Control Panel lockdowns? Any good solutions?

[Lilwolf]

I'm still looking for a good solution to clamp down my control panels.  

The main trouble is that I have 5 control panels (and parts for about 5 others)...

But I don't have a good way of locking them down.  I'm looking for a generic solution that I can buy one side or the other by themselfs (so I don't have to buy 40 pairs of both the male and female side... since I will only use 1/2 of them).

Also, something that I could buy at a normal store (home depot or something) would be great!


Anyone get selenoids to work clamping a control panel that work well?  I wouldn't mind spending some extra cash if I could have a lock button..  That would be pretty cool.

Thanks!

[dirt]

i was thinking of using the fasteners that keep the door closed in my kitchen.the ones that have two rollers on one side and a peice of metal that is bent so it stays on the rollers when closed.
they look like this:

 
   (    )  (oo)
    oo  

i plan on using one at each corner. they should hold the cp down fine and also let you pull it off . if anyone has tried this before let me know how it worked out.


dirt

[mmmPeanutButter]

Never actually done one myself, but I did a little looking...

I understand what you're saying about having to buy extra parts thata you wont need.  I found these that might do the trick:

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.asp?page=41864&category=3,41399&ccurrency=2&SID=

I was thinking that you could mount them on the sides of the underside of the cp box.  You would need to make a piece of wood attached to the cp that would extend to the bottom of the cp box.  On this piece of wood you would cut a groove that would accept the strike form the lockdown.  That way you would only need to buy two of the locks (an nothing else).

I hope that at least made a little bit of sense.  

As I mentioned, I've never done it before, but it seems like it could be a good solution that would keep the cp really secure...  anybody have any thoughts??

[JustMichael]

What about a very simple hi-tech solution?  Try velcro!
Since almost all of the force applied to the control panel will be straight down or toward the sides, velcro should hold it on quite nicely. Then when you want to change, just pull the control panel up by the sides and put on the new one.

[SirPoonga]

My solution on my cabinet is pretty good.
Since someone complained, per usual as with most free sites you need to copy and paste the link into a brand new browser.
http://free.hostdepartment.com/S/SirPoonga/images/y_cab17.jpg

I have the two brass guides on the side and the clamp holding the CP down.  I will make some better pics when I get a chance.

[Buddabing]

I'm still looking for a good solution to clamp down my control panels.  

The main trouble is that I have 5 control panels (and parts for about 5 others)...

But I don't have a good way of locking them down.  I'm looking for a generic solution that I can buy one side or the other by themselfs (so I don't have to buy 40 pairs of both the male and female side... since I will only use 1/2 of them).

Also, something that I could buy at a normal store (home depot or something) would be great!


Anyone get selenoids to work clamping a control panel that work well?  I wouldn't mind spending some extra cash if I could have a lock button..  That would be pretty cool.

Thanks!

How about a simple tool box latch? Basically, that's what used on real cabinets, at least the one real cabinet I own. You can reach through the coin door, undo the latches, and voila, the CP is off.

[SirPoonga]

How about a simple tool box latch? Basically, that's what used on real cabinets, at least the one real cabinet I own. You can reach through the coin door, undo the latches, and voila, the CP is off.

Yep, my latch is from my double dragon II cabinet.

[Lilwolf]

What I'm currently trying to do is make it cheaper.

My current cabinet has 4 latches... one on each corner.  

I can get them (or similar) from many places... But they are about 8 bucks each.  Where I really only need the little metal piece that should be the cheap part..  

This would make each control panel be 32 bucks in just connectors... I only have a few controllers that I spent more then that.  And it seems silly to spend more to clamp it down then on ebay to get something special.

So I'm looking for a good clamp that I can buy a cheap part to connect them.

Velcro I would worry about the control panel popping off in a good game...  Or being hard to swap...

I was considering 4 selenoids and some wood for the selenoid end to go into (I can make those).  But I'm worried that it might not be strong enought (tight enought).

SirP... what are you using on the other connectors?  I see the front.  But I'm assuming you have something at the back.

Peanut... the latches I think will have the same troubles I'm currently having (with the selenoid problem).  Its what do you plug them into.  If it's to complicated I would have problems building multiple ones on each control panel.   And I would have to make sure they are tight.

The selenoid should be just an electric version of these latches.  Allowing me to add a release button.  I would LOVE to get this to work.  But it probably more then I want to choose now.

I'm trying to make it so that building a new control panel will be cheaper then the controls on it, and take less time then I would want to play the games that use it..      

[SirPoonga]

SirP... what are you using on the other connectors?  I see the front.  But I'm assuming you have something at the back.

I just have a db25 connector to the ipac.  The spinner and tball are usb, hence the hub next to the coindoor.

Also my since latch and two guides don't move at all.  The latch is on tight.  I have the metal plate from a door latch that that latch grips onto.

[Lilwolf]

By connectors I wasn't talking about to the ipac.

I was wondering on the guides you are talking about.

I didn't see it in the image.

[eightbit]

If you use standard arcade latches (bob roberts sells for a reasonable price) you only need extra of the part on the cp. You could easily bend those out of flat matetal bar stock that you could get at home depot. Stick it in a vice and tap it with a hammer and woilla! YOu have the brackets you need.

The part you need lots of is in the pink box.

[RacerX]

I used the top of some of those big old horizontal blinds from the late 60s that my dad had in his workshop.  It was already the right basic shape.  I just had to cut a couple of 2 1/2 inch or so lengths off and then bend it a little to make my own "C" that fit the clamps that were mounted in my cab perfectly.  It ended up looking like it was made to hold down a CP.  

This piece was metal.  These days it would be plastic, but if you have some of these metal ones lying around, you could make a lot of "C's"

Below is a picture of what I'm talking about.  I cut along the red dotted lines first (all the way through, of course).  Then I cut along the blue dotted line and bent that side to a 45 degree angle.

[SirPoonga]

By connectors I wasn't talking about to the ipac.

I was wondering on the guides you are talking about.

I didn't see it in the image.

The red boxes, that's all that is holding my CP.
They were extra angle brackets I had around.
The latch is not latched at the moment.

[Zakk]

I did an easy fix on a couple of cabs.  Piano hinge on front, slide bolt on the back side.  Like this one:
http://www.moweryantiques.com/images/slide%20bolts/misc153.jpg

Anyway, the ones I got were like $.50 and I just attached a block of wood to the underside of the panel, drilled a hole in it for the bolt, and then attached the slide to the cab.  You could put more on if you didn't want to use the hinge.  Pretty cheap alternative.

[slicer_d]

If you wanted to do the angle bracket thing you could use those extenders that let you fit your hard drive into your cdrom slots they are in a c shape and should be string enough.

[ErikRuud]

Blocks of wood are cheap!



So far this has worked very well for me.

On the other cab I built for my wife's cousin I used these latches from Ace Hardware.  I don't remeber the exact price, but it was way less than $8.00

[Zakk]

Found a good alternative product today at Home Depot.  They're called Female Taper brackets.  They are about 3" long, have countersunk screw holes, are very solid, have the correct angled lip, and are only $.55 CAN.  

They were in the bulk barrels with the little fasteners and screws and whatnot, the number I got when I picked them out was 184592, although part numbers evidently don't translate across the border too well sometimes  
Hope this helps, as I too have a pile of the clamps, but none of the "hooks" (comes from getting the clamps from cabs with metal controls panels)

[Radical]

i was thinking of using the fasteners that keep the door closed in my kitchen.the ones that have two rollers on one side and a peice of metal that is bent so it stays on the rollers when closed.
they look like this:

 
   (    )  (oo)
    oo  

i plan on using one at each corner. they should hold the cp down fine and also let you pull it off . if anyone has tried this before let me know how it worked out.

I'm using almost exactly that setup.   I originally thought I would need one at each corner but it turns out that I only needed one on each side.

This is the bottom of my control panels.  Notice the clip at the far left.


Here is the roller side (inside the cabinet):


In my case it works perfectly.   Easy to pop in and out, holds very good, and I don't have to do anything behind or under the cab.   And those clips are relatively cheap at Lowes.

There is another type of cabinet latch that I tried first.   It has rollers that spread apart and a single "pin" that pushes in between.  Those did not work well because they allow too much vertical movement because the rollers are on springs.

[dirt]

radical, those are exactly what i was thinking of using. i am glad to hear that they work. now i just have to finish the non-mame games i have so i can start on mamecab #5




dirt

[SirPoonga]

Make sure you get strong ones.  Those were my original idea but the only ones I found were weak.