297 replies to this topic

[Darkfall]

Hey, guys,

Not a ton to report this time. I mounted my backbox fans and grills, and cut the channels for the backglass plastics. I screwed up one fan by cutting the mounting tabs off of the wrong side (thus it would need to be mounted facing the wrong way, and that's no good). I just wasn't paying close enough attention. I've replaced the fan and cut the tabs off of the right side this time, so all is well *grin*.

Since my backbox doesn't have a speaker grill, the H-channel plastic needed to be modified into a U-channel, which I then screwed to the bottom of the backbox, ready for a top to bottom piece of glass to go in (which I will be ordering soon). I also channeled the top of the backbox for the display to slip into, so I don't have to see (or hide) 17mm worth of bezel.

The backbox is pretty much ready to paint, which I will do next - then I'll grab a new photo.

The extra parts I needed have been shipped, so I should see them early next week, I expect. I think the force-feedback solinoids are on their way, too. They emailed me to discuss shipping, but I haven't heard anything since, and their website doesn't have any sort of order tracking feature. Oh well - they'll show up at some point, I'm sure.

After the backbox painting, it's on to the body for filling and sanding and button holes, coin door, lock bar, side rails, legs, etc.

In the meantime, I've been preparing for the wiring. I bought resisters for the CREEs, some wiring channel, a DIN rail, a bunch of DIN rail terminals, etc. I've drawn up a schematic of the wiring, both for my future reference and to guide me during the build. Hopefully my wiring will turn out as nice as some of the other recent jobs I've seen. I expect it will - I'm a maniac about neatness, so it should come out ok - and I have a fair bit of wiring experience, which helps.

More pictures soon!

Edited by Darkfall, 14 July 2011 - 01:42 PM.

[Darkfall]

Hey, guys,

Finally got this thing painted! It needs one more coat to get the sides a little smoother for the laminate, but it looks pretty good.

I managed to get the leg brackets installed. What an ordeal! It must have taken me 2 hours to carefully get them lined up, drilled, removed, 2x2 half inserted between corner and brackets, remounted, tested. When I was told that these were notoriously difficult to install correctly, I sort of laughed. It's no joke - it's an operation with just basic hand tools!

I think I have most of what I need for wiring (slotted channel, wire, fuses, resisters, relays, diodes, DIN rail, DIN terminal blocks, connectors, etc.) so putting all of that together is likely in the near future.

For now, here's a photo of the cabinet so far:


You can see that all of the doors, locks, fans, grills, handles, hinges, etc. are all removed for painting (except the leg brackets - I wasn't about to remove and reinstall those again, damn't! *grin*. I just masked them, instead).

It's coming along!

[maxxsinner]

That has come up sweet Darkfall. Mine is getting a coat tomorrow and I agree it's a PITA to get so far only to have to remove everything again to paint. Dont know about you but I was not painting until I had all my holes and did a dry run with almost everything installed so it didn't need a recoat if I stuffed something up.

[Darkfall]

That has come up sweet Darkfall. Mine is getting a coat tomorrow and I agree it's a PITA to get so far only to have to remove everything again to paint. Dont know about you but I was not painting until I had all my holes and did a dry run with almost everything installed so it didn't need a recoat if I stuffed something up.

Hi, maxx,

Yeah, I was avoiding painting until I had most things installed. I don't have my front buttons and coindoor mounted yet (waiting on the custom lockbar still, so I can get positioning correct), but everything else cabinet-wise is done, so it was time to paint.

The electronics I haven't done anything with, other than the displays. They're all going to mount to the door on the bottom of my cabinet, for the most part, so I'm not too worried about those. My wiring will all be inside slotted channel that I will screw to the wood on each side. I do have to cut holes in the bottom for the subwoofer and stuff yet, too, I suppose. In theory, I should have waited a little longer to paint, but screw it - I wanted to get started on it *grin*.

[DedRok_V]

Patience my friend.

It can be very tempting.

Mine has stalled due to waiting for parts and such, but I also like to be able to play it.

Do you have something set up to play on while you wait?

Looks nice with all the black paint.

[Darkfall]

Patience my friend.

It can be very tempting.

Mine has stalled due to waiting for parts and such, but I also like to be able to play it.

Do you have something set up to play on while you wait?

Looks nice with all the black paint.

I play on the laptop now and then, but it's really no comparison to the big dual screens. My screens and stuff are all waiting to go into the cabinet. I could keep disconnecting and reconnecting them to my test computer, but it's a pain to drag everything up and down the stairs over and over.

I should be able to play the machine in a couple of weeks, I expect. I'm getting closer now *grin*.

Thanks on the compliment - it's getting there! I put the door in the bottom back on today. It needs another coat on the sides that will be receiving laminate, but I think paint is pretty close to done.

[Darkfall]

Hey, guys,

The wiring begins...

This is a relay board that drives the solenoids via the LEDWiz. 8 relays for 8 solenoids (flippers, slingshots, and 4 bumpers). The relays are 5 volt coils, since I'm driving the LEDWiz at 5 volts, with the diode across the coil to prevent any backlash when the relay is released. The contact side of the relay is 12 volts to drive the solenoids. I've connected the 12 volt lines all together (orange jumpers), and the 5 volt lines all together (green jumpers), with the grounds going to the LEDWiz on one side and solenoids on the other.

The board will have terminal blocks on it, but I forgot to pick them up - so that'll be tomorrow.

[Flying Dutchman]

Great one Darkfall!

Biiiiiiig advantage is that you're able to keep the valuable Grill Art for each Table individually, and not loosing out on a Full Screen Backglass experience!

Really nice!

Indeed, as you said, there's NO WAY to compare a FS Big Screen game-play to a single screen experience!
Got mine almost finished .. and can't keep my hands of it!

Cheers,
FD.

[Darkfall]

Heya, FD,

Yes - the ability for the backglass to reconfigure to anything it needs to be - LED, DMD, speaker grill, no speaker grill, no score displays at all, etc. helps me get as close as possible to the original table's look. I love it.

I'm so looking forward to getting it playable! I'm jealous that you're done already!!

I finished the relay board for the solenoids. It came out awesome!


Added terminal blocks and added jumpers from the second relay on each side to reach the other terminal. Also added labels and put on a terminal block for the +5 volt and +12 volt connections.

I tested everything - it works perfectly.

[chriz]

very nice! I love the mini sticker

[Darkfall]

very nice! I love the mini sticker

Thanks, Chris.

I used a little Brother label maker for them. I already had the label maker for labeling network jacks and stuff on the job, so it was natural to use it for this, too *grin*.

[Darkfall]

The resister board for the CREE backbox flashers is done. Yay!


One terminal block on each side per CREE (3 terminals for red, green, and blue channels).

[mameman23]

may of missed it, but where are you planning on mounting your speakers?

[Darkfall]

may of missed it, but where are you planning on mounting your speakers?

You caught me!

I hadn't figured that out until recently. They'll go on top with the flashers in a topper that I haven't built yet.

[DedRok_V]

Just have the wires going to your surround sound stereo. (Assuming you'll have one where the pin is)

[Darkfall]

Just have the wires going to your surround sound stereo. (Assuming you'll have one where the pin is)

That would sound good, but I want to have the machine be independent, so it doesn't have to rely on anything to operate. I need a place to put the flashers and heatsinks anyway, so a topper with speakers seems like a natural fit. The speakers are tiny (tore apart an old Logitech 2.1 speaker system and stole the speakers out of it). It should work out ok.

I do plan to have a headphone jack on the machine, though, so I could connect it to an external stereo. The jack is primarily for night mode, so I can play and not drive people crazy while they're trying to sleep. There'll be a switch to disable the solenoids and stuff, too, for the same reason.

[Flying Dutchman]

Darkfall .. you could put the speakers on top like Gottlieb did in 1990 ..

Cheers,
FD.

EDIT: Ooops .. Just read that you suggested something like this yourself ..

Attached Files

•  Title_Fight___Gottlieb___1990.jpg   189.03KB   59 downloads

Edited by Flying Dutchman, 26 July 2011 - 07:42 AM.

[Darkfall]

Darkfall .. you could put the speakers on top like Gottlieb did in 1990 ..

Cheers,
FD.

EDIT: Ooops .. Just read that you suggested something like this yourself ..

Haha - yes, something like that, only smaller, with flashers on top of it. I got the materials to build that part today, so hopefully I can do something with it this week and see how it turns out.


Hi guys,

Screwed all of the electronics to the bottom door today, and put all the slotted channel in there. I have two more slotted channel pieces to go down the sides of the machine, to get wires to the front and back cleanly, too.

The powerbar is one of the "green" models that will turn off the LED/Solenoid power supply, two displays, and speakers when the PC shuts down, and power them back up again when the PC turns on. I'll need to add an additional outlet for the speakers - there's only 3, and I need 4 total.

Here's a photo, so far:


I used All Round strapping to mount the PC's power supply, SSD, and support the video card. The DIN rail is too long yet (obviously), but I'll cut it down - it's just late here, and I don't imagine anyone sleeping in the house will be impressed if I start cutting a piece of metal at 1am *grin*.

[blur]

for small speakers to have them on top and still keep square look of the cab you can do something like gottlieb did in 80's on amazing spiderman and panthera:

You could even make a theme cab that would be complete imitation of one of these pinballs.

I think that would look much better then full size dmd speakers.
If you want to totally hide speakers you can put them on the sides of backglass and maybe sub under the palyfield.

Edited by blur, 26 July 2011 - 08:21 AM.

[Darkfall]

for small speakers to have them on top and still keep square look of the cab you can do something like gottlieb did in 80's on amazing spiderman and panthera:

You could even make a theme cab that would be complete imitation of one of these pinballs.

I think that would look much better then full size dmd speakers.
If you want to totally hide speakers you can put them on the sides of backglass and maybe sub under the palyfield.

Hi, Blur,

Yeah, something like that is in mind. I'll be able to show off my plans shortly.