WOW I built my first one and it has been an exciting journey

[jnl1105]

So Let me tell you how this started and where it is.... pour a cold one let the wife out and tell the dog you'll be in bed in a little bit (or maybe I got that backwards).

 

I am into early transistor and tube radios.  I live in a tine town (100 people) in the very edge of the Southwest. Any deal I find is 2 to 4 hrs away. I schedule about once a week to be at the dr office about 2 to 3 hrs to the south or uptown my parents place 2 hrs north. there is some good to be had. 

 

I am recently (5yrs. ago) forcible retired due to disability (spinal fusion l5-s1 resistant to opioids (make me hyper aware of the pain) and have constant pain About a 7 on a good day,  went deaf in my left ear in 3 months on the left ear in 3 months due to a neurological pathway issue. now I have an experimental spinal stimulator, hearing aids 80% motor control loss and walk with a cane or in a wheelchair all the time)

 

So I digress...

 

I am really into speakers and have a literal wall of speakers and then you have to have all the equipment to go with it... Think of of it as the dry bar morphisising into the outdoor tiki bar.. $500 went to 10G and still need that other kegerator for the summer ale's.  

 

 

But I digress...

 

So here I am minding my own business looking for speakers at an upcoming dr. appointment (remember that 2-3 hrs to the south) as I need to make it worthwhile and what pops up is a guys custom mod to a commercially available virtual pinball with mame cabinet. Has a solenoid pack a dmd  and all the sounds and whistles....

 

Well remember I am disabled so have a very very very very small fixed income....... I can sometimes swing a couple hundred or a hundred a lot of what I have is trades off of my old stuff and some of my stereo stuff. I have over 300 skateboards that are completely and over 100 bicycles... a lot of good they do me now that I am disabled right.....

 

Well I message the guy and he is overly fair on the price but I he doesn't wanyt any trades or any need anything I have (surprising since I have EVERYTHING and I have even traded bangsticks tools  old game systems, vinyl, action figures, toys tools, etc..... Well we start talking and I keep looking at the add and the guy is super friendly and I am lonely (remember that tiny town of 100 people).  /We start talking about this and that and what all he went through on it. I start recollecting all the 3d printers, laser cutters and etchers, cnc routers and fun sidsies I have built;t over the year , just 3-printers has been 14 yrs.. I have built a ton of pi emulators for friends but never keep one for myself as I still play my 8 bit Nintendo, original pong and tank, 2600, 5200 etc...

 

Then I had a legand..........................................ary brain wave....... I have a 43" tv I was going to trade off and a crap ton of abandon  lcd monitors, So as I talk to him it emerges... I have a piece of plywood I only need a couple of small pieces out of for a 1955 Karlson speaker cabinet (audio nerd credentials) that I need to finish.... so I ask if he will assist in answering questions when asked... he graciously (I am sure it was under duress at this point as I have nothing but time to kill and a nice keyboard). I clean off one of my 4 project benches in our living room (I might add We live in my daughters building (ym parents put it in trust to her) the living room is 80' long 25' wide with 12.5' ceilings and a full original wood floor from 11909 when the building was built , It is an old bank building and the general store side is our living room. In graphic the 43" that I was going to trade off for a stereo but the deal fell through. and then go into the walk in vault, I don't know why I keep them in there makes no sense, and see a 33" that I forgot I even had and viola..... 

 

I do some reviews for a little nut box computer company and have a couple of computers laying around.... So it is looking like I have the basics...

 

I am talking to my folks who 89 this yr (dad is in a wheel chair with terminal cancerand mom is literally nearly blind and has dimensia) while I am laying out how I think I might do this when I tell my dad I am going to use some black walnut for the button panel for the same part when my mom mentions she could sell me for a poultry $550 with the family discount some walnut bed frame sideboards but if I help her go through all her furniture I might get them for free... well time to go I thought....

 

I went into my garage and remembered I had a hybrid oak bed frame so instead of plywood I grabbed the 2 side pieces and while the computer was getting updates, software loaded and etc...... I built the frame and found the rolling legs for my vinyl cutter that I didn't need as I have it mounted to a table on slides...another story another time.... Well this was a lot faster then I thought so in 8 hrs I had a working virtual pinball machine using a keyboard, mouse 2 screens a bed frame and a scrap seyt of frame for a vinyl cutter....

 

Well Why stop there remember I am in that tiny town 2 hrs to my dr.... amazon is 1-2 weeks away for me so that adds to the angst of this project so this is what I have came up with now.

 

The main play screen is a 43" unit and the top one is 39"

The top rotates 90 degrees to go into portrait mode also. It has a mount for a 3rd monitor if I wanted to.

The lower screen can be tilted from 1" to 6" slope so depending on height of player or if your sitting or standing.

I built mine on a sturdy wheel setup so its moveable and I can get under it if I am in my wheelchair.

 

I added a sound system on it for a more authentic sound. I mounted 2 pods and then 3 underneath. Had some 15 yr old actually really well made surround sound speakers. Mounted 3 consisting of the left& right front and the center. The L& R are mounted horizontal underneath facing the floor and the center upright on the back/rest bar facing the backboard. I am running 3 separate amps ( I had them and wasn't using them as they are just cheap bluetooth units) so I can tweak them in separate ways. which works as then they have separate volume controls.

 

I solved the flipper feedback issue though... Using action coils like the machines used... they are using an auxiliary set of contacts to operate the coils and with the weight being suspended and actually "driven" into the wood they give fantastic feedback and the sound is even right even have a little bounce once in while if you flutter them, here it is flippers activated with feedback... required mapping the left and right shift to the controller arrows and then soldering in a pare of wires and using a set set of dry contacts on the switches.... so each switch operates both the solenoids for feedback and the flipper

 

 

 

[jnl1105]

well I couldn't leave well enough alone. Found after my playtime total of 20+ hrs of playing that my wife and daughter can't play with the recessed press pushbuttons as they have nails. So I had to see if I had any illuminated pushbuttons 
(because If I have to replace a button then why not rewire another circuit on the 120V side of the button to handle the lights....) so I added those after rebuilding ones the have been in a panel I pulled out 18 yrs ago and sat in the sun for the last 4 so they were highly oxidized so I rehabbed them  because again no money and I had these. Then I decided It was time to  the panel board for the rest and button mount... So I also added a 120v control circuit that will shut down everything and basically be an atomic shutdown. It is wired to N 30 yr old set of 30 amp contacts that slaps when it is power up. I also put it all running through 6 amps and while there removed my 24volt buck and boost relay setup for the play table angle... (maybe an automated background screen rotator is next) . It's the big. red light in the center. I mounted the controls for table angle had to be router recessed. I also rebuilt my plunger design to have an assignable button on it and then built I loom housing over the plunger bulkhead... I added some LED lights but Inside it is there'll inside is a mini com bell from the "1940's that I actually clearances and polished the inside enough that the bell is actually suspended and will ring if  the plunger is used right....

 

The rest plate or button plate is hinged and latched down with enough movement to be clear when opened. The bottom has that wire rick that I repurposed into a shelf that hangs allows keyboard mouse and game pad storage as well as a usb that can turn on and off each port like the wired game pad if being used as a computer.  It also allows hanging access past the bottom edge to put the keyboard or any of that stuff out without opening the top.... Made it out of a piece of black walnut the I had laying around it was rough cut and had to be finished down. It was made by a single piece I had to cut in Half and glue together. While the glue was finishing being set I started power sanding it. I started at about 9: am this morning and was playing itty about 3 pm too make that single piece of black walnut glued finished oiled  and routed for the switch mounting and then mount ting it so I say that was pretty good for the rest and nuclear switch mount.

so pictures or it didn't happen...

[jmstech]

It's great when you can re-purpose stuff and build something better! So what happened to your US Cutter Vinyl plotter? Noticed it became a pinball stand on wheels. My old US Cutter vinyl plotter is still kicking and cutting all my decals for my cab which is full of re purposed materials kicking around the garage or stuff no one wants on Facebook Marketplace.