56 replies to this topic

[BzZziLLa]

Come one, come all! Feast your eyes on this puddle of crap that I’m going to turn into pure awesomeness! This is my virtual pinball project!

 

I picked up a gutted Gorgar cabinet for 50 clams off of craigs (no pinballs were killed to make this machine!). It was missing the plunger, glass, legs, lockbar, and trim around the coin machine. That cabinet itself wasn't in the best shape and the backbox has some veneer issues. All in all, I got what I paid for. But I can definitely work with it! So sit back and enjoy the tedious and grueling show!

 

 

 

 

In order to get this party started, I needed to get out the gorilla wood glue, wood filler, clamps and a finish nail gun.

 

Yea, I know what you're all thinking.. There's nothing sexy about this work.. But it's foundational!.. We'll get to the good stuff later, don't worry!

 

Now it's time for my BFF's: bondo and an orbit sander!!!

 

I needed to continue securing and reinforcing the bottom of the cabinet, glue down some of that crappy veneer, and begin fixing those destroyed corners.

 

wood glue underneath the veneer and some straps to hold it in place:

 

MMM I'm getting a bondo buzz:

 

My BFFs!

 

Working on that corner with some bondo:

 

Securing that edge and corner with some trim. (it'll still need a couple layers of bondo)

[BzZziLLa]

I'm in the process of smearing a really thin layer of bondo over the cracking veneer and sanding it down. I have to do this for the entire backbox

Edited by BzZziLLa, 14 December 2014 - 04:43 PM.

[BzZziLLa]

Now.. onto some more technical notes.

I picked up a 37" 1080p Vizio off of Craigs for $128 (Yes, I know it's an odd amount. I talked the guy down to all that I had in my wallet at the time.) Hopefully, this will suffice for the playfield screen.

I also have a 32" and a 26" flatscreen laying around here for the backbox. I'm not sure which one I'm going to use yet. The 26" has a considerably brighter backlight than the 32", but also runs much hotter.

For the PC, I'm running a modified Dell with a core 2 quad  Q8200 @2.33. It has 3gb of ram and Windows 7 professional installed. I also put in a 500w EVGA psu and a geforce gtx 550 ti.

I believe that these specs should suffice for this project. Especially since the idea isn't to drop a ton of cash on it. I have other bad habits that I need to support as well

[mrarcade]

I am a fan of many of the old pin cabinet art, Gorgar has great art! Do you plan to save the art or are you planning custom art?

[nickbuol]

I am a fan of many of the old pin cabinet art, Gorgar has great art! Do you plan to save the art or are you planning custom art?

 

I was wondering the same thing.  I posted this on the BYOAC forums in response to this thread over there:

 

Wow. Quite the undertaking. I always get nervious when I see plywood spliting and separating, but you are taking it on like a champ.
Are you planning on trying to save the Gorgar on the sides or removing/filling/sanding that and going with something else?
Keep us posted.

Edited by nickbuol, 15 December 2014 - 01:46 PM.

[BzZziLLa]

 

I am a fan of many of the old pin cabinet art, Gorgar has great art! Do you plan to save the art or are you planning custom art?

 

I was wondering the same thing.  I posted this on the BYOAC forums in response to this thread over there:

 

Wow. Quite the undertaking. I always get nervious when I see plywood spliting and separating, but you are taking it on like a champ.
Are you planning on trying to save the Gorgar on the sides or removing/filling/sanding that and going with something else?
Keep us posted.

 

 

Great question... Yea, the bottom line is that the Gorgar art is just way too cool to destroy. The plan is to repaint the graphics on the main cabinet very carefully. And then my wife is going to make a stencil of the backbox devil so that we can recreate that graphic once I fix all the veneer issues.

 

If it was any other cabinet, I would probably say "screw the graphics." But skulls, fire, and devils are a trifecta of awesomeness.

[Nemo]

Ahhhh, i can almost smell the bondo ....... cool you're gonna keep the graphics, yeah Gorgar is awesome.

Maybe you can 'gore' it up a bit later on with some additional artwork....reading that the wife is aboard too...

 

More pics please !

[nebrunner]

Awesome project.  Good on you for giving it a try, at some point you may wish you had just bought some wood and started from scratch but I bet you will be happy when it all turns out great at the end!

[STAT]

when will you be finish ?

[BzZziLLa]

Ahhhh, i can almost smell the bondo ....... cool you're gonna keep the graphics, yeah Gorgar is awesome.

Maybe you can 'gore' it up a bit later on with some additional artwork....reading that the wife is aboard too...

 

More pics please !

 

Yea the wife is on board lol. Oddly enough, she keeps pushing for more obnoxiously large arcades and pinballs. She wants a shooting arcade next! Unfortunately, I have to put my foot down after this given that I still have other unfinished projects sucking up space. I have a bad habit of completing projects about 85% of the way and then moving onto the next.

 

Awesome project.  Good on you for giving it a try, at some point you may wish you had just bought some wood and started from scratch but I bet you will be happy when it all turns out great at the end!

 

Yea, I already do wish that I just built one from scratch. I'm currently sketching out the plans to cut out access doors in back of the cabinet and backbox. But at the end of the day, I'm saving a bunch of time just modifying this cabinet.

when will you be finish ?

 

I have a couple weeks off between xmas and new years. I'm going to power through as much of this as possible.

 

With that said, I still have the software to deal with and I'm extremely anal with how my front ends look. So who knows.

[Nemo]

Wow ! Where DID you find your wife ?? Extremely rare to have the wife as an Arcade motivator.......you're lucky !

And a second wow for your arcade, nice ! Yeah i know EXACTLY how a good frontend is key for the whole experience.

[BzZziLLa]

Here's a link to my unfinished racing cab build thread:

 

http://forum.arcadec...c,140213.0.html

 

I'm almost there. I just need to do a few more things. But the Gorgar VPin comes first

I should make some videos of my Ghostbusters themed mame cabinet. That's how this all got started!

[BzZziLLa]

Just some quick updates:

 

I finished up that rotted corner. It's been retrimmed, bondo'd, and sanded.

 

I have the veneer fixed in two out of three sides of the backbox. Lots of bondo and sanding. It's nice and smooth now!

 

The wife still needs to make stencil of this guy and then I'll sand and finish up this side. After that i'll work on sanding the back of the backbox.

 

The lockbar assembly was completely rusted together on the inside (not shown) and not functioning. I got that up and running with a hammer, WD40 and a little elbow grease.

 

I took apart the coin door and removed the stuff that I dont need. I also cleaned off the completely crusted coin inserts. It's looking somewhat decent now.

 

All in all, I've made some marginal progress, but there's still a ton to do.

[BzZziLLa]

Just some quick updates..

 

My legs, lockdown bar, plunger, and coin door trim has arrived. Got them all off a guy on ebay for reasonably good prices. I'm planning on spraying the legs tomorrow with some rustoleum hammered silver. If it turns out decent, I plan on spraying the side rails, plunger and coin door the same color.

 

I cut some fan holes and a door in the back of the cabinet. I also did the same for the back of the backbox, but I didn't take any pics yet (see note 3).

 

I have hyperpin and visual pin up and running. However, I'm not sure I'm feeling hyperpin. I've never put hyperspin on any of my mame cabs. That front end has never really been my cup of tea. I may keep hyperpin though. We'll see.

 

I was able to get my 3rd screen up and running with a usb to vga adapter. I bought it off tigerdirect for $25. It's a great solution for cheapskates.

 

Notes:

1. I built a drawer for the computer to slide in and out of the back door. But I didn't like it and I wasn't comfortable with the clearances. So it got scrapped.

 

2. I learned not to buy cheap hole saws. They suck and you'll just have to spend more money.

 

3. I also learned that you shouldn't practice making circles with a jigsaw on your cabinet. Fortunately, bondo and woodfiller cover up all my dirty little sins.

 

4. I lost my wedding ring somewhere in the garage while sanding the legs today. The wife isn't stoked.

 

5. It takes a significant amount of time setting up all the software, tables, and getting the artwork together. I originally tried to be cheap and just get the 10 or so free downloads a day. However, that proved to be a daunting task. Paying the money and being a supporter is far more efficient. It's worth every cent.

 

6. My ledwiz+gp is here but I'm still waiting on the buttons. I ordered the ultimate cab builders button kit. It was a little pricey, but I didn't feel like piecing together all the buttons and I need a couple for a different project. So it works out.

 

7. The TV I bought for the playfield doesn't auto detect a signal and it's seriously agitating me. I'm in the process of trying to find another one on craigslist. However, I'm running into a little resistence from sellers when I ask them to run a series of tests on the televisions lol..

 

8. Persistence is the key!

[BzZziLLa]

The backbox and the inside of the main cab are now primed.

 

I sprayed the legs and lockdown bar with some rustoleum hammered silver and was impressed with the results. I'll still need to do a light sanding and hit them with another coat. Then I'll work on the coin door, trim and side rails.

[atarian]

Great work and good to see a Gorgar cabinet almost unusable restored.

Most people use PinballX as their front end just in case you haven't checked it out already.

[BzZziLLa]

I did more spraying today on the coin door parts and the plunger. The coin door itself will need another coat.

 

My wife and I both agree that the imperfections from the hammered silver rustoleum is perfect. I should have taken more before and after pics.

Great work and good to see a Gorgar cabinet almost unusable restored.

Most people use PinballX as their front end just in case you haven't checked it out already.

Thanks dood! I'm still trying to figure out how much of the gorgar art i'm going to save. I want to keep the skulls and the devil on the backbox. I think I'll get rid of everything else.

[BzZziLLa]

Oh and thanks for the heads up on pinballx. However, most of the tutorials that I have been following are designed for hyperpin. So I'll probably end up sticking with it. I feel like I've come too far to turn back. And the reality is, It really isn't a bad frontend. I just feel like some of it is spotty. But what part of this project isn't spotty? lol...

 

This has literally been the most ambitious (and expensive) arcade project that I've worked on to date. Every square inch of the software and the cabinet itself needs attention. I feel like i've accumulated another dependent. lol

 

All in all, this project is a lot of fun. But I wouldn't be to do it without such a great community that offers help, builds these tools, and develops all the amazing tables.

[Nemo]

Nice progress here ! Dang ! I can see why you're happy with the hammered silver rustoleum ....... that looks stunning !

 

But most important question of m all........ did you find your wedding ring ??   

[BzZziLLa]

Nice progress here ! Dang ! I can see why you're happy with the hammered silver rustoleum ....... that looks stunning !

 

But most important question of m all........ did you find your wedding ring ??   

 

Nope. My ring is a goner. I'll have to pick another one up. The wife isn't stoked lol.