Virtual Pinball project (New Pics) Scooby Doo Mystery Pinball

[DarakuTenshi]

I want to build one of these, but I'm so worried about how to go about it. I was looking at monitors the other day and found a 47" for only $250 (think it was a Visio) I almost bought it. But, right now I have to get over my nerves about building a pin. I want to do it properly with LEDs and Knockers... just don't know how or where to start.

[jaharr01]

Well I think first you have to decide if you want a full size or a mini. In my case I had a 32 inch tv I didn't use very much so that made my decision to do a mini. Also it would depend on whether or not you are going to build the cab, find a used one, or buy a kit. Check out Martijn's build and the  digi pin build. It will give you some inspiration

Jay

[jaharr01]

***update***
Since I adjusted my screen I had to relocate the flashing rgb- w LEDS. I couldn't think of a decent place so I decided to incorporate some strobes I ordered off EBAYhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/201105766405?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 The strobes will go under the rgb-w flashers built into a 3/4 piece of wood. I have a sliding shelf to finish fabricating ( it just needs mounted) and I can move it into my nice cool air conditioned house and not in a garage that's 110 degrees.Brad is printing my artwork very soon.
Jay

[njay]

Great strobes man !

Don't forget to connect the correct power wire lol ... i messed up one set of strobes when connecting the 5v wire to the 12v output of my pc psu

[jaharr01]

The plastic light covers are cree LED RGB-W Flashers. The strobes will sit below

[jaharr01]

         Well I brought the cabinet in the house. The fabrication for the most part is finished except for a couple of small pieces. I'm ordering most everything tonight I'll post what I ordered. I hooked up the play field and the back glass. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do about the DMD. I have the monitor but apparently from what I understand you can only hook up 2 displays per video card. And you can't tell if you will be able to use the on board video (With an installed PCIE video card sometimes the on board video works and sometimes it doesn't. It depends on the individual video card). (Apparently from what I've read but I could be dead wrong) So my options are:
1.Get a computer with 2 PCI express slots (much more expensive motherboard).
2.Get a real DMD if it will fit in my opening ( very Very expensive )
3 Get a USB to VGA adapter if it will work. (Probably the cheapest option but I don't know if it will work, should though)
4 Get a USB powered monitor (easiest to set up, not very expensive but more than 3)
         I built a sliding door to access the computer also and I hooked up sound. The sub Is kind of weak I might redo it. ( repo from old build) I double checked everything with an extra computer and all the monitors work   
My to do list
1.So I have to put the computer together
2.Program the computer
3.Install graphics
4.Buy LED's
5 Tweak everything.
7. Buy analog plunger
8. Buy LED wiz
9. Buy contactors
10 Build shaker motor
11 Build spinner
12.Build knocker
13. Play with the wife's knockers
14. Wire in every thing else
15 Wire in every thing else I forgot the first time or burned up.
16 tweak everything again
17. Tweak wife's knockers again
18. Sleep

I'll probably be done around Christmas. The programming and tweaking takes forever from what I have read.

BTW if you ever need a DVI cable apparently there is more than one. This is the back of my monitor


This is what I ordered because I needed a 90 degree adapter(the wrong type). so all you have to do is take a pair of needle nose pliers and pull out the 4 pins around the blade and it will work just fine. apparently those are analog pins.


Picture of the sliding door to access the computer.


Picture of the back of the cabinet.



2 pictures of my old computer powering the playfield and the backglass



Wishing it worked


That's it for know
Jay

[yotsuya]

Looking good, Jay. I really like the purple.

[swaffar]

Those legs are installed really high up on the cab... Will you be sitting or standing while playing this?

[jaharr01]

Looking good, Jay. I really like the purple.

Thanks Yotsuya, It will look really good with the artwork brad is printing. Are you doing OK? Any new projects?

[jaharr01]

Those legs are installed really high up on the cab... Will you be sitting or standing while playing this?

Both. I'm only 5'9" it fits me and I wanted to make sure all of the kids could play it too.

Jay

[yotsuya]

Looking good, Jay. I really like the purple.

Thanks Yotsuya, It will look really good with the artwork brad is printing. Are you doing OK? Any new projects?

Well, I'm leaving for a San Diego vacation in the morning that will take me through my birthday Wednesday. When I get back, it'll be 4th of July and then I plan to do a Nintendo cab rescue-restore. Detail in the Summer of Chuff thread! Don't forget to make an announcement in there when you're done with this one!

[jaharr01]

I will. Have a good time Yotsuya. I'm gonna do a scale nintendo cab for my little girl in the next couple months. She's excited.

[Pinfritz]

your pincab is awesome  ...i like the purple (my favorite soccerclub colour *hehe*) and your back of the cabinet  is inspiring me

[jaharr01]

Here is the computer parts and other parts I ordered
1.   Computer

•   Processor: AMD A8-6500 APU CPU Dual Core  Socket: FM2, Clock Speed: 3.5 GHz, No of Cores: 2
•   Motherboard: Gigabyte F2A88X-D3H
8 x SATA3 Ports
4 x USB3.0 / 8 x USB2.0 Ports
1 x PCIe X16 3.0 / 1 x PCIe X16 2.0 Slots
3 x PCIe X1 2.0 Slots / 2 x PCI Slots
4 x DDR3 Slots Max 2133MHz / 64GB
HDMI / DVI / VGA Connector
Supports CrossFireX
•   Memory: Single 4GB DDR3-1600 Module
•   Hard Drive 500GB Sata 7200 (already have)
•   SSD: 64GB SATA3 SSD Drive
•   Cooling: Whisper cooling package
•   Video card 1: EVGA GeForce GT 740 Superclocked Single Slot 4GB DDR3 (Playfield)
•   Video card 2 Asus GeForce 610 single slot 1 GB DDR3 (Back glass and DMD)
•   Case Scrapped ATX
The computer is ordered should be here by the end of this week or the first of next week

2.   Fans
•   X1 green LED 120mm case fan
         http://www.ebay.com/itm/300708794936
•   X2 Purple LED 120mm case fan
         http://www.ebay.com/itm/350864305550?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l26494.m1497.l2649
•   X2 80mm non LED case fans

3.   LEDs
•   SUPERNIGHT 16.4ft 5M Waterproof Flexible strip 300leds Color Changing RGB   
        http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ASHQQKI/ref=pe_385040_30332200_TE_item

•   10 PCS 3W RGB Color High Power LED Light Emitter 4 pins with 20mm Star Base   
        http://www.ebay.com/itm/161057070124?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
•   Strobe LEDs FRONT HYPER BUMPER 12V 30W 12LED EMERGENCY HAZARD WARNING STROBE FLASHING LIGHTS
        http://www.ebay.com/itm/201105766405?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
4.   Cabinet
•   Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 10-Outlet
        http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006PUDQK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
•   Mot-Ion Adapter & Digital Plunger Kit
        http://nanotechent.com/mot-ionkit.php

What I Still need:
1.   LEDWIZ
2.   Contactors or solenoids
3.   Relays
4.   New 4 channel amp and dual 6” voice coil subs
5.   Knocker
6.   Glass
7.   Wire, fuses, fuse holders, and etc.
8.   Odds and ends

Vinyl is being shipped tomorrow. I need to measure the glass and order it from one day glass. I also need to fabricate a base for the flashers. This week I’m going to order the rest of the stuff I need.

Jay

[jaharr01]

**update**
         Well it is a good and a bad update. The bad is I got my computer put it together and it will power on bit it won't boot. Nothing no bios beeps or anything..It trouble shot it took all the cards and hard drive out, still nothing. I reset the CMOS, triple checked all of the connections. I used e different video cards, 2 different monitors, and swapped the memory out nothing. So I guess I have a bad board or processor. My guess is the processor, I left it running for about 30 minutes and took the processor out it was cold like it wasn't on. So I call who I bought it from and see what they want to do.The good news I put the vinyl on. and installed the virtual plunger. I have pretty much everything to do the wiring so I guess i'll work on that while I wait on the computer. It looks good but it is still dead in the water. You know i have built about a dozen computers and never had a bad board. It is good stuff a gigabyte motherboard and an AMD A8 processor. I guess I should have got an intel board and processor. Well that's what happens when you try to go cheap.Anyway here it is

[jaharr01]

Side view

[rockyrocket]

That looks great!.

[jaharr01]

now it would really great if the computer I bought for it worked,but thanks

Jay

[yamatetsu]

I had the same problem. Are you sure that you have connected the ATX_12V to power ?



If you don't, the mainboard gets some power, but not enough to start the computer.

I forgot to connect it, got a green light on the board, but it just sat there and did nothing.

Connected the 12V and it started right up.

Hope that helps.

[jaharr01]

No it was hooked up, still dead. I wish it was that simple.

[yamatetsu]

That sucks. The only thing left then would be to put the processor on a different board to see if it's dead. But that's probably not an option.

[Malenko]

such a cocktease to have it built and the CPU not boot.  Great chance to go Intel instead!
I look forward to seeing it running, youve done a stellar job 

[jaharr01]

Thanks, I will call the company tomorrow to see if I can swap it out for an intel. The only thing I didn't check was to see if that 8 pin ATX plug might not be getting 12 volts. But I really doubt it. I'm not buying anymore AMD junk. It's a good motherboard, a gigabyte ultra durable model. I can't see it being bad. Those F'ers probably will make me wait till they get my return before they send me a new one.
Jay

[stuzza]

Nice artwork!   Well done on the build.  Bummer about your PC, hopefully you get it sorted out soon.

[jaharr01]

If this is the same stuzza on vpforums. It would be ur creation. But tweaked a bit.. If it is thanks a bunch for the original.

Jay

[jaharr01]

Well I talked to technical support and ii'm gonna try to get it working one more time. I gotta dig up an old vga cable and try it. They swear they do a burn in test. So I'm out of town wishing I was home working on my stuff. As aggregating as it is, and as frustrating as it is, there is nothing like looking at that finished product. It is even hard for yourself to believe you built that with your own hands. Most everybody here has one thing in common, they are builders, and builders aren't happy unless they have a project

Jay

[welash]

Nice build!  Don't know if you got the case from the same place as the rest of the computer, but I have bought a few "scratch and dent" cases in the past, and 2 of them had bad power push buttons.  I've been through the cycle, put everything in the case, and try powering up with no luck, check the power cables, check the processor and memory are seated well, ...

The first time, I took the whole thing motherboard out, put it on a bench, and started it up by shorting the power pins, pet everything back in the case, push the power button, nothing... cuss, cuss, cuss.  Then finally thought to check the power button. 

Good Luck!

[jaharr01]

I have been going through my head to see if I have missed anything with this computer
1. Plug in big ATX cable to the motherboard
2. Plug in little 8 pin ATX to the motherboard
3. Put in memory
4. Short out reset pins
Should start up. I won't be back in town till Wednesday morning.
I'll get a vga cable
Clear CMOS
Replug everything back in
Hope that it works

[dkersten]

are you sure the psu is good?  I have had far more PSU's bad than cpu's or mobo's.. The ONLY cpu issue I ever had (out of the box) was a bad solder joint on a Pentium 2 (cartridge style) and under certain ambient temps it wouldn't boot up.  I have had quite a few bad mobo's over the years, maybe one or two bad out of the box, so after PSU I would look at mobo next.  On almost every modern mobo there is a way to troubleshoot what is going on, via LED's or an segment LED display.  When you get power, SOMETHING should light up.  Whatever is happening should be visible to some extent.  If you get nothing, I would start with the PSU first.  If you can put a verifiably good PSU on it and still get nothing, AND you can verify that you have all the proper voltages at the PSU, then I would switch to looking at the mobo.  I have put 3 good PSU's on a mobo and fried all 3, and in the end the mobo had a short that was causing problems.  I have also had mobo's that wouldn't send the right signal to the PSU to boot, but I could get it to power up by jumping the ATX pins manually (mobo issue but presented as a PSU issue). 

The first step is never to assume anything.

Totally off topic, I HAVE had cpu's fail later in life, the most spectacular was an early AMD Athlon where the fan failed overnight and the CPU literally caught fire from overheating.  Thankfully the mobo didn't burn well so the fire stopped before it burnt the building down, but that office stank for a month..

[jaharr01]

I''ll be back in town tomorrow. I have an extra power supply laying around 'll check it. I'm not using a case so I don't have any leds but could scrap some from old arcade switches. That would make sense because where I bought it did a burn in but they didn't use my power supply I bought. I'll check tomorrow and update.

[jaharr01]

        Well I figured out the problem, it was 2 fold. VERY complex. Whatever genius put the processor on the motherboard and supposedly did a burn in test, apparently bent about a dozen pins on the processor. So obviously it's not going to start up if pins are shorting out. To top off this escapade the power supply was also bad. So if you ever buy something from One Memory.com you better cross your fingers and pray because it's probably going to be jacked up. If I wasn't ass-deep in this build already I would quit, But i'm not a quitter. Because it will probably take forever to resolve this, I bought a new power supply and Processor. Well I've learned my lesson on trying to go the cheap way. Hopefully by this Friday I may be back in business.

Jay

[jaharr01]

***Update*** 7/20/14
Well I finally got the computer up and running. Man that thing is smokin fast.
A8 3.9 x4 (can over-clock to 4.3 x4)
Gidabyte motherboard with 2 16x PCIE slots
8 GB DDR3
x2 nvidia cards
Primary is 4GB DDR 1050 clock speed
Secondary is 2GB DDR 660 clock speed. (I can't remember the model num and I'm too tired to go look)
Windows 8.1
Sandisk 60GB SSD hard drive
Seagate 500GB 7200 hard drive
550 Watt power Supply ( I'm gonna get a larger one my  750watt was bad)

         After I got it all running I was too tired to load Visual Pinball. I'll fight the good fight another day.I have to change my DMD monitor out the color is off as you can see in the pics below.Somebody gave me 2# 14inch monitors and I'll change it out next week.
I tested it already so I know it's good and the color is right.Also ,I can put it in landscape instead of portrait, so VP setup will be easier.Also I built a bar for my strobe and painted it purple. and the side bars I painted purple (they go under the pieces of black aluminum angle).
The Wiring is a disaster.I need to mount every thing and put all the cords on a power distribution block. I'm not going to do much with the LEDs and strobe until I get all the basics working and organized somewhat.The wiring for these VPins are horrible. I need to brush up on my meter skills a bit too.
I forgot to post that I mounted the Nanotech analog plunger the other day. it has like 16 key encoder inputs and an accelerometer for nudge. Hopefully, I can get by without an IPAC. I'll get it basically working and then i'll install all the force feedback stuff last (contactors spinners and etc).Anyway here are some pics, not very good) I forgot to take many pics.I had quite a bit of trouble getting the video cards to work in windows 8.1, but i'm good now.

Strobes

[jaharr01]

More picss

It's ALIVE
You can see the color difference between the back glass and play field from the DMD


Strobe bar not painted yet in picture



I'll have more time in a few weeks to finish it up. See you next update.

[jaharr01]

       Well it's been a while since I posted on this project. I've been busy, haven't had much time. The machine is finished. It has three RGB flashers, 3 strobes, and 3 solenoids. RGB tape lights on bottom of the cabinet. It has full ledwiz support with Direct output framework. I have a DIY shaker,a DIY nudge device  and a DIY gear motor that still needs to be put on, just haven't had the time. It has Visual Pinball, Future Pinball with bam, and PinballFX2.
        This build had it's share of problems and still does. My original 750 watt power supply was DOA, so I put a 500 watt power supply on it. Now the power supply is  overheating and kicking the machine off.So last last night I ordered a EVGA 750 watt power supply, which should fix my problems. Also the A8 processor was heating up to meltdown heat. So I took it off the heatsink and fan put some really good thermal paste and problem fixed. now it runs 35-45C instead of 60-70C. I have plenty of fans and air movement. there is just a lot of stuff in the cab and some areas don't get good circulation.
         These pin builds are not for the faint of heart. The electronics can be a bit daunting compared to a regular arcade build. My soldering skills have improved exponentially. Also there is a lot of lessons I learned. Building on the fly without adequate and detailed planning=$$$$$. With an arcade you may be able to get by with this to an extent. With pincabs every piece builds on everything else, if you don't plan for the next step you are taking things back apart. I trashed a 32" LED TV in this build, accidentally burned the board up. So now it has a new 1080P 32" TV for the playfield. I don't have a ton of  build pictures because I would forget to take them, I will post some finished product pictures.
















http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=136713.0;attach=318396

[Generic Eric]

Oh man!  I had a reoccuring nightmare into adulthood over this guy:



How did he not make your cut?

[jaharr01]

Eric, I don't remember that episode. You doing Ok, I hadn't been on the forums as much. Been hanging out on the pinball forums trying to get everything working smooth.

[Generic Eric]

Eric, I don't remember that episode. You doing Ok, I hadn't been on the forums as much. Been hanging out on the pinball forums trying to get everything working smooth.

Welp,
Reoccuring nightmares are not always rationale, but here it is

http://www.funniermoments.com/watch.php?vid=8d7124908

But I wasn't in that show, the electro monster was in my dream.  It chased me through the woods, down the road, until I got to the neighbors driveway and jumped into a red corvette a drove away to safety.  But years before that, I would have a reoccuring nightmare that would involve me being run down by the electro monster from scooby doo.

Cool pinball BTW.

[jaharr01]

Wow u should get checked out. Thanks btw

[jaharr01]

         Update>>>> Well I fixed my heat problem, I reattached the cpu heat sink and reapplied some good thermal paste that dropped the temp 10 degrees Celsius. Also on the back of the cabinet, the drawer where the computer is located.I cut off about 2.5 inches from the top, which gave it a large air intake.Now it runs from 44 to 52 Celsius, not bad.
        Also my other problem was it was intermittently shutting off when there was a load.I thought it was a hot cpu shutting down,but I fixed that. So it was running cool as a cucumber and it still shut down occasionally under load. It had to be the power supply. all those feed back devices drain a lot of power,plus x 2 video cards. So I replaced the 500 watt power supply with an EVGA 750 watt. It has not shut down yet. I played 10 tables with every led wide open and it purred like a kitten.
       


Jay
 

[jaharr01]

New Pics Today The one on the voting thread sucks.