Return of the SetpicLemon, and a Pinball controller project...?

Yup! I'm back, and I'm really back logged on the damn podcasts it's not funny. But here's something that I'm going to do my best to work on this project, since my Wireless woody is just collecting dust as I got impatient trying to get those damn resistors right! Urgh...

Anyway, since I got addicted to Pinball FX 2 and Pinball Arcade. I'm going to tear up a 360 pad and turn it into a Pinball controller with it's own plunger for that bit of authentic pinball feel!

In fact someone on Youtube made exactly what I wanted to make!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_jNCvf_xc

What I want to make a little different, as I don't want to stick a joystick on the top, after all I already have a Hori Stick for the 360, that and the Hori stick doesn't have a analog tracks on it. But I found someone on FeeBay selling trianglar slot machine buttons; so I want to get these to create cursor keys on the top of the pinball controller like this...

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/1...alloutside.jpg

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From what I learnt from the video above is that he used a 10K sliding pot to control the Y axis on the right stick. I've been taling to some people on Acidmods about where the traces and solder points are for the right stick's Y axis, though they tend to concentrate more on wireless controllers, as I want to use a wires controller for this project. Apparently there are 4-5 different controller boards you can find, all with different PCB traces and components, so they're going to find out where the Y axis solder points are on a older wired 360 controller for me.

There are a few questions I need to ask, I might have to be cheeky and ask Scott if I can purchase a plunger from him. Npt only that but I want to make this pinball controller REALLY pinball like. I really want to get that steel edging you find on the top of some tables. It looks like this...

http://www.ujuju.com/templates/images/machine.jpg

That and I'd love to get some miniature steel legs for it too. So Scott, if you can hook me up with pinball supplies, I'd highly appreciate it!

Sounds cool. Loving TPA myself-But iOS only so no buttons for me (yet) :)
(Scott-Give this man supplies!!!! :))

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RetroPom

Sounds cool. Loving TPA myself-But iOS only so no buttons for me (yet) :)
(Scott-Give this man supplies!!!! :))

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This was what put me off TPA, i was thinking that i might make a lego attachment for my ipad that translate the horizontal action of a plunger into a vertical movement of a pad that works with the capacitive screen so that i can have side buttons that do my sceen taps for me

Or i might jsut get the ps3/vita version. Ooh, th ePS3 supports standard USB controllers, so a custom pinball controller would be very easy to make

Ok, I got myself some stuff, mainly my sliding potentiometers, some leds, resistors, and my cursor keys. Today I did some cutting and drilling plans for the case...

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7760/sizes1.jpg

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http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/4004/sizes2.jpg

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http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4156/sizes3.jpg

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Those arent the final plans, I might fiddle around with them first before coming up with the final plans.

Looks like a really awesome project. Keep us updated!

Are you doing all the cutting and construction yourself or handing the plans off to someone else?

Likely I'll get the cutting and drilling plans done and hand them to someone...

Providing they don't charge me an arm and a leg for it!

Ok, I jiggled around with the design so that everything can actually fit. The buttons I got as the flipper buttons go in quite deep, so I made the casing wider. But here's a design of what it should look like, bare in mind it won't 100% look like this, I added the back glass design on there as an example, but I really do like Arabian Nights!

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7471/designpin2.jpg

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Ok... an update!

I got my buttons today! and I have a variety of different buttons from different countries...

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6041/imag0304e.jpg

Yes, they're both red buttons, but you'll notice they use different micro switches, the one on the left is an actual HAPP high spec button, with a life of 10 million presses, whilst the one of the right is a Chinese wannabe with a life of about 2.5 million presses. With the real HAPP buttons I'm going to use those for the flipper buttons, can handle the constant abuse from solid pinball gaming, whilst the Chinese buttons will be used for the face buttons on the top of the controller, after all they won't be used as much...

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/8131/imag0306kb.jpg

But that's not all, I got myself a pair itty bitty white Sanwa buttons, for those or aren't quite in the know, Sanwa is a Japanese button manufacturer who make the buttons for Candy cabs. I'm going to be using these for the Start and Back buttons.

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/8...controller.png

And again, I've been tinkering with the design of it, again... This time it's deeper, accommodating the length of a Stern Pinball plunger, which I might be getting from a UK Pinball spares supplier. That and I've incorporated a plastic edging around the case, this stuff I can get from work, which are used for speakers and rack mount equipment.

OK, I'm getting sick of waiting for information from Pinball spare sites when I have these clicky buttons! But I stumbled upon this cardboard box with these round holes on the sides, I could use this to test my wiring. I got to remind myself to get a solder pump tomorrow.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5599/imag0307nh.jpg