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Complete (build) Log 'cavity wall' cabin Pinball Room

Julian

Registered
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
738
Location
Bromley
For about a year I have been investigating the option of having a cabin built, my main concerns were;

1. Size for plenty of machines and machine expansion.
2. How solid would the floor be, as loads of machines and loads of pinheads in playing = lots of weight.
3. Cost.
4. Temperature in the winter and what would the cost be to heat to say 10 degrees C.
5. Would I go there in the ****ing rain mid winter?

Anyway after a year of toing and froing I have taken the plunge and thought a good idea would be to also log the progress to help others if and when they plan the same.

I'll answer any questions I can and gladly take advice on those that have done this before me.

The cabin will be a cavity wall log cabin, as such will have insulation to walls, floor and ceiling.
Size will be 6.5m wide by 8.5 in depth so I estimate 20 pins (10 down each side) and if needed a few machines at the end.

Currently work on the base is about to start, cabin is ordered and will start early Dec, sadly pushing up against Christmas, but hay-ho, I did consider starting in Spring but cabin was due to actually start mid Nov but has been delayed a tad, so was really hoping to have it in and done by mid Dec.

I am told 3 weeks build time once they start on the cabin.
 
This is where the cabin will be;

View of where cabin will go.jpg


But it's a long walk to the road for the poor blokes digging the foundations;

View of back to the house from cabin site.jpg
 
A bit about planning permission and building regs, as next door have a massive end of garden building I knew planning was not an issue, I did apply for a brick built flat roof 6m x 8m and was granted permission to build, to get around the 30sqm building regs this was going to be 2 structures with a 50mm gap between them but an adjoining door, otherwise building regs would insist on a 3m foundation WTF!!! Its an incidental games room...

Not liking this idea I found a wooden option that if assembled in 2 halfs but then joined is considered a mobile home or caravan and thus exempt from building regs, added to this the eves and pitch height will be under the planning permission requirements, technically I don't need planning but I am advising them that the material has changes and added ½ m to length.
 
Nice place dude......nice space to have too......run for the electrics looks a bit long....all my customers that have done it never look back. Insulate the floor and the ceiling with celotex (100mm) or similar and it will keep warm no probs....the strength of the floors are fine unless your mates are behemoths...lol...
 
I was and am still a little worried as a league meet will see 20 machines and 40+ blokes in there, but I figure it's a solid wooden floor like in a house on 300-450mm concrete so it 'aint going anywhere... I hope.

Electrics run is around 50m so a challenge for 100amp supply, 32mm cable I guess.
 
300mm concrete.... Overkill.... You only need 6" for a heavy duty Concrete driveway good for a couple of cars! :) A lot can depend on the mix, so a little investigation required there!

RE: power....

Multicore 90°C Armoured Thermosetting Insulated Cables
Tables Apply to: H6942XL, H6943XL, H6944XL, H6945XL, Tuff Sheath,

Voltage:230V

Load:23kW / 100A

Length:50m

Method of Installation:Direct in ground or in ducting in ground

Cable Size:25mm²




Flexible Cords
Table Applies to: Flexible cords such as 318-Y, 309-Y, H07RN-F, SY, CY, YY

Voltage:230V

Load:23kW / 100A

Length:50m

Method of Installation:Direct in ground or in ducting in ground

Cable Size:35mm²

From here : http://www.doncastercables.com/technical-help/
 
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An 100 amp supply is huge, unless you have a 3 phase supply to your house thats all your main incoming will be fused at!
 
I was thinking that when i was working it out! If you;re really unlucky you'll only have an 80A feed into the house!

@lukewells - What have you got feeding yours???
 
Most pins are plated to draw 4 or 5 amps but this will allow for in rush when they're first switched on. In reality even when being played they probably draw less than half of that, and significantly less if fitted with LEDs (which if memory serves me correctly most if not all of yours are.) I've had 4 machines running simulatenously off an extension lead fitted with a 13amp fuse with no problems and could probably get away with 5 or 6.

A 500w per machine allowance would be more than generous IMO, so I can't see 20 drawing more than 40amps. To allow for in rush just don't turn them all on at the same time. A 10mm SWA is good for 40 amps over a 50m run. I always like to spec things generously though so if I were you I'd run a 16mm SWA behind a 63amp MCB. This will allow for electric heating if required etc and is still pretty overkill. To put things into perspective, the cable supplying your whole house and meter tails won't be any bigger than 25mm.

You could always buy a plug in energy meter like this one and see what your machines draw for yourself: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261915001933?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

In fact I've just ordered one as I'd like to see some firm numbers for myself. Its cheap enough and a useful thing to have. :)
 
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aaron, cheers buddy.

I will also have 2 or 3 2kw heaters in there, so I guess I need to take these into account also, although they will not be on all the time.

I am planning on using the heaters Dave recommended a 2kw panel heater by Adax-Solaire, they recommended 5kw of heating for that area, I think I'll actually start with 2 and go from there.

http://adax-solaire.com/presta/gb/a...-electric-panel-heater-wall-mounted-adax.html

Anyone know about heaters? As I also considered a German storage heater but these roll in at approx £1,000 for a single 2kw heater, whereas the Adax is £151, the sales chap tried to convince me that storage is better and would cost less to run, I'm not convinced as I though all electric heaters were 100% efficient.
 
I don't know much about electric heaters really but oil filled radiators are an efficient safe option and relatively inexpensive. Can't see you need to spend £1000 on one, you can buy a boiler for that!

In terms of electrical loading, the 16mm supply I recommended above should be able to run 20 pins and 4kw (16-17 amps) of heating at the same time without a problem. In practice I imagine the only time you'd have 20 pins on at the same time would be during a league meet though, so you're unlikely to need to heat the cabin when its full with 40 pinheads even if it was freezing outside!
 
A Pin draws 200-250watt at idle in attact mode (0.8-1.1 amp)

A coil spike is around 3amps, and a pin is usually rated at 7-10amps max (with multiple coils spiking)

So you are only going to be hitting 100% capacity if every machine is being played and every player pressed both flipper buttons at exactly the same time.


It's worth noting, that by just replacing the GI in your back box with LED's as well as dropping the temperaure of the backbox significantly, you are reducing the idle power consumption by around 25-50watts per machine, depending on the number of lamps in the backbox.

Also, if your cabin is well insulated as mine is, it will get warm in there with all the pins on regardless of the outside temperature, so I only need to put heating on for a few minutes to get the room temperature up. I don't need pins and heating on at the same time
 
Sounds good. Presume the Concrete has polypropylene fibres (if not, would be worth it for the £20 it would probably add, since it lessens surface cracking...).

Please tell me you're not barrowing it down there... that's a LOT of concrete!

Looking forward to seeing it down :)
 
Yep C25 concrete mix, apparently the thickest concrete mix that can be pumped.

Looks like another 5 tons of type 1 are needed...
 
I'm looking forward to seeing the 50mm gap that'll get around regs, very smart idea mate :clap:

Edit. Just reread the post so you have a better plan that avoids having to do that, nice! :clap::clap:
 
13 tons of hardcore in, damp proof membrane down actually triple thickness as I had loads spare, apparently this stuff also stops tree roots, as they grow and hit the plastic they divert and do not grow through plastic (hmm not convinced).
Along with steel mesh at the moment just resting on the DPM but will be raised on 'feet' so it allows the concrete to flow under, over and around it.

Concrete is due in today, lets hope the rain does not hit.

Also garden clean up is needed.
 
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