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Chimes are wired up and working. I had a brief moment of stupid forgetfulness in not retrofitting the chime unit with diodes – it may have mildly damaged the video card, but we’ll probably be replacing that down the line in order to try to go 4K.
I’ve started sorting and getting the EM tables into the chimes. This is complicated by the fact that a large number of the Loserman tables, while they have DOF in the scripts, the config tool is unaware of them. I’ll have to start adding them in myself so that I can update with more DOF later.
I’ve also gone ahead and started integrating Future Pinball tables into the menu. I don’t have a lot of those; many of the ones I’ve found have been nowhere near up to snuff, but 36 is a nice little selection.
The interior of the cab is a bit of a rat’s nest. My current plan is to redo the wiring when I tear things down for art and siderail installs.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Rat’s nest ?! Doesn’t look much worse than mine – after I did the re-wire
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OK, a pair of Black Knight side rails and glass channels have arrived. I need to move both Magnasave buttons back by a little bit… and both buttons on the right side need to come up so the rail can clear the glass channel. I also need to taper the front of the cab slightly to give enough room to clear the lockdown bar over them. Not really too bad for “eyeballing” the things originally. I’ll probably temporarily clamp the rail on and sand the button holes until the button just fits snugly, hopefully there’ll be enough material left for the nut on the Magnasave to grip.
And no surprise that I’ll need to build a neck to the plinth to clear the rails in the back. I don’t have the facility to trim the rails themselves.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Artwork is ready to send off to the printer.
I also made an important bulletproofing change – the current DOF LED setup was just being driven directly by the Pinscape, which was not anywhere near ideal for the plan to get it ready for an actual show, as the Pinscape might fail under the load over a whole weekend, even with just three LEDs. I just happened to have a stock of ULN2803A chips, so I built the 5V booster circuit. No change to the Pinscape configuration, but now the buttons are at full brightness… and I replaced the hacked wedge LED I’d made for the Launch button with a proper bright one. I also went ahead and built the booster as a 16 output setup for future proofing, so there’s 13 lines available in the booster area, and I can easily add MOSFET boards onto that.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
What artwork have you decided on for the cab? Did I miss that part?
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Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
So if you haven't downloaded app yet what are you waiting for!?
for IOS and Android********************************************************
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We’re going to go with decals – the weather has pretty much promised to be remarkably uncooperative with trying to paint the whole cabinet for a long enough period of time that I can’t justify trying to do a stencil job in order to try to have it ready in May for the Showdown. I’ve rendered a custom art package to be printed.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
And I picked up the package of decals today. The shop was nice and replicated a few copies of the side logotype in part of the remaining white space, which are hanging over one edge of the table. I’ll find a place to use them somewhere.
This is a combination of rendered elements from DAZ Studio, including the 3D form of the “icon” logo I built in Hexagon, and a NASA space shot, all composited via GIMP.
I’m now looking down the barrel of stripping the cab back down to do some of the fitting I need to do before the art install can proceed in earnest.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
That is going to look amazing!
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No pictures tonight, but I finished removing all the electronics and such from the cabinet in preparation for what little paint it will get this weekend. My big plan tomorrow is to build the “plinth” for under the backbox, install the port extensions within that, and to redo the monitor mountings. Basically, all backbox work. Hopefully Saturday will be spent finishing out the stuff I can (like filling screw holes) before my friend comes over Sunday to help me shlep the main carcass outside for the slot cutting and painting.
I was able to dry fit the armor, and figure out exactly where I need to hog out the buttons in order that the rails properly fit. The lockdown bar is going to be pretty tight, I’m wondering if I might be served filing the cabinet corners a bit so I can bend the very tip of the armor inward to help clear it – the cabinet is something like 1/16″ wider than is comfortable for that lockdown bar.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
MILESTONE ACHIEVED
DECORATIVE
Installed 1 Cabinet Artwork
What a significant change to the character of the cabinet with the artwork actually in place. Now I just need to reinstall all the machine guts that are strewn about the rec room. @terryred, I feel your pain now.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
I just can’t settle on specific artwork yet. It’s only been a few years now. :)
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Well, given that our machine has a Pinball Name on it, and I’d already made a logo mascot, it didn’t take much stretch to come up with something appropriate. Most of my delay was coming up with something for the side of the backbox. I’d thought about putting on the phrase, “Special when Lit”, but I also realized that some would take some… humorous content with alternate meanings of the word “Lit”.
This is literally my first at-scale vinyl install on anything. The only real issue I had was the coin door hole, but once all the hardware is reinstalled the wrinkled spot shouldn’t be noticable.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
So, finished up some of the refit work on the cabinet, now that it’s appropriately decorated. The computer and Pinscape are just sitting in place right now, and the latter I still need to redo all the control wiring. I added three 120mm exhaust fans, separate 12V and 5V supplies, and a power strip at the front for “night mode” that lets me cut off the 24V supply for the solenoids. Buttons, plunger and lockdown bar are reinstalled. Everything inside the cab that’s not just sitting in place is velcro’d, taped or screwed into place.
I still need to get longer bolts for the revised backbox mounting system so that I can reinstall the backglass screen, and rebuild the PostDMD LCD mount.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Backbox guts are now firmly reinstalled. The “Mark 1” mounting was a single monolithic mount that held both monitors, pushed in at the top behind a catch plate and screwed in at the bottom, which became a problem as it pretty much mandated removing the playfield for safety as I wiggled the backbox screens out. It also complicated removing the lower screen from the mount as I had to disassemble the mount to get at the VESA screws – the upper screen is considerably thicker than the lower, so the lower part of the mount had to be built up to match.
I went for simplicity of maintenance for the “Mark 2” mounting system. Each monitor has it’s own constructed mount, with t-nuts in the mount and bolts running through the back panel of the backbox itself, from the outside. This means I can remove either monitor alone instead of both. The speakers have been mounted using some of the 3M “agnostic” grip-tape – think industrial Velcro with no specific side, any single piece can mount to any other single piece. Each piece is both hook and loop.
Not documented earlier: when I built the “plinth” on the cabinet body, I included a set of passthroughs – headphone jack, DVI, HDMI, two power outlets, and two USB power outlets – with matching holes in the floor of the backbox. So I can (almost) remove the backbox completely without removing anything from it, or fishing out wires. The “almost” is because the lower LCD actually interferes with the mounting bolts on the right side, so it has to be removed to unbolt the backbox, hence the other more specific reason to redo all the mounting.
Major plus: my temp bezel still fits! So it’s still a viable template for cutting the permanent lower bezel panel.
Oh, and the monitors are now actually mounted straight, instead of sloping downward towards the right side.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
I live. I die. I live again! </nux>
She’s all back together, and operating more or less normally. There is a slight DOF issue related to the new 5V power supply – the Pinscape can’t drive more than two lit buttons at a time, so I just moved the Exit button light off the computer control. All she really needs is playfield glass and a bezel, both of which should be easy enough. I’ll probably call around this next week to get some glass prices, and I already have a piece of plywood to make a bezel with.
At this point, I can effectively move this build off into the “done” column. Well, for a given value of done, there’s still things like SSF, flashers and solenoids to add in, but the main part of the project is complete, it’s just upgrades from here.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Gorgeous! “Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it’s a plan!” ..the Doctor
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Congrats! Looks awesome.
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Looking good Lynn best part of building the cab is well….building/modding it :)
********************************************************
Messing with the VPinball app and push notifications.
So if you haven't downloaded app yet what are you waiting for!?
for IOS and Android********************************************************
You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Thanks, everyone.
I do have a few lessons learned.
First is, my next build will be a standard width body. The widebody is fine and nice and gives me options, but it adds a level of awkward to the cabinet I wasn’t anticipating. To be fair, we went widebody because we had a monitor handy that would work for that. But the door opening (no door, just frame) at the top of the stairs is literally maybe 1/8″ wider than the cabinet body, so the cabinet has to be brought up on its side. I think I’ve gotten everything inside secured enough, but it also informs me that we can’t take in a vintage widebody for a real pinball.
Second, I’d be much more likely to aim at a “standard” WPC design, if only for the more standard, readily available parts. Radiant Silverball is very much in the “calico corpse” category, with vintage parts from three separate manufacturers (lockdown bar/receiver from Bally, chimes from Gottlieb, coin door used by Konami), and modern backbox sensibilities combined with a vintage styled body. It looks nice, and will probably blend into a whole line of pinball machines (especially mixed manufacturers and eras!) just fine, but she’s a unique beast to be sure. I was amazed that the new make Black Knight rails I bought actually fit without much modification to the holes I’d already drilled out. Plus, our cabinet is just a couple of inches deeper, so the rails don’t actually go all the way to the back of the cabinet. Not that it’s actually that noticeable with the backbox on.
Third, I’m on the fence whether or not I’d cut my own cabinet panels or order a kit; the makerspace My Own 2 Hands closed down in January, so I don’t have good access to a wood capable makerspace that doesn’t expect a commitment of $60 a month, and we’re not going often enough to make that financially viable.
Fourth, a definite level of order of operations needs to be considered for a next build. I hadn’t thought of trying to use vintage style siderails, and if I’d thought to do so I would have gotten a set before I drilled the button holes and saved some questions.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
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