Author Topic: Look at my BALLS! Have a look at just how much work!  (Read 16282 times)

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Offline Homepin

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Look at my BALLS! Have a look at just how much work!
« on: June 30, 2015, 05:50:51 PM »
Now that I have your attention...:laugh:

I thought I would share the process involved for just one single item - cleaning and packing Homepin pinball balls.

First we needed some packing and, as nothing was available that really suited, we made our own. We started by drawing up the ball packing layout and then cutting the mould in the CNC machine, the mould was then placed in our vacuum forming machine and loaded up with balls:

a




Then we used 0.35mm plastic sheet in the machine to form the packing shells:



Then the formed sheets are cut to size in the foot guillotine:



Then we polish and inspect each ball individually and pack them in bags of eight with a few drops of light machine oil and Sid made up a few trial boxes to make sure all fitted OK before handing the job on to the staff to complete:



The labels go on and cleaning cloth inserted ready for packing and shipping out and protected by the light machine oil for years if necessary in this packing:





These are available now from The Pinball Warehouse in Brisbane and from other pinball outlets in time (as containers arrive).

Here is a short video showing our vacuum forming machine in action making this packing. It is pretty fast as it is semi-automatic and each sheet takes less than a minute to make:

I can NEVER get the Youtube links to work here on AP? try the link below.

http://youtu.be/r0bGUi-t0SI
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Offline Blktgr74

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Re:
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2015, 06:29:10 PM »
You don't do anything by halves.  Can't wait to see Thunderbirds with your attention to detail.

Offline Homepin

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A follow up: packing is progressing well!

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Offline Strangeways

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I can't wait to get my hands on your balls  ^^^

 <.>  %.% %.% %.%
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Offline Cursed

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What Nino said...... &&

This is great news and timing for me.  ^^^

Offline Strangeways

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Thankfully there is a drop of machine oil. Nothing worse than Itchy Balls

Aussie Pinball - Proud to be Australia's Premier Pinball Forum

http://www.australianpinballrestorations.com.au/

http://www.rtbb.com.au/catalog/

We carry the largest range of NEW Ramps in Australia

Offline swinks

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nice work Mike  ^^^
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Offline turbo27

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How much for your big box of balls

Offline andypinboy

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I'll be buying these by the pallet. What Turbo asked?
I enjoy Porsche, Gibson LPs, Bally-Williams & learning about pinball maintenance & restoration.

Offline Cursed

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My (not so) old ball on the right, Homepin's awesome ball on the left. Flash killed a bit of the detail but the difference was very obvious!





Thanks again Mike!

Offline Homepin

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Thanks for the great feedback guys.

The first shipment of balls to Australia have all but sold out.

I am very impressed with how well they have stood up and I have had several emails describing the hammering some have deliberately given them to prove the balls worth!

STOP PRESS:

Just when you thought they couldn't get any better - we have been experimenting with super polishing a small batch.

This involves a significantly extended polishing period that exceeds the polishing we give the Premium balls by ten times.

The finish between Premiums and the new Homepin Pearls is very obvious, even to the naked eye!

The extended labour and machine time will increase the price on these BUT I'm sure that the Premiums will remain the best seller.

Replacement Pinball PCBs that remain faithful to the originals

Offline Strangeways

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My (not so) old ball on the right, Homepin's awesome ball on the left. Flash killed a bit of the detail but the difference was very obvious!





Thanks again Mike!

Look at the reflection of the ceiling light in both balls. There is a massive difference.

Thanks for the great feedback guys.

The first shipment of balls to Australia have all but sold out.

I am very impressed with how well they have stood up and I have had several emails describing the hammering some have deliberately given them to prove the balls worth!

STOP PRESS:

Just when you thought they couldn't get any better - we have been experimenting with super polishing a small batch.

This involves a significantly extended polishing period that exceeds the polishing we give the Premium balls by ten times.

The finish between Premiums and the new Homepin Pearls is very obvious, even to the naked eye!

The extended labour and machine time will increase the price on these BUT I'm sure that the Premiums will remain the best seller.



Great news mike.

The 30 Boxes of balls delivered to RTBB 2 weeks ago are down to the last TWO boxes. Since they arrived, not one of the other balls have sold even one !

I have not had much feedback as yet. But they keep selling !
Aussie Pinball - Proud to be Australia's Premier Pinball Forum

http://www.australianpinballrestorations.com.au/

http://www.rtbb.com.au/catalog/

We carry the largest range of NEW Ramps in Australia

Offline GORGAR 1

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Look at my BALLS! Have a look at just how much work!
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2015, 11:20:59 PM »
I have Been using Mike's balls in my KISS and they've played over 300 games and there still like new.

Offline andypinboy

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The oh so obvious qn - pricing of Pearls vs Prems? And date of RTBB stocking these?
I enjoy Porsche, Gibson LPs, Bally-Williams & learning about pinball maintenance & restoration.

Offline solar value

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Love the label on the Pearls, well done.

Oh, and I see that you finished a Lowboy:

https://www.facebook.com/HomepinPinball/photos/pcb.876350385774305/876350295774314/?type=1&theater

Looks great, you are kicking goals, any news about how the Thunderbirds machine is progressing?