Engineering Applications

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Launcher Documentation

We made the launcher by attaching a hitter to a rod with a spring on it and then fed it through a hole and attached it to the handle. It's function is to shoot the ball to the top of the board.

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Bumper Documentation

The bumper is made by using a vertically mounted solenoid to pull the cone that made up the bumper face down. The coding logic was a circuit designed to close when the ball touched both pieces of copper tape. The function is to shoot the ball in different directions when they come in contact with eachother

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Target Documentation

We made the targets by creating a mount that would hold a switch and target paddle in place until interaction occured. The coding logic was that if the switch was pressed the score on the scoreboard would increase. The function was to give the player more points as they hit the cactus shaped targets.

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Flipper

The flipper is made by using a horizontally mounted solenoid to propel the flipper design that is identical on the front and back upwards. The coding logic is that whenever the buttons on the side of the board are pressed the solenoid will trigger and push upwards. The function is to make the pinball machine interaction and shoot the ball around the board per the players decision.

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Servo Component

The servo component was made by creating a 3D cut image of a tumbleweed laid in epoxy. That was then attached to a servo to spin around. The code is just a constantly active servo throughout the game. The function is to add difficulty to the game play by having the ball be redirected.

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Scoreboard

The scoreboard uses an LCD display system to display the ball count and score. The coding logic is that it preprogrammed to display a welcome screen, ball count, and score. Then when people gets points from various components, the score is increased. This is also linked to the ball return where when the circuit is closed by the ball, the ball count decreases.

LEDS

The LEDs are shown through small holes underneath the vinyl image and display when the board is turned on. They are coded to react to the bumpers being triggers or the side buttons being pressed. The function's as an entertaining visual component for our board.

Board Design

The board design was meant to look like a western retro landscape. We created this by including mountain ranges, tumbleweeds, cacti and other western aspects. We also used a very rustic color palette to match. We also created a layout that would include stimulating gameplay and a balanced design.

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Gameplay Video

This is a video of our gameplay in action. In total, all the components we have are flippers, bumpers, targets, LEDs, a stopper, launcher, scoreboard, ball count and servo.

Final Remarks

Compared to other projects, this project is one of my most detailed and passionate projects, but also the lengthiest. I had a great time creating all of the design aspects, but everything took time to create.
The most important skills are time management and communication. It's important to stay ahead of deadlines, and communicating with your partner about your responsibilities is how you maintain a strong relationship.
I am most proud of the color scheme and outside decorations. While all the mechanical and functional pieces are cool, I really love how our pinball machine is immersed in the Western retro theme.

Lone Star

For this project we designed and created a pinball machine that includes bumpers, a launcher, flippers, mechanical components and other design aspects. Below you can see some of the highlights of our pinball machine

Final Bumper Documentation

The goal of our bumper was to shoot the ball by clamping the bumper down which adds to the gameplay. Our bumpers work over 90% when they are hit from any direction. We employed the western theme on our bumpers by adding a sheriff star, a wagon wheel, and a cowboy hat. We created a vertical solenoid mount that would pull the bumper down when the circuit was closed. We created an open circuit by putting copper tape on the board and on the bumper cone so the metal ball would close the circuit upon contact.

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Targets Documentation

The component that we worked on for the majority of January was our targets. The purpose of the targets is to give players a way to earn points and get a higher score. For our design, we have targets on the side of our board that are intended to be used in addition to the bumpers. Our targets are shaped as cacti to match our theme. Our design uses a bottom mount which has a longer design for stability, predrilled holes, and a permanent switch mount. Each time a target is hit, the score increases by 100 points.

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Flipper Documentation

The component we worked on from late October to December was our flippers. The point of the flippers was to shoot the ball to the top of the board on both the left and right sides. The flippers must be equal and have a design that correlates to our theme.

Our flippers consisted of the front flippers which are what the player sees, the back flippers to act as a lever, the solenoid which powers the flipper, and the spring which keeps the flipper in place. Part of the design process was tweaking those aspects slightly and continuously to create the best product. The result was two powerful flippers that work smoothly and consistently. They also don't rely heavily on the user experience and are easy to work with.

Scoreboard

What the scoreboard does is present your score on various screens. It also displays small messages like your ball count, and if the game has started or ended. The way is works is that it's linked to sensors through code so when the sensors get pressed the score will beadded and displayed on the score board.

Ball Return

The ball return's purpose is to send the ball back to the launch point, and to take down your ball count. The ball return uses gravity to send the ball to the base of the pinball and a sensor is used that indicates to the code that one ball has been lost.

Pinball game Layout

The pinball game layout demonstrates the flow of the game. I chose this pinball design because it's simplistic and works well without unnecessary props. The way you make a layout is by doing a rough paper sketch, and then create online using cad to get accurate dimensions.

Lighting Plan/Layout

The lighting layout may look similar to the game layout, but I chose this pinball machine because it has very bold lights that are more similar to Neopixels. Neopixels is what we will be using to illuminate our design. These are linked to the code and use are coded to have different designs based on what action the ball does. For example, if they win they show green lights if they lose hey show red lights.

Scoring System and Key

They scoring system and key is used to define the rules for the current player. For example they tell them what targets are worth what parts. The instructions are typically made after completion of the pinball machine, and displayed at the base of the board.

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Flippers

The flippers also act as a servo component. The flippers launch the ball around the board and keep it in play. It does this by having two servos linked to buttons on the side of the board. When one of the buttons is clicked the flippers are rotated about 45 degrees upward.

Targets

The targets are intended to be hit by the pinball and score points. The farther away the target is the harder it is hit. They use sensors for this as well so that when the ball hits the board, it adds points onto your score

Pinball Overall Theme

The overall theme is extremely important and is show throughout the entire board. I used the three pictures above to show how you can use excess space to add to your design. They are also good examples of how u can add more depth and an interesting design. These are created by printing out the design in a poster format.

Ball guides

The ball guides are paths for the ball to go up and down. I included a very unique and raised ball guide in the picture. They make these a variety of different ways, but they usually have bumpers on either side which the ball can be launched onto by the flippers.

Unique Mechanical Component

My unique component is a blocker. The purpose is to allow the ball to flow one way but block it from moving the other way. The way you do this is by making an L shaped piece that's connected on an axel with a plank on the top. This allows the L to move forwards but never backwards.

LEDS

The LEDS are represented well on this pinball design, because they have the light shine through the bottom. The connect these lights in a similar manner to the Neopixels, but these ones are individual instead of strips so they can illuminate smaller pieces.

Engineering Design Notebook

For this class, all of our sub projects design process are outlined in the below engineering Design Notebook

Engineering Notebook Template

Final Launcher

We finished our launcher today and assembled our parts. The change we made to the knob was to make is star shaped, so it fit out design more accurately. We drilled a whole into a final shell and made sure that it was meticulous and well planned. We used a ¼in drill bit, and rounded out the whole a bit more to ensure that the wooden dowel could flow smoothly. Then, once again we reattached the the knob to the dowel and used a spring on the outside of the shell in order to prevent the wooden knob from being too close to the shell. On the other side, we added our alignment block into our box. Then we inserted the dowel, and added the spring on the inside. We used two, one long spring, and one medium sized spring. Finally, we sealed the launcher by using wood glue to glue the hitter to the dowel.

Pinball Museum/Arcade Field Trip Documentation

Launcher

The launcher was made by connecting a wooden rod to a hitter on the back and a handle on the front. The way it works is using a spring to give the launcher power and shoot the ball to the top.

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