Author Topic: New Bartop - 'BlackBox' - Completed! New Photos! (Read 27523 times)

theCoder · « **Reply #80 on:** July 18, 2006, 12:59:00 am »

Quote from: DigDreams on July 17, 2006, 10:54:03 pm

No kidding. Space is tight in these bartops. I just barely had enough room for the iPac and the barrier strips! A full size would be much easier, but this is good practice.

When I initially cut my side panels I didn't like the angle of the monitor, so I wound up recutting them. With it being a bartop, at least I didn't waste any expensive materials.

Man I can really relate to the tight space comment. These bartops are tight.

And saving expensive materials... There may be less material involved, but I'm not really seeing any cost savings in going small. But then, I didn't do a bartop project to save money.

DigDreams · « **Reply #81 on:** July 18, 2006, 05:11:12 am »

Quote from: theCoder on July 18, 2006, 12:59:00 am

Man I can really relate to the tight space comment. These bartops are tight.

And saving expensive materials... There may be less material involved, but I'm not really seeing any cost savings in going small. But then, I didn't do a bartop project to save money.

Yeah, I am not adding up what this cost intentionally - I know it would aggrivate me. I spent over $150 just on buttons and LED's.

I mainly did a bartop first for space reasons (since I am moving soon), and because I have a serious back injury right now and lifiting anything heavy was out of the question. I know when I do a full-size cab I will be using a 27" monitor. If I lifted a big monitor right now, it would probably be the last thing I ever did.

- DigDreams

DigDreams · « **Reply #82 on:** July 21, 2006, 12:50:51 am »

Well, I finished the BlackBox last night. The CP was more than tight, and was a real pain in the you know what to complete. Here's the back of the CP:

And the front of the CP...

A different angle showing the bezel...

I couldn't get a real clear view of the button icons across the top. About the best I could do was in the dark.

The trackball picks up all the LED's in the case, so it looks amazing. It's hard to get the colors right in the photo, but the last button is purple. The others are all standardd Happs colors with matching LED's, the purple is a clear with one Violet-Blue LED and one UV (Blacklight) bulb.

Here are the finished pictures of the complete cabinet (several views):

And in the dark:

... of course I'll be tweaking it here and there. I have to drill one more hole to add the second controller (optional game pad for player #2). I have a light gun, but I think I am going to use that on the next cab. I think this one is too small for light gun games.

Comments welcome!

- DigDreams

DigDreams · « **Reply #83 on:** July 21, 2006, 04:31:33 pm »

Minor tweaks today... I drilled a small hole in the bottom to all a Nostromo N45 GamePad (for Player 2) controls to be plugged in.

I also color coded the "Categories", "Facvorites", and "Information" options of the front end (3D Arcade, Custom Skin - see beginning of thread). Now the first row of buttons controls these functions while the second row switches between listbox, FPS "Walk-Thru" arcade, and "Cylendar Arcade".

I installed all the Pro Pinball series and the No-CD Hacks, and configured all the keys for that and VPinMame.

- DigDreams

theCoder · « **Reply #84 on:** July 21, 2006, 06:12:59 pm »

And you though you were finished.... We'll probably still be tweaking & posting on our projects for months.

DigDreams · « **Reply #85 on:** July 23, 2006, 04:22:57 pm »

Well, one small problem... In pinball games (VPinMame and Pro Pinball) the IPac-2 misses keypresses every once in a while. I have tried running separate grounds to them, and removing the pass-thru keyboard but to no avail. It only happens about once every 40 keypresses or so, but it's enough to ruin your pinball game.

Any ideas?

- DigDreams

Crafty · « **Reply #86 on:** July 23, 2006, 10:12:29 pm »

Very impressive

any idea on ballpark cost...

DigDreams · « **Reply #87 on:** July 24, 2006, 01:14:36 am »

I was actually trying to avoid adding it up... Let me get back to you on that, I'll have to do a little math, remove the new tools, etc... Too much is the short answer, but I guess I am curious - so I'll add it up.

- DigDreams

theCoder · « **Reply #88 on:** July 24, 2006, 03:05:29 am »

On your keystroke issue...
I can't speak for visual pinball, but on ProPinball, if you dial up all of the graphics knobs, you can run into problems. The problems almost always show up as late keystrokes or buttons held down too long. When I back off on the detail and the resolution, the problem has gone away for me in the past.

Good luck.

DigDreams · « **Reply #89 on:** July 24, 2006, 12:02:20 pm »

I wrote Andy at Ultimarc and he is sending me a new main chip for the I-Pac2.

He said in May (when I purchased mine) he had a bad batch. Hopefully that will fix the issue.

- DigDreams

DigDreams · « **Reply #90 on:** July 25, 2006, 02:51:52 am »

Quote from: Crafty on July 23, 2006, 10:12:29 pm

Very impressive

any idea on ballpark cost...

It wound up costing roughly $888.96. Here is the breakdown:

Of course, I also spent around $250 on some new tools: Heat Gun, Soldering Iron, Clamps, Hole Saw, Bits, Jigsaw Blades, etc.

- DigDreams

Crafty · « **Reply #91 on:** July 25, 2006, 07:39:31 pm »

Thanks for the cost breakdown...

theCoder · « **Reply #92 on:** July 30, 2006, 02:43:49 am »

I was just helping a friend install ProPinball on his computer. He was having keyboard problems. On Fantastic Journey and Big Race, there would sometimes be a delay on the time between hitting a flipper and the actual event happening in the game. If running XP, the fix is to set the "compatibility" to "Windows 98". This is done by right clicking the .exe file, and going to the compatibility tab. Just in case you run into this.

DigDreams · « **Reply #93 on:** July 30, 2006, 03:43:13 am »

I already figured that one out, but thanks. Just waiting for my new chip from Andy.

Also, I found a way to reduce my CPU temp by 10 degrees with SOFTWARE. Amazing, check it out:

http://www.cpuidle.de

I would have never believed it, but it really works.

- DigDreams

DigDreams · « **Reply #94 on:** August 03, 2006, 05:22:02 pm »

I got my new IPac2 chip from Andy today. I popped it in, and now everything works perfectly. It even remembered my key configuration after replacing the chip, which surprised me. I thought I'd have to re-program it for sure.

I can finally play Pinball and not have to scream at it!

- DigDreams

psychotech · « **Reply #95 on:** August 03, 2006, 09:34:43 pm »

That's one Great Bartop... Thanx for all the info ..I'm just trying to get my 1st one finished.

leapinlew · « **Reply #96 on:** August 03, 2006, 09:37:54 pm »

This turned out great! Good work

theCoder · « **Reply #97 on:** August 04, 2006, 11:19:20 am »

Glad to here you're up and running.

It is not healthy for you or your box for you to be frustrated at pinball! Keep the tilting simulated instead of physical.

DigDreams · « **Reply #98 on:** August 06, 2006, 06:48:34 pm »

I'm lovin' Pro Pinball now that the buttons work right. Thanks again for that tip!

Anyone else that wants some GREAT pinball games for their box - I got all three for under $6.50 DELIVERED. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00004C8S0/ref=dp_olp_2/002-5985483-3353628?ie=UTF8

- DigDreams

MameMaster! · « **Reply #99 on:** August 07, 2006, 11:53:53 am »

that's a great lookin' bar top.

Congrats on a great job!

DigDreams · « **Reply #100 on:** August 13, 2006, 09:25:08 pm »

[quote author=MameMaster


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