First part of my ULTIMATE project done!

Want to just shoot the breeze? Forum 42 is the place!

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
benheck
Site Admin
Posts: 1880
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 6:00 pm
Location: Wisconsin - Land of Beer and Cheese and Beer
Contact:
Contact benheck

First part of my ULTIMATE project done!

Post by benheck » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:22 am

That being my Bill Paxton Pinball machine of course. At the rate it's going (pecked away at this part for over a year...) who knows when it'll be done.

Image

This is the score display module. It is a custom laser cut acrylic frame with 512 hand-soldered LED's. (Anyone who didn't already think I wasn't beyond hardcore can now think again.) They are wired with a common cathode (negative) leads and an 8-bit bus going horizontal.

Thus, you put an 8-bit value into the memory and select the column with 6 bits (thus 64 columns) Four 4:16 multiplexers and some logic IC's (not seen, behind the frame) then decode the 6 bits and allow that column to sink ground. All other columns stay high (like Towlie) and thus don't light.

To make a display you have to raster the bits very quickly. Right now all I have to use is my old Basic Stamp 2, which is fast enough for a small display but not for this. But I can test this and it works great.

For the final machine (in 2010 or whenever) I plan to use a dedicated processor for the display. At first I thought about using a Propeller for everything and having 1 cog do the raster but that would eat up 14 I/O pins since it requires its own bus.

I also have an EEPROM which I can map to the display to show graphics, animation and what not.
Image
Top
User avatar
ShockSlayer
Niblet 64
Posts: 5059
Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:47 pm
Location: In my inbox.

Post by ShockSlayer » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:26 am

Well, now we all know who Gods favorite is....

And on an unrelated note: PWNAGE!!!

So your building a pinball machine from scratch?

SS
http://twitter.com/ShockSlayer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Top
User avatar
Krepticor
Senior Member
Posts: 1567
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 8:06 pm
Location: Shadow Hearts

Post by Krepticor » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:48 am

sweet I can't wait to see this finish, I am kinda a pinball junkie
I refuse to dignify myself with an intelligent and witty signature
Top
User avatar
ShockSlayer
Niblet 64
Posts: 5059
Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:47 pm
Location: In my inbox.

Post by ShockSlayer » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:52 am

I can't wait to see how much fun you have w/those leds!
http://twitter.com/ShockSlayer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Top
User avatar
gannon
Moderator
Posts: 6974
Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2004 4:48 pm
Location: Near that one big lake
Contact:
Contact gannon

Post by gannon » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:12 pm

I was thinking of making something like that, but for interfacing to my pc as a ticker. I'm not so insane though and was going to use the 10x1 LED strips :P
Top
User avatar
Skyone
Moderator
Posts: 6390
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:35 pm
Location: it is a mystery
Contact:
Contact Skyone

Post by Skyone » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:42 pm

gannon wrote:I was thinking of making something like that, but for interfacing to my pc as a ticker.
What would it 'tick,' though? Time? :P
Top
User avatar
gannon
Moderator
Posts: 6974
Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2004 4:48 pm
Location: Near that one big lake
Contact:
Contact gannon

Post by gannon » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:13 pm

RSS feeds, stocks, etc :P
Top
User avatar
Skyone
Moderator
Posts: 6390
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:35 pm
Location: it is a mystery
Contact:
Contact Skyone

Post by Skyone » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:33 pm

gannon wrote:RSS feeds, stocks, etc :P
Stocks.


:P

Anyways, looks good Ben, not worth the time, if you'd ask me! ;)
Top
User avatar
siegeshot
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2006 8:36 pm
Contact:
Contact siegeshot

Post by siegeshot » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:11 pm

:O
<a href="http://www.tbowlcomic.com"><img src="http://www.uncannyassociates.com/pics/t ... 468x60.jpg" alt="TBOWLComic" border="0"></a>
Top
Kyo
Senior Member
Posts: 2470
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:59 am
Location: Germany
Contact:
Contact Kyo

Post by Kyo » Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:29 am

whoa...

and i always thought you have better things to do... :D
Top
User avatar
ShockSlayer
Niblet 64
Posts: 5059
Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:47 pm
Location: In my inbox.

Post by ShockSlayer » Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:30 pm

Get back to the wiitop retard!

:lol:

SS
http://twitter.com/ShockSlayer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Top
User avatar
warmachine
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2005 1:33 am
Location: Ferris, Texas, USA
Contact:
Contact warmachine

Post by warmachine » Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:41 pm

Holy crap on a crutch; I know it's just an LED array, but that is one piece of work. What do you plan on using for the processor? Something flexible, like an ARM series? Also, do you plan on building your own mechanical components, or will you slavage them from older machines?
NUCLEAR
Top
User avatar
NiN^_^NiN
Posts: 494
Joined: Fri May 07, 2004 3:54 am
Location: Australia
Contact:
Contact NiN^_^NiN

Post by NiN^_^NiN » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:15 pm

Its easier to get a pinball playfield thats dead a lot of them sell on ebay for framing or hanging on the wall.

You could easily make a pinball machine out of a old playfield and one of them $10 kids pinball machines

The you can just interface the screen into the led array

Or you could get a pc and use a Keywiz keyboard encoder and have a simple basic program that counts based on keystroke and plays sounds and outputs to the led array altho windows/linux will give you a better option for music and sounds.
Top
User avatar
benheck
Site Admin
Posts: 1880
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 6:00 pm
Location: Wisconsin - Land of Beer and Cheese and Beer
Contact:
Contact benheck

Post by benheck » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:29 pm

It's going to be 100% custom, though I will build it with pinball components and parts. Like arcade games they're not TOO expensive.

Does anyone here know Propeller programming? I probably don't have time to learn...

-Ben
Image
Top
User avatar
NiN^_^NiN
Posts: 494
Joined: Fri May 07, 2004 3:54 am
Location: Australia
Contact:
Contact NiN^_^NiN

Post by NiN^_^NiN » Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:31 pm

Just of interest ben i did create a skeeball simulator i guess u can call if for someone on the BYOAC Forums

It was a pc running the app and the pc counted the score played mysic depending on the music or sounds selected and used a normal PC lcd monitor as the display but i made it so the display looked like a pinball machine.

Not sure if i know where the code is but if u do go the pc route i can probably find the code or rewrite it.

I found the old topic on BYOAC and found one of the screenshots

Image

I for the life of me can't remember how i did the display tho
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Forum 42”