Force Feedback ( Toys )
Physical force feedback consist of adding harware on your virtual pinball cabinet such as a shaker motor, solenoids, blowing fan, chime, gear motor. beacons, strobes. In virtual Pinball, we are referring to those devices as toys as a general description.
The purpose of adding those is to make the hardware react to the Virtual Pinball table code. Ie the shaker motor will turn on automatically in Jurassic Park VPX when the dinausor eats the ball. An other example is when the ball hits the bumpers, the connected solenoids will trigger and add a real sound to the action. Another example of using force feedback is by using a real plunger to launch the ball in the game.
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Example of Force Feedback in a cabinet
Page Jump menu
Type of Force feedback you may add o your cabinet
Adding Solonoids
In this video, i am showing you how to prepare the solonoids for your cabinet. This consist of adding a Diode 1N4007 on the Positive terminal of the solenoid. This allows the current to flow in only 1 direction. This is a safety feature to prevent the current to blow your controller.
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The Grey bar of the diode connects to the positive terminal of the solenoid and the other side of the diode connects to the negative terminal of the solenoid.
To connect to your Virtual Pinball Cabinet, you will need to connect the solenoids to a controller board. There are different types of controllers , Saintsmart board, a KL25Z with booster Mosfets cards, a Pinscape, a Rigmaster or a similar model.
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Connections: The connection is as follow, The Positive + terminal of the Solenoid will connect to the 12V+ of your power supply and the negative terminal of the solenoid will connect to a port on the controller board.
A typical Virtual Pinball Solenoids setup will require 10 Solenoids. They will be installed in your cabinet as follow
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Solenoids suggestion
I tried all sort of solenoids contactors and solenoids assembly over the years her are my recommendations on what type of hardware to buy.
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- 6 12v Car/Truck starter solenoids for the bumpers ( No specific brand or model )
- 2 Real pinball flipper assembly
- 2 Real Pinball slingshot assembly
-1 Real pinball knocker
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The car/truck solenoid will work with a 12V 20A Power supply
The Real pinball assembly are designed to work with 50v but at 24V, they will still be extremely loud
The knocker is also design to operate at a much higher voltage, but 24V is extremely loud.
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Controller boards
In order to use DOF on your computer, you will need a DOF compatible hardware to connect your toys to. Here is a comprehensive list that i put together. You can see this list in Online DOF config tool
Cleveland Software Pinscape board
Cleveland software board is a board that allow to connect and boost all your toys and it is using the KL25Z board. I did not test this device but I have tested Cleveland software hardware before and it is well built and he is offering good support. it is a popular device and the feedbacks are quite good.
Arnoz Rigmaster
The Rigmaster is a All in one solution. It will allow to connect buttons and toys. It has on board fuses which is a very nice feature. I tested this board and it is quite good. The only Hiccup i had with this board is the PWM for the shaker motor does not seem to work.
This has 16 Outputs ( 8 PWM ports ). This board allows you to add expansion boards to connect more devices and LED.
Arnoz KLshield
The KLshield is an expansion board for the KL25Z board. It is designed to connect your buttons a lot easier. There are 10 outputs for toys that will require a power booster board such as a Mosfet board. You can also connect your plunger on this board.
Sainsmart USB 8 ports
This is a Relay board that can allow you to connect up to 8 power toys such as Solenoids and a shaker motor. This can power up to 10A per port.
KL25Z
This is the main development board being used in a lot of different controller expansion boards such as the Rigmaster, The KLshield, and any Pinscape boards. You can use this board as a standalone to connect buttons and toys. You will need a power booster board for the toys like a Mosfet board.
Pinscape Oak Micro AIO
Honestly, this is the best board i ever tested and i am still using it in my main cab. Unfortunately this board has been discontinued and is no longer available.
Adding a Shaker motor
A shaker motor is a great addition to your cabinet, it does exactly what it is design to to.... It shakes. I tested a few shakers and i still believe that the only viable option is an authentic Pinball shaker motor like the Stern shaker. The shaker motor has been programmed in more than 300 Virtual pinball tables,
Connecting the shaker motor
Every Toy connects the same way,
- Connect a Diode 1N4007 if there is a magnetic field like a motor or a solenoid
- Connect the Positive to the power supply
- Connect a fuse between the negative and the controller port
- Connect the negative to a port on your controller
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