Full-Size K'NEX Pinball Machine

by thewelltemperedguitar

7.5K1738

Intro: Full-Size K'NEX Pinball Machine

This is a project I have been working on in my spare time for the last 2 months. I've always been a very big pinball enthusiast and decided to put my K'NEX and engineering background to use. I started out with a simple rectangular shape piece the size of my "ideal" pinball machine size and then changed pieces out as I saw fit. First I added flippers, then a launch ramp, then some action items, raised it and put a tilt to the shape, and the rest was just development and experimenting.

Everything works fantastically! The ball is more sluggish than I had anticipated but is still able to activate the targets upon impact. Most of the machine is continuous play, but the rocket launchers and catapults are all manual reset. With constant velocity motors it will be very difficult to come up with an auto-reset mechanism that doesn't interfere with the firing mechanisms.

I had ideally imagined putting acrylic as the play field base material, but it was going to be more expensive and difficult than I was ready to justify. The cardboard pieces were fairly easy and quick to put in, and when I figure out the design I want I can print something out at office depot and screen graphic the entire top.

Thank you for taking a look!

Demonstration of functionality:
https://www.facebook.com/v/201690999883302

Gameplay:
https://www.facebook.com/v/202835053102230

For the pictures of start-to-finish progress:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.187566911295711.64900.100001272096421&l=c1e8ef55da


Update:

I took it apart and counted pieces.

Chain Links - 75
Green Connectors - 122
Grey Connectors - 112
Small Grey Connectors - 16
Small orange Track Pieces - 9
Small Cam Shaped Connectors - 42
Medium Gears - 14
Orange Track Connectors - 64
Red Connectors - 156
Orange Connectors - 132
White Connectors - 204
yellow Connectors - 292
Purple Connectors - 522
Red Rods - 1330
White Rod - 415
Yellow Rod - 513
Flexible Rods - 36
Grey Rod - 200
Rod Spacers - 122
Motors - 3
Rubber bands - 9
Track strips - 4
Green rods - 483
Blue Rods - 976
Rocket Launchers - 2
Rockets - 6
Blue connector - 676

39 Comments

Witheredboi 3 years ago

Imagine how long those would be...

nickcube4 12 years ago

That is really cool.
It also looks very complicated.
How could anyone ever build that thing?

rojo.balloon 12 years ago

This is what you can do with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. lol

Witheredboi 3 years ago

Imagine what you could do with a masters XD

cazadactle 12 years ago

probably the best Knex machine I have ever seen (with the exception of a working Knex computer thingy) but it looks extremely solid and everything looks and works so well!! The only thing that I could want for on this would either be:
-A scoring system (very hard to do though)
-More paths (or make the current ones more exciting)
-A delay on the ball catch mechanisms so it holds the ball for a bit not just shoots it straight out...
Fantastic job man! What an awesome project!!!

Witheredboi 3 years ago

I had my own idea for a non-electronic version: a gravity-fed ball-return system. Have the plunger be slightly lower so that the hole the ball goes into feeds directly into the plunger cylinder.

Witheredboi 3 years ago

I hate this thing. Not because it's bad. I'm just jealous of the amount of k'nex parts you have access to.

knexpert#10829476 11 years ago

Oh my god! 5 Stars for sure, maybe 6 if I could! Amazing machine!

teamgenez 12 years ago

WOW! it looks like an actual pinball machine like the one you see at an arcade how long did it take you to make that?

Matrix-technician 12 years ago

Awsome project man. With a background in Mechanical engeneering I can really appreciate the hard work and countless hours of thought and tinkering you invested into this beast. However, although I focus a bit more into practical engeneering such as internal combustion engine desing, and machine work, I like to fool around with my old college buddies and modify toys and the like. If you check out my page you can check out some simple things i've done with LEGOS and K'nex. keep up the good work bro!

thewelltemperedguitar 12 years ago

My day job is a design engineer, but I still like to exercise my creativity. I appreciate your intuition into my knowledge. I have plans of building another one after I get settled into my new house.

ParacordJedi 12 years ago

I am sure that somewhere you have become THE favorite uncle to some lucky kid!

thewelltemperedguitar 12 years ago

I'm glad you say "uncle" instead of "father" since I'd rather not think of having kids... haha

bnsfwarbonnet 12 years ago

Nice timing on posting this instructible... i had just resurected my friend's 20yr old pinball machine. works like new... almost. Not even a hired electrician could fix it. Brilliant Pinball machine.

rmeyssen 12 years ago

omfg thats AWESOME!!!!!!

chashiro 12 years ago

um holy crap thats impressive im not to bad with knex my self but geez
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