A 1981 Centaur pinball table rebuilt into a coffee table.

Like many of us,[ BuildXYZ] has always wanted to own a pinball machine, but doesn’t have the cavity to justify buying such a big and ponderous plaything. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.[ BuildXYZ] figured that if they could build a pinball machine into a chocolate counter anatomy cause, they’d be at least halfway to justification.

[ BuildXYZ] didn’t prefer really any bolt. After doing a assortment of research, they settled on 1981′ s Bally Centaur because it’s an early solid-state machine, and it’s one of the best. It has no secondary playfield levels need to be addressed, acquiring it much easier to do this project.

Where do we even start to describe this beautiful labor of love? There are too many details to roll, but know that it seems to be equal sums of recovery drudgery and tradition direct that delivered this table together. The structure video after the interruption is definitely worth your time, and you’ll gain a much better appreciation of the amount of time that went into this, from the patronage orchestrate decoder microchip built on an FPGA to the 3D printed permutation put the objective and brand-new acrylic parts to supplant the yellowing ones from the playfield.

Pinball circuit boards built into a set of drawers in a steel frame.

[ BuildXYZ] started by building a pintisserie, which is exactly what it sounds like — a rotating barbecue spew for a pinball machine’s nerves that clears it a breeze to work on. This maintenance-friendliness reappears in the new board intend, where the circuit boards are shafted to a pair of drawers.

No, you don’t have to play it flat. But you do have to clear off the top before pressing Start, because a duo of mini industrial linear actuators conjure the back end by 5-7deg will vary depending on the locate. We were a bit sad about the lack of plunger, but[ BuildXYZ] is right — it would slap at your kneecaps. On the bright side,[ BuildXYZ] reused the’ free clod’ solenoid as the pellet launcher, which is driven by that burnished metal button. Again, be sure to check it out after the break.

Honestly, we haven’t seen this much work go into a pinball machine since this one, constructed solely from K’nex.

Read more: hackaday.com