Jump to content
Due to a large amount of spamers, accounts will now have to be approved by the Admins so please be patient. ×
IGNORED

After 3 Years, Finally Finished!


Recommended Posts

76B74DFC-107D-4872-9DED-3F670A96548B.thumb.jpeg.0fa3c29ded7c08495a56e9eca99ac81f.jpeg BE847EF7-0386-49DC-9C6F-0B6D501831B0.thumb.jpeg.393148e3b8613352ef8ba87dd2bf9b90.jpeg F4CA88DF-B2F6-40BA-9035-3892620F8901.thumb.jpeg.8931a2ad463e858ebc47d036b044a4a8.jpeg 3D707878-C2DB-43E0-AEC5-5C534D008690.thumb.jpeg.d4974fd5e7528a7441ff686e76063b48.jpeg 3 year’s ago I first ordered some VP parts from Chris @ Ozstick. Most of them ended up going into my mate’s cab. He had all the wood working tools you see and I ended up giving him the computer parts as a 40th birthday present. He did the cabinet construction and I did all the software setting up. We finished his cab off to a state he was happy with and then my cab build stayed on pause until the Covid lockdown. Chris has been an invaluable knowledge source along the way (thanks heaps mate) and the other AA member I really wanted to thank is Stuzza. Stuzza’s decals are bloody awesome. High quality and great design. I think his Attack From Mars design is better than the original. A quick bit of advice to those who are frightened off from doing their own decal work. Don’t be! It’s easy! If an unco mug like me who can’t even draw a straight line can do it so can you. Use the wet method, take your time and watch videos. Here’s what’s in it:

 

Williams widebody plans

Black, faced plywood

Enough builder’s bog to sink the Titanic

Samsung 32� LCD for back box (second hand $60)

Acrylic sheet for back box & black vinyl decal

Pin2DMD display

Intel i5 CPU (can’t remember the clock speed)

ASUS motherboard

16 gig DDR3 RAM

Geforce 980 TI graphics (does both displays - you don’t need 2 graphics cards)

250 gig Samsung EVO SSD

650 watt PSU

Pinscape board

Chiq 43� 4K TV for playfield (bloody bargain @ $450 new)

2x Lepy 838 amplifiers running 5 exciters for SSF

Tempered glass for playfield & black vinyl decal

Logitech PC speakers for back box. Currently no woofer - with all the exciters doesn’t really need one

4x 120mm cooling fans with green LEDs

4x genuine pinball legs & leg protectors

2x genuine pinball side rails & lockdown bar

4mm plastic channel strip for playfield glass

Minimalist 6 button design - start, exit, coin, ball launch

8 socket power board with surge protector

Netgear USB WiFi adapter

Pinballx front end software

Think that’s about it...feel free to slag me off in the comments with things you would’ve done better/differently ;)

 

& coming:

two addressable RGB LED strips on both sides of playfield

5 addressable RGB LEDs at back of playfield

IR TX/RX soldered to Pinscape board to auto turn on playfield TV

 

 

  • Like 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[Geforce 980 TI graphics (does both displays - you don’t need 2 graphics cards)/QUOTE]

 

In fact, one card is recommended.

 

 

 

Thanks for the write up. Does the Chiq TV have power state memory so when turned off from power, it turns back on when the power is turned back on without needing to touch the TV?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[Geforce 980 TI graphics (does both displays - you don’t need 2 graphics cards)/QUOTE]

 

In fact, one card is recommended.

 

 

 

Thanks for the write up. Does the Chiq TV have power state memory so when turned off from power, it turns back on when the power is turned back on without needing to touch the TV?

 

When I first started researching cabs they were recommending two cards or onboard graphics plus another card. That was probably about four years ago. I guess the newer guides are probably all updated now.

 

With the Chiq 43� - unfortunately no JAR. It will not turn back on unless you use the remote. Remembers the input that I have it set to but alas does not behave like my Samsung back box monitor. Have purchased the parts I need to have the Pinscape board turn it on but at the moment I’m enjoying having the cab all closed up. Will get around to it :069:

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

When I first started researching cabs they were recommending two cards or onboard graphics plus another card. That was probably about four years ago. I guess the newer guides are probably all updated now.

 

With the Chiq 43� - unfortunately no JAR. It will not turn back on unless you use the remote. Remembers the input that I have it set to but alas does not behave like my Samsung back box monitor. Have purchased the parts I need to have the Pinscape board turn it on but at the moment I’m enjoying having the cab all closed up. Will get around to it :069:

 

I do know some people recommended 2 cards, but others disagreed. I had a couple of cards and tested them and found the performance not as good with two cards. I chatted with a few of the "big names" in VP and they agreed that 1 card is definitely better.

 

 

Bugger with the power state... I really want to go 4K with an affordable screen but if it doesn't turn on automagically with everything else is a show stopper for me.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I do know some people recommended 2 cards, but others disagreed. I had a couple of cards and tested them and found the performance not as good with two cards. I chatted with a few of the "big names" in VP and they agreed that 1 card is definitely better.

 

 

Bugger with the power state... I really want to go 4K with an affordable screen but if it doesn't turn on automagically with everything else is a show stopper for me.

 

Yeah I understand. Having to turn the playfield on with the remote is annoying and just doesn't "feel right"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks cool. Chris guided me through parts of my build as well. It has blown me away how well these machines play and the quality of games available. Well done mate it’s a solid achievement to build your own machine.

Cheers mate. Yep, it’s a great thing to make something with your own hands. After playing a few real pinball machines lately I’m also blown away how close the virtual machines play to the real ones. So much time & effort by the creators

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey mate exciting times to talk to another builder. I’m curious about your build process. Did you work out your plans or have plans to work from? I spent quite a bit of time working out equipment layout. Also I was unsure about latency issues playing 4K games which is why I went for a computer monitor rather than a TV screen. How does your machine go with the 4K games like The Flinstones or Scotty Wicks Harry Potter. I might have been worrying about something I didn’t need too. It’s interesting that Chris Wigg swares by the reliability of the Windows 7 platform to play any of the VPX games. I had Windows 10 home edition on the 2nd hand computer I bought. The automatic update function was a nightmare as I had to roll back some of the drivers that it kept wanting to overwrite. I ended up purchasing the windows 10 pro version so I could turn these functions off. Out of curiosity what operating platform are you working from and any thoughts. Also I’m finding so much variabity in game lighting. In some games the lights just bleed into the playfield. If I like the game like Scotty Wicks Leprechaun King I adjust the lighting to what I like. I’m currently playing Black Knight 2000 that Flupper put together. The lighting on my machine is perfect. Looks so real. I’m interested in how games look on your machine and if there are any standouts that I could look to compare.

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey mate exciting times to talk to another builder. I’m curious about your build process. Did you work out your plans or have plans to work from? I spent quite a bit of time working out equipment layout. Also I was unsure about latency issues playing 4K games which is why I went for a computer monitor rather than a TV screen. How does your machine go with the 4K games like The Flinstones or Scotty Wicks Harry Potter. I might have been worrying about something I didn’t need too. It’s interesting that Chris Wigg swares by the reliability of the Windows 7 platform to play any of the VPX games. I had Windows 10 home edition on the 2nd hand computer I bought. The automatic update function was a nightmare as I had to roll back some of the drivers that it kept wanting to overwrite. I ended up purchasing the windows 10 pro version so I could turn these functions off. Out of curiosity what operating platform are you working from and any thoughts. Also I’m finding so much variabity in game lighting. In some games the lights just bleed into the playfield. If I like the game like Scotty Wicks Leprechaun King I adjust the lighting to what I like. I’m currently playing Black Knight 2000 that Flupper put together. The lighting on my machine is perfect. Looks so real.

 

I ended up actually building 2 cabs. The first one I gave to a friend who helped me with the carpentry work. It was originally a Windows 7 Pro machine but I ran into some stability problems. It had nothing to do with the OS just some bad parts but I ended up blowing it all away and going to Windows 10. It’s running nice and stable on a true hi def Samsung TV. The one I ended up keeping is running Windows 10 Home which in hindsight I wish I’d used Pro for the remote access features. I too ran into auto update problems but I fixed this by going to a single graphics card. The OS kept overwriting the graphics drivers and it was a bitch keeping both cards running together.

 

Very happy with performance of the pc I’m using and the stability of win 10 home. Had a problem with the 4K Tv’s latency until I figured out how to lock it into 60hz. Now can’t tell the difference between it and a pc monitor as far as lag goes. As to lighting, the only table that looks a little bit off is Medieval Madness when Merlin’s crystal ball lights up. Looks a bit fake. Haven’t had the time to fiddle with it though as all other tables are looking great. Haven’t tried any original tables on my rig yet, they’re all reproductions. Are you running SSF? I found SSF and a 4K display to be the biggest improvements to the cab overall.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for plans, I’ve based things off a Williams wide body plan that I found somewhere and modified it to fit a 32� Tv for the back box. Other plans I did up were for the acrylic for the back box and a custom sized piece of tempered glass with black vinyl sticker to hide wiring etc.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply. Lots of good info about locking your TV into 60Hz to fix latency and the single graphics card fix to overcome the Windows 10 update issue. Chris Wigg runs Windows 7 and swares by it. We have had that conversation more than once. My machine is stable with Windows 10 pro with the automatic update function turned off and the two graphics cards. I’m a computer Luddite so I’m just happy to get the thing to work. I haven’t worked out navigating this website either. I saw a reply in the message centre so I’ll have to navigate back and see if I’ve missed anything. Oh yeh. I remember now. You asked about SSF. I don’t have the 5th flat speaker under the lockdown bar but I did try the SSF approach using the lepy amps to send the signal to the flat speakers and the sub. I didn’t like the buzz of music in the flat speakers and could see why I would need to send a sub signal from a machine sound. Maybe I don’t understand the SSF setup and I’m happy to be corrected. I found it easier just to use the Realtek 7:1 audio driver set up to send music to the back glass and use the the middle speaker and back speaker components of the Realtek 7:1 set up to Drive the flat speakers. To me it keeps the machine sounds where they should be. I noticed in a post RusstyCardoors had these 70mm flat speakers that he got from Jaycar Electronics and I was disappointed to find they no longer stocked them. I use the 50mm Daytone flat speakers. I don’t know if these make a difference for the SSF setup because I think he is a pioneer of the SSF system. I just refuse to use Facebook that the sound guys use for their forum to ask more questions. Anyway I’m happy with my set up and it is outlined in my build document and as built drawings. Photos equipment location and my logic is all there.

On another note there is a plywood company near me that have an NC machine. I wonder what they need in terms of a drawing to make a flat pack machine. I’m not interested in making money just it might be useful for people to make their own machine if they don’t have access to word working tools. I should imagine they would need to some form of cad not like my 1985 hand drawn documents. I’ll duck in and ask them when I’m out that way.

Mate seeing your build has inspired me and I’ll have to get involved in some of the comps so I can learn more about some of these fantastic games.

Cheers

RusstyT

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply. Lots of good info about locking your TV into 60Hz to fix latency and the single graphics card fix to overcome the Windows 10 update issue. Chris Wigg runs Windows 7 and swares by it. We have had that conversation more than once. My machine is stable with Windows 10 pro with the automatic update function turned off and the two graphics cards. I’m a computer Luddite so I’m just happy to get the thing to work. I haven’t worked out navigating this website either. I saw a reply in the message centre so I’ll have to navigate back and see if I’ve missed anything. Oh yeh. I remember now. You asked about SSF. I don’t have the 5th flat speaker under the lockdown bar but I did try the SSF approach using the lepy amps to send the signal to the flat speakers and the sub. I didn’t like the buzz of music in the flat speakers and could see why I would need to send a sub signal from a machine sound. Maybe I don’t understand the SSF setup and I’m happy to be corrected. I found it easier just to use the Realtek 7:1 audio driver set up to send music to the back glass and use the the middle speaker and back speaker components of the Realtek 7:1 set up to Drive the flat speakers. To me it keeps the machine sounds where they should be. I noticed in a post RusstyCardoors had these 70mm flat speakers that he got from Jaycar Electronics and I was disappointed to find they no longer stocked them. I use the 50mm Daytone flat speakers. I don’t know if these make a difference for the SSF setup because I think he is a pioneer of the SSF system. I just refuse to use Facebook that the sound guys use for their forum to ask more questions. Anyway I’m happy with my set up and it is outlined in my build document and as built drawings. Photos equipment location and my logic is all there.

On another note there is a plywood company near me that have an NC machine. I wonder what they need in terms of a drawing to make a flat pack machine. I’m not interested in making money just it might be useful for people to make their own machine if they don’t have access to word working tools. I should imagine they would need to some form of cad not like my 1985 hand drawn documents. I’ll duck in and ask them when I’m out that way.

Mate seeing your build has inspired me and I’ll have to get involved in some of the comps so I can learn more about some of these fantastic games.

Cheers

RusstyT

 

Don’t blame you for your avoidance of Facebook. All big social media corporations could shut down tomorrow and I’d be happy! Using your Realtek driver for SSF setup was the correct approach. Having music come out of the exciter speakers is what you want to avoid. Your drawings are great, hopefully they can work off them to get an easily reproducible ply cab design to sell. I’ve just started a cocktail arcade build and am regretting using MDF. Damages so easily. I’ve got an ultimate build project in mind of a four player, upright, 32� TV cabinet with two lightguns and using a pc with MAME to run the show. So far I’ve only seen MDF cabinets for sale so I might be going back to my mate who helped me build my pinball cab so I can make it out of ply.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the earlier stages looking virtual pinball I found out there is a high density MDF that cab builders use. There is a run of the mill softer version that is commonly purchased through hardware stores. There is so many different grades of ply. If I was building a full scale machine I’d probably use a marine grade as the surface is flatter and less likes to delaminates. I like your project. It’s so much fun designing and building.

Can you set up SSF to avoid music through the exciters. I could work that out. From memory you don’t have a sub so you wouldn’t be concerned about splitting a sub signal to the exciter speakers and a sub.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the earlier stages looking virtual pinball I found out there is a high density MDF that cab builders use. There is a run of the mill softer version that is commonly purchased through hardware stores. There is so many different grades of ply. If I was building a full scale machine I’d probably use a marine grade as the surface is flatter and less likes to delaminates. I like your project. It’s so much fun designing and building.

Can you set up SSF to avoid music through the exciters. I could work that out. From memory you don’t have a sub so you wouldn’t be concerned about splitting a sub signal to the exciter speakers and a sub.

 

I purchased a flat pack kit for the cocktail table. It’s made of 16mm MDF. Not sure if it’s high density or not. I think I was spoilt by the ply of my virtual pin! I might actually have marine ply, my mate who has wayyyyy better carpentry skills than me chose the cabinet material for me. It has black laminate surfaces and is so much better than working with the MDF.

 

The process for separating the mechanical pinball sounds to the exciters and the music to the back box is very easy. It sounds like you’ve already achieved it. Simply a matter of setting up your Realtek (or other brand) driver for the correct speaker configuration then setting Visual Pinball 10 to 7.1 channel sound. VPX will then put music and ROM sounds through your back box and mechanical/ball sounds through your exciters. As long as you have physically plugged them into the right channels on your motherboard or sound card, you’re golden. If you’re still hearing music or sound effects through your exciters let me know and I’ll help you troubleshoot it.

 

I guess I sort of am running a sub woofer cause I’m using the Lepy amp’s bass boost sub woofer port with my 5th exciter under the lockdown bar. If I add a true sub in the future I’ll get rid of the Logitech stereo speakers that I’m currently using in my back box and replace them with a third amplifier, a couple of car stereo speakers and a sub woofer speaker mounted in a hole in the floor of the cab. Seems like there’s always something to upgrade the virtual pinball with. Drives the missus crazy :lol

 

So Russty, now that you’ve finished your virtual pinball cab, what is your next project going to be?

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Yogo, thanks for the info. My sound is set up as you wrote. Guy at the plywood place recommended Black form ply which is made from birch timber. It maintains its strength when screwed through the end. Predrill of course. It’s extremely strong and cost effective way to build. It’s black coated and perfectly smooth. Sheets are 2400x 1200x17.5mm and are $140/sheet. I always have a project of some description on the go. Currently I’m setting up some new wood working equipment to dress and rip down timber. My son is into making jewllery boxes and keepsake boxes. My biggest project currently is training a 11 month old kelpie that we got from the RSPCA. Most difficult job I’ve done for a while.

As far as gaming goes I’m loving my machine and want to learn and play more games. Also now that I know that the plywood supplier can CNC cut a pinball cabinet from CAD DXF files or adobe illustrator files I might work towards producing them. Imagine that someone would like to build their own machine that they download a file and go to their local plywood place and come home with a flat pack cabinet. Might be dreaming as cabinet build is specific to the equipment being used.

Cheers Mate,

ive enjoyed the chat

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is how imagine my dogs previous family. He’s an incredibly intelligent ratbag.[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"large","data-attachmentid":2165591}[/ATTACH]

 

Yeah mate, been a great chat. Good luck with the dog training!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...