No name build thread 39/27/15

At present I have left a 1.5 inch gap between the glass of the TV and the glass of the cabinet, will this be fine for air circulation or do you guys think the play field will look too low?

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mjrhp · June 11, 2014

At present I have left a 1.5 inch gap between the glass of the TV and the glass of the cabinet, will this be fine for air circulation or do you guys think the play field will look too low?

That should be just fine in terms of appearance. I personally like some depth between the glass and TV, to approximate the playfield depth of an actual pinball. It gives it a more realistic, 3D appearance to my eye. In my setup, the TV is inset about 2" at the front and 4" at the back (it's less steeply sloped than the glass). As for air circulation, it looks like you're using an LED-backlit playfield TV, so I don't think heat should be much of an issue. Most LED TVs run pretty cool, and the part that generate heat are on the back side anyway, so air circulation in the main part of the cabinet is probably more important.

connorsdad · June 13, 2014

Small update.

Got the amp delivered today, tested it for a little while, it's not bad, certainly suitable for a pincab but wouldn't like to use it for listening to music, then again I did try it without a sub connected. Got the speakers fitted and the backdoor to the backglass cabinet finished.

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HazzardActual · June 17, 2014

lookin good man!

connorsdad · July 20, 2014

Look what came in the post

These are a work of art

I have a few questions regarding these boards I hope you guys maybe able to answer.

1. Am I right in thinking the ribbon cables connect to the "Low - Input" sockets on both boards?

2. Which board connects to which side of the ledwiz adaptor plate?

3. Am I right in thinking I don't actually wire anything direct to the ledwiz, except for the USB obviously

4. I see the connections for light bar leds, strobe, knocker etc, where would I connect my 12v rotating beacon?

5. Is there anyway I can test all my toys without first having to connect up my PC and running vp, maybe a wire that triggers the ledwiz?

6. No need for fuses or resistors, just install the bare wire into the terminal blocks?

7. How/where would I wire a 12v toggle switch to switch on/off the feedback devices (day/night mode) ?

Thanks

mikekim · July 20, 2014

I have a few questions regarding these boards I hope you guys maybe able to answer.

1. Am I right in thinking the ribbon cables connect to the "Low - Input" sockets on both boards?

yes

2. Which board connects to which side of the ledwiz adaptor plate?

left lower board, right upper board

3. Am I right in thinking I don't actually wire anything direct to the ledwiz, except for the USB obviously

correct

4. I see the connections for light bar leds, strobe, knocker etc, where would I connect my 12v rotating beacon?

if you are using the standard connections for the Virtual output board..

you can hook it up to port 16.. or share the strobe connection.

5. Is there anyway I can test all my toys without first having to connect up my PC and running vp, maybe a wire that triggers the ledwiz?

there is an led wiz test program that you can use to test the connections.

you could also direct connect power to the toys in turn to see if they work, just don't use too many volts on the leds

6. No need for fuses or resistors, just install the bare wire into the terminal blocks?

none what so ever -- they are already on the boards

7. How/where would I wire a 12v toggle switch to switch on/off the feedback devices (day/night mode) ?

you would have to ask Zeb on that one.

i'm sure there was a script that was accessed from the menu function on hyperpin that enabled night mode without the need for a physical switch

connorsdad · July 20, 2014

Thanks Mikekim, much appreciated

I'd prefer a hardware solution for the day/night mode.

connorsdad · July 20, 2014

Where is port 16 on the boards?

And which is the upper/lower board?

mikekim · July 20, 2014

Where is port 16 on the boards?
And which is the upper/lower board?

Port 16 will be labelled as 12v switched on the board with the contactors and coin buttons. . This is also the top board when you assemble them

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connorsdad · July 20, 2014

Again, thank you Mikekim

connorsdad · July 21, 2014

More questions for those of you that have built cabs.

I see most builds have the rgb flashers pointing straight at the player, to do this in my cab I would have to reduce the height of the bar itself, not much of a problem but is there any specific reason for doing this?

I tried it with the bar at an angle and with it in a flat position, please see the photos below. Is there any reason I shouldn't do this?

Also, what gap do you guys have between the edge of your lockdown bar and start of your screen? (Apron)

Your answers will help me with the final placement of the screen which I think is probably the most important aspect of the build.

Thanks

LapRocket · July 23, 2014

Also, what gap do you guys have between the edge of your lockdown bar and start of your screen? (Apron)

Your answers will help me with the final placement of the screen which I think is probably the most important aspect of the build.

Thanks

This is a question I would like to see the answer for. It would be nice to have the playfield run from the lockbar to the back of the cab. But from what i've seen on a standard cab with a max screen size of 39" that isn't possible without shortening the cab. Is there a reason people leave the gap in the front of the cab as opposed to the back of the cab? Would it look any good if you brought the screen to the front had a piece of wood or wider bezel in the back with your lights facing towards the player.

I'm really curious to see how this table builds out. Looking great so far, keep up the good work.

mjrhp · July 23, 2014

Also, what gap do you guys have between the edge of your lockdown bar and start of your screen? (Apron)

This is a question I would like to see the answer for. It would be nice to have the playfield run from the lockbar to the back of the cab. But from what i've seen on a standard cab with a max screen size of 39" that isn't possible without shortening the cab. Is there a reason people leave the gap in the front of the cab as opposed to the back of the cab? Would it look any good if you brought the screen to the front had a piece of wood or wider bezel in the back with your lights facing towards the player.

I posted my thoughts about this here: http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=28354 (message #9 in the thread). To summarize, many people push the screen back to make room for the plunger. That's what drove my design. If no front gap is your #1 priority, you can compromise on plunger position or having a plunger at all, but I didn't want to compromise on those, so I went with the setback. I initially had the same reservations you have about it, but once I got it built, I rather liked the look. Having a physical apron matches the geometry of a real machine better. It's another little detail (like a sunken playfield TV) that helps it seem more real and less video game.

As for putting all the space at the back, you could always give it a try and see how you like it (assuming you don't have the plunger constraint), but I expect it would look lopsided. A 39" monitor in a standard cab leaves about 8" overall to fill, so putting all of it at the back might look unbalanced. The flasher panel would look kind of lonely with all that space to itself. Maybe you could get creative and find some toys besides just the flasher panel to fill the space - maybe there's something unusual that would fit your theme that would work there.

LapRocket · July 23, 2014

I posted my thoughts about this here: http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=28354 (message #9 in the thread). To summarize, many people push the screen back to make room for the plunger. That's what drove my design. If no front gap is your #1 priority, you can compromise on plunger position or having a plunger at all, but I didn't want to compromise on those, so I went with the setback. I initially had the same reservations you have about it, but once I got it built, I rather liked the look. Having a physical apron matches the geometry of a real machine better. It's another little detail (like a sunken playfield TV) that helps it seem more real and less video game.
As for putting all the space at the back, you could always give it a try and see how you like it (assuming you don't have the plunger constraint), but I expect it would look lopsided. A 39" monitor in a standard cab leaves about 8" overall to fill, so putting all of it at the back might look unbalanced. The flasher panel would look kind of lonely with all that space to itself. Maybe you could get creative and find some toys besides just the flasher panel to fill the space - maybe there's something unusual that would fit your theme that would work there.

Thanks for the response. I'm definitely going with a plunger/launch button combo and would like the plunger in the standard position. There are so many choices to make and things to do, for me that is part of the fun. Out of curiosity how is your plunger working, there seems to be quite a few complaints about the current plungers on the market.

mjrhp · July 23, 2014

Thanks for the response. I'm definitely going with a plunger/launch button combo and would like the plunger in the standard position. There are so many choices to make and things to do, for me that is part of the fun.

Absolutely! This project has been a blast, but it would have been a nightmare if I just wanted a working machine right away. I'm eight months in now. You definitely have to approach it in a journey-is-the-reward kind of way.

Out of curiosity how is your plunger working, there seems to be quite a few complaints about the current plungers on the market.

Did you see my post here? http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=28313. I did try one of the ready-made kits and wasn't completely happy with it, although I think most people would find it acceptable. The kits are a heck of a lot easier than what I'm attempting, and they handle the basic job of launching the ball okay. I'm just being really, really picky about everything about this project. The problem I had with the kit was that it wasn't precise enough for the tables with really twitchy skill shots. I have a real Whirlwind that has just such a twitchy skill shot, so I've come to appreciate that part of the real pinball experience and wanted very much to replicate it in my virtual setup. That's an important part of why I wanted a physical plunger so much in the first place.

Anyway, I'm pretty convinced my design is going to work. I'm already pretty satisfied with the plunger part - that's all but done (on the device side, at least - there's still the matter of modifying individual tables to work with it, which I hope to get down to a science). Right now I'm mostly working on the analog nudging. I've already got that in pretty good shape, too, but it's still not quite realistic enough for my taste. I think I have a path to get there; it'll take a little more work on the microcontroller software before I'll know if I've found the right approach.

As I said in the referenced thread, I'm going to publish my plans for anyone else to duplicate once I have this all working, so there'll be an alternative out there for you if one of the kits doesn't do it for you.

connorsdad · July 23, 2014

Absolutely! This project has been a blast, but it would have been a nightmare if I just wanted a working machine right away. I'm eight months in now. You definitely have to approach it in a journey-is-the-reward kind of way.
Did you see my post here? http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=28313. I did try one of the ready-made kits and wasn't completely happy with it, although I think most people would find it acceptable. The kits are a heck of a lot easier than what I'm attempting, and they handle the basic job of launching the ball okay. I'm just being really, really picky about everything about this project. The problem I had with the kit was that it wasn't precise enough for the tables with really twitchy skill shots. I have a real Whirlwind that has just such a twitchy skill shot, so I've come to appreciate that part of the real pinball experience and wanted very much to replicate it in my virtual setup. That's an important part of why I wanted a physical plunger so much in the first place.

Anyway, I'm pretty convinced my design is going to work. I'm already pretty satisfied with the plunger part - that's all but done (on the device side, at least - there's still the matter of modifying individual tables to work with it, which I hope to get down to a science). Right now I'm mostly working on the analog nudging. I've already got that in pretty good shape, too, but it's still not quite realistic enough for my taste. I think I have a path to get there; it'll take a little more work on the microcontroller software before I'll know if I've found the right approach.

As I said in the referenced thread, I'm going to publish my plans for anyone else to duplicate once I have this all working, so there'll be an alternative out there for you if one of the kits doesn't do it for you.

I read about your plunger mod the other day, I'll be dropping the way I was going to do it and following your method instead as soon as you have nudging sorted

zebulon · July 23, 2014

This will turn off the upper board.

No name build thread 39/27/15

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