Not another Cabinet thread

[BigBearSteve]

Yup, another article about building a box. It's a nice spring day here in the mountains, almost 60 degrees . So I thought I'd build something. Here's my first attempt at building a cabinet for a pachinko machine.
Well, two machines actually.
The first pic's are of the base, which is a 4 foot formica bullnose countertop.
I cut off the back splash, ripped it to width, and used the extra piece as a support against the drywall on the underside (It is bolted to the wall with 2 1/2 " grade 8 self tapping lag bolts).
The shelf brackets are Heavy load welded brackets rated at 200 lbs. each. They are bolted on with 3 1/2" grade 8 lag bolts.
I found these downspout funnels that work great for catching the spent balls.
After building the base, I started on the box.
I built the box with a removable top hopper. I probably won't ever need to remove it, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.. I'm building this as a modular system (more on that later).

[hanabi]

We can never have enough Cabinet Threads!!

Lots of ideas to help other members with their own cabinets,

and love seeing all the ingenious methods employed,

especially like those funnels!!


Very Neat handiwork, looking forward to seeing it progress

[Eddie]

Looks like its going to be a really nice piece.

Hey lets have some info on your slot track with pics!

[BigBearSteve]

Looks like its going to be a really nice piece.

Hey lets have some info on your slot track with pics!

That's Big Bear Raceway, Home of the annual Turkey Trot, Christmas Crash, Fireworks 400, Memorial 500, and Laborday dayoff Races.

[arbycoffee]

Fun working with your hands

[drcrippen324]

Ok this is where i look a bigger fool than i am but i gotta ask as arby would put it enqiring minds gotta know befor i pee my self

What is the LCD screen for on the middle of the race way and what dose it display??

[BigBearSteve]

Ok this is where i look a bigger fool than i am but i gotta ask as arby would put it enqiring minds gotta know befor i pee my self

What is the LCD screen for on the middle of the race way and what dose it display??

Well, We don't want you to wet yourself Doc. That's one of the monitors for the computer timing system. It has a computer controlled SRT timing system. It runs a program that controls the races and practice sessions. Keeps track of lap times down to a thousandth of a second, Fast lap and the race control.

[BigBearSteve]

Here's some more pic's of the cabinet. Painted, double ball stop, and transformers installed.

[drcrippen324]

ok now im impressed both with the cabinet and even more so with the slot car track darn a computer timer and back in my day we used to have to wet the brass brushes and de fluff the cogs just to get teh car to go round my living room track

Gee whizz how times change
do you think it would be a bad idea to tell Liza i want one

[Sid]

Just bring one home one day.. that tends to work better!

[arbycoffee]

Yes it would doc, if you like or family jewels in one place.

[arbycoffee]

Poor friend we know him well.

[drcrippen324]

Yes it would doc, if you like or family jewels in one place.

only thing i will get away with like that is if i bring a spin luck or a origonal sea story with it so odds are set against me
both are hard to find at the moment

[Zoltar]

See my note post earlier doc, but if anyone can, you could do it doc.



I am at your Service

[BigBearSteve]

Here's the finished product.
I built the frame with a 2 degree tilt. I also built this as a modular cabinet.
The transformers are mounted in the cabinet with plugs installed so the games can be changed out quickly. I also plan on mounting L-pads in the cabinet with RC plugs for each machine.
I made a template to drill each machines frame so they can be interchangable. I can change out a game in about 3 minutes.
Then I added a funnel on the side to drop the balls from the fevers back into the lower ball hopper.
The entire system holds about 5,000 balls and so far has worked flawlessly.
I topped it off with a Star Wars sign wrapped with El wire.
I was going to use the El wire to spell out Pachinko on the upper hopper, but I didn't buy a long enough piece.
Then I thought about pulling out the airbrush and doing a bit of painting (I got lazy) So I used the cool Star Wars sign. (even though my SW isn't installed)
Total material cost was about $220 plus about 50 bucks for some tools needed.
This project is more of a working prototype for a 4 machine system that I plan on building.
A special thanks to Arbycoffee for the ball lifter, Daverob for the dongles, And Devospeed for the cool Star Wars sign.
Well, That's about it, now it's time to build something else. ( Did I mention I get bored easily?)

[birdbrain]

what did you use to extend the lifter tube up?

[BigBearSteve]

______________________________________________________

what did you use to extend the lifter tube up?

I used a piece of 1/2" CPVC pipe.(I'm a plumber )
I took a coupling and heated it with a heat gun to form it to the square lifter tube.
Then added the pipe, then the spring feeder extention.
I tested this first at about 3 feet of extention just so see how it would work. (worked fine)
The actual extention is about 10".

[Eddie]

Nice job!

[dattia]

Awesome! That looks great!

[dishpan]

Fine job! Any plans to cover the bottom lifter and plugs?