Want to build a virtual pin cabinet at home. It will have force feedback for the flippers and bumpers, even. This is the quality of build I aspire to:
I’m currently squirreling away parts for this. Have a 17" and 30" monitor kicking around for the back display (the smaller one reproduces the DMD). Will need to drop good coin on a 43" for the table surface, one that has good side viewing. Won’t be cheap, but will be worth it. Already have a salvaged Core i7 mobo I found at the electronics recycling station. Will pair it with a 240 GB SSD I got cheap. 8 GB of DDR3 salvaged for it, too. People throw out a lot of good stuff.
I need to get a good dual head video card that supports high frame rates. Combine that with the built-in HDMI and I have support for 3x displays. Watching for deals on 200mm cooling fans as the rig will throw some heat.
I’m slowly getting back into upcycling used bearings into jewelery. I have the stones and bearings, just need a welder. The owner of a record/head shop/skate shop I worked for said he’d be happy to make cabinet room for me.
I also used to make utilitarian furniture and scupture combining metals and woods. I have a small stock of material currently growing.
Funds are tight but I have been getting one off side jobs with family that pay pretty well. Tooling can’t come quick enough though.
Also, my mother used to make stained glass years ago. Just the other day we dug up A TON of glass and tools for it. I just need to learn the process. Thinking about incorporating it into some side tables or clocks possibly.
edit: @shutterbug I have a vintage 50s pinball machine in the basement. I’ll send you a pic.
I just had to change the battery for the BIOS and then re-flash it. It’s a dual-BIOS board and the primary was a bit hooped. Suspect a power bump. It was in a tower where the PS was fried, too.
I’ve been watching for a couple of months. No luck so far, except for a 50 inch plasma, which was a blown fuse on the Z-Sustain. Fixed it for $5 and sold it for $75. I keep finding smaller ones with blown caps and resisters. Have one that I’m replacing an inverter in when the part eventually shows up. (eBay. Sigh.)
There’s not much in a flatscreen that is an FRU. Yeah, most of the parts only come from three manufacturers, but they don’t sell them to the public. If a PC board is shot, you’re hooped. I basically test fuses, the lamps, and the inverter. Plus look for bad Caps and R’s. If it’s not any of those, I quit. Sure, I can probably find the dead board, but what’s the point if you can’t source replacements?
I’ve actually salvaged PCs that people have tossed that were perfectly good other than being virused. Can’t believe people will toss a two year old system that still works because they’re too dumb to clean it.
I’m looking at one now. It’s an HP slimline with maxed ram and a 250ssd. Only thing it needs is a PS. Go figure.
Have you tinkered with raspberry pi yet? I made a lean media server out of one once. Fabbed the housing out of brass and cedar.
My head is spinning.
You’re speaking foreign tongue. heheh
They call it “upcycling” and “repurposing” nowdays…Been doing this for years, at least now others are starting to appreciate it’s value and not look at me like I’m a monkey.
Been collecting stuff I’d find on the ground, like jewelry, metal plates and parts of ?, cell phones, money, keys.
Also, old computers,servers, copiers, cameras, projectors, printers, small electronics…you name it, we had it- and by the hundreds, both from our shop and those we bought out.
I had a “Selectric III” typewriter that took me 2 months to take apart, and found the neatest metal things that spelled out one of my pen names…that hung on my wall for years.
My hobby has become taking these already broken items apart, piece by piece, down to the last screw, and sorting it into small containers…
Not sure what I’ll make with all this stuff…just collecting it for when the idea strikes to make something, and my biggest challenge to date?
Keeping others away from it all so they feel the need to throw it all away.
Hey !!
It’s MY Garbage!
Keep your sticky fingers OFF of it!
I had one I played with for a bit, but I wound up gifting it to one of my archery kids who wanted it more than I did. Found it too limited for my interests. I tend to have more fun with the small Android computers you can grab dirt cheap on eBay.
AHEM. You can do that and you haven’t built me one of THESE yet?
Ahhh steampunk. That is some nice work. My style is more understated. Minimalist/utilitarian or something thereof. I do love working copper and brass into woods.
Can you hear the rusted gears in my head moving?
This aligns with my style. Though I’m not THAT good.
micro ATX motherboard, Intel Quad core CPU, NVIDIA GTX 285 2GB video card, 12GB PC3-12800 memory, 2TB + 300GB hard drive space, DVD burner, 750w power supply.
Enlighten’s design dissipates heat through the use of aluminum around the power supply and DVD drive and through careful venting of air into, around and out of the main housing. By separating the power supply and DVD out of the main housing, we have been able to avoid a cascading heat effect found in many computer designs.
Thought I was doing well setting up a very old tv to get all digital channels. I feel robbed now! Mind you it cost me nothing, which is good as was exactly what I had in the budget for it.
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