New Build - Converting a Judge Dredd Cabinet

[gonzonia]

I was posting this on VPForums, but the image hosting stopped working so I'm going to move it over here. I'll start by "re-posting" my first few progress reports. 

 

Posted 29 July 2024 - 11:44 AM

I've just acquired a Jude Dredd cabinet. I'm going to do my best to document as I convert to a Vpin. 

Overall I'm pretty happy with what I got. There's some chipping but not too bad. 

 

Some background:

I've been wanting to build one/get one for years. I was able to get an AtGames Legends Pinball HD from Sam's Club on sale in Februay 2023. I was hooked. It wasn't long before I stared modding the machine. First was the goldleaf buttons and then I kept going then OTG and PinupPopper on a PC (first windows machine I'd owned in about 15 years). Since then:  BuyStuff Haptics kit now full SSF, KL25Z swapped that for a PinOne, CSD flipper solenoid kit, lighted start/add credit/action buttons, 3D printed a coin door, BuyStuff Backbox 2.0. I was holding off on the final monitor swap and adding stern legs until later this year. I saw the Judge Dredd machine listed on FB marketplace and jumped at it. 

 

Key goals-

 

I want everything inside the cabinet. My current machine has the PC outside and the inside wiring is a rats nest since I've avoided removing the monitor.  

 

Solenoids. I'm probably going to use the Cleveland Software Design Virtual Pinball Builders Kit for simplicity.

 

Access to the inside. I want to make sure I can get to the interior of the machine without too much trouble so the monitor needs to tilt up out of the way to work inside. 

 

No LED matrix. I'm not a fan of all the excess lights. 

 

Action/fire button on lockdown. I'm looking for a good source of one that will fit. I found one on VirtuaPin.net that's a bit more than I was hoping, so this will probably be a later thing. 

 

Hoping to keep the graphics as/is. I don't mind the dings/scrapes for now. I could see myself changing my mind though once I get further along (mainly cause I'm likely to screw it up more)

 

After getting it home and inspecting it, there were definitely some things that needed to be addressed. First thing was it needs to be cleaned. It's filthy. 

I've wiped most of the outside with some basic glass cleaner to get a lot of grim off. I need to get a scrub brush and some rags to get at the grooves and the interior. 

 

I've already ordered new legs. While these are probably functional, there's more rust on them than I want to deal with. My time to clean them up is worth more than the cost of new legs from Pinball Life. 

 

Also ordered - 

Leg Bolts

Levelers

Leveler Cups

Rear Glass Channel (it's missing)

Beer Seal

Backbox Hinge

 

This will at least let me set it up once it's cleaned. 

 

[gonzonia]

Posted 30 July 2024 - 04:09 PM

Today I got deeper into cleaning. I picked up some Myers All Purpose cleaner and a couple of scrub brushes that felt pretty soft. 

Removed some of the copper grounding strip, pulled off the lockbar receiver (that was gross behind it), pulled out the buttons, and started scrubbing.

I dried and wiped with a paper towel after I did each bit so the water didn't stay on long. 

 

BEFORE- 

Cleaning under way- 

[gonzonia]

Posted 03 August 2024 - 02:01 PM

More cleaning today. I think the cab is as clean as I can get it. 4 buckets, 5 rolls of paper towels, 2 trash bags, 2 magic erasers. 

 

 

[gonzonia]

Posted 04 August 2024 - 05:39 PM

Today I got the legs on and put the cabinet where it will live for now. There's a light directly above so I may have to move it due to glare. 

Along with the new legs, I ordered a rear glass channel and I was hoping to install that. I noticed though that the wood was splitting at the screw holes so I got some wood glue in there and clamped it together. I'll revisit that tomorrow after it's dried completely. 

Instead I focused on cleaning up the lockdown bar, receiver, and coin door. 

Lockdown Before:

Removed the old beer seal and started cleaning: 

Cleaned up and new beer seal installed: 

I forgot to take pictures of the receiver, but I was able to scrape a lot of the rust (seen in a previous update) off. 

 

Coin Door Before: 

Coin Mech removed:

German Coin Returns:

Cleaning in progress: 

Next stop: Scuff and paint

 

[gonzonia]

I got the rear glass channel installed. The wood didn't hold as well as I'd hoped and I think that's causing some slight separation between the glass and the plastic on the right. Not something I'm going to fret over for now, I'll probably come back to it later. 

 

I ordered some parts from Action Pinball and while I waited for them I decided to focus on something else. 

 

I've spent much of the last week working on a way to use the coin return buttons as "Add Credit" buttons. I started looking into how a lot of other people have done it, and most people keep the mech controls in some way. I started looking at what I'd removed, but it wasn't going to work the way I'd like. Ideally, I wanted to use these buttons (swapped bulbs with 6v LEDs) which I'd bought on Amazon a while back. The challenge is that they don't fit with the lens on, and while there are some ways to 3D print a new bracket so they'll fit, it's not the look I want. I wanted it to still look the same on the outside. That meant re-using the coin reject button cover if I could. 

 

The answer (so far, still working some parts out) is to model and 3D print a new piece for inside the button. The button is made up of a colored lens/cover, white plastic "plunger", spring, shell and shaft, locking ring, light, and switch. 

 

Originally I was thinking I’d print a new shell and shaft because the one the button came with wouldn’t fit inside the space for the coin return button. After a few iterations of that idea I realized that the resizing done to make it fit resulted in the plunger and spring no longer fitting.  Instead, I turned my focus to the plunger. The trick was to make it longer but keep the arms that clip into the shaft the same size. After about 3 or 4 failures I got a good fit that will click the switch, and fit so that the shell is up against the coin door slot hardware. 

 

Now I needed to get it to lock in place, otherwise it just fell out when pressed. To do that I needed to print a bracket that would go around the shaft and attach using the same screws attaching the coin door slot. This would allow me to use the locking ring to hold it all in place. 

 

This proved challenging because of the angles of everything. After about 11 iterations, I got it “close enough” but couldn’t leave it alone and kept fiddling. It took another 5 iterations, but the result is pretty good and I’m happy with it. The STL is available. 

 

I forgot to take pics, but I've scuffed the metal parts and got a flat black coat on the back of everything. I'm going to try the hammered paint followed by a satin coat. If I don't like the look I'll scuff it all up again and try the flat followed by a gloss splatter.

 

 

Rear Glass Channel Installed:

 

 

 

Coin Door with Buttons Installed: 

 

 

The pieces: (the two white pieces are 3D printed)

[gonzonia]

I got a lot done over the last couple of days. The first thing I got done was painting all the coin door parts. 

 

I pained the back in Flat Black. 

 

This is before the front is painted. I painted using rust-oleum hammered black followed by Satin. 

 

 

Coin Return after painting. 

 

 

 

After I got it installed, I noticed a problem with the thumb lock I got. It's the wrong length. 

 

 

Also missing a coin flap. 

 

I quickly modeled up an adapter for the lock and printed a coin return flap . Worked great! 

 

 

With that installed, I went to work on the backbox. First stem was to remove all these lamp sockets. 

 

With those removed, I gave it all a good scrubbing like I did to the cab. The back of the light panel didn't handle the water as well as everything else, so I'm not sure I'll be able to re-use it. I wasn't sure I could regardless, but I may start thinking about a plywood replacement that will mount the backbox TV.

 

Once clean I put it on the cab with new hinges,  a new latch, and wing bolts. 

 

[gonzonia]

Lot's of planning....

I spent much of my planning time yesterday re-watching some Way of the Wrench videos and mapping out the electrical.

 

I think I'm going with this. Once I lay it all out I may add some terminal blocks for the amps, just so I have less cables running to the power supplies.

 

I also ordered some pieces for the backbox.  I've decided to go with a Virtuapin pre made speaker panel because the woodworking portion of this project scares me the most, so anything I can do to minimize that (especially with something that is user facing), the better. 

 

Once that arrives I'll work on mounting the backglass screens. I've given up on using the hinge. Instead, I'm going to go with a simple vesa mount on wood. Since the largest monitor size I can find that will fit is 27" (32" is too big, and I can't find a 1080p 30", if you've got a model number that will work, let me know)

 

I'm focusing on the backbox because I find it more manageable as the first steps or me.  I can picture what I need to do and map it out easier without being overwhelmed with everything else that's going to go in there. 

[gonzonia]

Things I've done since the last major update.

 

1. Created some adapters to attach 120mm fans to the ventilation holes in the cabinet as well as grills for the back.
   
2. Created an adapter for the AC port to install an IEC320 plug and rocker switch 
   
3. Drilled out flipper and magnasave holes to be able to install butons I plan on using. (RGB buttons are correct, black are placeholders)
   
4. Created speaker grills that friction fit into Virtuapin speaker panel.
   
5. Painted, sanded, filled, painted, sanded, filled, sanded, painted Virtuapin Speaker panel (Stay tuned for a separate post on this )
   
6. Created spacers to raise speakers a small amount so they are not sticking out from speaker panel
   
7. Removed and reinstalled subwoofer mount only to find out it won’t work. Ordered piece to adapt from Flipper Fidelity directly. Should have done more research on that.
8. Painted and re-installed U-Channel
   
9. Planned out electrics. <See previous post>
    
10. Planned out buttons (this resulted in swapping one of the coin buttons to an “Extra Ball” button)
    
11. Installed backglass lock
    

 

 

Just to be clear, when I say created, sometimes I mean that I modified someone else's design. I haven't uploaded those models anywhere yet since I haven't fully installed so I'm not sure they are ready.  I have a few things ready to install once I'm ready. 

 

1. Launch Button. 

2. Brackets for speaker panel

3. Speakers (obviousy)

4. Trim for backglass glass

5. H Channel for speaker panel

6. LCD screen for DMD (original backglass screen from my AtGames Legends HD). I was thinking I'd attach with mirror clips but I don't think it'll fit in the U Channel. I might try custom printing something again that will still fit and hold it in place at the corners. 

 

I"m still trying to figure out the backglass monitor. I've spent way too much time agonizing over this. I can go cheap and light with the 27" Viewsonic VX2776-SMHD, a little larger for a 28" 4K Asus VG289Q1A, or a litle pricier but one that practically fills the space with a 30" Dell UP3017.

 

https://www.displays...ison/e2982ca891

Edited September 11, 2024 by gonzonia
Adding more images

[gonzonia]

If anyone doubts how much of an idiot I am when it comes to physically building things. 

 

1) I spent an entire weekend sanding, filling, and painting the speaker panel only to realize I was not looking at it correctly and that was the back. I've ordered an acrylic panel for the front, Here's what it looks like installed with no acrylic. 

 

2) I ended up ordering the Dell UP3017 and again confirming just how horrible I am at physically building things. The monitor fits the width of the back box like a glove. Unfortunately, that means it will not get past the translite supports. That got sent back today and I ordered a 27" monitor instead. 

 

I did get the subwoofer adapter though, and once I get some 1" screws, that'll be installed. I also put in a big order for small parts and I'm hoping to get a lot more installed over the next week. 

[Precise]

Peace,

 

This looks like a fun project.  I'll be checking this out to see where it goes.  I like what you've done so far.  Good luck.

[gonzonia]

Trying to fix an extra image showing and failing. Clearing this and re-posting. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2024 by gonzonia

[gonzonia]

Things are looking up! After some extremely frustrating mis-steps, I have the 27" monitor installed in the backbox! 

 

Here's what I ended up doing- 

 

I initially tried cutting a .75"x 6" board that I happened to have to the correct length. That didn't work. I tried twice and my cuts were off both times. Frustrating, but not insurmountable. I decided to just put in some 1.5" blocks and I'd screw the board into that. All good. I marked the center lines and installed the Vesa mount. Everything was going great. Until I tried to hang the monitor. There wasn't enough clearance above the mount to get the monitor high enough and slide it into place. I had to rethink it all again. 

 

The solution I ended up with was a pre-made French cleat. After my initial failure with cutting, I practiced a cut with a 1.5"x 5.5" board I already had. It came out great. I went to work figuring out my plan. One thing I learned while doing this- A 2x4 is 1.5 x 3.5. Good to know. 

 

Here's what I ended up with. 

 

Monitor attached to precut 12x12 piece of .25" plywood using Vesa mounts. That has a pre-made French cleat mounted to it. I may need to trim this down to get better access to the HDMI port. 

 

Attached to the backbox is the board I cut as practice. I used a Kreg pocket-hole jig to do that.

 

 

Attached to the board is a precut 12x24 piece of .5" plywood with the French cleat. 

 

This ends up with a depth of 2.25" + the monitor which is 2.1811". The total depth is just inside the 4.75" I have available. 

 

 

It tilts down slightly so I need to add a spacer below the French cleat. I also may need to raise it slightly. That will be easy though since it just means raising the French cleat attached to the backbox. 

 

[gonzonia]

Not much progress recently as I haven’t had a lot of time to work on it. I’ve got just about all the parts I need though to finish this up.

 

The backbox is almost done. I got the acrylic installed. I ended up ordering the piece from Virtuapin.net. I don’t particularly like the art on it and wish it was just solid black, but it’s a compromise I’ll accept rather than trying to get a piece cut on my own and risking it’s not correct.

 

When that arrived I had to glue it in place. Virtuapin recommended Tacky Glue which worked. It took a couple of tries before I realized I needed to scuff up the acrylic to get a good hold. They were also able to tell me the backglass size I needed to order and that should be here soon. The speaker grills I 3D printed are held in place with a touch of hot glue.

With some more parts in hand, I was able to test out the fit of the pieces I 3D printed to direct the rear fan ventilation. They fit well, but I still have to test the airflow. I also drilled the hole for the front intake fan. I probably need to put a grill over that on the bottom. I may be able to reuse a piece from the original table that was for something else.

 

The plunger and the launch button are now installed. I had 3D printed a template for the plunger opening but I found it wasn’t quite right. I was able to use a drill bit to enlarge the opening to the plunger fit correctly. You can also see where I tried to drill a hole for the launch button but ended up hitting the metal brace for the leg so had to move it over.

 

My next goal is to get the playfield monitor installed. There was a sale on the LG C4 monitor so I now have that waiting for installation. I bought a 2 ft. x 4ft. piece of 3/4 inch plywood that I’ve trimmed down. The trim isn’t particularly straight but it’s close enough. I’ve measured out where it should sit in the cabinet and marked it with tape. You can see it in one of the backbox images above.

[RabidUrko]

Thats some awesome work there.

[gonzonia]

I’m very grateful to have made it through Helene and Milton with no real damage. So many of my friends and neighbors were not as fortunate. While I’ve been dealing with everything that came with the storms, I didn’t get quite as far as I would have liked.

I had started writing this thinking I hadn’t gotten to a milestone. Then I went and worked on the machine and reached the milestone I wanted to get to. I’m eager to get the playfield monitor mounted. I think I’m close, but let’s talk about what I have done.

I had to go back and look at my last post to see where I left off. These items are mostly complete but weren’t necessarily done in this order.

Glass for the backglass arrived and was installed. (Shirt says, “I Would Prefer Not To”, from Always Antisocial)

 

No one needs to see my ugly mug…and my son said my expression did not match my enthusiasm.
 

Fans installed

Fans. The hole with the grill is at the front left bottom of the cabinet for intake of cool air. 

 

 

Computer Assembled and placement tested (still haven’t turned it on).
I ended up buying a second case for it since I wasn’t happy with how the first one fit inside the cabinet. I’ve ordered some foam to sit underneath and minimize vibrations.



Computer placement. The third picture is closer to where it'll end up.

 

 

Added a couple of buttons. Still need to label them.





 

The big milestone though is that I got the mount for the playfield in place. I thought this would be an easier step than it is. My initial measurement was off and I had to re-do the front blocks. There’s a lot to think through with this. Luckily there are Emil Jurica’s Way of the Wrench videos. In this case, I’m working through the playfield mounting video. I’m making my screen parallel to the glass though so some of it is a little different. One step at a time. It rubs a little and I need to figure out if something is at an angle, or if it’s just my bad cuts.

 

 

Working on the mount.

Next step is to get the screen in place and at least the backglass amp mounted so I can have some sound while I install windows on the computer.

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2024 by gonzonia

[gonzonia]

Screen is mounted. I think it needs adjusting but to truly fix it probably means rebuilding or at least trimming/redoing some parts with better tools/skill. I also "roughed in" the amps. 

One thing I like about my build is how much scrap wood I'm repurposing. There are some pieces I've bought new like the panel for mounting the playfield, but a lot of these little blocks came from the platform that once held a water heater in our garage. It was dismantled when we started using a tankless water heater. 

 

Edited October 25, 2024 by gonzonia

[tjaf]

Looking good. I wish I had the space for a full size build. 

[gonzonia]

You'd be surprised what you can make fit when motivated (and have a partner willing to tolerate a mess for a while). I'm building this in a room that is pretty crowded right now. I have to go up and down the stairs often when doing wood cutting. I'm so close yet, have so much still to do.

 

[gonzonia]

This is going to be a long one- I’ve gotten a lot done since the last post. 

 

With the playfield screen now mounted, it was time to make some cuts to the mount for cable access and ventilation. I took my time and planned everything out. I decided I could simplify things but cutting from where the power cable is, all the way to the edge. 

 

Do you see the problem here?

This was not a smart move. With that corner missing, that side was not not resting on the stop block and this caused a lot of flex in the playfield. 

 

That meant I had to redo the playfield mount. I decided I’d let someone else do the cutting this time and I made a note of the measurements. I thought that their giant saws would be better at cutting than me. Yes, and no.  While straighter, there was a 1/4 inch difference from end to end on their cuts. Either the piece wasn’t square to begin with or they suck. Considering the store I was in, I’m going to go with, they suck. I’ve got a history there.

 

This made it very difficult to mount everything again. It was time to get some help. My brother-in-law has a wood shop and the skills so I had him help me re-cut and square up this new piece of wood. 

 

This meant that not only did I now have a straight piece of wood, I could mount things more evenly and straighter! I also made better cuts for the cables and ventilation. 

 

So, now I was back to where I was. Time to move forward. 

 

With all that done I decided I wanted to turn this computer on and make sure that all works. I plugged everything in while the PC was outside the cabinet and hit the switch. I got power. That was a good sign. Then something flashed on the screen. Then nothing.

 

It’s been so long since I’d built a Windows machine I forgot some of the basics. Like, only connect one monitor when doing the initial setup. 

With that out of the way, I got into the BIOS and verified everything was showing up correctly before booting to the USB drive with the Windows installation files. 

 

It worked! Windows was installed, drivers were installed. I had sound where I expected. Things are good. My rear exhaust fans worked great and were quiet. My intake fan was working. The reset switch LED was acting as the HDD LED (that’s how I connected it so that I could have some indication of activity if I needed it).

 

With the PC on I learned that the little fans I put to add ventilation for the backglass. WAY too loud. Even at their lowest power, I couldn’t stand the whining noise they made. Those will come out eventually, but I’m leaving them in place for the time being.

 

Unfortunately, I also discovered that the screen I was going to be using for the DMD wasn’t working. It would come on briefly and then go off. It wasn’t really worth spending hours on troubleshooting since I’d had some issues with getting it to fit right. So I ordered a different screen. Of course, when that arrived I found that it uses a different connector (just a different style 30 pin eDP). So i ordered a new cable. That came and I found that the new screen doesn't work with the controller board. I ordered a new one of those now.

 

With that done, I started to look into how to place everything and realized that the PC was actually sitting exactly where the rear bass shaker was going to be. That triggered me to check on everything else too. I found that I had a similar issue near the front. The flipper solenoids wouldn’t fit in the ideal spot because the amps were too high. They needed to be moved. I lowered them to sit on the cross brace of the lower cabinet. 

 

Remember how much cleaning I did? There was a piece of wood I removed here, you can see how filthy it used to be. 

 

The blocks I was using didn’t quite fit right so I just used some L-brackets as shelf supports for the front and the back rests on the cross brace. 

 

While thinking of placement, I also decided to move a few things outside the cabinet. I put the reset button, USB hub, and IR control for the playfield out the rear bottom ventilation hole and accessible on the back left of the machine. 

 

Next I installed the grounding braid. I had installed an extra grounding wire with the convenience outlet in preparation for this step. 

I had to make a couple of adjustments, but I tested everything with a multimeter and there was continuity between the metal and the ground of the plug that will connect to the outlet. 

At this point, it’s just a matter of screwing stuff into the cabinet and connecting wires. Suddenly it’s like a sprint to the finish. Everything just fell into place. I was thrilled to discover I could mount the solenoids directly to the playfield. This saved me from more woodworking! 

 

I’ve had to make a bunch of wires. Wires to connect the power supply for the SSF to main power, wires to connect the SSF amps to the power supply, wires for all the SSF exciters, and re-do the quick disconnect ends for some of the front buttons.

 

Here’s a before and after with the buttons connected.

Rats nest to organized and mounted. 

 

More photos of it all- 

[gonzonia]

I’m now at the point where little things keep going wrong. At least they are little. 

Here’s the tidied-up cabinet. I’m sure some people would go further, and maybe I will at some point but now I’m trying to not pull that PC out anymore. 

 

With everything inside and connected, it was time to turn it on and get some setup done…but first, let me tell you about that DMD monitor replacement. 

You may remember that my original plan was to re-use the original backbox screen from the AtGames Lengends Pinball HD (ALP). In order to do that I needed to get an HDMI Controller to connect the panel to the PC. BuyStuff Arcades sells one and I had ordered it for this purpose. Since the ALP screen wasn’t working correctly, I ordered a new 30 pin screen (they are usually 30 or 40 pin). That arrived and had a different type of 30 pin connector. That meant another day delay while I get a cable that would connect. 

The cable arrived and I hooked it up to test, and while the screen was obviously getting power, no signal was getting through. Great. This controller didn’t work with this LCD. I tried to identify one that would and wasn’t finding an exact match. I decided to try one that listed a model with similar numbers. Another delay. Another failure. I went back to trying to find a matching board, with no luck. 

Meanwhile, I’m trying to setup the TV and the other monitor. I discovered very quickly that there was a problem when I tried to set the screen to 4K HDR 120Hz. The TV would cut out. After a lot of troubleshooting and multiple HDMI and Displayport cable purchases, I finally figured out the issue. The graphics card does not like running anything at 120Hz when there is any sort of signal conversion happening. The graphics card has 3 Displayport outputs and 1 HDMI. The TV only has HDMI inputs, so that meant I had to use the TV on the HDMI output. 

As I tried to find a new panel for the DMD, this was a new wrinkle. I wasn’t finding any controllers that had Displayport inputs so I could go DP>DP. It was hard enough finding a panel that matched with either HDMI controller I already had purchased. After a couple of days of searching (and ordering a portable monitor as a backup to use over USB-C) I found a controller that has DP, and then found a panel on eBay that is listed as compatible. I’m not waiting for those to arrive early next week. 

In the meantime, I pulled my second monitor from my desktop setup to use as a temporary screen so I can set everything up. 

Back to setting up the hardware with the software. 

Fortunately, the Cleaveland Software Design documentation is pretty good. My first install was the tool that interfaces with the PinOne board that acts as the brains for all the buttons, the plunger, the solenoid, the shaker motor, and the knocker. This allowed me to test all the connections. All the buttons worked, but I had some challenges with some of the lights. I eventually got all that sorted (I did have to email Phil at CSD a couple of times though. At first the solenoids, etc weren’t working. The power supply wasn’t coming on for some reason, but after pulling it out to test outside the cabinet and reconnecting it, I was able to test all the solenoids too. While testing I made a spreadsheet of which button was which number in the system. 

The next install was Steam. This allowed me to install Zen Pinball FX3 and Pinball FX. After some fiddling with the programming of the layout I thought might work best using the PinOne Configuration tool I fired up FX3 and was able to play some pinball! It wasn’t great. I didn’t have all the controls I wanted accessible. I need to figure out how to change the view mode and set that to a button. Plus, there was no SSF and no solenoids, and so it wasn’t great. But it was progress!!!!

I’ve started the install of Pinup Popper and I’m copying over my backups as I type this. 

Until the next update, here are some pretty lights. 

 

[gonzonia]

Wow. I love this thing. I’m having so much fun at this point. Even the minor frustrations that keep popping up aren’t that big a deal. Some of the best games I’ve played to date are while I’m just “testing” a table. It kind of slows the process when that happens. 

So, where was I? Oh yeah, installing software while I waited for my new DMD monitor to arrive. While I waited, this was my setup - 

 

Not the prettiest, but it worked. Here’s what the new screen looked like when it arrived. 

 

5

 

The eBay seller made good though and refunded my money. I found another replacement on Amazon that took a few more days. But it worked!!! I was able to finally put the whole thing together with a couple of modified 3d printed mirror clips to hold the screen in place.

 

Now, with the hardware (mostly) out of the way. Back to the software, or so I thought. 

I quickly found out that things weren’t working as expected. Solenoids weren’t firing, knocker wasn’t knocking. Easy fixes though. I had just missed the connections and once connected everything worked as expected. Take this a step further a reminder to DOUBLE CHECK EVERY CONNECTION YOU MAKE! That means taking a photo from a better angle, because it might look like it’s plugged in correctly from above, but it’s not. 

 

Oh yeah, and this happened. Thank you very much to Phil at Cleaveland Software Design for sending me a replacement board! (And for all the great support over email and Discord). 

Okay, now I can focus on the software, right? YES!

I've got it mostly configured at this point here's what's left to do -

 

1) Black out glass around screens. 

 

2) Get DOFLinx working. DOF is working fine but DOFLinx is not. 

 

3) Add Apron screen. I'm still trying to decide what to do here. 

 

4) Get sleep working. Right now, the USB ports stay on when in sleep. This is a bug in the Motherboard and I have to wait for an update, or move the PinOne to the hub. 

 

5) Replace lockdown with fire/action button lockdown. This is my solution for now. The white RGB is a the fire button. The black button triggers the F12 menu in VPX. 

 

Looking back at my goals, these were all achieved.

I want everything inside the cabinet.

More solenoids.

Access to the inside. 

No LED matrix. 

I’m hoping to keep the graphics as/is. 

[gonzonia]

Oh, wow. I haven't updated in a while!  I've been posting on substack so I'll copy them over here. There will be a series of updates.

 

I’ve been playing a lot with software and trying to keep up with various updates.

 

My main focus has been integrating VPin-Studio so that I can remotely (from downstairs) add and update tables on the machine. This works great! My main gripe is that it’s a Java app and not a native Mac app. Since it’s open source and most of the developers aren’t on Macs, I’m able to work on contributing to get an app working. 

 

I’ve figured out how to make it work for me, but we’re still working on making it work through GitHub's tools so that everyone can download a version for Mac when it’s available and that it gets updated with each release. <NOTE: This was originally written in January on Substack, this has been completed! Mac App available and updating!>

 

 

Related to that, I’ve also been trying to get the machine to sleep and then turn off all the lights connected to the PinOne. I’ve set everything so that it should do just that by turning off USB power when in sleep (and not fully shutdown). I could then use the Wake-on-lan function to remotely wake the machine to work on it.

 

Unfortunately, that’s not working. There is still power supplied to the USB ports. MSI (the motherboard manufacturer) says, “You may need to wait for a new BIOS update to be released and see if it fixes that issue.” The version released since did not fix it. I don’t expect it will ever be fixed.  <Note: This still doesn't work >

 

I did figure out a workaround. I had a spare smart outlet that I wasn’t using. I put that inside the machine connected to the PC. The PC is now set to “Boot on Power” so I can cycle the outlet when I want to work on it. It works, but not the ideal solution.  <Note: I've removed this for now. There's an electrical issue with things triggering the AFCI Breaker and until I get that fixed, I need to go up and turn it on manually anyhow.>

 

I also added a pause button thanks to VPin-Studio. This will allow me to Pause a table mid-play. The pause menu also brings up a high-score card for the table and the info and help details as well as tutorial videos. I put the physical button in the third coin return door. I added a label to that and the Fire button as well. 

 

What I haven’t done is figure out an apron screen or black out any of the glass.

 

There are always little changes to be made as things tables and software get updated. Here’s the current to-do list. I think most of the table-specific issues are resolved but I keep forgetting to check so they remain on the list. <NOTE: Much of this has been done.>

[gonzonia]

Recently I watched one of Way of the Wrench’s videos where he shows the installation of his LG OLED (similar to the one I used).

 

 

Watching this made me decide to move the playfield and scrap the idea of an apron screen. I like the idea of an apron screen, but decided it wasn’t worth the configuration changes that would be required. I’m really liking the POVs that are being created by Rudy’s Arcade. Adding an apron screen (for what I envisioned) would have meant redoing all of those as well as creating some custom images since I never came across any that were what I wanted. 

 

So, today I decided to shift my screen approximately four inches closer to the lockdown bar. Since I was doing this, I also planned on finally blacking out the glass and painting the mounting board so that it was less visible. 

 

How hard could that be, right? Pull the screen out, cut the corners off the mounting panel, move the dowel holders, and paint the board. 

 

This part wasn’t too bad. I disassembled it all, cut the corners, and painted the board. No biggie. 

 

Moving the dowel holders was a little more challenging. After initially moving them the board was not going in straight. Luckily since there was plenty of support I was able to focus on adjusting just one side. I think I did alright. 

As you can see, it’s a little close to the lockdown bar. I was able to drill the holes on the mounting board a little bit bigger so that the TV could be shifted slightly back. It’s damn near perfect now. 

 

While I had it out I took the opportunity to clean up some of the rats nest of wires that was under the TV in the back. 

 

One problem with this change- the screen hits the CPU cooler if I’m not careful. I had to cut some of the mounting board off at that end as well to create some more clearance. 

 

 

I had ordered a new DP cable to use for the backbox or DMD. The DMD DP cable was a little too short and I was worried about the tension over time. Since it was all disassembled I wanted to add that too. 

 

And of course, since I was opening the backbox, I should use this opportunity to shift the backbox screen up slightly (I always felt it was too low). Oh, and add a small block under the monitor to fix the slight downward tilt. 

 

This is where things started to go wrong. I pulled the DMD out so I could put the cable from the backbox on the DMD and put the new cable on the backbox. When I went to put the DMD back, the screen just slid out. The screws in my 3D printed corner brackets came out.

 

I found some longer screws and got it re-mounted. Then I pulled the backbox screen down. I marked and drilled pilot holes. Then I was having trouble getting the french cleat to line up with the holes. Eventually I got it. I went to hang the screen back up and while I was plugging it in, it slipped. Oops.

 

At least it’s not the playfield but it’s also not a cheap mistake. The mounting position is better though!

BEFORE: 

 

AFTER: 

 

So, now I’m waiting on a new backbox screen (2 days) and then the only step left for me (for the foreseeable future) is to blackout the glass on the edges.

[gonzonia]

I’m enjoying playing on the machine now. I’ve got everything blacked out, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. 

I’ve been going through table by table and testing. Some of the common problems I’m finding are 

1. I don’t like the loading screen or multiple audio tracks playing while loading. 
2. There’s a black box on the playfield. Turning the background off on the b2s backglass fixes this. 
3. The sound isn’t working in some way. Some roms it’s just turned down others there’s a different setting that needs to be adjusted. 
4. The POV is off. I’m noticing that some of the POVs are out of whack. I don’t know if this is a mismatch with what I downloaded, or something I screwed up at some point. 
5. The knocker doesn’t always work for a game. I haven’t figured out a fix for this. I see it set up in script and the DOF settings but it isn’t working.

The biggest frustration I have right now is an electrical issue. The room that houses the machine is on a circuit with an AFCI Combo Breaker. I found that having a UPS connected would often trip the breaker. I tried multiple solutions to fix this. First, I tried a different UPS, then I tried an Tripp Lite Isobar ISOBLOK2-0 which is supposed to filter line noise. No matter what the breaker would eventually trip. Often in the middle of the night with everything off. 

Eventually I added an arc filter that is designed for treadmills. That seemed to be stable. Until it wasn’t. I think I’ve finally narrowed the problem to either the convenience outlet or the rocker switch. I tried swapping the outlet but I still had the problem. Right now I have the internal powerstrip just coming out the back. Everything seems stable this way. I just don’t like the look or the fact that there’s no external power switch. 

 

The remaining hardware things I have on my list are- 

1. Attach/Reattach the IR sensor for the TV and the reset switch for the PC. This is minor.
    
2. Lower the rails that PC rests on inside the cabinet to allow clearance for raising the monitor. Currently, I have to be very careful when doing that. This could be a challenge. 
3. Clean up some of the wiring for the PC power and reset switches. When making minor adjustments and when fiddling with the power problem I kept snagging on these. 

 

Edited April 11, 2025 by gonzonia

[deadmanworking]

@gonzonia, I followed your build guide since nearly the beginning so I just wanted to thank you for sharing, wish I'd documented my own cab build as well as you did. Looks like a fun machine!

 

Interestingly I hit upon a few very similar or identical issues on the way which I wanted to comment on briefly: 

-MSI motherboard: same issue on my quite old MSI 970 mobo, the latest firmware (v4) still had the issue of keeping the USB ports powered even when powered off, which in turn made it impossible for the smart power outlet to work correctly and switch everything off. After a lot of googling I managed to find a v5 firmware on some kind of gaming forum, weirdly enough this firmware wasn't mentioned anywhere but I ultimately took a leap of faith and it actually worked! Maybe you'll have some luck finding a solution at some point. 

-crackling on Medieval Madness: reduce ROM volume to around 25 and the distortion goes away. 

-loading screeens: not sure how it works in Pinup but it sound like you have both table audio and audio from the loading video going at the same time, maybe you can deactivate either?

-black box on playfield: maybe an errant entry in Screenres.txt?

-ROM sounds: on nearly all tables between roughly 1980 and 1986 or so I had to dial up the ROM volume to +3db or even +6db by using the ~ (tilde) key method on the DMD. Also, if you're using Pinvol, a lot of the adjustment of sound balance mismatch can be adjusted on the fly - I saw that Way of the Wrench is using a "shift" key for adjusting but I found that quite cumbersome so I built a bank of 5 volume key pairs (service buttons) on the bottom of my cabinet to adjust: Global volume, table volume, backglass volume, front SSF volume, back SSF volume. 

-POV: might be worth setting you screen dimensions in VPX video settings and using the automatic Window POV instead of Legacy, I'm slowly migrating my tables to the new setting. 

 

Wish you lots of fun