54 replies to this topic

[MikePinball]

This topic is to document my cabinet build using a 43" playfield monitor and 28" backbox monitor.

 

Last year I built my Mikrocontroller cabinet as a proof of concept for everything and I slowly extended it with a full size playfield monitor, chimes, addressable LEDs etc.

 

Last year I created a 3D CAD drawing for a widebody cabinet with the objective of using CNC to create each plywood part. There are a total of 28 parts cut from two 8' by 4' sheets of 3/4" (18mm) Baltic birch. The pictures below show these parts. A dry fit shows that everything fits together quite well with the joints not too tight and not too loose. What worked for me is a wood thickness of 0.71" (18mm) with a 0.01" tolerance on each side of any joint.

 

Below is the main cabinet laid out flat. The bottom fits in a slot 0.5" from the bottom of the 4 sides. It is actually shown from the underside to show the channel for the LED strip and the two button shoulders holes for which will eventually become on/off and night mode. The left side shows an addressable LED strip in place. You can also see the apron which will fit 2 LCD screens for instructions and topper videos and the slotted PCB tray. Towards the back is a vertical piece that will hold the addressable LED matrix with holes for the 8x32 and three 8x8 LED arrays.

 

 

There is a lot of detail in this design that you may have missed. For example pilot holes for the #6 screws that will be used for assembly. You can click on the pictures to get a zoomed in view of everything that shows these details.

 

While this is a widebody built to accommodate a standard lockdown bar, the height of the backbox is custom. Below is the backbox which I temporarily taped together. The speaker panel is custom and shows the DMD and one of the speaker covers. The back of the backbox is detachable and held in place using bolts. Again everything is cut from 3/4" plywood which tends to add to the weight but I was able to cut in slots to fit things like the glass H channel.

 

 

I am using a frame to hold the 10 contractors which is angled against the two sides. The holes in the frame are for wiring. Some 1/4" plywood is attached to the back of the display and sits on top of the frame. There are two 1" dowels for holding the display to stop backwards and forwards movement and the rear dowel acts as an axle  so that the display can rotate upwards to near vertical. The display is held in place using a jackstand shown in the middle of the frame. This video is a CAD animation of the display rotation.

 

 

Below is an initial layout of the PCB tray for the main cabinet showing my Pinscape All-in-One, 32 fuse/flasher board, and 3 audio amps for cabinet speakers as well as 4 exciters for side and rear. If you go back and look carefully you will see small depressions in the cabinet sides which mark the place for the exciters under the playfield display.

 

 

Now I have dry fitted all of the components, my next job is to drill holes in the various parts so that the different components can be attached such as exciters, subwoofer box, power board, chimes, shaker. I have standardized on #8 bolts of various lengths and threaded inserts (actually the name brand is E-Z LOK). This allows me to easily remove and put back items between different stages such as assembly and paint without having the problem of screws getting loose in wood. Also I plan to do most of this pre-assembly work before the cabinet is glued and screwed together because it is easier on a flat surface or trying to reach inside the cabinet.

 

Edit: Fixed typos

Edited by MikePinball, 17 February 2020 - 04:02 AM.

[TouchMaster97]

Is it me, or is the right speaker higher up and smaller?

[nickbuol]

Is it me, or is the right speaker higher up and smaller?

 

You are correct.  I saw that too, however some machines had 2 sizes for speakers in the speaker panel.  Not common for the past few decades probably, but not something that wasn't ever done.

[MikePinball]

 

Is it me, or is the right speaker higher up and smaller?

 

You are correct.  I saw that too, however some machines had 2 sizes for speakers in the speaker panel.  Not common for the past few decades probably, but not something that wasn't ever done.

 

If you read my description, it says "The speaker panel is custom and shows the DMD and one of the speaker covers." If you click on the picture to zoom in, you will see that the one on the left has the cover in place and the one on the right has no cover and you can see the speaker underneath (actually stacked up and with the plastic to hold the speaker panel a little more horizontal). Both speaker holes are the same size and cut for 4" speakers.

 

I am using "Dayton Audio PC105-4 4" speakers for the panel and a Dayton Audio DCS205-4 in a subwoofer box. You can see the 8.5" cutout for a speaker cover in the bottom of the cabinet, set to one side so I have some room for regulators and power supply stuff.
 

[nickbuol]

Oh geez.  I missed that.  You know when someone says something, and then your brain is expecting that to be the case and doesn't actually SEE what is there.  It is completely obvious now.   Small phone screen didn't help either. LOL

 

Yeah, there were a number of machines with different speaker sizes, so it seemed totally logical that it was a possibility.  

For example, here is the back of a T2 speaker panel with 2 different sized speakers...

 

 

Anyway, thanks for clarifying.

[MikePinball]

Yeah, there were a number of machines with different speaker sizes, so it seemed totally logical that it was a possibility. 

Because I was creating a custom speaker panel, I did think about having separate mid-range and tweeter speakers (which are different sizes of course) but in the end decided to keep things simple.

 

As an aside I previously had a much taller backbox that included a 21" x 9" monitor to be used for topper videos. In the end I decided against that too as things were getting just too tall.

[dondi]

We finally get to see this beast taking shape!!!! 

 

Two intake fans + two exhaust fans?

Have you settled on all your specs (toys, PC, PSUs, etc.)? If so, maybe list them in original post. Would be interested in seeing what will be going into this thing.

 

Good Luck Mike. Will be following and right behind you with my build. 

Edited by dondi, 13 January 2020 - 08:29 AM.

[MikePinball]

Here is an update to my build with some pictures. Everything is still flat and this makes it super easy to get everything placed and screwed down. Of course you need everything planned in 3 dimensions to make sure it all fits.

 

Let's start with something simple. The cabinet top needs to be linked to the bottom of the backbox. This picture below shows these two parts with the backbox bottom part underneath. I used 3/8" t-nuts on the underneath of the cabinet top and passed through some 3/8" wing bolts that are approximately 2" long. The cutout for the wiring nicely lines up thanks to the CAD design. The parts don't align on the edges because of the way that the other parts fit together with the various dados in the wood parts.

 

 

Here is a more completed speaker panel with the speakers and DMD screwed down. The hangers are simply placed in their approximate positions and not yet screwed into place. I made some pencil marks on the front of the panel to show the holes for one of the speaker covers. I am still deciding about this. Because I used 3/4" plywood for the speaker panel, it would be quite easy to have a custom length of LEDs wrapped around the circumference of each speaker hole.

 

 

Here is the front panel with the Suzohapp full coin door and WPC widebody lockdown bar and receiver. The door open tab is not quite long enough for the Williams standard "door open" microswitch bracket so I will need to use the Stern compatible bracket or build a different one.

 

 

The picture below shows the right side of the cabinet, complete with ez-lok nuts to take #8 machine screws. There are 19 holes are for 2 exciters, Chime unit, tilt bob, and the contactor frame which the playfield monitor will lean on.

 

 

Here is a more complete picture of the main cabinet showing the bottom and right side of the cabinet. Inside are a lot of the main components. The right side has the two exciters, Chime unit, and contactor frame attached. One of the cross pieces that will hold the contactors is shown balanced for now on a plastic container.

 

Starting at the back you can see the subwoofer inside its MDF soundbox. Next to it is the main power distribution panel that includes a SSR for power switching, and a 5V and 24V regulators that will be driven from a 12V PC PSU. That PSU is in front with a breakout board on top that supplies 5V and 12V. In front of that PSU and under the Chime unit are two separate laptop PSUs that provide 20V to the audio amplifiers. I decided to keep the PC inside its case to avoid falling objects, dust etc. It takes up a large amount of room but it was designed to fit. In front of the PC is the elevated PCB board that holds 3 audio amps, the Pinscape AIO and the Oak Micros fuse board. Underneath it are two holes for intake fans and there 2 holes for exhaust on the rear of the cabinet (not shown). 

 

 

Here are the same internals from the front of the cabinet.

 

 

Here is the backbox top with the fan, beacons and strobes placed in their approximate and symmetric positions. I am still thinking about this. Eventually I might have a custom topper with holes placed in front of the fan.

 

 

Next up is to finalize the positions of the 10 contractors in the contactor frame and also complete the backbox top.

 

 

[MikePinball]

I have made some more progress on my cabinet. All of the ancillary parts have now been placed. I have gone through almost 200 of the ez-lok nuts so everything can be easily taken apart and put back together again without widening the screw holes.

 

I also took the opportunity of cutting the slot for the glass rails in the cabinet sides. It is much easier to do this when the sides are horizontal rather than vertical. After a few attempts on scrap wood, I was able to cut the slot exactly in the middle of the 13-ply plywood. The 3/32" slot takes up half of layers 6 and 8 and completely the middle layer 7. The Freud cutter 63-106, recommended by MJR, worked like a champ. I had to take the base plate off the router and reattach it afterwards because the cutter is so wide.

 

I screwed together the 3 main assemblies of my cabinet using glue and 1 1/2 inch #6 screws with square drive heads. Countersinking the holes first helped a lot. All of my screw heads are below the surface of the plywood. Construction of the cabinet was helped by three factors:

1. The CNC machine did precise cuts so the dry fit was good (exactly as specified by the 3D CAD drawing)

2. I added 0.01" on each side of a joint to allow for glue

3. I used these band clamps. The 15 feet length is just enough for a widebody cabinet (with approximately a foot leftover)

 

Here are some pictures of the completed cabinet parts showing the coin door, lockdown bar, subwoofer box, PC, contactor frame and monitor support, and the 43" playfield monitor.

 

 

This picture gives a better view from the top:

 

 

Another view of the inside including the raised PCB shelf and the rear LED panel. The LED panel is drooping a little because it is not yet held in place.

 

 

Finally a picture of the rear. There are eight bolts holding in the back of the backbox. After painting I will use black bolts and washers. At the bottom you can see the cutout for the power input and switch.

 

 

I now have a long list of jobs to get all of other parts installed before filling, sanding, and painting. The most immediate issue is that the lockdown bar receiver is just a little low (now fixed). I also have to figure out the best and least error prone way for me to drill the holes for the legs. I am already aware of multiple threads on this subject - it is just scary because you have to get it right first time.

Edited by MikePinball, 10 February 2020 - 02:58 AM.

[MikePinball]

I ordered widebody glass and it arrived today. One of the pieces has a small nick and is slightly wavy along 1" of another side. I'm not sure if this is normal but it is hidden when in use.

 

Here is a picture without the playfield monitor.  I am so pleased with the way it looks and that everything fits together as designed from the WPC widebody plan.

 

 

Here is a picture with the playfield and apron monitors in place.

 

 

I'm in the middle of doing the backbox monitor and speaker panel so I didn't show that. The major item left for the main cabinet are the holes for the leg bolts. I want to get this right first time so I have decided to design a jig to help. Here is a CAD picture. The indentations on one end are 1/4" apart and will be used to set the height compared to the bottom of the cabinet.

 

 

A friend of mine is making on his 3D printer. I may end up selling this tool for other cab builders. I also don't really have the facility to create the leg bracket spacers out of wood so I am 3D printing those as well.

 

[MikePinball]

The backbox is now mostly together with the 28" monitor. I shortened the height of both the speaker panel and the overall backbox to fit the 28" monitor without huge gaps. This also means later I could add a monitor to something on top of the backbox without it getting too high.

 

 

As the backbox height is non-standard, I will need to order some custom glass for the backbox. I made a plywood template and it looks like I need 27" by 15 7/8" high. It turns out that there is an internal lip in the "H" channel which stops the glass going fully down otherwise it would have been 16" high. I am planning to initially start with just regular glass - no need for tempered as there is no ball that could accidentally hit the glass.

 

Last two jobs before sand and paint are the legs (see previous append) and final fixture of the playfield monitor on my dowel rods and rotate mechanism.

 

Here is a cut picture of the underneath showing 2 indented buttons and external USB for keyboard and mouse. There is a channel and wiring holes for undercab LEDs if I choose to add some later.

 

[LynnInDenver]

Interesting place for the shift key. I went with "extra ball is my shifter" myself, but I can see the desire for an out of the way and explicit shift for guests to not accidentally press.

[MikePinball]

Interesting place for the shift key. I went with "extra ball is my shifter" myself, but I can see the desire for an out of the way and explicit shift for guests to not accidentally press.

I'm glad someone is reading my posts and paying attention   Actually I just took some of my existing buttons from the Mikrocontoller cab. I now have "official" pinball start and extra ball buttons for the front of the cab. I'm not sure I will need "shift" but extra ball is definitely one place to put it.

 

The functions underneath the cab will most likely be power (green button) and night node (yellow button). Exit is on the front of the cab underneath extra ball.

 

The great thing about Pinscape is the ability to quickly change configurations. So I could change it for guest so exit is placed underneath out of the way.

[LynnInDenver]

 

Interesting place for the shift key. I went with "extra ball is my shifter" myself, but I can see the desire for an out of the way and explicit shift for guests to not accidentally press.

I'm glad someone is reading my posts and paying attention   Actually I just took some of my existing buttons from the Mikrocontoller cab. I now have "official" pinball start and extra ball buttons for the front of the cab. I'm not sure I will need "shift" but extra ball is definitely one place to put it.

 

 

I figured that A) Extra Ball isn't a button that you need Instant Action Right Now on, so it could handle being a shift button as well. B) It's unlikely that one will press it and another button accidentally. C) If I really need an explicit "Exit Now" button I can always drill a hole then... it's harder to fill a hole for a button I determine that I shouldn't have installed to begin with.

 

I was figuring my "night mode" is going to just be a power strip with the switch readily located near the coin door, but I'm running a relay board not controller by Pinscape so I'm not sure I can directly use Pinscape to tell DOF to not "chime" in at night.
 

[MikePinball]

Here is a picture of the actual 3D printed tool.

 

 

The same Harbor Freight band clamps used for building the cabinet are also used to strap the jig (tool) to each corner of the cabinet. I adjusted the height so that leg brackets will be approximately 0.5" above the bottom of the cabinet.

 

 

A 25/64" drill bit is used for the holes which provides a tight fit for the 3/8" leg bolts. It is useful to insert one leg bolt after the first hole is drilled to ensure that nothing moves for the second hole.

 

After completing all eight holes, I bolted in the legs and added the 3D printed bracket spacers. Everything was a little tight (which is good). I could turn some leg bolts by hand and all were tightened down with a 5/8" socket. The nuts were tightened on the inside with a 9/16" socket.

 

 

The cabinet can stand by itself without inserting the #8 screws in each leg bracket. But for security I then added six #8 3/4" screws and two #8 1 1/4" screws for each leg bracket.

 

 

I thought that drilling holes for the legs was the hardest part of cabinet construction. The tool I created made things very easy and reduced the risk of drilling holes at the wrong height or wrong angle. While this is a one time use tool, let me know if you think this would be useful or will be useful for your cabinet.
 

[BorgDog]

Nice work on the leg bolt hole tool. Fairly easy to make out of wood as well if you have a table saw for the 45 cuts and a drill press to make sure the holes are perpendicular, I did mine out of a 2x4 but something thicker would work better.

 

Only thing you might want to think about is the inner bracket spacer is generally wood glued and secured (nailed/stapled) to the cab walls.  Adds some more support and rigidity to the corners, and generally run quite a bit higher up the walls than the bracket as well.  Probably not really needed for a home use machine, but just a thought.

[MikePinball]

Nice work on the leg bolt hole tool. Fairly easy to make out of wood as well if you have a table saw for the 45 cuts and a drill press to make sure the holes are perpendicular, I did mine out of a 2x4 but something thicker would work better.

 

Only thing you might want to think about is the inner bracket spacer is generally wood glued and secured (nailed/stapled) to the cab walls.  Adds some more support and rigidity to the corners, and generally run quite a bit higher up the walls than the bracket as well.  Probably not really needed for a home use machine, but just a thought.

Thanks for the comments.

 

I'm woodworking challenged and simply don't have all of the tools. For example I invested in a router just so I could cut the slot in the sides for the glass rail plastics. Now I have it, I plan to use the router for other things.

 

I made the spacers out of plastic because I could not find any triangular wood the right size and I'm not able to saw wood lengthwise at 45 degrees.

 

I have holes in the spacer for two screws to hold it to the corner of the cabinet. If I decide to make more as a product then I may change the design to make it longer and add at least another 2 holes for attachment. On my cabinet the spacer is jammed behind the leg bracket and is not going anywhere. Everything looks really sturdy to take the weight. I haven't yet tested it by standing inside the cabinet but perhaps I should

[BorgDog]

Ha, video of the jumping up and down in the cab please

 

Like I said, probably not really needed, just for the obsessive over-builder that I tend to be.. although to be honest my big cab isn't even glued together at the corners as I keep thinking I'll need to rebuild somewhat (need to widen a bit) when a reasonably priced 43" 4k 120hz monitor becomes available.

[rob3d]

Cool use of the 3d printed jig. Definitely understand why you went that route. I am also wood working challenged, and making the corner jigs and the 45 degree brackets took make way longer than i'd care to admit. 

[MikePinball]

My CAD design was for a rotating playfield. This is certainly not a new idea. I used two 1" dowel poles, one for the rotating rear of the monitor and one for the front to provide stability.

 

In my design, positioning of the pivot point was crucial to avoid other cabinet items such as the LED matrix, apron, plunger, subwoofer and PC. In my earlier thread on the CNC design, I produced a video to show the rotation. Now it was time to prove it out.

 

Here is the cabinet with the two monitors in their normal positions.

 

 

Here is the playfield rotated up into a vertical postion. The 1" wooden dowels are attached with 3/4" plumbing pipe straps. I originally tried conduit clamps but they left the dowels too loose and could not be flexed into shape. I also attached a handle to make it easier to push up the playfield through the coin door as there is very little room to hold it from the top near the apron.

 

 

This shows the near vertical position of the monitor. I am quite pleased with the result as it worked out better than I expected.

 

If I had moved the pivot point forward a little more then I could have probably achieved a 90 degree angle before the monitor is stopped by the top of the backbox. But this isn't necessary because the center of gravity of the monitor is past the 90 degree position and the monitor holds in place quite nicely.

 

 

The picture below shows the detail of the clearance between the end of the playfield and the top of the subwoofer.

 

 

The picture below shows the detail of the clearances between the playfield, apron, and plunger. I could cut out the corner of the playfield base so there is more clearance for the white plunger potentiometer frame but this isn't necessary. The plunger is heightwise between the playfield base and the curved back of the monitor and is not going to hit anything.

 

The addition of a 4" apron at the front of the cabinet definitely helped with the plunger clearance. As noted earlier the apron will eventually contain two 7" LCD displays for the instructions and possibly the topper videos (if not too distracting). The middle portion of the apron will probably have the cabinet logo.

 

 

This completes all of the cabinet construction (except for the backbox glass) and I am now ready for sanding and painting.