First build, cabinet base stability.

[Lerele]

Hi !

I'm building my first arcade, at the moment i'm (trying) making the cabinet plans. The computer end is more or less sorted, mame and emulators working with maximus arcade as a front end.

I bought proyect arcade 2nd edition, but I dont want a control panel that is wider than the actual cabinet, so i'm basing my plans (at the moment, lets see what happens next week ) in the apex cabinet. I have an 23" led tv and I want to design something more or less slim and with a keyboard drawer. The tv is 57.5 cm wide (including the frame) and i'm thinking about making the inside of the cabinet 60cm wide. I'm ok with computers, but i'm terrible at designing or drawing anything, so we'll see what will come out of all this...

My question: whats your experience about installing castors at the base? Do the cabinet move much while playing? I was thinking to put the ones with breaks on them, but I would like for the castors not to be seen, so i was going to cover them with the side/front panels.
I saw a couple of other designs, where the cabinet only has 2 wheels at the back, in an angle, sort of like a fridge, so you have to tilt it before moving it, but i dont fancy the idea of tilting it every time my wife asks me to move the cabinet. I am going to put the cabinet in our extended kitchen/dining room/family room, so i might have to move it around when we'll have guests.

So, if the cabinet moves a bit when playing I will bite the bullet and install castors with breaks and leave them visible for access. If, in your experience, the weight of the cabinet holds it in place, I will hide the wheels. By the way, I have tiles on the floor.

Another thing, control panel 60 cm wide. 30 cm for each player. 1 joystick and 6 buttons, plus the usual 1up, credit and so on... Do you reckon that will be long enough?

And finally, (I promise), any thoughts on the ultimarc mag-stick plus? I will be playing some old classics and some newer console games. I know that it changes from 4 to 8 from the top of the panel, but, does it really work?

Thanks a lot, and i'll be documenting the cabinet once that i'll start building it. I'm sure that it wont be as cool as some of the really nice ones that i've seen on this page, but i'll give it a go, even if i'm not the best builder.

Thanks again for all your input.

[yotsuya]

I put wheels on all my cabs and have no issues with games moving around.

[Generic Eric]

I have a cab that has 2 wheels on the back. It stands on carpet.  It doesn't move.