Main > Main Forum
Rotating control panels in the CNC age... why so rare still?
<< < (7/15) > >>
Malenko:

--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on September 25, 2013, 07:52:21 am ---
 Swappable CPs are not easy to just put anywhere.   If you have a single tron CP, its barely going to fit in the bottom of a cab thats already filled with electronics.  Especially if its a slim variant.   And thats IF you make your CPs with less width than the cabinet itself.   Most arcade CPs  are the same size or larger than the cabs bottom... width wise.   And vertically storing them still wont get you more than 2 CPs... if you can fit them easily.

 And... its still a pain and hassle, to swap them every time you want to play a different game.

 I just know someones gona say Modular.   ugg.    I was probably the first person to draw up a modular CP, and for a while, thought it was the greatest idea ever...  but then I realized the logistics of the thing.. as far as storing parts and again, swapping them over and over again.


 In the end, I may still build a CP thats similar to Unclets cab. (Horizontal Rotation)  But fully enclosed, with more CP options.

 The vertical rotation on the prototype I built worked well,  ... but, I realized it would be far nicer to have a sit-down experience rather than stand up.

--- End quote ---
Let me refure you step by step.....

There is tons of room in the bottom of a cab. Granted Im sure theres someone out there with a decased PC and an arcade monitor that requires an isolation transformer but we need to generalize here and not assume every cabinet is worst case scenario. In my cab, the PC sits on a shelf behind the monitor.

Ahhh the tron-gument. I believe you could EASILY fit 4 CPs inside a standard cab (lean one inside each corner), and a 5th would be installed. I dont believe you would even need that many unless you made a ton of game specific CPs

Odds are after someone built all these CPs they will probably leave 1 panel on there 95% of the time because it'll be for the games they actually play.

I drew my first modular panel for my first MAME cab about 15 years ago because I wanted to be able to swap a 4way and an 8 way, and the SF layout (for Snes96), the NBA Jam layout which evolved to the NeoGeo Layout, and I dont think I was the first to do it either.
DaveMMR:

--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on September 25, 2013, 07:52:21 am --- Swappable CPs are not easy to just put anywhere.   

--- End quote ---

I never got this. You have the room for a full size cabinet, but when it comes to a slab of wood with some hardware on it you suddenly don't have space for it? I mean, justify doing a rotating cp however you want, but can we agree that most of us could find a nice, safe space for extra control panels if push ever came to shove?  (Plus it's not like the rotating panel isn't taking up a ridiculous amount of real estate in the cabinet that could be used for panel storage if you planned ahead for it.)


--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on September 25, 2013, 07:52:21 am --- And... its still a pain and hassle, to swap them every time you want to play a different game.

--- End quote ---

Do you really need to switch controls after EVERY game? I feel like joysticks and a few buttons cover a large number of games (without breaking it down into 4/8 way) and the other controls are for that occasional driving, trackball, etc. game. YMMV.

I'm not trying to discourage it. You should just examine your actual needs before going down that complicated route. I feel that many people can get a lot of mileage out of a single panel and then, maybe, make it swappable if you have the need for rather specific control types. I just kept coming across limitation after limitation when I was sketching it out and the easier solutions were hard to ignore.

(Malenko beat me to a lot of what I said....)
Malenko:

--- Quote from: DaveMMR on September 25, 2013, 08:37:10 am ---(Malenko beat me to a lot of what I said....)

--- End quote ---

I still love ya baby :*
jimmer:
What Malenko said.

I normally just laugh inside at the 'where are you gonna store your panels?' objections. FFS I've got an empty box 24"x24"x36" right in front of me.

DaveMMR:

--- Quote from: Malenko on September 25, 2013, 09:33:43 am ---
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on September 25, 2013, 08:37:10 am ---(Malenko beat me to a lot of what I said....)

--- End quote ---

I still love ya baby :*

--- End quote ---

D'awww thanks!
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page

Go to full version