USA Lowboy

[heemid]

I really like the look of lowboys so I'm making my own.  Taking a lot of inspiration from, RXII and Holdennut.

It has a decased toshiba 27" flat CRT at 30 degree angle.  I have the general mock-up to see how it feels.  The plan is to interchangeable control panels.

[orchidius]

Looking good!

How do you plan on making the CP's interchangeable?

[emphatic]

Looking very good. If there's still time though, make room for a rotate mechanism for your monitor.

[drventure]

Nice design. +1 for the rotating monitor.

And I'd love to see the plans for the swappable CPs too.

[heemid]

Player and admin buttons will be right under the screen and won't be interchangeable.  The whole cp will attatch from underneath on a shelf. I'm working on the sketch up design I'll post later.  A rotating monitor would be nice but it weighs 100lbs, seems like a lot of engineering to add a couple inches to PAC-Man.  I also want to make it as small as possible, it's 26.5" wide and ~30" deep, still deciding on final height.

[emphatic]

Actually, as you have the monitor facing pretty much straight up, rotation would be very easy. Just make a rest for it that is disc-shaped and won't catch the walls of your cabinet. Put some hardwood under your disc-shaped monitor support and make a bezel for your monitor that makes it totally square. This way, the outer dimension for the monitor is now the same in both orientations.

You could make the speaker/marquee be one solid piece surrounding the bezel and have a hinge in the back so that it flips up if you want to rotate the screen.

[heemid]

Thats cool, I'll look into it.  Here is the idea for interchangeable panels.  The panels will just drop in and use thumb screws on the bottom.  One will be the normal fighter setup and the other will be 4-way, trac-ball, spinner.

[Ond]

I like the idea of the screws underneath to hold the panel in place, what type of cable connectors are you planning on using for your interchangeable panels?

[drventure]

what type of cable connectors are you planning on using for your interchangeable panels?

Given the panels so far, a single DB25 looks like it'd do the trick (and be a pain to wire up initially, but that's another story).

[heemid]

DB25 is the plan, here is a little update made the panel for under the screen, it is covered with black formica.  PLaying around with the bezel, cut poster board doesn't look too bad under 1/4" plex.  The final will be shop-cut vinyl.

[DillonFoulds]

I'm liking the look of this beast! These cabs always intrigue me, but I've yet to see one in person.

[Generic Eric]

How timely.  I finally decided on a lowboy.  What is the radius of that curve in your sketch-up model? 

[heemid]

I broke one of the cardinal rules: made the thing playable before the cabinet is done.  I did decide I don't want the swappable panels so here is the new design.

Does the CP seem crowded with trackball that close to player 2 joystick?  What is the typical spacing for around a trackball?

Here is the sketchup file http://www.mediafire.com/file/jzzmktmmnym/lowfinal.skp

[Generic Eric]

I don't have a trackball yet to know for certain, but concerning the bottom area, where they are mounted, it looks like they might be too close.  Do you have the controls on hand to mock up the bottom of your control panel?

[XNIF]

nice design. I am working on something simular.  I was wondering what the measurements are from ground to controlpanel, and what is the viewing angle ?

And why don't you make those buttons on the bezel ? isn't it more "clean" to have those on the front or on the controlpanel?

[heemid]

I'm going a little higher on the CP, ~35"  I'm 6'2" and i only let tall people come over.  Monitor is at 30 degrees which is the slimiest profile for that monitor.  I was thinking that with the bezel, but now I decided I want all the buttons in one plane.