Pop Bumper NG

Presentation

The design project for a new pop-bumper board was born out of a need to modernize our Gottlieb pinball machines. The specifications consisted of replacing aging boards with newer and more reliable technology, and also, to improve the control of electomagnetic devices.

The original board contains obsolete components known not to be stable. It is therefore necessary to review the general design and replace them with more efficient ones. We have excluded the use of CMS components which have the disadvantage of making the boards difficult to repair.

The new board is designed to facilitate the placement of low voltage "logic" controls. Indeed, in order to avoid electric arcs (particularly visible on slingshots), it is advisable to replace the "strong" current of 24V passing through the contacts, a low voltage of about 5V with a low current of the "logic" type.

This not only has the advantage of reducing visual defects (sparks), but also that of preserving the contacts and considerably increasing their lifespan.

A first model was designed according to these criteria. Subsequently, it turned out that it would be wise to reduce the size of the board as much as possible.

Evolution of the project and comparison of the size of the boards:

Characteristics of the pop-bumper NG board

One of the reasons that led us to develop our own pop-bumper board is that, although there were already replacement boards, none really satisfied us and did not perform as expected.

The NG pop-bumper board fully meets our expectations and has exclusive features:

• Ultra-compact board.
  
  Its surface area is only a third of a standard board: it is the smallest board that can be found on the market today. Its assembly remains compatible with that of the old boards, moreover, for new installations (slingshots, kicking targets), it will be easy to find a small place under the playfield.


• Classic and modern components.
  
  While the board is unlikely to fail, troubleshooting will still be possible. The components used are easily replaceable and widely available.


• Precision and stability.
  
  The board is controlled by a µ-controller which ensures very high precision of the pulses, but which above all, does not undergo any drift over time. Temperature variations have no noticeable impact on board performance.


• Protections and robustness.
  
  It is protected against unwanted manipulation (within reason!). The use of an opto-coupler guarantees optimum isolation between the "power" and "logic" stages.


• MOSFET output.
  
  The technology used for the power stage has been widely proven. It is reliable and efficient, especially when it comes to controlling motors or coils.


• LED display of power supplies and controls
  
  Power supply faults (5V logic and 24V power) are thus quickly identifiable. The absence of a command is controlled in the same way.


• TEST button
  
  Allows you to check that the board or the coil are working correctly.

Examples of implementation

The board is simply installed in place of an existing board. Only two fixing points are used and the original connector is unchanged.

Location of the Pop-Bumper, on the lower playfield of a Black-Hole:

You can also use the board to modernize the control of slingshots, or kicking-targets in order to avoid electric arcs. In this case, the boards must be installed near the corresponding coils, which is facilitated by their small size.

The pinball machine's wiring must be adapted accordingly, which is not very complex: the card will be supplied with 5V and the control contact will be made by earthing.

Modernization on a Black-Hole, for the
Slingshots and Kicking-targets of the lower playfield:

Distribution

This achievement is available in our shop.