Unnamed (yet) pin: 46"/27"/DMD Widebody

[JaronSenna]

Hi All,

Like many before me, I have finally gathered enough courage to attempt a pincab build! It all started about 18 months ago when I decided that after years of dreaming I would make my own mame cabinet. And so I did (no build thread though), discovered Hyperspin as a frontend, then stumbled upon HyperPin, found the Cabinet forum, got the bug, and here I am!

I have thought long and hard about what to do with the cabinet and decided I wanted to build a williams widebody clone, because there are many examples for me to look at, but most importantly because it brings back great memories :-)

Not all the details have been worked out yet, but I will maintain this opening post with a bill-of-materials.

So, here goes:

Cabinet

- Williams Wide Body clone from 18mm (3/4") MDF (from the plans available on this forum)

- WMS Leg Set (Parts4Pinballs)

- Williams side rails set (Parts4Pinballs)

- Leg brackets (Parts4Pinballs)

Computer

- CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz - LGA1155 Socket - L3 6 MB

- CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B

- RAM: Team Elite DDR3 - 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) - DIMM 240-pin - DDR3 - 1333 MHz

- MoBo: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

- SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 Series - 60 GB

- GFX: Gigabyte GV N460OC-1GI - GF GTX 460 - 1 GB GDDR5 - PCI Express 2.0 x16

- PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W

- Playfield screen: Samsung UE46D5000PW - 46" full HD

- Backbox screen: 27" (not bought yet)

- DMD: RussDX's PinDMD and Pinled 20002 DMD

More details and pics soon. I plan to use several force feedback items, but haven't decided on all items yet.

The wood panels are cut and will be glued and screwed soon.

And finally: Thanks to this awesome community (and the VPForums peeps) for making this possible. Without being able to watch the work from the builders here (You know who you are! I won't name names as I will definitely forget very important people) and be able to ask all the n00b questions, I don't think I would have gotten to the point of making/attempting this build.

More stuff and pics soon!

[JaronSenna]

And I'm off, first woodwork has been done:

First cut the panels to size:

Then checked to see if the routed slots were wide enough for the TV to fit in. They weren't at first, so I had to recut the slots with a wider routerbit. Routing can be nervewrecking. My first real woodworking experience came last year when building an arcade cabinet. But with the help from my brother-in-law we've managed to do a pretty decent job I think:

Next, clamping it all together without permanently fixing the panels to see if the edges are straight, everything has the right dimensions and if the TV fits. It does:

And finally, glueing and screwing it all together. Had to do this in the livingroom as it is the only place in/around the house that has a really flat surface:

Learning the skills to build this thing is half the fun. That idea that I think I should be able to pull it off, but not really overseeing all the steps in the process makes this exciting. And that inevitably leads to experience. The thing about experience is that you get it, just after the moment you needed it :-) So, my lessons learned so far:

- I first cut the side panels for the cabinet with straight edges, because that allowed me to put two equally sized panels on top of each other and guarantee two equal panels. Then tried to cut the front edges at 45 degrees. And it turns out it is a lot easier to cut a large® panel in 2 at a 45 degree angle then trying to saw/scrape off a straight edge into a 45-degree edge.

- If you can set the cutting depth of the blade, make sure it is just deep enough. As said: I first cut through two panels stacked together, then tried to cut at 45-degrees through a single panel, but the blade was still set to depth for two panels, making the blade flexible and *very* hard to cut consistently straight as the blade starts to deform.

- I used angled clamps to hold together the 45-degree cut panels when glueing. Use big clamps as I immediately broke one when clamping it on the top of the cabinet. Since the sidepanel slopes up, the clamp does not properly fit and the force on the clamp caused it to break:

- Without those proper tools, I found it hard to align both sides of the corner properly and glue them together. I hope this comes out ok when dried, might need some filler later on:

[JaronSenna]

Hm, sorry about those images being sideways. They were taken with my mobile, the computer showed them right side up, but apparently something went wrong.

[DeeGor]

The MDF cabs look so smooth. I would have gone that route, but I was worried about how heavy it would end up being.

Looks great so far. Keep up the good work.

[njay]

Good work ... looking forward to seeing it action

Maybe some dutchies around here should setup a VP meet with bbq

[JaronSenna]

Thanks for the motivation people! I know from past projects that there will be a moment in my near future that I will wonder why I started this all. :-) But for now, I am stoked to get things going!

@Deegor: I was going to go for a completely smooth outside, no screwholes whatsoever, only glue. But, that I am afraid that might not be strong enough in the long term, so I did have to add a few extra supports here and there.

@NJay: That sounds like fun, although I am not sure I am looking forward to dragging this monster down the stairs once it's it completed :-)

[Spies]

Just use filler on the screw holes and sand them smooth.

[JaronSenna]

Yeah will do Spies, I was hoping to be able to prevent having to do that, because I just dislike filler and sanding :-)

Tonight, fit the TV again, the slots are routed a bit too deep, so will have to fill about 2 mm on either side, I think I saw various types of tape in other builds. In addition, tried to mount supports for the Tv, but an into a stubborn metal nut on one side. I noticed Bill55 had the same issue in his build. So, I guess I will have to put the Dremel to work, but I am a bit scared to mess up the TV screen with those glowing metal parts flying around...

[JaronSenna]

Question: Would this power supply be good as an "all in one" supply besides the PC PSU? According to the specs it supplies 5, 12 and 24V which is what is needed for the force feedback stuff. I am not using cree leds, but lower power ones I found on ebay. Then a shaker motor (pittman) which runs fine at 12V, maybe a wiper motor (12V) and probably a bunch of contactors (24V)

https://shop.strato.com/epages/61462015.sf/sec2a8f859665/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61462015/Products/42PP0608

I would love to have all power requirements be covered by one piece of hardware, but I am not sure if it would work as easy as it sounds?

[mattdavis]

Hi Jaron,

It seems to be cutting things close. The amp ratings are likely fudged 'best case' and at those numbers, it seems like a slim margin. I used a dedicated 24v and used a salvage PC power supply for 5v/12v (400w). It barely makes it, but I also have a car amp for audio running off of it.

Matt

[JaronSenna]

Thanks Matt. I will have to learn to crunch some numbers to calculate the power needed for this project, but I saw this one flying by and wondered if it was worth buying. Thanks for keeping me from spending 50 quid :-)

[mattdavis]

You might wait and see if one of the electrical experts reply before blowing it totally off, but I don't recall seeing anyone's build use a combined PS before - and 104w sure sounds tiny.

[JaronSenna]

It'll have to wait until the next paycheck anyway I'm afraid as I just placed an order for legs, brackets, coin door, side rails and some buttons :-)

[JaronSenna]

Although I was not able to work on the cab much this weekend, I did manage to use the dremel to cut off a metal nut from the TV that was in the way of adding extra support for the tv. Putting a Dremel rotating a metal cutting blade at 35000 rpm to a perfectly fine, brand new 46"tv is a bit nervewrecking, but it all worked out in the end. About 2/3rd into the cut, the blade came off the Dremel (maybe I applied too much force), but I was able to pry/bend the rest of the nut off. It is not a very neat cut (not enough light, one handed), but it works!

[JaronSenna]

Just bought a new spadebit tonight to drill holes for the buttons, plunger, etc. Now what's wrong with this picture? :-)

More to follow, the holes turned out quite nicely, but did not take pics yet...

[JaronSenna]

--- deleted --- more pictures, more info and an additional question added in the posts below...

[JaronSenna]

Made a bit of progress today. Most of the time was spent calculating, planning, measuring, measuring again and than: cutting holes of various sizes!

First the right side: flipper buttons, plunger and launch button. I first cut the holes for the flipper buttons. then calculated where the plunger could go so it would not interfere with the leafswitches and rgb leds on the buttons. I was so busy that I did not take a picture each step of the way :-(

First cut the holes for the plunger and the launch button. I measured the sizes with calipers, then used spadebits to cut the holes. Next connected the holes but milling and sanding with the Dremel so the metal plate from the plunger would fit.

Testfitting the button and plunger:

Putting all the buttons in and it fits nicely as planned:

At this point I realized I had not taken the playfield screen into account. I did a quick testfit and it turns out to all just fit. Lucky me. The plunger sticking in, is just barely below the tv screen. Not more then a few mm's...

Next, onto the other side, cut flipperbutton holes again, then went on to cut two holes for menu control (fplaunch). I am going to use these Starpoint 44mm buttons for fplaunch control and launch ball buttons. All white with a colored led behind it. The buttons are about 16mm high, and since I am using 18mm MDF, I decided to cut holes in the front panel of the cab and mount an additional piece of MDF behind it to mount the buttons onto.

And again I forgot to take something into account: this time the lockdown bar receiver mechanism:

So, I had to sand/mill a bit away using the Dremel again (what a nice piece of equipment that is!):

A quick testfit with the receiver mechanism in place:

This is how it looks from the front. I leaves just enough wood behind it to cut a hole for the button to stick through:

Fixed the plate:

Then put in all the buttons to see how it looks.

Next on: back of the playfield cabinet. I cut out two 19cm circles with the Dremel. Then put on the sander bit and sanded/cut the backside of each hole slightly larger. This way the fan's rim is nicely behind the wood when you look at it. From the rear of the panel the two fans are mounted with screws to the wood. These are not led-fans, I did not want light coming from them, there will be enough rom-driven leds to make up for it :-)

[JaronSenna]

I had some troubles adding more images to the previous post, so here goes again:

THen moved on to some minor work on the backbox:

Cut vent holes along the top of the backpanel:

Then cut out a slot in the top of the playfield cabinet and in the bottom of the backbox so cables can be routed from the PC to the electronics in the backbox later on:

Then put it all together, stand back and enjoy the results of the day:

I am quite happy with how this came out considering I do not have any real woodworking experience besides using the handsaw ;-)

I wonder if the passive ventholes in the backbox are enough or if I would need to add a big fan there as well (I'd rather not to be honest).

[MTPPC]

If you are pushing air in through the bottom, there is no where for that air to go but out your backbox holes. Although it would be ideal to have the air coming from the bottom in the front of the cabinet as long as you are getting circulation by the PC, you should be OK.

If you are sucking all the air out of the top of the back box and pushing it in below the back box, you might be creating a dead air zone right where you need the cooling most. Use one of those cheap touchless thermometer withlaser pointer to check it out when its good and heated up: http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-pocket-thermometer-93983.html

[JaronSenna]

Hi MTPPC, I have two large holes in the bottom at the front of the cab, one in each corner. But not actively pushing air in. In the back of the playfield cab I have two 200mm fans drawing air out. Then there is a slot to route cables to the backbox and the backbox with its 9 holes, also passive. So I guess the circulation is not very good in the backbox.. I could do measurements but if that means I have to start cutting holes in the backbox once its all painted and installed, I'd rather just put it now I guess..

[JaronSenna]

I decided to better be safe than sorry, so cut out a hole for a backbox fan. It looks so small on the photo, but it is a 20cm x 20cm fan, which should be enough I would think. I now have two in the back of the playfield cabinet and one in the backbox.

I cut out a hole slightly smaller than the outer ring of the fan, then used the Dremel to sand away a bit more from the backside so that the ring of the fan does not show when you look at it once its in place in the cab and cut out space for the notches on the fan where the screws attach the fan to the wood. Makes the look a bit cleaner I think:

[JaronSenna]

Made some progress again today. One of the things I added was a headphone connector. I want to be able to plug in headphones to play at night. The connector (a Lumberg KLBPSS 3) has two contacts that switch when the headphone is plugged in. Not sure yet how, but I want to utilise those to switch off the force feedback stuff somehow (I discussed that idea in this thread).

First drilled a small hole through and through. Then using a spade bit drilled a large hole from inside the cabinet. Once done, drilled a smaller hole from the front large enough the put the plug through:

I think I will hook the switch up to an arduino interrupt so that I can program the behavior.

Also handmade a speaker/dmd panel! That worked out quite nicely I believe. And added mains power plug and RJ45 connector on the back of the cab, but haven't made pics yet. They'll be posted later.

[mikekim]

looking good so far

[JaronSenna]

Thanks mike, now getting ready for paint. Although works seems to be getting into the way of progress a lot lately..

[JaronSenna]

Another bit of progress over the weekend: there is now a nice layer of black satin gloss paint on all the wood. It was a bit tricky to do it the way I wanted it as I am working on a small spare room with bad light at night :-) So, in the morning I found out there are some spots that were maybe not completely dust-free or properly sanded, so I will have to do some touching up soon.

So, the compulsory (lousy) picture :-)

Oh, and I added a metal strip in the playfield slot as it had a bit too much room to wiggle the screen (the shiny thing in the picture). This way it still slides in and out smoothly, but with less room to move.