Cabinet/strength question

[Minwah]

I have designed my cab based (roughly) on the Atari System 1 cab.  In order to accomodate my controls, and a 21" monitor (the original has 19"), I have had to increase the depth of the cab.

My problem is that I have to manouvre (?) the cab through one doorway, then rotate 90deg, then through another doorway.  I have my doubts that the thing will fit through!

I considered getting rid of the panel between control panel & monitor, but I really don't want to do this.  So I figured what about making the control panel removable - this should reduce the size of the cab sufficiently.

I am a bit concerned that it may be difficult to fix the control panel to the rest of the cab, with enough strength.  See the attached (bad photoshop) pic - the yellow lines are the kindof line I was thinking of bolting the CP to.  Presumably the further towards the back of the cab I fix it to, the stronger the join will be.

Do you guys think this will work??  The control panel does not need to be quick-release (I hope not to move the cab often), and I do not want to alter the appearance of the cab any more than neccessary.

Any comments/advise would be great...

[hyiu]

I guess a couple of things you could do....

one is.. the cab itself... when you remove the CP... does it have anything below to support it ?? hmmm....

http://www.geocities.com/hyiu2/pics/gaming/

click on

cab_side2.jpg

you see that thingy that comes out ??... that is for supporting the CP.... (my CP will be a 10 in thick BIG BOX come out about 12 in... but that thing on the side board sticks out about 7 in....) so... I got support from the bottom....

or you can do your CP like a drawer.... (so it goes in like your yellow line....) and you use a good quality drawer rail.... (those are quite strong.... or what the heck.... get 2 pairs... then I'm sure you can sit on it and it won't move....

as for if you're afraid of it'll slide out if you use drawer rails... then add some mount at the end of the rail to lock it in....

hope you understand what I'm saying....  

there are plenty of ways to make it sit tight.....

[tmasman]

The "drawer" idea isn't a bad idea actually...
You don't really need rails for it though...
Just a flat drawer sliding into a nice tight fit...
The a couple panel clamps holding it shut/in place.

I've attached a couple of rough sketches of what I'm thinking...

It could also serve as the perfect mouning place for the PC or
the keyboard...

[hyiu]

I mentioned using rails because my wood cutting is always a tiny bit off.....

so.. its never "snuggly fit" and it'll cause a little wiggle space....

but if you use those drawer rail..... that can actually help holding the whole thing in place.... and then... all you have to do is to have a few locks to hold it so that it doesn't slide out... and it'll be rock solid.....

also.... if it serves as a keyboard drawer like you said....
or if you're planning to open it often.... a rail definitely helps....
 

also... if you're spending that $$ to buy a rail... buy those heavy duty strong ones.... they're much better....  

[Minwah]

Thanks guys.

I actually think I may not need to do this now...I made a cardboard template and it seems to go through the doorways with no problem...I am just worried I mis-measured something tho!

I do like the drawer idea however.  Saving any depth has got to be good so I may do that anyway, to make moving it around just easier

[grafixmonkey]

I say go for the drawer anyway.  It would provide some nice storage, and a good place to keep a keyboard so you can type on it if needed.  And, there are drawer rail sets you can buy cheap that just screw to the sides of the case and drawer - easy installation, drawer pops out easy.  You could have the panel wires come through a hole in the back of the drawer and hook to your ipac with a Molex or two, and then you have swappable panels too.  Work a bunch of those powerful NiFeB rare earth magnets into the wood, and the drawer would stay shut until you needed it to pull out.

You never know, you might eventually have to fit it in and out of a different door.