Adding Klipper to the CR-6 was not easy. One of the first things to go was the attached display and control panel. I thought this would be a hassle, but it was actually not a problem. MainsailOS gives lots of control, and creature comforts, as well as the printing quality improvements from Klipper. What do you get? The core Software…
As I was contemplating huge prints I started to look for quick wins to reduce printing times... History I bought a Creality CR-6 Max second hand and not printing reliably. It had all the usual problems you can read about for this model printer, enough that you may wonder why anybody wants one. Well the answer to that is the…
So after testing the IR device in Serpent Lanes I found some instability due to temperature change. I decided to use a new sensing technique, and this gave me a chance to try a different design for the upper lanes. The columns are taller, more stylised, and feature colour-changing capitals (tops). Construction is a bit sturdier, and replacement far easier.
And it works... The onboard LED flashes a different colour for warn, tilt, and slam. Features Feature Achieved Self-levelling Yes Immune to harmonic motion Yes Single trigger per tilt action Yes Time delay between tilt activations Yes Rustproof Yes Provide warning Yes Replace Tilt-bob Yes Replace Lift-tilt Yes Replace Slam-tilt Yes Lift and Slam work in all directions Yes Adjustable…
I want to add a tilt feature. Not because it's needed, but because I like to practice my mojo with a limit. I've got a bunch of tilt mechanisms, but they all need refurbishing, and I've had enough of that for a while; so I says to myself... Why not build an electronic tilt mechanism? As usual, this was a…
Configuring lights in Mission Pinball Framework is a bit of effort. You need a config block for each light, and there are lots and lots of them. Rather than type it all in, I wanted to take some existing config files and add a bunch of single lines to them, and then have a magical script turn that gibberish into…
Better is the Enemy of Done Words to live by. I've always hated napkin designs and quick sketches. They are ugly and confusing. There is no denying though, that they get the job done quick. The ugly schematic lead to a bit of ugly construction... So we have 240V switched with a circuit breaker, coil power switch, amp and volt…
This is why everything takes so long. If you read the exciting 5V to 3V3 post above, you will be aware that I'm using a CNC board designed to work with an old Arduino Uno, but with a nice modern ESP32 chippie. Now there are plenty of libraries to use the CNC, board, but I'm driving a pinball machine, and…
Infrared detectors traditionally suffer from interference - false triggering, and failing to trigger. This has been a common problem in pinball machines - "bloody optos" being a catchphrase I've heard many times. To overcome the interference problem, I'm using an infrared receiver that only "listens" to infrared (IR) that has a carrier frequency of 38 kHz. In simple terms, if…
The lanes at the top of Wrath of Anubis are called Serpent Lanes. This is because they will have a snake (Big Hissa) on top of them. Normally, lanes like these have slots routed in the playfield, and microswitches with a springy wire coming through that the ball presses down to indicate its passage. I don't like routing slots. I…
The control systems use by people building commercial machines has changed. Haggis(RIP) moved away from MPF according to Aron (Pinside), using Unity for their last machine before entering liquidation. Homepin have released an open source approach using RetroPinUpgrade. Mission Pinball Framework has moved to Godot
Through my long and perilous journey to get MPF into a fit state to run a pinball machine, I learnt a few things. Many of them specific to the time and versions I used, but in general the types of things to look out for are same. And please note, you can just as easily be lucky and have everything work first time – that’s what the developers aim for, and it does happen.
