20 replies to this topic

[Fusionwerks]

I've been lingering around other topics while i got a grip on the software side of things and have moved on to the actual build process, so here it goes:

 

I will provide links to some stuff, so if your interested you can find them.

 

PC Specs:

 

Processor: Intel i5 3470 3.2 ghz quad core

Motherboard: Asus p8h61-m le/csm r2.0

Memory: 16 gb DDR3 1600

GPU: EVGA GEforce 1060 6gb

SSD: Samsung 250 gb

PS: 750w

 

Monitors:

 

Playfield: Samsung 40" 4k UN40MU6300 (Which BTW is 20.5" decassed)

Backglass: Samsung 32" LED Hand-me-down

DMD: 15" El-Cheapo VGA monitor. A gift from the IT dept at work

 

Force feedback:

 

Contactors: (10) Siemens 3RH1140-1BB40 24V (not the "must have" model number, but i got them for about $8/ each)

 

Shaker Motor: (1) Buehler 12V - 3200 RPM Heavy Duty Dual Shaft Motor (awesome replacement for the illusive Pittman 9414H255-R2 suggested by Darkfall)

 

Gear motor: (1) 12v Radio Shack robotics gear motor (i will probably upgrade this, but i wanted to make sure i really wanted one, and to test in DOF)

 

Flashers: (5) 3W RGB Stars (same as gtxjoes tutorial)

 

Strobes: (2)  22 LED strobes (bought the 4 pack in case i want to use the other 2)

 

Beacon: (1) Xprite High Intensity Red Blue Revolving beacon (this one actually pisses me off because it has 2 modes, strobing, and rotate. By default it is strobing and uses a momentary switch that connects to ground and then changes to spin mode. So until i figure out how to lock it in spin mode, its just going to strobe red/blue)

 

Controllers:

 

Freedom KL25Z

Pinscape expansion board

Pinscape Power board

Pinscape AEDR-8300 Plunger

 

 

Misc Parts:

 

Fans: (5) Arctic F12 120mm (sold in a 5 pack for $21.50)

 

Power Supplies: (1) 24V 10A 250W

                           (1) 12V 10A 120W

 

Power switching relay: DROK 30A 12v

 

Terminal strips: 12 Position terminal strip with common barrier jumpers (sold in a 5 pack for $15.95)

 

Standoffs: PCB Board Mount Leg Feet L Post

 

[Fusionwerks]

So, I've been lacking in the picture process, but here are some up till last night. Now its down to sanding, painting, sanding, painting...

I've made my decision this morning that i will add the magna-save flippers, so im gonna have to drill those tonight.

I actually purchased an empty cabinet before i started this project, sight unseen, but the owner said it had side rails, lockdown bar, glass and legs, which was cheaper than if i had bought them new. I was going to use the original cabinet, but it was a weird shape, and i couldn't figure out why. It had the standard width, but the length, and the angle was way different from other machines. I found a faded old tag stuffed between some aluminum in the backbox that gave me some numbers. after some research, i found out it was a 1980 Game Plan "Pinball Lizard" The company only made a handful of machines, and I think they had different dimensions. I just desired to build my own cabinet rather than hack up the old one. I only payed $100 for it, so it more than made up for the parts it gave me. The lockbar fit, and the siderails needed a bit of adjustment since the flipper holes were way too big. You can see in the pics how i cut them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 23 October 2017 - 08:50 PM.

[hlr53]

Very nice

[whynotpizza]

this looks very nice indeed! great job so far!

[Fusionwerks]

More pics

 

 

 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 15 February 2018 - 02:58 PM.

[Fusionwerks]

OK, i dont know how i did it, or how i didn't notice i did it until last night when i got the old legs back from being sand blasted clean, but it seems i drilled all 4 leg holes the same height. Cant change it now, but it will bug me that the bottom of the cabinet doesn't have that signature slight pitch. I figured i have 4 options. I could crank up the back legs, or cut some off the front and weld the base back on, or drill an additional hole higher than the top one and abandon the old bottom hole, OR just leave it. Probably go with option 4, because i wont be able to put in another corner brace in the front to drill new holes, as i already have the button holes drilled, and so far along in the paint process. I already had to cut 1" off the top of the 45 degree wood brace (you can barely see it in the second to last pic in the bottom left corner) in the cab for the bottom button. Their location was dictated by the really wide coin door off the donor machine. Regardless, it's disappointing because i hope for this to sit right next to a real machine some day and wanted them to appear identical. Probably just fretting about nothing.

 

Still haven't committed to drilling the Magna-save button holes yet, as i cant decide where i really want them to go. There are so many different locations people have put them. I guess i will wait and just get it back on its feet and find where i feel them to be most comfortable, and not in the way for the majority of the time that they are not getting used.

 

Anyway... Finally got tired of the roller marks and broke out the HVLP sprayer last night. My uncle didn't clean it out real good last time he used it, but i managed to get it cleaned up and working. Tough spraying latex even when thinned a bit. But i got 2 light coats of paint on last night. Weathers turning cold for a few days, so i will be stuck waiting on weather to be able to let it dry completely and sand before the final coat and polyurethane. I was hoping to spray it as well. Anyone got any suggestions on spraying poly?

Edited by Fusionwerks, 25 October 2017 - 01:58 PM.

[Fusionwerks]

Got a lot done this past weekend. Finished the paint and the clear coat, moved it from the shop to the garage and started assembly and some wiring, including the power relay to switch on the plug strip when the PC powers on. Its in the square grey box in the back corner. The power plug comes in from the bottom under it. Committed to the magna save buttons finally, Got my 5 LED flasher bar done and mounted including my handmade RGB flasher board that will connect to the pinscape board via a ribbon cable. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 31 October 2017 - 01:29 PM.

[Fusionwerks]

Bit more wiring last night, got the back box done and the flasher board i built wired up. Downside, I came to the realization last night that i did not paint the non removable part of back of the back box! It was sitting on its back the whole time and i never even thought about it. So tonight i guess the brush comes back out...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 01 November 2017 - 03:52 PM.

[Fusionwerks]

Little more wiring. Got the buttons wired, but not the button lights. I just cant seem to find a crimp on terminal that fits the flippers. Either too wide or too narrow. Considering soldering them on. My cable chase is starting to get pretty full... Changed out the power connectors on the Pinscape board to a 90 degree screw terminal plug. Worked out great, gets the wiring low and out of the way since its right inside the coin door. You can see it in the last picture. The over spray inside the cab is starting to bug me more and more. Wish i had just been patient enough to paint the inside considering how nice this is going to look after all the wiring is nice and tidy. Oh well, it's whats on the outside that counts right? Speaking of...

 

I've always had a thing for gears, and i knew the cab would have some sort of gear theme. Found this vinyl sticker online. Got it in white. I intend to slice it in half diagonally (same angle as side rails) and use half for each side. Its 57.25" x 20.5"

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 02 November 2017 - 01:49 PM.

[whynotpizza]

This is awesome!
I am trying to finish my woodworking so I can paint it before winter sets in (hard to get big chunks of time to get er done w family commitments!)
Can’t wait to move onto wiring...
I like what you did with mounting on the inside walls of the cab to maximize space
Also like the cable management running the inside length - where did u get that?

[Fusionwerks]

This is awesome!
I am trying to finish my woodworking so I can paint it before winter sets in (hard to get big chunks of time to get er done w family commitments!)
Can’t wait to move onto wiring...
I like what you did with mounting on the inside walls of the cab to maximize space
Also like the cable management running the inside length - where did u get that?

Thank you, it's been an adventure for sure. I had to race against weather too. I finished my wood work just as a cold front moved in for a few days, and of course it was on a weekend. luckily i have a shop with a large fireplace so i could go out early and start a fire and warm the place up to 70 degrees, then do some painting.

 

Don't get too excited about the wiring... i was and now i want to pull my hair out. My OCD forces me to make things look nice and tidy, but it also makes me want to rush to the end so i can start playing. And a word of advice, if your like me with wanting the wiring this clean and organized, dont underestimate how much wire you will use! I haven't even wired the contactors, gear motor, knocker, and beacon, and i'm probably at 200' of various colors. I bought a 500' roll of 24g/8 conductor wire since it was cheaper than buying individual rolls.

 

The cable management parts I got lucky that i came by them when we moved our IT dept out of a building to another. It was left over from the job and it rolled around in the bed of my truck for about a month before i took it out and stuffed it in a corner of the garage. I was getting down to the inside cabinet planning stage and went to take out the trash in the garage and knocked it over... and then it hit me... literally! It really has worked out well to keep things easily organized and it hides a lot of wire labels, and any splices you might have to do. Anyway, its a product made by Panduit. you can google "Panduit wire tray" Grainger carries it, but they are always more expensive, and i thing Newark sells it too, but by the foot i think. You could also check some electrical supply houses. they carry it sometimes too.

Edited by Fusionwerks, 03 November 2017 - 01:26 PM.

[Fusionwerks]

No new pictures from this weekend, but trust me i spent most of it working on the cab finishing all the wiring.

 

I finally got the new graphics card (GTX 1060 6G) and a SSD (240G) so i started loading windows, and software on the permanent PC listed above that will replace the donor PC i have been using for testing. I cant wait to crank up the resolution and get all 3 screens working at the same time.

 

Ran into some issues with force feedback randomly dropping out, but i will troubleshoot that once i figure out where to start. 

 

Plan to pull the PF monitor out tonight to tidy up inside, and i will get pics of everything and post them tomorrow.

 

So excited this is nearing completion so i can actually enjoy the fruits of my labor and start replenishing my bank account.

 

Then its all about loading tables, and roms, and B2s, and.... OK, so maybe i'm not so close to completion... 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 06 November 2017 - 03:05 PM.

[yagesz]

I run a 4k 40" Display as well and my friend LOVES mine. He has my original cabinet build and he is floored by my new one.  Looks good. Your ocd is like me. I haven't started wiring DOF yet because I can't do it in 2 colors and can't afford 10 rolls in different colors.

Is 24 gauge all your using for everything? I was thinking 16g wouldn't be enough. So just asking.

[Fusionwerks]

Yes, i cant wait, i have been using a donor PC until i can get all the software loaded on the real PC. I cant wait to crank it up to 4k. I did it mostly because of the price point of the displays. A 40" 1080p was almost the same price, and i figured, who knows where VP is going and i wanted to try to somewhat future proof my cab. I actually bought a 43" 4k initially, and was planning to use it, but i didn't like the way it looked when i loaded a table on it. It felt larger than life, and if your trying to recreate something, why go bigger than actual size? I know that there are widebody tables that would have been perfect, but the overwhelming majority of tables out there are in standard width cabs. So as long as authors are still designing tables and starting to recreate some of the older ones in 4k, i'm going to be happy. With the new VP10, things look so much better as far as how the ramps, and toys can be rendered.

 

24 gauge has been plenty for me. I would have liked to have used a heavier gauge wire, but i am using the Pinscape controllers, and a lot of the connectors that are on the boards use headers that just wont quite fit wire much larger. I would think 22 would be the most. Besides, most of the DOF stuff doesn't really carry a lot of amperage, and most of the time it is in just short bursts like the contactors. You HAVE to do the DOF to really get the whole experience. I was having problems with mine and the whole system would drop out in the middle of a game, and  the difference is immediately noticeable.

 

You might want to check this out, It is 22 gauge, so its a bit bigger, but you can buy however many rolls you think you will need. Just strip it and get the color out of it you want. If i had it to do over again, i would have bought 1 - 100' roll of this, and separate red, black rolls, because it seemed like i was stripping 10' just to get the red and black out of them to keep the power wires consistent. In the end i started using the orange for the power out of laziness.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Conductor-Stranded-Shielded-Plenum-Cable/dp/B06ZY2B9XJ/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_23_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JW3PCXR51KAT38AMEBZ9 

 

And if you haven't started with the DOF yet, I would suggest you look into the pinscape control board, and expansion board. As long as you can solder and are not scared of little electronic chips and resistors, it is by far (IMO) the best overall solution to DOF, in both price point and being able to control about anything you can dream up to stuff in a cab. Plus the "tech support" is awesome. I cant thank MJR enough for the help he has provided to me going into this knowing nothing about the hardware or software. Feel free to ask me for any help i might be able to provide. DO THE DOF!!! 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 07 November 2017 - 02:17 PM.

[yagesz]

No worries. I found someone selling a Pin2dmd and pinscape assembled and working. So i will have it all shortly. Already Have:

10 Contactors
Stern Shaker Motor
Replay Knocker
Led Kit from Zeb
 

I am excited to finally be next level.

[Fusionwerks]

OK, so I'm finally finished wiring, and i cant actually believe it all worked. I had to put in a few wooden "spreader bars" to push the sides of the cab out a bit to make the PF monitor slide in and out a bit easier. It worked out because i ended up mounting a small kitchen under cabinet light on the one in front, so i could see inside if i needed to troubleshoot something. I finished putting together the CPU, and had to do a little modification on the case. I cut about 4 inches off it and riveted the front back on. Had to repaint it before my OCD told me i should have. I have installed the Pinscape AEDR-8300 Plunger, but have yet to figure out how to make it work. I broke the connector for the ribbon cable so i ended up having to solder the wires directly to the plunger board. That's another day. My wife and I about got pneumonia being out in the garage the last few nights just playing for hours. She finally agreed to let me move it in the house, so its nice and cozy playing now. Last night i think i burned up my 12v power supply. The shaker, gear, strobes, beacon and cab fans all stopped. Got my meter and checked it, and it was dead. Luckily in all of this, i have about 10 CPU PSU's laying around, so i just crammed one of those in and back to playing. It started acting up and turning itself off, so i may have a bigger problem that it yet to be discovered, but I think it was the jumper that i put in the PSU to make it turn on. It might have just been rattling loose, cause it gave me about an hour of non stop play, before we went to bed. I may end up replacing the gear motor or eliminating it entirely. I dont like the way mine sounds, and i dont feel like I'm losing anything by not having it. I also feel like i wasted my time with a replay knocker, because i have yet to find a table that actually fires it, and not because of lack of replays. Maybe somebody knows where to activate this in the script and can point me in the right direction.

 

Anyway, I have a working pin-cab finally, in 4K, and let me tell you if you are starting out fresh, go 4K! I couldn't believe the difference in clarity. I did have to fight with my graphics card and windows settings, cause every time i plugged in my DMD, which is a VGA monitor, it wanted to default it to display #1, and i couldn't figure out how to make the play field show up on another monitor. Got it sorted out, set my B2S size and locations, and finally had a 3 monitor setup. What a difference it makes with the back glass up and running. Makes it feel even more "real"

 

I received my vinyl sticker that i will be putting on the side of the cab. Probably put it on tonight. And i will get some more pics of the whole finished unit when i do. In the meantime, here are a few more of the final wiring pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 13 November 2017 - 03:54 PM.

[yagesz]

NICE

[Fusionwerks]

Finally got some completion photos this past weekend, however some of them are blurry as S****. Maybe i will get some better ones, when the lighting is better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Fusionwerks, 27 November 2017 - 07:01 PM.

[gtxjoe]

Nice build.  I really like the playfield background.  Can you share that or let us know how you created it?

 

Thanks

[Fusionwerks]

Here's a poll for anyone looking at this...

 

 

Do you think i should paint the legs white? I decided on black, but that was before i got the graphics put on, and now i think they look weird

 

How about the speaker grills?

 

 

Nice build.  I really like the playfield background.  Can you share that or let us know how you created it?

 

Thanks

 

Its just a jpg i cobbled together in Photoshop. When i get home i can PM it to you

Edited by Fusionwerks, 27 November 2017 - 07:03 PM.