My Pinball Arcade Cabinet (iPinCade)

[Patrick]

I buy it!

 

[sotie]

I spent a few hours today starting a new iPad cabinet for one of my friends. It's shaping up nicely. It looks rough in the pictures because I haven't sanded and painted it yet.

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

When you take a holiday in holland give me a sign. You have some work to do at my home, .

Good work!

 

[jda824]

Codeena,

That is so awesome! Beautifully done! I would pay you $100.00 to make me one. I would pay you $40.00 for one that would work with IPhone. So cool looking!!

 

[Codeena]

Codeena,

That is so awesome! Beautifully done! I would pay you $100.00 to make me one. I would pay you $40.00 for one that would work with IPhone. So cool looking!!

Hey jda824, thanks a lot! Unfortunately, I don't have the time to build another one at this time. However, if you have any questions about my build, please feel free to let me know. It was truly rewarding designing and building it from scratch, especially with very limited woodworking experience and tools. I've been building or converting full size arcade games for years, and only entered the virtual pinball cabinet world a couple of years back with my 3-monitor full size cab. Since I never really invested too much in tools, it takes a long time to build them. My iPinCade was probably the easiest of all my projects because the iCade encoder card, TPA software and iPad are all ready to go (you could even re-use iCade's buttons, although they are quite loud and clicky imho). Farsight did mentioned that they are interested in supporting PC cabs and perhaps if enough people requested it, they may consider the iPhone add-on which would be the best add-on I could think of.

 

[sotie]

I just finished another one of these bad boys last week. The new one is on the left and the original is the one on the right. This time I polished down the lockdown bar. The siderails are also polished down instead of the black (speckled) paint.

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

Haha, where is your arcade located?

Looks great.


If you could play online 1vs1, this could be fun at home with some mates and beer at home. When you got 2 or more.

 

[sotie]

Haha, where is your arcade located?

Looks great.


If you could play online 1vs1, this could be fun at home with some mates and beer at home. When you got 2 or more.

LOL. That would be cool! Starting another one later this week.

 

[Nightwing]

Sotie, excellent job! I am soooo envious...

 

[Mick Morry]

Hi again all. I created some iPinCade logo art for my cabinet. I made two versions of the logo by implementing "iPin" to ION's original iCade logo style. I then updated my translite (with several other alterations), and added decals to both sides of the backbox. Here are some pics.

I love it!!!! I might be putting an Apple sticker on the side of mine when I get it. It will go above the side power switch. However I am a professional artist and I am thinking of going the extra mile and hand painting the entire cabinet to look like one of the more amazing tables out there. I haven't decided yet. It would be a lot of work and only I would be seeing it on a regular basis. So I am not sure if that route or just getting some decals is the better solution for individual customization of my baby. I will make the final decision when I get the mini in my hands.

 

[jbejarano]

Sotie, those things are amazing. If I hadn't just backed T2 at the beta-tester level, I'd probably be ordering one now. I might have to wait a bit, but I love those things and will probably ask for one before too long. Two questions, though:

A) How do you perform a skill shot if the plunger is just a button? Do you still have the option to plunge by the touchscreen?
B) Is there a way to keep the iPad charged while it's inside the unit?

Again, great job with those things. Love 'em!

 

[sotie]

A) How do you perform a skill shot if the plunger is just a button? Do you still have the option to plunge by the touchscreen?
B) Is there a way to keep the iPad charged while it's inside the unit?

a) The longer you hold the button the longer the 'plunge'. Watch the first part of this video. I demonstrate the variable plunge in it. Also, you can still use the touch screen if you choose to do so.

b) The iPad can be removed very easily for charging. However, if you wanted to you could run a cable from the rear and into the cab. It's a lot easier to just remove the iPad though.

 

[Codeena]

I love it!!!! I might be putting an Apple sticker on the side of mine when I get it. It will go above the side power switch. However I am a professional artist and I am thinking of going the extra mile and hand painting the entire cabinet to look like one of the more amazing tables out there. I haven't decided yet. It would be a lot of work and only I would be seeing it on a regular basis. So I am not sure if that route or just getting some decals is the better solution for individual customization of my baby. I will make the final decision when I get the mini in my hands.

Hi Mick, thank you! I'm also an artist and thought of creating some original artwork (along with existing pinball art) for my iPinCade and full size cab, but I was planning to have it printed, not painted. I think that'd be awesome and would love to see it. What kind of paint would you use? How would you protect your artwork? Since my cabinet design is pretty small, I think it'd be quite a challenge to illustrate all the details. If you go through with it, could you post some pics?

regards
Codeena

 

[Mick Morry]

Hi Mick, thank you! I'm also an artist and thought of creating some original artwork (along with existing pinball art) for my iPinCade and full size cab, but I was planning to have it printed, not painted. I think that'd be awesome and would love to see it. What kind of paint would you use? How would you protect your artwork? Since my cabinet design is pretty small, I think it'd be quite a challenge to illustrate all the details. If you go through with it, could you post some pics?

regards
Codeena

Hi Codeena. I would use a type of acrylic paint that is used for painting ceramics and other craft projects. I have used it on wood projects, plastic, and even metal. It is very scratch resistant and holds up well to water and humidity. I can buy flat or gloss colours too. I would use Duncan and Mayco products for the most part as they are the companies that give me the look and feel and easy to lay on coverage that I like. Duncan is my favorite paint for doing such projects.

In the past I painted duck decoys with this paint and made them look so real that hunters would accidently mistake my buddies decoys for real ducks and would let loose on them. LOL I also painted an aluminum duck boat with a reed, tall grass and cattail pattern for hunting. The paint is easy to blend and holds up really well over time. Here is a photo of one of my favorite paintings I sold back in 2009. The dimensions are wrong here. I have to contact my webmaster. It's a watercolour, Gouache and coloured pencil mixed media painting, and is 24" x 44".

http://www.avaloniadaylilies.com/MMARTTALL.htm

 

[Codeena]

Hi Codeena. I would use a type of acrylic paint that is used for painting ceramics and other craft projects. I have used it on wood projects, plastic, and even metal. It is very scratch resistant and holds up well to water and humidity. I can buy flat or gloss colours too. I would use Duncan and Mayco products for the most part as they are the companies that give me the look and feel and easy to lay on coverage that I like. Duncan is my favorite paint for doing such projects.

In the past I painted duck decoys with this paint and made them look so real that hunters would accidently mistake my buddies decoys for real ducks and would let loose on them. LOL I also painted an aluminum duck boat with a reed, tall grass and cattail pattern for hunting. The paint is easy to blend and holds up really well over time. Here is a photo of one of my favorite paintings I sold back in 2009. The dimensions are wrong here. I have to contact my webmaster. It's a watercolour, Gouache and coloured pencil mixed media painting, and is 24" x 44".

http://www.avaloniadaylilies.com/MMARTTALL.htm

Hey Mick, that is a beautiful painting! Great to see another traditional artist/TPA fan. I have a BFA in Illustration and Graphic Design. I mostly used colored pencils and watercolor. I've done many portraits including one for Jackie Chan, but now my focus is graphic design. I really think you should paint your cab--that would really give it a personal and unique look.

 

[mann0mann]

I was inspired by Codeena and Soties builds and put one together myself.

Not necessarily a Pinball Arcade fan, but it seemed like a fun project to try out. Been wanting to build a full-size arcade cabinet and thought this would be a good way to get my feet wet.

I tried to do a few little things differently, just to keep it fresh.

 

[sotie]

Welcome to the club mann0mann! I'm glad it came out so well.

Email me again and I'll let you know where you can get some nice rubber feet if you want to add them.

 

[Codeena]

I was inspired by Codeena and Soties builds and put one together myself.

Not necessarily a Pinball Arcade fan, but it seemed like a fun project to try out. Been wanting to build a full-size arcade cabinet and thought this would be a good way to get my feet wet.

I tried to do a few little things differently, just to keep it fresh.

Hey mann0mann--glad you liked my iPinCade design enough to build a similar one. Even though you're not a TPA fan, I'm guessing that the game is considerably more fun with your new cab. Were you planning to build a full size arcade cabinet with pinball buttons on the side of the control panel? Or were you going to forget pinball altogether? Either way, I'm sure that you'll find building one will be rewarding and fun. I have built or modded about 15 arcade cabs and one full sized virtual pinball cab. Good luck and enjoy!

 

[mann0mann]

Sotie: Thanks! Thanks again for all the help. I actually have rubber feet on there...although, looking at the pics it does look like they are missing huh?

Codeena: I am enjoying it. I mostly just meant, I wasn't really a devote TPA player prior to taking on the cabinet. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't even buy any tables until after I completed the mini cabinet. I was more drawn to the project and the idea of trying to build something than anything else.

We have a little local used videogame shop right around the corner from where I work and they have about 9-10 pinball cabinets in there and rotate them out pretty frequently. It's alot of fun to be able to play a cabinet you've actually played in real life.

I'd really like to build an arcade cabinet for my kids to play on. Not to derail the thread, but I'm trying to figure out MAME (don't think I have the time or resources for it) and weighing the option of doing a multi-jamma board of some kind. They all look kinda cruddy though.

 

[Codeena]

Codeena: I am enjoying it. I mostly just meant, I wasn't really a devote TPA player prior to taking on the cabinet. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't even buy any tables until after I completed the mini cabinet. I was more drawn to the project and the idea of trying to build something than anything else.

We have a little local used videogame shop right around the corner from where I work and they have about 9-10 pinball cabinets in there and rotate them out pretty frequently. It's alot of fun to be able to play a cabinet you've actually played in real life.

I'd really like to build an arcade cabinet for my kids to play on. Not to derail the thread, but I'm trying to figure out MAME (don't think I have the time or resources for it) and weighing the option of doing a multi-jamma board of some kind. They all look kinda cruddy though.

I'm as guilty as you- I did not buy TPA until I finished my cabinet. I wasn't even willing to buy the game if it wasn't for the iCade support. As soon as I read that the iCade was supported, I started my mini cab design. By the way, did you use my cab's photos as a reference--even the size and proportions look nearly identical? Are you using one of the front mini buttons for forward nudge?

You're lucky to have access to those pinball machines. It's getting more difficult to find places to play them, at least around me. One day, I may get one, but the maintenance concerns me a bit.

MAME is pretty easy to figure out, imho, especially Mame32. You can get usb plug 'n play encoder cards, similar to the one used in the iCade to interface to your controls. The controls can be configured within Mame. I'd say the best site to get inspiration from is the build your own arcade controls site. You should go for it--you (and your kids) won't regret it.