Trying to figure out a small (4ft) sit down cabinet

[boxman]

I've decided that I need a new MAME machine as I don't have my old machine any more. I would like to make a small cabinet that you sit down on a stool or chair to play. For inspiration I have been looking at a few candy cabs and the like. I have a 19" widescreen lcd for the project.

I'm not too sure on what height the control panel should be or what angle the monitor should be at etc, but here are the 3 designs I have been playing with in sketchup (I'm a beginner in sketchup, forgive me if these are terrible:





What do you think? They are all around 4ft tall and 2ft wide. The tallest cab allows room for the LCD to rotate. The second one is kind of a lowboy thingy, but I'm worried about the monitor angle (if it's comfortable, if the lcd will look good). If anyone has any advice or some cabs to get inspiration from I would love to hear about it. I'm not too good with woodwork so I'm going to have to try and keep it simple.

Cheers!

[yotsuya]

I like the second one best, to be honest.

[Mental]

I think the middle one looks the nicest, but beware the viewing angle. The bottom side of most LCDs is the worst side to view them from.

[kahlid74]

I like the middle one as well but I worry about that viewing angle.

[yotsuya]

If you have the monitor already, just tweak the plans so that you can optimize your viewing angle. Shouldn't be too hard. 

[Santoro]

I like the leftmost two but I think the viewing angle on the left one will be problematic as well.  I had a similar angle on my latest project (see the slim LCD link in my sig.) to make a mid-project adjustment to make the monitor angle comfortable.

[dfmaverick]

Here is a four footer that I created for my nephews about 7 years ago.

IIRC, it was comfortable sitting on a small bench and playing. The control panel is about 27-28 inches off the ground.

There was so much more I wanted to do to this cabinet, but I rushed it to finish for Christmas 2005 and haven't seen it since.

Hope it gives you some ideas in regards to size.

I like the look of #2, but if you are sitting down, I don't think I'd like the viewing angle since it looks to be set up for looking down at it.  Although, I think it would depend upon the height of the chair you plan to use. Create a mock up of the height of the monitor and angle and see how it looks sitting down on your planned chair.

[yotsuya]

I'd use a comfortable barstool for #2.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

I like the middle one as well but I worry about that viewing angle.

+1

Regarding panel height, I'd say look at the height of your chair first. Most chair seats hit around 18" from the floor. Add 4" to 6" for leg room underneath (believe me, you're going to want some...) and you've got the bottom of your control panel. The height beyond that is as slender as you can get away with (meaning, a panel with mostly Japanese parts and/or a metal top is going to tend to be slimmer, on average, than a wooden one with all Happ parts. I'm generalizing here, but you get the idea...)

[emphatic]

If CRT > #2. 

[boxman]

Yeah, I thought #2 was the best one too. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've played around with the idea a bit with this new model and adjusted the monitor angle (ignore the artwork and rough dimensions, just playing around) :



4' tall x 1' 4" deep x 2' wide.



Control panel bottom is 2' from the floor, top is 2' 4". The control panel is 24" x 10" ish. I might be able to change the thickness of the control panel a bit, I haven't measured the sticks and stuff yet.

I still haven't decided if it should be a 2 player 12 button cab or a single player with 2 sticks and 6 buttons. To many decisions to make!

[MTPPC]

A 16" deep base won't be deep enough to keep it from being pulled over toward the player. It will need feet sticking out under the chair, bench or stool.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

A 16" deep base won't be deep enough to keep it from being pulled over toward the player. It will need feet sticking out under the chair, bench or stool.

This may be true ... but the design, as it is, is not lost.  Just remember; if you decide to stick with this basic footprint, be prepared to add some dead weight in at the base (shouldn't take much really... a 20lb. plate or two?)  Drop the center of gravity down low enough and it will be less likely to tip.

My opinion regarding number of players?  Given your monitor size, and the overall size you're going for, I think it would make an excellent one-player setup.  2 players might be do-able, but it's going to push it a little... and just think, you could eventually build a second setup for head-to-head play!