HOW TO MAKE A PINBALL MACHINE: Metal Ball Guides
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- HOW TO MAKE A PINBALL MACHINE: Metal Ball Guides
Time to replace all of our cardboard ramps and ball guides with actual metal ball guides! This is a big step forward and is a ton of fun to shoot once we have some shots all set up. We'll be doing some 3D printing for anchors to hold the ball guides in place and also trying out some different tools for cutting and bending and shaping the metal.
Table of Contents:
0:00 Sourcing Metal - Kingdon Sheet Metal
1:45 From Cardboard to Metal Guides
6:21 Cutting the metal
8:01 Bending the metal
12:53 Mounting the ball guides
18:05 Play testing!!
Links to Resources mentioned in the video:
* Public Files on my Google Drive:
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
* Pinball Cabinet Fusion 360 file created by and shared with permission by John Marsh
-- Spike 2 Pinball Cabinet: a360.co/2RatbVw
* Step-by-step Tutorial for getting the lower third of your pinball playfield powered, connected and flipping!: docs.google.com/document/d/1E...
* Led Zeppelin Pinball Project BoM (Bill of Materials): docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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.
As always, 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!?! - Навчання та стиль
I love that you go over pinball specifics, but also cover the tools, materials, parts, suppliers, etc. you also buy and find your tools like an average person, like in this episode. I see you using tools I have, demonstrating ingenuity (like the simple pinball rotisserie), and brute forcing the way a maker would, like the tin snips and your hole body force. Awesome series.
Hahah yep, nothing fancy going on here, just having fun!!
Don’t bend the strips directly to the finished size, but go there in smalls steps, decreasing the radius further and further till you get at the expected size
MOJA ZIVOTNA ZELJA JE DA NAPRAVIM FLIPER ,SVAKA CAST SVE POHVALE ! BRAVO
You are creating a giant piece of art that you can actually play. Life doesn't get much better than that!
I've always used a hack saw and a vise to cut ball guides, then file the burr off the end. Then make my bends by hand.
timber jig. make one the shape you want, and one to be mostly the form. threaded rod and screw it into place... bent and sorted
I've used pcv pipe to make bends on thinner metal
This is so fun to watch it come together!! Keep up the great work!🙂🙂
This is coming along and your journey is really cool. For cutting it might be easier to cut with an angle grinder. For the metal strips to feed easier you'll need to make multiple passes increasing the bend a little bit more each time. Keep up the good work.
Ah so I’m being too aggressive with the bend? That makes sense I’ll have to try multiple passes, thank you!! The angle grinder idea is interesting, I hadn’t considered that, and I have always needed a reason to get one… 😁
@@thepinballroom Yep just too aggressive with the bend, it's having to bend and feed at once so lets bending means it should feed better. It will take a bit longer but will likely work easier. With the angle grinder you will just need to get cutting disk. I bought one at Harbor Freight recently and a pack of cutting disk and spent around $25.
loved seeing how you formed your metal ball guides.
i have been looking to see how this is being done and your the first person to actually show it that i have seen.
if you have any links to others that have formed their guides that would be great to checkout.
you never said in the video where you bought your ring roller tool or what brand it was.
it is also not listed in your build of materials spreadsheet.
can you please put a link to the unit you bought.
i would like to check it out.
i bought the crimp tool you also linked, but have not got it in yet to try out.
keep up the fantastic work.
Thanks for the feedback! I haven’t found any other stuff showing how to bend them either 🤷 but we’ll figure it out together heheh-
Sorry for not including a link to the roller tool - it’s been pretty decent but it scratches the metal on one side more than I’d like 😕 but here’s the link:
www.toolots.com/3-single-pinch-gear-driven-ring-roller-bender-with-solid-handle.html
@@thepinballroom happy to help with positive feedback, always.
i hope some other home brew pin makers will share their take on metal ramps and how they bend them.
i have been looking into how to bend things, ball ramps, guides and the cylinder bar stock.
i have also been looking into spot welders to weld the cylinder stock after it is formed so it looks good.
also so i can spot weld repair ramps and guides on games i repair for folks.
thanks for the part links, keep up the good work and looking forward to a good long video on all your next adventures.
The more videos I watch the more tools and space I need haha. Already seeing some smooth shots, nice job!
Thanks! I’m nervous about making the ramps tho 😳 🤞
Awesome series. I'm learning a lot with this and also building courage to start one haha so thank you.
Regards from Argentina
That’s great!! You should totally build your own machine!!
Found your channel and I am very intrigued . Great content and awesome table idea. Can't wait to see this thing finished. Amazing work sir.
Thank you so much for the encouragement!! Hope the videos are enjoyable
Just a tip: That big of steel or aluminum, use a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade instead of snips/sheers.
Yeah those cutters were definitely inadequate, that other blue cutter I got works great tho
Hi there, ive been following this series and I have an idea.
When I need to bend metal into complex curves along one axis I use negative molds. So in this case you take your cardboard template and trace it onto 1" thick wood. Cut that out with your jigsaw and cleanup with sandpaper. Then use clamps and heat to bend and anneal the metal to the desired shape. Its accurate, precise and cheap. No specialty tools required.
Thanks for that tip! that's a great idea - I'm actually exploring that technique for my wireforms this morning - using my 3d printer to make the negative molds - not sure that the plastic will be strong enough for some of the tight angles I want to do tho, but we'll see - thanks for watching!
I cut all mine with a grinder and cutting wheel, then cleaned up with a file. Cutter is cleaner for sure, but then again a lot of guides may have the ends covered anyway so that may not be necessary. The end game for me on the final versions is to throw them in Fusion and send off dxf files to sendcutsend. Getting back lasered metal is so satisfying. Better to do in batches though due to the set-up fee. Totally reasonable costs imo. Hoping to do same with the plastics most likely. Love the video progress, there's not enough homebrew pinball videos on youtube, appreciate your contributions!
Yeah I’ve heard good things about sendcutsend but haven’t ever used them yet
Thanks for documenting your journey, I recently took an interest in building a machine as well, and I guess I'm getting a preview of my own trials and errors :p I'm starting out roughing everything out and doing the programming in VPX, so it'll be a while till I get to this stage . . . esp. in terms of affording the materials to build a physical table :|
I feel like the right way to think about your metal bender is probably calculating the angle you want, which would be a function of the thickness of the metal and the circumference of the circle desired, but I'm guessing you probably found the right way in the last two months anyways.
Thanks for the feedback, I’ve got some thing’s figured out but there’s always more to learn so thanks for the ideas!
Im also installing my metal guides on my homebrew machine at the moment (want to invest as much time I can in my holidays;-)). Have similar metal strips as you. I take a good hand iron saw. Goes through like butter and you have a clean cut;-). But your big cutter with the long handle is great! I think I will shoot something like that too. Your bending tool is also great ;-). Ive bending everything around different pipes. I also saw the guide holders in the slack group too. They are great, but I dont like that you see the plastic. Eventually a metallic printing material would look better or to paint them metallic. But thats only my opinion;-). Keep on the great work;-)
Yeah, the plastic holders are just temporary, I’ll use riveted posts for the final install of the guides. So are you just using a hand saw with a blade for metal? Do you just anchor it in a vise and then cut or?
@@thepinballroom Yes that will look a lot better then. So the printed holders are just for prototyping......got it;-) I use only this two tools for cutting the metal guides;-)
www.hornbach.de/shop/Schraubstock-Stahl-100-mm/7472836/artikel.html
www.amazon.de/-/en/300-professional-hacksaw-metal-saw/dp/B00AN1EVRE
@@thepinballroom Forgot to say.....your stairway mechanism is amazing. I think your machine will be a lot of fun to play and will attract a lot of attention in the pinball communitiy;-)
I'm really enjoying these videos Steve. The metal work looks really daunting ha ha , it makes you really appreciate how much work that goes into pinball machine.
How far are you going with this, will you be putting artwork on the table and will it have an animated dot matrix?
Thanks, Alex! It’s really not so bad, like anything it just takes a bit of time.
I’m planning on going all the way so this can sit in my basement proudly alongside my Stern pins 😁 artwork, clearcoat, callouts, music, and code!
@@thepinballroom really looking forward to seeing it finished
Box it up, slap a label on it, and sell it for $9k lol! Great video man thanks for posting.
$9k??!! Cmon it’s worth at least $12.5!! 😉
Really good job. i printed your support for mine. i am using aluminum rails instead. Great call
You found the files in my public drive ok? or did you make your own? Either way that’s great!
@@thepinballroom i downloaded yours but it doesnt fit properly because i am using 30mm rails so i had to modify. ^^
@@oliviercaboche2697 awesome glad you got it working.
Use a 4.5" makita angle grinder saw.
Another proponent of the angle grinder eh? I’ll have to give that a try, never used one before
why not use an angle grinder ? :) Anyway, excellent work! I'm thinking about making my own, and thus am watching the whole playlist, that's great quality :)
Yeah I didn’t have one, but I’ve since purchased one and it’s working way better
@@thepinballroom wow I got an answer months after the post date, that's unusual 😊 I have to admit I didn't watch all the videos yet, so I'll see that later. Keep up the good work 👍
@@axiagame 😆 yeah well my channels pretty small not too hard to keep up on the comments 🙃 hope the videos are fun/helpful- work has slowed me down the past couple of weeks so I’m not posting videos quite as frequently for now sadly but hopefully I’ll have more time come January
Easier to use a hack saw in the vice grip?
Yeah maybe, but I like the clean edge the large cutter gives the metal compared to a hacksaw 🤷 ymmv
I used aluminum for prototyping. Easier to bend and cut. Solid enough for a few thousand plays.
I've never worked with aluminum 🤔, is really that much easier to work with? I'll have to consider that for my next project!
@@thepinballroom it's a softer metal so it can easily be bent by hand. As long as it's properly braced it works great for ball guides. I'm using Fusion 360 designed, laser cut steel guides for the final version so I still have to deal with the bending problem
@@thearrrrrcade4706 what are you using to laser cut them? Or are you sending them out to be cut?
@@thepinballroom sent them out to sendcutsend. Affordable, about 1 week turn around
I didn't know you were in Utah? I'm in Vegas.
Yep, outside SLC 🙂
@@thepinballroom awesome bradda
I'll be honest. It was frustrating watching you use the sheet metal bender without the crank on the other side over the edge of a table where you could've kept cranking 360°