My (future) Cabinet

[Lostboy]

First; A request to the mods to create a sub-forum for cabinets.

This thread will be very slowly updated over many years, but I thought it'd be fun to start it way before I really should have. I love to see other people builds, and am in awe of the talents people have. And the speed they do it all in. My build will not be like that, and I'll be taking my time. When it's all done, it'll be interesting for me to look back on.

This is my current cabinet:

OK, right now it's just a cheap laptop, with no cabinet parts at all. It doesn't run TPA in DX11 well, and sometimes the DX9 version has a hard time with high action. I've only purchased the first 3 seasons because they were on sale. That's as far as I'm currently invested. I also have the wife's approval, which I'm sure many will understand is a pretty important step.

My 2 biggest road blocks are time and money. Between my wife and I in school, and just having our second child, money is a bit tight right now to say the least. As for free time, my current project is finishing our basement, and that takes a higher priority right now. It's a big project, I'm doing it by myself, and I don't have a whole lot of free time to put in to that. But when it's done, that's where my cabinet will be.

I'd also be curious on what hardware parts FarSight will be supporting, and maybe gear some of my build towards that; plunger, nudging device, working coin door?

I also have no idea what I'm doing. I've just been thinking about cabinets, and researching them way too much lately.

So far my plans are:
-Standard body
-2 screens (I love the DMDs, but with the variety of tables, I think the top screen showing the backglass + DMD would be better)
-A long flat speaker at the bottom of the top screen

I think I'll be ordering most of my parts from VituaPin. They seem to be the most complete and authentic. I just have to decide how much I want to build myself vs money. Cut my own wood? Order the flat wood pack? Order the built trimmed cabinet? I'll decide when it comes to that. VirtuaPin also says they'll have their own line of Feedback Hardware "soon" (as of March), which will be interesting to see.

When TPA does finally get cabinet support, it would be great if they could make some sort of basic guide to building your own cabinet.

So, this is where it starts. Expect the next update... in a year? Two? hehe Also when FarSight finally does get around to supporting cabinets, that will probably speed up this project.

 

[mpad]

Great to have someone else infected
Good idea about a cab section. Mods?

Take your time! Most parts can also be scavenged and upgraded later, so there's a cab for any kind of budget.
I would rethink the standard body decision because of modern TV dimensions, but it is your decision. Just keep in mind that the lockdown bar is the limiting factor, unless you make your own.
Go visit l33s built thread here, great documentation and also some tips of cab builders there.
Have fun building.

 

[L33]

Great to have someone else infected
Good idea about a cab section. Mods?

Take your time! Most parts can also be scavenged and upgraded later, so there's a cab for any kind of budget.
I would rethink the standard body decision because of modern TV dimensions, but it is your decision. Just keep in mind that the lockdown bar is the limiting factor, unless you make your own.
Go visit l33s built thread here, great documentation and also some tips of cab builders there.
Have fun building.

Lostboy...Like yourself, I too had no idea what I was doing or what I was letting myself in for. What finally got me started was I was fortunate to find a guy who sells and repairs pinball machines, had a chat with him and took some rough measurements. Then it was a case of googling tons of stuff...but in all honesty, the most help I got was from this forum. The guys/gals on this website were a massive help, and as mpad has said, if you get chance to look at the thread I started, you can see the sort of questions I asked and hopefully that will answer a lot of your questions. I made a series of videos showing the build, as like you said yourself, it's nice to look back and see your own progress, and thats one of the reasons I videoed everything...just don't take everything I did as being the best way to do things, as a lot of it was pure guess work. But there is a lot of good advice on there from forum members on here and I still look back on the thread for reference.

One thing to keep in mind, again as mpad stated...if you are building it to look like a real machine, the lockdown bar can be the deciding factor on size etc. This didn't mean much to me at first as I didn't even know the importance of this, but as I got on with the build I soon realised what this all meant.

A lot of the hassle is building the wood cabinet itself...if building it yourself is not important then virtuapin is probably your best bet. Id have bought one from them but shipping costs to the UK was the deciding factor...this might be ok for you if you live a lot closer. They also offer a lot of good advice too.

However...the most important thing that often gets overlooked on big projects...and you seem to be ok with this...is that the project runs much smoother once you get approval from the mrs!!!!

Good luck with the build...look forward to seeing your progress. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[Lostboy]

One idea I have is to start with a cheap build. Cheap used TVs, sitting on a basic table or something. A starting point, and upgrading from there, a little bit at a time.

I think you might have changed my mind about the size. Originally, I was thinking I'd go for Standard because I like the look of it better, and most of my favourite tables are Standard. But I'm a visual guy, and had to make up a rough image of what the playfield might look like.

Does this look to be roughly accurate? The black bars are empty TV space, and the brown is the extra cabinet box. That seems like a lot of empty space to cover. I suppose the backbox would sit on top of some of this?

 

[Lostboy]

Oh, and it might be easier to find a TV for a Widebody.

For Standard, I wish a 40" TV would fit, but it seems it's just a bit too big. 39" fits fine, but there's not a big selection.

For Wide, I heard a 46" fits great, but the selection is very poor. There's lots of 48", but they're too big. There's lots of 43", which I used for the dimensions above, but that doesn't quite fill the box. But acceptable.

 

[mpad]

My cab is fully custom build and designed to be as small as possible. Original parts are the wide body lockdown bar, plunger and buttons, dmd.
I have a Samsung 40"
I got the TV decased, so you gain a few cm. It's hard to find measurements for this, and the borders of the display changed dramatically with the years. I think mine has a border of 10-15mm around the visual display.

 

[Lostboy]

The more I think about Standard or Widebody, I'm undecided. There's a great discussion at VPForums about this, which has a Pro/Cons list. I think I'll make my own list:

Standard:
+ Feels more natural to me, what I'm used to, my favourite tables are Standard
+ Cabinet looks nicer IMO
+ Easier for my kids to play
+/- 40" TVs have a great selection, but I'd have to custom my own cabinet & buy a custom lockdown bar, or try to decase the TV, but I don't ideally want to do that
+/- 39" will fit, but they're not as common to buy
- When displayed, it's much smaller then actual table sizes
- Big space in back (or front) to cover up (or maybe I could trim off the back)

Wide:
+ When displayed, it's only slightly smaller then actual table sizes
+/- 43" TVs have a great selection, but don't quite fill the cabinet, so I'd have to cover up spaces on the side
+/- 46" will fit, but they're not as common to buy
- Doesn't feel as natural
- Looks bulkier
- Slightly harder for my kids to play

OK, now that I actually have it written out, I think I'll still do a Widebody. The biggest factor being that the display is closer to actual size. I'll find a 46" screen. The kid playability is not a big deciding factor. And although the cabinet itself is a little bulkier, the actual playing will feel more natural being close to actual display size, and gameplay is what really matters.