chrome".
A few months ago I sourced some "SinglePrint (http://www.rhinotechinc.com/SinglePrint%208.5%22x11%22?keyword=singleprint&description=true) (tm) Multi Surface Laser "no weed" " paper from them during a sale. The idea here is that using a heat press; I'd be able to "bond" laser printed graphics to the powder coated surface. Then be able to apply the needed clear powder coat over the label to give it a single resilient surface.
With the label printed using my color laser jet; I proceeded to bond the label to the substrate. I didn't have a heat press and I really didn't have the room for one anyway... so I thought I'd use a household iron. Once I received the paper; the included instructions said in italics "do not use a home iron". :(
Then I remembered I had a hot laminator which I used in attempting to make homebrew PCBs using laser paper. The laminator claimed it did 300F max... and would apply some pressure; so I figured what the hell. worth a shot.
I preheated the substrate in the toaster oven to 300F and then applied the mirrored SinglePrint to the it and ran it thru the laminator about a dozen times. When removing the paper; it hadn't bonded to the surface. Humm. However, it was in place so I ran it thru twice to re-flatten the paper to the substrate... at this point I had nothing to really lose; so I put the substrate+paper back in the toaster oven set to ~325F. I let it bake there for about 2minutes; then quickly transferred it to the at temp Laminator. Running it thru 3 times. The returned the combo back to the oven for another heat session. I did this for about 4 times then let it cool for about 30seconds before peeling the paper from the substrate.
This time it was better; but not perfect.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7353/10938485416_2cc75ede5b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10938485416/sizes/o/)
:( As you can see; some of the label stayed with the paper.
I could "erase the label" and try again; but the label isn't really "solid enough" for my tastes. The toner is somewhat transparent which leads to muddled colors against the metallic background. It's probably be perfect on a white powercoated substrate.
I may try to source some vinyl labels in order to get the look I think I want.
Here's the other apron pieces positioned on the apron:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7449/10938489466_c8a8aea41b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10938489466/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5548/10938428535_8c7fd89ce5.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/10938428535/sizes/o/)
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Looks to be a busy weekend. I got my SMT assembles back from SteveC for the Nixie Tube displays... I've already assembled two full displays. They'll go into testing hopefully Saturday afternoon... and if functional; the remaining 7 will be built.
Sneak peak... After work today... this happened at techshop.ws:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/11004826726_c0140c6829.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11004826726/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
I <3 me some CNCing.
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2871/11004954223_acbd2882ef.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11004954223/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
So yeah... me is happy:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/11004892234_a3a58beb15.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11004892234/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
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looks good, it's nice seeing a build coming out of the CNC
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Today I had another 4hour block on the CNC machine at techshop... I finished up drilling the holes in the PF:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7324/11042508194_f081b991a5.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11042508194/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
I also flipped the PF and CNCed out the proximity slots on the underside of the PF:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/11042471366_3e732a59ef.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11042471366/sizes/o/in/photostream/)
I have about 7 hours total in the PF including setup and actual CNC time.
I cleaned the wood "fuzzies" from the top of the PF with a wire brush attachment on my dremel. There is currently Primer grey on the underside of the PF... trying to dry in this cold as$ texas night. Yes; I know your not suppose to paint below 50F... but I really don't have a lot of choice if I'm going to meet the TPF'14 deadline.
Tomorrow I hope to begin inserting the inserts. :D
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looking good, and look forward to your inserts going it
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I've been working on the PF; inserts are in. Glue is drying. Tomorrow I hope to complete sanding the inserts flat in prep of clear coat on the whitewood this weekend.
Inbetween sessions in the cold garage; I've been working on the External speaker solution. A while back I asked for some suggestions and femto (http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=9807.msg147295#msg147295) here at the Aussie Pinball forums suggested that I make the speakers look like the nacelles of the Enterprise. I liked that idea; but was unsure how to execute it. Well; that all came to a head a couple of weeks ago when I came across some older (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71hXZkSzcFL._SL1500_.jpg)
Altec Lansing FX2020 Expressionist (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IZYV3S/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001IZYV3S&linkCode=as2&tag=zittware-20) speakers during the uptenth time I looked for a suitable speaker set. These speakers had the same basic shape as the warp nacelles so they be a good starting point. Once I had the speakers this past weekend; I unpacked them and promptly voided the warranty by taking them apart. Once I had them apart; I hatched a plan to making them into warp nacelles. First; I was going to ditch the polycarbonate "stands" and replace it with a 3D printed "wrap" which I'd mock up in sketchup.
Removing the 4 silver screws on the front allows the speaker grill to be removed; then you have access to the speaker and the 4 screw tubes/standoffs which sandwiches the polycarbonate stand between the sliver ring and the black body. I decided I wanted to sandwich the 3D printed "nacelle wrap" identically as the stand.
Here's my 5th revision of the nacelle wrap:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5541/11096377215_48e3336e8f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11096377215/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
Here's a rear view showing the hollow center for the speaker tube... thereby still giving access to the rear panels.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/11096482314_80cc0dfaf9.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11096482314/sizes/o/in/set-72157632324309845/)
The wrap is about 4.5inches in diameter and about 5.9inchs long not including the spoke pattern guard.
One of the tradeoffs I ended up doing was that I wanted a "speaker grill" rounded like the front of the nacelles. IE a semi-spherical shape. The problem was I wasn't sure I could find a suitable material to "bend" in the correct but exacting shape. As I result; I brought out the spoke patterns into a spherical speaker grill to give the nacelle shape. I'll probably print the body in grey and the nacelle spokes in black to give it a better indication.
If anyone has the capability or know how to create an oval grill please let me know... I was thinking something like this:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#expanded-metal/=pkkkg8 (http://www.mcmaster.com/#expanded-metal/=pkkkg8)
but have no ideal how to shape it easily.
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Over thanksgiving weekend; I worked extensively on the PF. I started by spraying backside of the PF with grey primer ... unsure why the older Bally PF had the grey paint on the backside... but I figured when in Rome; do as the romans do.
Once the grey primer was dry; Sprayed the inside of the insert holes white; partly due to the Romans... partly due to the desire to have a clean looking insert. Here's the back of the PF trimmed up and sprayed.
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2839/11280825316_50e6c0a927.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11280825316/sizes/o/)
With the white dry; I began gluing in the inserts. Once I had the inserts glued inplace and dry; I took a 80 grit orbital sander to the whole PF to level the inserts and remove the white primer. Here's the PF at 80 grit:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2839/11280781575_46759e85a2.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11280781575/sizes/o/)
And again at 220grit:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5513/11280777525_b1867641ac.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11280777525/sizes/o/)
Then I proceeded to sand the inserts to 500 and 800 grit. At this point I considered the PF ready for ClearCoat. For this I used ChromaClear 2part 4:1 automotive clear. I put down one light coat and 3 medium coats. Heres the PF after clearcoat:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5506/11280769105_75be89a5d6.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11280769105/sizes/o/)
I let the clearcoat cure for a little over 24 hours; then sanded it flat with 220grit orbital sander to remove the orange peel and give the inserts another flat process. The PF/inserts needs to be flat so the sign shop can print the insert circles and artwork without any gaps in the art.
Here's the PF being back lit by shop lights:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5475/11280889403_1839fa6563.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11280769105/sizes/o/)
While I waited for the clear coat to arrive; I received the vinyl decals from Callie Graphics. I went ahead and installed them on the powder coated blanks:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3798/11280844344_9342ceea20.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11280844344/sizes/o/)
On Friday afternoon; I took the PF and artwork files to Austin Color Labs so they can put the artwork directly on the PF. I hope to hear from them by end of week with a printed PF. When the PF gets back from the printers; my plan it to put 4-6 coats of clear coat over the art then sand flat and polish to a shine.
While I wait for the PF; I'll try to clear coat the decaled apron inserts... if we get a warm day in the near future. In the meantime I have PCBs to assemble; including the ATX PSU board.
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This is just an awesome project with an outstanding amount of attention to detail .
Fantastic to watch it all coming together
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Unfortunately; My Stern Star Trek LE arrived late afternoon on Friday... It's been kinda hard to focus on the project when there NIB machine setting in the gameroom waiting to be played. None-the-less; I will attempt to make some progress on this project.
I've been working all week on various PCB projects; soldering PCB assembles. The ATX -> 2815 PSU board is nearly complete; but I'm missing some fuse clips which should be in Monday I hope.
While I waited on the Fuse clips; I went ahead and assembled my plan for the Nacelle Inserts I created and featured earlier in the worklog. I didn't want to just lite them with LEDs... I wanted them to be more active. I took my Bally Star Trek Flipper Button Mod
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/4081891273 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/4081891273)
and shrank it to fit within the insert dimensions using 603 chip LEDs.
The result can be seen here:
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very cool, you definitely have a large range of talents there - thanks for keeping us in the loop down under.
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Got the Playfield back from the great people at Austin Color Labs...
Remember; this was direct printed onto the Playfield:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2814/11439652975_9f245074d4.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11439652975/sizes/o/)
Honestly; The PF looks awesome except they made an error and sprayed most of the PF white before laying down the color. I supplied the "white" file... but not sure what happened. The inserts are fine; just the shooter and a few other places were suppose to be bare wood. They said if I wanted; I could sand it back down and they'd redo it. I think I'll just leave it as-is; I could nickpick the bare wood issue; but Its brightness is growing one me.
Also something's up with the red special insert (over planet)... somehow the paint didn't seem to work right over that insert. May try to use a water slide decal to "fix" it.
I'll take some detailed shots with my Nikon SLR later... For now the PF is on the way to work tomorrow for a Maker Faire.
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looks awesome, if you didn't like the shooter lane maybe a cool warp speed graphic or line art.
I am sure once the pf is cleared with all the plastics it will look sweet.
well done. ^^^
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Looks like your PF turned out really well ^^^ . Shame its not quite right per your vision, but with your talent I'm sure you will come up with a smart solution if you feel the need
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Ok. Been working on the Playfield over the holiday break. Not making as much progress as I'd like... but here's some.
First; I needed to tackle the Special insert.... basically; something went wrong at the printer and it didn't come out right:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3692/11598660044_54f576e78c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11598660044/sizes/o/)
I took the graphic file back into Photoshop and trimmed a new copy up for printing on some white water slide decal paper. Some patience and water yields this corrected implementation:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2849/11598325355_478e016073.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11598325355/sizes/o/)
Much better.
Some black sharpie on the trimmed edges and a couple coats of acylic clear and that area is ready for the 2part automotive clear coat.
While I waited for some clear; warmer days for the clearcoat... A friend (Ken) and I went to Techshop to work on the PF rails. I didn't want to put yellow painted wood back on the PF... I wanted something which would tie the machine together. I measured the wood and created a CAD file with the exact measurements. The plan was to cut these parts out of 1/2inch 6061 aluminum. I sourced the Aluminum from a local supplier in 4ftx4inx0.5in dimensions. This DXF file was then sent to the waterjet machine at techshop which results in the following parts:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3810/11598688675_3866cfc62c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11598688675/sizes/o/)
If you want to watch the Waterjet in action cutting this piece; see Youtube:
I wanted the tops of the rails to look like knife edges; but no so much that they would be a danger to anyone working on the machine (Read: Me). Ken helped me put the 45 degree angles on the aluminum using the Jet#1 manual milling machine. Once the rails were milled; I proceeded to drill and tap the appropriate holes in the bottom side of the rails. For the purposes of this test fit; I used #6-32 x 5/8" machine screws. The result:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3709/11599096866_8fa885368a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11599096866/sizes/o/)
While I had the rails attached; time to test fit the apron and shooter gauge:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3754/11599100536_b5b0e36d3c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11599100536/sizes/o/)
No obvious issues during the test fit. Tomorrow I hope to put 4-6coats of clearcoat on the PF... if the weather holds.
More later...
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very very nice, I like the water slide decal and the aluminium rails, well done ^^^
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This project is coming along nicely. Loving the updates and the progress.
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Lots happening behind the curtains... but thought I'd take a break to update the worklog.
ClearCoat is on the Playfield I put about 6 coats of clearcoat on the surface to ensure I didn't blow thru the clearcoat and destroy the art underneath. I waited about 24 hours before beginning the process of re-leveling the surface.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5501/11768594704_24557a17b3.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768594704/sizes/o/)
You'll note that I still had some "orange peel" problems with the clear coat.
I needed to remove the orange peel so I started by sanding with 220 grit orbital sander:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5476/11768432483_ca7a4dfc96.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768432483/sizes/o/)
Then the hand sanding began with 320:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7387/11768593764_2737e7081e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768593764/sizes/o/)
wet sand 500:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3675/11768944496_68bcf613dc.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768944496/sizes/o/)
NOTE: I wouldn't recommend wet sanding a traditional PF. I've had issues with the plywood swelling under the clearcoat. In this case; I used a spray bottle to wet the surface and then used the wet/dry sandpaper. I did this because the clearcoat under the art and the white under the art did an excellent job of sealing the wood around the cnced holes. The sprayed water just beaded on the surface.
wet sand 800:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3750/11768443633_f842daf1d8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768443633/sizes/o/)
At this point; with this era of machine... I might have stopped here for a "matte" finish; but this is "The Mirror Universe"... so maybe I should put a mirror shine on it. :D
wet sand 1000 followed by 1500:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5509/11768603854_d976d0991f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768603854/sizes/o/)
Closer... but that still won't do.
I'd done quite a bit of sanding... all within 24hrs of laying the final coats of clear; so I decided to wait another 24hrs for the "time to decal" interval on the paint can.
So; stay tuned. :D
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So I waited at least a day; but in reality... I think other aspects of the project got in the way; so yesterday I got back to addressing the playfield shine - or lack there of. I chucked a buffing cloth into the cordless drill and proceeded to use rubbing compound on the clear coat:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7423/11768604024_ed5bd9c334.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768604024/sizes/o/)
Then polishing compound:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2846/11768953106_d271698880.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768953106/sizes/o/)
And two sessions of Carnauba Wax:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5505/11768450193_6a3e6bb2a8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768450193/sizes/o/)
Yeap; I think we'll call that a near mirror shine. :D
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I wait on fasteners and other supplies to arrive from Pinball Life, PBResource, and McMaster-Carr; so let's get back to the backbox. Time to put it back together with the tin and such. First; I assembled the Fan Controller which will be used to keep the new fans in check. This designed was a KISS re-implementation (keep it simple stupid) of the Fan Controller I designed for the Captain's Chair (http://"http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=1876167&postcount=195") a few years ago. Here's the TAPR/NCLed schematics for those that are interested:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2880/11768812845_8c87e8e694.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768812845/sizes/o/)
PCBs assembled and tested:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7301/11768460283_a373590ec1.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768460283/sizes/o/)
Some Standoffs and Installed:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7314/11768936746_7149865972.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768936746/sizes/o/)
While I was monkeying around in the backbox; I needed to redo the cards which were deteriorating with age. Also; the cards were not Star Trek; but supersonic as that was the head used as a donor. So I scanned the cards into the computer and recreated the same font which a little "flair" for the Mirror Universe. I printed the cards on 110lbs card stock using my color Laser printer and trimmed them with a xacto blade. I kept the original OQA tag from the supersonic head as I thought it would serve as a reminder.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5482/11768207435_692a25e218.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768207435/sizes/o/)
Some closeup shots:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3780/11768963606_30a9950c4b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768963606/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5539/11768457213_33386b10ca.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11768457213/sizes/o/)
With that update; I think we're done with the updates for the night.
Toddles.
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PF came up great ^^^
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Now for the interactive portion of our project.
Kudos points to the first poster who correctly identifies this 3D Carved Item... and speculates correctly as to it's function on the machine.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5548/11811431384_61a2407a8f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11811431384/sizes/o/)
This took me the better part of 12hrs to make on the CNC mill... and I still need to figure out how to remove the items from the 0.5inch block of aluminum.
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Need some advise.
Seen many a Bally ST playfield with paint damage on the LLY where the ball eject occurs. I've also seen damage near the space station.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3429/3374865542_2e7e4218ec.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/3374865542/sizes/o/)
I'm thinking I want to put some Mylar from the LLY area into the pops; and the two half moons near the slings. Currently I have nothing but clear in those areas.
At this point; I'm not sure the clearcoat is thick enough to protect these areas from the ball for a long period of time.
While the machine won't be in an arcade... it will be a TPF and other charitable events... I just don't want to risk long term damage of this PF.
What do you guys think?
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Takes an awful lot of plays to wear anything down, especially if nice shiny balls are used at all times.
I use this product.. self levelling and you can hit it with a hammer and it wont make a mark..
http://www.kbs-coatings.com.au/diamond-finish-clear-coat-application-information
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Lots of work behind the scenes getting the gross-level assembly started on the PF. Basically; I went thru and assembled all the Turbo bummers; kickout; switches such from the bottom side. No real pictures of this due to the tedious work involved. Once I had the big parts on the bottom of the playfield it was time to start installing some lighting. As I stated earlier in the thread; I created some custom LED boards to replace the underside switched Lamps.
An example of these switch lamps is as follow:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3733/12044776555_8e54878f5c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12044776555/sizes/o/)
This being the center Xk's ... an butt load of lamp sockets which I hate tending to on my Bally Star Trek. To this end; I created custom LED boards which would bolt to the underside of the PF and give me the needed light. Given these are LEDs; they should last a lifetime under normal use.
I started by carefully laying the Blank PCBs I designed out on the backside of the PF, drilling 0.24 of an inch into the wood, then Tapping said hole with a #6-32 tap. When the holes were tapped; I screwed in a 1/4" nylon standoff which the PCA (Printed Circuit Assembly) would mount to:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5479/12045194794_e8d885cf18.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045194794/sizes/o/)
Once I had the standoffs in place; I went ahead and assembled the PCBs using the Skillet method and some soldering paste. Here's a majority of the pcbs in the skillet during reflow:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2821/12045646196_d95f522198.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045646196/sizes/o/)
Once I had the SMT components done; I hand soldered the thru hole components. Which the PCBs assembled; the rest of the switch lamp matrix is assembled:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5513/12044786685_be3b977f3c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045646196/sizes/o/)
I ran out of 5 red LEDs and 5 white LEDs; so I need to order some more to complete the rollover switches and the lane indicators.
More coming; stay tuned.
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Once I had the switched lamp matrix resolved; it was time to begin looking at the "inlane" mechanics - namely the ball eject mechanism and the shooter lane. Initially; I had hoped that I could just "flip" the inlane and ball trough parts with the left shooter. Turns out that it wasn't really possible. As a result; I'm currently importing the parts into CAD so they can be mirrored. The Plan is to cut the parts out on Techshop's WaterJet when it comes back online. Today was that day. I had to cut new eject brackets as well as the ball trough as mirrored images. I decided I wanted to cut all the pieces out of 16gauge stainless steel so I would never have to worry about rust on these parts. :D
Here's the "flattened" brackets coming off the waterjet machine. Took about 20minutes of machine time to cut these badboys:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5529/12045356034_a2ee00d745.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045356034/sizes/o/)
Then I spent some time on Techshop's JET finger break bending the brackets into their correct orientation. Here's the final product vs the original brackets:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3791/12044950675_055d31129e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12044950675/sizes/o/)
Once I got home; I assembled the ball trough giving us this:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2862/12045199974_0438885038.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045199974/sizes/o/)
I still have to assembled the eject solenoid and the eject bracket; need to order some parts from McMaster-carr to finish the eject assembly.
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If you recall; there was a interactive portion where I asked people to speculate on what this was...
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5548/11811431384_61a2407a8f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/11811431384/sizes/o/)
...its now time to answer that question.
With the Eject lane in position; I was now able to install the shooter lane. This item above was carved out of 18x4inches of 1/2inch thick aluminum. When assembled it becomes the inside "guide" of the ball lane. Nobody guessed it's function; but that's ok. Now you get to see it in all it's splender.
The pieces make up my rendition of the "Terran Sword of Conquest" as correctly identified by SaminVA here and on Pinside. I carefully cut out the 3D pieces and assembled them into the sword. The sword is made up of the little nobby thing you club someone on the head with... the handle... the hilt... and the blade itself. Each one of these pieces are bolted together with two pieces of steel. One JBwelded in the the knobby thing with a set screw at the base of the handle.
The second steel rod is jb-welded to the sword blade. A set screw fastens the hilt to the rod, and the rod to the handle. No; it proably wouldn't make a good sword this way; but it's really just an ordimental piece. With the sword assembled; it's time to bolt it in it's place on the PF:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5503/12045654706_890df07168.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045654706/sizes/o/)
Now I think you guys can see why I went with a "bladed" side rail... the two complement each other quite well.
Another angle with another surprise feature of the PF...
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3760/12044802325_63e336ca43.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12044802325/sizes/o/)
Several months ago; I contacted Cliffy at PassionForPinball.com (http://passionforpinball.com/protectors.htm) and asked him to do a custom inlane switch protector for this project. He graciously agreed. For inlane switch; he cut me a custom Enterprise switch protector which I cnced a place for it making it "level" with the PF wood/clear.
Here's the mandatory money shot for the kids at home:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2838/12045653436_1777a4f60b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045653436/sizes/o/)
Starting to look like a Pinball machine now; isn't it?
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A couple of weeks ago; I did a pretty big PinballLife.com order... part of which was those awesome new Aluminum Flipper bats:
(http://www.pinballlife.com/images/products/preview/515-5133-alum.jpg) (http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3145).
Today; I executed the strategy for these bats. First went ahead and powdercoated them black... then a second clearcoat powder with the metal flake seen on the apron. Once I had the bat powdercoated; I laser etched a jig on the tormac laser cutter at techshop. This etch allowed me to position the bats in such a way that they ready to get their treatment:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5496/12044945155_c4de284f97.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12044945155/sizes/o/).
The Bats go into the Laser cutter to get their dagger etches:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7361/12045345074_4139a9c291.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045345074/sizes/o/).
I hear the audience screaming for a money shot... who am I to argue?
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/12045661786_645bcb3f2a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12045661786/sizes/o/).
And that concludes my weekend update for you guys... Next up I'm thinking it's time to start the wiring harnesses for the boards, switches, Etc. I wanted to get the LED boards in place so I can figure out how to route the harnesses under the PF. Not sure how long this will take... so bear with me.
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$$(. Pretty sweet and your skills are awesome
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great work, thanks for keeping us updated
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Very cool, love the updates ^^^
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Outstanding! #*# #*# #*#
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too much for me to process ^&^. Can't imagine how you dreamt up all these parts let alone the time inputted to make them a reality. Like I said, absolutely mind blowing
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I needed to work on the eject mechanism. I carefully measured the standoffs on the original part and engineered an alternate plan since I didn't have the time to replicate the part exactly. Instead I opted to buy some off the shel threaded inserts with nylon sleeves.
For the base which holds the eject bracket; I got a 7/8" threaded #8-32 standoff from Master-Carr.com #91125A210. This piece would be mounted to the top with an #8-32 screw and would provide the rotation point for the eject bracket. To space the arm off the base I went with a 3/8" nylon spacer with 1/4" I.D. and 1/2" O.D #94639A141.
Then goes the bracket arm. For the top of the bracket; I went with a PRess-Fit Drill bushing, 0.25" ID, 0.5" OD @ 3/8" length or #9491A252. I topped it off with two flat washers (think they were 1/4") and star washer and another #8-32 machine screw.
For the plunger arm which goes into the solenoid; I went with a 0.25" tall round spacer with a 1/4" OD and and 8-32 screw thread, #91125A140. The nylon spacer on top was a 1/8" long with 0.25" ID and 0.5" OD.
Here's a picture of the original eject mechanism vs the new one:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3689/12166664004_ceaa7441c4.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12166664004/sizes/o/)
Here's the mechanism with the coil and other hardware transferred:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3781/12167202626_af92d0de03.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12167202626/sizes/o/)
And mounted in the PF:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2881/12166787653_9d2e8b4ca2.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12166787653/sizes/o/)
My only concern is vibration loosening the #8-32 screws holding the threaded inserts in place. As a result; I may end up locktite-ing the screws in place later.
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With the eject mechanism squared away; time to move on to the Proximity sensors. For those who don't recall; I didn't want switch holes taking away from the art of the playfield. As a result; I wanted to use a Proximity sensor to sense the ball instead of a mechanical switch. I went thru several designs ... none really worked. Settling on the tried and true TDA0161 designed used in modern Williams designs. Mixed in a little of my own circuitry and out came a custom layout which was 80% SMT except the "owner replaceable parts" Basically the diodes and the output transistor remained thru-hole... along with the TDA0161 which remained socketed.
I stenciled on some solder paste and went to work hand assembling 8 PCBs for use on the Playfield switches. All the SMTs were mounted and they went into the skillet for reflow:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7346/12166475763_4bf7925d18.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12166475763/sizes/o/)
I then hand soldered the thru hole components and ran thru a bench test and calibration to make sure they worked prior to install.
I was trying to figure out how to mount the sensing coils in the Playfield slots (underside); when it dawned on me that I could just mount the PCB over the slots and run the sensing coil on the bottom side of the PCB... pushing the leads down so the coil touched the bottom of the slot. Luckily I had incorporated 3 mounting screw holes in the design so mounting ... so the PCB became the coil mount. :D
I marked the mount holes with a center punch; and proceeded to drill and tap each mount hole for a #6-32 nylon standoff as the light boards were mounted. Here's the PF with the proximity sensors mounted:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5506/12166670894_6cee1c2b46.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12166670894/sizes/o/)
And a close up showing a set of PCBs mounted with the coil leads going into the slots:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7354/12166480193_c148899e0c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12166480193/sizes/o/)
With the PCBs mounted; I could then transfer the wiring harness from the donor PF to the Mirror Universe. Ofcourse it too had to be mirrored but that was easily accomplished by flipping the harness:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5513/12166974044_2b7a6e6fab.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12166974044/sizes/o/)
Now the fun of crimping connectors and re-soldering coil/switch terminals begins.
I also need to re-assembly the GI circuits/lamps. The cheapskate in me wants to try an re-use the old GI lamp sockets. However, the do-it-right guy in me; want to order new GI lamps so I won't have to deal with the damn flickering due to warn-out GI lamp sockets. Yes; I know you can solder/hack an old GI Lamp to work... but my experiences has been it doesn't work on every lamp.
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nice progress, looking good.
I have always wanted to use proxy sensors on a custom pin - would you sell some pre-assembled and tested?
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Let me get finished with this project first... While I tested it on the bench; it hasn't yet be tested in the full machine.
I'd like to know for sure it's ready to go before going that route. Also; keep in mind I only had 10bare PCBs made... so we'd have to get more manufactured before I could build a set.
One thing about the design did concern me... I had driven the switches with 12VDC and saw 9VDC at the pins of the Row/Column when the sensor isn't sensing. This concerns me given it's a 5V MPU. Luckily; My GI is DC ~8V.... so I'm going to drive the Prox Sensors w/ 8VDC... to get ~5V max at the row column pins with inactive.
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I learned last weekend that my Comic book artist continues to have life-getting in the way issues; and probably won't make delivery of the backglass art in time for me to get it on the machine for TPF. I asked him to be done several times... but family / deaths / real-work deadlines keep getting in the way.
So; On Thursday - I decided I was going to scan my existing CPR repro Prototype backglass and create my own. Well; the same HP Scanjet 4670 I used to scan the PF is now giving me a interference pattern on the scans.
As a result; I decided to use an existing scan of the production backglass and "mirror-ize" it to have some of the features of the ProtoType Backglass.
First; here an example of the original Production BG:
(http://phoenixx.pinballnirvana.com/backglasses/Star%20Trek.jpg) (http://www.pinballnirvana.com/forums/showpost.php?p=71270&postcount=7)
And here's My current revision of the BG I've modified:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3720/12282654433_f3338d723a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12282654433/sizes/o/)
I'm not sure about the nasa render of earth replacing the planetoid... I like it... but it may be too much for the BG.
Comments? Suggestions?
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I think it looks great though maybe could the grey design around earth be made a little lighter or semi see through and maybe the windows on the player 2 be placed in the forward position as well as the balls in play/credit to complete the boxes. Also how will the light shine through the 1 to 4 player go and maybe the colour seems a little odd as nothing else in the design is that colour I think….
overall looks great, you are definitely multiskilled ^^^
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Good idea on the grey.
I know the player2 and credits are blocked right now. I need to measure my 7digit nixies and make sure all the windows are big enough. I intend to do that later.
As far as the "1-4 can play"; my thought was the original didn't really "show" up that well. This way there is a complementary color scheme going on. I'm pretty sure there are two #47s under this font in the original.
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with the 1 to 4 be the violet with blue trim like the colours in the sky - reckon that would help it pop and look contemporary, and forgot about the nixie tubes as well.
thanks for the updates.
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I like it although I think the planet looks too photographic/realistic compared to the rest of the backglass.
Maybe you could do something a bit more like this with planet earth so it looks a bit more like a graphic than a photo/picture. Maybe even reversing the orientation of the continents to reflect the theme.
Just a thought off the top of my head. I'm loving what you are doing BTW!
(http://cf.badassdigest.com/_uploads/images/Terran_Empire.jpeg)
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I've taken into account some of the suggestions provided... Replacing the Earth with a custom Terran Empire Logo I created in Photoshop.
Better?
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7395/12301105466_b0cbddb532.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12301105466/sizes/o/)
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I think it looks very good, well done. ^^^
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I think that looks great, the planet ties in nicely! ^^^
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Needs more nipples
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Rev5 changelog:
1) Reworked Terran Logo again... Put "blade" behind planet to look similar to existing logos. Blade is smooth as opposed to chiseled. Ideally this would go thru the planet; but no idea how to do it right in photoshop.
2) Due to KLOV peer pressure; "flipped" Player 1&3 with 2&4.
3) Dude on left is now a RedShirt. :D
4) Uhura now has nipples and dark stockings.
5) All new art has "film grain" applied to it so it blends better with original artwork.
6) McCoy now has some muscles under uniform.
7) Everyone's boots have been blackened to better match the show.
Remember to click image to get very high rez image
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2861/12317085484_9cf79ebe41.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12317085484/sizes/o/)
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HA!
They're placed a bit funny, but I do appreciate the fast response.
Nipples make everything better... even if they're not "anatomically perfect".
(edit to add: by "placed funny" I just mean an inch or few. Don't want you to think that me saying "nipples make everything better" meant willy-nilly adding them to everybody else. Please don't put them on Kirk!)
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Done for Kirk and Spock. Look for it in the next update.
Just kidding.
Are you looking at the high rez image? Your not mistaking the pink highlights for nipples are you?
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Nope.
Here's an anatomical study for ya.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/mikeyphoto/Nip.jpg)
I wouldn't have noticed anything odd except at first glance I had the odd feeling I was being watched. !^!
edit to add: I thought before posting that picture and decided it was OK to do it because it's no more naughty than dozens of pinball backglasses, and also in this case it is literally an anatomical study.
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Ok. Rev 6 is online. Change log is somewhat minor:
1) New Terran Logo Revision; "stabs" thru planet like most artistic representations.
2) Spock has his dagger in his right hand. Beware of Evil Spock... he might just stab u in the back.
3) Kirk's is on his hip.
4) Per anatomical study by vinito; I "raised" the nipples a bit on Uhura. Do I need a hair more?
I couldn't find any "Mirror Universe" position I liked.
Thinking I'm about done here. Ideally; I'd add Uhura's Dagger; but we'll see.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3709/12337362853_66b9406df9.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12337362853/sizes/o/)
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That looks better with Spock holding a dagger. Before it looked slightly like he was playing air guitar. %.%
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yeah - Original backglass had that pose; it screamed Dagger to me.
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Nipples are better than none no matter where they are, hehe.
But if you're asking, I'd move them horizontally. It's comic book art. They call it "headlights" in comics.
Here's a classic pose and note the way the artist interprets it:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/mikeyphoto/HL.jpg)
I chose and cropped both images for their similarity to the body position of Uhuru.
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Agreed... Uhuru's left nipple needs to move further round to the left... or.. as we look at it.. nipple on RHS shifted to far RHS.
Its all in the detail but none of us has noticed Spocks dagger
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Nope.
Here's an anatomical study for ya.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/mikeyphoto/Nip.jpg)
I wouldn't have noticed anything odd except at first glance I had the odd feeling I was being watched. !^!
edit to add: I thought before posting that picture and decided it was OK to do it because it's no more naughty than dozens of pinball backglasses, and also in this case it is literally an anatomical study.
add about 30 percent to the size, and we have perfection. I used to enjoy those for 17 yrs til I got separated.
ahhh, the good old days.
but what someone said is right, no one does boobs better than on cartoon books/pictures etc. even the pinball teenage mutant ninja turtles features Aprils massive set of jugs.
why does cartoon art turn men on.lol It just does. Great boobs and you are all goo goo within seconds.lol admit it everyone. *%*
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Rev 7 Change log:
1) More nipple adjustment per anatomical study at AussiePinball.
2) Reduced "The mirror Universe" to be under Trek as suggested. Not sure I like it; but the forum participants have been vocal about it.
3) Changed Can play to more redish purple hue; so it's not completely standout.
4) Some sword shading under the planet to give it a more realistic look.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3769/12356635303_acd2201438.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12356635303/sizes/o/)
Gonna call this done unless someone wants to take the raw logo file and convert the red pattern background into a "blood red" sphere or something. I've reached the limited of my hobby grade knowledge of photoshop.
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1) see below for my personal take (kind of too subtle maybe, but the placement is more what I remember)
2) Hmmm. I'm with you on this one I think. Yea, the text was hidden behind the airplane, but maybe there's another way...hmmm.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/mikeyphoto/Tmb.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mikeyphoto/media/12356635303_ce8ec91314_o.jpg.html)
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OK here. Just a little less subtle.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/mikeyphoto/Thmb.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mikeyphoto/media/nipp.jpg.html)
(I would have just edited the previous post but my edit window expired)
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OK here. Just a little less subtle.
That looks good to me!
You could spend months tinkering with this ^&^. Maybe a blur or something is needed where the dagger pierces the planet but really it looks pretty good. Well done.
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looks great but agree with the Mirror Universe - could the 1 to 4 play be lowered a little and then have the Mirror Universe on the side under the player 3, otherwise very nice work.
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looks great but agree with the Mirror Universe - could the 1 to 4 play be lowered a little and then have the Mirror Universe on the side under the player 3, otherwise very nice work.
disagree, that will make it too far from the main title. Its called star trek the mirror universe, so I think it needs to be in close proximity.
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looks great but agree with the Mirror Universe - could the 1 to 4 play be lowered a little and then have the Mirror Universe on the side under the player 3, otherwise very nice work.
disagree, that will make it too far from the main title. Its called star trek the mirror universe, so I think it needs to be in close proximity.
you might be right when you put it like that
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looks great but agree with the Mirror Universe - could the 1 to 4 play be lowered a little and then have the Mirror Universe on the side under the player 3, otherwise very nice work.
disagree, that will make it too far from the main title. Its called star trek the mirror universe, so I think it needs to be in close proximity.
you might be right when you put it like that
I can't let you win with everything %.% you're a working man again ^^^ I gotta harden ya up again
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looks great but agree with the Mirror Universe - could the 1 to 4 play be lowered a little and then have the Mirror Universe on the side under the player 3, otherwise very nice work.
disagree, that will make it too far from the main title. Its called star trek the mirror universe, so I think it needs to be in close proximity.
you might be right when you put it like that
I can't let you win with everything %.% you're a working man again ^^^ I gotta harden ya up again
%.% %.% ^.^ ^.^ && &&
you did make a good point though about separating the title
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I'm not on my own PC so I can't edit pictures right now, but is this a possibility?
Lay it out something like this:
___________________________________
|STAR [UFO PICTURE] the MIRROR|
| TREK [ ] UNIVERSE |
To me it seems that the "mirror universe" part of the title actually has more to do with defining the game than the "Star Trek" franchise declaration, so equal size, style and color font would be appropriate. This way you could have it balance out between the left and right half and give "mirror universe" it's appropriate prominence, and of course the flying paper plate divides the two halves by default. And even the dividing in half kind of gives it a mirror-ish mental effect while you're reading it.
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good call vinito ^^^
also you need to add Zitt in a signature font to the end of the existing signature as now it is a combined effort of artwork. Work it to the very last sloped letter.
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It's was an awesomely mild weekend here in Austin; so I spent quite a bit of time in the garage working on the underside of the Playfield.
Thru the cold snap earlier in the week; I sent an internal goal of wiring the GI circuits/Lamps with color coded wire - A color a night. Rather than wiring each lamp with a bare stapled wire - I point-to-pointed each in it's specific color. IE Green, orange, red, and white. With the GI squared away during the week; I spend this weekend tackling the Hot common of the switch illumination (Blue). I also crimped my fingers swore; as I completed the Inserts wiring.
For the top GI connection; the original harness had two blue wires which were soldered to the "Common" of the lamp matrix. Instead I made a custom harness out of some 22gauge blue wire. Each one of these lamp boards had to be wired into that common.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/12426863193_6428719df8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12426863193/sizes/o/)
I tinned a piece of raw copper clad (blank circuit board material) and used it as a common tie point for the upper playfield's common hot. Each board was crimped to a length of blue wire and it was soldered to this tie point. The inserts were then crimped and installed on the connectors. Each LED board has a header so it can be uninstalled and fixed if necessary. For the upper playfield; A chain of 22awg blue wire moves between each led board in a circle; so in effect - each board has two 22AWG paths to hot. This should help with redundancy and supply more than enough current flow to lite the leds on the board. In the case of the upper two boards; they have 4pin connectors ... with 2 Anodes and the 2 signal wires.
And yes; for the most part; each LED board has a little Terran Empire logo in copper and/or silkscreen. :D
For the middle of the PF; I tapped into the blue wire harness and used a rounded barrel terminal to house the common hot. This common point feed the Klingon LED board as well as the center Enterprise inserts.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3764/12426714255_04db8181e1.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12426714255/sizes/o/)
2 qty 22AWG blue wires feed the center inserts common point:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3699/12426703505_4cafa30f29.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12426703505/sizes/o/)
I had to cut the tie wraps for the middle of the harness and feed some of the shorter wires between the drop target inserts and the led nacelle boards. With this new route; I had enough slack to make it to the large center insert connector for all signals.
Finally; I added another common hot tie point for the center Xk's inserts:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3743/12426707585_4421340629.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12426707585/sizes/o/)
I'm not real happy with the way this turned out... the wiring harness and connector are in the way of each other. Can't really be helped at this point; but you can still disconnect the board with minimal effort so it's still a win.
At this point; I'm about 80ish-% complete on the bottom side of the PF:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2826/12427199414_11f3cbfefb.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/112427199414/sizes/o/)
What's left to do on the bottom side?
1) Still need to wire in proximity sensors.
2) Flippers
3) Slingshot switches
4) Drop target assembly
5) Wire GI to nacelle boards; need to double confirm PSU board outputs the polarity I think it does for the GI so I don't hook it backwards.
6) Mount outhole switch and inlane switches.
My only question for you guys; is there typically a suggested method to refurbing the drop target assembly? I already have some new drop targets; but I'm wondering if I should try to source some new springs for assembly. Thoughts?
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Drop target assemblies... groan. Probably the worst job of them all. First rule is to NEVER take it apart unless you really really have to... and I mean really really.
I have some looong screws that I use.. take the old ones out ONE at a time and replace with the longer ones.. if you take them all out and it falls apart you will regret it.
Longer screws allow you to loosen the plates enough to swap over the drop target and change the spring if necessary... plates are loose but not separated.. longer screws.. remember.. longer screws.. don't let it fall apart
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Need help:
Can someone with a 7digit Bally machine measure the clear opening in the artwork over the displays?
I need this measurement to adjust the Mirror Universe BG openings by the proper amount to allow for the 7digit Nixies.
Thanks
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Tonight I put the near finishing touches on the underside of the Playfield. I ran out of Butane for my cordless soldering iron; so I couldn't solder in the new fuse block for the solenoids. I tried in vane this weekend to source some butane from both Lowes (was out) and Walmart (doesn't carry?!)... so; meh.
Anyway; the red star posts from the donor playfield are already in the ultrasonic cleaner... so hopefully; I can start assembling the top of the PF tomorrow night.
Here's detail pictures of the 99.9% PF all wired up:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2859/12629364495_78b69d3928.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12629364495/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5501/12629389865_5e21bb088a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12629389865/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5541/12629369793_4bca2e461d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12629369793/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5521/12629862304_2d0eaabbdf.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12629862304/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7393/12629869274_61eebb72a1.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12629869274/sizes/o/)
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Tonight I finished soldering in the Fuse holder for the Solenoids and began installing the Posts. I wanted to do something a little different for the upper PF... matching the Posts to the Art where possible. As a result I decided to put Blue transparent Lane guides instead of the red Bally opaque lane guides. Since guides and the posts were blue; I figured I'd need some blue LEDs to accent the guides from a GI perspective.
Here's a Day/Flash shot showing the installation:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7414/12649204783_f894dd4e8b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649204783/sizes/o/)
I worked with Art @ CometPinball.com (http://"http://www.cometpinball.com") to get a sampling of his LEDs. I went thru several iterations focusing on the blue variety to see what lit the area the best. I wasn't very scientific about the installation; kinda moving them somewhat systematically to see what popped.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649112605/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649112605/)
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/12649553104_b550b37714.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649553104/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7365/12649219373_e35c789235.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649219373/sizes/o/) Yeap; Even tried white LEDs. Didn't like that I could see the white bulb thru the lane guides.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7412/12649096715_7a4b2e36be.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649096715/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7314/12649586364_2549331c22.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649586364/sizes/o/)
And finally settling on the 1st & 2nd blue LEDs I liked (no ambient light, no flash):
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7450/12649112605_94514deb93.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12649112605/sizes/o/)
If I were to grade the Blue Comet LEDs for this application (according to my minds-eye):
1) 2 SMD 6.3V AC/DC SUPREME BRIGHTNESS with FACETED LENS
2) Optix Maximus Blue
3) 4+1 SMD Tower Blue
I really like the pattern the Faceted Lens puts out; especially the Warm White. If I were an LED designer; I might try combining the Optix Maximus lens with a facetted ring; so as to combine the "flood" in the vertical direction and the pattern spread in the horiztonal direction.
The PopBumpers contain Comet's 6 crystal FAN LEDs; which I think fits the pop bumpers perfectly.
Phase 2 of the LED tests will comprise of the White versions of Comet Pinball's against the Star Trek: Mirror Universe plastics... but I need to get them printed first. :D
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very nice work, like the leds used ^^^
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Received the Star Trek: Mirror Universe translite from GameOnGrafix.com (http://www.gameongrafix.com) today... Overall I think it looks pretty damn sweet.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5473/12669501055_62402639d0.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12669501055/sizes/o/)
This weekend I hope to start cutting out the windows for the nixie tube displays and begin mounting it to the Acrylic I hope to get tomorrow from RegalPlastics.
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well done, looks great
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I think it looks awesome ^^^
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Sweet!
I am glad I whined about the nipples. Maybe it's just me but that is the first thing I notice when I look at it. Kind of like the camel toe on Strikes 'n Spares. Every backglass should have something like that in my opinion.
All the other areas look great too. Lots of work went into it and it all flows nicely. Great job.
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Need help:
Can someone with a 7digit Bally machine measure the clear opening in the artwork over the displays?
I need this measurement to adjust the Mirror Universe BG openings by the proper amount to allow for the 7digit Nixies.
Thanks
it measures 140mm same as 6 digit well mine does(gold ball)
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I am glad I whined about the nipples. Maybe it's just me but that is the first thing I notice when I look at it. Kind of like the camel toe on Strikes 'n Spares. Every backglass should have something like that in my opinion.
I agree. Others have made references to the feature. so yeah; thumbs up. :D
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Right now; the artwork is a translite - as a result; I want to make sure the lamps behind it don't wash out the colors and I need to provide a mechanism to enable the hidden text which is illuminated by said lamps. So I used a black layer to create a "lite blocker" layer which if successful will be sent to the vynil cutter at Techshop where it can be use to create the dark silver layer necessary to "block" said lamp light.
I took the ipdb.org picture (http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2355&picno=52946), straighten and scaled it in photoshop then used it as a template to enable the custom "silver layer" for the mirror universe:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5534/12738879994_960d669b7f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12738879994/sizes/o/)
I wanted:
1) the yellow part of the sky to "glow" and contrast the dark planet side features.
2) the pants of the crew to be dark (unlike the original).
3) Artists signatures to glow.
4) Hidden text is an Original Series font.
5) Gold parts of logo glow... as does some shading on the red part of earth.
6) Primitive ruins glow.
Here's a rendering of what it should look like if the lite block comes out like I hope:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7299/12738307643_9c35f058fc.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12738307643/sizes/o/)
The hardest part is going to be getting the dark to register closely to the translite.
Now it's time to turn back to the backbox ... namely to install the ATX powersupply and PSU board to enable the LED test Phase2.
SteveC came to the rescue and 3d-Printed a set of ATX psu brackets I designed a couple of months ago. The design is based on a 3dprinter psu bracket I downloaded off thingaverse IIRC.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7402/12738873094_3bce8ef1bf.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12738873094/sizes/o/)
Once I had the brackets mounted; the PSU just slides right in an attaches via the atx mounting screws:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3798/12738499803_0a6ae1e8fb.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/112738499803/sizes/o/)
Now to figure how where to mount the PSU board... I could have mounted it above the ATX PSU... but I thought the original wireing harness may have trouble reaching up there; so I decided to mount the PSU on top of the PSU fan... that way the airflow cools the linear regulator used for the GI lamps. I center promptly voided the warranty of the PSU; but drilling #6-32 holes for the nylon standoffs. With the standoffs in place; the board was mounted to the psu:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3782/12738819484_c29fc12004.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12738819484/sizes/o/)
After mounting everything; I notices the psu may be a little high... to high and it'll smack the credit/ball display. To low and it'll smack the player 3 display. I'm working on the light board right now... so should have an idea if I need to make an adjustment early this week.
That's about all there is to report from this weekend... got a lot of irons in the fire... controlled chaos keeping them all in check. Stay tuned.
BTW: Is anyone else having issues with Flickr uploads? I Keep getting "reconnect" messages on uploading batches of pictures.
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good to see you added your signature to the translite
looking forward to seeing this lit up as well as the nixie tubes.
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good to see you added your signature to the translite
+1
That was a lot of work & no doubt a ton of time and you definitely earned your mark there (as well as other places on the game!).
I'm looking forward to seeing those nixie tubes too.
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Phase 2 of the LED test begins now that I have the PSU board installed.
Here's the Orbit with a donor plastic from the donor PF. Bullet style:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/12761779203_c654385e3a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761779203/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7453/12761634695_f78acccc6e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761634695/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/12761779203_c654385e3a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761788413/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5537/12761794313_91f5459403.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761794313/sizes/o/)
- Natural White 5 SMD Tower
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7333/12761657285_4542436588.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761657285/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5491/12761813373_ef111e2985.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761813373/sizes/o/)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5509/12761672635_bd021c3959.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761672635/sizes/o/)
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3785/12761680795_942b976f07.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761680795/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7335/12761694095_cfa728de1a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761694095/sizes/o/)
- NWhite 6 LED Crystal Fan 661
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3831/12762150324_8c94883ee2.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12762150324/sizes/o/)
[/list]
Truth be told; I'm just not "feeling" any color other than Warm White. Yeah; my sample size was heavily weighted to WW to begin with; but that was on purpose given I feel Warm White is closer to the incandescent light bulbs of the era. None of the LEDs were "ideal". Some washed out the plastics with bright spots. Most can seen in the orbits... making the "look" of the bulb somewhat important.
I think once again; the Facetted lens style appealed to me most. I really like the light pattern it throws on the surface of the wood.
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The Orbits aren't the only "important" areas on the PF; so I wanted to try the Warm White Facetted bulbs in the other areas of the PF.
Slingshots:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7363/12761715515_aaeaef5612.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761715515/sizes/o/)
Check - Lights up the slings without issue.
500 target:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5480/12761870863_9d3b64f710.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761870863/sizes/o/)
Check - Good illumination and the bulb isn't horrible either.
BustyBlonde:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3774/12762160414_ba964d4a5d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12762160414/sizes/o/)
ALWAYS a problem in this game. Not enough light bulbs in this area to keep the plastics well lit.
Let's try one of Comet's 3LED strips in combo with the Facetted:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2868/12761877613_15fb244785.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/112761877613/sizes/o/)
Yes; I know the strip doesn't match the bulb in color tone. I'm not sure Comet Carries the strips in Warm White. Art sent me this as a sample to play with.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7289/12761738865_6571d35578.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12761738865/sizes/o/)
But; it had the intended effect of lighting the plastic more uniformly. Need to ponder on the situation to see what can be done. Maybe CometPinball.com has these in WarmWhite... or maybe I'll have to make my own.
With most of the items "Checked" off; I think I'll go with mainly Warm White Facetted. Blue Facetted for the TE lanes... and some strips to help in the darker areas.
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Love the work you are doing.
LED selection is damn hard with all the styles and warmth' of the light. We had a host of problems years ago with differences in LED's from the same manufacturer and different batches. I'm sure they are better now.
It's good to see your selection process the difference is huge.
Simon.
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Time for a quick update... Lots going on behind the scenes getting the machine to a point where I can power up. I've been working on little bits and pieces almost non-stop after work. Wed and Thursday night last week; I began assembling the new Lamp Matrix board. It's about 1/3rd the size of the original and uses MOSFETs instead of SCRs. Here's the board getting "skillet reflowed" with all the SMT parts.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/12897407863_513140be27.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12897407863/sizes/o/)
While assembling the head; I noticed that all the display brackets were rusted pretty good. So I needed to take them to techshop and sandblast the rust off. I figured it was time to make a day of it at techshop on Sunday... so I queued up a bunch of work.
I attempted to mount the 48V transformer for the solenoids but quickly realized I didn't have the right hardware. I didn't want it mounted in the Backbox; instead I opted to mount it on the wood rail on the bottom of the cabinet. It was time to create a bracket for the transformer; so I decided to use the stainless steel leftovers I used for the inlane mechanism. Some CAD work Saturday night yielded the following watercut bracket:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7338/12897272135_dbe4e22916.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12897272135/sizes/o/)
Put it in the Techshop break and:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2883/12897691514_1d6e7fb178.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12897691514/ sizes/o/)
A M8x1.25 tap for the center hole and some wood screws; and we have the bracket installed ready for use:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7456/12897691314_1f96b94261.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12897691314/sizes/o/)
Here's a test fit of the transformer:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7390/12897691174_321c7b90a5.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12897691174/sizes/o/)
:thumbs up:
I decided I was going to powdercoat the parts with a Nickel color since I had a bunch of it in the garage. I took a whole bunch of parts to get sandblasted. Coindoor parts & hinges, and the bottom metal sheet metal on the underside of the cabinet.
Bottom Metal sheet before:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3480/3903296350_e3b9e7eb57.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/3903296350/sizes/o/)
After Sandblasting and powdercoat:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3802/12897362103_16a520fa72.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12897362103/sizes/o/)
Also did the display trays; but no pictures yet. Will post them later when I have them installed.
That's about it for tonights update.
It's suppose to be very cold here in Austin tomorrow... so unsure how much time I'm going to spend it the garage. If I feel up-to-it; I'm going to try and wire the transformer to the PSU board. Maybe do some work on the topside of the PF.
I hope to power up the machine sometime this week. :Fingers crossed:
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Work continues on the Transformer and power situation. I began by sleeving the transformer connections to make them less of a mess inside the cabinet and then began wiring the ATX powersupply cable. I thought... hey; I'll just wired the ATX PSU into the existing wiring harness going into the machine. Keep in mind I designed the ATX PSU board to always power the ATX PSU when AC is supplied. So in effect right now; the Machine will always be powered.
The switch in the machine is AFTER where I tied in the ATX PSU - as the Noise Suppressor is only rated for 5Amps as is the cable feeding the main power switch. The switch goes after the noise suppressor. The existing switch is only rated for 5A... and ATXs can demand 15A on a fully loaded machine. So it's not as simple as just wiring the ATX psu after the switch. Gonna have to replace the switch and probably run a wire back to the ATX power cable.
So I took a trip to Lowes to get some 14gauge black wire to wire the hot side from the switch to the ATX power cable. I also stopped by Fry's Electronics to get a suitable switch which could handle the current. I ended up selecting a DPDT 20A / 125V... not because I needed 20A... but because they didn't have anything on the shelf > 10A.
I desoldered the old switch and replace it with the new... putting in a red and a black wire to tie in the ATX PSU. In effect; I've bypassed the noise suppressor on the hot rail. But alas; can't be helped right now as I'm out of time for TPF.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7413/12964652414_81b8fd43c7.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12964652414/sizes/o/)
Here's the transformer wired up with sleeved power connections going into the backbox.
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2077/12964222365_363fc39a82.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12964222365/sizes/o/)
Overall:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7309/12964372543_293d0d474a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12964372543/sizes/o/)
He is Stinker... and He approves this message!
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Just after work Tonight - ClayD, Bess, and I worked on vinyl cutting the light blocker from Black vinyl on Techshop's Cutter. Here's the bottom of the LiteBlocker, Weeded on transfer tape; ready to move to the backside of the glass:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2542/12964485373_3e234578db.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12964485373/sizes/o/)
And after some work getting it aligned right:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7305/12964761354_7ec921fa96.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12964761354/sizes/o/)
Then We cut the top lite blocker and after about 1.5hrs working on the top; This is what I can show you:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/12964655574_7251c882f6.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12964655574/sizes/o/)
Here's a picture with it backlit by the overhead fluorescent lights in my garage. Best I can do right now as I'm waiting on USPS to deliver my CometPinball LED order.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7421/12964375633_80215ca67c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/12964375633/sizes/o/)
Some slight registration issues in a couple of spots; Due to workflow issues between photoshop (raster -> path) ... then to CorelDraw. I think at some point one of the conversions grew the mask by a 1/4" causing registration issues in some areas. If I have time I'll try to trim it up a bit more with an xacto knife before TPF.
Anyway; overall really happy with the results.
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This weekend was all about lighting and plastics. First step was to replicate the plastic ball guides on the game.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3727/13053191625_76d7a51b68.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053191625/sizes/o/)
I knew I couldn't replicate the metal standoffs in my home shop... nor could I really duplicate them easily / cheaply at Techshop. So I jumped in my appropriated Klingon Bird of Prey and slugshot around the Sun arriving in the year 1986... on a mission to procure some Transparent Aluminum so I could machine me some standoffs. Turns out that Transparent Aluminum hadn't been invented yet so I worked out a deal with a materials engineer to trade the formula for a suitable material with equivalent properties. The engineer and myself agree that Acrylic would have to do in a pinch. So I loaded up my Bird of Prey and came back to the present.
The idea would be to laser cut the acrylic... and some 1/8"wall acrylic tubing and bond them together with some acylic solvent. Here's the test piece I created to test my theory:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2219/13053150373_a1fb5693b5.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053150373/sizes/o/)
Why Acrylic Tubing? Well; I feel that the metal standoffs used in the original pieces block a lot of the light from the lamps underneath said plastics. With the tubing; the light transmission should be at the best case conditions. With the test piece a success; I began the work of assembling these pieces. I needed to clamp the acrylic pieces to the tube standoffs while the solvent bonded the two pieces together. What better way than to use the alignment board used by the sign shop to print the playfield. Some screws and we have the ability to clamp:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7386/13053014945_326c96803a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053014945/sizes/o/)
I opted to recreate the grey standoffs as well; so they'd also be clear.
Here's a closeup shot of one of the ball guides being clamped:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7377/13053153643_02f3479dc8.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053153643/sizes/o/)
The guide we left to finish bonding overnight... just to be safe.
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While those guides bonded; It was time to work on the guide behind the drop targets. This guide is created in sheet metal with riveted brackets on the original machine. I opted to recreate this bracket in 1/8" clear acrylic. Why; Again... I feel the sheet metal block all the lite from the bulb under the plastic; preventing it from lighting up the playfield. I have a concern than the acrylic won't hold up long-term to the ball abuse; but short term I think the experiment is worth the benefit. I layed out a new bracket in CAD and sent it to the laser cutter at techshop; then using the original as a guide; I used a heatgun and some clamps to bend the bracket into shape.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3395/13053337744_e8b84a76ce.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053337744/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7307/13053021755_b961b39ff9.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053021755/sizes/o/)
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2824/13053341964_3c547a1e7b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053341964/sizes/o/)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7439/13053168353_449cdb8d31.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053168353/sizes/o/)
And checking the shape on the dummy PF:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3031/13053037315_09739b8817.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053037315/sizes/o/)
Countersunk holes house the #6-32 counter sunk machine screws. Here's what it looks like; with it (sneak peak) plastics installed:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3658/13053180453_c062fe0134.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053180453/sizes/o/)
:Thumbs Up:
More tomorrow... time for bed.
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Been spending the last few nights chasing the bugs out of the system. Got the MPU board to boot, but goes straight into diag mode instead of attract mode.
Had a Soleniod board with a bad 'LS154 decoder. The ChipSelect pin was shorted to ground; causing the coils to fire every time the soundboard was accessed. It was pretty funny to hear the star trek theme being beat out by coils on the PF.
Tonight I worked on some of the lamps and began reassembly of the coin door.
Since that's all I have to report; let's take a step back in time and continue updates from this past weekend.
The Plastics were installed given the ball guides were completed. One of the pet peve areas of the original Bally is the darkness of the Enterprise plastic behind the drop targets. Given the entire machine is planned to be LED for it's entire life; I don't have to worry about lamp heat melting the posts. So; drilled a hole between the two posts:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3526/13053366314_a696aa520e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053366314/sizes/o/)
I promptly voided the warranty of one of Comet Pinball's LEDs by removing the Bayonet Base and collar... then soldered a Green and Orange GI wire to the diodes.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3027/13053209873_f104c82011.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053209873/sizes/o/)
I saved the 30ohm current limit resistor from the base and soldered inline under the PF:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3631/13053366644_817832037c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053366644/sizes/o/)
Connecting the wires to the base of a GI lamp socket nearby.
The result:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7420/13053196103_30186ba422.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13053196103/sizes/o/)
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Today was a good day... in short; Star Trek: The Mirror Universe LIVES.
A design short-sight with the MOSFET LAMP board I designed rendered the LED switched inserts too dim. Basically; I had forgotten that the MPU scans each LAMP in sequence which in effect cause the LEDs to be on for only a short period of time. I can't fix the design (will require a board spin at a minimum) in time for TPF; so I had to go back to the original lamp board... along with shoehorn in a 6.3V Switch GI transformer from radioshack.
ShertzPinball loaned me a untested Lamp board which I debugged and was able to get the lamps functioning well enough for TPF. Thanks Jason!
All but one lamp is working... the outlier is the 10K bonus section on the primary hull of the ISS Enterprise. I'm planning on further debug after I get it buttoned together. I suspect a bad SCR; but will have to test.
MPU was going straight into Diagnostics... or resetting after the machine entered Attract mode. given it was going into Diag / test mode was a clue... turns out that the 6821 PIA at U10 had pin 40 bent under the package instead of into the socket. This caused the flakiness.
All solenoids are firing under test; ball ejects into the shooter lane.
All switches adjusted so switch test passes. Original soundcard passes tone test.
Proximity sensors tested and verified working.
3 of 5 displays are installed in Pl1,2, and the credit window. All pass the diagnostic digit count.
Coin door reassembled and attached to cabinet. Lockdown bar hardware is being cleaned and prepped for re-install tomorrow.
Hope to install side rails and misc cabinet hardware tomorrow.
Sunday I hope to finish the last two displays and install them. It's at this point I'll probably drill the hole for the left handed shooter.
So; What Do I have to report? Let's finish up the picture bomb from last weekend's work. Rather than post a bunch of individual plastics images... I've created a panoramic stitch of several high resolution shots. Feel free to click the picture/link and look at the detailed original image: ( yeah... it's HUGE... so big it wouldn't load in IE11. Chrome or FireFox)
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2341/13162086554_ea644cfdc5.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13162086554/sizes/o/)
Each plastic (except the orbits) has it's own protector. There is protective transfer tape over the backglass... which will stay on until TPF to reduce scratches.
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Attention moves to the Lockdown bar mechanisms and coin door. I resurfaced the coindoor skin with some sandpaper and installed the new coin door inserts; pictures later when I take them. Installed the coin door and proceed to clean the lockdown bar assembly:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3679/13212238865_99ab221199.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13212238865/sizes/o/)
I disassembled it and cleaned the rust / grime off with some coarse sandpaper. Once I had the bracket rust free; I powdercoated it with some chrome powdercoat; keeping the metal on metal area free of powder coat. I reassembled the mechanism with stainless steel hardware to help prevent future rust:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3777/13212567214_862379773a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13212567214/sizes/o/)
Playfield hanger bracket got the same sanding/powdercoating treatment:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3720/13212245615_09f8841a33.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13212567214/sizes/o/)
I have more to report; but it'll have to wait until tomorrow as it's late and I have work in the morning.
Toodles.
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This is coming along nicely. Can't be too far away?
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TPF is at the end of march (27th to be exact)... so has to be done asap.
Plan is to play a game early tomorrow night.... I hope.
Time to finish the lockdown bar... but the lockdown bar and side rails kinda go together.
I had bought a new set of side rails from PBResource... but they don't fit right. Not sure if it was my error or theirs. I'll have to email them when I get a chance.
Since I couldn't use the NEW side rails; I really had no choice but to recycle the old ones since I had no time to really source and ship new ones. The old ones were bent by the backbox as some point... and there is a really nasty scratch on one side.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3718/13212580734_2af7a6de2c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13212580734/sizes/o/)
I tried resurfacing the rails with a belt sander... but it still looked like as$ to be honest. So... what to do?!?
Guess one must powdercoat them with black and the holographic clear coat as was done on the apron. :D
So at 7:30pm Sunday; I jumped in the truck and raced up north to Techshop where I could bake these huge as pieces...
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3769/13212406873_902fa5a211.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13212406873/sizes/o/)
Yeap; that's right... I made the lockdown bar match... would you expect any different? I thought maybe the black would be too much; but it's really kinda kick ass on the machine:
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2843/13212270615_ffae16210a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13212270615/sizes/o/)
You likey?
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3698/13212419853_0ac364af93.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13212419853/sizes/o/)
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Me likey very much!.. lockdown bar looks fantastic.. love it
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looks great, can't wait for a gameplay video and the nixie tube vid
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:(
Last night (Monday) I finally got to a point where I could try to play a game.
Didn't get very far.
Turns out the Proximity Sensors are triggering the switch matrix; but at the wrong "locations". IE I thought they were working... IE they triggered _a_ switch; but not the correct switch. Spent most of the evening (tonight) troubleshooting this and came to the conclusion that I can't hook a transistor directly to the switch matrix. As a result I ordered some relays and other components from Digikey so I can do some dead-bug rework to put the relays in place of the transistor.
Gotta be honest here guys... if it weren't for all the "excited"/"can't wait" proclamations here on the forums; I just would have just given up for this years TPF.
I'm going to move along and try to test other aspects of the game. The other issue I have is a dead flipper. Firstly; the flippers are swapped. IE I swapped the wiring harness on the PF but not the cabinet. So the Right button is flipping the Left. The Left button is dead. Haven't troubleshot the dead flipper yet; I'm thinking I'll swap pins on the solenoid board connector... and start troubleshooting.
Once that is done; I'll begin assembling the last of the displays while I wait on the parts from Digikey.
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Let's all breath a collective sigh of relief.... things have been rough the last week; but I have burnt many hours to be able to report:
Star Trek: The Mirror Universe is 98% ready for TPF.
Displays done and installed.
Proximity Sensor issues resolved with some rework and a relay per board. Lanes now score!
Shooter Installed.
I actually play tested about 6-8 games tonight.
The 2%?
PopBumper Spoons are causing issues:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tech-popbumper-skirt-wedges-out-of-spoon
So bad that if the left upper bumper skirt wedges out of the spoon... and I hit a slingshot; the machine tilts.
I don't have replacement spoons here.
Display scoring is corrupted by the Nixie design / Bally code issue. Oliver (A Bally code expert) is looking into the software for me. I hope by the end of the weekend to have solution. Backup is still standard score displays.
Tomorrow I have to solder two more LEDs... and maybe some LED strips; and I'm done until TPF setup.
No pictures. Right now I need to break for STNG repair for TPF... and want to do some mods to my Stern ST LE for TPF. Worst case; maybe someone from TPF will post their feedback / pictures. And if there is time; I'll try to capture some game play videos from TPF.
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Looks Fantastic!
Simon.
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Oliver @ pinball4you.ch is now officially my super hero. He went into the Star Trek Code and added code to ensure the data was on the Display Data bus before transitioning from low to high on the Latch Enable (IE ensuring Setup time was valid). Then set the LE to Low and move to the next display. The Nixies work like they are suppose to ... and all 7 digits work to. This means I don't need to downgrade/borrow to original displays and can stick with the original design. :D
He's also looked into another issue I found in the project:
When the machine goes to eject the ball into the inlane; It seems to send the drop target reset at the ball ejector solenoid at the same exact time. On my system; it causes the power drain to be too much and leads to a limp
ball eject that doesn't always make it up the ramp to the inlane. This inturn causes another eject cycle complete with a simultaneous solenoid trigger.
To be honest; Bally probably should have checked for any drop targets down before "resetting" the assembly. This would also prevent the "sag" I'm seeing on the solenoid rail.
He just sent me a test rom to try; so I'll have to check it out tomorrow night after work.
Oliver is a great guy to have during crunch mode. I really appreciate what he's done for this project... and for the countless other people by providing patches and such for freeplay and 7digits.
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Can vouch for Oliver. He helped me with scans for plastics before. ^^^
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On floor... Running at Texas Pinball festival this past weekend:
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cvL-coHNX88/Uzod9s4gtFI/AAAAAAAAAWg/GLRbPsQjXjs/w366-h651-no/2014329190957.jpg)
Steve Richie playing the machine:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/13505224984_deb84e136d.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13505224984/sizes/o/)
On Sunday; the machine was announced to have won Grand Champion / Best of Show award of the 230-some-odd machines on the floor.
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well done, looks excellent
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Congratulations on a job well done! Grand Champion is fabulous.
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A fantastic achievement and reward for dedication. Well done !
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A monumental effort! Well done. @@*
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A well deserved accolade!!.. Now give us some close ups of the nixie display.. looks VERY sweet from here!
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Congrats mate, really deserved and I bet your competition agreed. When they saw you effort, they must have thought, "now there's the winner"
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Not bad for just flipping the playfield over and splattering a bit of paint.
Pretty cool. Congratulations on both getting it completed & working as well as the award.
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Congratulations a well deserved award for your effort. It looks fantastic. ^^^
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Nice job on the game Zitt . being a left hander i would love to play this game! I having been watching this for months with amazement! The Nixie displays are fantastic , 10 out of 10 ^^^
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Best in Show! Well done.
I too love the nixie displays. I have a nixie clock at home , there look really cool .
You did very well to get it all together for the show.
Pic of Steve Ritchie playing it , priceless..
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That is awesome, congratulations, all the hard work has paid off ^^^
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Thanks everyone!
Here's a close up of the Nixies as taken by a fellow TPFer:
(http://static.projects.hackaday.com/images/3568501397022758162.jpg) (http://hackaday.io/project/674-Star-Trek%3A-The-Mirror-Universe-Pinball)
I've started transferring this Mirror Universe project to hackaday.io to get some visibility and hopefully win their SciFi contest ending at the end of this month.
Thanks to all who signed up on hackaday.io. I seem to be in 12th place.
7 skulls vs 22 for the leader. Can I become the leader with your help?
http://hackaday.io/project/674-Star-Trek%3A-The-Mirror-Universe-Pinball
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The nixies look cool, great touch ()
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A fellow pinsider asked for a tutorial about how I made the custom LED PCBs. I posted a quick tutorial about how I created custom shaped PCBs which lined up with the inserts on this project.
Please take a look at:
http://pinball-mods.com/blogs/?p=437 (http://pinball-mods.com/blogs/?p=437)
And provide any feedback or suggestions for improvement.
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A little more publicity on your effort today.
Hackaday posted a blurb:
http://hackaday.com/2014/04/24/sci-fi-contest-roundup-star-trek/
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yeap. Thanks. Contest ends in 5days (4/29); so keep those skull / following 's coming.
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As posted to twitter ( @Zittware (https://twitter.com/Zittware) ):
Are you ready for some Star Trek #pinball at the Intel booth at the Austin Mini Maker Faire? #IntelAMMF14
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7442/13906690907_726b3d2588.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/52968060@N00/13906690907/sizes/o/)
We are ready for your #pinball skills...
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Great work ,it's good u saw the project through.....
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<sigh>
This is NOT a licensed copy of my work
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cpr-bally-star-trek-playfield-mod
CPR copied without even an acknowledgment.
Maybe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... but I can't help feel like some sort of compensation is in order. Hell... if they'd approached me BEFORE the theft; I might have given them a free license in exchange for a "thanks to Zitt" comment on their site.
I'm really fuxing pissed that these ash-hats stole my design without permission... then implemented an inferior product. I've been trying to "hold my cool"; but it's really bothering me... so much that I considered filing a provisional utility patent so I could take legal action against them.
For now; I think I'll just keep it cool until they ship the product...
Maybe erasing Stu's Karma points on Pinside thru down votes is a good starting point.
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I hear you but it seems you are an island on Pinside because even though it is a blatant rip off of your work, Pinsiders don't care so long as they can satisfy their needs to their precious machines. Even if you had a licence for these, it would make no difference and pinsiders would not care a hoot so long as they could grab one from someone.
I have the same problem with Twisted Pins selling unlicenced GTB stencils... people don't care that the products is a bootleg.. they don't care that the artwork doesn't align properly etc. They only care to satisfy themselves.
Regarding the video.. its a 3.40mins video supposedly about the ripped off idea.. first 2 mins are him talking complete shit!
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CPR provided a detailed email to me personally and provided more details in their thread:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cpr-bally-star-trek-playfield-mod#post-1840475
I'm now satisfied that I was in error in my assumption of Theft. In this case; great minds think alike.