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Did anyone make a scaled-down vpin cabinet?


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Hi there,

Did anyone make a scaled-down pin cab yet?

A 26" for playfield with a 21" 4:3 monitor at 90 degrees as both backglass and DMD should give decent proportions, and be affordable (if you can find a second hand 21" 4:3).

Throw in a mini-ITX setup in the back box, and you have a bartop vpin :)

With some hinges on the back box you could even make it 'foldable', to stow it away when not in use.

Until I have a lot more space I will not have room for a full size pin. But this could work.

Has something like that been done?

Cheers,

Frode

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A 19" 4:3 non rotated with a 26" PF would be good and 19" 4:3 monitors are far easier to find than 21", which are rather rare.

You will have a sufficient footprint inside the cab for either a microATX or standard ATX PC. Just mount everything on a sliding shelf/drawer so you can pull it out at the back to access.

As others have said there are quite a few examples on MiniPins here that you'll find with a bit of searching. Mine is here: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?7848

Keep in mind that you have a very small space to work in so you need to carefully design the cabinet to ensure you have easy access to all the internals.

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Thanks, those cabinets look great!

Inspired by Swaffar I downloaded sketchup, and have been trying to figure it out today..

The 19" screen on OzStick's cab fits really well, but don't you miss the DMD?

Figured out a 21" 4:3 rotated would be a bit too tall, but it works well non rotated. A bit wider than the playfield, but that just looks cool.

First sketchup experiments:

post-23425-142870575892_thumb.png

As I cannot have this thing out permanently, I think I'd prefer to put it on a table, rather than have it stand on its own feet, and if possible I would like to throw the computer in the back box.

Then I could make the boxes easily separable, with only usb + dvi connecting them. (No fancy leds or shakers on this one)

The back box might have to be bigger to fit the graphics card though. (Currently 11cm free behind the monitor, and 15x36cm on the floor.)

Still just playing with the thought of doing this, need to look closer at the hardware specs and budget.

Edit: Those speaker panels would have to be fake, as the monitor is immediately behind them:) I guess the speakers would have to go behind or on top of the backbox with this layout..

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I thought about doing that as well... but many LCD/LED monitors have built in speakers that are very small. About 2cm thick. They probably don't sound the best, but at least you'd have sound coming from the speaker grills.

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Hi there,

Did anyone make a scaled-down pin cab yet?

A 26" for playfield with a 21" 4:3 monitor at 90 degrees as both backglass and DMD should give decent proportions, and be affordable (if you can find a second hand 21" 4:3).

Throw in a mini-ITX setup in the back box, and you have a bartop vpin :)

With some hinges on the back box you could even make it 'foldable', to stow it away when not in use.

Until I have a lot more space I will not have room for a full size pin. But this could work.

Has something like that been done?

Cheers,

Frode

check my thread m8

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The 19" screen on OzStick's cab fits really well, but don't you miss the DMD?

Actually on mine it's only a 17" - you don't really "miss" the DMD as I used as many 2 screen backglass images as possible and for those tables without one I made a mask to mimic the speaker/DMD panel and rescaled the backglass image so it all fit into a 1280x1024 image. It actually worked out quite well.

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I thought about doing that as well... but many LCD/LED monitors have built in speakers that are very small. About 2cm thick. They probably don't sound the best, but at least you'd have sound coming from the speaker grills.

Don't use the speakers you get in the monitors, they are underpowered and will sound very crappy!!!

Drill a radial array of holes in the TOP panel of the backbox and mount a decent pair of speakers inside pointing up. To deflect the sound forward you could use a small sheet of acrylic/perspex and if you're really creative, make it act as a topper and have it etched with the cabinet's name and attach an LED strip to the bottom of it so the acrylic sheet gets flooded with light. Something like this would be perfect:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/j292-b-Diner-Cafe-Restaurant-Food-Bar-Neon-Light-Sign-/180686636332?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item2a11c3452c

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Thanks for the replies guys.

Njay: Both your cabs look sweet. I want a bartop mamecab at one point as well. (Did a full size mamecab in 2005, but gave it away when I moved abroad..)

I see it works well enough to have the DMD on top of the backglass image as well..

OzStick: Ok mixed up the sizes there.. I understand there are several options as to how to arrange the screens/DMD then.

I agree about the built-in speakers, I'd prefer some separate ones. And pointing them upwards should be ok. (We'll se about the logo on top..)

Had another go at Sketchup, and set up a 19" monitor next to the 21" to compare.

post-23425-142870576008_thumb.png

Either would work, not sure which one I prefer.

The backglass would be of slightly wider proportions with the 19".

Which one do you think matches common backglass image proportions best?

Edit: Updated picture, now with exactly 2/3 size DMD.

Cheers,

Frode

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Uh... just one comment.

It looks like all your buttons are going to be intersecting with your playfield as is. Here are some sketchup models to help you out:

Normal style (happ) pushbuttons with microswitch http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=c3f1b694aa71693cc55401b1d5d323&prevstart=0

Goldleaf buttons http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=a8a46e3c8c81453912fabb57e5338d2&prevstart=0

The goldleafs are a new product from Andy over at ultimarc.com They have the benefit of being leaf switches without requiring all that space in the cab. I recommend them, especially for your project.

http://www.ultimarc.com/goldleaf.html

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  • 1 year later...

Well, a few days was an understatement.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30639[/ATTACH] (Larger version)

Thought about doing a hybrid miniature pin and bartop mame cab. It could work, but it will not be pretty...

The attached example uses 23" 16:9 and 17" 4:3 monitors, and detachable control panel that goes on top of the 17" LCD.

Still don't have a good solution for the pinball buttons though. Are there any less deep button alternatives? (I can sacrifice some realism in the button 'feeling')

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Still don't have a good solution for the pinball buttons though. Are there any less deep button alternatives? (I can sacrifice some realism in the button 'feeling')

In that YouTube clip by GuruBrew in the first few minutes you see the parts he got off Arcade Spareparts in Hong Kong (think it is eBay) which he mentions at 5 minutes into the clip. The buttons he has are micros that are press fit. Take a look might be what you are after.

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Thanks guys!

Polemicist: Perfect, they only extend 12,3mm below the surface! (Plus some for the switch terminals).

I also found the Sanwa OBSN-30. These extend 18,5mm below the surface, including terminals, and should be a bit easier to mount.

If I go ahead with this, I'll be ordering a few of each type :)

Rebelmaverick: Cool little cab, I'm sure the 5 month old kid loves it :)

Mameman: You're such a tease.. What size monitors are those? Because of you I will one day cave in and buy a CNC machine!

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