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Part 3: deck and 3D printing Phil Prosser’s Phenomenal B efore we get to building the electromechanical parts of the Pinball Machine, like the flippers, bumpers and kickers, we’re going to explain how the deck is organised and constructed. The reason for this is that you will need a flat surface on which to test and install the parts as you make them. You could use a scrap piece of 12mm timber, possibly an off-cut of the piece you plan to use for the actual deck (and that is not a bad idea). Still, it would save time to just make the deck and install the parts directly, especially if you’re copying our design. We found that the final electronic and electromechanical parts worked the first time, so you can be confident in them. If you change the deck layout or come up with a completely new design, you really do need to prototype it. We encourage this but be ready for the work involved. The play deck Pinball Machine We have now described all the electronics in the pinball machine and will soon get onto the 3D-printed electromechanical parts. But those will need a deck to be mounted to, so first, let’s look at the deck and cabinet. Our play surface is 470mm wide and 900mm tall. If you are happy for yours to be the same width, you can keep the reloading section unchanged. There’s nothing stopping you from varying the height and/or creating your own middle and upper play area. The deck arrangement we came up with is shown in the lead photo. We are supplying all the CAD files. Even if you aren’t planning to create an exact replica of our machine, we encourage you to use these as a starting point to make your own deck parts. There are multiple download packages at siliconchip.au/Shop/6/3628 including one with STL files and one with Fusion360 files. All of the plastic parts can be printed at home. You will need the STL files for printing the parts; some instructions are included in text files along with them. We also provide Fusion360 source files for these, but you only need those if you want to modify our designs. We’ll touch on that later. While you are planning and possibly starting to drill your deck, you can get busy 3D printing the pieces you will need to assemble the electromechanical parts later. The details of those pieces, including the file names, are shown in Table 1. Those files are also in the download package. Have a look at the deck photos to plan what colours you want to print each part. siliconchip.com.au We will assume you have a way to print the parts. If you don’t have a 3D printer or a very accommodating friend with one, it might be cheaper to buy a simple printer than to get these commercially printed. Jaycar and Altronics both have plenty of good options starting from a few hundred dollars. Paying to get the parts printed would cost more than getting your own printer and filament. Note that super cheap filament is not always a great idea. One lot we used went very soft if left in the sun. Wait until you’ve read the instructions at the end of this article to print the targets, since we have some specific instructions on how to print those. All the other parts are generally solid colours, but make sure you use the right materials, wall thicknesses, fill percentages etc as per Table 1. We used 12mm marine ply for the deck as it has a flat surface and is thick enough to provide the mechanical stability we require, but not so thick as to make working it a chore. You will note that our deck does not have fancy box-work on the sides and over the lower deck mechanism, so the side walls are a single thickness of plywood. You certainly have the option of constructing a much nicer machine case and enclosing things like the flipper buttons inside your deck, for example. One thing we have learned in developing this article is the need to try different layouts and prototype the overall playfield such that you place targets and features in areas that result in a fun game. In particular, we found that the ball has a tendency to go in some directions more easily than others, so you want features in these areas that the player should hit easily or often. This means you should be willing to try a deck layout, devise improvements and update this part of the machine. In making your machine case, you need the deck sloped at 6-7°; we chose about 6.5°. You definitely need good access to the underside for wiring, and you will need access for servicing, as pinball machines are notoriously ‘needy’ due to all the switching and electromechanical parts. The last thing you need is a theme and a decoration idea. A pinball machine is virtually defined by colour, light and sound. You should develop siliconchip.com.au Table 1 – 3D-printed pieces required all PLA unless noted Section Qty Filename Fill Wall depth Notes Backboard 1 Player Bezel 30% 2.4mm Backboard 1 Score Bezel 30% 2.4mm Backboard 2 Speaker Grille 30% 2.4mm Three style options Led_Holder >40 Led_Holder 100% solid Five styles; use clear PLA Posts >40 PCB Mounting Washer 8mm 100% solid Any colour PLA Reloader 1 Lower Deck Layout L 10% 1.2mm Print on raft Reloader 1 Lower Deck Outer Runway L 10% 1.2mm Reloader 1 Reload Load Coupling Bushing 30% 2.4mm Reloader 1 Reload Load Coupling 30% 2.4mm Reloader 1 Reload Load Flipper 30% 2.4mm Reloader 1 Reload Load Retaining Washer 100% 2.4mm Lower deck 1 Lower Deck Layout M 10% 1.2mm Print on raft Launcher 1 Lower Deck Layout R 10% 1.2mm Print on raft Launcher 1 Ball Reload Positioner 30% 2.4mm Launcher 1 Launcher 6.6 degree Shim 100% solid Launcher 1 Lower Deck Outer Runway Right 10% 1.2mm Launcher 1 Reload Ball Release Drive 30% 2.4mm Launcher 1 Reload Ball Release Lower Washer 30% 2.4mm Launcher 1 Reload Ball Release Slide Coupling 30% 2.4mm Launcher 1 Reload Ball Release Slide 30% 2.4mm Launcher 1 Reload Ball Release Solenoid Coupling 30% 2.4mm Flippers 1 Double Drive – Driver 100% solid Flippers 1 Double Drive – Driver Mirrored 100% solid Flippers 2 Double Drive – Limiter 40% 2.4mm Flippers 1 Double Drive 12mm Deck 30% 2.4mm Print on raft; use ABS if possible Flippers 1 Double Drive 12mm Deck Mirrored 30% 2.4mm Print on raft; use ABS if possible Flippers 2 Drive Arm Washer 100% 100% solid Flippers 2 Flipper 90 plus 4 40% 5mm Flippers 4 Solenoid Coupling 38mm 100% solid Flippers 2 Washer Lower 100% solid Flippers 2 Washer Upper 100% solid Use ABS The rest of the table is continued overleaf... Australia's electronics magazine August 2026  41 your own ideas on these and do not be at all shy. Some of the most common pinball machine themes fall under these categories: Fantasy and medieval Sci-fi and space Horror/spooky Adventure/treasure Crime/action Music (especially rock bands) Movies and TV shows Superheroes/comics Sports The Wild West Circus/carnival Animals/dinosaurs Historical/military Glamour/party/nightlife Abstract/novelty That doesn’t mean you have to work within one of these. Do whatever you want! You will have seen our approach of stencil-painted retro electronics. That works for us but may not be for you. You could also consider stickers/transfers, spray painting, hand painting (if you are artistically inclined) or the use of small models and figurines. 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 📍 Our example deck Fig.19: the locations of all cutouts, holes and key components in our example deck. We will not go into great detail on this, as we expect you will have your own ideas. The screw and drill locations are determined by your upper deck (likely 3D printed) parts, so many of these locations will be determined by your final layout. 42 Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine We built our example deck to demonstrate the controller and parts and to check that they all function as we want. The full deck is shown in Fig.19. You can make the deck in any form you want. We used lots of 3D-printed parts to make it easy, although this did move the complexity into the 3D modelling space. This is shown in Fig.20 overleaf. Our 470 × 900mm deck has a lot of parts screwed to the top, and some to the bottom, using 16mm-long 6G wood screws. There are also some 50mm M4 machine screws and nuts used to secure parts. The drilling details for our deck design are shown in Fig.19. This should be useful to get you started, but as you develop your own deck, you will really need to adjust and fettle stuff to your own needs. Fig.21 (overleaf) shows the overall Pinball Machine and the assembly approach we took. This will give you a kick-start if you intend to follow our initial layout example. We made the back box and legs removable, attaching them to the main deck with M6 machine screws. That will be handy if we ever have to move the machine to another house. siliconchip.com.au Table 1 – 3D-printed pieces required all PLA unless noted | x = number of units The deck is made from painted 12mm marine ply. The blue and black guides and sections are all 3D printed and attached with self-tapping screws. The flippers, bumpers, targets and kickers are all 3D printed too. The back box can be any size and shape, provided you can fit the power supply, controller and wiring in it (or on the back) and the score and player display on the front. We were tempted to add more lights than we did; there are a couple of LED outputs you could put to this use with a very small amount of coding. Our back box is separate from the main deck to allow it to be removed for decoration and for transporting the machine. We used four M6 machine screws to secure it to the deck. We used 80mm holes for routing cabling from the back box through the underside of the deck. These are as small as you should go, as there are lots of cables to run, including some thick ones. Consider making larger holes if you have the tools. siliconchip.com.au Section Qty Filename Fill Thickness Bumpers x Bumper Ball Detect Larger 100% solid Bumpers x Bumper Base Lower 30% 2.4mm Bumpers x Bumper Base 30% 2.4mm Bumpers x Bumper Plunger Coupling 100% solid Bumpers x Bumper Plunger 100% solid Bumpers x Bumper Top 100% solid Make this colourful, maybe transparent or translucent; the LEDs light through it Bumpers x Bumper Under Deck Bracket 30% 2.4mm Should not need supports; remove them if used Bumpers x Bumper Shim for Base to Clear LED Holders 30% 2.4mm Kickers x Kicker Arm 12mm deck 100% solid Kickers x Kicker Base 2.4mm wall 100% solid Kickers x Kicker Coupling 2.4mm 100% solid Kickers 2x Kicker Microswitch Bracket 100% solid Posts 3x Square Rope Kicker 100% solid Posts 1 Posts Top L 100% solid Posts 1 Posts Top R 100% solid Targets x Target Bracket 12mm deck 30% 2.4mm Targets x Target Tiles Numbers 30% 2.4mm Targets x Targets_Top 30% 2.4mm We recommend that you do not attach the legs to the back box and deck until your assembly and wiring are complete. Definitely make the actual play surface removable, as you will probably want to change the layout of your machine as you develop the gameplay. Our play deck is secured by two screws at the top of the deck under the printed runways. There is a lot of wiring and looming required, even though we have used ribbon cables. It is much easier to do this with the deck on its side on a benchtop or trestle table. Be willing to prototype! We did sufficient wiring and assembly to get the machine into a playable state prior to stripping everything off, then painting and decorating it. We Australia's electronics magazine Notes See text in this article regarding multiple colours made quite a few changes to the play surface during our trials. Because it was “prototype” in our minds, we had no hesitation in hacking into the play surface and moving stuff around. We encourage you to bring this approach to your build, as the prototype mindset avoided concerns with scratching or damaging finished artwork. To support this, don’t permanently fix the play surface to the machine. As an observation throughout my career, when creating new concepts and developing challenging concepts, it is important to be constructively critical and willing to change your approach if required. Sometimes radically. We had not built a pinball machine before, and this was certainly the case here where redoing parts like August 2026  43 the flippers led to significant improvements. Buying the parts We’re going to present individual part lists for each section of the machine later and over the next couple of months. Part of the reason for doing this is that we expect many constructors will want to customise their machine, and if we just present one big list, the quantities are not going to be correct for alternative configurations. Having said that, there are quite a few parts that you’re going to go through in large quantities, regardless. Rather than having to make repeated trips to the hardware store, we suggest you buy most or all of the General Hardware parts overleaf so that you have plenty of them. You’re going to need them! The quantities are approximate, but even if you end up with some left over, we’re sure you’ll find a use for them. Printing the parts Assuming you’re going to print the parts as we designed, rather than use them as a starting point to make your own, we suggest that you download the ZIP files linked above, start printing the pieces listed in Table 1 and keep them in order. Even if you don’t know how many bumpers, kickers and targets you need, you can start by printing one of each and then make more later. To get you started now, we will now give details of the targets. The assembly of the remaining parts will be spread over the next couple of issues, as there is quite a bit to cover. Assembly order When building our deck, we performed many test fits, screwing the deck sections to the deck in the following order (you don’t necessarily have to follow this, but it might be a good idea). 1. We started with the lower deck sections and launcher and got this aligned and functioning. 2. We added the flippers and alleyways that abut the flippers, as well as the kicker parts. With these in place, we marked the holes for the kickers and drilled holes for the flippers. This allowed us to remove the upper deck parts, cut and drill the deck, then test-install these parts. 3. At this point, we were able to 44 Silicon Chip Fig.20: this screen grab from Fusion360 shows the main deck top parts but does not include the kickers, bumpers and targets, although you can see the cutouts and holes for mounting them. This should line up with Fig.19. Photo 10: when hit by the ball, the targets cause the LED underneath to light and add to the player’s score. Photo 11: by printing the first couple of layers in a different colour than the rest, we get some contrast for the numbers on the faces. ▶ Australia's electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au drill the holes for the LEDs and sensors local to the flippers. 4. We then added the launch alleyway up the right-hand side of the deck, and from there marked out and cut the target on the right-hand side. 5. Then we installed the upper deck parts on the left-hand side. We were then able to mark the left-hand targets and associated LEDs. 6. With the upper parts in place, we were able to make final markings for the bumpers and associated LEDs. These were then drilled and test-fitted. 7. For the red holes shown in Fig.19, the positions should be pretty close to what’s required, but you should determine the final hole positions on your deck by temporarily placing the 3D-printed parts as you test fit them. Targets Fig.21: the download package (siliconchip.au/Shop/6/3628) includes dimensional drawings for our cabinet, but the exact details will depend on your implementation. Our playdeck is 470 × 900mm, the backboard is 200mm deep, 640mm wide and 400mm tall. We made ours from timber offcuts and used a solid pair of hinges on the rear panel. The cabinet height is 247mm at the front and 400mm at the rear. siliconchip.com.au Australia's electronics magazine The targets do exactly what it says on the box – your aim is to hit them with the ball (see Photo 10). We have four targets in a row, which are target ‘tiles’ hung off the lever of a microswitch. When the ball hits the target, it actuates the microswitch from which the tile hangs, which is sensed by the controller. You could spread them around if you wanted. Targets are quite straightforward to build. The main trick is adjusting the microswitch lever such that it has a ‘hair trigger’ to actuate (similar to the kicker, to be described later). Once adjusted, these install fairly easily, though make sure you have wired in the microswitches before installing them as they are fiddly to solder once installed in the deck. There are Score LED outputs associated with each target. If all targets are hit in one round, a bonus score is achieved. Make sure to install the score LEDs in front of the relevant targets. Target construction You’ll probably want to make several groups of targets (our machine has two). Each set contains four targets and has three parts: the bracket, numbered tiles and a cover. The steps are: 1. Print the target tiles. We printed our tiles using yellow filament on the first two layers (Photo 11), then paused the print and swapped to black filament for the remainder of the tiles. This gives a very bright target with text in black. 2. You need four microswitches; we used KW12 types. These are incredibly August 2026  45 Parts List – General Hardware | many quantities are approximate 1 12.8cm yellow ball launch mechanism [AliExpress 1005006766715473] 1 24V DC 5A+ power supply [Altronics M8973B] 1 panel-mount DC barrel socket to suit the power supply [Altronics P0628] 10 12V 1.5A 20N solenoids [TAU-0826, AliExpress 32618031228] 8 Cree C513A series 30mA LEDs (any mix of colours but in pairs) [Altronics Z0876E] 10 LJ12A3-2 2mm inductive sensors (NPN OCO) [AliExpress 1005002931452610] • 1 5m length of 12V LED strip lighting [Altronics X3203A] 2 100mm loudspeaker drivers [Altronics C0616, Jaycar AS3008] Switches 4 KW12-3C-Z 25mm (straight) lever arm microswitches [AliExpress 1005008233825861] 8 KW11-3Z-E 16mm-20mm (straight) lever arm microswitches 5 4-pin SMD tactile switches with short actuators [Altronics S1112A, Jaycar SP0610] 2 arcade-style momentary pushbutton switches (for flippers) [Altronics SA091x, Jaycar SP0662] 3 SPST square momentary red pushbuttons (front panel) [Altronics S1080, Jaycar SP0717] Connectors 2 6-way vertical pluggable terminal blocks [Altronics P2516, Jaycar HM3126] 30 2-way vertical pluggable terminal blocks [Altronics P2512, Jaycar HM3122] 2 3-way polarised header plugs with matching pins [Altronics P5473 + P5470A, Jaycar HM3403] 20 2-way polarised header plugs with matching pins [Altronics P5472 + P5470A, Jaycar HM3402] 34 10-way IDC ribbon cable connectors [Altronics P5310, Jaycar PS0984] Screws and hardware 3 1200 × 600 sheets of 12mm marine plywood OR 1 2400 × 1200 sheet of 12mm marine plywood 1 1m length of 20 × 1.6mm aluminium flat bar [Bunnings I/N 1064257] 30 9mm-long self-tapping box screws (4G self-tappers) 20 6mm-long self-tapping box screws (4G self-tappers) 1 1m length of M3 threaded rod • this must be NPN normally 100 6G × 16mm wood screws [Bunnings I/N 0201371] open (NO) output with 100 6G × 20mm wood screws [Bunnings I/N 0201372] 2mm or 4mm sense range Panhead machine screws: 25 M3 × 25mm 50 M3 × 20mm 25 M3 × 16mm 100 M3 × 6mm 25 M4 × 50mm 10 M2.5 × 20mm 25 M3 flat washers 50 M3 Nyloc hex nuts 10 M3 × 10mm tapped spacers 25 M4 hex nuts 10 M2.5 Nyloc hex nuts Cable and wire 1 20m length of medium-duty (7.5A+) figure-8 speaker wire [Altronics W2126] 1 20m length of 10-way ribbon cable 2 2m lengths of heavy-duty hookup wire (red & black) [Altronics W2283, W2284] 4 reels of light-duty hookup wire (green, blue, red & black) 2 1.2m lengths of 5mm diameter heatshrink tubing [Altronics W0993A] 50 small cable ties Miscellaneous 1 tube of superglue, Loctite, or another screw thread locker plenty of 3D printer filament in various colours (black, blue, yellow etc) cheap. You could modify an Altronics S3265 microswitch to match, but they are comparatively expensive. Screw the microswitches to the bracket using 2.5mm machine screws and nuts, as shown in Photo 12. 3. The target tiles simply slip into the brackets and sit in place. 4. If you push the target, you should feel the microswitch click before the target hits the target frame. 5. Affix the cover over the targets using three 4G × 9mm self-tapping screws. Coming up 4 KW12-3C-Z 25mm (straight) lever arm microswitches 4 2-way polarised header plugs with matching pins 3D-printed parts (all PLA) 1 Target Tiles Numbers (30% fill, 2.4mm wall; see text regarding multiple colours) 1 Target Bracket 12mm deck (30% fill, 2.4mm wall) 1 Targets_Top (30% fill, 2.4mm wall) Hardware & wire 3 9mm-long self-tapping box screws (4G self-tappers) 8 M2.5 × 20mm panhead machine screws Photo 12: the microswitches are attached 8 M2.5 Nyloc hex nuts to the target assembly using M2.5 2 1m lengths of green light-duty hookup wire machine screws and Nyloc hex nuts. Next month, we will have more detailed instructions on assembling some of the remaining sub-units, mounting them to the deck, and getting them working. That will include the bumpers, kickers, posts (for kickers and guides), flippers, ball return and launch system plus the other parts of the deck. In the meantime, you can start printing some of those parts (using Table 1 as a guide) and gathering the hardware given in the parts list here. Make sure you pay attention to the 3D-printing fill and wall details as they vary between files. Note that there are a couple of parts for the flippers that should be made from ABS rather than PLA for robustness, and we recommend that you print some of the parts on rafts so they don’t distort as they cool. You can also get further along in planning your deck and, if you’re aiming to copy ours, start marking out the hole positions. It might also pay to begin planning the cabinet at this stage and gathering supplies to put it together. If you haven’t chosen a theme yet, you can also start researching that, and once you have decided on it, start making or gathering the artwork, stickers etc that will decorate your machine. If you’re customising your Pinball Machine, you should buy enough timber to make two decks: one to experiment with, where you aren’t too fussed about drilling extra holes and such, and another that will take on the final form, once you have finalised the positions of everything. If you haven’t already assembled all the required electronic modules, that’s another task that you could start on while you are waiting for the next SC instalment. Australia's electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au Parts List – Target Assembly 46 Silicon Chip