Pinball Chime Unit

thingiverse

After trying to find a used pinball chime unit online for sale for my virtual pinball machine and failing, I decided to create my own. This is an original design by me. It is designed to be mounted to the edge of 3/4 plywood. A detailed parts list and assembly guide are below. At any time you get confused as to what part goes where, please refer to the picture where all the parts are labeled for the chime unit. Parts from Marco Specialties Website: (3) 50VDC Pinball Coils part number #CG-29-1600 https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/CG-29-1600 (3) Coil Plungers part number #A-550-6 https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-550-6 (6) Chime Grommets part number #GTB-2752 https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/GTB-2752 (1) Small Chime bar Gottlieb part number #A-12018 https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-12018 (1) Medium Chime Bar Gottlieb part number #A-12017 https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-12017 (1) Large Chime Bar Gottlieb part number #A-12016 https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-12016 Miscellaneous Parts: (21) #4 (1/2 inch) Phillips Screws (6) #4 (3/8 inch) Phillips Screws (3) 1N4007 Diodes https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DXGHL7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (1) 48VDC Power Supply - if you already have a power supply in your machine, this is not needed. This one can actually output 50VDC although it is rated for 48 as it is adjustable. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GFQZFC1?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details (3ft-20ft) of wire. I used 12 gauge stranded wire but 14 or 16 or 18 could be used. Use enough to reach the desired place in your machine. (6) Wood Screws - use ones that will fit the slotted holes on the CoilTop and CoilSupport parts so the plastic doesn't bust when mounting. Printing: (3) CoilSupports - Turn on side and use supports (3) CoilTops - Turn on Side and use supports (3) SoundBoxSupport - Orientate so that flat part with coil sleeve hole is flat on print bed. No supports needed. (6) ChimeStem - Orientate so long part of stem is up and use supports (6) ChimeStemCap - Orientate so the hole is on the bottom and use supports if you want. (1) NewSmallChimeHolder - Orientate so it lays flat on print bed. No supports needed. (1) NewMediumChimeHolder - Orientate same as previous. No supports needed. (1) NewLargeChimeHolder - Orientate same as previous. No supports needed. (1) SoundBox - Orientate so bottom is flat on print bed. No supports needed. (1) SoundBoxTop - Orientate so top of part is on print bed so that supports are not needed. SoundBox and SoundBoxTop are optional but greatly enhance the sound of the chime unit. It gives the chime bars a place to resonate. Assembly: 1. Take each coil and remove the sleeve (they come with the coils) from it. The sleeve should remove easily. Flip the sleeve 180 degrees and insert from the bottom of the coil so that the lip now resides at the bottom of the coil. You will see in the CoilSupport part there is a recessed area for this lip to sit in once mounted. 2. Take a pair of pliers and slightly bend the coil solder post upward on each coil. This will ensure the coil solder posts do not touch when mounted. Take a coil with the sleeve correctly orientated in it and snap the front lip under the catch of each CoilSupport parts as shown in the labeled picture. It should snap into place and be a snug fit. Make sure the coil solder posts are facing the sound box. This should only fit one way as the back of the coil is longer and will not allow the sleeve lip to fit in the recessed area if inserted incorrectly. Superglue a small piece of felt or foam on the step area of the CoilSupport part to dampen the metal on plastic sound when the plunger falls back down. This is optional but drastically reduced the noise made when the plunger falls. See picture for reference. The felt is a white circle sitting under the plunger. 3. Solder 1 diode across the coil post solder points on each coil with the silver line (cathode) of the diode facing what you will use as the positive (+) connection point. You can choose either coil post but use the same on each of the three. Polarity doesn't matter on the coils. The diodes are optional but protect any controllers and devices you have wired to your pinball controller so I recommend them. See wiring Schematic for reference. 4. Using short lengths of wire, use the schematic posted along with this and wire up the three coils positive connections. Make your final (+) positive wire is long enough to reach the 50VDC (+) power supply connection point on your machine. 5. Using longer wires of a different color, wire to the other coil post on each coil. Label these wires with tape, for small, medium and large chimes. These will be the (-) negative connection points for each coil. These need to be long enough to reach a fuse block on your machine coming from your controller. In a Virtual Pinball Machine, the negative terminals trigger the coils. In a real pinball machine, this may be different so wire accordingly if using in a real machine. Use the schematic as a reference if confused. 6. Using 6 of the 1/2 inch #4 screws, attach each SoundBoxSupport to the side of the SoundBox aligning the holes. Each SoundBoxSupport should have its flat side facing upward. 7. Slide the wired coils up into the bottom of the SoundBoxSupport sleeve holes while the CoilSupport bottoms butt up against the bottom of the SoundBox. 8. Using 3 (1/2 inch #4) screws, line up the holes on the bottom of the SoundBox with the holes in the bottom of the CoilSupports and screw them together going through the CoilSupport first up into the SoundBox. 9. Slide a CoilTop onto the top of each coil sleeve using the sleeve holes on each coil as a guide as shown in the labeled picture. Use 6 (3/8 inch #4) screws and screw the CoilTops to the CoilSupports at the back near the slotted screw holes. You will have to screw these in with your screwdriver at an angle but they go in easily. Make sure this is a tight connection 10. Take the NewSmallChimeHolder part and test fit a ChimeStem into the holes in the ends to make sure the short end of the ChimeStem lip fits snuggly against the face of the NewSmallChimeHolder. See picture for reference. Once happy with the fitment, superglue the ChimeStem into each of the holes. Repeat for the NewMediumChimeHolder and NewLargeChimeHolder. Do not glue the Cap to the top of the Stems yet. 11. At this point, you need to mount the assembly to your 3/4 plywood. Use the slotted holes at the back of the assembly and mount the unit. The screws should pass through the CoilTop slotted holes as well as the CoilSupport slotted holes. I used wood screws to mount mine. Any wood screws will work, just make sure they fit in the slotted holes so the plastic doesn't bust. You don't have to mount it yet, but partial disassembly will be needed to mount later. 12. Using 4 (1/2 inch #4) screws, attach the NewSmallChimeHolder to the CoilTop. The ChimeHolder parts will only fit one way to ensure the screw holes line up with each of the CoilTop parts. Make sure to align these parts with the slots in the SoundBox side so that the parts are straight. Repeat this for the remaing ChimeHolder (12 screws total) 13. Place a Chime Grommet into each ChimeBar. Stick a plunger with the plastic part facing upward into each coil sleeve. 14. Gently slip each Chime Bar down onto the ChimeStems and place a Cap part onto each of the 6 ChimeStems. Do not glue these yet. 15. Superglue the SoundBoxTop onto the SoundBox as shown in the picture. 15. Wire the (+) wire from the assembly to the 48VDC power supply V+ terminal. Turn on your power supply and adjust the voltage to 48VDC. Quickly touch (but don't leave on) one of your negative (-) wires from the assembly to one of the V- connection points on the power supply. The corresponding coil should trigger and the plunger will hit the corresponding chime bar and the plunger will fall back down. Test the remaining two coils. Once happy, you can superglue the ChimeStemCaps in place if you want. Wire to your controller as you do your other devices making sure the connections are fused with 5 amp fuses. 16. If you glue the ChimeStemCaps in place, you may or may not be able to remove the chime bars later if needed. You could always re-print the ChimeBarHolders, Stems, and StemCaps if needed. I hope this guide helps out. Its pretty straight forward once you understand the concept. These Chimes resonate for a long time after being struck. Could this design be improved, probably so, but for what I wanted, it works great! Thanks for taking a look.