klomp.de

retro arcade, visual pinball cabinet, techblog

After 6 months under construction my virtual pinball cabinet "escucos Little Joe - Virtual Pinball" is finally finished and it's moved into our living room. Here are the technical specifications:

  • Original Pinball Cab Bally "Little Joe" (42 years old)
  • Samsung 40 inch LED TV as playfield
  • 28 inch LED monitor as backglass
  • orange LED Dotmatrix-Display DMD 128x32 pixel
  • PC hardware Intel Core i5-4670 on Asus mainboard H87-Pro with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD hard disc, Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 graphic board
  • Software: Windows 7 professional with PinballX Frontend and Visual Pinball plus Future Pinball as pinball emulators, B2S-Server, Direct Output Framework DOF
  • Logitech Z4 soundsystem with Subwoofer
  • LedWiz controller board for force feedback
  • 8 contactors for the simulation of the bumper, slingshots and flipper finger right/left
  • Original Williams Replay knocker
  • Shaker Motor per Dual-H-Bridge PWM Driver at the Ledwiz
  • 4 meter HighPower LED stripes with bright white LEDs as strobe on the under- and backside of the pinball cabinet
  • 5 pieces RGB Flasher LEDs above the playfield
  • 4 pieces Arctic-Cooling PC fans (two on the bottoms of the cab for the incoming air, two up on the backbox for the outgoing air)
  • PinAna1 control board for connecting a analog plunger, with acceleration sensor for analog nudging and tilt function
  • iPac control board for connecting the pinball buttons, magnasave buttons, Coin-, Start, Extra Ball and Exit buttons
  • Illuminated buttons and coin slots, individually triggered from the different pinball tables
  • 3 separate power supplies (computer power supplie, 12 volt, 24 volt)
  • about 80 meter cabel
  • current about 40 installed pinball tables, rising from week to week ;)

I would like to thank

  • the other freaks at flippermarkt.de, Germanys biggest pinball bulletin board, for the feedback and the support during my project
  • Thomas Beckmann, who is building a pinball cab for himself, for his great support with the backbox
  • my dad for his help on questions to wood working and varnishing
  • Ute Naber for the nice and simple solution with the black adhesive foil
  • Lars Naber and André Paters for carrying the heavy-weight cab to the first floor and back downwards
  • Emerson Hilgers from www.westimage.de for the classy photo of the finished pinball cabinet
  • all friends for the great encouragement to this project
  • and not least my wife Anja for her moral support and her awesome patience ♥

I've kept an account about all the financial issues during the construction project, the total costs for the pinball are 2,300.35 euros total - the working time of course not included. Who even toys with the idea to build a virtual pinball cab by himself, can have a look to my list with the prices of all individual parts. With some savings or compromises it could be quite a bit cheaper, but also more expensive. 

I'm looking forward to your feedback and your comments. I'll answer your questions, the best way is to ask me via the comments, so any other readers of this blog can benefit from it.

So have fun with my pictures and a video from my DIY virtual pinball machine "escucos Little Joe - Visual Pinball":

Selbstbau Flipper fertig aufgestellt
DIY Pinball cabinet ready to play - click to enlarge          (picture: Westimage Photo- & Websolutions)
Flipper Frontansicht komplett
Pinball Frontview
Flipper Seitenansicht komplett
Pinball sideview
Flipper Kassentür mit beleuchteten Buttons und Plunger
Pinball coin door with illuminated buttons
Detailansicht mit Flipper- und Magnasave-Button
Detail view with pinball and magnasave buttons
Backglas mit Lautsprecher, DMD und die RGB Flasher LEDs oberhalb des Spielfelds
Backglas with loudspeaker, DMD and the RGB flasher LEDs above the playfield
Backbox
Backbox
RGB Flasher LEDs aktiviert
RGB Flasher LEDs in action
Detailansicht PinballX Frontend
Detailview PinballX Frontend (some tables still missing)
Detailansicht Buttons Start, Extra Ball, Exit
Detail view Start, Extra Ball, Exit buttons
Spielfeld Draufsicht
Playfield topview
Shoot again, baby! Ich gehe jetzt flippern...
Shoot again, baby! I'm going to play pinball now...