BlahCade #150: Zen Williams Pinball Retrospective

[jaredmorgs]

It’s been a MASSIVE month for digital pinball fans. So many forum posts, podcast episodes to digest, posts to read, and beta builds to play (if you’re on Steam).


We take a step back from the hamster wheel and talk about some questions that we’ve been thinking about from when the FX3 Williams Pinball announcement went public.


If you’re wondering what we’re talking about, go back and listen to the last couple of episodes and you’ll be ready to listen to this one.


Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/150-zen-williams-pinball-retro for detailed show notes and links to stuff we talk about in this episode.

 

[Spork98765]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/442120/discussions/0/3317353727679923280/

 

[wolfson]

hi Jared , I`m getting my VP Table tomorrow , I would like for you to come over , your Family is most welcome to come over . I`m home every night and every day except for 2 hours when I do my walk , or if we are down Tweed Heads . my email , emmanuel.georgiou@bigpond.com . thanks

 

[Jeff Strong]

Great show, fellas. Can't wait to hear more about Jared's restoration and SYT's new project.

Jared and Wolfson getting together for some playtime eh? Sounds like a blast. Hey, gotta twenty? haha

 

[jaredmorgs]

Hey [MENTION=2636]wolfson[/MENTION] I'd love to come and visit! You're down the Goldy, right? At Coolangatta?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[wolfson]

my place is , but I live at Highgate Hill with Dad . I don`t know if you put your phone number on the forum , that`s why I gave my email . been meaning to catch up with you . I`m hopeless at technical things , but I really enjoy watching you and Chris . now seems a great time to catch up . it`s just great , with the different ways we all try making our pinball experience more enjoyable , just look at Chris , I think that`s a great idea his got .

 

[jaredmorgs]

I've emailed you as well. Highgate Hill is much easier for us all to get to from North Lakes.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[wolfson]

great Jared , I`ve sent a an email back , I`ll leave it to you

 

[Narc0lep5y]

SYT - I'm building the Jeremy Williams PinSim controller as well and have already purchased most of the components most of which were on your "wish list" for design. You threw me for a loop with the hands on glass idea though. I might have to rethink that later.

For a coin door, there is a super easy $13 solution and what i'm using. Not as authentic for sure, but a pretty good compromise when you start adding up the cost of all the other components and need to cut some costs.

https://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=89&products_id=308.

 

[shutyertrap]

SYT - I'm building the Jeremy Williams PinSim controller as well and have already purchased most of the components most of which were on your "wish list" for design. You threw me for a loop with the hands on glass idea though. I might have to rethink that later.

For a coin door, there is a super easy $13 solution and what i'm using. Not as authentic for sure, but a pretty good compromise when you start adding up the cost of all the other components and need to cut some costs.

https://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=89&products_id=308.

It's a sticker?! Ha! That's not bad. At first glance I was hoping it was a injection molded piece of plastic that you'd just glue to the front. Thanks for pointing this out though, I think it is a good solution for easily keeping things on a budget.

I've got an Amazon shopping cart filled with most of the components now. I'm debating on whether to get the joystick Jeremy linked to or one of the others that comes with a host of buttons. I also messaged Jeremy about L2, R2 funtions and he said others have asked that too, wanting it to be analogue so they can use this https://paradisearcadeshop.com/home/controls/buttons/809-blue-tip-gaming I put two in the cart and wanted to see how much shipping would be...and it was $72!! I mean what the hell? I'm gonna buy a set of leaf spring buttons for the main flippers, maybe buy another set for the secondary. Jeremy says he'll look into adding the trigger function to the board. That's really my main sticking point right now.

If I really wanted to go nuts, and I've seen some have, I could buy the lock bar and lock mechanism. They sell the side rails too, but you'd have to obviously cut them down to size. At a certain point I realized how quickly you could just start throwing money at this, so I've backed off of a lot of it. I've not gone to the hardware store yet to see about metal trim, and I honestly think if you put enough varnish on the top panel, that'd feel pretty good instead of glass.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

You can get 8' of 3/4" corner trim at any of the home stores for around $10. Haven't decided if it's really needed. Thought about going with plexiglass on top since it's going to be an arcade controller too which might be close enough for the feel too.

I bought the lock bar without the lockdown mechanism. Going for something like this to secure it

(post 13 from VPForums thread)

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Oh and as for controls. I bought one of the amazon all in one kits for the controller top, and while they are ok to mess around with, It didnt take long for me to realize that if I'm going to use them for anything more than menu selections they aren't going to cut it. I already had flipper and leaf switches from Virtuapin so those are for the most important pieces.

I now have an ultimarc ServoStik and a Mag Stik plus on the way. But that's probably overkill if you don't want easy 4-way/8-way changing. Anything that i don't use here will go to a mame cab. I'll start with the amazon buttons i already have but i'm already planning on replacing them with something better. like These

 

[shutyertrap]

What are you running the fan in there for? With the buttons and joystick, this is why I hate ordering online. There's a certain feel you want, and no amount of description is going to satisfy until you touch it for yourself. But yeah, I have no intention of using this for anything but pinball, so other than the flipper buttons, I'm not too worried. And thanks for highlighting that metal edging. Should do the trick just fine.

 

[AcadDude]

I think that is a power supply to light up the buttons maybe? Launch Ball button should arrive in a few days!

 

[Narc0lep5y]

That's not mine - it's someone else's lockdown bar on their full cab. It was in the thread about lockdown bar attachment ideas that I linked below it. Just stealing the image as an example.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Also, these are exactly what they say in the description
https://www.pinballlife.com/ablaze-3-led-slim-wedge-body.html

and fit the start button and Bally Launch ball buttons perfectly. If you just use 555 bulbs they'll be too tall or thick. I can't comment on the brightness (I went warm white) as mine aren't running yet but the size is a perfect fit. I broke a launch ball button trying my first 555 LED bulbs. Got these with my Lockdown bar (and replacement Launch ball button /cry ) last week and tested the fit last night.

Also worth mentioning - from the Tested PinSim Controller story in the comments by Necoras, "If you look at the PCB note that there are 4 pins labeled "13, 14, 21, 23" in the GPIO section. Check out the Teensy pinsim firmware source code and you'll see that 13 and 14 are your analog stick press buttons, and 21 and 23 are your analog triggers."

I know you talked about the analog button support not being there, but this piece is missing from the main story and depending on which version of the pinsim tutorial others are reading it might be missed.

 

[shutyertrap]

"If you look at the PCB note that there are 4 pins labeled "13, 14, 21, 23" in the GPIO section. Check out the Teensy pinsim firmware source code and you'll see that 13 and 14 are your analog stick press buttons, and 21 and 23 are your analog triggers."

I know you talked about the analog button support not being there, but this piece is missing from the main story and depending on which version of the pinsim tutorial others are reading it might be missed.

OH! Very interesting to know. I wonder why Jeremy didn't say as much when I messaged him?

I'm not too concerned about lighting up everything. If I can I will, otherwise I can hit that later. I might try to light the bulbs on the coin door too, but we'll see. I do need the metal start button for my Bally coin door (I do have the leaf spring for that), as that and the coin return button are missing (won't even bother with that). I'm hoping the hardware store will have the coin door lock available rather than having to order that online too. I've ordered everything I need except...

--PinSim PCB (because of the R2 L2 question)
--2 stage flipper leaf springs and flipper buttons (anyone got a set lying around they'd like to donate?)
--rumble motors (shoot, anyone got a busted 360 controller I can cannibalize from too?)

From the hardware store I need to buy...

--sheet of 3/4" plywood
--3/4" metal angle trim
--continuous hinge (for my coin door and lid)
--18 gauge wire

I had scrounged together another $60 on top of what I already had, and between everything I got off Amazon (free shipping!) and the eventual buying of the PinSim, I'll $10 over my budget before even buying the very wood to build the thing out of. I can order the flipper stuff easy enough, but I hate paying that much in shipping without adding other stuff to the order. I need a full set of drop targets for EBD, but I'm not buying that just yet! It's crazy how much things like lockbars and metal siding for cabinets actually sell for. I need to find a pinball graveyard to pilfer from! You hear stories of how people used to just go to the dump and find them. Don't think that happens these days!

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Not sure if that mapping means they retain full analog support or not. I don't have any analog buttons to test it with though. But at least the support for magna save is there.

Another piece that i forgot from comments:

"Also, it's not explicitly stated in the instructions what the 1x14 Female Headers are for, and I found out the hard way that they are intended to raise the Teensy LC up above the screw terminals;.. if you solder the Teensy LC directly to the board, its USB port will be blocked by the 5V and Plunge terminals... use the female headers to raise the TLC up above the screw terminals."

It's way too expensive for what it is. Doesn't help when you keep getting bigger and better ideas for it too. Latest thought is to mount a RPi3 inside with an external usb passthrough so I have the option to use it as a arcade to tv standalone. I'm sure I'll read something else and find something else i want to do tomorrow as well.

 

[SilverBalls]

I can fully understand the concerns about the money side. When I built my pinball cabinet I remember trying to source secondhand pinball parts or an old cab but it wasn't easy (in Europe at least) to find any at reasonable prices. Even knackered old cabs on eBay went for a kings ransom.

In the end I ended up shellng out about 400-500$ at that time on the Virtuapin cab builders kit with coindoor, siderails, lockdown, etc plus abt 100-150$ shipping. Then the customs also stung me for about 120 euros too! It was for a full-size cabinet so could justify it more but at the time I was pretty worried about what else I could have done with that money.

I think the whole build was a about 2500 euros and thats including the a real DMD, but looking back I have no regrets now as I have made regularly use of it almost daily when I am at home. The pinball hardware lasts forever as well so won't ever break.

With these controllers they should last forever and the beauty is you can maintain them yourself easily as you built them from scratch.

Looking forward to seeing these two builds progress