Re: Next Genration Pinball Design

there are versions of prox that are extremely cheap, they look like a
transistor and could be embedded into devices easily, or stuck onto
the bottom of a ramp.
im looking at simplifying the NPC way of doing things and that is one
of them, also the leds you see in those brakelight assys use really
cheap second grade components, this is because of the redundant nature
of 30 odd leds and a couple a broken ones will not impede its ability
to tell you theyre got the anchors on. 100000 hrs mtbf is common and
its immunity to vibration is a no brainer. under playfield pcbs could
be
a) vibration damped more so than a plastic stand off (?!)
b) be of construction similar to those flexible sort of pcbs you see
in really cheap *** stuff


leds comparable in price to a ge44, so cost is not really the issue,
its a bit of a redesign in making the leds 'use' acceptable in the
matrix way of doing things, npc drives each element separately and
therefore does not suffer from the still on or poor flash ability when
in a conventional drive matrix.

perhaps the most revolutionary (evolutionary!) would be no mess
rubbers, make them out of silicone or similar so that they just dont
disintegrate like there latex brothers.

playfield wiring and connector system should be same across the line
(family) ie q1 is always the outhole etc, then wiring only changes in
layout to a certain degree (the lamp transistor for the shoot again is
always for a lamp within 6 inches
(150 mm) of this physical location.

lamps attract dust and produce heat which is both of consequence,
theyre unreliable and thirsty, the lamp drive matrix for an led based
system could have drive limited to such an extent that part cost and
wiring gauge fits within the realm of pcbs under the playfield.

optos are pretty reliable given proper design tolerance (trough led
resistors) its real easy to Qtip an led with some windex.

cpu/sound/display should be a single low cost design today with wpc
class performance (throw eds dcs and gpe fpga project together with
pascals software!!!)

food for thought and im right onto it !

:)

regards

the busy nug
.