Auto scoring compatible with 1/2 scale lane??

[Stevejt66]

Does anyone know if an automatic scoring system can be made to work with a 1/2 scale lane?

[wb8yjf]

I doubt it due to the cameras and their field of 'vision'.

[Ted]

I have made Qubica, AMF Plus, AMF Boss and Steltronic work with 1/3 scale pins/machines. It's all in the distance from the pins Jon. I even suspect one of the old Brunswick scanners might be made to work.
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So, even if you had buttons and switches for having it take a count, instead of machine wiring interface, you could make it work.

[wb8yjf]

Excellent, Ted! I assume you move the camera closer?

[Ted]

It's not surprising that the cameras are 2/3 closer to the pins. Their perspective is indeed relative.

[wb8yjf]

Surprising it's that simple!

[Stevejt66]

Cool......now what would I need to make it all work? Do I need all equipment from the same manufacturer...like All QubicaAMF, or All Brunswick etc?? Or could I buy a cheap video camera and use it with the control boxes and I'd probably need to buy a console keyboard too...right?

[theultimateandy]

Steve, I am using a Accuscore plus with my 1/2 scale lane. It was a little overwhelming at first, as I was diving into territory I knew nothing about (never dealt with wiring a scoring system). After much research, I was able to obtain an accuscore CPU, the MI, the camera, bowler’s terminal adn all the wiring. I needed all of these items or the CPU would detect an error. If you do not connect anything to the mi on the machine side, you can manually key in the scores. I connected basic power and switches to MI for semi automatic scoring. I wired up a set of latching relays and a limit switch to my backstop. When a ball hits the backstop, it triggers a latching relay to simulate the sweep start switch. After the camera reads the pins, there are two buttons the operator has, ball one and ball two. Ball one resets the ball cushion relay and deactivates the ball two relay, if activated. Ball two button resets the ball cushion relay and activates the ball 2 relay. You have to have a signal going to the second ball light (as least with accuscore) for it to score the second ball. Also the distance of the camera to the head pin is very precise. I noticed if I am off even 1/8 of an inch, it doesn’t read the pins right. I had to break the seal on the camera to connect an external monitor so I could see what the camera sees.

[Ted]

As ultimateandy alludes to, you will have to use all the components from the same generation of a scoring system. Its all about each component's role and how each communicates with the other components. Making it totally automatic would require some low voltage switches and/or relays on the machine - and powered from a transformer from whatever your source of pit light is. Very doable.

[Stevejt66]

Wow, that sounds so complicated....! 1/8 inch tolerances, relays, motors, switches. Ahhh/....and what is MI? I know nothing about this I guess. I would have to have someone come in and set it all up for me! It would be cool to have though. Any possibility of having a regular security camera hooked up to a laptop and someone who could write the software, could that work? Instead of switches and transformers, I could use a sensor that would be triggered by the ball going by, and then the camera would snap a picture say 5 seconds later.


Oh a question for Ultimateandy....do you have any pics of your mini lane? Or do you already have videos on YouTube?

[theultimateandy]

Actually, it's pretty easy. Before this search, I had no idea about scoring equipment. My only knowledge is from a few tours behind the scenes of 82-70's and youtube videos of pinsetters. I went on the equipment for sale forum and spoke to several people that scoring equipment. It took a few weeks, but I finally found someone who had a complete system, the accuscore plus. It was a plug and play system, really easy to connect. The circuitry was pretty simple, only consisted of 2 latching relays, 2 pushbuttons, 1 limit switch and 2 transformers, 1- 7 volt ac for the control side of the MI (Machine interface) and 1- 12 volt dc transformer to operate the 12 volt relays and ball light. As far as the tolerances are concerned, all you do is place the camera on the guttercap, load up a full rack of pins on the deck, and start cycling the scorer. You move the camera slighty up and down the lane until you score all 10 pins, and screw it down. Thats it. If you do end up getting a scoring system, I can send you my wiring schematics for mine. It should be adaptable to most scoring systems.

Each scoring system is different, AMF accuscore plus uses the MI, where brunswick and other scoring systems may not use an MI, and may have all different components alltogether. I think it would be cheaper and a heck of a lot easier if you purchased a complete scoring system instead of trying to make something work. Not only would you have to have precise configurations of the pins, you would have to have a bowler's grid, input names, would have to program for strike mode to jump to the next frame, etc.

As far as my lane is concerned, I just put some new pin markers on the lane. I am going to put a few clear coats on the pindeck, attach a monitor to the masking unit, and shoot some video of live shots for you. I was trying to keep the cat in the bag until I was completely done with it, but I just had to throw my input out on this mini-scoring thread.

[Stevejt66]

Wow, it still sounds kind of complex...what are the push buttons for? Jeez, you're in CA, if you could get a good price to fly here, and find a working system, I'd pay you to come out and hook it all up and pay your plane ticket... Electronic things usually don't work out well if I try to set them up.....stereo equipment excluded...LOL