Hello All,
Thanks very much for your positive comments about our project. This is my first post here.
Most will know a little about it by now due to posts on AA. When we have updates they are posted on our site with pictures etc. The site will get a re-organisation once the project is more complete but please feel free to check it occassionally for the latest news.
First let me say that the concept was born and initially envisaged as a father/son bonding excercise. My son Grant is a graphic artist and has exceptional skills in the area of freehand cartooning (I have included a couple of his works below). He lives and works in China ocassionally helping my staff there. I figured out pretty early that this was a huge job and thought it would be a waste to do all of the design and only make one machine. I am an electronics engineer and my background is in the design and manufacture of small run projects that the large companies won't touch. I have been involved in the amusement industry, on and off, for about 30 years. In fact I was "headhunted" in Brisbane when the very first SS machine was released as the place had NO staff that had any electronic knowledge. When I looked inside the backbox I was hooked! I am certain that together we have the skills to complete this project (with some additional help both here and in China).
Retropin has spotted what we believe is the strongest part of our design approach. Most assemblies are being designed to "look after themselves" and report back to the main CPU with info for scoring and sounds. This certainly makes design simpler and naturally will make building and faultfinding very straightforward.
Following that same thought process there will be no lamp matrix. All lamps will be driven separately. This is actually far simpler (and cheaper) than using a lamp matrix using modern parts. On that subject we are using COMMON parts wherever possible. Technology is always changing so we can never be sure what may become obsolete in the future but as far as possible our project uses industry generic parts and our design process places interchageability with other parts high on the list.
I have a small office with staff in China as my main business is sourcing products for various companies. I have many contacts in the printing, metal stamping, spot welding, injection moulding and many other industries. I also can buy electronic components direct from factories in China for about 30% of their wholesale cost in Australia. Whilst the machine will be 100% designed and assembled in Australia it would not be possible to build it (cost effectively) without some parts being made and sourced from Asia.
I'll give you a VERY brief outline of what we plan here (very much subject to change) and in no particular order:
(1) Two player machine (for simplicity and ALWAYS with cost in mind)
(2) 7 segment LEDs for readout of scores
(3) Full standard size cabinet
(4) All assemblies such as DT are pre-assembled and tested as is the wiring harness.
(5) Art will be pre-fitted to cabinet parts
(6) Multiball (at this stage 2 balls)
(7) Our coils are 100% interchangeable with WMS parts
(8) Current theme is "Graffiti" - yet to be confirmed but that is what we have kept in mind when designing to date
(9) Test LEDs are used liberally to assist builders to fault find and to confirm things are working at a glance
(10) Coil driver FETs are isolated from driver circuitry with optocouplers to prevent catastophic failures
Cost - AHhhh - the $64,000 question??? As yet unknown, too early to tell........guess........sorry, no guesses! Obviously the current cost of a late model SS machine is generally around $3~5K so this is very much being kept in mind because if it is too expensive, it won't sell! My China contacts make this project possible. Without them this project would never have made it to the prototyping stage. I have had the idea for many many years and previously dismissed it due to the cost of parts alone.
Some consideration is being given to making two sets of art and sounds but with the same PF layout?
Some posters on AA have made mention of buying a "generic" kit and creating their own art/theme - I have to say that this is MUCH more difficult than is first realised. Artwork in pinballs is not just cabinet but PF, sounds and many other areas as you all know. It is also basically built-in to the design of the entire game - game play, PF layout etc.
We will probably make complete assemblies with driver circuitry available for those who wish to make their own machine. This would certainly simplify a home brew project greatly.
The machine will be run by "embedded controllers" much the same as all SS pins. We do not use PCs as they are considered too unreliable for this application - especially in a kit situation, there are far too many variables.
Kit will be supplied without glass - paint - hand tools. It is expected that constructors will buy these easy to get (and fragile) things locally.
It is early days yet but things are progressing well. We have designed many smart new ways of doing things (well, "we" think they are smart anyway) keeping in mind this is a machine for home use - it does not have to be built like a commercial machine. Also no coin mechs, no coin door required.
That's all I can think about for now but feel free to visit the website for updated pics and videos (normally updated weekly or whenever we have new things to post).
Cheers,
Mike Kalinowski
Here is a preview of Grants drawing style:
