The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: froggerman on April 05, 2009, 05:53:08 am
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(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CabinetItIsDone.jpg)
I have just completed the construction of my woodrail Mini-Pin cabinet. This cabinet has a 24" monitor for the playfield and a 17" monitor for the backglass.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CabinetRocket.jpg)
Leon Spalding's Williams Rocket Future Pinball recreation inspired me to make my cabinet a woodrail design. This would allow me to make a number of the pieces I would normally have to purchase such as the legs, lockdown bar and rails.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/Cabinet3QuarterLights2.jpg)
I used my 1975 Bally Aladdin's Castle as a guide when making this cabinet. The distance from the floor to the top of the lockdown bar, the distance from the front of the lockdown bar to the center of the flipper button and the distance from the top of the lockdown bar to the center of the flipper button are all the same as they are on Aladdin's Castle.
The main cabinet is 33" long and 16 1/8" wide. 12" tall at the front and 14" tall at the rear. The backbox is 17" wide and 14" tall. 5" deep at the base and 6" deep at the top. All of the trim on the cabinet is solid oak, stained and coated with semi-gloss polyurethane.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/LockdownBar.jpg)
One of the issues when building a pinball cabinet is the lockdown bar and how to fasten it. I went through a number of designs before I came up with this very simple solution. What I used was 2 sets of rare earth magnets with cups and washers. I drilled a hole in the front plate the same size as the magnet cup. I put the steel washer in the bottom of this hole and then screwed the magnet cups to the underside of the lockdown bar. The cups in the holes keeps the lockdown bar from moving forward and back, the magnetic attraction keeps the lockdown are in place.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/Front-SideFinal.jpg)
There was a lot of time spent painting the cabinet. Lots of sanding and taping and sanding and taping and...
The photo above is the cabinet ready for the white coat of paint.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/ButtonsIn.jpg)
The cabinet was spray painted with high gloss enamel. Then the entire cabinet received several coats of Varathane clear semi-gloss poly. This gave the bright colours a softer, more yellowish tone. Not quite a yellow as the picture above, but not as white as the first ones either. All of the push buttons used on this cabinet came from Randy at Groovy Game Gear. He provided the custom buttons, white shells with coloured inserts as well. His CDR button made good sense for this small machine.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/Inside-Front.jpg)
The electronics I used are all from Andy at Ultimarc. I am using a Mini-Pac as a button encoder and I will be using his new U-HID-G encoder with accelerometer for nudging. I was originally planning on using a WiiMote with a bluetooth receiver, but there was just too many pieces to get working at the same time. The U-HID-G is a simple USB device with no additional software required and it works with both Future Pinball and Virtual Pinball. I can't wait to get mine installed...it is still in transit from England.
One of my goals with this project was to use as many parts as I could that I already had rather than going out and buying new stuff. Weill I think it might have been smarter to have purchased a new set of speakers instead of using this set of Altec Lansing speakers. Let me just say that they were a lot of work. Due to space constraints I ended up making my own compact power bar which you can see on the right side in the photo above. The hole in the bottom of the cabinet is the fresh air intake. There are a lot of heat generating components in a very small space, so I wanted to make sure that there would be adequate cooling.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/BottomOutside.jpg)
This is what the bottom panel looks like from the other side. The bottom is 1/2" thick, so I had to cut 1/2" out of the speaker enclosures so that they would fit back together...too much work. Between the speakers is a keystone plate that has a USB connections and an RJ-45 LAN connection. The power switch can be seen just below the speaker on the left and the four pads at the top of the picture are used to mount the subwoofer.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/Inside-Back.jpg)
At the back of the main cabinet are 2 120mm 3 speed ball bearing case fans. Currently I have them set to the middle speed and they seem to have no trouble keeping the cabinet cool, even when on all day. There is also an 80 mm fan in the backbox to facilitate cooling of the backglass monitor. The PC fill almost the entire space between the back of the speakers and the back of the cabinet.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/ComputerTop.jpg)
The PC I used for this project is a AMD 9950 Black Edition running at 3.0 GHz with 4 GB RAM an ATI 4870 graphics card and a 500GB disk drive. Why 500GBs of disk? Because it was only $60. Smaller driver were more expensive.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/ComputerFront.jpg)
Getting a case for this project turned out to be a real problem. The interior of the cabinet is only 14 5/8" wide and I needed a cabinet that was only 17" deep. I found one with those specs. Purchased it an brought it home only to find out it was 19" deep...when they said 17" is the specs they meant 17" without the front panel! So...I am now without a front panel.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CabinetFrontend.jpg)
Once all of the bits and pieces are together you have to actually have some software to run your cabinet. My choice is HyperPin. This soon to be released frontend is specifically designed for pinball cabinets. It supports both Future Pinball and Virtual Pinball. There is a very easy to use Genre system that will allow you to filter tables by many categories such as year, manufacturer and emulator.
This software is produced by BadBoyBill. You can check it out at: www.hyperspin-fe.com
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CabinetFlyerDisplay.jpg)
It has features for flyer display, up to 8 page flyers and centerfolds
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CabinetInstructions.jpg)
It also displays Instruction cards.
I hope you enjoy this look at my project. For more information on this project and other Future Pinball related project drop by www.futurepinball.com/forum. Look in the Homebrew section.
Cheers.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CabinetBack.jpg)
The End...for now. ;D
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Very nice! Fantastic job!
Encryptor
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Wow, that is the most impressive thing I've seen in a while. Excellent work!
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Wow!
I am totally in love with the woodrails on this -- Big Brave looks awsome in that cab! I would love to see more pics of EM tables in there.
Wow!
:applaud:
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I must say that is one fantastic looking machine and the woodworking looks to be top notch! :cheers:
I'm impressed!
Fordman
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I am absolutely stunned. What a great job!!
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
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As the Drill Sarge used to say: OUT-STANDING PRIVATE !!!
And I agree with dekar that is one of the most impressive builds I've seen! :notworthy:
Can you get some vids of this thing in action posted? I'd love too see it!
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Sick dude, sick. The 24" coupled with 17" monitor looks great.
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Fantastic build! That thing looks really slick!
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Yah, really nice work there
:cheers:
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Holy crap, that is sweet!
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very nice, the timber work sets it off and really adds to its charm.
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Looks great. The wood gives a real old time feel to a new tech cab. :applaud: :applaud:
Looking forward to the public release of Hyperpin.
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Ahhhh man, now I have to build one as well....
That looks NUTS! :cheers:
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Very nice, I'm VERY jealous!! I bet its great fun :)
The 24" screen goes nice with the 17". Have you got some rough dimensions of the cab, just so I know how much space it takes up? (Edit: Sorry I was too busy looking at the pretty pictures to see you had posted dimensions already :))
You will have to let us know what you think of the U-HID-G, maybe you could do a review for us and post it in the review section, if you dont mind that is.
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fANTASTIC JOB
NEVER SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
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That is incredible! Top notch work there!
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How do you get the backglass to show the real time scores?
What software supports multi-monitor pinball cabinets and is it hard to set up?
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simply awesome...good job
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Thanks for all of the compliments I really appreciate them. It has been a fun project.
@franco b: I would be happy to post a review of the U-HID-G once I get it installed.
@chrisdfw: The program that supports the real time scores on the backglass is Future Pinball. Check it out at www.futurepinball.com
Cheers.
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That was eye popping. At first glance, I thought you retrofitted a table and used a monitor for the backdrop. Didn't realize I was looking at two monitors until I got into the description.
Woah.
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Really nice.
:cheers:
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(http://insidestoryflashcards.com/printable_flashcards/images/medium/reverence.jpg)
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Which monitor (brand/model etc) did you use for the 24" one?
My GF just cleared it for me to make one and i'm trying to get some ideas together. I have a spare 19" touchscreen I was thinking about using for the backscreen so I could double it up as a touchscreen jukebox. If my calculations are right I would need a 32" monitor for the playfield. Hmmm..... (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Thinking/thinking-018.gif)
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Which monitor (brand/model etc) did you use for the 24" one?
My GF just cleared it for me to make one and i'm trying to get some ideas together. I have a spare 19" touchscreen I was thinking about using for the backscreen so I could double it up as a touchscreen jukebox. If my calculations are right I would need a 32" monitor for the playfield. Hmmm..... (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Thinking/thinking-018.gif)
I have a feeling that this thing is going to be the new hotness. I can't wait to seem them start to pop up. Sounds expensive though since a 32" monitor doesn't come cheap. Especially since I think you'd need one with an exceptional viewing angle based on how it sits in there. At least the box doesn't look too tough to replicate (famous last words) but that paint job sure does!
Amazing job froggerman. :cheers:
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NO NO NO FRANCO! JUST NO!
Let other people build their pinball projects first before you set the bar, I want to have my 5 minutes of fame before it gets blown away by your awesomeness...
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Which monitor (brand/model etc) did you use for the 24" one?
My GF just cleared it for me to make one and i'm trying to get some ideas together. I have a spare 19" touchscreen I was thinking about using for the backscreen so I could double it up as a touchscreen jukebox. If my calculations are right I would need a 32" monitor for the playfield. Hmmm..... (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Thinking/thinking-018.gif)
I am using a Dell 2405FPW monitor for the playfield. As this project was supposed to be about using stuff I already had instead of going out and buying a lot of new stuff so I just used what I had. Dell has a current model that is very similar the 2408WFP
There are a couple of different Samsung monitors that look very similar to the one I used.
When looking for 32" TVs make sure you get one that is 1080p not 720p. I am told that there is a noticeable difference between the two.
@javeryh: You are correct, the box is simple to make...the paint, well you have to have patience.
Cheers.
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outstanding, if you have construction pics make sure to post them here for the followers...
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Great stuff.
I'd like to see construction pics. Never can have too many of those.
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reko19 & Generic Eric, here are a few construction pictures for you.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/Cabinet3Quarter.jpg)
This is the cabinet after all of the pieces were cut out. This is just a dry fit. I used biscuits for all of the joints and they provide enough friction to hold things together.
If you were wondering how I cut the holes for the ventilation fans I used the most dangerous woodworking tool know to man...the drill press circle cutter!
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CircleCutter.jpg)
If you ever want to use one of these make sure you read and follow all of the safety instructions, especially the ones with regard to drill press RPM.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/Backbox.jpg)
This is the backbox as it was originally designed. The monitor was mounted quite far forward in the cabinet and there was not going to be any glass covering the monitor. Of course the monitor mounts had been glued in place by the time I decided to change things around.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/BackboxNew.jpg)
This is the new backbox design, shown with the back panel and monitor mounting bracket in place. The monitor is mounted much further back in this design and you can see the backing strips for the glass around the inside of the backbox. One major change with this design is that the monitor will not come out through the front of the backbox once the trim is in place. So to facilitate servicing the monitor I made the bottom of the backbox removeable. That is what those two blocks with the chrome bolts are for on each side at the bottom. I also had to remove the fan mount as moving the monitor back interfered with it. I now mount the fan directly to the back panel. Don't ask me why I used a monitor mounting bracket...it is totally not required if you have 4 of the correct length metric bolts available...which I did not.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/LockdownBarBottom.jpg)
The lockdown bar is construted out of 4 pieces of solid oak. The top is made out of a piece of 1 x 4 oak, with addional pieces glued to the front and side the thicken up the edges. You can see the spot routed out for the glass. I planned on using 3/16" glass so made the cutout 7/32" deep. At this point I still did not know how I was going to fasten the lockdown bar to the cabinet. I found some nice brass cup washers, but I didn't have the correct bolts to fit them.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/BodyMasked.jpg)
Here the cabinet is all glued up, taped up and ready for sanding. The dadoes for the bottom panel can still be seen here, they were plugged and filled. The holes for the legs have not been drilled yet either. It is quite a challenge to glue up something like this when you use biscuits and there are the number of pieces that I had to deal with. I used Bessey K-body clamps to aid with the glue up...those things are worth their weight in gold.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/LegDetail.jpg)
I don't seem to have any pictures of the leg construction...perhaps it is just something that I wish to forget. :)
There were quite a few steps in building the legs and having never done anything like this before I actually made 5 legs. I used the extra leg to try out each step before using trying it on the actual legs. The following photos are of that extra leg.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/LegSide.jpg)
After I planed the legs smooth I cut the rough shape for the top of the leg. Then using a template I made I used my flush-trim bit in my router to get the final shape at the top. Once that was done all I had to do was to drill the mounting holes and cross hole.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/LegInsideTop.jpg)
Next I had to cut the notch in the top of the leg. I didn't have a 90 degree bit and I didn't want to spend $35 on one just for 4 legs. What I did was to make a jig to hold the leg at a 45 degree angle and then I put a 3/4" cylindrical bit in the router and slower routed out the notch.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/LegTop.jpg)
After that I had to put the chamfer on the two out side edges. This was done in several pass through the router table...even though I was taking things very carefully you can run into issues with the grain in oak. There was some splintering but in the end none showed.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/LegBottom.jpg)
Oh, I almost forgot. I had to drill out the bottom of the leg for the leg adjuster t-nut. Then apply about 5 coats of poly and the legs are done!
Prior to painting the cabinet I completed all of the wiring that I could, including mounting my Mini-Pac and routing all of the wires to their locations. This was a very good idea as it was a very simple job to finish the cabinet once the painting was complete.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/ButtonsIn.jpg)
Once the paint was completed, I took off all of the masking and installed the buttons. I was so excited as I finally had a button wrench...but due to the location of my buttons I could only use the wrench on about 1/2 of the buttons...but is was nice to use it when I could.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/BackboxMonitorInstalled.jpg)
The monitor is mounted and the mounting bracket secured. You can see where the fan mount used to be at the top of the box.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/BackboxMonitorInstalledFront.jpg)
I am now ready to install the trim pieces to the front of the backbox.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/BackboxFramed.jpg)
The glass and all of the trim in place. I was quite concerned about this step but it went ahead without incident. The backbox is now complete and ready for connection to the main cabinet.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/CabinetFront-NoPC-1.jpg)
Everything is assembled and ready for the computer and the monitor. However, I had a small issue with the playfield glass. There was a flaw in it so I had to wait another day while the glass shop made me another piece. I was concerned about how accurately they could cut a piece of glass. I shouldn't have been. The two pieces of playfield glass must be almost exactly the same size as then both fit very well and there is only 1/16" play in the length and 3/64" play side to side.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/FrontPanelforHyperPinSmall.jpg)
This is the control layout used for HyperPin, the flipper buttons are used to rotate the wheel normally, the skip buttons are used to go from letter to letter.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/FrontPanelforFuturePinballSmall-1.jpg)
This is the control layout used for Future Pinball and Virtual Pinball. The Pause key will actually have to wait until I get the U-HID-G from Ultimarc as Future Pinball uses the Pause/Break key for Pause/Highscore and the Mini-Pac cannot generate that key.
I hope that answers a few of your questions. If there is anything else you would like to know...just ask.
Cheers.
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damn dude - you have some wicked woodworking skills. I bet framing the boxes in the oak trim was not an easy thing to do. Your lines look really straight and everything is super clean. Also, underneath that piece in the front looks way complicated - it looks like a lot of planning went into the overall design. Is the bottom monitor removable? It looks like the oak trim covers the edge... :cheers:
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Is the bottom monitor removable? It looks like the oak trim covers the edge... :cheers:
The playfield monitor is easily removable. The oak trim is actually flush with the inside of the cabinet. The trim does hang over the outside edge. I painted the top couple of inches of the inside of the cabinet flat black. That helps mask things a bit too. All I have to do is lift off the lockdown bar, slide the glass out and then lift the monitor out. It is a little tricky getting it started but I have a couple of "custom pry bars" to make that easier.
Cheers.
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Thank you for posting the pics. This very well might be my next project.
I looked at the Future Pinball site, looks like they only have few tables available. What is your opinion regarding Visual Pinball, is it easily customizable? There are plenty of tables available for it.
Regards.
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That is an awesome cab but it +really+ needs a real plunger :cheers:
Still, excellent work. Great use of a dell 24" screen. I picked up one several years back and it's one of the best screens I've ever used.
And the prices are coming down. I could pick up a 25" for under 400$ now, (300$ if you're patient with Craigslist).
I smell another project coming on :P
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W O W
Every time I think I am done building arcade stuff, some idea like this comes along to tempt me again.
Amazing craftsmanship, great design, cool concept. Nice work!
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I agree with all the comments on this.
Excellent job!!!
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
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Sweet! :applaud:
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Thank you for posting the pics. This very well might be my next project.
I looked at the Future Pinball site, looks like they only have few tables available. What is your opinion regarding Visual Pinball, is it easily customizable? There are plenty of tables available for it.
Regards.
Take a look at the table release site for future pinball. There are almost 400 tables available. There are very few on the FP site. FP is the superior emulator/pinball engine as its physics and action is most realistic. VP however is great for using the actual pinball game roms and this giving exact emulation of action but not as acurate physics.
http://fprelease.free.fr/ (http://fprelease.free.fr/)
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thank you for the link. anybody tried pinmame to achieve similar results? could both of them run under a common front end?
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Both VP and FP run under Hyper Pin. The Hyper Spin where Hyper Pin is hosted is under maintenance right now but links to Hyper Pin have been posted recently in BYOAC. Visual Pinmame is used in conjunction with VP to make use of the original roms.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=89570.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=89570.0)
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That is awesome!!! GREAT JOB! :applaud: :notworthy:
What are\ where did you get those silver things on the blocks. I guess a screw goes in them?
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r8/bjeannotte/BackboxNew.jpg)
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Search here for T-nuts or teenuts. Lots of info.
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Search here for T-nuts or teenuts. Lots of info.
That is what they are alright. I always have a lot of them around in many sizes. I used 3/8" t-nuts for the leg brackets...they are really big. Totally shattered the first set of leg brackets I made out of oak. Switched to spruce for the second set and the results were much better. :)
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Is the bottom monitor 1080p or 720p? :cheers:
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Is the bottom monitor 1080p or 720p? :cheers:
The playfield monitor is actually 1920 x 1200 so it is a 1200p monitor.
If I was choosing a monitor for a new project I would select a 1080p monitor as the 16:9 aspect ratio is a little better for pinball than my current monitor's 16:10 aspect ratio.
Cheers.
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Awesome machine, nice work. :cheers:
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This is an amazing build. Don't know how I missed it before this hit page 2 :applaud:
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Incredible :notworthy:
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Having just come across this thread by pure luck....... I must say.... SWEET !! :cheers:
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Very nice job indeed..... :applaud:
As a cabinetmaker/toolmaker I have been building custom cocktails, coffee tables and pins....If theres anybody in the southern ontario region that would need something custom , or even a cabinet like this thread shows...just PM me. But Im not limiting myself to Ontario, but then shipping etc is involved.
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This just made GameRoom Mag's January news.
Fantastic job!