My VPin Cab: Virtual Pinball Meister 3000

[Zimond]

Hi there. My build is already done over a year but I still wanted to share my building story yet.

 

At first I made a design in 3D Max, thinking of a way to mount the screens.

 

Then I bought PC hardware and 3 screens. The main screen is an Acer Predator 42'' 4K 144hz. First goal: Getting into all the software stuff and succesfully running some tables.

 

 

Soon I realized that my screen choice had a big problem. The panel under it sticks out and wouldn't fit in properly in a wide body cabinet.

 

 

So I decided to screw my warranty and grab a Dremel. (Trigger warning Bad Work ahead) Because of course today these things don't have screws anymore and you cannot just build that thing out.

 

 

I successfully did NOT ruin a 1000 bucks PC monitor and even the IR receiver still works ^^

Next step, building a raw cabinet. For this I ordered Multiplex plates from a Wood shop. I slightly changed the default Williams Widebody blueprints.

 

A friend of mine is a professional carpenter and thankfully he was willing to help me with this project. He simply had the tools AND the knowledge and I was able to learn quite a few things working with him. Couldn't have done it without him.

 

 

 

 

One paint job and screen adjustments later

 

 

I created a bunch of pinball prompted Disco Diffusion images that I mixed together for an adhesive foil design.

 

 

Back in my basement I attached the legs, siderails, lockbar and corner protectors so the foil cannot get lose. BTW: Instead of a coindoor I added a hand sized hole on the front and put a lid onto it that you can open by rotating it.

 

 

Time to insert the guts. Next to the PC and a Pinscape controller I used a logitech 2.1 system for the front channels and 4 seperate amps for the SSF channels. Each of these amps has one BASS connector so this way you can use 4 Exciters and 4 Bass shakers. 1 pair for each channel.

 

 

And here is everything connected. Warning awful cable management.

I added a china ambilight knockoff which takes a little effort to make it work but is MUCH cheaper then the official phillips hue stuff.

 

 

Fun fact: I almost killed my Pinscape by not knowing an important fact about PSUs which is that the 6 Pin connectors at the back are not standardized and can differ from one PSU to another. I used a cable from another PSU and therefore the red cable on the molex connector suddenly had 12V. I should have checked the voltage to begin with.

 

The final cab in action:

 

 

The whole project took me about 5 months. This cab is far from perfect but I am very happy with it. At times I had big doubts that I can make that thing real
If you are still reading, thanks for your time

Edited April 3, 2024 by Zimond