Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

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rubem
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Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 27 Okt 2021, 21:42

Hi everyone,

(Deutsche Übersetzung unten)

So here it is: After more than four months designing, building and coding, dozens of failed attempts and tests, meters and meters of wire, solder and double sided tape and a couple of smoked modules... my fischertechnik-based pinball table!

Overall view 3-2.jpg
Overall view 3-2.jpg (164.26 KiB) 6376 mal betrachtet

It began as the standard ft Electropneumatics kit but evolved in a very different direction. The end result doesn't look or work like the original anymore. My main goals with this project were to achieve good playability and to simulate some classic pinball table features. It's a complex project so there is quite a lot to talk about. Here is a summary:
  • Flippers: These are made smaller than ft's and use two S-couplings with a hard rubber pad sandwiched between them. Minimum and maximum angles are similar to those in a real pinball table. The curved tip allows for better control of the ball direction, so usual tricks like passing and precise aiming are possible. Instead of pneumatics, the flippers use 6 V solenoids driven by a L298N module. They receive about 18-19 V for a few milliseconds, then drop to about 15% PWM which is enough to hold them up.
  • Ball return: After the ball is drained, it runs to the rear side via a flex ramp located underneath the table, then is immediately returned to the plunger by a chain elevator with a small magnet. After the last ball the return is not automatic, you must press one of the flipper buttons to start a new game.
  • Launch door: A servo-driven door opens when there is a ball to be launched, and closes when it passes a nearby sensor so it cannot return to the plunger. The closed door also helps to direct the ball to the rightmost upper lane during gameplay.
  • Targets: The playfield has four upper lanes with reflective IR sensors, a left target similar to the one in the Electropneumatics kit with an LED and ft phototransistor, a right target with a ft lightness sensor and electromagnet to hold the ball, a spinning target with a fork sensor to count revolutions, two extra IR sensors in the outlanes, and another ft phototransistor/LED pair just below the outhole. Rubber pads guarantee fast action in strategic locations.
  • Player feedback: A self-made 6-digit Arduino-based module shows scores and simple messages. Several LEDs and NeoPixels are lit or flashed to indicate game states. The sensor LEDs are controlled by software and they are used in some animations. There is also an MP3 module used for various sound effects.
  • Graphics: I've designed and illustrated a kitchen-based theme called "Dirty Dishes". You use the "hot" and "cold" handles (the flippers) to wash a pile of dishes inside the sink (i.e. get points). There is also a kitchen roll (the spinner), a plate rack where you can "dry" your plates (the electromagnet), and so on. Graphics are inkjet-printed on plastic sheets that cover for the many slots in the baseplates 500 so the ball runs smoothly. Translucent paper is used in some top covers where light is supposed to shine through.
  • Programming: The main logic is programmed into an Arduino Nano which deals with the all inputs and sensors, in addition to driving the flippers and the electromagnet. Another Nano is connected to it via I²C. It works as a port expander and controls LEDs, NeoPixels, the MP3 module, and the ball feed motor.
  • Gameplay: Game rules are detailed and somewhat intricate. Several of them are taken from actual pinball machine tables, while others are entirely different or had to be adapted. Features include: skill shot, ball save, multipliers, spinning target bonus, ball hold, extra ball, time-related scores, and more.
Overall view 2-2.jpg
Overall view 2-2.jpg (160.84 KiB) 6376 mal betrachtet

I'm still working on the software. There is also room for improvement in some fronts, but I'm quite satisfied with the results so far, and so are my kids which also enjoy playing with the machine. Most of the time they are not very interested in fischertechnik but this is an obvious exception :)

I also have other images, I'll post some later.

Regards,

Rubem

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rubem
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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 27 Okt 2021, 21:44

============== Google translate =============

Hallo allerseits,

Hier ist er also: Nach über vier Monaten Entwerfen, Bauen und Codieren, Dutzenden von Fehlversuchen und Tests, Meter und Meter Draht, Lötzinn und doppelseitigem Klebeband und ein paar geräucherten Modulen... mein fischertechnik-basierter Flippertisch!

Es begann als Standard-Elektropneumatik-Kit, entwickelte sich jedoch in eine ganz andere Richtung. Das Endergebnis sieht oder funktioniert nicht mehr wie das Original. Meine Hauptziele bei diesem Projekt waren es, eine gute Spielbarkeit zu erreichen und einige klassische Flipper-Features zu simulieren. Es ist ein komplexes Projekt, daher gibt es viel zu besprechen. Hier eine Zusammenfassung:
  • Flippers: Diese sind kleiner als ft's und verwenden zwei S-Kupplungen mit einem dazwischen liegenden Hartgummipolster. Die minimalen und maximalen Winkel sind denen eines echten Flippertisches ähnlich. Die gebogene Spitze ermöglicht eine bessere Kontrolle der Ballrichtung, sodass übliche Tricks wie Passen und präzises Zielen möglich sind. Anstelle von Pneumatik verwenden die Flipper 6-V-Magnetspulen, die von einem L298N-Modul angetrieben werden. Sie erhalten für einige Millisekunden etwa 18-19 V und fallen dann auf etwa 15% PWM ab, was ausreicht, um sie aufrechtzuerhalten.
  • Ballrücklauf: Nachdem der Ball abgelassen wurde, läuft er über eine unter dem Tisch befindliche Flexrampe nach hinten und wird dann über einen Kettenheber mit einem kleinen Magneten sofort zum Kolben zurückgeführt. Nach dem letzten Ball erfolgt die Rückkehr nicht automatisch, Sie müssen einen der Flipper-Knöpfe drücken, um ein neues Spiel zu starten.
    Abschusstür: Eine servogesteuerte Tür öffnet sich, wenn ein Ball abgefeuert werden soll, und schließt sich, wenn er einen nahegelegenen Sensor passiert, sodass er nicht zum Kolben zurückkehren kann. Die geschlossene Tür hilft auch, den Ball während des Spiels auf die ganz rechte obere Bahn zu lenken.
  • Ziele: Das Spielfeld hat vier obere Bahnen mit reflektierenden IR-Sensoren, ein linkes Ziel ähnlich dem im Elektropneumatik-Kit mit LED und ft-Fototransistor, ein rechtes Ziel mit einem ft-Helligkeitssensor und Elektromagnet zum Halten des Balls, ein sich drehendes Ziel mit ein Gabelsensor zum Zählen der Umdrehungen, zwei zusätzliche IR-Sensoren in den Außenbahnen und ein weiteres ft Fototransistor / LED-Paar direkt unter dem Außenloch. Gummipads garantieren schnelles Handeln an strategischen Stellen.
  • Spieler-Feedback: Ein selbstgebautes 6-stelliges Arduino-basiertes Modul zeigt Spielstände und einfache Nachrichten an. Mehrere LEDs und NeoPixel leuchten oder blinken, um Spielzustände anzuzeigen. Die Sensor-LEDs werden per Software gesteuert und in einigen Animationen verwendet. Es gibt auch ein MP3-Modul, das für verschiedene Soundeffekte verwendet wird.
  • Grafik: Ich habe ein Küchenthema namens "Dirty Dishes" entworfen und illustriert. Sie verwenden die "heißen" und "kalten" Griffe (die Flossen), um einen Haufen Geschirr in der Spüle zu spülen (dh Punkte zu erhalten). Es gibt auch eine Küchenrolle (den Spinner), einen Tellerständer, auf dem Sie Ihre Teller "trocknen" können (der Elektromagnet) und so weiter. Die Grafiken werden mit Tintenstrahl auf Plastikfolien gedruckt, die die vielen Schlitze in den Grundplatten 500 abdecken, damit der Ball reibungslos läuft. Durchscheinendes Papier wird in einigen oberen Abdeckungen verwendet, bei denen Licht durchscheinen soll.
  • Programmierung: Die Hauptlogik ist in einen Arduino Nano programmiert, der neben dem Ansteuern der Flipper und des Elektromagneten auch alle Eingänge und Sensoren übernimmt. Ein weiterer Nano ist über I²C daran angeschlossen. Es arbeitet als Port-Expander und steuert LEDs, NeoPixel, das MP3-Modul und den Ballfeed-Motor.
  • Gameplay: Die Spielregeln sind detailliert und etwas kompliziert. Einige davon sind echten Flippertischen entnommen, andere sind ganz anders oder mussten angepasst werden. Zu den Funktionen gehören: Skill Shot, Ball Save, Multiplikatoren, Drehzielbonus, Ball Hold, Extra Ball, zeitbezogene Punkte und mehr.
An der Software arbeite ich noch. An manchen Fronten gibt es auch Verbesserungspotenzial, aber mit den bisherigen Ergebnissen bin ich recht zufrieden, ebenso wie meine Kinder, die ebenfalls gerne mit der Maschine spielen. Meistens interessieren sie sich nicht sehr für fischertechnik, aber das ist eine offensichtliche Ausnahme :)

Ich habe auch andere Bilder, ich werde später einige posten.

Grüße,
Zuletzt geändert von rubem am 27 Okt 2021, 22:58, insgesamt 1-mal geändert.

juh
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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von juh » 27 Okt 2021, 22:40

A - ma - zing, rubem!

Wonderfully designed and executed, your description makes my fingers itch for a round or two...

I hope we'll get to see a video of the pinball machine in action, soon?

Jan

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 27 Okt 2021, 22:51

Hi Jan,
juh hat geschrieben:
27 Okt 2021, 22:40
A - ma - zing, rubem!

Wonderfully designed and executed, your description makes my fingers itch for a round or two...

I hope we'll get to see a video of the pinball machine in action, soon?

Jan
Thanks for the compliments! I certainly will make a video at some point, but "soon" is a bit optimistic :D (still working on the software). Meanwhile, you may take a look at what's below the covers and plates, I drew some diagrams:

Table diagram without covers.png
Table diagram without covers.png (337.55 KiB) 6349 mal betrachtet
Table diagram with labels.png
Table diagram with labels.png (361.48 KiB) 6349 mal betrachtet

Best regards,

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von fotoopa » 28 Okt 2021, 09:02

Super Rubem!
Very nice design. Beautifully finished in every detail.
And now indeed a short video!

Frans.

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von Karl » 28 Okt 2021, 13:31

Hello Rubem,
a really nice model of a pinball machine.

juh
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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von juh » 28 Okt 2021, 14:56

Hi rubem,

I love how you used a number of foreign and custom parts which integrate smoothlessly and very organically with the original ft parts. It's easy to take some part and glue it to some ft-part to make it compatible (there are even people selling such makeshift stuff regularly on ebay), but here the integration looks very masterful.

I assume the solenoids are something like this one, right? You say you are driving them only very shortly at full 18V, so I assume at 15% PWM you do not run into any heat problems if they are activated a little longer? I have one of them here for testing purposes, it's labeled JF-0530B, but found out that it becomes quite hot, if driven permanently, which can be a problem for 3d printed cases.

The outlane IR-sensors also look very slick! Where are they hiding? I can only see a little hole, are there SMD sensors in the ft-part groove below?

best
Jan

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von steffalk » 28 Okt 2021, 17:03

Hello!

What a beautiful machine and fine engineering! Great!

Best Regards,
Stefan

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rubem
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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 28 Okt 2021, 19:24

Hi,

Thanks also to Karl, Frans and Stefan for your nice compliments!

@Juh: Yes, that's exactly the solenoid model I used, which was designed for 6 V. It gets very hot when driven continuously at 18-19 V so PWM is a must. In my experiments I've arrived to 50 ms and 40/255 (~15%) as optimal values. 50 ms is enough for the flipper to quickly move up at full power, and, after that, 15% is just right for keeping them up to make them a bit warm, but not very hot. These solenoids are great because their dimensions are just right for the ft grid, see below:

Solenoid detail.jpg
Solenoid detail.jpg (97.67 KiB) 6152 mal betrachtet

As for the outlanes, you also guessed right: These are QRE1113 reflective sensors which are very small and can be fully embedded in the width of a PCB if you cut a square hole on the board, which is exactly what I did in the outlanes. Then I've covered the small PCBs with black electrician tape, cut out a square on them, and glued them to the angle blocks with double-sided tape. These are the same sensors used in the four upper lanes, although I didn't need to cut the PCBs there.

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 28 Okt 2021, 19:33

@Juh,

I have some photos from intermediate steps that will hopefully clarify how the QRE1113 sensors were mounted:

Outlane sensors.jpg
Outlane sensors.jpg (68.79 KiB) 6151 mal betrachtet
Upper lanes sensors.jpg
Upper lanes sensors.jpg (59.35 KiB) 6151 mal betrachtet

In the end I've replaced the upper lane LEDs with more powerful ones, but the general assembly remained the same.

Best regards,

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 03 Nov 2021, 23:36

Here's a simplified animation showing some of the layers used for the pinball machine design, I believe you're gonna like it. Everything was done in Figma with custom ft and non-ft components.

Pinball2.gif
Pinball2.gif (491.91 KiB) 5881 mal betrachtet

Best,

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 20 Nov 2021, 21:10

Hi,

I found out the Neopixels don't work well as control LEDs. They often display the wrong color, light up when not asked to, turn off at wrong times. I made several tests but could not figure out a solution. So I've replaced them with regular white LEDs, I still had free ports in the child Nano. Less colorful, but reliable. Some more soldering and rewiring was required, Here is a photo of the underside as it looks now:

Underside 3.jpg
Underside 3.jpg (147.67 KiB) 5595 mal betrachtet

And a diagram showing the electronic components:

Underside electronics.jpg
Underside electronics.jpg (137.36 KiB) 5595 mal betrachtet

Best,

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von Dirk Fox » 20 Nov 2021, 22:30

Hi Rubem,

this is a really cool model... hope to see it in action some day!
Would you like to write an article for ft:pedia about your design process, failures and lessons learned?

Regards,
Dirk

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 21 Nov 2021, 17:02

Hi Dirk,

Thanks for the invitation! I think this is a great idea, I'll be glad to share the details with the community. I'll PM you so I can have more info.

Cheers,

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von PHabermehl » 21 Nov 2021, 20:52

Rubem,

I'm very impressed by this model, too.

And I really like and strongly support the idea of having an article about your flipper in the ft:pedia.

Thank you for your amazing work!

Peter
https://www.MINTronics.de -- der ftDuino & TX-Pi Shop!

viele Grüße
Peter

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 21 Nov 2021, 21:06

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the compliments! I'm really flattered by all your kind comments :)

Best regards,

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von Arnoud-Whizzbizz » 23 Nov 2021, 19:24

Great job! I was stumbling on it just now, and I have to read in more detail ASAP! :D

Looking forward to some video and an article in the ft:pedia!

Cheers, Arnoud

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 24 Nov 2021, 15:12

Hi Arnoud,
Arnoud-Whizzbizz hat geschrieben:
23 Nov 2021, 19:24
Great job! I was stumbling on it just now, and I have to read in more detail ASAP! :D

Looking forward to some video and an article in the ft:pedia!

Cheers, Arnoud
Thanks for the compliments. I'm still working on the software part, there are some problems that need solving. The video will be made at some point, that's a promise. As for the details, ask away, I'll be happy to answer anything I can.

Best regards,

Rubem

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von Arnoud-Whizzbizz » 24 Nov 2021, 15:34

Haha. No hurry, take your time. It's nice you completely changed and enhanced the design of the 'original' fischertechnik pinball. I've not made it that far (yet, too many experiments with Arduino going on, haha), but some years ago I at least build and programmed that design with an Arduino Uno, a small display and some driver transistors (and an old telephone bell during scoring, haha). :lol:

pinball1.jpg
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pinball2.jpg
pinball2.jpg (148.78 KiB) 5224 mal betrachtet

My use of a Nano and that MP3 player, is for a 'Nostalphone', an MP3 player made from a vintage rotary dial telephone:

nostalphone.jpg
nostalphone.jpg (185.35 KiB) 5224 mal betrachtet
A bit off-topic on a fischertechnik forum, but more about that: https://www.whizzbizz.com/en/gpo746-t65 ... wav-player

Good luck with the software development of your great pin ball machine!

Cheers, Arnoud

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Re: Neuer Flipper "Dirty Dishes" / New "Dirty Dishes" pinball table

Beitrag von rubem » 24 Nov 2021, 19:43

Hi Arnoud,

Great! My first tests to the ft pinball did not look much different from your photos, with an external breadboard and lots of jumper wires... And I loved our "Nostalphone" and the video :D (I already knew the Zauberling, of course!)

Thanks for the photos!
Rubem

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