My pachinko case

[dhcloud]

Hi all,

A week or two ago I started building a case for my Giant 7 I got from Logicprobe. I used the designs from Mr Gneiss and added some ideas from SChaos. It took me awhile to build as I wanted it perfect, so was being a bit too nitpicky. I just wanted to share my pics and ask a question.

I made a drain hole with PVC and mounted it to the back of the frame with a pipe clamp. However, it is not very secure this way and if I open the machine or touch it, it moves and balls go everywhere until I re-align it. It is sort of just floating there. I need ideas of a way to better mount the pipe, so that the drain hole on the machine is in the center of the pipe. I am not as concerned about the other end, as I have a paint tray mod to catch them. Any Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks everyone

oh and I will post the pics when I get home in a bit as I couldn't send the pics to my work e-mail as I planned.

[luckydog]

how about a plastic funnel on the top of the PCV pipe

[dhcloud]

Ok, here are pics of it built, puttied and ready to be sanded and primed.

[slotter]

Very NICE!

[Sid]

Awesome Work Dhcloud!!

So what colour you going to paint the case?

[hanabi]

Very Nice Work!!

Can't wait to see it complete with a Pachinko!!

[MrGneiss]

I made a drain hole with PVC and mounted it to the back of the frame with a pipe clamp. However, it is not very secure this way and if I open the machine or touch it, it moves and balls go everywhere until I re-align it. It is sort of just floating there. I need ideas of a way to better mount the pipe, so that the drain hole on the machine is in the center of the pipe. I am not as concerned about the other end, as I have a paint tray mod to catch them. Any Suggestions are welcome.

moses619 was working on something, you may want to PM him to see if he can help you out...

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/show...7&postcount=26

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15842

[dhcloud]

Sorry for the delay with the rest of the pics, internet was running slow and couldn't upload the rest of the pics.

Its hard to see but the is a piece of plexiglass in the hole on the front of the hopper. I used a sandable grey primer, then gloss black spraypaint. I almost painted it yellow to match the case, but it was hard to find that bright of a yellow. I do like how the black turned out though.

[dhcloud]

And finally, pics of the drain system. As you can see, it is clamped in, but it is not a tight fit at all, in fact it just sort of floats in there. The biggest problem is as the balls run through it, it moves it around and after awhile I get about every third or fourth ball going somewhere random in the back of the machine and not down the tube.

[MrGneiss]

Super nice!

[Lddrizzt]

Looks Good!
Try maybe some hot glue or other such material to fill in the the area around the tube where the clamp is and that might make that spot solid enough so the tube don't move.

[dattia]

Very nice

[birdbrain]

self tapping screw through the clamp into the tube. also use a full strap that screws on both sides.

[slotter]

Great job!

[slothappy144]

cement the pipes together then hot glue it in place, nice work so far. can't make out the whole problem but make it stout, add another bracket so it is solid.

[dhcloud]

Thanks for the help so far guys. I think I will try a few things and see how it works. First, I will add another short piece of pipe to the bottom, so the clamp has a straight surface to grab and not the 45 degree elbow which caused it to slip. Then I will try to screw the clamp to the pipe as well for extra support to keep it from shifting side to side.

[fronzdan]

I came up with a an easy solution for the drain issue based on a ramp idea as opposed to PVC. I use a piece of hard fiberboard I got at Home Depot. It's that dark brown stuff that's usually found near the sanded plywood they sell. It's smooth, almost glossy on one side and sort of grooved/rough on the other. This stuff is very hard and durable. If you place a piece of that under the machine's drain at an angle...like a ramp, the balls will hit it, and roll down towards the back of the case. The rough side of this stuff does a good job of deadening any bounces, and of course, the closer you can place it to the machine's drain, the better.

On this board I mount two pieces of 1x2 in a "V" shape to direct/focus the balls rolling down the ramp like a funnel, to a 1-2" outlet just above a hole on the "shelf" that the pachinko sits on. The balls come out of the machine, roll down the ramp, are directed above the hole and drop through into the big area at the bottom of the Gneiss Cabinet. You can place a box, ball tray, roller tray or whatever you want to collect them. The best I've come up for that is a simple wooden box I made with an angled bottom - same as the paint tray principle.

Depending on the angle of how you set the ramp, the balls may occasionally roll down it with enough speed to overshoot the hole in the bottom shelf. There are a lot of ways to provide a backstop. You could even use one of the PVC elbows you have. I just use a small piece of aluminum flashing curved and mounted next to the hole. It never misses a single ball. It can even handle a full hopper dump. I'll see if I can snap some pics of the one I'm still working on.

[fronzdan]

I was just thinking...to help anchor your PVC, there's those metal strips that are used to attach plumbing along ceilings (I think they are called plumbing hangers & brackets)...usually you see this stuff in your basement going around pipes and screwed into the supports. It's bendable and easy to work with. You could take a piece of this and anchor it to either side of the pachinko case and attach your "floating" PVC to the middle.

[Youngjedi]

Awesome Cabinet...The Black and Yellow go together great.