- Feb 19, 2012
- 8,144
- 2
There is a built-in image uploader here if you click the Insert Image button...but I've been using sites like Imgur for so long that it's 2nd nature and very quick (drag & drop and copy/paste the code).
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Welcome Back to Digital Pinball Fans - please read this first
Building A Virtual Pinball Cabinet
- Thread starter L33
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #103
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQnqHaDOjyU
Hopefully the link above should work...here's Part 3.
Not far to go now...
Hopefully the link above should work...here's Part 3.
Not far to go now...
- Thread starter
- #105
Very nice. I wish I had those tools that do the work for you
I did such a crappy job on my speaker panel (using only a jigsaw).
Drilling vent holes - genius!
Your real DMD will look so cool
Try cranking up the TV color and contrast to get a similar look.
Ha ha...I call the machine 'My Apprentice' cause as you say, it does the work for me. These machine are great but there's still so much time in setting them up for each job and of course the programming...but yeah, they do help big time. The beauty of the cnc is that once you've designed something it'll make exact copies over and over again, which is good because I dropped one of the speaker panels and broke it and had to make another.
SilverBalls
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 1,233
- 3
Great video. Those tools are awesome, especially liked the vent hole drilling thing.
The interchangeable speaker panel to switch between screen and DMD is an awesome idea. It's the first time I have seen that in 5 years in this hobby.
The interchangeable speaker panel to switch between screen and DMD is an awesome idea. It's the first time I have seen that in 5 years in this hobby.
- Thread starter
- #107
Great video. Those tools are awesome, especially liked the vent hole drilling thing.
The interchangeable speaker panel to switch between screen and DMD is an awesome idea. It's the first time I have seen that in 5 years in this hobby.
The vent holes took ages...but hopefully will do the job of letting some air in/out and hopefully the dmd swap will work, but we'll see...
SilverBalls
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 1,233
- 3
- Thread starter
- #109
Just wanted to say thanks for all the support Ive had so far on here. Building one of these cabs is tricky, because theres really no set rules when it comes to building one of these, which makes the whole process tricky. When I look back at some of the responses on here to some of my questions, I didn't always understand them at the time, but now its all starting to make sense, and hopefully I'll be able to offer someone advice in the future who may be as clueless as I was.
Gotta design the artwork for the cabinet now. This has got to be done right, cause this will be what makes or breaks the cab. Unfortunately, Im having to put the artwork together myself but fortunately I have been given some artwork to work with. I was hoping to use both TPA and Zen artwork as these will be the main software I'll be using. Im not sure Farsight wanted me to use the graphics as they kind of told me the artwork didn't exist (in slightly different words than that) which is a shame, but at the end of the day, it's their artwork and I hold no grudge. Zen were a little more helpful and provided me with some graphics from my favourite Zen game, so hopefully i can work with some of those graphics, although the files are that big my computer crashes when dragging them into photoshop! Im hoping for a 'wild west' theme but it may be a combination of themes. The wild west theme gives me the opportunity to use a few of my own designs and creations, but we'll see if that works. In theory my idea is good, but in reality...Im not great at art and don't want to make the cab look pants.
Gotta design the artwork for the cabinet now. This has got to be done right, cause this will be what makes or breaks the cab. Unfortunately, Im having to put the artwork together myself but fortunately I have been given some artwork to work with. I was hoping to use both TPA and Zen artwork as these will be the main software I'll be using. Im not sure Farsight wanted me to use the graphics as they kind of told me the artwork didn't exist (in slightly different words than that) which is a shame, but at the end of the day, it's their artwork and I hold no grudge. Zen were a little more helpful and provided me with some graphics from my favourite Zen game, so hopefully i can work with some of those graphics, although the files are that big my computer crashes when dragging them into photoshop! Im hoping for a 'wild west' theme but it may be a combination of themes. The wild west theme gives me the opportunity to use a few of my own designs and creations, but we'll see if that works. In theory my idea is good, but in reality...Im not great at art and don't want to make the cab look pants.
- Thread starter
- #110
I haven't as yet...as a temporary measure I was going to place a big table fan at the back of the cab 'till I suss out how and where to install the fans
In fact, just had a quick look online...can these fans attach to the casing of a computer, or would they be attached to the back of the cab? If its the computer casing, I see no reason not to get some as that will be easier than drill more holes in the cab.
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, or did my eyes trick me?- Thread starter
- #112
Just rewatched the vid and saw you are using standard arcade buttons for the flippers, or did my eyes trick me?
Please consider leaf switches! Difference like night and day, every cab has it!
I bought some leaf switches and buttons but the space between the leaf switch and the TV was tight. I may still be able to get them in when I put everything back together...in the mean time, I have tried a compromise...the buttons aren't micro switch buttons, they're are leaf switch buttons. Probably not as good as the real thing but possibly somewhere in between?
SilverBalls
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 1,233
- 3
I haven't as yet...as a temporary measure I was going to place a big table fan at the back of the cab 'till I suss out how and where to install the fans
In fact, just had a quick look online...can these fans attach to the casing of a computer, or would they be attached to the back of the cab? If its the computer casing, I see no reason not to get some as that will be easier than drill more holes in the cab.
Sounds like you are going to put the PC box inside the cab, whereas most people build a PC on a board and don't have a case to aid cooling. For a good PC with a decent graphics card wouldn't the cased PC be too big?
If you can get away with a cased PC in the cab then the heat would definitely build up in the cabinet quickly, so 2 or 3 fans attached to the cabinet (base and back) should help the flow of air. You would need to power the fans, so could take a feed of the PC power supply but would need to pass a cable outside of the case. Maybe an separate power supply is also possible.
My decased PC generates a lot of heat. The CPU is also cooled by one of those Zalman 6inch diametered copper finned coolers. The graphics card needs two power connectors and it is so hot they are almost difficult to touch. I was really surprised at the heat generated and it led me to fitting an additional fan.
- Thread starter
- #114
Sounds like you are going to put the PC box inside the cab, whereas most people build a PC on a board and don't have a case to aid cooling. For a good PC with a decent graphics card wouldn't the cased PC be too big?
If you can get away with a cased PC in the cab then the heat would definitely build up in the cabinet quickly, so 2 or 3 fans attached to the cabinet (base and back) should help the flow of air. You would need to power the fans, so could take a feed of the PC power supply but would need to pass a cable outside of the case. Maybe an separate power supply is also possible.
My decased PC generates a lot of heat. The CPU is also cooled by one of those Zalman 6inch diametered copper finned coolers. The graphics card needs two power connectors and it is so hot they are almost difficult to touch. I was really surprised at the heat generated and it led me to fitting an additional fan.
I am hoping to have a cased PC inside the cab, but I'll have a better idea once it's finished. Im hoping the build will be in stages...stage 1 will be the cab finished and running off an old computer and just running zen. Then it'll be stage 2 where I upgrade things to suit other software etc and add the bits I need to get it all working as it should ie fans etc.
However...I've gotta get to stage 1 first...struggling a bit with the graphics at the moment. There always seems to be hurdle to jump at every stage of this build!
- Thread starter
- #115
Well...picking up the glass tomorrow...hopefully it will all fit! And apparently vinyl doesn't stick very well to bare wood, so Ive had to buy some gloss which means tomorrow is painting day. Will take 4 days to paint, which will give me time to work on the artwork. Pretty much finished the side artwork...then its on to the rest of the artwork and then it'll printing time
SmoothBalls
New member
- May 28, 2015
- 47
- 0
- Thread starter
- #118
Finally finished painting the cabinet...at least I think I have. We'll see when it dries properly. Not 100% happy with the finish as the imperfections really do show through the paint through inadequate prep work, but hopefully the vinyls will cover those up. Im not a painter by all means, so I suppose I should just be happy that it looks acceptable. The funny thing was though, whilst painting, I had my music set to random and an instrumental version of Born to be Wild came on...not listened to that track in years but it was funny 'cause Harley Davidson is one of the tables I probably play the most of.
Now...back to work on the graphics...
Now...back to work on the graphics...
- Thread starter
- #119
After hundreds of computer freezes and crashes, Ive finally got the artwork done. Its weird how you can spend hours editing video with zero crashes, yet Photoshop crashes every 5 mins! Video almost done...then its back to the iOS comp to make sure Im not relegated to the Silver league! That flippin' POTO table...
That flippin' POTO table...- Thread starter
- #120
With pfx2 pinball you can play in portrait mode by selecting the relevant screen rotation in the game settings. Does anyone know how to do the same in TPA?
The only way I've been able to do it was to select rotate on my computer screen before booting up steam but wondered if there is another way because once you rotate the screen it's tricky moving the mouse around to select everything you need.
The only way I've been able to do it was to select rotate on my computer screen before booting up steam but wondered if there is another way because once you rotate the screen it's tricky moving the mouse around to select everything you need.