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Woodrail Mini Cab


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Hello

 

I?ve been restoring pinballs for a number of years and didn?t know about virtual pinball until a month ago?well I did, but the last time I looked at it was 2007? it?s really improved since then, especially with visual pinball and Hyperpin. So I thought to myself, wouldn?t it be fun to build a cabinet. As I?ve got more ?real? pinballs than I have room for them in the games room, I thought a mini pin would nice. Having a look at various forums, there are a number of very nice mini pins. The one that really took my fancy was a mini pinball woodrail built a number of years ago ? extraordinary workmanship on that one ? and I also like the woodrails, as most of my ?real? pins are wood rails.

So I decided that I?d use a 24 inch monitor for the playfield and a 19 inch for the back box. I didn?t want to spend too much on my mini pin so I tried to get the best deals that I could when buying the parts I needed. Here?s a listing of the parts cost:

 

One PC 3GHz (2009 vintage) $60 ebay

One Graphics driver card $60

Buttons, Ipac2, wiring, coin mech $100

Timber (plywood, solid pine, etc) $100

Glass for playfield $30

Paint, sand paper, etc. $50

24 inch 16:9 monitor $175

19 inch 4:3 monitor $25 ebay

Miscellaneous parts $50

 

Even though I constructed the mini pin as cheaply as possible, it still cost around $650. However, building the cabinet was nothing compared to the software side?not that?s it difficult, it?s just very time consuming. The cabinet end up being 10 inches high at the front, 12 inches at the back and 15 inches wide. The back box is 6 inches wide, 15 inches high and 18 inches wide. It?s just about 2/3rds the size of a full cabinet.

I recessed that cabinet so that the floor (made of 6mm ply) would fit snuggly in the cabinet sides. The sides of the cabinet are made of 19mm ply.

 

Assembly7.jpg.a6e2305ea9869e394af29b6eb6edd788.jpg

 

I used the concept for the front door from a Bally Bingo and also used the plunger, which I had lying around. The button on the bottom of the plunger is used to lift the balls onto the play field (some FP and VP tables need this).

 

TrialFitment.jpg.289edf002cc7f7123d611914f0077a63.jpg

 

I stripped the motherboard and HD drive from the PC ? threw away the CD drive and Floppy drive. I used a part of the case as a mount for the motherboard. Here's a couple of shots of the inside of the cab.

 

InsideBack.jpg.0a4adc470f1eb682213a0eea56fc78d0.jpg

 

InsideFront.jpg.bcde26be68e20b76b2f4132471327c0d.jpg

 

 

One concern was how to mount the lock down bar. I used the same principle Bally used on their Bingo ? 2 bolts with wing nuts. Not my preferred solution but it seems not to detract too much cosmetically. Also installed some instructions cards - more for me, as I keep forgetting what the buttons do!

 

InstructionCards.jpg.44a515805c16aa992badb9504451c190.jpg

 

I?ve noticed that cab builds have a lot of fans in them. I kept the original PC fan and used the same principles Bally used to circulate air in their cabinets. This photo shows the principle. The back box is similar.

 

Underneath.jpg.9c2a89fb598a153826d56f710f31bd34.jpg

 

Keeping with the wood rail theme, I had 1mm aluminium plates cut out as flipper cabinet protectors. Wood rail pinballs had these in the ?50s so I thought it?d be appropriate to include them.

 

FlipperButtonProtector.jpg.f79082636fa82d6004bc63547443fa10.jpg

 

Wanting to keep the paint scheme to theme, I decide to use the Bally Bumper graphics, only that I used white for the base coat, instead of yellow.

 

IMAG0066.jpg.b6d0395921ee26d38ce776ec107c1904.jpg

 

There's 128 tables available...could have had more...but the qulaity of some were so so.

 

FrontView.jpg.ca28abbe357267eff2c16fa3f8f6d22c.jpg

 

It been an interesting project...but I don't want to do another any time soon...the amount to time involved is countless...

 

IMAG0002.jpg.785e9ba4f3346999398711d658c19451.jpg

 

SideViewRight.jpg.88e46cc421c5762a9efa1c26684cc0bd.jpg

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That beautiful and well done. Your inspiration was exactly the same inspiration to build mine. It's a beautiful example that I linked too in my build thread here:

 

http://www.aussiearcade.com/showthread.php/42304-Minipin

 

 

Inspiration link: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2749

 

Also, how did you fix the frame/woodrail pieces so that there are no screws visible?

 

Cheers,

Brad

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Hi

 

The 24" monitor is not too bad. The manufacturer says it's nearly 180 degree viewing angle but I find it more like 60 degrees for clear and crisp viewing. Was going to get a 27" moinitor but the cab would have been too big. For speakers I used laptop speakers, they were only $25 and simple USB plug and play. Even though they are inside the cab they're pretty loud. I set all the table volumes to full.

 

IMAG0076.jpg.54c65f867b50082cb35aba0d277047b6.jpg

 

The side rails started life as 35mm dowel rods, which I cut 90 degrees out. Liquid nails work wonders. I used it for all the cabinmet, including the trim pieces.

 

IMAG0075.jpg.d783b3e36a57b4cd5dbd7ba560dab589.jpg

 

and thanks femto

 

 

Mike

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Beautiful work - just looks really sweet. i really like the use of trimmed dowel for the side rails, and the circular plates to protect around the flipper buttons.

 

I'm taking a lot of inspiration from Brad's and this build thread... both great examples.

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  • 1 month later...

Fantastic work. I'm looking around various sites just now looking for inspiration to build one of these, as my MAME arcade cab is now complete ( apart from software tweaks, which I reckon will never end !), and I am really missing that buzz of making something.

 

These smaller hyperpins are ace, but I was thinking bigger,although it does worry me that running a 46" playing field (seen a build like this on youtube) could be sore on the eyes.I wish I could see one of these things up close to get a better feel for what's involved ,is there anyone in the Melbourne area thats got a hyperpin that would be kind enough to let me have a look ?

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Fantastic work. I'm looking around various sites just now looking for inspiration to build one of these, as my MAME arcade cab is now complete ( apart from software tweaks, which I reckon will never end !), and I am really missing that buzz of making something.

 

These smaller hyperpins are ace, but I was thinking bigger,although it does worry me that running a 46" playing field (seen a build like this on youtube) could be sore on the eyes.I wish I could see one of these things up close to get a better feel for what's involved ,is there anyone in the Melbourne area thats got a hyperpin that would be kind enough to let me have a look ?

 

There's no doubt that being quite close to a large display is kinda tough on the eyes but only if you overdo it. I have a 40" for my playfield and if I put in a long session then my eyes feel it the next day. I'd imagine 46" would be even tougher on the eyes. It's why I think I will stick to the the LCD I have as I think LED can be even more intense on the fryballs.

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There's no doubt that being quite close to a large display is kinda tough on the eyes but only if you overdo it. I have a 40" for my playfield and if I put in a long session then my eyes feel it the next day. I'd imagine 46" would be even tougher on the eyes. It's why I think I will stick to the the LCD I have as I think LED can be even more intense on the fryballs.

 

I take it even at 40" your playing about with the brightness settings ?

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I take it even at 40" your playing about with the brightness settings ?

 

A 40" LED still needs some tweaking, yes. personally I find that it's the sharpness and contrast of the picture as much as the brightness. I've used a 40" Samsung LED in mine (UA40D5000 to be precise) and have cranked down the sharpness, contrast AND brightness somewhat. In addition I have the screen mode set as "Dynamic", which enhances or dulls the settings depending on both the output on the screen and the4 surrounding ambient light.

 

It does take a bit of messing around to get the setting right and I agree that you can end up with sore eyes if the screen is too bright. Pity, as that's sort of the attraction of LED screens!

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I take it even at 40" your playing about with the brightness settings ?

 

I haven't touched the settings since the 40" was in use as my X360 screen... I find when I start fiddling with settings, I just can't stop ! so now I just don't start so I don't get myself all tied in knots.

 

It does take a bit of messing around to get the setting right and I agree that you can end up with sore eyes if the screen is too bright. Pity, as that's sort of the attraction of LED screens!

 

Yeah... Funny, I remember myself and a mate when we were teenagers played so much Leaderboard on the C64, sitting in front of a CRT, that we had to wear sunglasses so we could keep playing longer! No wonder I have to wear glasses now :rolleyes

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  • 7 years later...

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