How-To: add flashers to your CFTBL (or any other game) pop bumpers!
The Korn
your pop bumpers is done, and posted! (Along with two better movies
in MPEG format. Don't want to leave the mac lovers out, ya know!)
Check it out.... HERE! http://www.rcnchicago.com/~vincent/cftbl/
Any and all feedback is welcome.
Rick Swanson
Very Cool!! The multimedia aspect of your site is especially nice.
Rick Swanson (a Mac guy)
Morristown, TN
Sampo Simonen
The Korn <the...@hotmail.com> kirjoitti
viestissä:b2262ce8.02081...@posting.google.com...
> Well, it took a while, but the How-To page on how to add flashers to
Cool effect! A modification that really adds something to the game without
ruining anything (I hope).
Sue
we have disney and pinball all rolled into the same site.
(http://www.skampsweb.net/index.php) . It still needs more content
adding in but the structure is getting there. And that's the cat that
likes sitting on my shoulders when playing pinball.
--
Sue
(sk...@tele2.co.uk)
(STTNG:WW:IJ:CFTBL:Shadow:TZ)
Grahame Fairall
really enhances the pop-bumper area which the ball spends a long time
in.
Please do post info about your other mods
Fez
---
www.extraball.co.uk - Home of the Pinball Who's Who
Kirb
You have a 10 ohm, the bulb, then a 50 ohm resistor. Can you just use
a 60 ohm (or close) resistor and be done with it?
Also, since the bulb is only on for a brief period, can't you use a
smaller wattage resistor? Even a 5 watt one would take up far less
space. The wattage rating is at a full duty cycle. Your duty cycle is
much lower, so the heat part is less of an issue.
The above questions are not instant gratification, but a little
planning and a Mouser catalog.
Like all the effort you put into this mod. Just a few constructive
questions.
Kirb
Raymond
> we have disney and pinball all rolled into the same site.
> (http://www.skampsweb.net/index.php) . It still needs more content
> adding in but the structure is getting there. And that's the cat that
> likes sitting on my shoulders when playing pinball.
And diving too, nice looking outfit. Do you have your own underwater scooters ??
I combine diving and pinball too (not disney), too bad you can't do both at once.
Raymond
Ken Williams
Ken Williams
"The Korn" <the...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Sue
would help on deco stops :-) . Mind you that it what helped the
decision for Creature, as we have dived in Wakulla where the film was
shot. Yes we have underwater scooters - they are great fun. Getting
into some of the caves in Florida is so much easier on a scooter.
Sue
The Korn
> OK, a few questions-
No problemo!
> You have a 10 ohm, the bulb, then a 50 ohm resistor. Can you just use
> a 60 ohm (or close) resistor and be done with it?
Sure! Since we're building a circuit with no branches, from the
lightbulb's point of view that'd be entirely equivalent. (Only reason
I didn't was because I was using parts from the shark... :) )
> Also, since the bulb is only on for a brief period, can't you use a
> smaller wattage resistor? Even a 5 watt one would take up far less
> space. The wattage rating is at a full duty cycle. Your duty cycle is
> much lower, so the heat part is less of an issue.
That's a good question, and to be truthful with you, I simply don't
know the answer. Let's say for the sake of argument that we're
pushing 100% more amperage than the #555 is rated to handle, so it
(for the time it's lit) is pushing 0.5A. Power dissapated is going to
be I^2 * R, or 0.25 * 60, or 13.2 W.
But you're right, the duty cycle is going to fudge things a bit. In
fact, the duty cycle is the only reason why we can get away with
making that #555 be close to the brightness of a flasher in the first
place!
So I'm not 100% sure, but I'd wager that you can probably get away
with 5W resistors. If you're adventureous, try it! Play a few games
as though the only feature the game has is Move Your Car, then feel
the resistors; if they're hot, probably want to go back up in wattage.
Worst thing that can happen is that you'll burn up the resistor to an
open condition. Might discolor the playfield, though, if you got it
that hot. :)
> The above questions are not instant gratification, but a little
> planning and a Mouser catalog.
Yeah yeah... Hey, this went from idea to working prototype in less
than 8 hours! For me, instant gratification was the only way to go,
baby! (Of course, that may not be the way for everyone. :) )
> Like all the effort you put into this mod. Just a few constructive
> questions.
Sure! If it was perfect, I'd patent it and get Ken to exclusively
sell it for me. <rim shot!>
The Korn
> Looks great - real shame about the first dim flash but even so -
> really enhances the pop-bumper area which the ball spends a long time
> in.
Yeah. It was a balance; either make a _real_ controller board that
would take _real_ parts and _real_ effort, or go through this fairly
simple process that works 85% of the time and requires (exactly!)
1/7th the work. :)
To be honest with you, _nobody_ notices. I didn't even notice for a
while! But I figured it was better to put everything above board
(warts & all!) than to have someone do the mod and be disappointed
with the results.
> Please do post info about your other mods
Will do, in time. (It takes a while to edit pages in notepad! :) )
The Korn
> Thanks for the info....I am looking forward to doing this to my CFBTL.
> Ken Williams
Aren't you around Chi-town, Ken? If so, drop me a line; the prototype
is in Skokie. :)
The Korn
Me too!
So far I've played about 70 games with all three bumpers modified,
playing as though Move Your Car is the only shot on the game. i.e.
I've been pounding the living hell out of the pop bumpers. I was
doing it to check the longevity of the bulbs (haven't burned out one
yet! fingers crossed!) but I guess you could say I was stress testing
the entire thing. :)
Larry Brown-Houston
Fabulous mod. Thanks for the writeup. I will be seeing about putting this
mod into my Star Trek 25th anniversary.
Here are some questions/comments:
* As someone else asked, you didn't mention why you had to use two
resistors. I am guessing that you needed to divide the power disappation
into two to keep from overheating a single resisitor?
* I notice in the picture of the resistor pack that you seem to be
sacrificing at least one of the sets of lightning bolts. Is that right?
* Give me an idea of the direction needed to compensate for the weak first
flash and make it bright. Just off the top of your head.
* Yes...I want to know the rest of your mods. A complete "how-to" writeup
would be great, but you could start by just giving a list of the mods, and a
brief description of how you did it.
Thanks again!
"The Korn" <the...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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henri
selling my creature!
looks great by the way.
henri (linux user also happy to see an mpeg)
the...@hotmail.com (The Korn) wrote in message news:<b2262ce8.02081...@posting.google.com>...
The Korn
> Fabulous mod. Thanks for the writeup. I will be seeing about putting this
> mod into my Star Trek 25th anniversary.
Cool! That would be kind of interesting! If/when you get it done,
can you post/send a snapshot of it in action? (Might be tough with a
digital camera, but it'd look cool... :) )
> Here are some questions/comments:
> * As someone else asked, you didn't mention why you had to use two
> resistors. I am guessing that you needed to divide the power disappation
> into two to keep from overheating a single resisitor?
Hmmm, since you're the second one who's asked, looks like I have an
update in order! :)
No; the _only_ reason I used two resistors was because I was sourcing
my parts from Radio (sic) Shark, and they only carry 1 ohm, 10 ohm, 50
ohm, and 100 ohm 10W resistors in stock. I wanted high wattage
resistors since I'm not exactly sure what the power dissipation is
going to be because I haven't figured out the duty cycle. (better
safe than sorry!)
I _like_ sourcing my parts from the Shark (even though I pay 3x as
much sometimes), mainly because 1) as I noted, I'm a big fan of
instant gratification. I'm one of those guys who tracks a package and
then sits around waiting impatiently for my goodies to arrive. :) 2)
For projects such as these, it's nice to know that even if you're in
the middle of South Dakota, there's at least a reasonable chance that
you can source the parts the same day.
I guess I should note that it's only when getting creative with
projects that I get like this. (Wellll, that's not entirely true, but
it's at least 85% true! :) ) I think a lot of it has to do with
wanting to try things out, -->NOW<--, when you've got the creative
juices flowing.
You should see what I have planned next! :) (That one WILL require a
circuit board, and more time. But I haven't even started on that
project, so I'd better shut up. Maybe I'll go back and document a
previous mod in the mean time.)
> * I notice in the picture of the resistor pack that you seem to be
> sacrificing at least one of the sets of lightning bolts. Is that right?
Nope. A piece of electrical tape comes close (fat fingers), but all
the lightning bolts work just fine.
> * Give me an idea of the direction needed to compensate for the weak first
> flash and make it bright. Just off the top of your head.
Two things come to my mind right now...
Method 1: put a large capacitor in parallel with the whole thing.
I'm a little leery about this method because it completely changes the
dynamic of the pop bumper from an electrical standpoint, and _might_
(maybe??) cause the pop bumper to react sluggishly as a result. You'd
really have to model this in a simulation package like SPICE to make
sure everything was hunky dory, and to get a good bead on what size
capacitor to use. (Gut feeling says its going to be big. Really big.
x 3 bumpers. :) )
Method 2: Grab the pop bumper power from somewhere convenient on the
power supply. Use a large transistor (might have to go to two or
three stages of amplification to avoid ringing; dunno haven't looked
at transistor amplifiers in a LONG time!) to get the output current
up. (i.e. you'd be using a transistor as a switch, that would switch
on the ground path of the light bulb using the ground on the pop
bumper as the trigger voltage.) This is a much better method than
method 1, as even if the pop bumper coil is completely fried, the
light would still light. (Not guaranteed with method #1; depends on
failure mode.) Drawback is that you'd most likely need a heat sink to
avoid frying the transistor.
But again, that's a LOT more work just to fix the first flash. I'd
rather do a completely different project that requires a board to
function at all rather than do it to fix the first flash. (But maybe
that's just me! :) )
> * Yes...I want to know the rest of your mods. A complete "how-to" writeup
> would be great, but you could start by just giving a list of the mods, and a
> brief description of how you did it.
Well, the mod that's created the most buzz (no pun intended!) so far
from the people who have seen my games was when I dropped a 200W car
amplifier, subwoofer, speakers and seperate power supply into my
B*lack K*night 2000. I think that'll probably be the next mod I write
up as a how-to, since it's already done. (Gives me more time to work
on a new project! :) )
I have some other mods in the bag that probably nobody is going to
care about (trust me!), and a few on the drawing board that people
will probably go ape over. Ah, the time... To find the time to do
them all! (and write about them!)
The Korn
> between this and the rnrpinball front cab decal i'm starting to regret
> selling my creature!
>
> looks great by the way.
>
> henri (linux user also happy to see an mpeg)
You know, I use linux every day at work and for some reason it hadn't
even crossed my mind that someone would be using it at home. (And
that's REALLY dumb, since I used to use linux at home, way back when!)
I gotta start drinking to give me an excuse for forgetting things like
this. :)
Larry Brown-Houston
name...if so, you are a cool chick.)
LB
Chappie
resistor?
Steve
"The Korn" <the...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Kirb
> with 5W resistors. If you're adventureous, try it! Play a few games
> as though the only feature the game has is Move Your Car, then feel
> the resistors; if they're hot, probably want to go back up in wattage.
> Worst thing that can happen is that you'll burn up the resistor to an
> open condition. Might discolor the playfield, though, if you got it
> that hot. :)
Well, I doubt the resistors would get too hot. The pops only fire once
in awhile and they don't really stay on that long. You could get away
with smaller resistors (under 5W), but then you have the problem of
getting them to stay there with the leads being so small.
I would put a standoff for the terminal blocks to keep about a .5-1"
air gap between the resistors and the PF. This will prevent any
burning if it does happen to get hot.
One other thing- I don't like CFTBL, so I doubt I will try this mod on
a machine that I won't own. Stranger things have happened, so you
never know.
Kirb
The Korn
> *You* are a cool dude. (Or did I see you post something with a woman's
> name...if so, you are a cool chick.)
> LB
Thanks! And no, I'm a guy. (A straight guy, in case anyone cares. :) )
The Korn
> So would there only be three resistors if you took this to a 60 ohm single
> resistor?
That's correct.
The Korn
> in awhile and they don't really stay on that long.
I think you're probably right. But I'm not comfortable saying this;
if you want to do it on your own, by all means. (i.e. I prefer to
error on the side of caution.)
> You could get away
> with smaller resistors (under 5W), but then you have the problem of
> getting them to stay there with the leads being so small.
I think that might be pushing it, honestly. There's a lot of
resistors < 5W; hard to say if it's a good or bad idea without knowing
more. (i.e. I'm confident that you will NOT get away with a 1/8W
resistor.)
> I would put a standoff for the terminal blocks to keep about a .5-1"
> air gap between the resistors and the PF. This will prevent any
> burning if it does happen to get hot.
Good idea.
> One other thing- I don't like CFTBL, so I doubt I will try this mod on
> a machine that I won't own. Stranger things have happened, so you
> never know.
Uh, .... OK. (?)
The Korn
I've gone ahead and created a page of common questions about the mod
and (what I believe to be) correct answers.
It is now available at
http://www.rcnchicago.com/~vincent/cftbl/questions.html . (It is also
linked from the other pages, so if you have that bookmarked, all is
well!)
Again, thanks to all for the feedback! If the need arises, I'll
update the questions page, so if something seems amiss, don't be
afraid to speak up! :)