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Poor mans Pin Stadium

Jsyjamie

Registered
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,227
Location
Jersey, CI
Alias
Jamie
Pin Stadium is a great product but too much wonga for my tight ass so I decided to make some myself for a fraction of the price. https://pinstadium.com/

Hopefully this thread can help others to do the same. :)

There are a few threads floating around pinside where people have made their own but I couldn't find one which had a list of materials and proper installation instructions.

You can probably get some of the parts cheaper but I used eBay for everything except the 6V LED strips which were from Pinside.

Parts
Wire 1 meter £1.29
Crocodile Clips 5 pairs £1.49
Plastic Trim 15x15mm 2 meters £7.12
Magnetic Strip 10mm 5 meters £4.49
6V LED Strips 2 meters - roughly £15.00

Total £30.00 ish with a few bits left over for another set

Bit of a saving compared to the standard Pin Stadium which are $150 for a basic set!

I bought some LED strip connectors but didn't use them in the end.

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Method
Tools needed:
Soldering iron
Wire strippers
Snips
Needle nose plyers

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- Cut the plastic trim to just short of the length of the playfield, I cut off about 50mm

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- Measure the same length of LED strip and cut at the nearest split point
- Attach it to angle strip using the adhesive backing

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- Cut the 1 meter length of wire in half and solder the ends to one side of the LED strip
- Attach the crocodile clips to the other end of the wire and crimp into position

I made a test strip of 3 LEDs before attaching the wires to the full strip just to make sure it works and it does!

42284201_2149474731971510_5077243117350944768_n.jpg

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Full strip working, excuse the picture quality all the LEDs were on

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- Attach one side of the magnetic strip to the back of the plastic angle and the other to the inside of the cabinet

Both ready to go (besides I realised that I needed to swap the end of the wires on one)

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- Connect to a GI bulb on each side of the playfield at the back and that's pretty much all there is to it.

Before

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After

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Apologies for the rubbish picture quality but hopefully you get the idea!

Quick video attached.

Cheers :)
 

Attachments

  • video-1537628108.mp4
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Last edited:
Great thread, really appreciate the shopping links for each item:)
 
If you use RGB or RGB&W LED's you can get different colours.

I'm thinking of red and white for Black Rose or Party Zone.

Nice work @Jsyjay always good to hear of DIY mods.
 
If you use RGB or RGB&W LED's you can get different colours.

I'm thinking of red and white for Black Rose or Party Zone.

Nice work @Jsyjay always good to hear of DIY mods.

yep then add a £3 arduino nano and a £2 wifi board and a bit of programming and you’ve done more than you can with pinstadium. personally i’d forget the wifi connectivity and just program the arduino to do what i wanted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Like to add my thanks, great article and as mentioned great to have linkys, anyone got a cheaper link to the 6v leds as opposed to using the USA
 
Nice work! Do you get any flicker on these, especially when GI is being dimmed?

I did something similar but I just used the GI to flick a relay which then switches a 12VDC supply, avoids flickering and allows use of 12V strips of course. Not quite as good as real PinStadium, but certainly does the trick. I'm interested to know how thick that magnetic tape is; I found the playfield in Hook fits so tight to the cabinet you have to be really careful when pulling it out with mine.


img_1100-jpg.69003
 
Nice work! Do you get any flicker on these, especially when GI is being dimmed?

I did something similar but I just used the GI to flick a relay which then switches a 12VDC supply, avoids flickering and allows use of 12V strips of course. Not quite as good as real PinStadium, but certainly does the trick. I'm interested to know how thick that magnetic tape is; I found the playfield in Hook fits so tight to the cabinet you have to be really careful when pulling it out with mine.


Thanks :)

There is a little bit of flicker unfortunately but it is hardly noticeable. I’ll look into the 12v supply, thanks for the tip!

The magnetic tape is very tight like you say so you have to be careful lifting the playfield.

There are a few compromises but I think these are fine compared to the cost saving.
 
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