First Cabinet

[james2k2]

Hi All

After my first build of a control panel about 6 years ago, i've decided to go ahead with building a cabinet as well as a new control panel. At the moment i'm concentrating on the cabinet. I would like a cabinet that can ideally support a 17"/19"/20" 4:3 display. Attached (in the zip) are some WMF files (Windows Vector Images). They show what i'm currently planning on. By my guestimates, my current design only supports a 17" display, possibly a 19". FYI, i'm after a Bartop cabinet that has a marquee and allows for an integrated 2 player control panel. I'm limited on space so size is key whilst not spoiling the original design styling of a full cabinet. I would ultimately like something similar to this:

Kind regards,
James

P.s. what a wonderful forum!

[bkenobi]

How do you plan on playing anything on that CP?  The buttons are AFU!?

[javeryh]

yeah - that button layout looks pretty tough as does the viewing angle of the monitor.  Do a bartop search in project announcements - there are tons of super sweet examples.... like the Benderama!   

[james2k2]

Oops, forgot to mention I wasn't wanting to use the button layout in the piccy, lol. On my 6-year-old control panel I built I have a pretty standard 4-way joy to the left with 6 buttons, 3 top and 3 bottom at a downward slight angle. But the P1 far buttons are too close to P2 joy really. But anyways, take a look at my vector drawings if you can. and let me know what you think. Is the width of the unit big enough to accomodate enough space for the button layout I propose? -comfortbly-

Edit: Forgot to also mention that I'm going to be using a TFT
Edit 2: I want it to be suitable for shooters too, hence the flat display

Thanks,
James

[james2k2]

*bump*

I have a few more questions with regards to my first cab.

Where would I go about getting that plastic edging from? Also, what is the smallest ideal size for a two player panel?

[bkenobi]

The edging you are asking about is called T-molding.  You can get it from a number of places including groovygamegear and ultimarc IIRC.  There's also tmolding.com and ebay of course.

[Turnarcades]

This is one of our first bar-top cabs and they were built to literally be a small as is physically possible based on the fitted components. The layout is not for everyone but is fine for casual play, if a little tight for seated adults. Remember our cabinets are all space-saving designs for UK homes and British waistlines ain't as big as our American cousins LOL.

It is more common for us to now build these with the more familiar '2x3' layout but many customers do still have this layout as explained before; many UK gamers grew up playing games in generic JAMMA cabs (not the dedicated originals) so frequently adapted to unusual layouts to play a broad spectrum of games. This layout is based on something often found in UK arcades during the fighting game revolution of the early 90's, where 3-button JAMMA cabs were converted to 6-button for Street Fighter 2. It's something many of us grew up with and plays just fine for most games. As mentioned this model's really just a casual gaming machine or for kids and for that, it works. For what it's worth, we now do them in many configurations:



If it helps, the minimum width panel you would need for the more common '2x3' layout is 18" which leaves only a small spaxe at the edges and between players. As a rule of thumb, each stick with 6 buttons needs about 9" x 4.5" to mount comfortably underneath.