Designing a Pinball Machine

I have always loved playing arcade games, including Pinball, and creating things in 3D on a computer. So, for this contest, I have decided to try Fusion 360 and see if I could create something cool!

I am currently enrolled in the 10th grade of the Kepler Gymnasium Weiden, in Bavaria, Germany and it's my goal, to create a Pinball machine for my home in Fusion 360, which looks and can function like a genuine Pinball Machine.

Fusion 360

I began my project, by thinking about the dimensions of the box, which is the main component of my Pinball machine. Genuine Pinball machines have a width of roughly 72 cm and a depth of 130 cm, which is quite big for a game at home. That's why I decided to make mine 40x60 cm. After making a Sketch with these dimensions, I extruded it and created a slope, on which the balls can roll.

After I had done the last step, I added holes for the kickers, which launch the ball up. I decided to use two side kickers and one central kicker, as it is more intuitive and easier to play with. In the process of creating the three kickers, I have made two variants of the side kickers, one for the right and one for the left side. Handles for the side kickers also needed to be constructed, as the central kicker is a handle in itself. To limit the range of the side kickers, I chose to put tubes on the underside of the angled slope. The end of the middle kicker was specifically made with grooves so that the balls can easily be launched by it!

Catching the balls after they've fallen into one of the 9 holes, was my biggest problem in the design process of the pinball machine. After many failed attempts I settled on the Idea of an underground tunnel of sorts, which will bring the fallen balls, right back into the "grab container".

Thereafter I only needed to add the obstacles and holes, which I could all fit into one sketch - that's all for the "Box"!

Making the stand for the "Box" was quite straightforward, as I only needed to create a cylinder and plate, connecting to the box. I decided to give the stand a height of 90 cm, as it is not too high for children and not too low for adults!

After having the "Box" and stand finished, I could finally assemble them all together. To better demonstrate the assembly I have used the animation and rendering tool, inside of Fusion 360.