Introducing Infinity Amusements

[swinks]

I would disagree with you in that MDF has to perfectly sealed and if not will swell to double if it gets any moisture. Plywood is much more stable especially if the correct type is selected amd if you went that extra bit to seal. Plywood is the classic as it lasts, MDF can not be fastened that well relying heavily on glued joints and if it takes some knocks will delaminate. MDF machines nicer and easier To machine and smoother to prep but that's about it.

As for brims The last i bought off them was 8 years ago so maybe they closed doors but the name did come up in a search based in Brisbane. Mister Plywood is another good supplier in nsw and qld and they have the classic 3/4" ply thickness? Ensure you go for a laser ply or similar as then the sheets will be perfectly flat, and no knots and nice to machine. Cheap construction ply of internal ply will be only have good layers on the outer surfaces and not in the centre.

http://www.misterplywood.com.au/

Hope that helps

[Homepin]

is Indiegogo like Kickstarter when no money is taken unless the project is successful in raising the $7k.

Kickstarter is only available to residents of the USA and the UK

Indiegogo is available to Australians and a project can be run one of two ways. Either an "all or nothing" fundraiser (same as KS) or another way where ALL money raised - even if it is only 10% - you get.

It depends on what you are doing with the money and project how you would work it.

Remember, you are NOT buying anything, you are pledging your support for a project by helping people get their ideas up - 'perks' are offered but not a given....and often are never delivered.

[swinks]

I have to edit this as my wording is terrible, shouldn't comment from a ipad


I would have to disagree with you in that MDF is not the ideal choice as it has to be perfectly sealed, and if not it will swell to double if it gets any moisture in that area. Plywood is much more stable especially if the correct type is selected amd if you went that extra bit to seal the edges underneath. Plywood is the classic as it lasts, MDF can not be fastened that well with screws as it will separate the layers so relies heavily on glued joints (not water based) and if it takes some knocks will delaminate as well. MDF machines does nicer and is smoother to prep (apart from the ends as will suck in the multiple coats of sealer) but that's about it.

As for Brims The last i bought off them was 8 years ago so maybe they closed doors but the name did come up in a search based in Brisbane. Mister Plywood is another good plywood supplier and can make custom ply and are located in NSW and QLD and they have the classic 3/4" ply thickness? Ensure you go for a laser ply or similar as then the sheets will be perfectly flat, use better glue's, no knots and is nice to machine. Cheap construction ply is crap of interior ply will be only have good layers on the outer surfaces and not in the centre - hence the warping.

http://www.misterplywood.com.au/

Also consider Stern did a few pin like the check version of Ironman etc in mdf as well as the The Pin and these are meant to be home pins and never sited and reckon after a few sales will not last the 30 years of use and transport like many of the old Gottlieb's. Ballys and WMS still with us.

Go for quality.


Hope that helps

[swinks]

Kickstarter is available to Aussies and has been for a while but it has to be in USD and freight has to be calculated from the US so some ventures do seem a little confusing on their origin.

Kickstarter Australia started last week based in Sydney as well on Fathers Day for those considering this avenue for a global project.

[oldpins]

I have been thinking for a while about making or purchasing a MAME pinball cabinet. Starting price for the Mini has got me very interested. I hope this project succeeds for the developers, I will certainly support them.

[Homepin]

Kickstarter is available to Aussies and has been for a while but it has to be in USD and freight has to be calculated from the US so some ventures do seem a little confusing on their origin.

Kickstarter Australia started last week based in Sydney as well on Fathers Day for those considering this avenue for a global project.

Thanks for that heads up - very interesting

[swinks]

I find the kickstarter projects interesting & inspiring and have supported a few and had no problems yet, the successful project is definitely the one where you get something physical for supporting a project, and alot of people use it for getting a business idea off the ground and some are just amazing raising 5 to 10 times what they were originally chasing - Makerbot was a classic to help the guys get started and then it allowed 3D printing to become a product that anyone could own not just the big company.

here is the link to the Aussie Kickstarter branch starting soon
http://www.kickstarter.com/australia

[soundasleep]

Swinks: Thanks for all the information on the pro's and con's of MDF vs Plywood. I wanted to use plywood originally to give the cabinets that "classic" feel but was advised there were too many headaches involved. This "laser ply" sounds perfect. I'll bring it up with ArcadeWorX tomorrow and see where we can go. If I can get quality plywood we will certainly go that route.

Re: Kickstarter. Currently you need to be a US/UK or Canadian citizen to use it - you need a the equivalent of a tax file number and a local bank account. There are ways around it (setting on a US shell company) which works great if you are a software project, or a small piece of hardware - anything that can easily be shipped worldwide as every reward needs to be available to US/UK/Canada and you can restrict from there.

They also have restrictions on the campaign itself - it needs to be a set project with a beginning and end, rewards need to be the result of the project and you can't raise funds to "start up" your business, only the product itself.

Given we are aiming at the Australian and NZ market, and offering merch as rewards (perks) it meant we couldn't use KickStarter even if it was available to Aussie right now.

I got an email on Friday morning letting me know KS is coming to Australia, I think it said November.

The fantastic news (and an official update is going out later tonight) is we have secured private funding to build our "to spec" prototypes, so we start building this week. The IndieGoGo is now more advertising, Google Ranking, and private pre-orders....the project is going ahead no matter what as we have an agency interested in renting the cabinets for their events!

Pro Pinball WILL be pre-installed (if it's ready on time, otherwise we will send out keys when it is) and we find out later in the week if we will be doing some co-branded cabinets. Fingers crossed!!

HomePin: That's rather pessimistic of you ;) It's rather rare than a KS/IndieGoGo makes it's target and then doesn't deliver. It certainly happens from time to time, but given you put your name and reputation on the line when you do this, you'd be pretty stupid to try and cut and run!

[Homepin]

HomePin: That's rather pessimistic of you ;) It's rather rare than a KS/IndieGoGo makes it's target and then doesn't deliver. It certainly happens from time to time, but given you put your name and reputation on the line when you do this, you'd be pretty stupid to try and cut and run!

Just stating the facts - in fact here is the EXACT warning when you go to pledge to help a project on KS:

" Important

Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator's ability to complete their project. It is the responsibility of the project creator to complete their project as promised, and the claims of this project are theirs alone."

[soundasleep]

Just stating the facts - in fact here is the EXACT warning when you go to pledge to help a project on KS:

" Important

Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator's ability to complete their project. It is the responsibility of the project creator to complete their project as promised, and the claims of this project are theirs alone."

IndieGoGo has similar warnings, you can view their "Trust and Safety" page here:
http://www.indiegogo.com/trust

It's a "cover your arse" clause. It's pointing out the campaign organisers are the ones who are legally responsible for doing what they say they will - the service (be it KS, IndieGoGo, Pozible, etc) isn't legally liable.

Of course, every so often a campaign gets runs by somebody who has no business doing so, and this is what happens:
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/3-kickstarter-campaigns-gone-bad-2013-6

"Road to Rome" is the biggest KS failure I've heard about as it got a lot of coverage in the gaming press.

As I said before, the core bit is that you are putting your rep on the line. You know who I am, and with a bit of Google searching you would be able to find out where I live, so screwing people over is generally a pretty dumb thing to try ;)

[swinks]

Also not sure how you are interfacing between the computer and your flipper buttons but this is a cool device

http://kadevice.com/

[dealers choice]

Hi Sana, I like it! I like it a lot!! All the best in your venture to get this project to full production. If I had the funds, Id have one

[soundasleep]

Also not sure how you are interfacing between the computer and your flipper buttons but this is a cool device

http://kadevice.com/

At this stage we're just using a "stock standard" I-PAQ2 encoder. We were considering developing our own Arduino based solution at a later date but it this project looks like it's doing pretty much exactly the same thing we planned! I'll have a better look at the code and hardware designs when I get a chance to slow down and breathe for a few minutes.

We're also still to work out exactly how the lighting system is going to be controlled (we're not going the LEDWiz route since no commercial software is every likely to support it).

Our first lot of Samsung LED LCD screens arrived today! We've posted the first of what I'm sure will be a very long series of Development Diaries on our website, following the prototyping process step-by-step:

http://infinityamusements.com/2013/09/09/welcome-to-the-development-diaries/

Dealers Choice: Thanks for the show of support. If you'd like you can contribute towards our IndieGoGo campaign for as little as $2 ;)

After the 4 days at TechEd I'm really missing not having a video pin that I can play with each day! That should give me some excellent motivation to prototype faster ;)

I was planning on at least getting two screens hooked up tonight and have a session with just a 360 controller but (looks at the time) I think that ship has sailed for the evening...

[4_amusement_only]

Any reason you guys chose Samsung over other brands such as Sony?

I've had a bad history with Samsung products and don't trust their longevity

[Homepin]

Everyone has different experiences - I have had nothing but excellent results and service from Samsung and I can say that Sony is without doubt the worst brand for reliability. I onwned a TV repair business for 20 years and the stories I can tell about Sony - let's just say my experience (and that of many many customers) is that it is overpriced, unreliable rubbish!!

Also these days Samsung is one of the few brands left that actually make their own TVs - Sony etc are all simply OEM in China so all you are buying is the badge (and Sony don't even make that).

Any reason you guys chose Samsung over other brands such as Sony?

I've had a bad history with Samsung products and don't trust their longevity