Good cabinet plans for a 32 inch CRT TV ?

[spystyle]

Hello from icy cold Maine,

I was just given a mammoth tube, a 32 inch 4:3 TV, it's super heavy.

It was replaced by a 42 inch 16:9 feather-weight LCD. People upgrading to LCDs are giving away these CRTs all the time. This one is older but should still have some years left in it... It's a 1997 RCA.

It's so huge, I started imagining a big arcade machine built around it... I just might do it.

What cabinets do you guys think would suit a 32 inch monster tube?

Thanks!
Craig

[DashRendar]

Probably a Showcase cabinet?

[spystyle]

It's slightly small for a showcase cabinet ... I wonder if there is a more conventional cabinet that would work?

[Malenko]

like in a KI2 cab?



There is a 32" RCA CRT  TV in there too.


EDIT:typo eradication

[spystyle]

Now that is an extra-large Pac-Man

[UberCade]

No kidding. That's a pretty big vertical setup.

I built my cabinet using the mameroom plans, and you can adjust the cabinet width to whatever you need, so you can measure the size of your TV and build it around that so you know you have enough room for it. If you're looking for a pre-built cabinet to put it in, you'd have to find something like a Tekken showcase cabinet or similar which has a 33" arcade monitor. That would probably work.

[spystyle]

I was thinking of something short and fat, like maybe a wide Aussie Lowboy or something like this :



What is this cabinet ? It looks like a chainsaw modification of some upright ...

But I dig it's compact and the screen is like 30 degrees ...

Short and fat

[DashRendar]

That'd be ok unless you have overhead lights.

I guess I prefer looking forward rather than down though, but everyone's different.

[spystyle]

That's a good point, I wonder if the angle would drive me nutty ... but I think that same angle is seen in a Pac-man cabinet - in fact, if you remove the side panels of a Pac-Man cabinet plan, the shape resembles that pic a lot.

[DashRendar]

Yeah, I guess that's not much different than a cocktail cab (not sure if you sit or stand at the cab in the example).

[spystyle]

That funky cab looks like it's screen is at an angle of about 30 degrees.

I have Defender (home-made) and Gauntlet (factory) cabinets here, their screen angles are at about 75 and 45 degrees respectively.

That's only if I am using my angle finder tool correctly 

http://www.amazon.com/Quint-Measuring-System-True-Angle/dp/B0002EXEXO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1265914469&sr=1-1

It's a little awkward but I figured out how to measure screen angles - prepare for a mini lesson!

1. Clamp a level tool in place, make sure it's level.

2. Place the "ruler side" of the "true angle tool" under the level tool, flush with it.

3. Place the center line of the other side of the "true angle tool" exactly on the edge to be measured.

4. The center line extends to the middle of the tool and points to a number, that number is the angle









OK, mini lesson over, back to discussion.

A cocktail table's screen is at zero degrees and I find them kind of irritating, I always want to reach in and pull the screen up to like 35 degrees, or have a longer neck. But maybe if I owned one I'd get used to it...

I don't think cocktail tables were designed around human ergonomics - I think they were designed to do double duty at restaurants so folks could play a game and then eat pizza and drink beer? I think...

Have fun!
Craig

[spystyle]

Hey - post some pics of nice compact uprights

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Other than the standard Showcase style, you're generally not going to find a cab that can hold a beast of a monitor like that unless you design it yourself.

My old cab (http://quarterheaven.livejournal.com/) had a 31" in it. If you use Sketchup, I can send you my old files if you want to work from them.  They're about 95% complete (as I always felt the cab was...)

[spystyle]

How cow!

That cabinet is super huge, and super nice - good job





And sure, I'd like to see the cabinet plan - is it based at all on existing cabinets?


 

[CheffoJeffo]

It's slightly small for a showcase cabinet ... I wonder if there is a more conventional cabinet that would work?

Standard monitor size for a showcase is 33", so it's only slightly, slightly, slightly small.

32" is too big, IMPO, for an upright, unless you build a monster CP that is very deep.

[spystyle]

OK Jeffo, I trust you to design a good cabinet for this screen

[CheffoJeffo]

Grab a Dynamo Showcase ... people here can't even give them away and they end up in landfills.

And that's CHeffo ... another member already grabbed the Jeffo monker. 

[spystyle]

Unfortunately we don't reside in the south where people live in big farm houses and have big barns

So I was thinking of something compact on account of small spaces ... I feel like a showcase is too big.

So, keep that limited space in mind when you are designing a cabinet for me

Thanks Cheffo!

[CheffoJeffo]

 

[spystyle]

It's funny you should post that cocktail, GigantoMAME - I named it

http://www.angrymods.com/mame/

I helped design the control panels too

It belongs to my pal Jon Dresser who lives only a few miles from here

I've played it once but I'm not too crazy about cocktail cabinets on account of the zero degree angle of the screen. I always want to reach in and pull the screen up to 35 degrees.

Cocktail tables take up more space than upright cabinets too, especially when you add in the chairs.

[spystyle]

I wonder if it would be frowned upon if I started a thread called "Hey, show me your compact upright cabinets"  ?

I want to see a bunch

[CheffoJeffo]

You want to build a COMPACT upright (aka cabaret) with a 32" monitor ?

 

Go big or go home!

 

[spystyle]

Yes it's a crazy idea but I had something in mind that was short and fat like a washing machine, with a huge screen at a rather steep angle (like 35 degrees?) and a control panel that wrapped around, and the cabinet could be shaped like a hexagon... The entire package rather compact like a lowboy, but more compact even...

That's the screwy idea I had And I don't even drink!

Anyway, cabaret cabinets ... Yes those are compact Perhaps I should Google those

[CheffoJeffo]

You know, that just might work ...  like a fat Aussie lowboy.



Plans

I look forward to seeing it.

[spystyle]

The lowboy is a nice cabinet, I might modify one a bit rather than trying to design something from scratch

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

And sure, I'd like to see the cabinet plan - is it based at all on existing cabinets?

Loosely based on Gauntlet, and some of the Vs. era Capcom fighter cabs, but scratch designed around a 31" Gateway Destination monitor that I gave away a few months ago here on the boards. (Yeah, sorry, this cab doesn't actually exist anymore.  Quarter Heaven went to Cabinet Heaven...  )

32" is too big, IMPO, for an upright, unless you build a monster CP that is very deep.

My cab was definitely big (and nigh-impossible to move alone, hence its' trip to Cabinet Heaven) but it was tremendously playable. You have to get the monitor angle at a comfortable position.  I'll have to check, but I think my monitor was only at a 10 or 15 degree incline.  Not much angle actually, but I did place the player positions a little further away than a normal cab (though not as far away as on a Showcase.) 

I agree, I think you'll run into a comfort/playability problem if you try to do a cocktail, or even a "lowboy" style cab with that size monitor.  I think you should probably aim for a Showcase, or a custom along the lines of a Gauntlet.  Don't go cocktail or lowboy.

Anyway, PM me an email address or I'll try to figure out how to post the .skp file when I go home tonight. 

[spystyle]

Thanks PM sent

It occurs to me that the cabinet must not be wider than the door-frames, unless it's designed to be easily dismantled.

I guess that's what makes a 32" tube such a challenge!

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

It occurs to me that the cabinet must not be wider than the door-frames, unless it's designed to be easily dismantled.

I guess that's what makes a 32" tube such a challenge!

Bingo.  There lies the big (pun intended) problem.  You'll see in the Sketchup of my cab that the sides are actually 3 separate panels.  The whole cab, sans control panel, was intended to be able to be dismantled into a minimum of 2 pieces + the monitor (potentially many more, if need be.)  Great in theory, but not so hot in practice, unless you have a lot of time and/or help to dismantle/move.  Not to mention how HEAVY a tube of that size is... UGH.

All in all, though?  If you have space for such a beast, it is a fantastic thing to behold - and fun as hell to play!