Two Piece Cabs?

[Leper]

Im looking into building my first MAME cabinet, but I've got one dilema.  I'm moving to college in a few months.

With this in mind, I want the cabinet to be as "travel friendly" as possible.  College is about a 2 hour drive away, and my dorm might be many floors up (elevators are in most).  I was thinking about building a two piece cabinet that I could disassemble for the trip, then put back together in college, to ensure that I can transport it and get it through the tiny dorm doors.  Does anyone know of any cabinets that have taken this approach that I could study, or better yet, see the plans for?  In my head it makes sense to split the top and bottom....but I want to make sure the top (aka the monitor) is fully supported.

Any help on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

[CM]

Try here : http://www.cybertechdesign.net/mameroom/order_uaII.asp

[Leper]

Yeah, I've seen that, but its waayyy too big for my tiny dorm room, and I couldnt justify $40 just to see how they split it in two...assuming someone on the board could tell me how to do just that.

[CM]

Yeah, I've seen that, but its waayyy too big for my tiny dorm room, and I couldnt justify $40 just to see how they split it in two...assuming someone on the board could tell me how to do just that.

There is some thread here about a cab layout that uses a podium-like control panel separate from the monitor support.  Something like that may be an easily transportable setup.  

Maybe someone can throw that link here for you....

[TalkingOctopus]

Good luck fitting a cabinet in a dorm room!  Why don't you either make a stand alone control panel or make a cabinet with a detachable control panel and just bring the cp to school.

[paigeoliver]

Since you are going to be in a dorm, I suggest that you just go for a mini cabinet, instead of a full size hulking monster.

Also, standard cabinets really are not that much of a problem getting into places. They are smaller than fridges, couches, and box springs, all of which get moved into places all the time. It is only the big oversized "I had to make a 4' wide control panel" cabinets that are the problem. I have gotten standard Atari cabinets around 180 degree turns in stairs, and even up spiral stair cases without too much problem.

[Leper]

The dorm rooms aren't miserably small, some are actually quite spacey (full living area, kitchen, etc... but I want to make sure it still fits even with the 'smaller' dorms)

The MameRoom dimensions for the UA I (the style Id like to build mine in) are:
width: 26 3/8" [670 mm]
depth: 38" [965 mm]

I definately have that much.   The trick is making it two pieces so that I can travel with it easily, get it to my dorm easily, and put it together in the right place.

[saint]

Here: http://www.oscarcontrols.com/unnamed/

Im looking into building my first MAME cabinet, but I've got one dilema.  I'm moving to college in a few months.

With this in mind, I want the cabinet to be as "travel friendly" as possible.  College is about a 2 hour drive away, and my dorm might be many floors up (elevators are in most).  I was thinking about building a two piece cabinet that I could disassemble for the trip, then put back together in college, to ensure that I can transport it and get it through the tiny dorm doors.  Does anyone know of any cabinets that have taken this approach that I could study, or better yet, see the plans for?  In my head it makes sense to split the top and bottom....but I want to make sure the top (aka the monitor) is fully supported.

Any help on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

[SNAAAKE]

Check out his cab.

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=10783

You can ask him for a plan(if he has one).  

[CitznFish]

nice revision to the UAII to make it split in 2 and all screws are from teh inside...

edit: it might help if I post the URL..

http://www.verticaladdiction.net/cabinet1/

[rockhopper]

cocktail cabinet!

The way mine is being made, will allow the monitor to be removed simply, so the whole thing can be moved easier.
Its pretty much exactly the same as Kyle Lindstom's plans for his pac-man cabinet, but i'm thinking about adding another panel on the front to play horizontal games.

but i guess it depends on what type of games you want to play...

[Lilwolf]

Ahh... Go with a xybot based cab..  

Why?  The monitor is vertical!  So you can use it as a TV, DVD player, and arcade in one.  

Then design it so the whole top comes off with 4 or so nuts/bolts.

Not to hard..

[WonderMellon]

Frostillicous posted a link a while back to his new 2 piece cab.  It was basically the Lusid design cut horizontally in the middle.  

This looks like a viable option to most any design.  Cut it in half, expand the top half so that it overlaps the bottom half.  If you put a ledge on the inside of both halves you can fasten them together to connect and make your cab whole again.

I hope that made sense.  

-WM

[BobA]

Ahh... Go with a xybot based cab..  

Why?  The monitor is vertical!  So you can use it as a TV, DVD player, and arcade in one.  

Then design it so the whole top comes off with 4 or so nuts/bolts.

Not to hard..

I think you mean the monitor is horizontal

BobA  

[Lilwolf]

No I mean vertical (up and down... pure 90%)...

No angle.  This allows you to watch from across the room.  Allows you have a cab be more multi-function... And give it credibility in a small room..

[tmasman]

No I mean vertical (up and down... pure 90%)...

No angle.  This allows you to watch from across the room.  Allows you have a cab be more multi-function... And give it credibility in a small room..

TVs are horizontal...
Only classic cabs (with a few exceptions) had vertical monitors...
(See attachment)

How do you plan to watch TV Vertically??? DVDs???
I don't get it...

[Lilwolf]

Sorry,

I mean the angle, not the orientation.

most arcades monitors sit on an angle.  so if you watch them from across the room, they are skewed.  And make for bad TV watching.

[tmasman]

That makes much more sense!
& It's not a bad idea. I saw a couple Xybots cabs at the last auction & my first thoughts were...
That'd be a SWEET MAME cabinet!!! But I'd have to do something about that odd slanted CP...

I'm still debating what my scratch built cab is going to end up looking like...
Something like the Xybots, a new 2 piece cab designed by yours truely, something totally new...

I've got sketches for all these ideas, but I've gotta figure out what's most important before I set my path in stone.

[Frostillicus]

Frostillicous posted a link a while back to his new 2 piece cab.  It was basically the Lusid design cut horizontally in the middle.  

-WM

This is not true - the design is nowhere near a lucid cab - which I didn't draw any inspiration from.  My 1st cab, however, was lucid cab.
Click WWW under name.

[grafixmonkey]

If you're going to be in a dorm room, you'll already have a TV right?  Maybe a "podium style" like I built would do it for you.  Loses some authenticity, but it might be dorm room friendly if you built a smaller panel without everything on it.  Here's a link to my project announcement, see if you like it...
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=11196

I could also see losing quite a bit of bulk from the cab, if you used a flat plasma or LCD screen instead of a deep tube monitor.  You could call it "Flatmame" or "Flatcab" or something!