The Pinball Project, pt. 1
Sep. 13th, 2020 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
punktigerAs referred to in my last post, I warmed up my cold feet and charged ahead getting the virtual pinball kit. Frankly, it’s about time. After ordering the kit, I went through my list of all the other parts I have and mail-ordered the rest of the parts I needed. That’s when the fun started.
It’s all the little things that make things work that you tend to forget. For instance, the computer I’m using for the vpin (a Dell Optiplex 790) isn’t staying in its case; just the motherboard is needed. The cabinet I’ve ordered isn’t deep enough to have the whole computer inside. Fine. On removing the motherboard, a couple of things made themselves clear: both the chip cooler and power button were secured to the case. Those were two things I didn’t really think I needed. I did some research on chip coolers and found one on NewEgg for about $20. Yes, it’s inexpensive, but I’m only running pinball sims on this machine. It shouldn’t stress out the processor that much. It arrived a couple of days ago. It installed without a lot of drama, but things can’t go smoothly (what fun would THAT be?) as I discovered that the plug for the cooler is different than the plug on the motherboard. MOAR RESEARCH! Found a 4-pin to 5-pin adapter made just for Dells and chip coolers on Amazon for another $8 (plus shipping).
Now, for the power switch. The original plugged into a socket on the motherboard, but I’m not going to look around online just for that. I know that shorting the green wire on the power supply to ground turns the machine on and removing that short turns it off. A SWITCH! and I don’t mean Nintendo. Rummaging around in the basement turned up a usable old push button on/off switch. A little cleaning and a little continuity testing found it in fine working order, and is by far the oldest component used in this build (probably from the 1950s or 60s).
I’m expecting the last two component parts of the build today (the 24” monitor and the chip cooler adapter) so I can finally test the system to see if it’s still working. The actual cabinet will get here either on Tuesday (15th) or Wednesday (16th), and then the fun can *really* begin.
It’s all the little things that make things work that you tend to forget. For instance, the computer I’m using for the vpin (a Dell Optiplex 790) isn’t staying in its case; just the motherboard is needed. The cabinet I’ve ordered isn’t deep enough to have the whole computer inside. Fine. On removing the motherboard, a couple of things made themselves clear: both the chip cooler and power button were secured to the case. Those were two things I didn’t really think I needed. I did some research on chip coolers and found one on NewEgg for about $20. Yes, it’s inexpensive, but I’m only running pinball sims on this machine. It shouldn’t stress out the processor that much. It arrived a couple of days ago. It installed without a lot of drama, but things can’t go smoothly (what fun would THAT be?) as I discovered that the plug for the cooler is different than the plug on the motherboard. MOAR RESEARCH! Found a 4-pin to 5-pin adapter made just for Dells and chip coolers on Amazon for another $8 (plus shipping).
Now, for the power switch. The original plugged into a socket on the motherboard, but I’m not going to look around online just for that. I know that shorting the green wire on the power supply to ground turns the machine on and removing that short turns it off. A SWITCH! and I don’t mean Nintendo. Rummaging around in the basement turned up a usable old push button on/off switch. A little cleaning and a little continuity testing found it in fine working order, and is by far the oldest component used in this build (probably from the 1950s or 60s).
I’m expecting the last two component parts of the build today (the 24” monitor and the chip cooler adapter) so I can finally test the system to see if it’s still working. The actual cabinet will get here either on Tuesday (15th) or Wednesday (16th), and then the fun can *really* begin.
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