I modelled this after a Stern Widebody Pinball Cabinet. I made this on my X50 Woodworker using Vectric VCarve. This was an ambitious project for me since I was learning CNC and new to Vectric as well. It now needs to be disassembled for painting, molding and artwork to be applied.
12 Likes
Did you get the plans somewhere? Would love to do this, but not sure I have the knowledge of what electronics are needed.
1 Like
No specific plans. I was able to find cabinet size dimensions from the internet. But all the pieces were designed uniquely to fit those cabinet dimensions. Most of the mechanical hardware (i.e. rails, legs, buttons, coin door, plunger etc.) are available pinball parts to purchase.
Electronics was challenging. Especially the software. There is no one software program for the machine but many separate programs that had to be configured to work together.
I retired from an automation company that gave me some experience in this area.
There are forums on Facebook for those building these machines and I found them invaluable.
3 Likes
Wow. Excellent work. That looks awesome.
1 Like
I love it when “old guys” triumph, excellent job!
2 Likes
Whoa Nellie! That’s an incredible build. Even more so as an initial project. Just amazing.
2 Likes
I made many mistakes on the journey. A learning curve as one would say. Fortunately it wasn’t on the big pieces.
I only broke one Jenny bit, and damaged another one running through a steel T nut and a aluminum track. My spoil board was a mess also by the time I finished. So I paid for the education in that regards. I’ve learned a lot.
2 Likes
Who are you calling old! I’m only turning 76 next Month…lol
3 Likes
I guess just me, but though I know you are only as old as you feel, my memory is showing signs of breaking down. LOL
1 Like
Very nicely done!!!
many years ago I went to a cabinet shop to look at work they need done on their building and they had a CNC router an d they were making cabinets for the stand up computer arcades. I thought that was so cool. I never thought about making one myself. Good inspiration!
2 Likes
That’s pretty incredible, great job!
It kind of looks like you have a playing field and backlight gear from another machine, then added that to the frame you built, is that correct?
It’s also fascinating because it also has the resonant sounds of a Stern machine!
Is it the same controllers and electronics to drive the playing field or did you rebuild / replace those with new controllers fit to the (presumably) factory software? I’m going to have to scrape my jaw off the floor if you tell me you wrote all the software! Even if you didn’t write new software, getting it going on new controllers – even if they are the original controllers – that’s a lot of work too!
What’s next? Can’t wait!!
2 Likes
I’ll try to explain my project.
The cabinet Sterns/Williams dimensions are standard wide body construction I researched over the internet. It even includes the hinged fold down Backbox which was the standard way of shipping pinball machine. Although I never intend to ship it, it did come in handy when moving from my work shop to the basement rec room. I tried to be as realistic as possible to a real pinball machine. In that sense the legs, coin mechanism, buttons plunger, stainless steel trim etc. are actual purchased pinball parts.
The Back glass is a 27" LCD monitor, the Stern style speaker grills with addressable LEDS added were 3D printed replicas. The DMD screen was 16 " IPS widescreen.
Now what you might assume is the playfield from another machine is really a 42" LG 4K OLED fast response TV. The active images are 3D appearances including Depth of Field perspective. I have about a dozen pinball games on this cabinet. All I/O is wired through several PCB’s connected to a PC via USB ports. The PC has a high end NVIDIA based Video card that does advance graphics like motion, shading, reflections, lighting effects etc. It drives all 3 HDMI input displays.
Audio is a 7.1 system. That includes L/R audio speakers and dual subwoofers. This also drives front and rear Bass Shakers and L/R Exciters located at the L/R flipper buttons. The idea is to not only hear the sound and location but feel the vibrations of flippers and bumpers etc. operating.
Other physical O/P’s such as a Shaker motor and solenoid Knocker are added which are real pinball items. I/P’s like the Plunger have a linear sensor to simulate travel and velocity when hitting the Ball. A accelerometer on one of the PCB’s senses motion and direction when a player does cabinet nudges to effect ball behaviour.
Most real pinball games have ROMS from the original games. These are freely distributed for personal use only. Many volunteers in the this hobby community use these ROMS and create the virtual Pinball game for downloads. Other volunteers create the special effect for the exciters, shakers, addressable LEDS etc. and downloadable and again other volunteers create DMD and Backscreen programs and are downloadable. There are many other programs volunteers have created for other functions as well. I have not written any programs myself but have used the countless efforts of those that have donated there time and contributions to this hobby. My contributions were configuring and getting these programs to work together in real time. My work has been the reflection of many people who have helped and supported me.
What’s next you asked? I made a retro digital jukebox. Not nearly as complex as the Pinball machine, but a fun project though. Might share that soon.
2 Likes
That’s an incredible amount of effort and dedication. It shows in the game play too. Just a super job.
2 Likes
A pinball cabinet is deeper than the woodworker’s 32"x32". Did you use your 1F for the cabinet side pieces (by carving in two sections)? Or did you cut those using different tools? I think those and the bottom of the cabinet are the only 3 pieces that are too big for your CNC. I am also interested in the way the corners of the cabinet and backbox are joined. Did you use a 90 degree V bit, a step joint, or just an overlap?
1 Like
Oh, I can see the corners when I zoom in. But I’m still interested about the larger pieces, and how they were cut.
2 Likes
The big pieces were cut out from 4’x 8’ 3/4" birch plywood. I used a track saw for accuracy and clean cuts without tear outs. Once those pieces were cut the holes and cutouts in the sides and bottom were done on the 1F. There are standard locations and dimensions for the flipper and magna save buttons. The bottom had cutouts for sub woofer speakers, fan holes, some hidden recessed buttons etc.
A pinball cabinet must withstand some abuse from the players as they nudge the cabinet during game play. A pendulum tilt mechanism was added if a player got to excessive (lol) and the game would end early. The corner joints were done using Kreg pocket screws for strength. The front pocket holes then had wooden plugs glued in the picture shows, but not sanded yet in the picture.
The legs are standard pinball legs that come as a kit. There are two pieces for each leg. The leg itself wraps around the outside corner and an angled metal bracket then wraps the inside corner. The inside bracket also screws into the wood walls for strength. Then the fancy chrome bolt passes through at a 45 degree angle with a nut and lock washer sandwiching it all together.
I wanted to avoid as many outside pocket holes or other fasteners on the outside of the sidewalls so pocket screws were still used but done in the inside. The bottom was raised up slightly and sitting on glued wood strips, otherwise the pockets screws would be to close to the edge of the plywood and become a weaker joint. This also provided the opportunity to put hidden angled addressable LED strips hidden under the bottom side of the cabinet.
I had to to use pocket holes in front of the cabinet for strength rather then doing it in the inside. Hence wood plugs for finishing.
Everything else was done on the 1F including the back box.
4 Likes
It is really well done. Congrats. 
2 Likes
Wow, thanks for sharing your stories! I am a software guy, have done quite a bit of work in assembly language with the Motorola 68k series, but mostly higher level languages, which can be trickier for bootstrapping a new system. Folks that can boot a bare motherboard are harder and harder to find. For those reading along, different motherboards (such as the MASSO many of us use) will typically have different address line wiring, so all the devices (including ROM and RAM) are likely to be “seen” by software in different locations. If the processor doesn’t know where to look or the ROMs are coded in an “absolute” address style of programming at any step, the system is unlikely to boot.
I had no idea that the ROMs were available for non-commercial use. That’s very generous on the part of the manufacturers to recognize the machine is like a “dongle” to the ROMs. Maybe Moore’s Law has changed everything over the last twenty years, but in the past it would have been difficult to rebuild a ROM with a different base address to match the hardware address lines on a given board. That’s why I was asking about the hardware you were using and whether it was recycled from older machines.
What’ you’ve done with the playing field is also quite delightful. I may have seen this in some of the higher end machines and forgotten about it because I usually only play old Williams machines and Bally if I still have a lot of quarters and there aren’t enough of the former around. I guess I’m a snob that way, I just like the feel of them. Sterns are really fast machines and I feel like I’m doing a lot of “playing by braille” on them.
For your own sanity, I hope your community shares a lot of things like this playing field GPU work. I imagine getting something working in just a few of the areas you’ve broken down are each a few years of upskilling, then to add in all the physical craftsmanship you’ve brought in is really spectacular. I will hope to be as fluent in so many different areas as you are!
Please do ask if you need any testers!! 
2 Likes
That is amazing work, nice job!
1 Like