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Vegapin - My Noob-Project


Sascha

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Hej Dear Pinheadz

I use to play a lot of Pinball when I was young, but with Age this Passion went a bit to sleep. But just Yesterday i got caught by the Fascination of Virtual Pinballs. I watched all the Tutorials of that Dude scorpius (www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnKXIRK4-J4&list=PLZU98v6HPzNYCxOazPkDtTbBKPIAzi14V) and i was completely blown away. I didnt know something like this even existed and now here i am. One night later, barely slept an hour and already planned my own pinball cabinet: 43"/24" Screens, zebsboards all in one VP-Kit, visual pinball with a Hyperpin frontend.

pst_skizze_vegapin_1_s.png

pst_design_vegapin_1_s.png

Tipping Analysis looks pretty good
vegapin_COM_v1800.png


 
 
Place might be an issue here. But if things get packed i can still enlarge the lower belly on the front to get some more space.

Since Im a complete Noob to VPs a lot of - maybe useless - questions pop up. The Most recent one is this:
Focussing on the angle and placement of the playfield-screen and the playfielt glass is saw, that a lot of cabinet designs carry the screen parallel to the floor and only the glass is angled at 6 degrees up.
Is there any practical reason for that? Cause logically it makes no sense to me: The virtual tables are already styled in a kind of 3D-Style where a virtual pinball-backwall is already included. So the playfield itself should be angles at 6 degrees as well; or do i miss on somenting. And a angled playfield would improve the viewing angle on the screen and thus improve the perceptual color quality of the screen innit?
 
And another Question for you VP-Grandmasters out there ...
i decided to split my built into several phases:
 
0.    PLANNING IT OUT
- Gather Knowledge
- Lock Design
- Draw Plans
- Structural Analysis
- Final Plans for WoodCut und Assembly
- Shopping List

1.    IT
- Buy Screens
- Buy Computer Parts
- Computer Up And Runnin
- install VP/PinballX/Roms/etc.
- Test the System

2.     ELECTRONICS/MECHANICS
- Buy Controller Boards an Lights/FF-Accessories
- Wire/Solder Components
- Hook up to Computer
- Test Setup

3.     CAB
- Buy Wood and Saw according to Plans
- Screw Cab together
- Apply Decals/Design
- Fit Plexi-Glasses

4.     PUT IT TOGETHER
- Place Components into Cab
- Test if everything is working
- final tunes and fixes
- Assemble & Screw Everything together
- Final Tests
- Prosecco Run
 
Does that look like a good Plan or am I missing something or
would you put things in another Sequence?
 
Thanx 4 ya help

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I'll be following your build. Prepare for a timesucking, hairpulling, muffled-shouting experience that will be very rewarding in the end.

Do you plan on a full deck-out, including contactors, plunger, knocker, shaker  etc?

 

The space that you have below your playfield screen seems very very tight. Good luck!!

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HejHej Djurre ... yeah ... ive read a lot already on the bumpy ride towards a own VP-Cab ... looking forward to it ;-)

I had planned a full Deck-Out with Zebsboards all in one Solution Solenoids, Shaker, Gears etc. But then I fell in Love

with pfx2 tables. Maybe because of my age Im right in the Middle between traditional FunHouse-Machines, Arcade-Shmups

and the Modern Era of Videogames. I think pfx2 combines the best of all worlds. After All I am a Pinhead 4 sure ;-)

It might not be as real as VP and Co. but has a lot more "unreal" but cool Play-Gagdets and Whistles ;-)

 

But: pfx2 offers a minimum of Force Feedback ... this i will implement into my Cab. It wont be the

full 8-Solenoid, 2 Contactor-Setup ..but some Contactors in the Front wired to the Vibration-Motor-Cables of a

torn down xbox360 controller. Lighting ill manage with two LED-Wiz and LEDblinky set to Audio-Animation since

pfx2 doesnt have any Light Outputs either. And for nudging/tilt ill be on the videogame-side of things ...

Just Buttons on either side of the Cab and in the Front.

 

This reduction of Options has advantages as well: Place is not so stuffed anymore as with all the FF-Stuff an cabling ;-)

 

And the developpers of pfx2 have discovered Cab-Possibilities just yet. They have implemented a

limited Set of Cab-Support into their Soft and said theyll be working it out in the Future.

So Future seems to be bright ;-)

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I've been following your build as I'm planning to build one myself and your design actually got my wondering if I should go for a traditional design, probably the widebody, or your design as it looks realy realy awesome. Issue I might have is that contrary to you I lost hope to compose a motherboard, processor, power etc myself so I bought (a rather big) second hand PC which I don't want to tear appart, so need quite some space.

 

All the best with your project and keep us up to date!

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Very nice work. Thanks for sharing the plans.

You may still want some sort of lockdown bar or at least rounded edges where your hands rest at the buttons - sometimes you want to lean heavily on it when your feet get tired. This sharp edge looks like pain.

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wie gehts!

 

SWEET! Beautiful job! I am looking at building a cab with a more modern look starting in September. Gives me plenty of inspiration. Did you use something like Blender for the renderings?

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