Control Panel advice

[jimmy2x2x]

What have you learned from building a control panel?

Would you do anything different, what would remain the same?

I have a standard 2 player 6 button layout at the moment, and I will be adding a 3" trackball and spinner in the near future - when they are delivered.

So I'm in the process of designing a new control panel.

The problem I have is my panel is only 21" wide x 6" deep at the moment, and its just comfortable for the 2 player setup



So I need to increase the usable area somewhat, I could increase the width and chop chunks out of the cabinet to accomodate or I could increase the depth like this panel



My initial design is like this



small circle at the back is a spinner, large circle at front is the trackball, 2 buttons above the players 6 action buttons are coin/start

This seems to be an OK compromise as it offers plenty of slap space around the trackball and the spinner is out of the way when you dont need it, any thoughts?

[drventure]

Looks pretty good to me. Having th espinner in the center seems a better choice, easier to get at either set of buttons if need be.

[wweumina]

Biggest thing i regret is adding 6-buttons per player and a trackball.  Thinking of cutting back to either 2 players x 4 buttons or 1 x 4-way and two lots of 3 buttons (for Track and Field).

[jimmy2x2x]

Is your CP too cramped with the extra buttons and trackball?

got a pic?

[wweumina]

No, not too cramped, I just don't use them. 

The first question everyone asks when they see it is 'do you have Street Fighter?' but it never actually gets played much.  For a machine that sees more Donkey Kong and Track and Field it is all a bit of overkill and I would prefer a simpler looking layout. 

[Endaar]

I'd be concerned about hitting your hand on the spinner when using the trackball for Golden Tee or bowling. I've had people hit the glass on my cabinet, which is a lot further away.

Endaar

[jimmy2x2x]

how much clearance would you recommend?