Pinball 2000 style - Digital Pinball/Arcade hybrid project

[Dazz]

Click here to see v1.0

While the cabinet worked out great; I found that I cut too many corners when I originally built it.  When built I didn't leave a way to easily access the inside except through the rear door.  When a cabinet weighs 400lbs it's not easy to slide out.  I never took the time to have artwork created so the cabinet just remained painted.  Overall the cabinet worked well, but I think it's time to upgrade!   

Begin v2.0
------------------------

Computer:
Since my cabinet is less than a year old my wife's stipulations with my new build was that I can't purchase any new hardware.  I must make due with what I already have, if possible.

The computer specs:
Mobo: Gigabyte - 790XTA-UD4
CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 925
RAM: 4gb Kingston HyperX 1600mhz
HD: 1tb Hitachi Deskstar
Video: 1 - Playfield - GeForce 250 GT 1gb
Video: 2 - DMD & Backglass 9800 GT 1gb.
PSU: Cooler Master: 700w



Playfield - 42" Dynex (Best Buy brand) 1080p LCD
Backglass - 32" Dynex LCD
DMD - 19" Dynex LCD

LED's, Shaker, Contactors, etc are all going to have to wait until after CalX.

Cabinet Style:
Pinball 2000 - 2 visible screens (playfield & backglass), 1 hidden (DMD).  I used Mameman's Pinball 2000 plans as a base for my cabinet.  Since I'm using a 42" LCD playfield and a 32" LCD backglass I had to take some creative liberties and up-scale the plans to fit my needs.  The cabinet is built to fit the LCD inside with 1/4" on each side due to screw heads on the sides of the LCD frame.  When all is said and done the measurements should be close to below.

Cabinet Total Length: 48"
Cabinet Width: 24"
Head Width: 30"

Cabinet:
There really isn't much to say about the cabinet.  Built using 3/4" sanded ply.  All parts are glued using Gorilla glue and nailed using 1 1/4" brad nails.  I really like building like this opposed to using screws; as screws will loosen up over time. 



Head:
Since the head must house a 32" LCD the head is freaking HUGE.  To help cut down on the width of the head I routed a 1/2" deep groove that the 32" LCD will slide down into.  This effectively removes 1" from the total width of the head. 



Even after routing the groove for the backglass LCD, the head measures 6" wider than the cabinet.  This leaves a 3" overhang on each side of the head.  Yes, I did screwup and routed one side deeper than the other.  My router bit slipped and went to deep.  Doh!  That section will be filled with foam tape to fill the slight left/right movement the backglass monitor has.



To compensate for the width and the weight of the head I had to add 3 x 3/4" doublers contoured to the sides of the head.



The head has been attached to the main cabinet using 4" hex head bolts that are counter sunk into the sides of the head.  I couldn't get any help to get the cabinet picked up onto the saw horses, so I decided to play with the t-molding.  This really is something that should be left until the cabinet is painted and put back together.



I was finally able to get some help and get the cabinet lifted.  Holes for the legs have been drilled and the legs test fit.  The cabinet sits exactly at 36" from the ground to the top of the lockdown bar.

This is what the cabinet currently looks like pre-sanding.  I have a TON of sanding that needs to be done, the navigation buttons, flipper buttons and plunger still need to be drilled.

Pre sanding:


Plunger:
The plunger on this cabinet is going to be exactly like my previous one.  The plunger is a custom optical circuit.  The optical sensor is focused at the tip of the plunger.  As soon as the plunger is pulled, it engages the on-screen plunger.  Once the plunger is released the ball is released on-screen.  Unfortunately this isn't an analog solution...  Since this method doesn't make contact with any switches I find this to be better than any switched plungers.  This solution will work until something better comes around or I decide to take the plunge and purchase a Mot-Ion kit.

This image is of the plunger and optical sensor from my current setup, but new setup will be identical.



Nudging:
Nudging will be handled via 3 tilt-bobs, 1 on each side and one on the front.  The tilt-bobs will be connected to inputs on the I-PAC2.  The tilt-bob rigs out of wood, an adjustable screw & blind nut will be connected to the ground.  When the tilt-bob hits the screw it will trigger the tilt.  Since the screw will be the only place for the tilt-bob to hit it should be easier to control the motion of the tilt.  The screw will allow to easily adjust the sensitivity of the tilt action.



* I can't take credit for this idea.  I saw this idea for nudging posted somewhere, but I've been unable to find the post again. 

Current Status:
Cabinet has been disassembled. The navigation buttons and plunger have been drilled.  Sanding and cleaning will begin shortly.

Why is this called a hybrid?
Since the head sticks out quite a bit towards the player, this would make for a great MAME cabinet as well.  Yes, I already have a MAME cabinet, but another isn't going to hurt.  I'll be able to play vertical games using the 42" playfield.  I will be building a removable 2 player control panel that will just plug in via USB.  The control panel will be built with the same angles of the cabinet and can be attached and removed easily.

[NipRing]

Wow! What a beast!  I'll be following this one fo sho 

[javeryh]

Wow awesome.  The top piece looks very unique.  Will you be able to see the entire playfield?  I assume so but I thought I'd ask in case you haven't checked yet.  Also, why did you use Gorilla glue for the plywood?  Regular wood glue would be plenty strong.  I love these pinball projects...   

[BobA]

Version 2 looks great.   Will be following this one.   

[Dazz]

Wow awesome.  The top piece looks very unique.  Will you be able to see the entire playfield?  I assume so but I thought I'd ask in case you haven't checked yet.  Also, why did you use Gorilla glue for the plywood?  Regular wood glue would be plenty strong.  I love these pinball projects...   

Yes, I've done a test fit of the screen.  The cabinet is about 4" longer than the playfield screen, so there will be a bit of dead area at the end of the playfield.  That's actually where most of the DMD reflection will be showing. The playfield can be seen perfectly fine from standing position by a normal height person. A 7 1/2ft tall person might loose a little of the score display, but not much of it.  Then again... I don't really know of any situations where I'll have a 7 1/2ft person playing it.

I used Gorilla Glue because that's what I had laying around.  Sure it requires a little more clean up once dried, but I like it because it really fills in the cracks and sands down easily.  I just like working with it.  Once dried it's strong as hell, the wood will break before the glue gives away.

[Xiaou2]

You may wish to reconsider the bob thing a little more...

 A tilt bob, is designed to react slowly to vibrations.  Its only when you move in excess and or get the thing moving from many successive pushes.. that is will react.

 Even if you tighten the motion down, there will still be some reactional delay, unlike a real nudge, which happens at the exact moment you make it.

 This is very critical, because in order for a nudge to work best, you want the ball to be touching some surface other than the bare playfield.   If the ball is touching a post... when you nudge it, the vibration will travel from the post to move the ball.  If there is a delay, you might miss the nudge, or get the timing all wrong and thus the balls angle will be off.

 One of the main reasons why there is a delay, is because the pivot point on the weight is too great.  If you reduced the length of the metal bar that suspends the weight, the weight will move much quicker and easier.

 The slam tilt switches on arcade games are probably much more related to what you want to accomplish.  Obviously, they may have to be modified slightly to react a little more sensitively...  but overall, they will pick up vibrations much better than the slow reacting tilt bob.

[Dazz]

Xiaou2 - I have 3 tilt bobs installed in my current digital pin.  I've never had any issues with the timing of the nudge.  They work perfectly aside from the occasional double strike due to bounce.  I think using a more focused ground point that I can adjust will keep from double striking.  Using the design above I'll have 3 tilt bobs, each with only 1 strike location which I will be able to adjust to allow less or move movement required from the tilt bob.  Of course I can always move the weight up and down the rod as needed if I want a faster swing.

[Xiaou2]

Honestly, every virtual table Ive played had very laggy bumping.  Maybe you just dont notice the lag.

Anyways, heres a pictoral example.

On the left is a swing bob.  Start position = the top most drawing (red ball).
As the cabinet moves, you can see the mount (purple) slides first.. and the shaft (now green starts to move... but the weight has not yet caught up with the action.  Theres a natural lag to it.   (Which is what you want for low resolution push detection)

On the right, is a slam tilt style sensor.

 The weight is green, attached to the leaf switch. It rests on a small bit of foam or rubber, merely to keep from making any knocking sounds.  Any tap on the right side of the cabinet will travel right into the wood, to the not very absorbant foam, and push the mass to the left... which will make the two contacts (red) touch.

 If all works right, the mass shouldnt react if you tap the left side of the cabinet, because the leaf is stiff, and should pull it along without any trailing.  And since the weight is touching the foam, it cant be easily put into a vibrational bounce-back situation.  (where the mass goes far enough left that it then slams back right into the switch)

 Ive not tested this, and the mass has to be the right weight.. but I believe its a much better and quicker reacting system than a hanging bob with a slow acceleration and return speed... with much more double-bounce action.

[Xiaou2]

Edit:

 I believe I figured a slightly better design by a slight modification:

 Invert the slam switch, so that the weight is on top, and slightly angle the switch so that it leans towards the cabinet side.   This would probably give even better action and less chance of bounce-back effects.

 Picture added later.

[Dazz]

Interesting... that actually makes sense.

I guess it would be something long the lines of this post. 

 

He has this installed in conjunction with a tilt bob as well.

[Xiaou2]

This angle might be a bit extreme, but anyways, you get the idea.   The weight of the mass, the length and spring tension of the leaf, the distance between the contacts (adjustable), and the angle of mount... all play a part in how sensitive the thing is.

 Too much mass and the thing may take too much effort to get moving.
 Too little mass = wont move at all
 
 Too little of angle, might cause bounce back.
 Too much, may make it too much effort to get the mass to make contact.

 Spring too stiff / too loose, may cause either too much resistance, or be too little.
 Contacts too close or too far apart..  same as above.


 So yes, this is the same principle as the video, and is accurate to how a pinball is really supposed to be nudged.

 And yes, a tilt bob is also required.  The tilt bob is to make sure the player doesnt make too extreme a cabinet movement.   Small vibrations dont do much to the tilt bob... but an extreme move will cause the weight to gain momentum... and thus hit the contact plate.
Sometimes you can get away with one steep sweeping motion... but the bob will take a moment to calm down to a stop.. so any further motion will cause it to go off.

 A sweep motion is usually used as a cheat to slide the table to the side so that if the ball was going right down the center of the field, you would make the ball hit one of the flippers instead.  (the PF slips, but weighted steel ball remains in the same vector path)

 A nudge isnt enough to cause much ball vector change, but will work if the ball is touching something when you nudge, as you are transferring the energy directly from object to ball, which is 1000x more conductive than the slippery floor moving from under it slightly.

 If you were not aware of this before, your playing on a real pin should improve vastly.
Especially on old EM machines, which are less steeply sloped. (slower ball travel = easier to effect balls vectors, and resulting in greater angular output possibilities)
 
 edit: btw, I never really understood how to really play pinball till I got a real table for home.  I knew the idea about what nudging was, but I still never really understood how to make it work properly to advantage.  That along with understanding how spin effects the ball when it hits the flipper for example, really opened my eyes, and made the game so much more fair and enjoyable.  It became a completely new experience.

[drventure]

Nice. Hadn't seen a nudge sensor like that before.

I ended up using mercury switches, which seem to work pretty good, but I'm no pinball wizard, so there's that!

[Dazz]

Not much work got done today like I had wanted due to bad storms. I really wanted the wings on the head to look like solid piece instead of 3 individual pieces. This was my first time to work with Bondo and I screwed up a couple places, but after a LOT of sanding it turned out pretty good. This should paint up nicely.

Hopefully I can sand the main cabinet and start painting.  Unfortunately, I think we are supposed to have even more and larger storms tomorrow.

[RandyT]

It's nice to see someone taking a different approach to the pinball design.  Looks great so far!

I do have a comment about the nudge sensors, though.  Those devices seem to me like an incorrect approach.  Nudging a table is a primary interaction, whereas relying on the nudge to move a finicky sensor just right is turning the reaction into something that is secondary in nature...and not very reliable.  Someone should probably also tell the gentleman in the video that "hitting" isn't the same as "nudging"

Most, if not all of the action applied to the table comes from the hands and wrists, so it seems like a really interesting approach to the nudge problem would be to create a stiff, but floating "grip bar" area, basically the size of the lockdown bar.  To hold down the "bar", one could use an oversized hole in the center of the bar, with a couple of  large fender washers and a slightly loose bolt held in place by a nylok.  It would be held center by heavy duty foam rubber (vehicle weatherstripping?) on each edge, with a microswitch (or leaf) positioned so that movement of the bar in any direction triggers the nudge function.  With proper positioning of the switches, an 8-way nudge capability would even be possible.  This approach could be expanded to allow fine tuning of the force required, using springs, tensioning screws, etc...but just finding the right stiffness of rubber would get the job done.  

Another advantage to doing it this way is the partial isolation it provides for the sensitive components in the table.  You can still nudge without putting heavy vibration into the entire table.

RandyT

[Xiaou2]

Re: Hit-Nudege  (see around 38 seconds in)
 (Video from a player whos won competitions in PAPA)

A nudge can be a tap/slap, or it can be more subdued as a push.


 I dont think its necessarily a bad idea to make a moving bar.. its been done on at least
one video pinball game in the past.  However, part of the challenge and feel of nudging, is moving the heavy machine.

 Still, the sensor he built seemed a bit too stiff, requiring a bit too much effort to activate.

 A weighted switch can be extremely sensitive if set up well.

 The problem of course, is that theres no analog in a switch, so the game cant tell if you hit it with a light tap, or a really hard push.

 I wonder if a weighted analog joystick wouldnt be a better option... which would give direction, speed and power.

[RandyT]

Re: Hit-Nudege  (see around 38 seconds in)
 (Video from a player whos won competitions in PAPA)

A nudge can be a tap/slap, or it can be more subdued as a push.

I saw him do it....but I can't say that I saw it have any measurable effect on the ball.  Saw him do a few other odd things, as well (1:14ish) that don't really affect the action.   And like you stated, we are talking digital switches and electronic pinball, not the real thing.  I play both quite often, and I can tell you that if you need to take your fingers off the flipper buttons to whack the side of the machine, it will bite you eventually.  I don't want to de-rail Dazz's project thread though.  It was just a suggestion.

[Xiaou2]

I saw him do it....but I can't say that I saw it have any measurable effect on the ball.

 I actually own this pinball machine, so Im familiar with what he uses this for.   Almost any effect on a ball is hard to see, unless its drastic.  Anyways, he used it to keep the ball from draining down the W / A / R  guides, by making the ball hop from one bumper to the next... in attempt to get back to the flipper.

 You can do approximately the same without tapping, but this is just a more refined and condensed version.

Saw him do a few other odd things, as well (1:14ish)

 At about 1:17, he taps the side of the pin when the ball is hitting the rubber post, which causes the ball to fly out of the war guide that it was about to sink into.  Added horizontal energy, making the ball able to escape.

 Remember, its not really the table thats changing the ball movement.  Its like the old 'pull the table cloth trick', where the flowers are still left standing.  However, if there was a 2x4 glued to the table cloth, the 2x4 would cause the flowers to fly off the table.  Its the vertical objects that hit the ball that cause it to change/move... not the table surface itself.

[RandyT]

At about 1:17, he taps the side of the pin when the ball is hitting the rubber post, which causes the ball to fly out of the war guide that it was about to sink into.  Added horizontal energy, making the ball able to escape.

Not what I was referring to.  But that's ok.  I understand what you are saying.  It just takes a bit more force than a slap on a 175+lb machine to have any real effect on a heavy steel ball in motion.  The hand "flourishes" when pressing the flipper buttons notwithstanding.

[ChadTower]

You guys aren't accounting for the fact that the whole nudge thing here is one size fits all.  Real nudges are physical movements.  You can go any direction any strength.  The software has one nudge in each direction that is one strength.  Are people completely overthinking the mechanism given that the software nudge is nothing like reality anyway?

[RandyT]

You guys aren't accounting for the fact that the whole nudge thing here is one size fits all.  Real nudges are physical movements.  You can go any direction any strength.  The software has one nudge in each direction that is one strength.  Are people completely overthinking the mechanism given that the software nudge is nothing like reality anyway?

We understand that. In fact, it was mentioned it a couple of times. The sidetrack to reality was more of a "what are we trying to simulate?" thing, than anything else.  I think it's more about the most reliable way to be able to activate the nudge function, in the most intuitive way possible.  Standard buttons are the most reliable, but not intuitive.  "Slam" sensors are a little more intuitive (not much, IMHO) but not nearly as reliable.  The "all or nothing" nature of the nudge feature is the reason I suggested a mechanism that directly closes a switch (or a couple) when the player moves it. I think there are probably a few ways to do this outside of the method I gave.

[ChadTower]

I've been considering a single tilt with a plastic ring and four contacts.  Seems like the simplest single mechanism.  Four bobs is just too many.

Video Pinball had a nudge in the "lockdown bar".  It was only one but some flex in the lockdown bar, and contacts in there, might be viable too.

[Dazz]

Someone has drawn up plans for a nudging lockdown bar.  I like it a lot, but I just don't have the tools or knowhow to do the necessary metal work.

[RandyT]

I've been considering a single tilt with a plastic ring and four contacts.  Seems like the simplest single mechanism.  Four bobs is just too many.

The issue with the "bobs" is oscillation.  The difference between nudging hard enough to reliably actuate the nudge, and hard enough to bounce it back to the nudge on the other side of the ring, is pretty small.  It reminds me of that evil carnival game where you need to roll a bowling ball just hard enough on a pair of metal rails to go over a hump, without pushing so hard that the ramp on the other side sends it back over.

But there is an advantage to multiple bobs over the single one with 4 contacts.  Multiple bobs can allow for a diagonal nudge (whether the software allows it is another question.)

Video Pinball had a nudge in the "lockdown bar".  It was only one but some flex in the lockdown bar, and contacts in there, might be viable too.

That's the one I remember, and probably the one Xiaou was referring to. It was pretty clunky in the original implementation, IIRC.  But I think that for strictly left and right nudging, your suggestion would be another really good way to approach the problem.  A small fulcrum of some nature in the center of the bar, and some heavy foam rubber (or springs) near the switches would make a nice stable rest that could actuate a nudge when force is applied.

Someone has drawn up plans for a nudging lockdown bar.  I like it a lot, but I just don't have the tools or knowhow to do the necessary metal work.

Interesting approach as well.  But I think something with just as much functionality can be done without the mechanical complexity.

[Dazz]

The issue with the "bobs" is oscillation.  The difference between nudging hard enough to reliably actuate the nudge, and hard enough to bounce it back to the nudge on the other side of the ring, is pretty small.  It reminds me of that evil carnival game where you need to roll a bowling ball just hard enough on a pair of metal rails to go over a hump, without pushing so hard that the ramp on the other side sends it back over.

But there is an advantage to multiple bobs over the single one with 4 contacts.  Multiple bobs can allow for a diagonal nudge (whether the software allows it is another question.)

Unfortunately the software only allows for Left/right/center & slam.  I only use left, right & center, not really sure what the slam does in the software. 

[eds1275]

This pinball machine is epic and awesome! I think the oversized head on it looks really good.

[ChadTower]

I'm settling in on the opinion that it's all overly complex and moot until the software nudge is worth the effort.  It doesn't do enough to be worth the extra build complexity.

[RandyT]

I'm settling in on the opinion that it's all overly complex and moot until the software nudge is worth the effort.  It doesn't do enough to be worth the extra build complexity.

Can if you want.  I score in the top 1% on just about every PinballFX2 table, and I couldn't do it without a nudge once in a while to rattle the ball out of a drain, or knock it off path when heading straight between the flippers.  I can't imagine that it's less useful on VP or other sims.

[Dazz]

Got a little more done today before having to get ready for work.



Side shot of cabinet. Sanded, primed, sanded 250gt, first coat of Satin Black, sanded 400gt and 2nd coat of Satin Black applied. The cabinet feels nice and silky smooth. This has been curing for 2 days now and should be nice and ready for the legs in a couple more days.



Front shot of cabinet. Still has no flipper holes drilled as I am waiting on my new side rails and glass slides to come in.



Cabinet head, sanded 150gt, primed, sanded 250gt and first coat of Satin Black. Paint is still a little wet in this image. Once dry more sanding with 400gt and another coat of Satin Black. Once this is done I'm going to let the cabinet sit for 3 days to cure the paint and then on to assembly!

I'm starting to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The electronics will all go fast.  I have to postpone adding LED's and Solenoids for later.

[Jasonmm]

hi , where did u get the cool plexi motherboard case thing ? thanks

[gbeef]

Dazz this is looking awesome. What did you do with your V1 cab?

[Dazz]

hi , where did u get the cool plexi motherboard case thing ? thanks

The plexi case is a Sunbeam Tech Station that I bought from newegg.com.  Looks like they no longer carry them though... 

Dazz this is looking awesome. What did you do with your V1 cab?

You can see V1 standing behind the side view of the cabinet above.  I'm sure if someone wanted it for a build I'd sell it for the price of the glass.  Don't have any hardware or anything for it, but the glass is good.  If I can't sell it then I'm going to probably end up trashing it and seeing if I can sell the glass separately.

[Dazz]

Head attached. Gotta do a little touch up painting.


Front with head attached.

[vidmouse]

I use blur's edit to visual pinball core.vbs to help with
debouncing the nudging for my homemade tilt bobs:

http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=11875

[Dazz]

Buttons installed. 2 out of 3 screens installed. I dropped the screens in so I could make sure that I position my flipper buttons. Unfortunately, my spade bit is dull as heck and wouldn't even cut butter. Looks like a trip to the hardware store is in order in the morning. I really can't install or work on the 3rd screen until I get my custom glass made.



I need LED recommendation for the following.  I removed the green dome and installed a clear one. I'm planning on adding some RGB LED's inside the domes and tie them into the LEDWiz. These will then be installed under the glass but above the playfield. They will be attached to the side of the cabinet and will extend a small bit over the playfield. 

I don't want to go with Crees since they are extremely bright.  I want something that will flash like flashers but also be RGB as well.

[Nephasth]

Well with an LEDWiz and software such as LED Blinky you can control the brightness/intensity of the LEDs, as well as color (if RGB) and flash sequence. Is Cree a manufacturer? Should work with pretty much any LED.

[Dazz]

I have a couple of the RGB-Drives that I use for my Electric ICE 2 flipper buttons along with a LEDWiz.  They don't look too bright in my flipper buttons, but I think the buttons are made to diffuse the light more evenly.  I just did a quick test and not sure if it's bright enough.

Red - Max intensity

[RandyT]

I don't want to go with Crees since they are extremely bright.  I want something that will flash like flashers but also be RGB as well.

Looks great so far.  

I'm guessing you are referring to the CREE star emitters.  Yeah, those things are overkill, at about the equivalent 17 regular RGBs, and they should have heatsinks, etc....  

Look for something called a "Piranha" RGB LED.  They usually only run a couple of bucks and are more than double the output of standard superbright RGBs.  Those sound like what you are looking for, but since you don't really need to have a single RGB led, you can also just use any Red, Green and Blue leds of the output power and/or quantity that make sense for your desired output.    The LED-Wiz doesn't care how many you group on an output, so long as the current doesn't go over 500ma.

[Dazz]

Thanks Randy.  Yes, The CREE's are the star emitters.  They are insanely bright, but they are what many are using for flashers in their pins. 

However, I don't think anyone has done what I'm doing by adding toys above the playfield.  I think the CREES would be overkill for where I'm going to use them.  After playing with the RGB-Drives I think these will work just fine.  They do look pretty good coming out of the dome on the saucer and I don't think they would overpower the LCD.  I tested them under some tinted glass, since that's what I'm going to use for the playfield, and they still looked pretty good.

I think I'm going to order a couple shortly.  Is there anyway to order some with a longer 4 wire cable than 24"?  Or even order long lengths of the 4 wire cable?

[RandyT]

After playing with the RGB-Drives I think these will work just fine.  They do look pretty good coming out of the dome on the saucer and I don't think they would overpower the LCD.  I tested them under some tinted glass, since that's what I'm going to use for the playfield, and they still looked pretty good.

I think I'm going to order a couple shortly.  Is there anyway to order some with a longer 4 wire cable than 24"?  Or even order long lengths of the 4 wire cable?

I can understand that.  If the lights wash out the LCD, it would blow the effect.  At order time, just note in the comments box what you need, and I will contact you.  Shouldn't be a problem.

[yotsuya]

Dazz- looks great- what make are those domes?

[Dazz]

Dazz- looks great- what make are those domes?

The green ones are the ones that come with the Attack from Mars saucers.  The clear ones I purchased from Pinballlife.com.  Plastic Light Domes With Screw Tabs

[Dazz]

Not much time to work on the cabinet this weekend... Got a couple of the smaller things done today.

Flipper buttons installed. Buttons are Electric Ice 2 w/RGB-Drive and True Leaf switches. Plunger and optical circuit switch installed. You can also see the power switch that is located under the cabinet.



Sub for the 2.1 sound system mounted inside the cabinet and facing down. Inflow and outflow fans installed with dust covers. I also installed the FN4 - 4 fan system, I removed the louder fans that come with it and installed quieter and more CFM fans. I then fed the power wires through wireloom and heat shrunk the ends for a clean look.

[Dazz]

Placed my order for a couple RGB-Drives from GroovyGameGear.com today.  Will hopefully get this in a playable state later this evening.   I still have to cut and install the monitor board, but I think I'm going to wait until I get my custom glass.  Going to talk to the glass shop today to see if what I need is possible.

[Dazz]

Got my order from GroovyGameGear.com today. The RGB Drives for my saucers. Decided to do a test install of one of them. I think I really like it. I now need to finish wiring and get them turned on and see how they look.





Yes, I have several scratches on the side where I've messed up. Once I get the wiring and all the necessary stuff done inside then I'll touch up the paint.

[pinballwizard79]

Dude that mod is legit!

[Dazz]

Sorry for the lack of updates on this build...  The cabinet has been out in my garage where it's been over 110f degrees for the past 45+ days.  The past week or so I moved the cabinet inside into our living room.  Since moving it into the living room I've gotten more work done in the past week than I have in almost 2 months.

So far; I am REALLY happy with the outcome on this build so far.  Since I built this cabinet to match my 42" playfield neither a regular nor widebody lockdown bar would fit the cabinet.  I had to have a custom lockdown bar made to match my 24 1/2" width cabinet.  I ordered the custom lockdown bar from Virtuapin.net and had the undersides for a Williams/Bally lever guide assembly.  A friend of mine was able to acquire a lever guide assembly for me for free.  After a little dremel work the lockdown bar was nice and snuggly installed.  The lockdown bar and guide matched perfect.  There is NO movement with the lockdown bar at all.  For glass I was going to go with a tinted glass, but decided at the last minute (while at the glass shop) to go with 3/16 clear tempered for both the backglass and playfield glass.  Unlike my previous pincab build, I got the measurements perfect.  I probably could have went about 1/16 smaller width so it could slide into the rails easier, but it works.  After the glass was installed my DMD reflection was off by about 4 or 5 inches due to the angle of my test piece of glass.  Thankfully, I was able to take my monitor board that has my speakers and DMD LCD attached and slid it carefully along my table saw to cut off 2".  The 2" was just enough to make the DMD reflection appear where it should.  All of the pics so far are without any kind of tint or reflective surface for the DMD.  The DMD looks a little faded in the pictures below, but in person it looks pretty damn good and clear.



The smear on the side of the cabinet is from my unsteady hand with the camera.



2 saucer flashers are mounted near the rear of the playfield.  Actually they don't even hang over the playfield at all.  The playfield is mounted so there is no LCD bezel showing at the front of the cab.  The playfield starts at the lockdown bar edge and goes back to about 3" away from the backwall.  You can't see the 3" gap between the back end of the playfield and the back wall which is nice because it helps with airflow and heat removal.



Once I got the flashers working with Visual Pinball/PinMAME I decided that 2 LED's just were not enough.  I ended up installing 3 more LEDs.  So now I have 5 LEDs total on the playfield.  Center/Left rear/Left front/Right rear/Right front.  Right now I just have the non-saucer LEDs in temporary position with doublestick tape until I can figure out exactly where or how I want to mount them.  Visual Pinball & Pinmame are set to interface with the LEDWiz and tells the LED's when to trigger.  The LED's are in sync with the flashing within the game.  The coin button flashes when the table is out of credits, the start ball flashes to tell the player to start the game, then the launch ball button flashes when the ball is in the shooting lane.  The Exit button also flashes to let the player know to press it when they are ready to exit the table.



For the most part this cabinet is finished.  I'm going to be upgrading the CPU and video cards in the very near future.  Once I added the LEDs this eats a bit of CPU cycles and mine just isn't up for it.  While almost all tables are playable there is a noticeable stutter when all the flashers start going off on tables. 

I still have a couple minor things left on my "TO DO" list. 

1.  Artwork - created, printed and added to the cabinet. 
2.  Mount/secure the DMD monitor/Speaker board.
3.  Get speaker felt to cover the speakers.  Hopefully once the speakers are covered they will not reflect in the glass.
4.  Cut and install the rear access door for the head.
5.  Hide sides of playfield and backglass LCD's.
6.  Create and install button labels for front HyperPin buttons.

[TOK]

Very nice job!

This reply is my bookmark for your thread. I'm deciding between something like this or another "real" pin for my next game.
I'm on the fence, but if I go digital, your machine is going to be the benchmark. I love that the Pin2000 style differentiates it from a standard pin. I think its the way to go. 

[BurgerKingDiamond]

pictures not working

[menace]

Hey Dazz,

I see you are using the 42" dynex as well--Mine just went poof the other day--nice big black spot on the mainboard!  Strange question--does your power supply board on your lcd have a 32V output pin but it is not connected to anything?  i.e. it measures 0V when tested?  I can't figure out why mine went poof when all the other voltages are rock solid where they are supposed to be

by the way awesome build!