Planning out CP how do you do it?

[TheMonk]

I've been reading a lot in this site over the last while and I think I have a pretty good understanding of most aspects. However I ran into a thread the other day where someone had drilled holes in their CP only to find that after inserting the push buttons the stems (proper term?) of the buttons were hitting one another inside the cp. Long story short they had to buy shorter buttons to make everything fit.

So that got me wondering, how do most people go about this? Do you purchase your hardware first, then lay each item out to see if they will touch? I know there are diagrams and sitese out there that show how to space your buttons etc. However I also noticed buttons can be horizontal or vertical in orientation beneath the the CP top, so really the question is how do you plan out the position of the CP so everything fits beneath the cp top?

What's your process?

Hope my rambling made sense.

[ragnar]

I borrowed a layout from slagcoin.  I highly recomend this route:
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

As for spacing, the rightmost button for P1 should be atleast 8" from the stick center of P2.  10" is recomended though.

As for underneath, what was the exact problem?  Was it a slanted CP where the back row of buttons were hitting the inside of the CP box?  If that is the case, all I can say about my planning is that I planned for about 3/4" gaps between buttons and the CP box interior edges (such that the stems should be atleast 3/4" away from the sides).  That left plenty of room.  Also, the buttons do not need to be oriented in any special direction.  So the wires coming off of hte switches should clear any obstructions quite easily.

Can you like the other thread that you hinted at?

The first post in my project thread (see signature) has an image of my CP planning.  You might laugh, but the thing to realize is that CP planning does not have to be to scale.  The numbers just need to work.

[markronz]

Control Panels are going to vary wildly by a persons tastes.   The best advice anyone can give someone working on their first Control Panel is to make a test control panel.   Can't stress that enough.  Sure it sucks having to buy two pieces of wood (if you are doing a wooden CP) but it's well worth it.  Or even using a piece of cardboard or etc is helpful.   This will A) help you tweak the layout to your liking, and B) help you avoid any spatial hurdles presented by your unique CP box or setup.

[TheMonk]

Thanks guys!

I'd have to look for the thread but someone added some pinball buttons to the side of the CP only to discover they were hitting the player 1 buttons inside the CP. So they had to purchase shorter sanwa buttons to fit. That scenario got me wondering about planning out not only what goes on top of the PC but also the layout below.

Pierre

[javeryh]

Make a cardboard mock up.  You shouldn't have problems with "pinball buttons" on the sides if you plan carefully.  Regular Happ buttons extend into the CP less than 1.5" (assuming a 3/4" panel) so you'd have to be really constrained on space for this to ever be an issue.

[severdhed]

one thing to consider too is make sure you joysticks arent too close to the sides.  on one of my panels, my p1 joystick hole was 3" in from the left edge, which seemed fine, however i had a 1/2" overhang over the box below the control panel...to make a long story short, i had to notch out the inside wall of the box so i had room to connect the wires on my joystick switches. 

mockups are always a good choice, get a cheap thin piece of wood, doesn't have to be pretty, even panneling or luan would be fine

[ragnar]

Thanks guys!

I'd have to look for the thread but someone added some pinball buttons to the side of the CP only to discover they were hitting the player 1 buttons inside the CP. So they had to purchase shorter sanwa buttons to fit. That scenario got me wondering about planning out not only what goes on top of the PC but also the layout below.

Pierre

Ahhh, now that makes sense.  I sitll think pen and paper with a calculator is sufficient.

[ragnar]

one thing to consider too is make sure you joysticks arent too close to the sides.  on one of my panels, my p1 joystick hole was 3" in from the left edge, which seemed fine, however i had a 1/2" overhang over the box below the control panel...to make a long story short, i had to notch out the inside wall of the box so i had room to connect the wires on my joystick switches. 

mockups are always a good choice, get a cheap thin piece of wood, doesn't have to be pretty, even panneling or luan would be fine

Was that the u360s you (or someone) warned me about?  Have to plan in the USB cable on those!

[severdhed]

I remember warning someone about the u 360...must have been you.  i did that with an xarcade stick the first time though

[oreo632]

Just a thought, I am green as grass when it comes to this. I don't know if your cab is used or your building it. If it is used, like my cab, it may have come with plexi covering the original cp. At least the cab that I bought did. Anywho, what I am doing is using a dry erase marker on that cab, while I am scheming my layout. Saves trees for the time being, wipes right off, but when I do get closer to buying the wood etc, I will prolly use card board that way I can still put the buttons in and get a real feel for how my hands like it. Best of luck. 

Hope this helps.

[MJ]

Like others have said, a cardboard box is the best thing to use.  You can cut it easily and it's easy to start over with.