Vertical Hybrid Build

[3kidsinAustin]

The past couple of months, I have been designing a vertical build that the kids and I can enjoy.  A couple of years ago I'd built a full-size widebody with all the bells and whistles.  We loved it, but I could never find a spot in the house for it - after a couple months sitting in the middle of our living room, I sold it to a local guy.  Last year I built a cabinet based around a 32" playfield for my father.  He loves it and it is a nice size that provides great playability yet semi-portable.  I decided to go vertical to minimize floor space and also to allow rotating the screen for arcade games and hopefully light guns as well.  This will be my fourth (?!) pinball build and also my fourth arcade cabinet build/modification.  WOW - didn't realize the number was so high on each until I counted them up. 

 

The hardware I'll be using is:

34" ultrawide monitor, 2k resolution, 100Hz for playfield

15" (I think) backglass

7" DMD

Controller: Pinscape Pico by MJR

Macro Keypad for handling a lot of the hidden functions, vital since this will be a hybrid machine

CPU: Ryzen 5 9600X

Mobo: Asus B650E

RAM: 16GB DDR5

SSF through Dayton Audio Transducers and Bass Shakers (used on the last three builds, love them)

Sound through a 2.1 Klipsch Promedia that I got for free with a blown amp.  Repaired with a 2.1 amp from Amazon

Toys: Shaker motor, gear motor, blower (my first attempt with this), two solenoids for the flippers, knocker, and red beacon lights on the top

RGBs: Playfield, behind the machine, possibly under control panel, and an RGB panel below the backglass.

 

Initial idea, proving my skills are not focused around artwork.  My design is influenced by the Vertigo NXT - I really liked the integration of the cupholders, something that all my previous cabinet builds have lacked.

 

Next was drawing up in Sketchup.  I've done all my recent builds in sketchup as it is easy to build and move pieces around.  It also makes it easy to develop a cut sheet by laying the pieces down on a 4x8 piece drawn next to it.

 

I finally picked up the two sheets of plywood last week and began cutting.  The sides were interesting given their overall length and variety of cuts.  I measured and carefully cut the first, then cut the second piece close and used a trim bit on my plunge router to make it identical.

 

Yesterday I did the locking corners for the front of the cabinet and the control panel.  These didn't turn out as great as my last build - a little looser than I'd like.  I'll fill with glue and use some corner pieces on the inside to hold everything together.

 

Today ended up being all about the cupholders.  These ended up being much more involved than I'd planned due to the 45 degree angle I wanted in the top to better fit with the side pieces.  The odd angles took some careful planning when cutting the 45!

To provide more area and stability for gluing up the pieces, I used the 45 degree cutoffs to act as braces, gluing them down first to then aid in positioning the sides.

 

And finally, all done!  They are currently open on the bottom.  I might end up cutting some bottom pieces to help in support.  Maybe even some biscuits to make a really strong joint.  Hmmm.

 

That's where it stands as of this afternoon.  I'll continue to update as I go along.  A "build log" helps me remember the steps when I'm trying to either piece together the next build or wondering what I might have forgotten on this one.

[3kidsinAustin]

Cabinet is now glued up.  Yesterday was spent getting the panels ready, including cutting in the door in the back and the hole for the subwoofer in the front.  Ordered a 2-pack of 20" hinges, so might put a second door behind the playfield.  Not sure, as then there would be a gap behind it that might be visible while playing.  The subwoofer was an interesting cut.  The hole needed to be 6.5" - I ended up  creating a circle in MS Word, printing it out, then drilling a small hole where I wanted it to be.  Shoved an awl through the center, then traced out the edge of the circle and cut it with the jigsaw.

 

 

 

Today was all about gluing it together, and it took awhile, even though I already had all the pieces prepped and ready.  I used the locking corners for the front and biscuits for the sides, back and top.  I like working with biscuits as they really give the joint a lot of strength, but it can be nerve wracking getting everything set up and aligned on such a big piece while the glue is drying.  Took some persuasion with the rubber mallet to get things in place, but end result will be just fine.  I keep reminding myself that I'm not building the space shuttle, everything will be ok.  Good mantra.

 

Here is how it is looking now.  The upper part of the back is just press fit in at the moment.  It needs to be cut to size and I won't mount it until I get the mounting all figured out for the playfield.  Total height is 6' 10" - I'm glad I removed the LED panel as that dropped it by 4".  Debating myself now on speaker placement.  The initial plan was to have the speakers firing out the back, similar to the Vertigo NXT.  That keeps it the most streamlined but won't make for very impressive sound quality.  Still leaning that way and I cannot think of a better way to integrate the speakers that doesn't screw up the look.

 

Next will be getting working on the control panel and all the arcade buttons.  Had planned for six for each player, but that might end up being overkill and crowd a lot of the space.  Three might be the magic number.

[3kidsinAustin]

Cabinet has been constructed and painted.  Parts are now on the back porch so the oil-based paint can cure without stinking up the garage.  I made a late change to the design by opting for t-molding along the front edges.  That lead to gluing some strips of plywood to the front panel to then slot for the molding.  Fortunately, I had some right-sized strips left over from trimming other pieces.  

 

Went with the full six button layout for the arcade controls.  I ended up with more buttons than I wanted, given the inclusion of a stream deck for button controls.  However, I have twin boys that are almost eleven and past experience has taught me that they like to hit the coin button A LOT, so I decided to include all those functionalities into the control panel scheme, as can be seen in the mockup here with everything assembled before blowing it apart for paint.

 

DMD screen with the stream deck for extra button controls.  I initially planned to have the blower vent through the DMD panel, but later received some advice that lead me to move the blower up to the top of the backbox and blow the air down from there.  The new venting system can be seen in the picture above.

 

 

During the painting process.  This time, I kept all the pieces in the garage with the door closed, in attempts to minimize dust coming in and landing on the parts.  Most of it gets sanded off anyway as I'm applying vinyl to the sides and control panel.  Used some older paint from previous builds - turns out some little paint boogers managed to get themselves into the paint when I applied it.  Had the best success with a 4" foam roller then brushing it - that allowed the paint to settle into a smoother finish.

 

Now just get to wait for several more days to cure the paint so I can sand it again and begin assembly of all the goodies.

[3kidsinAustin]

Cabinet parts still curing outside, so I've spent the last couple days doing electronics work.  I'm using the Pinscape Pico board as the controller, soldered it up yesterday.  (Took a looooong time!)  Once I figured out the configuration file to use, it popped to life right away.  

 

Today I worked on the addressable LED strips and controller.  The cabinet will have strips alongside the playfield, on up the back of the cabinet on each side, and under each cupholder "wing" for accent lighting.  I'm also considering running an extra line to the top in case I want to light up around the Eddie snowglobe figure.  For the controller, I'm using a WEMOS D1 Mini (v4).  Used that on my earlier widebody build and it worked great, plus was dirt cheap compared to the teensy at the time.

[sammaz]

Here are some really good plans : 

 

https://vcabinet.gumroad.com/l/fTVoo?layout=profile

 

Edited November 27, 2025 by sammaz

[3kidsinAustin]

Progress continuing.  Almost done with the wiring, which means I'll get to clean up and organize the routing.  The toys are all hooked up - I have installed a shaker and a gear motor - two items I've done on an earlier build.  Wanted some new toys for this one so I've also done a blower, knocker, top-mounted LEDs and a couple of solenoids for experimentation.  The knocker is a 12v diesel fuel cutoff solenoid from Amazon that looked beefy in the pictures.  When powered, it makes a really good sound.  Also a full 7.1 SSF system, although I haven't wired in the subs yet as they will mount to the removable rear panel.

 

Last wiring will be the addressable LED strips, then I can start buttoning things up. The 19" monitor I'm using isn't ideal at the higher angle - darker images are washed out, so I'm checking dimensions to see if there is a newer screen with better angles that will fit in the space.

[3kidsinAustin]

The build is pretty much complete.  I'm having issues with the addressable LEDs and haven't dug into it too deeply as other things have been going on.  Found some quirks unique to designing a machine for both arcade and pinball - the USB encoders for the arcade buttons apparently need to be wired identically for each button in order for Retrobat and Emulation Station to work them properly.  Found that out while my daughter and I were trying to play Gauntlet.  No matter what we did, one player could not "fire" - I'm going to pull the control panel off today and make sure each button is routed to the exact same socket between the two controllers.  Other than that, it has been handling pinball duties and arcade work spectacularly.

 

I replaced the top screen as the original 19" Dell monitor I used had terrible vertical viewing angles.  Picture looked great from about 8 feet away, but standing at the machine was all washed out.  Fortunately, a decased 20" Dell monitor that was newer has excellent angles and looks phenomenal.