Author Topic: My first pinball bartopcab! Now with video! (Read 11850 times)

Hazzard · « **on:** May 09, 2009, 06:40:02 am »

Hi!

This is my first attemt at a homebrewed cabinet. I am making it a Pro Pinball only cab because i love those games so much :-)

Will keep it updated with more pic`s as soon as I can.

Henning
Norway

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #1 on:** May 09, 2009, 07:47:07 am »

Welcome!

One of the projects I hope to someday get around to is a bartop pinball simulator and I've never been happy with any of my design sketches.

Then I check this thread and see the clean, beautiful lines of your design. Looks good -- I can't wait to see the rest.

Paladin · « **Reply #2 on:** May 09, 2009, 09:02:15 am »

Off to a fantastic start. I've always wanted to try a pinball cab.

dkssprs · « **Reply #3 on:** May 09, 2009, 11:04:15 am »

OMG all members in here have great ideas!!!!!!!Go for it mate

I imagine it being completed ....... cant wait how it will look like.

Hazzard · « **Reply #4 on:** May 09, 2009, 11:10:39 am »

Thank you very much for your kind replies!

I am drilling holes for the happ buttons that finaly arrived, and installing my I-pac tomorow. And if I have the time, I`ll be trying to cut out a plexiglass top to fit... Wish me luck :-)

Henning

leapinlew · « **Reply #5 on:** May 09, 2009, 11:16:40 am »

How did you cut the speaker vent holes. They look very good.

Franco B · « **Reply #6 on:** May 09, 2009, 11:36:16 am »

Welcome Henning

Looks great so far.

What size screen are you going to be using?

Are you going to have a plunger? Are you going to have nudge buttons or maybe possibly use the [Ultimarc U-HID G]?

Hazzard · « **Reply #7 on:** May 09, 2009, 11:46:31 am »

leapinlew: Thank you! I used a milling cutter for the vent holes, it wasn`t easy.. I fastened a ruler with two clamps, and tried to follow with the milling cutter. If you look closely you will see some minor flaws in there, thankfully my dad is a guitar builder, so he can help me fix them.

Franco B: Nice to feel so welcome in here :-) The sceen i am using is a NEC 1970NX LCD 19" 4:3 format. It has a S-IPS-panel so it has a very wide viewing angle wich is nice.
also planing on having a plunger, but so far I havent been successfull finding one.. I am gona use a Wiimote as nudger i think, maybe buttons. Also i will have a magnosave (pro-pinball) button next to the flipperbuttons :-)

pinballwizard79 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 09, 2009, 12:17:30 pm »

I am going to make on of those too, right after I finish putting back together 2 pinball machines, restoring another, cleaning up the last one & finishing my pool table....and bar.......so make sure you REALLY document this & have it done by the time I finish my projects

Hazzard · « **Reply #9 on:** May 10, 2009, 03:18:56 pm »

Ok, today i got the buttons setup, fastened the LCD screen and did a test run of Timeshock :-)

I even got the bezzel ready. So next step is painting and cover art in the week to come.

Henning

dkssprs · « **Reply #10 on:** May 10, 2009, 04:09:12 pm »

i think this project will be very shiny.
I have a question.....is this pinball going to have a marquee or somthing with the name of it?
Keep up the good work.

edit: please upload the plans of your project....PLZZZZZZZ

It will be perfect next to my bartop.

Hazzard · « **Reply #11 on:** May 10, 2009, 05:04:30 pm »

Hi dkssprs!

My plan is to have the pro-pinball logo inbetween the speakers. And pro-pinball artwork on the sides and front. The cab itself will get a shiny (eyh..) black finnish.

I`m afraid I dont have any projectplans to upload, as it all has been sort of a step by step process.. If I had i would upload them for you

Henning

t3design · « **Reply #12 on:** May 10, 2009, 05:20:55 pm »

Hazzard,

you might check out my solution to a plunger. I got ideas from several threads here, then took it a little further:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=90385.msg955772#msg955772

If you are interested I would be glad to send you some measurements.

t3

Hazzard · « **Reply #13 on:** May 10, 2009, 06:06:30 pm »

Hey, that plunger looks sweet! How much does it cost? I`m happy to recieve measurements

t3design · « **Reply #14 on:** May 10, 2009, 07:32:38 pm »

We bought the plunger here:

http://www.happcontrols.com/amusement/pinball/95008600.htm

I will have to get the thing out and measure the pieces, but a better explanation of what we did is here:

http://cowboyarcadeproject.com/?p=97

In the post there is a link to John's Retro Arcade where he explains a circuit to debounce an optical switch. We decided this was overkill and are going to use a standard push button and not worry about debounce.

If you have room and WANT the look of a real pinball plunger, just install the thing as it comes from Happ and then add the button stuff to interface to pinball.

Hope that helps.

t3

drventure · « **Reply #15 on:** May 10, 2009, 09:10:44 pm »

Check here:

http://www.pinball-signs.com/HTML/BALLSHOOTER.html

The Bally shooter is what I used, it's quite a bit smaller than that generic version. the one at the link is used and could use some polishing but you can probably find them new somewhere. I gave about 12$ + shipping on ebay for mine.

TOK · « **Reply #16 on:** May 10, 2009, 09:10:53 pm »

What monitor are you using? Viewing angles are horrible on a lot of LCD's, and yours looks OK from the picture.

Blanka · « **Reply #17 on:** May 11, 2009, 01:09:22 am »

Maybe he used the upside down trick. The TN panels with horrible angle's have the most horrible angle from the bottom. By mounting the display upside down, the most horrible angle would be less visible in this position.
I don't know if it's a TN panel though, but the companies that sell LCD's for embedding, never sell IPS or PVA panels. Or he must have decased a regular screen himself.

Hazzard · « **Reply #18 on:** May 11, 2009, 03:19:17 am »

The monitor is a 19" NEC 1970NX wich has an S-IPS panel. Perfect for this project, yes

I took a photo of it without flash, but as you can see the backlight from the window totaly ruined it.. It looks a lot better in real life.

Thank you for the plunger options!

Ond · « **Reply #19 on:** May 11, 2009, 11:11:53 pm »

Yaay someone else who is into Pro-Pinball!

This is coming along very nicely btw. Will you be running the complete Pro-Pin range? The Web is still my personal fav, although Timeshock! is probably the best. I'm not sure if your monitor model goes to 1600x1200 but Pro-Pin is amazing at that res. I'm a fan of the various (PC based) pinball games out there, but I've still never seen anything that tops the Pro-Pin series. I look forward to seeing you progress. Something that might interest you, if you've grown a bit tired of the music in the The Web, or Timeshock! you can re-engineer the audio tracks and produce a new custom iso of each game and play to your fav music. Happy to help with that if you're interested.

Ond

Hazzard · « **Reply #20 on:** May 12, 2009, 03:29:50 am »

Hi Ond! ( Ond = Evil in Norwegian, hihih)

Great to meet another pro pinball fan!!

After bying timeshock and the web in a strange el cheapo package in a "all for 1 dollar" type store some 9 years ago, i actually sat down with the phonebook calling up every single videogame and movie store in Norway trying to get a hold of Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey.. After countless hours i succeeded! So yes, I am running the whole series

The monitor goes up to 1280x1024, so no 1600x1200 for me.. But hey, it still looks god

Re-engineering the audio tracks sounds great! How do you fix that? Is that possible for Big Race and Fantastic Journey also, or is it because Timeshock an The Web uses cd audio? I guess its the cd audio right?

Henning

Ond · « **Reply #21 on:** May 12, 2009, 04:23:19 am »

Quote from: Hazzard on May 12, 2009, 03:29:50 am

Re-engineering the audio tracks sounds great! How do you fix that? Is that possible for Big Race and Fantastic Journey also, or is it because Timeshock an The Web uses cd audio? I guess its the cd audio right?

Henning

Correct! so if you are handy with a program like 'UltraISO' you can delete and replace cd tracks from an ISO image of The Web or Timeshock! BRUSA and FJ use a different system for background music. I edited existing wav files and produced some tracks of my own using Cubase and other programs. I just matched the length (roughly) of the existing cd tracks - so in game play works really well. My modded version of Timeshock! actually has all different versions of Doctor Who themes including a heavy metal version! Once you have your modded ISO just mount with Daemon tools.

Hazzard · « **Reply #22 on:** May 12, 2009, 02:51:39 pm »

Aha! Exellent! Now why didn`t I think of that?!

I have the latest Cubase 5, maybe I should make my own backgroundmusic? In that case i would make it more sci-fi and less 80`s cheesy-rock style, hahah

Ond, thank you for the advice!

Henning

Hazzard · « **Reply #23 on:** May 22, 2009, 03:55:06 pm »

AArrggghh...!! The time it takes to fill and sand is killing me...

It will be ready for painting next week, so hopefully i will have more pictures to show then.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

retrofuture · « **Reply #24 on:** May 22, 2009, 04:39:57 pm »

Really nice clean design. I love it!

Hazzard · « **Reply #25 on:** June 06, 2009, 06:45:09 pm »

Finaly got my cab back from the autodetail shop.. And I like it!

Only thing missing now is the glass bezel, witch is delivered on tuesday..

Did some up/downgrades on the hardware also. I put in a mini-itx motherboard with the Intel Atom 330 dual core cpu intergrated, also intergrated graphics totaly cabaple of running my Pro Pinball series and doing so totaly silent (fanless 60W powersupply)

An of course I would need some nice artwork for my cab. ( ehmm.. Ond?)

retrofuture · « **Reply #26 on:** June 06, 2009, 07:18:43 pm »

Wow. Keep those finger prints off it!

That's a great finish on the paint work

Hazzard · « **Reply #27 on:** June 07, 2009, 12:05:47 am »

Retro!

You know what, fingerprints arent such a big deal on this baby. But of course, a whipe or two a week wont hurt

I guess I`m willing to do that just to wake up in the morning and be dazzled yet again by it`s beautifull lustre, hahah ( Me try be articulate..)

Now, where do I get those start buttons with lights in them?

Ond · « **Reply #28 on:** June 07, 2009, 06:37:05 am »

Quote from: Hazzard on June 06, 2009, 06:45:09 pm

An of course I would need some nice artwork for my cab. ( ehmm.. Ond?)

Wow, great finish on the paint job!. Artwork eh? does this mean you liked my sample?? Ok I'll have a go at something. I have in fact looked through the slide material on the Pro-Pin CD's and some of it is pretty cool. I'm still hoping for some more audio stuff from you - very cool.

Ond

retrofuture · « **Reply #29 on:** June 07, 2009, 08:05:50 am »

Quote from: Hazzard on June 07, 2009, 12:05:47 am

Now, where do I get those start buttons with lights in them?

Do you mean the Atari cones, or generic led buttons?

I got my first batch of buttons from Todd at TNT Amusements, he still had some available on eBay last time I looked.

Hazzard · « **Reply #30 on:** June 07, 2009, 08:12:38 am »

Hey Ond!

More audio coming up soon, just need a few more tracks done :-) Do you think I should go medieval style in medieval times? I`m not really found of trumpets and crumhorns...

For now I have made 6.. 27 to go!

Tanks for your tip Retrofuture, I`l check it out.

Ond · « **Reply #31 on:** June 08, 2009, 03:15:05 am »

Here's a draft for your Marquee artwork..If you like it, I'll complete the sideart collage of Pro-Pin artwork with some of my own thrown in. The Pro-pin logo was drawn from scratch based on a low res image (640x480) screen grab from the game Fantastic Journey. The high resolution master is 90Mb and rendered at 6400x4800 - might have to post it to you!

. Happy to change colours and the 'ARCADE' Font lettering if you want. My only proviso is that I can use this artwork as a background in my Mame FE.

Ond

Hazzard · « **Reply #32 on:** June 08, 2009, 07:03:13 am »

Hey Ond!

Thats looks veeeeeeeeery nice!

You really made that from scratch? I`m impressed!

Only thing is that the red might not be right for me...
Could you try it in silver? Both logo background and Arcade?

6400x4800 is more than enough, it will only be like 20cm wide, so if you want to size it down you are more than welcome!

I wont be using The Web though so please dont use it in the sideart.. ( Not trying to be demanding here

)

dkssprs · « **Reply #33 on:** June 08, 2009, 09:49:47 am »

i like this project.
It is getting better and better....
Your painting skills are very high....very shiny paintjob.
Cant wait to see the bezel and the side artwork.

ChadTower · « **Reply #34 on:** June 08, 2009, 12:34:58 pm »

I dig this project. That paint finish is outstanding.

Ond · « **Reply #35 on:** June 08, 2009, 01:23:30 pm »

Quote from: Hazzard on June 08, 2009, 07:03:13 am

Hey Ond!

Only thing is that the red might not be right for me...
Could you try it in silver? Both logo background and Arcade?

You mean like this? Re-done with carbon fibre and brushed steel. Ok no 'The Web' in side art. Let me know. I will email a high res copy when you are happy with this logo. When doing artwork for other people it's usual to do a few drafts, I'm happy to change it how you like.

Hazzard · « **Reply #36 on:** June 08, 2009, 03:32:00 pm »

Man!

I`m starting to like them both!!

I would be very gratefull if you could send them both, yes?

Thank you guys for the kind words

pinballwizard79 · « **Reply #37 on:** June 09, 2009, 02:16:11 am »

this is going to be so cool

Malenko · « **Reply #38 on:** June 09, 2009, 11:51:07 am »

love the paint job, amazing work, cant wait to see the finished product

Franco B · « **Reply #39 on:** June 09, 2009, 12:28:09 pm »

Very slick

Awesome work on the graphics too Ond

Hazzard · « **Reply #40 on:** June 09, 2009, 02:57:39 pm »

Thank you all for the comments!

Franco, I`m not worthy of your comment..

(Just saw your jukebox project... )

Bigwig416 · « **Reply #41 on:** June 09, 2009, 05:32:31 pm »

Oh my. Can we get a vid of it in action??

retrofuture · « **Reply #42 on:** June 09, 2009, 05:34:59 pm »

Ond, what are you rendering your graphics in? They look great!

Ond · « **Reply #43 on:** June 10, 2009, 07:26:56 am »

@Franco - Thanks, a bit of a welcome diversion from working on my own stuff although I'll probably use some of these graphics in my FE as well.

@ retrofuture - Thanks man, all images are drawn in 3D studio.

@ Hazzard - Here is a draft of the side art, I have drawn both left and right versions, only one side shown here. Let me know if you like it or want any changes, a fair bit of work went into these. I took the slide artwork from the three games and used it both for the collage and reflections in objects.

Just a suggestion, I would go with the silver logo over the red one, I think it would look cooler on your shiny black cab but that's just my suggestion.

Did you receive the high-res copies ok?

@ All - I don't do any commission work i.e. I don't make any money from drawing stuff for folks, but Hazzard has a very cool talent with Cubase Midi software and is trading me a few audio samples for my efforts which I may use for my Pro-Pin games. I think it's a pretty good deal

Ond

Hazzard · « **Reply #44 on:** June 10, 2009, 10:29:18 am »

HOLY CRAP!!!

Ond, this is totally beyond cool!!!

WOW!! FANTASTIC!!

I love it!

Woo-hooo!

FYTTIKATTA!

HAHAHA!

( I got your high res images

)

dkssprs · « **Reply #45 on:** June 10, 2009, 01:46:07 pm »

With the shiny black colour and this greatlooking side artwork......i wll make one to for sure.
I love here in BYOAC that many members are kind and help the others.
Many gratz to you both both ....thats the spirit in this place

ChadTower · « **Reply #46 on:** June 11, 2009, 10:05:13 am »

That art is fantastic.

What's the red thing in the center?

Hazzard · « **Reply #47 on:** June 11, 2009, 03:23:46 pm »

Dkssprs: Word!

Ond · « **Reply #48 on:** June 11, 2009, 05:22:08 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on June 11, 2009, 10:05:13 am

That art is fantastic.

What's the red thing in the center?

it's a pinball bumper.

Hazzard · « **Reply #49 on:** June 14, 2009, 09:29:17 am »

Hey!

Added a video for everyone to see on youtube.

Shot at night so not to bright..

Will add sideart and logo`s by Ond this week, so stay tuned :-)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HPgFo_4Xy8[/youtube]

cboy · « **Reply #50 on:** June 14, 2009, 10:53:22 pm »

Very Very slick! Great job.

now i want to build one of these......

Ond · « **Reply #51 on:** June 15, 2009, 07:46:21 am »

'Launch Ball' logo completed for your cab as indicated in your video and shown below, 'Start Game' also completed but not shown here.

Ond

Namco · « **Reply #52 on:** June 15, 2009, 01:35:18 pm »

Great video Hazzard. I had my doubts at first when I saw that it was a horizontal screen, but those doubts are gone now that I see it in action. Great job!!

Hazzard · « **Reply #53 on:** June 15, 2009, 07:29:24 pm »

Thank you Namco! Thar IPS panel does the trick

Ond, you are THE MAN!!

ChadTower · « **Reply #54 on:** June 16, 2009, 09:31:36 pm »

The first ball you played went right through the flipper into the trough...

daok · « **Reply #55 on:** June 16, 2009, 10:12:03 pm »

How have you paint this in black (mine here) isn't shinny like yours (I used Oil Primer and 3 times water based Latex paint), what about you?

Hazzard · « **Reply #56 on:** June 17, 2009, 06:57:49 am »

ChadTower: Really? I didnt see that... Are you sure?

daok: I had a friend of mine paint it in his autoshop, that is carpaint right there

ChadTower · « **Reply #57 on:** June 17, 2009, 10:09:40 am »

Watched it again... it went under a flipper. My bad.

Ond · « **Reply #58 on:** June 18, 2009, 08:43:00 pm »

Hey I was watching your video and saw that you started BRUSA from the Pro-Pinball menu screen. If you want all your Pro-Pin games to start immediately with the table view you can just run each game like this:
C:\Pro-pinball\timeshock!\timeshock!.exe /q (substitute whatever path you actually have). The 'q' switch on the end of the app forces the game to go straight to the table.
You may already know this and prefer to start with the game start menu but it looks more 'arcade' when run straight into table view. Unfortunately you still have to choose 'exit to windows' when returning to your FE, in this case Hyperspin. Unless someone knows a way to bypass that also.....that would be cool.

Ond

Hazzard · « **Reply #59 on:** June 19, 2009, 02:48:36 pm »

Ond, you are the MAN!

I will try this as soon as possible! Edit: Tried that but I get an error telling me there is no such path.. ?

By the way I`m trying to get my bezel fixed today by masking with tape then spraypaint the edges.. Have any tip for me? I am not very pleased with my results.. The edges are fuzzy/cracking and the spraypaint is no good...

G@M3FR3@K · « **Reply #60 on:** June 19, 2009, 09:19:43 pm »

Quote from: Hazzard on June 19, 2009, 02:48:36 pm

Ond, you are the MAN!

I will try this as soon as possible! Edit: Tried that but I get an error telling me there is no such path.. ?

By the way I`m trying to get my bezel fixed today by masking with tape then spraypaint the edges.. Have any tip for me? I am not very pleased with my results.. The edges are fuzzy/cracking and the spraypaint is no good...

Hazzard, the quick launch shortcut Ond posted does work. The correct path should look like this: "C:\Program Files\Pro Pinball\Timeshock!\Timeshock!.exe" \q copy and paste this in the shortcuts taget path box and it should work.

BTW, awesome cabinet design. I've been thinking of making a small dedicated pinball cabinet like this for sometime. Your great work here just motivated me to start build a cabinet similar to yours as soon as time allows.

Ond, thanks for the quick launch tip!

Great artwork BTW!

Ond · « **Reply #61 on:** June 20, 2009, 05:33:36 am »

It looks like G@M3FR3@K has the quick launch sorted out, the only thing I’d check is the use of \q I could be wrong but switch commands are usually forward slash i.e. /q either way if it works it's all good.

I think your bezel is actually glass? Are you trying to mask a thin border with tape and then spray paint that with black spray can paint? Here are my thoughts (other people may have a better suggestion). The fuzzy edges you are getting could be because you are using masking tape - the paper based kind. The solvent in the paint will leach under the edge of the tape and cause the 'fuzzy' look. IF you are using GLASS, clean the old paint off with paint thinner or Acetone, if its plastic based any solvent will probably react with the plastic and that's another problem. The best way to avoid a fuzzy edge is use something like packing tape to mask with (the brown plastic stuff used for taping cardboard boxes together). On glass that tape will provide high adhesion and a very straight edge. I'd use fast drying automotive touch up paint. If you spray only a fine mist in several layers that dry quickly it shouldn't crack. When dry, peel off packing tape slowly.

Hazzard · « **Reply #62 on:** June 20, 2009, 10:41:48 pm »

Hey all!

It`s now half past four in the morning and I am about to go to bed after a very fun birthdayparty

Just wanted to say hi and express my gratitude to those who have helped me on my way to build my pinball-arcade! Especially Ond whos been helping me with the artwork

Damn... Just when I thought i couldnt get any more drunk it happens... Could it be that last drink kicki`n in? haahah

Oh yes, the pinball arcade was a huge success at the party, people where amazed at how good it looked and how fun it was to play

I`l post a video of it soon.

Played my final round of Timeshock! 10 min ago

I`l try the gamelaunch options in the morning, hopeflly it will work now. And yes, Ond I used a packing like tape, not the paper based kind.. But still I guess the paint I`m using is not good enough because it gets really crisp and cracks easy. Oh well

Hazzard · « **Reply #63 on:** June 22, 2009, 06:09:07 pm »

Quick launch works!

Thank you!


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