Engineering Applications

C-Group Contract

xander greene and adia lovell Group Contract.doc

This is our group contract for my partner and I, it states our commitments, responsivities, and goals for our project.

Pinball Reflection

1) How has this project compared to other project that you have undertaken (in life/in school)?

This is the largest project I have ever worked on and completed and the longest project I have worked on with a partner. This pinball machine is a working machinal and electrical machine that is composed of multiple elements with specific functions, mechanics, and design processes. There were many small deadlines that amounted to be large pieces of the project which taught me the importance of small victories and failures in a large project.

2) How did it feel to complete this project?

This project was a very heavy weight on my shoulders throughout this year the stress of completing each component on time and not disapointing my partner was definetly a source of stress for me this year. The completion of it felt amazing to have this project under my belt and completed no longer a source of stress and also a huge releif that I was able to complete this project and recive a good grade. I am also extremley proud of this project and it feels amazing to have succeeded in such a challanging time consuming project that we spent all school year making.

3) What are you most proud of about your project?

I am most proud of the design of my targets; I believe that they have an optimal design that is easily replicated and functions almost perfectly every time. I am very happy with my unique target design it is unlike any others in the class, and I am very proud of the hours of diligent work, problem solving, and research that I did in order to create my target.

Fully Functional Pinball Machine

The videos shown below are videos of our fully functinol pinball machine with all working elements.

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IMG_9487.MOV

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Final Code

This is our final combined pinball code that includes combined code for the neopixels, targets, bumpers, and scoreboard.

FINAL BUMPER NEO AND TARGET CODE FOR PINBALL PROJECT

Pinball Board Graphic

The theme of our pinball machine is based on the movie "Scott Pilgrim VS. The World". This movie is a musical where a young man fights in classical rock and roll battles in order to date a girl. In the movie the young man who is depicted at the top of the board fights people that have had past romantic relationships with the girl he is depicted next to. The characters that are fought in the movie are depicted under the pinball machines targets and bumpers to represent the main goal of the movie; damage and defeat the girl of his dreams ex's. On our graphic we also have weapons used in the movie, an electric guitar and a sword.

Scoreboard

The scoreboard shown below is coded using Arduino and displays and records how many points they have earned by hitting the target/bumpers and how many balls they have remaining. The scoreboard is an LCD screen that uses 4 wires that connect to both the Arduino and the breadboard. Once a target is hit, the point total on the scoreboard increases by 100 points, and once a bumper is hit, the score increases by 500.

Neopixels

We designed our pinball machine with seven, 10 pixel long neopixels solely for aesthetic purposes. Four of the seven neopixels in our board are triggered and light up when their specific target is hit. We also have targets 3 of the neopixels that are constantly lit up red when the machine is plugged in. They pixels are secured using duct tape and zip ties, wired, and coded.

neo code

Bumpers

The images shown below are of the top and bottom view of the bumper. The bumper's function is to bump and shoot the ball out once the disk (part of bumper) comes in contact with the pinball. The bumpers work using a pointed tip that triggers a spoon that signals the solenoid to close when they are connected. All of the wires the bumper assembly includes are connected to a hub called a relay. Unlike the other components of the pinball board, the bumper is made out of 3D-printed material instead of digitally fabricated wood. Our pinball board assembly includes two bumpers, both of which represent the final 2 exes that the player aims to defeat. The bumpers are towards the top of the pinball board, meaning they are much harder to hit, so they add 500 points to the score value once they are hit.

Launcher

The launche is designed to launch the ball into play and into the pinball arena. The launcher uses a spring to form tension that is released and used as a force to propel the ball when the player pulls back and releases the launcher handle. Our launcher includes a finger joint box design that was made using MakerCase, OnShape, and the Glowfordge.

Four Final Targets

The main objective in a a pinball machine is to hit the pinball machines targets and increase the player's score. Each target has a switch that is triggered when the ball makes contact with the front panel, and each target uses two wires to make it functional. Once the switch is hit, several points are added to the scoreboard and the neopixel LED strip attached to each respective target lights up. Our pinball bard included 4 targets, all of which went along with the theme of the board and represented 4 of Ramona's exes, the characters the player had to defeat in order to earn points. The targets are durable enough to withstand thousands of hits and each sends an electric signal when hit by pinball that increase the players points on the scoreboard by 100 each time it is hit.

Final Flipper

The main function of the flipper is to strike and propel the pinball into play , with the goal of hitting bumpers and targets. The pinball machine includes two flippers, one on the left side and one on the right. We designed a mechanical flipper, a manual approach to the flipper design where the player has to push in the button rod instead of pressing a button. Our design includes a rod attached to a square that pushes a block of wood connected to a spring that moves the extended launcher piece from a slanted angle to a straight angle when pushed. I designed my flipper head graphic to be a guitar pic that I engraved using the CAD technology.

Flipper Three

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This is my third flipper design. This is essentailly a minityre version of my flipper that I created to work out the mechanical elements before I created my full scale one. I mounted each piece to the board and cut a 1/4 in hole in the wood in order to connect my actuall flipper to the mechanics on the underside. I added a spring that functions to reset the flipper.

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Piece of wood is pushed and moves the flipper extension which moves the flipper head on the other side of the wood. Spring brings peices back to place.

Flipper Two

This is my second flipper prototype, this design I implemented the rubber band. This design was functional in the way that I could hold each piece and push the extended flipper. But in this design the extended flipper was not mounted which caused it to be not functional.

Flipper One

This is my first flipper prototype; it is a rough model of the main components I'll be needing to make it functional. I decided to create a mechanical flipper rather than electrical one because I am a lot better at mechanical engineering. This is a very simple design: a piece of wood pushes the extended flipper to be straight instead of slanted, and a spring pulls both pieces back to their resting position when the force is removed.

Neopixel Holder

This is my neopixel holder I created in OnShape. Each hole lines up with the square LED lights and the holder is composed in cardboard.

Flipper Design Process

Flipper Idea Development

PERSONAL Mechanical Flipper

This is my first attempt at designing my own flipper, it is very simple. It consists of a long flipper extention that is attahcted to the actual flipper. The flipper extention extends out side of the pinball body and is able to be moved horisantally in order to move the actual flipper.

Cardboard Flipper Remade

This is my recreation of the cardboard flipper I researched. I created each parts in CAD in order to digitally replicate this design.

Flipper Research

Flipper From Home | Pinball Design

1) Electronic Components needed.

Button
Solenoid

2) Mechanical elements needed.

L shaped lever

3) How the electromechanical device works.

When the button is pressed it gives an electrical signal causing the solenoid to pull down, this pulls the L-shaped flipper down and changes its position from slanted too straight up. This motion propels the ball forward.

Cardboard Flipper

Cardboard Pinball Machine – Yanman! (wordpress.com)

1) Electronic Components needed.

none

2) Mechanical elements needed.

Rubber band
Flipper extension
Button

3) How the electromechanical device works.

This is a very simple mechanism, the button is a rectangle that manually pushes the flipper extension, these two pieces are connected by a rubber band.

Basic Solenoid Flipper

Making a mini pinball machine - Dominic Dale

1) Electronic Components needed.

solenoid

2) Mechanical elements needed.

flipper extension

3) How the electromechanical device works.

The plunger pushes the flipper to its maximum angle and then, when power is cut, it returns bringing the flipper with it.

1st Launcher

I made my launcher by making a 3inx3inx6in box that I drilled a hole in the bottom of (that had the same area as the dowel) I put my dowel through it. On the other side I put a spring and attached the front of my launcher that would push the ball when launched. I made the front by printing out four squares, gluing them together with a larger square on top. I also attached a handle to the launcher on the opposite side of the dowel that I cut out using the ban saw

Brief

This is my pinball switch prototype design process. It is a intense process I will use to create a functional switch that will withstand thousands of hits.

Final Target

This is my final target installed in my pinball machine. It is fully wired and sends an electric signal to the scoreboard increasing the points 500 each time it is hit. My Arduino and bread board are also installed.

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10th Target

This is my last target prototype, I changed the back of my target to fit the finger joints, I created a hole on my mount so my wires would come out the bottom. I extended my target body so it would fully incase my switch and made it 0.124 inches taller. m

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8th Target

This is my 8th target prototype, it is fully functional and almost- meets all of the required constraints. My target is durable enough to withstand thousands of hits and sends an electric signal when hit by pinball. It's points increase by a decided amount and it is mounted to the bottom of my mock pinball .

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9th Target

For my 9th prototype I was tasked with changing my design from a nail to a screw. To do this I completely redesigned by front part of my target. I stacked three separate front pieces wood and left a gap in the middle for a screw to go through. This allowed the front piece to move back and forth when hit by the pinball.

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Seventh Prototype

I mounted my prototype by wood gluing my two mount pieces together and gluing my switch's body's legs inside. I then screwed two screws into the mount piece and actual board to add extra stability. It is very stable and most likely the last iteration for my mount.

Constraints Checklist

This spread sheet allows us to track our prototyping progress overtime.

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Sixth Prototype

This prototype I fixed my wiring mostly and my code. I got my points to go up by 500 each time my switch was pressed. This took multiple class periods because I had to check each induvial wire to see if it was correctly wired and working. I still have issues like the letters are extremely light and are only visible when looked at at a certain angle. The print also becomes random letters after a certain amount of time.

Fifth Prototype

My fifth prototype I created my mount, I printed out two rectangles with slits that fit my switch bodies legs. I will mount my switch by screwing the rectangles in the pinball body and wood gluing the legs in the slits.

Fourth Prototype

My fourth prototype I altered the way my switch front was mounted . I used a straight nail rather than a paper clip. I had to cut the nail to fit and sauder the end so it wouldn't slide. I printed multiple rectangles to glue behind my front, and carved dents in each so my nail would fit in-between. I also wired my switch but I had errors in my code and button wiring,

Third Prototype

This is my third prototype, I altered the way I mounted the front of the switch. In my second prototype I had the issue of my front sliding along the paper clip. I printed out six circles and strung them along the paper clip so it would no longer slide

Second Switch Prototype

Physical Sketch

My second sketch was created around the idea of expanding my first prototype and actually making it functional. I used many of the same components as my first prototype I created the second version of the side pieces by just adding on to my previous design which was measured to fit the pop switch perfectly. In order to make my design functional I needed to create my front piece. I brainstormed a square shaped front that would be mounted in front of my switch and would have room for a design.

CAD Sketch

I converted my physical sketch into a CAD file using Onshape, measuring each piece in cm and converting it to inches. I had the idea to put a guitar on the front of my switch and downloaded a free SVG from Electric guitars | Free SVG this website. I then uploaded it to glow forge and engraved the guitars when I printed the front piece.

Second Prototype

This is my final second prototype

First Prototype Sketch

My first prototype I sketched a exact replica of my switch side and planned to mount it with a screw the hole in the middle. I wanted to get a basic understanding of my switch.

First Prototype

This is my final prototype I noticed that I needed a second screw to keep this stable and so the switch wouldn't move. It is an exact wood replica of the switch to help me better understand my basic foundations.

Power Source Installed

Installing our power source was a trail and error process. Originally we cut a piece of thick wood into an L shape to go over and on the side of our power source. The type of wood we used split every time we screwed in our screws. Eventually I measured a separate thinner piece of wood to fit into the side of the power source. I used to bandsaw to cut the rectangle and we installed the rectangle under the original piece of wood that had split using two smaller screws one on each side of the rectangle.

Switch Mount

We created the mount for our switch using OnShape. After creating my sketch I downloaded it as a DXF file and converted it into an SVG file using InkScape. After converting the file I uploaded it into GlowFordge and printed it on cardboard first and then medium bass plywood.

Switch Installed

We installed our switch by first cutting a rectangular hole in the side of our pinball machine. We then installed our pinball mount with screws and then installed our light switch cover on top.

Scoreboard Installed

To install our scoreboard we to cut a rectangular hole into the top panel of our pinball machine using the jigsaw. We then installed the mount on top of the hole making it visually appealing and leaving the back open for our scoreboard wiring.

Setting Up Mock Up

We assembled all of our pieces carefully and screwed each together one at a time. We previously had wood glued angled pieces our front and back pieces of plywood. Our this is still our prototype.

Targets

In order to design the best possible targets for our pinball machine my partner and I will thoroughly go through each step of the design process. We will begin by researching current active targets in pinball machines and study their mechanics and overall design. We will then sketch a visual draft on paper that includes aspects we researched including a pivot and a switch. After we have a physically sketch of our own unique target we will transfer it to CAD software. We will transform our physical sketch to a digital sketch using OnShape and make correction edits if needed. Once we have our digital sketch we will print our sketch on the 3D printer. We will then begin testing our target prototype by repeatedly running trials to measure it's accuracy and mechanics. With the data from the tests we will edits to our target in order to improve the final targets performance. We will know we have a functional target when the ball hits the target and a switch flips. Our final target will be complete when the target is functional, permanently mounted to the pinball machine, and the switch is correctly wired to the digital circuit board.

Bumpers

In order to have a fully functional pinball machine my partner and I will have to create quality bumpers. In order to do this we will have to complete each step of the design process. We will begin with research and study working bumpers in active pinball machines. We will study and write their inner workings (the spring and rod), along with all other notable components. After we will take our research and apply it by designing/sketching our own unique version of a pop bumper. We will then transfer our ideas digitally using CAD software such as Onshape to create a 3D model. We will then print our bumper and make size and aesthetic adjustments if needed. Once we have our physical bumper we will begin testing by repeatedly running trials to measure it's accuracy and mechanics. Using our test data we will make edits to our sketch to improve the final bumpers performance. To conclude our design process we will compare our bumpers to other active bumpers in professionally made machines to insure our bumpers perform the same results.

Seleniod

We created our solenoid by 3D printing two separate pieces top and bottom and gluing them together. We exported these pieces from Onshape and my partner and I printed them separately.

Scoreboard Mount

This is the mount for our pinball machines scoreboard. I created it in OnShape after measuring the dimensions of the board. After creating my sketch I downloaded it as a DXF file and converted it into an SVG file using InkScape. After converting the file I uploaded it into GlowFordge and printed it on cardboard first and then medium bass plywood. The mount for our score board includes four holes in each corner that will be filled with screws in order to mount.

Scoreboard with Buttons

We wired and coded our scoreboard to respond to two buttons. When pushed one button will decrease the amount of balls by one unit. The other button when pressed increases the score by 500 points. This will be used in our final machine to calculate, record and display the points scored in our pinball machine. It will also count and display the amount of balls the player has used.

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PINBALL REASEARCH (Field Trip To Pinball Arcade!)

Today we went to a pinball arcade! We played numerous pinball games and observed the way each worked and their both unique and common elements.

Pinball Machine Elements

All pinball machines have these elements in common :

Scoreboard
Start button
Flippers
Launch pads
Themes
Ball slides
Ball guides
Launcher
Bumpers
On/Off switch
Coin Slots (we will not implement these)
Flashing Lights
Sound Effects
Graphics
Scoreboard information sheet
Varity of ways to score (often with different score values)

Physically Occurring Elements

Launcher

A pinball launcher's purpose is to launch a pinball into play. The pinball launchers main component is a spring designed to be compressed and then released. When released the motion will shoot the pinball placed in front of the mechanism into the playing field.

Bumpers

Bumpers are a component in a pinball machine that bumps the ball aggressively resulting in very fast projectile movements. They register when the ball collides or touches them and launches them in different directions. Bumpers are often circular.

Flippers

Flippers are one of the main moving components in a pinball machine. They are used to direct the ball in a certain direction and propel the ball back into the playing field. The flippers are controlled by buttons on both sides of the side machine. There can be numerous bumpers in different places throughout the machine but the most common placement is two at the bottom of the board.

Start Button

The start button on a pinball machine is usually found in the front of the machine next to the key slots. The button is often large and lit with colorful LEDs. When the start button is pressed it releases a pinball and guides it to the front of the machines launcher.

Ball Guides With Shooters

Ball guides with shooters are placed near the flippers at the bottom of the board. Their job is to change the trajectory of the ball once it reaches the bottom of the board to throw the players focus and create an unexpected change of direction.

Lighting Displays

The pinball machines we observed had numerous aesthetic elements and one of the main components was lighting. Sensors throughout the machine caused lights to change and react when triggered. Lights also reacted when certain aspects of the games were unlocked or achieved.

Point Increase

In most pinball machines there are numerous ways to score and gain points. The most common way to achieve points is by shooting through different goals and obstacles. Usually these goals and obstacles are themed based on the pinball machine adding an explorative aspect.

SCORE BOARD WITH MESSAGE

This is an Arduino scoreboard that we coded to display two lines of code. This is the first step in our design process to create our functioning pinball machine.

22-23 Pinball Project Brief

22-23 Pinball Project Brief (2).pdf

This is our 2022-2023 project for our engineering applications class. We are tasked with engineering our very own function life size pinball machine with the help of a partner. This collaborative project includes multiple benchmarks that we will be tasked with completing both individually and collaboratively. Our class will be conducting research at a pinball arcade where we will play and observe to better understand how pinball machines work. Our machine will include multiple creative aspects and will be personalized to our interests.

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