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Control panel ideas
yman:
--- Quote from: Blanka on April 05, 2011, 02:20:31 pm ---I would wash it at 90 degrees.
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Not sure what that means, but you mean make it the same width as the cab? The cab is a slight variation of a LuSid plan, 26 in. interior, 27.5 outside to outside. Yeah, I know, nothing very exciting, but it worked well for my needs. I needed it fairly wide to fit the monitor I'm using (27 in. Panasonic TV - high-def flat CRT). As it is, it barely fit even after decasing the TV.
Anyway, the larger monitor means it's probably better to have a deeper (front to back) CP. I guess I could cut the width to 27.5 in. to match the cabinet, but the cantilevered look doesn't really bother me, and it gives a little more elbow room for 2-player games.
Lilwolf:
btw, I would consider doing 2 things...
1) make sure to use quick disconnects. They are very cheap (but you usually can't find them locally, you need the .187" size, not the .250 that are used in automotive).
2) buy a cheap press board and try your control panel. I can get a 4x8 sheet for like 5 bucks at home depot. Then cut out your design, cable it... and try it... Give it a few days / week... Then make up your real one... unconnect the controls, move the controls... rewire. You will probably have to fix a few ends, but not many...
Reason. I have hot swap control panels, and my most basic 2 8way 7 button each street fighter control panel I've redone probably 6 times... Each time thinking its the 'one' before I finally settled down with mine (I have 4 on bottom in line, and 3 on top... and the extra on bottom away from the joystick... ) but everyone is different.
good luck
mytymaus007:
--- Quote from: yman on April 04, 2011, 10:14:20 pm ---I'm in the middle of designing my control panel, and I was hoping to get some feedback (good or bad) from members of this forum. I've already constructed the cab (not yet painted) and the control panel box, but I've been going back-and-forth on the CP layout. The box is fairly large for two players - 34X18. It will probably be used for mostly early/mid-80's classic arcade games rather than fighter games, but I was thinking of including a 6-button layout for maximum flexibility in case the kids end up playing other games. My wish list includes two 8-way sticks, a dedicated 4-way, a trackball, a spinner and an Asteroid button layout - which would double as buttons for the 4-way and spinner - possibly also as admin buttons. I know the dedicated Asteroids layout may seem over-the-top, but this whole thing was inspired by a trip to an 80's arcade at DisneyQuest a few months ago where I played Asteroids with my 15-year-old. He spent the first 5 minutes mocking the games, and then he was hooked.
Anyway, attached is a picture of my proposed layout. The layout was done in Visio, which I've never used before. The visio file has a grid/ruler layout which gives a better idea of scale and distances, but it didn't show up when I saved to JPEG. The dotted line near the edges represents the inner edge of the CP box underneath the panel.
Any feedback would be much appreciated! :)
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Did someone say classics Asteroids here you go I can play it all no problem All in one control panel. Seems like your Asteroid layout is to far up why not put 4 way in the middle for pacman and trackball off to the right Unless you love golf then leave it in the middle
yman:
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Did someone say classics Asteroids here you go I can play it all no problem All in one control panel. Seems like your Asteroid layout is to far up why not put 4 way in the middle for pacman and trackball off to the right Unless you love golf then leave it in the middle
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Actually, I may have to think about moving the trackball off to the right, since I'm right-handed and that would still leave me centered in front of the monitor if I'm using my right hand. Not a big golf player. Realistically, the trackball is mostly for my wife (Centipede), and apart from the occasional game of Missile Command, I'll probably be using it more as a mouse.
Thanks.
Donkbaca:
If you move it to the right, then 2p is going to be crammed right next to 1p and 1p will be off to the left and 2p will be in middle.
Why do you need a mouse on your cab? Are you going to be playing pc games on it? If you are thinking you need it for admin purposes, I would reconsider. Your goal should be to set everything up and then never mess with it again except for minor maintenance. To do that , it would be easy to just plug a mouse in to the PC and use it. Trackballs aren't cheap, you are looking at spending between 60 and 100 bucks, thats a lot of money, and you are adding clutter to your control panel just play a few games of centipede and missile command? Hey, if you love those games and its worth it, then go ahead and do it. I decided against putting a trackball in my cab because it seems that there are only like 5 games that people generally play with a trackball: Marble Madness, Crystal Castles, Missile Command, Centipede and Golden tee. I got a trackball, then realized that I don't really like any of those games enough to justify putting a trackball on my rig. I got a x-arcade trackball controller, so if I really want to play one of those games, or am missing out on something, I can just plug it in and play it, and if I really decide later that I have to have one, I'll add it. To be honest though, a trackball would just take up space on my CP, and hardly be used. But hey, if you or your wife love those games, then by all means go for it, but I am just giving you some perspective so you don't think you have to have a trackball on your pc.