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Big Bang Pin - 46/30/15.6 LED Widebody (custom artwork, bezel less, deep playfield)


chriz99

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thanks for your kind words, guys!

yes, this time I want to lower down the playfield monitor like a real machine.

the idea comes from mameman's fantastic build. I think it adds "the illusion" of more depth, when you mount the playfield lower... and you can add some cool inhouse flashers (see gstav's build for some example vids).

maybe the viewing angles are not as good as on-top-mounting, but should be compensated by the awesome viewing angles of new LCD generations.

I went and had a look at the videos for the tables you mentioned, and I agree - I do like the sunken look - though I do like the surface mount, look, too.

I'll have to think about it quick - I'll shortly have cabinet hardware on it's way, and I'm making space this weekend to start building and getting the building materials here. If time permits, I'll get my jigs together so I'm ready to go nuts next weekend. I'm excited to get going!

Having the week between this weekend and next will give me time to draw up solid plans before I begin, too - always a good idea *grin*.

I love the bright CREEs on the bottom of your cabinet. I was looking at LED strips, but what you're doing with this one looks like a better idea to me.

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i prefer flat mount method for cabs that are old school, pre dmd style, like golden 80's and before

those cabs did not have very deep playfield

maybe few cm and almost the same in the front and in the back

later dmd pinballs had this deep playfield with lot's of objects stretching in the air

for these pinballs sunken view and piano sides are great

as for tables look - you don't loose anything for flat cab design you would put inclination to 0 for tables that were more flat, and for deep tables you put inclination around 5-10

for deep cabs - you don't need extra deepness so it's better to put all tables to inclination 0

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Nice work Chris. Can I ask why you are going with the lowered playfield on this one?

I am planning cabinet #2 and I just don't understand why everyone is making them like this now. I did my first one flush with the sides like yours and I love it like that.

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building a new cabinet makes 50% of the whole fun :D

it's no big difference, I like both versions -> on top and lowered...

A lowered screen adds some "illusion of depth" and you can mount inhouse playfield flashers (under the glass). other point is that you can use smaller standard siderails, instead the bigger ones.

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collecting some ideas for my custom BBB artwork. idea is to have popular pinball characters partying @ the "Big Bang Bar".

current status is (click here for bigger image):

2011-04-25%25252015h01_17.png.jpg

this is the custom logo, I think the sprayed "PIN" could be more in "graffito" style: bbpbig4.png

what do you think? any ideas or missing "must have pinball characters" are welcome :beer::D

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@mameman: :beer:

@dokworm: ball movement is nice and smooth, viewing angles are good. the only thing is some inputlag when you drive the screen with standard-settings. you have to turn on the "game-mode" to prevent inputlag.

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building a new cabinet makes 50% of the whole fun :D

it's no big difference, I like both versions -> on top and lowered...

A lowered screen adds some "illusion of depth" and you can mount inhouse playfield flashers (under the glass). other point is that you can use smaller standard side rails, instead the bigger ones.

One thing worth noting with the sunken playfield monitor is that your flipper buttons will be forced lower as a result to clear the underside of the display.

The flipper buttons stick into the cabinet about 2.5 inches from the outside edge of the side, which means there's 1.75 inches sticking out inside - too much to hide under the side rail if you try to mount them between the playfield and the glass.

I hadn't considered this until I started building a 3D model of my machine with the sunken playfield and started positioning the holes for the buttons.

A typical machine has the buttons just under the edge of the side rail, which puts the buttons at about 2 inches down from the top edge (look at a few machines at IPDB). This is about the natural position your finger lands if you rest the palm of your hand on the lock bar / side rail edge, like most people do.

With the display in the way, you're forced to put the buttons about 4 inches down, which is a pretty good reach for your fingers (unless you have big hands - I don't). I'd end up having the dangle my hand off the edge of the machine uncomfortably to reach the buttons, or just not rest my palm at all.

This may lead me to put my display flush with the glass like Chris' old machine, so I can get the buttons up to the normal, comfortable position. Being uncomfortable while playing won't make me happy over the long haul, I'm thinking.

As always, it's about preference. If you have big hands, you're ok. If you want the depth and room to put in flashers and your hands aren't big, then be prepared to deal with the lower button position to get those things.

One thing that could be done is to mount the display right up against the glass at the front of the machine, then farther away from the glass toward the back. I just checked out that look in my 3D model, and it looks pretty good, and the buttons are pretty much bang on.

The side rail issue Chris mentioned doesn't apply in my case. I've widened the typical wide body cabinet by 1 inch, so the display will sit in routed 1/4 inch grooves on the inside wall of the body, with 1/2 inch of meat between it and the outside of the body (3/4 inch plywood) - the same way Chris has done in his photos above. That way, I don't need to cut the body all the way to the outside to put in the display, like you would have to with the standard wide body width, thus I don't need to hide the cuts with the side rails, and I can have the display at any angle I choose (I chose the standard 6 degree tilt, like a common pinball machine's playfield is). It does mean that I have to pay extra for a custom lockbar, but those are available from the VirtuaPin site, so it's not too painful to get handled.

Chris: Looks bloody amazing! That cabinet looks so professional, it's unreal. Now that it's painted black, it looks even better. I can't wait to see it with the displays in it!

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Wouldn't it depend somewhat on the thickness of the sidewalls of your cabinet and the depth of the buttons themselves? You could rout a channel to hide the wiring. How do traditional pinballs deal with this issue?

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Due to us using super thin led screens and mounting the front 3/4" down from the top we are able to get the sunken effect plus have flipper Buttons in the STD location. Called having your cake and eating it ;)

Yeah, that's pretty much what I ended up doing - moving the display closer to the glass to bring the buttons up higher.

Wouldn't it depend somewhat on the thickness of the sidewalls of your cabinet and the depth of the buttons themselves? You could rout a channel to hide the wiring. How do traditional pinballs deal with this issue?

Generally, you build out of 3/4" plywood, so your walls aren't thick enough to completely hide the flipper buttons. With the leaf switches and button body, they're about 2 1/2" deep, so they stick out on the inside of the cabinet a fair amount - more than you can hide easily if you use a display that is wide enough to fit the cabinet wall to wall (like a 46" does in a wide body cabinet).

If you have a smaller display, you can do what you're suggesting, but then your display doesn't fill the cabinet very well - you end up with dead space on either side of the display - great for hiding buttons, but sort of waste of space in my opinion.

A typical LCD is about an inch thick, once decased. They usually have extra stuff on the back of them, farther in toward the middle of the display, but around the edges you have some room to work. As long as you get the front edge of the display up against the glass, you can get the buttons mounted in the typical location.

At the the back end of the cabinet, you can have the display farther away from the glass (thus the glass and display don't slope up at the same angle - the display is about 6 degrees, and the glass is about 8 degrees). The end result is buttons in a comfortable location, and the illusion of depth is still pretty reasonable.

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got my 24vdc meanwell psu (for power knocker :D) today and 2 inhouse LED strobes (gstav style).

DSC01697%252520%252528Large%252529.JPG

love the intensity of these little 24-LED panels, just perfect for inhouse mounting.

DSC01700%252520%252528Large%252529.JPG

here you can see my relay and connector board, fully loaded :D

2011-06-21%25252015h52_40.png.jpg

I will use 24pin ATX mainboard extension cables for plugable flasher sets.

DSC01692%252520%252528Large%252529.JPG

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