HOW TO MAKE A PINBALL MACHINE: The White Wood

Рет қаралды 10,460

Күн бұрын

HOW TO MAKE A PINBALL MACHINE: THE WHITE WOOD
Today we cut our first pinball prototype playfield aka the 'white wood' and install the flippers and slings! I also show you some ideas for creating your own pinball rotisserie you can use to more easily work on your playfield (credit to Ed from Pinball Mayhem for his video showing how he created his rotisserie which I borrowed heavily from to create my own).
Table of Contents:
0:00 Intro
1:00 Cutting the White Wood
3:45 Hacking a scanner
8:26 Playfield rotisserie
10:13 Installing flipper mechs & slings
14:55 Adding in-lane ball guides
19:03 Slingshot posts and rubbers
21:05 Putting playfield back into the cabinet
Links to Resources mentioned in the video:
* Pinball Parts: www.pinballlife.com
* Led Zeppelin BoM: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
* Step-by-step Tutorial for getting the lower third of your pinball playfield powered, connected and flipping!: docs.google.com/document/d/1E...
* Public Google Drive folder with link to Fusion 360 file: drive.google.com/drive/folder...
* Cut Files w measurements in case you're cutting by hand :
** lower3rd_measurements_A.png
drive.google.com/file/d/1l8qn...
** lower3rd_measurements_B.png
drive.google.com/file/d/1exBw...
** lower3rd_measurements_C.png
drive.google.com/file/d/19JPI...
** lower3rd_measurements_D.png
drive.google.com/file/d/1W_9b...
Thanks for watching, I hope you found this helpful or interesting - if you did, please like and subscribe and even share this so other pinheads can find this series of videos.
Give me some feedback on what you liked and didn't like about this video - if there's anything you'd like me to cover in more detail, lmk!!!
If you haven't already, I challenge you to start building your own pinball machine, cuz why not!?!!?

Пікірлер: 45

@carlosguion2269 Жыл бұрын

Congratulations on your excellent work and dedication to sharing your knowledge to pinball lovers. Keep recording your videos and encouraging this robby that has already brought us so much joy. Greetings from Brazil

@FlippinFunFlips Ай бұрын

So many good tips!!

@ByronBedenbaugh 3 жыл бұрын

I am getting the mpf software figured out better now. I got my p3roc boards in this week. I am looking forward to getting flipping. I am enjoying seeing your progress on your machine.

@thepinballroom 3 жыл бұрын

That's great to hear!! Having a white wood with working flippers is such a great milestone!!!

@MRNBricks 2 жыл бұрын

Good info too. I actually bought a Maslow and CNC’d the pieces for a WPC cab over a year ago. Still sitting in my garage. I think I bought most of the lower third mechs and the pops as well. I should get off my butter and assemble it and start building already. I got distracted restoring EMs. :)

@thepinballroom 2 жыл бұрын

Yes!! Restoration projects are super fun too, but yes, get going on your homebrew!!!

@n0van0va 8 ай бұрын

so yeah we have a pinball playfield right ? weeeellll..... we had lots of pinball playfields ! you made my day ! 😆 i can feel it's gonna be a rabbit hole

@paulclarke7571 2 жыл бұрын

5:45....and another one...and another one...and another one. Holy cow Steve, I can truly appreciate how long toy would have been at that. Good for you. Nothing good comes easy. Keep on going!!!

@thepinballroom 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah definitely took a while to get it dialed in right, 🤣 oh well, I learned a bunch!

@DDDpinball 3 жыл бұрын

I just ordered a FAST starterkit. Extremely helpful and well edited videos, thank you for this. I hope you keep on continue making this videos, will save me a lot of money :)

@thepinballroom 3 жыл бұрын

Woohoo!!! I’m so excited for you!! Next video comes out tomorrow!! Do you have a theme in mind already?

@DDDpinball 3 жыл бұрын

@@thepinballroom Haha thanks! My ultimate goal will be a Blade Runner/Dystopian style pin from scratch. But I've already learned from several people that it is not bad to start easy. So for now I will start with an old Space Jam cabinet and some used parts to get the heck of it, get FAST running and test some shots in a sort of spacy/tech theme. I bought all this stuff from Bas from Pinball Amigo's who created The Crazy Mansion pin, very cool project as well. After I saw your videos I checked the documentation, really awesome man, definitely will help me and others a lot! Btw; why did you choose Led Zeppelin while this was recently released? You started already before Stern produce it? Or you are just a die-hard fan? :)

@thepinballroom 3 жыл бұрын

@@DDDpinball already had started before they announced it, yeah, Bas and them are awesome I love watching their projects!

@coffeeuser470 2 жыл бұрын

Oh, where did you get a starter Kit from?!

@thepinballroom 2 жыл бұрын

@@coffeeuser470 here: store.fastpinball.com/product/fast-starter-bundle-power/33?cs=true&cst=custom

@quesodev 6 ай бұрын

Hi Steve. Thanks for the videos. Question about the rotisserie. Can you share what part connects the square pipe to to the 2x4 on your wall. It's looks like a triangle bracket of some sort with perhaps a pin that goes through the hole on the square pipe. It's hard to tell from video and I'm having a hard time finding the right keywords to search for it. Thanks!

@craken_eurass 2 жыл бұрын

Dude you're the man. Just getting started with design. Thanks buddy cheers will be watching all your vids ,🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

@thepinballroom 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome!! I hope they’re helpful!

@craken_eurass 2 жыл бұрын

@@thepinballroom just came from Vegas and had my mind blown by python's pinball circus. Was thinking about a vertical cabinet much like pinball circus. Any advice?

@thepinballroom 2 жыл бұрын

@@craken_eurass hahah yeah it’s pretty unique - I don’t know that I’d try tackling a vertical setup like that as my first homebrew but it really just depends on how comfortable you are with the mechanical side of things 🤷 or maybe try something like banzai run with a fancy backbox playfield?

@craken_eurass 2 жыл бұрын

@@thepinballroom actually mechanically I am very limited in terms of skills lol which I guess leads to my next question... what courses do you recommend taking in college to get started? I should also mentioned that I'm a musician (guitarist mainly) going also for music composition to design audio and music for pins 🤘🤘

@thepinballroom 2 жыл бұрын

@UCR-WP7YFxwnp7J87NZvEd1A I’m not a good person to talk to about formal training to get into pinball - I’ve never worked for a pinball company, you’ll probably be better off getting that type of info from someone who works in the industry- all I can do is share what I’ve been learning as I build my own

@NerdsNoventeros 2 жыл бұрын

Hola, muy buen contenido. Saludos desde argentina

@thepinballroom 2 жыл бұрын

Muchisimas gracias! Me alegra que le gustan los videos!! … I think that was right..😅 my Spanish is really bad these days

@robross7991 3 жыл бұрын

If only I was technical enough to attempt what you are doing. All I’ve done is to write down extensive notes on my ultimate original pinball table. I’m not even sure of the theme….could be Scooby Doo or maybe Doctor Strange but I listed (in my own shorthand) what the different parts of the machine would have for mechs and such. When I was done I believe I had 5 or 6 new innovations never done in pinball. Wish I could meet with JJP or American to collaborate some day.

@thepinballroom 3 жыл бұрын

I hear ya, I say never say never, just take it one step at a time- for me just getting a machine with working flippers was the insurmountable part- but once I made it past that it all somehow became much more realistic- we’ll be here whenever you’re ready to give it a try!

@robot_spider Жыл бұрын

I learned the "plastic tubes" are called "stand-offs" or "stand-off spacers". Not being pedantic--I had a hard time finding them until I knew what to search for, so if that helps someone.

@isabellarocks1000 11 ай бұрын

What type of wood did you use for prototype and what to you recommend for final product? How do you prevent warping over time?

@thepinballroom 11 ай бұрын

For prototyping I've been using plywood from home depot - 1/2 inch baltic birch plywood, you don't need anything super special for prototyping. For final playfield, most folks buy the more expensive 9-ply baltic birch that is 17/32 inch thick that you can only get from certain lumberyards directly; I've never seen it in a big store like home depot. The side rails that go down each side of your playfield are there to help keep the wood from twisting - beyond that, just try to keep it relatively dry - it'll have more issues in really high humidity, but I'm not familiar with any special tricks to make the playfield last beyond clear coating it to help keep out moisture - some people will clear coat both sides of their playfield for example. good luck!!

@BATG_Tony 3 жыл бұрын

Great video! Do you have any recs for resources about making custom pinball mechs?

@thepinballroom 3 жыл бұрын

I haven’t found anything much yet myself- I’m making a custom escalator/ stairway mech for this Led Zeppelin project and will walk through how I did that in a later video in case that’s helpful?

@BATG_Tony 3 жыл бұрын

@@thepinballroom That would be awesome. Can't wait to see your mech. Someone should making a channel breaking down old Bally/William's mech. We need to inspire the next generation of pinball engineers.

@nolesdennhardt8986 4 ай бұрын

Hell ya!

@SG25 11 ай бұрын

Where are you hosting the file for fusion 360 for the cnc cutting? Thanks so much for all your videos. So helpful and inspiring

@thepinballroom 11 ай бұрын

I later added it to my public folder on google drive here: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jS786lw6Z3tvHhBRjR0z4r1F0p3Y6UbR?usp=drive_link

@SG25 11 ай бұрын

@@thepinballroom thank you so much! I found the file and also a local source of plywood and cnc services. I should have two blanks cut with the fusion file you posted by end of day tomorrow! Next will be the cabinet.

@thepinballroom 11 ай бұрын

@@SG25 awesome!! Post your progress in the Facebook group “Strictly custom pinball machines” so we all can follow your progress!!

@SG25 5 ай бұрын

@@thepinballroom Hi Steve. I'm at the stage where I'm putting my cabinet together and trying to make sense of how to install the hardware for mounting the playfield to the cabinet. I measured the playfield I had cut from the file on your Google drive. The playfield is not 45" long it's 46". I thought maybe it was the wood shop who cut it wrong so I downloaded the file and poped it into Fusion and sure enough, it's 46" long. Just wanted to let you know. I'm still trying to determine if this will affect my build in any way yet lol

@thepinballroom 5 ай бұрын

@@SG25 oh no! I'm so sorry! You're right, I just looked at the file and it's an older one that I never updated after the changes I made. I've been using a 45" length playfield for a little while - you can make the 46" work, but it's a bit tight within a standard cabinet, the bigger issue is the playfield hangers for the lockdown bar receiver. I was originally using a classic Williams receiver, but ended up switch to a modern stern one with the two latches instead, so I've changed my lower third edge back to one that will work with the placement for those. The version of the file you used should work with the williams style receiver tho, as that what I started out with. I'm so sorry, I've now updated my drive to include my current lower third edge that is compatible with the modern stern receiver and lock-down bar.

@SuperSuperPork 3 жыл бұрын

Great video.... as always! man... all my father in law wanted to do was borrow money. . .

@thepinballroom 3 жыл бұрын

HAHA! Glad you're liking the walk-through!

@quesodev 6 ай бұрын

@thepinballroom 6 ай бұрын

So those are actually the stainless steel brackets from a simple wheel caster where I removed the wheel and then put a thin bolt through it and the aluminum rail

@quesodev 6 ай бұрын

Oh, interesting! Thanks!