Me and  my partner successfully coded a message onto our pinball's scoreboard. We correctly wired the Arduino using the resources provided and uploaded the code to the Arduino program. We rewrote the code to say the message we wanted displayed. 

Me and my partner's LCD screen is now working and will change numbers based on the score the player has and based on how many balls the player has left. 

Me and my partner both printed two different sides of the solenoid and we glued the two pieces together with epoxy. My partner printed the top piece (white) and I printed the bottom piece (blue).

I successfully measured and laser cut my scoreboard mount for my LCD screen and installed it into my  prototype pinball machine.

Me and my partner successfully laser printed a power switch mount and drilled it into our prototype pinball machine. We then covered it with an aesthetically pleasing cover. 

We have completed the prototype body of our pinball machine, the machine's body is made of wood. 

This is the power source that has been successfully installed into our prototype which powers everything that'll need electricity in our machine.

My partner and I correctly wired our power source, you can tell because the power source's green light is on.

I am going to be starting my design on bumpers fro my pinball machine. In order to do this I need to properly research the mechanics of a bumper. I know that a spring will rest against a rod which will have to be at the appropriate height for it to hit the ball. A very important part of the bumpers is the bracket which will have to sit on the solenoid underneath the playing field, this will pull against the bottom of the play field when the spring is going off. Finally i'll need an actuator which will actually move the ball around.  For my development phase i'll need to think of the sizing of the parts of the bumpers for it to fit properly in our pinball machine. For the prototyping phase i'll use mostly OnShape and CAD for designing the separate pieces. Testing the bumpers will involve actually seeing if the bumpers move in a way that will keep the ball in play. I will know when the bumpers are working when they can properly detect when a ball is near and bump it in another direction keeping the ball in play.

When I first started the process of making the bumper I had no idea where to start but after watching Ms. White's video and creating her version of one I know what I wanted to do to tweak her bumper. 

Ms. White gave us the exact measurements to start on our bumpers, I made my bumper on OnShape and 3D printed it. After getting my selenoid approved all I had to do was take it apart and put it back to together with the bumper on. I tested it by connecting the selenoid to -V and +V and seeing how hard it pushed down. 

The original dimensions given to us my Ms. White worked but were to basic so I wanted to test other alterations of the bumper. I kept the same dimensions in the middle for every new bumper. 

My second prototype  I used the same dimensions for the center piece but altered the original depth and length of the bumper. I used 1 inch as a good practice length to see how it would print out. I also used .27 inches as the depth to see how flat it could get. 

The length and the depth of the bumper made the bumper way too flimsy to withstand 1000+ hits from a pinball. I thought about turning the bumper upside down and using it as a ramp to get to a smaller and thicker bumper. 

For my third prototype I used .75 inch for the length and .4 inches for the depth of the bumper. I think the bumper is thick enough to withstand 1000+ hits while in the pinball machine. 

This prototype is only .25 inches longer than the first prototype so it still feels a little short to me but the new depth of the bumper makes it more durable. 

For my fourth prototype I used .815 inches for the length and .25 inches for the depth. The length of the bumper is the most effective between the 4 prototypes because it's long but not too long where it looks like the edges will break off. 

I like the length on this prototype bumper the most but I will change the depth to be like the third prototype which is .4 inches. 

For my fifth prototype I took everything that I liked from my past prototypes and put them all together. I took the .4 inches depth from my third prototype and I took .815 inches length from my fourth prototype. 

I think this is my preferred length and depth for my bumper so now i'll start on connecting the bumper to the solenoid while it's under the pinball machine. 

3 out of my 4 prototypes can withstand 1000 hits, but all 4 of my prototypes can push down on a ball with enough force to shoot it in the opposite direction. None of my 4 prototypes are mounted in the pinball machine, have internal wiring, or can detect when a ball is close enough to push down on it. 

This is the bottom piece of the bumper that will actually connect it to the solenoid below the machine. 

This is the middle piece of the bumper which will be hit by the ball which will then trigger a "switch" to make the top piece of the bumper smash down which will shoot the ball out. My first iteration of the middle piece was way too short and it wouldn't have been able to hit any switch under the machine.

The 2nd iteration of my middle piece bumper was a lot better! The only thing I would slightly change would be to make the outer circle a bit thicker and make the middle point a few millimeters longer. 

This is my mock up mount where I will test my bumper once everything is ready. I took three pieces of wood and screwed them together, I then  drilled three holes in the center. Two of the holes in the mount are the same size for the screws but the middle hole in the mount is much bigger for the the solenoid to be put in with a few parts of the bumper peaking out. 

This is hopefully my last 3D print of my bumper! The bumper has everything that I liked with my previous experiments with just the top parts and now it has holes to fully connect with the solenoid and the rest of the bumper parts. 

I coded a neopixel strip to start lighting up when the button is pressed. When used bits and pieces from the provided bumper code and the rest from the arduino code library. 

I created this holder on Onshape to hold my neopixels. I measured each light on the neopixel and the length and width to get a snug fit. I printed the cad file on glowforge. 

Pinball flippers work by using an electromagnet to pull a rod connected to a lever, in the solenoid.  The solenoid is activated when a player presses the flipper button, causing the flipper to flip up, and when the button is released, it resumes its resting position.  When the coil is powered on, it becomes an electromagnet pulling the rod into the core. When the flipper button is released, the switch cuts off the electricity to the coil, letting go of the rod.  A small spring on the flipper base then pulls the flipper back into its resting position. 

A lot of the strong parts in a pinball machine are powered by high power solenoids. But if the solenoids are left on for more than a few seconds it could cause the solenoids to overheat, melt the plastic, or blow a fuse. Flippers on the other hand are completely at the players control with the buttons assigned to the specific left or right flipper.  Bumpers have strong blows of energy but run continuously and can be very strenuous on the machine but with flippers once the button is hit and the coil is powered on it shoots out a fast and strong burst of energy sending the ball flying out but still protecting the solenoid. 

When you physically press the plastic button on the outside of the machine it pushes against metal leaf switches inside where you can't see.  When the one piece of metal knocks into each other it completes the electrical connection needed to make the flipper shoot the ball out. 

The launcher launches to ball into play. The launcher