dreamaholic Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 This build may sound familiar to a few people who saw it on the VP Cabinet forum some time ago. I actually started it 2 years ago, but was forced to abandon it due to a series of health and financial issues (I was also forced to sell my Junk Yard pinball machine). As if that wasn't enough, I had a serious flaw with my cabinet that had me ready to quit. This summer I have been able to resume the project and now am very excited as I can see it starting to take shape. A lot has changed in 2 years - Zebulon's been particularly busy! For some reason no computer in my house will connect to the VP site - must be a router or firewall thing but I can't figure it out. Anyway, I thought I would post the build here since I've been a member here for some time and have no trouble connecting to the site. I currently own White Water, Scared Stiff, Creature From The Black Lagoon, and Popeye pinball machines. The VP cabinet allows me to play all the other games I love but can't afford nor have the space for. Here's some background on the build. I'm not a woodworker, so I found a gutted Lethal Weapon 3 cabinet on Craigslist that included glass, coin door, lockdown bar, backbox hinges, legs and bolts, and gun plunger. I was originally going to design the theme around the gun plunger, but then I saw Doug Hafner's Monster Arcade steampunk mame cabinet and I was hooked. I love steampunk (I've attended a couple of Steamcons in Seattle) and wanted to take mine in a similar direction. I love mods and toys on my other machines, so adding steampunk items felt like a perfect fit. I sold the coin door on eBay (since I didn't need it), which pretty much paid for the cabinet. I still have the gun plunger but I won't be using it for this build. The build is happening in 3 stages. Stage 1 is design, cabinet prep, PC and screen installations; stage 2 is steampunk elements installation; stage 3 is force feedback elements installation. Here it is broken down into sections. Pics to follow... Stage 1: cabinet prep, PC, and screens PC components Windows 7 Professional 64-bit MSI P67A-G43 Motherboard Intel I5-2500K Quad-core Processor GSKILL Ripjaws 8GB DDR3 SDRAM GTX 460 !GB EVGA card GE Force 8400 1GB EVGA card Antec HCG-750 ATX 750W 12V Power Supply Crucial M4 2.5" 64GB SATA3 SSD HP Lightscribe SATA DVD burner Netgear Wireless Adapter USB Mouse USB Keyboard Smart Powerstrip I-pac keyboard emulator Screens 37" Panasonic TC-L37U3 IPS-Alpha LCD 28" Hann-g Vishay Orange DMD + PinDmD board (was originally to be a 17" monitor) Cabinet features Cherry veneer side panels, front panel, and backbox side panels Brass-plated legs/lockdown bar/side rails/backbox hinges Front drawer glides allowing PC access through the front panel DMD speaker panel with 4" Infinity speakers Inifinity Subwoofer Pioneer amplifier 4 cooling fans Clear flipper buttons Toggle switches, 12V lighted Stage 2: Steampunk elements Tesla Sphere Model T Master Vibrator Buzz Coil Edison Bulbs Color changing LED bubblers Vintage pressure gauges Copper tubing Vintage faucet handles Clock gears Vintage electrical gauges Vintage knife switch Victorian door knob plunger Bristol cast iron counter with skeleton key other items that may or may or may not make it into the build Radio tubes WWII Mark 14 torpedo gyroscope Weeden steam engine 1905 6.5" altitude gauge Stage 3: Force feedback (not purchased yet) Zeb's booster boards Zeb's shaker/gear motor LEDwiz 7 Siemens 24V contactors 24V power supply Extra 12V power supply Zeb's LED light bar The flaw in the cabinet that I mentioned above occurred when moisture got to it and my veneer bubbled up away from the cabinet. I was ready to quit, but decided to just roll with it. I explain it as "the effects of space-time travel on the exterior of the cabinet." Currently I have painted the inside of the cabinet and I'm creating scale drawings so that I can get all my "toys" fitted properly. Many thanks to Zebulon, Rawd, mameman23, maxxsinner, DedRok_V, and Darkfall who provided initial guidance with my build over on the VP forum 2 years ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeychunkuk Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I love these steam punk builds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeGor Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Sounds cool. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mameman Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Gonna be cool WWW.Xtremepinball.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamaholic Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 Gonna be coolWWW.Xtremepinball.com I'll probably contact you for a custom CNC job for the DMD/Speaker Panel in a couple of weeks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mameman Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Custom Dmd panel will be cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamaholic Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 Sorry I haven't updated this yet - I've caught a nasty cold I'm trying to shake, hopefully I will do so before I leave for Vegas on Thursday. Planning on visiting the Pinball Hall of Fame while I'm there... Should have an update early next week... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrneaar Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Pinball hall of fame is cool lots of machines but not what you would expect. Also beware of shady cab drivers and hooker on the way there I was there June 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltar420 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Looking like a sweet build. I love the steampunk look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebulon Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Pinball hall of fame is cool lots of machines but not what you would expect. Also beware of shady cab drivers and hooker on the way there I was there June 2012 Shady hooker???? Now I'm intrigued.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamaholic Posted October 3, 2013 Author Share Posted October 3, 2013 I'm back from Vegas, no shady hooker stories (sorry Zeb) this time. Loved the Pinball Hall of Fame, especially The Pinball Circus, which I found to be an intriguing and inspiring design. After I finish my virtual pin, I'd like to try building my own real upright pinball cabinet. I know it can be done, I've been following a guy's blog on building a 12V Bioshock pinball machine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamaholic Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Here's a crude mockup image of the front panel using Photoshop. The end result might look slightly different but you get the idea. The gauges light up with green LEDs, the toggle switches light up blue and are my game function "buttons". The plunger is a vintage victorian doorknob. The knife switch is really a "handle" that allows the PC components to pull out through the front on drawer glides. I might have one of the radio knobs control volume, not sure about the other knob. I'm now working on a mockup of the backbox... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxxsinner Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Nice one. Love the old knife switch. Edit: Had an idea about that second knob. My playfield LED's @700ma almost burn the eyes out of the back of my skull so I used a little breakout board to have the voltage controlled for all the playfield LEDs without having to put a variable resistor on each one. Just one resistive pot varies the voltage via the breakout board on all my LED's so I can dim them or make them brighter. Just a thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeGor Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 That's killer. I'm impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamaholic Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 Nice one. Love the old knife switch.Edit: Had an idea about that second knob. My playfield LED's @700ma almost burn the eyes out of the back of my skull so I used a little breakout board to have the voltage controlled for all the playfield LEDs without having to put a variable resistor on each one. Just one resistive pot varies the voltage via the breakout board on all my LED's so I can dim them or make them brighter. Just a thought Maxx, great idea! I was hoping to find a use for that knob as I like items to be functional and not just for show. Is it something I can pick up pre-made, or did you have to make it yourself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxxsinner Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 It's something I had made up, but I am happy to share. It's more than likely overkill for the job but with all my testing so far, it works a treat. Will send you a PM this weekend to discuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamaholic Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 It's something I had made up, but I am happy to share. It's more than likely overkill for the job but with all my testing so far, it works a treat.Will send you a PM this weekend to discuss. Looking forward to it, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamaholic Posted October 20, 2013 Author Share Posted October 20, 2013 And here's another crude Photoshop mockup of the backbox. The bubblers change color, the Edison bulbs light, and the plasma sphere not only works, but is also sound sensitive. Vintage radio cloth is used to hide the speakers, and a Root Counter is placed under the DMD - the Counter is used to set the "date" that the time machine will travel to. Or I may use it to simply count games played. The water pressure gauges will not actually be functional. The upper box is the "generator" that makes time travel possible and features wire mesh backlit with LEDs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireslayer26 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Update??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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