Hi!

I've posted this in the "Let's see pics of gamerooms!" thread, but I've decided to develop the project further, and I thought this was something that deserves its own thread now. Here's my post (slightly edited) from the gameroom thread, just so that I don't have to repeat myself:

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General overview and idea:

Conscious of the fact that Medieval Madness is, both, out of my budget and out of my capacity (I only have room for 4 games, apart from the basement, but it's damp and floods often, while also being tough to get the games down there, so I don't want to keep them there. I've got a TZ, TOTAN, picking up a CFTBL on Thursday, and the last one will be a TAF), I still felt like I want it in my gameroom somehow. I remembered that I have a MM mini-translite, and I've come up with this:

IMG_1032 (resized).jpg

Basically, I've called this a minibackbox, which I intend to hang on the wall of my gameroom. As you can see, I also have the mini-translites for TOM and AFM, which will also be used for minibackboxes as it looks rather nice. The project is not finished yet, I'm looking into some solution for a "miniDMD", or at least a way of having the title screen showing up nicely. The speaker panel "grille" also needs installing. It works pretty much like a normal backbox, in that I can remove the translite and access the stuff inside (I intend to put an Arduino board running a very basic lightshow in it. Considering either standalone 9V batteries or powering it up through a normal socket).

Building:

I started off by measuring the backbox and scaling it down to fit the translite. The scale factor was x0.388. I assembled the backbox by cutting it out of 6mm plywood pieces cut to match the individual pieces of the genuine backboard. They were glued together using both hot glue and standard wood glue.
After that was done, I created the DMD/speaker panel in Google SketchUp using the same scaling. I exported the SketchUp file to an .stl file for 3D printing and sent the part off for printing. I was extremely happy with the results, and also happy with 3D printing (it's the first time I've done it and it's something I'm looking into for a TAF project I intend to undertake over the summer).
Next, I found the backbox decals for MM. There was a problem with them since they appeared to be cropped slightly, so the backbox decal on the minibackbox isn't identical to the real one (it's stretched to fit the wood). I also made a Williams logo decal, since extruding it in SketchUp was an absolute nightmare, and it would stand out 0.5mm, so it'd be barely noticeable anyway.
Lastly, I cut a "trench" in the inside of the top of the backbox for the minitranslite to slide in like it does on an actual game. I've attached two pieces of balsa across the length of the inside of the top to keep it in place. When all the woodwork was done I sprayed 5 layers of black, then I glued the speaker panel with hot glue into the minibackbox once the paint had dried. After that, I applied the decals. The last step of the manual stuff will be to get a layer of clearcoat onto it. I applied very little hot glue since the panel fit in snug, so it'll come off for the clearcoating. When that gets done I'll create all the light-related stuff and program my Arduino to perform a very basic lightshow.

IMG_1034 (resized).jpg

As a finishing note, I'm really happy with the way this came out. For someone like me, limited by both space and money in a hobby I love, this is a very elegant solution to supplement a game room with games I most likely won't ever have (unless I win the lottery or something...).

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Now, I've decided to continue the project, so I will be doing the DMD display and the lightshow. I started doing the DMD animations now. I'm still working on getting it right, but I've got the basics of it down. I'm using an Arduino UNO and a 4 module (each 8x8) 8x32 LED matrix controlled by a MAX7219 chip. The Arduino will also be responsible for running the light show, which will be ran by an output shift register as I'm limited on pins. This circuit will probably demand a lot of current, so I'm either going to upgrade to an Arduino Mega or play around with transistors. Optimally, I want the whole thing to be powered through a socket rather than directly off the Arduino, but I've still got a lot to do for now. Here's a pic of the mini DMD:

IMG_1227 (resized).jpg

I will be actively updating this thread, and if this mini backbox will come out nicely I will do the same for AFM and TOM.

Okay, so I've done a little animation. I couldn't figure out what would match MM the best, and I'm limited by the small size of the DMD I'm using, so I just went for a castle with the gate opening. Here's the link to the video:

There's good news project-wise, as the hole for the DMD in the mini speaker panel measures 13.4cm by 3cm. The DMD I'm using is 13cm by 3cm. It's like it was designed for that!

It's a personal project for now. I need to check up on the legality of it, I think CGC is the owner of all the Williams/Bally/Midway trademarks and copyrights, so if they're fine with it then I'd be more than happy to make these for sale.

The backboard will be lit, I even plan on making it have a little lightshow. The plan for now is this:

I need to figure out what kind of transformer to use. I need to research the best way to get both 12V and 5V output from a single socket, i.e. what kind of transformer I should use. I need the 5V for the logic to the Arduino, but I thought I might as well use superbright LEDs (the 12V strip ones, I know a good way of bootlegging them) as a form of GI. The basic idea behind the minitranslite lighting will be this:
- 5 general illumination superbright LEDs that will stay on
- 3-5 "flasher" superbright LEDs
The flasher ones won't be actually flashers, but they won't be on all the time. They'll be ran off a basic program from an Arduino. I'll have to run them on a transistor circuit because the Arduino won't be able to supply them with the 12V necessary to make them shine nicely.

Unfortunately, I'm away from home until June, so the "physical" aspect of this project will be frozen for a month. But, I'll be developing the DMD animations, and also working on the sound as these will also be ran by the Arduino, so I'll keep everyone posted with that. When I get back home in June, I'll design the light show circuits and assemble everything. I hope to get everything done before I leave home for yet another journey, this time pinball related, to the US (I've just realised, I'll actually be in Chicago, so I could go on a trip to CGC and ask them about producing these). Lots of things to do, not enough time to do them. :/

Okay, so I've been doing a bit of tinkering about the sound. Basically, the mini backbox will be running the MM theme on repeat, since it's less of a hassle to do it like that, and there actually won't be any action to require specific sounds. I will, however, add the "Welcome to my realm!" (did I mess that one up?) and "I am the King of Payne! Welcome to my kingdom!", just to spice things up.
The sound will come from an MP3 Arduino shield or through a DAC. I'm more tempted to go with the DAC as it's a bit more of an elegant solution (arguably), then having another shield stuck onto your microprocessor. The cables won't be visible anyway. Updates soon!