I'm building a Space Cadet Pinball Machine! [video] | Hacker News Reader

I'm building a Space Cadet Pinball Machine! [video]

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97 pointsskibz21 comments

I have given up any pretext of living a conventional life and am building an airplane in the main living area of my house, which is massivly relaxing, and feels right/normal, which it didn't without the airplane.Which is to say that I suspect building X/pinball machines is the same.

I hope your living area has a big door.

Most of the parts should fit through a normal door. It is common to build an airplane in your house for years, and then for the last 2 years rent a hanger for final assembly. (Most people don't get to the point of final assembly, but those who do...)

> It is common to build an airplane in your house for years

... Define _common_!

I think everybody knows at least of 'friend of a friend' who has started the project at some point. Maybe one in 500.

Started is different from finished.

I can honestly say I have never heard of this hobby being a thing in all my long years.

A friend of a friend building an airplane?

How about a flying saucer? https://enjoyer.com/an-alien-cult-built-a-spaceship-in-a-mic...

I first learned about this from a friend in Detroit, MI, who told me about it when he learned my mom grew up in that village. When I asked HER about it, she knew exactly who/what we were talking about. It was an interesting conversation.

Needless to say, this one remains firmly in the "started" category, but looks like it got closer to "finished" than one might likely expect.

Pinball machines are great entertainment, but a plane? Wow. Someone next door to me, when I was growing up, built a boat in their driveway. It was amazing, and they took a long time to both get it right, and to make it seaworthy and comfy. After launch they sailed it around the world. Amazing.

Wow, that's fascinating! What else can you tell us about the boat? How big was it? What was the rigging? How long did they take on the circumnavigation?

I've always dreamed of doing something like that.

"Massively relaxing and feels right/normal" instantly reminded me of hobby tunnelling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_tunneling

There's a woman on Instagram who's documenting her process of building a deep mine/tunnel under her house, and shows the various form work and construction methods she's using, quarrying skills she's picking up, etc etc. Absolutely fascinating use of free will.

This sounds fascinating, are you documenting this in any public way for those of us that are inevitably curious on the details?

I'd completely forgotten, but this brought it back. In the 70's, the father of a friend in high school was building a plane in the basement. I remember there were pieces spread all over, and my friend was telling me how much easier it was, as his father was using all metric system measurements.

This might interest you: The Builder by Philip K. Dick (1953): <https://archive.org/details/Amazing_Stories_v27n08_1953-12-1...>

How often have you used your hobby as an excuse to quote the movie?

Super cool!!! I have a EM pinball in the garage that is calling me to get up and running. The cabinet is trashed but the insides are solid. This will inspire me to get after it today, thank you!

Make sure to keep a record of your work and blog it up for others to enjoy!

Its a good idea, I have found someone working on the same machine I have too, so I am hoping to follow their lead on a few things. The strange thing is this machine is a euro version, so power conversions etc. But for how bad the cabinet is, the inside looks really clean. Gone through cleaning the playfield a bit, but a bit nervous with getting it all up and running without hours of dedicated time on it, I need another engineer friend to come over and tinker with me. Will update when I start making moves on it

Previous episode: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48257974

I got my amateur radio license in the sixties. There was an old timer on 80 meters who was the leader of a chat group that met daily. Any ham could join the conversation with one exception. He had a phrase: "no kids, lids or space cadets." Just like Gen Z these days he did not like Boomers ;<). That phrase to this day brings a smile to amateur radio operators of a certain vintage.

Cool, but it needs to use all the original steam powered relays and mechanism in my book.

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