Ari [APz] Sovijärvi

A pinball addict. I tend to enjoy working on pins as much as playing them! Owner of Hopeakuula Arcade, apzpins on Twitch and YouTube. Also: cats! 🇫🇮

This account is all about casual and tournament playing, streaming, restoring, repairing and owning pinball. Other casual nostalgia and retro stuff might also sneak in. Feel free to ask me stuff.

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/apzpins/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@apzpins
Pronouns: He/him
Hopeakuula Arcade: https://pelitaivas.fi/ha/eng

Public Key

npub1yg2cgeydx6pma7s8ev2xhl6jusrs507q8hhqrnygcpaevu72374slc8l89

NIP-05 Address

apzpins_at_mstdn.games@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqszy9vyvjxndqa7lgruk9rtlafwgpc28lqrmmspejyvq7ukw09gl2cpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds3n4x3d

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1yg2cgeydx6pma7s8ev2xhl6jusrs507q8hhqrnygcpaevu72374slc8l89

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Last Notes

2026-02-05 10:47:20 UTC

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But hey, in the last panel you can at least wipe with an AI ad!

2026-02-05 08:57:56 UTC

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Meillä menee hiiriä välikatossa. Hupasa katsoa kun huoneessa on 2 kissaa, molemmat eri paikassa ja päät osoittaa tarkasti samaan kohtaan ja seuraavat ääniä. Vielä ei ole yksikään tehnyt sitä strategista virhettä että tulisivat huoneisiin.

2026-02-05 00:22:02 UTC

It's slightly chilly, but I have a lap warmer.
#cats #catsofmastodon
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/116/015/160/344/501/530/original/e85db4e975db4097.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/116/015/160/364/449/729/original/809bfc5e269fda55.jpeg

2026-02-04 18:14:19 UTC

A player reported Striker Xtreme not getting balls out of the upkicker next to the goalie. Looks like half of the upkicker is missing. #pinball #pinrepair
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/116/013/713/788/920/997/original/760f04b9c248a088.png

2026-02-04 03:13:14 UTC

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Looking at the fracture point, is this piece not solid for a purpose? Looks like some low degree infill to me in there.

2026-02-03 18:22:29 UTC

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All those photo manipulations were so life-like back when this came out.

2026-02-03 16:34:41 UTC

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Logic when following bullshit legislation has never been the suits' strong point.

2026-02-03 14:54:32 UTC

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I have seen all your bases and they now are belong to us.

2026-02-02 22:36:47 UTC

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I'm actually going to leave that in even when the spare arrives, as I'm generally curious to see how various materials survive real world use.
The return spring in the part is very weak, as is the solenoid itself, I can stop the solenoid from moving with just keeping a finger there against the plunger. Since the coilstop (the part that stops the plunger) is integrated in the bottom, I can only assume the material has been extremely bad. There are similar brackets in strong and often used coils, such as bumpers and I have machines from the 70s that still have the original brackets in use. There's absolutely no reason for a rarely used, weak coil to break its bracket like this.

2026-02-02 21:20:49 UTC

Last on the board was Viking. A player had reported its spinner being dead. I glanced at it when we were last open, but it was too crowded to take the glass off.
As I spun the spinner manually, I immediately made a note of how it's wire behaved. The spinner itself has a cam-like part at the end, that makes a wire go up and down as it spins. The wire goes below the playfield and actuates a leaf or micro switch. This being a very early 80s game uses a leaf switch. Since the wire was just hanging in there loosely, it was almost guaranteed something below the playfield had failed.
I had already mentally prepared to replace a snapped switch leaf, but fortunately the wire had just come loose somehow and this turned out to be pretty trivial repair.
But in the end I got to wipe the hall of fail board clean again!
#repair #pinball #pinrepair
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/116/003/122/947/306/725/original/20cd8aee0d9d8efc.mp4

2026-02-02 21:01:02 UTC

Hacks. They happen to be best of us.
Last week I wrote about Elvira's multiball lock post solenoid's curious failure mode. The metal bracket that holds the coil and rest of the mechanism had suffered a case of metal fatigue. This is very unusual, as this is first of all a very weak coil that is fired very rarely. Apparently there was something questionable about the metal used in this thing.
This is such a rare part that it needs to be ordered from the US, which means the double birdie of high tax and high postage fees for something as simple as this. Oh and it takes weeks to arrive too. If I had a laser cutter and CNC bending machine at hand, I'd do it myself.
Not wanting to have Elvira down for this long, I investigated an alternative solution. This was such a simple thing I easily modelled one with #FreeCAD to be 3D printed out of ASA. It works fine, with a 8mm bolt head as a coil stop.
I'm going to leave this part in even after I get a new part as I'm curious hold long it'll stay intact! #3dprinting
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/116/003/042/936/361/427/original/ffa4559105ffff15.mp4

2026-02-02 13:33:01 UTC

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I was given Din Djarin figurine as a Chrismas present long ago, when I got the pinball machine. Then later I got Ashoka Tano too. They both usually stand on our streaming desk, but every now and then I found them in various hanky-panky poses after my friend has walked past them.

2026-02-02 13:14:44 UTC

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I found local super market brand vegan chili con carne. I can only assume they had no idea of Spanish, or they missed the perfectly good pun opportunity.

2026-02-01 20:29:47 UTC

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Just a shot in the dark: it has a random seed for the game and for some reason the seed isn't changing, so you end up playing with the same randomisation every time.

2026-02-01 18:27:09 UTC

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These are wonderful and have this vibe of a post apocalyptic video game.

2026-02-01 16:06:51 UTC

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The last picture looks like that if you could just make a scaled up plush toy like it, it'd sell like hotcakes.

2026-02-01 02:44:09 UTC

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I don't think I'll ever tire of the wonder of such a acutely scared creature trusting me so much it can fall in deep sleep in my lap. Wäinö was the first one to ever do it, Vallu here only started doing it last year for some reason. It's just so spooky when they go all limp.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/993/067/579/025/255/original/f01a76280cf76ead.jpeg

2026-02-01 02:42:09 UTC

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To be honest, me too. We've binged so many movies and series, what's 3 marathon ones more! Going to the movies would however have the bummer of not having a cat in my lap while watching the movie.

2026-02-01 00:13:58 UTC

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When I first saw the smaller picture, the one with tree supports looked like there were 2 or 3 guys holding to top in place in Atlas carrying the world style.

2026-01-31 22:54:12 UTC

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Oh, Wäinö did a tactical mistake. He jumped off my lap for a second but as he was returning, he started to circle me, meowing his "I want to jump on your lap" meows. But as he was still considering, Vallu took some running steps and beat him to it.
Since Vallu got there first, Wäinö jumped on the chair behind me and stares us disapprovingly.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/992/140/371/962/505/original/06dd775db7964e01.jpeg

2026-01-31 21:03:09 UTC

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I read this at first as you watching all 3 extended cuts in a row and was like "Uh-oh, RIP butt".

2026-01-31 18:48:01 UTC

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We're at 17th year of purring now!

2026-01-31 18:46:12 UTC

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He's really a super chill senior kitizen who loves everyone.

2026-01-31 18:43:31 UTC

The old gentleman is feeling very purry today. #cats #catsofmastodon #catsoffediverse #caturday
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/991/181/452/476/470/original/dd30009af9170a3d.mp4

2026-01-31 03:30:21 UTC

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Yeah, it's surprisingly unforgiving for such a shallow angle game.
Here's us losing our minds about it in an old stream:
https://youtu.be/vfet7LdY1nU?si=9KBTihDdjR8jzROG&t=9818

2026-01-31 00:41:43 UTC

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They are pretty entertaining and this isn't even the only game with that exact mechanism. Another example is Gottlieb's 1975 game Soccer, where the marketing team had really let their imaginations run wild when naming that thing.
https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2233

2026-01-30 22:11:28 UTC

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One of the good examples of using a 3D printer to reduce waste: something got repaired and now it'll serve many more years instead of ending in a landfill.
That exact part is something I've seen to fail very often and usually it's the one setting for the leg height that the user wants, so if there's only one user, it can be simplified a lot.

2026-01-30 19:56:24 UTC

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Yep, it definitely has the very late EM era looks to it. It was just 3 years from that when first solid state games surfaced.

2026-01-30 19:13:55 UTC

Top Score is one of the weird ones. Not particularly innovative playfield layout, but somehow I find myself playing it over and over again. #pinball #arcade
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/985/640/051/407/424/original/433da5b6161025fa.mp4

2026-01-30 19:11:34 UTC

I think I'll play something today while waiting a 3D print to finish. Maybe something from the classics side? #pinball #arcade
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/985/628/217/814/955/original/45816a677cf327ad.mp4

2026-01-30 19:02:13 UTC

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Ylekin esimerkillisesti edustaa täällä Mastodonin puolella.
Eikun.

2026-01-30 17:42:25 UTC

That.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/985/279/158/921/768/original/fb48c62fbdf6ef4d.png

2026-01-30 13:43:39 UTC

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You might be able to use automotive spray filler as a primer. It's the stuff that's used to smoothen out car body panels, it gets into the layer grooves quite nicely in 3D prints, but it's nowhere near perfect.
Combined with sanding, it's a very good solution, basically the thing is sprayed with the filler and sanded until you start seeing the print's color. Then the grooves are full of the filler and you don't lose much of the object's side to sanding.
YMMV naturally.

2026-01-29 20:46:02 UTC

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Xenoturbella is the IT workers' spirit animal.

2026-01-29 20:25:28 UTC

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They just loved all those "incredible" 3D renderings in 256 color palette.

2026-01-29 18:12:50 UTC

I'm taking the Flsun S1's effector apart. The design is pretty baffling to be honest. If the print head is clogged for any reason, you'd expect the major parts would be easy to access?
LOL to that says Flsun.
To get to the filament feed gears, there's this fun board in front of everything, with 6 connectors, that are naturally siliconed for your pleasure.
After watching the official disassembly video, I immediately make note of the feed tube heat sink fan, which is a lot beefier than in the video. I can already see they've been struggling with heat creep. Since the filament is stuck, my guess is that the 6+ hour print that left to this caused heat creep bad enough for the filament to soften prematurely.
#3dprinting
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/979/635/952/657/322/original/2f415769ba301bb5.jpeg

2026-01-28 18:46:53 UTC

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Mine wasn't too bad either, but I speed ran my loan when I could and reached a point in life that I don't owe anyone anything. I find it relaxing knowing there's not gonna be a day when some piece of shit land lord tries to smoke me out or something.

2026-01-28 18:34:02 UTC

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Here's me testing the 3rd rotten drop target from the batch and compare it to a proper one.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/974/157/003/393/991/original/c21b0e27ef6dcdf5.mp4

2026-01-28 18:28:24 UTC

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Here's the difference between the targets used in Playboy and a standard one.
The one on the left is a normal one and the right is Playboy's. The ball hits them from the left from this point of view.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/974/132/102/888/952/original/fbc5d97b0ae15a01.jpeg

2026-01-28 18:25:08 UTC

"Hey, Playboy's drop target is snapped in half" someone shouts.
Huh, I swear I put in a new one last week or something. I go to investigate and sure enough, it's snapped, but how?
I replaced it and played a test game. Literally first hit and the thing is in pieces on the playfield. What the hell?
I go to my parts box and find one drop target like that. I bend it slightly and it snaps in half like a twig. These are supposed to be very robust, you can bend one in 30 degree angle and it shouldn't think much of it.
I bend another one. Snap. I call my friend over, hand him the phone and try again. Snap. The whole batch is like this! I try another type, no issues, it bends but does not break.
Playboy has a special kind of a drop target, its top part is leaning forward so it wouldn't cause air balls when it's hit. I had to put a normal one in there until I get a batch of these special ones that aren't rotten.
FFS quality.
#pinball #rant
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/974/118/976/905/810/original/1f6f1fe8bfbdacd4.jpeg
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https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/974/119/027/441/966/original/77f18ef65ee95ff3.jpeg

2026-01-28 18:19:03 UTC

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People asked me if it floats. This was put to a test. I can tell you that Benchy is a bit top heavy. But it does float.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/974/098/990/716/037/original/1bb1edfd4df8044d.mp4

2026-01-28 16:51:56 UTC

Today's just for the laughs print. Full plate Benchy with Prusa Mini+. It's 21cm long and made of LW-PLA, so it feels absurd to hold.
#3dprint
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/973/740/400/524/760/original/40383339840a0ad0.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/973/741/352/786/989/original/4e0cb14b5426b259.png
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/973/740/407/759/728/original/bfcae7f22cae2c9f.jpeg

2026-01-27 15:20:37 UTC

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Back when IRC was popular among general audience, there were a lot of web chats that normies seemed to prefer because they were "easy". But we often discovered that they used IRC as backend and the web clients just spawned a new IRC client session. Some even were found on public networks, which caused funny moments when people would join the channels with real IRC clients that did not have the bad word filters, URL filters and such.
Eventually I guess they all just went into privately run servers.

2026-01-27 13:57:29 UTC

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It's very predictable for us, you can get the state of paid taxes at any time from the local IRS' web site and also declare stuff or make changes if needed. I've only been hit by a tax surprise once in my life and that was my own stupidity for not recalculating the estimated earnings per year when I got a better paying job in the middle of the year.

2026-01-27 02:02:59 UTC

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This guy can drown in the same septic tank as all those, who had some less appreciated but still fun for a casual home user pinball machines, that they just priced absurdly because "people pay insane amounts for these things, I know what I have!"
Then watch the same ad being repeated in the classifieds year after year because their late 80s Data-East game with worn out playfield and battery damaged CPU board didn't sell for 5000€.

2026-01-27 00:21:19 UTC

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Expensive.

2026-01-26 21:08:02 UTC

Sunday night cat roll. #cats #catsofmastodon
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/963/438/095/188/647/original/94720a865f376f4c.jpeg

2026-01-26 20:12:36 UTC

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We get this same crap with the same layout. I'm pretty sure it's either some kind of a spam toolkit or spam as a service for them.

2026-01-26 19:33:04 UTC

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Now there's a game I used to play a lot. Steel wheel and Nightmare were my favorites in that one.

2026-01-26 17:59:18 UTC

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Ymmärrän jos tommonen tulee joltain vanhemmalta ihmiseltä, jolle on niin voimakkaat sukupuoliroolit iskostettu tajuntaan että ei voi käsittää minkäänlaista poikkeamaa.
Esimerkkinä ajoin kierrätyskeskuksesta ostetulla mammapyörällä yläasteelaisena ja se ei herättänyt kenessäkään omanikäisessä mitään kummempia reaktioita. Pyöriä oli lapsilla hienoimmista maastopyöristä täysin piestyihin missä ei ollut lokareitakaan.
Mutta mummo jaksoi joka kerta hämmästellä, että "mitä ihmiset ajattelee" kun minulla on naisten pyörä.

2026-01-26 17:45:12 UTC

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Aikakautena jolloin kivijalkakaupat tekee kuolemaa, huvittaa vähän tilanne jossa joku kävelee sisään ja sanoo "haluun antaa teille rahaa" ja tiskin toisella puolella prioriteetti on "hmm, mitä sulla on jalkojen välissä?"

2026-01-25 20:13:13 UTC

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Tämän artikkelin synty näin arvauksena:
Ensin kerrotaan omin sanoin mitä about kaikki muut artikkelit sanovat. Sitten kysytään joltain tutulta IT-ihmiseltä ympäripyöreä kysymys "Mitä Microsoftin tilalle voi laittaa?" ja ne vastaa "No Linuxin". Mitään opettavaa ko. artikkelista ei löydy.

2026-01-25 16:53:17 UTC

Plenty of purr today. #cats #catsofmastodon
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/956/761/393/144/693/original/8d4b426dd0f7e08e.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/956/761/395/751/618/original/2ab404ea295a3613.jpeg

2026-01-25 16:31:07 UTC

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That is a good way to go about it.
I play a little game of "which pin it is" every time someone posts a work in progress picture of a pin, where the cabinet doesn't immediately reveal the game. Plenty of games I haven't worked on for years, but I can still guess them by looking at how major mechanisms and insert groups are laid out.
I just use the company/platform combo to limit the options.

2026-01-25 13:49:56 UTC

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Yep. Once you identify the platform, there's not many options out of my collection. Gottlieb's mechanisms look very different to anything else out there.

2026-01-25 03:35:05 UTC

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Look up Mang0jelly on Youtube. His videos kickstarted everything I know about the software. He goes from very basics to fancy stuff, but the videos are IMO easy to follow, yet very informative.

2026-01-25 03:05:44 UTC

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We used to. We were especially active during the COVID time. Nowdays I'm just too tired and stressed out to be entertaining and play well enough to bother.
The streams were often us being us, with either stupid banter combined with trying to demonstrate various game I have. We also often streamed the unboxings.
There's some VODs on my Twitch account (apzpins) and some I've saved in my Peertube archive at https://video.apz.fi/c/apzpins/video-playlists - there's the Clips from our streamd and Unboxing playlists.

2026-01-25 02:54:30 UTC

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This is exactly that. I can only guess they wanted these parts made for cheaper and didn't want to hear the specifics how it was achieved by the suppliers. What you see here is not a part that's subjected to meaningful forces, yet it fell apart.
Some of these cheapening outs have bitten Stern in the ass hard, like the 2019 onwards issue where flipper coil stoppers fall apart prematurely, some in just weeks old games. You see me yelling at a cloud about that specific issue every now and then. People who bought a new in box pinball machine for like $15000 aren't probably impressed either that the new and supposedly reliable game falls apart because of $5 part.

2026-01-25 02:17:55 UTC

Today's mystery pin: which game is this? #pinball #mystery #guess
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/953/332/309/745/547/original/5dd322db7903dde2.mp4

2026-01-25 00:46:00 UTC

And here's why I can only wear battered old t-shirts at home. Both of our whisker faces love to either knead or just grab my shirt or pants at random and slowly turn them into swiss cheese.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/952/964/559/506/202/original/f1600bc85c6da5fd.jpeg

2026-01-25 00:29:23 UTC

Doctor Who's ROM seems to carry a lot of extra stuff. Back in the days when we were first examining all the game ROMs with a hex editor, we discovered this one had debug functions in the production software with a lot of interesting error messages about the game scripts. Another interesting find was that it had a burn-in test left in the software. Naturally the game has extensive diagnostics as other games of its era, but this one has an additional undocumented test that runs diagnostics on a loop until it encounters an error. To trigger this mode, all the 4 operator buttons need to be pressed at the same time in the attraction mode. #pinball #hidden #easteregg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/952/903/939/050/069/original/39d74d152b546e60.mp4

2026-01-24 23:39:48 UTC

Late #caturday sleepy Wäinö.
#cats #catsofmastodon
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/952/706/542/111/781/original/b7b3155606e0c72f.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/952/706/563/606/001/original/fa2b30cac73f68c6.jpeg

2026-01-24 22:26:24 UTC

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Speaking of 3D printers, a friend brought his daughter to the arcade for the first time. She had also never seen a 3D printer. I gave her a brief, layman's terms explanation of that it does, all while it was printing a tiny benchy. She spent the whole time the thing was printing just staring at the thing wide eyed and was over the moon when she got to keep the print. I hope she was inspired and grows up to do something cool with a 3D printer down the road.

2026-01-24 22:24:03 UTC

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There was also a moment when people had not seen a computer. It was way into the grade school when I visited my class mates and they had no computers at home. When I asked, it was often met with ridicule or confusion.
I've seen this same happen over and over with new technology. I was a very early adopter of smart watches that can do payment. It blew up a lot of minds in bars when they saw me do it.
The objections and ridicule to new technologies are also there, with the same old tired and often uneducated claims or accusations of being lazy or helpless.
I don't agree with all the ways technology is used, especially with all the enshittification and stuff commercial social media companies are doing, but I can also see the possibilities in a lot of it and happily adopt the ones I see beneficial.
This includes 3D printers, no matter how much I'll be "just printing some stupid trinkets and never anything useful".

2026-01-24 20:56:56 UTC

Today's #stuckball is presented by Striker Xtreme. I wonder if it's an Xtreme stuck ball?
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/952/070/874/719/115/original/48d05c816d51e22f.jpeg

2026-01-24 19:33:59 UTC

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I got a replacement motor for a slot machine reel that didn't have a cut in it. Ended up giving it some Dremel.

2026-01-24 16:30:56 UTC

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I've been fascinated by this exact phishing campaign. It's always the same layout with that blue button, but for different sites. I've seen some very niche ones for relatively unknown local sites, which makes me wonder if it's some kind of a phishing as a service thing every low life scum tries to use. The ones with Finnish text have had way too good grammar for foreign actors or translation.

2026-01-24 14:53:18 UTC

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I have no words.
Well okay, I have plenty, but I'm not gonna type my whole swear word vocabulary here.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/950/639/324/494/759/original/726fbed397671231.mp4

2026-01-24 13:40:05 UTC

Well, I **HAD** all the machines in play and the hall of fail empty.
Enter Elvira. A player reports the garage lock behaving oddly, they had locked more than 2 balls in there. Odd, is it an opto failure? Nope.
As I raise the playfield, I see the lock mechanism's coil hanging there by its wires. Has its screws fallen off? Nope.
The fucking sad excuse of a coil bracket has cracked and half of it has fallen off. I'm seeing this kind of metal fatigue in Stern games way too often. Naturally since this is unique part, the game will be out of action until the replacement arrives.
#pinball #pinrepair
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/950/346/509/609/843/original/99029867667e7b71.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/950/346/494/034/815/original/316e017d2e12f3b0.jpeg

2026-01-24 11:20:48 UTC

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Fortunately I don't.

2026-01-24 02:57:36 UTC

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I spy with my little eye ... Fireball pin's backglass in the first picture.

2026-01-23 22:50:02 UTC

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For some it's a once in a lifetime thing. For us, it was Tuesday.

2026-01-23 22:36:33 UTC

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Here's our masterpiece.
https://video.apz.fi/w/cRD1rztQoQGNBWXfWMz1dM

2026-01-23 22:10:00 UTC

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Don't get me started. We even 3D printed an adapter that would put a real dildo into a pinball machine.

2026-01-23 18:30:56 UTC

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Yes. This machine is our expo game, it's quite often in very bright lighting compared to the home setting.
OTOH, the 2020s Stern games are even flashier at times. Godzilla is specially known for all the lightning effects.

2026-01-23 18:01:20 UTC

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Did you get a closeup shot of the pixels? I was thinking about wrong color order in the cheap part.

2026-01-23 17:27:20 UTC

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Before the newbies got their hands on those fancy CDs, we dignifiedly aged folk used to burn these things.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/945/583/375/061/415/original/e6ab814f38a0b338.jpg

2026-01-23 17:24:17 UTC

I swear even I'm about to get a seizure from this thing and I'm not even particularly sensitive to flashing lights. #pinball #arcade
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/945/568/943/451/680/original/39ae65efb1a0421d.mp4

2026-01-23 15:53:22 UTC

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I can see the confusion when you arrive with your 500l lube drum and everyone is like "Sir, this is the computer event".

2026-01-23 14:04:58 UTC

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We got this far. It didn't die to the "motor occur error" problem, but instead the extruder gave up. I feel like that meme where the dude is getting a clown makeup.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/944/787/506/786/318/original/32dcf65a42b5cef7.png

2026-01-23 10:24:49 UTC

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https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/943/922/563/377/526/original/44d0e6bb7362055f.mp4

2026-01-23 03:11:39 UTC

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"That's What I Like!"
"The Choice of a New Generation"

2026-01-22 23:04:52 UTC

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Well, this is certainly weird. Next I need up ramp up the speed and see if it was the cabling or if the boards just can't handle the maximum speed beyond tiny prints.
Oh, and enjoy the sound! Play this at 80db for full Flsun experience.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/941/247/784/974/051/original/737ab22108f51c86.mp4

2026-01-22 22:41:45 UTC

It's the spare Horst!
I'm looking into options to recreate the Striker Xtreme goalie. That part has long since disappeared from parts sellers' stocks and since it's a very high wear part, there's plenty of these games out there with just the magnet core there.
It'll either be made of some sturdier 3D printable material or there's always an option to make a mold of the original and try it that way.
But in 3D printing I could use a multi color machine to make the various parts out of correct colors without having to worry the paint wearing out.
I'm already drooling for Prusa's Core one L when it comes with the head changer option.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/941/121/830/080/502/original/ce7aac3ed8b0b97d.jpeg

2026-01-22 22:26:53 UTC

Oh my god, remember this day! My arcade-wide known faults and to-do -list is empty! I'm sure there's some disasters brewing, but right now there's that brief moment before the storm where every single game is in service!
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/941/079/966/937/438/original/3b3cdff7cf447760.jpeg

2026-01-22 22:20:21 UTC

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Now this is getting weirder. I checked every possible cable in this thing, none of them were loose. I wanted to visually verify which board face plants, but now I can't replicate the issue. Before at best it would die within minutes of starting a new print.
The night is young and it has all the time in the world to still fail, but I wonder if I'm looking at electrical contact issue with the cabling as I did pull every and each cable while checking them or if some tweaks I made in Orca works around the issue.
I was earlier thinking about what Flsun's account wrote on Reddit and they talked about overloading the steppers in long prints. I tweaked the settings in Orca so the head movement speed is now limited to 1000mm/s instead of the original 1200.
I think I'll print myself a little boat and see what happens.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/941/069/800/825/339/original/0a1356a188924a81.jpeg

2026-01-22 22:05:51 UTC

Today's #pinball #repair project: rebuild Robocop's flippers. All the wear parts got replaced, with even the flippers themselves, the old ones were starting to look a bit beaten up.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/941/011/858/732/119/original/3f89545a8a1d1c59.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/941/011/857/663/585/original/cec94d2d55e909a2.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/941/011/846/463/129/original/a316dc0047b14576.jpeg

2026-01-22 20:55:47 UTC

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I've seen the hot glue hack on pinball machines, but typically with flat cables that have ferrite rings on them. This was a new feature for me with 3D printers and curiously it was only done in easy spots. Made me wonder if someone had to open a bunch of already assembled ones and go nuts with the silicone gun.

2026-01-22 20:19:14 UTC

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Now, I've commented on the sound this thing makes. The thing is loud enough for an Apple Watch to issue a noisy environment warning if I stay close to it for too long without the muffler on.
The muffler comes in two parts: there's the christmas tree, which is Flsun's own design. There's also the chimney, which is an addition by someone else. Combined these two make the sound level tolerable so you can be in the same room with this thing!
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/940/592/962/943/446/original/da965d5287a01c32.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/940/592/993/648/404/original/9b8852018f8455ae.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/940/592/994/934/818/original/208145cbb365d271.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/940/593/032/518/138/original/460e116946a49427.jpeg

2026-01-22 20:11:17 UTC

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I didn't buy this thing, I got this one for free with certain strings attached. The main objective was to evaluate the brand and this printer's suitability for a specific purpose.
My plan was to use it for couple of weeks, learn of its quirks and then flash it with the open source edition of its software pieces. Right now it's questionable if that'll happen as this thing falls apart faster than I can patch it together.
As you can probably guess, the project's final report won't be exactly giving this thing an A+

2026-01-22 19:38:10 UTC

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I may have been spoiled by having used printers that have been designed to be driven without much care and then to be serviced easily when something breaks.
This thing has been such a culture shock from the get go. The strongest impression I've gotten is that the people behind this machine have very little interest in 3D printing itself beyond slapping "1200mm/s!" on the box. It has so many quality of life omissions, ranging from abysmal way to load the filament to claiming it runs fine with Orca, but then having their official Reddit customer service account tell people to use their proprietary Windows-only slicer as it "optimises" something that's supposed to fix multi-hour prints failing when this thing runs into firmware issues. Seeing the comments, even their own slicer can't produce G-code that'd work.
It also makes horrible sound and you're suggested to print a silencer part to be placed on the air intake. Then that needs another one on it to make it tolerable. I'm not kidding.

2026-01-22 19:16:35 UTC

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To access the stepper drivers, opening to top wasn't enough, as some of the screws are below the metal sheet the motherboard is lying on.
The connectors between the stepper and the board felt very cheap, I wouldn't be surprised if the vibrations loosen those and cause the issues. There's no silicone in these connections.
Here's the side taken apart and how the stepper driver boards look from below.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/940/333/475/001/134/original/7bc62e4efec48b3d.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/940/333/550/007/315/original/3b22561f4ef745cf.jpeg

2026-01-22 18:18:40 UTC

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They obviously have had an issue where these come off because of the pretty violent vibrations this thing is subjected to while printing.

2026-01-22 18:17:37 UTC

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This thing is tragicomic. The error message is "MOTOR C OCCUR ERROR". Okay, so I'll just look for motor and board labeled as C, right? But there's none, as the hardware is labeled X, Y and Z, funnily enough in a delta machine. But I'll try my luck and assume the A, B and C in software translate as X, Y and Z in the hardware.
Oh and the whole upper part is one big nightmare, the boards are visible but can't be removed from top.

2026-01-22 16:50:42 UTC

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Special mention for all the connectors and other meaningful stuff being labeled in Chinese.

2026-01-22 16:49:41 UTC

I'm taking the Flsun S1 with failed stepper board apart. I had prepared for some creative gymnastics as the steppers are at the top of the case, but then I discoverd the motherboard and the stepper boards are visible if I remove the top.
The motherboard here is semi-intelligent, as in that it doesn't try to do anything smart on its own, it's being spoon fed by the ARM Linux box behind the display.
Looking at the boards closer I instantly discover something deeply worrying: they obviously knew they had issues with the connectors, as they're hosed with silicone and then plugged them.
As any even barely sanely built printer is made with servicing in mind, here's an example of one where they just wanted to speed run the design and nevermind the poor sap who gets to service it.
After having this thing for less than a month, my strongest recommendation is for anyone to never touch the Flsun brand stuff.
#3dprinting
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/939/729/229/986/954/original/a94ccc06e6b06e76.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/939/729/268/245/912/original/a35e424e8e24cf05.jpeg
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/939/729/269/529/744/original/d98c47aef7fb90bb.jpeg

2026-01-22 15:26:29 UTC

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I drove van and various other things for a cleaning company in my late 20s. You wouldn't believe the amount of really smart people working in places like that. Many had been burned out in the IT field and they just did brain free job by day and then enjoyed programming and hacking together some hardware by night.

2026-01-21 23:56:06 UTC

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Sounds like a damn awesome place. I'd have to sample it if I was in your neighbourhood.

2026-01-21 18:37:59 UTC

Squeeze-squeeze.
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/934/536/481/961/607/original/82f5c9e72e5d754e.mp4

2026-01-21 11:46:14 UTC

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Yleisin kokemus on, että joku 20:n loppupäässä oleva ihminen pirteällä äänellä selittää miten tekoäly on hieno asia, yleisö on 40+ ja kaikki näyttää about tältä:
https://mstdn.games/system/media_attachments/files/115/932/919/305/733/534/original/2fc46027d2a55205.png