Overview
Engineering a mechanical game from first principles
The Bagatelle Pinball Machine project was a comprehensive end-to-end fabrication challenge: design a fully functional mechanical pinball machine entirely from scratch, relying on precision manufacturing rather than off-the-shelf mechanisms.
The project was completed through the Boston University's LEAP Life program and Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC), which emphasized real-world manufacturing skills and constraints.
Design & Fabrication Process
From CAD to physical assembly
I designed the full assembly model in Onshape CAD, parametrically linking part families so that design iterations could be propagated automatically. The playfield was laser-cut from wood, the spinner CNC milled, and obstacles laser-cut from acrylic, each of which requiring careful fixturing and multi-pass finishing strategies to hit tolerances.
Several components such as the plunger, ball return channels, and spring retention mounts required manual machining on a lathe and mill.
Outcomes
A fully playable machine, built from scratch
- All critical mating interfaces met required dimensions with prescison
- Plunger spring mechanism calibrated for consistent ball launch energy
- Final machine fully playable with spinner and obstacles creating variation in gameplay
