Newbie Here, need advice

[blunderbuss]

This is all new to me so I have a couple of questions.

1. What's the thickest a panel board can be for joysticks and buttons?  I have this crazy idea of modifying a cable reel (spool) into a pedestal control panel / finished looking piece of furniture, sort of like a bar top.   The cable reel flanges (top of the control panel) is about 2 inches thick so I'd obviously have to do some routing, just not sure how much to make it work.

I'm going for something sort of like this (finished look) but I'd cut one side tangent against the center cylinder so that I can push it against the wall.  That would also allow the center to be used to store the PC.



2. Who makes the best controls? I'm honestly not familiar with the brands other than Happ.

3. 4 way vs 8 way joysticks... is there a quality joystick that can do both?  Do you HAVE to have a 4 way to play games like Pac Man, Galaga, etc?

I appreciate any help you guys could give a new guy.  I plan on doing a coupleo

[thomas_surles]

Any thing thicker than 3 quarter inch, you will need to route out on the bottom side of the wood for the buttons.

[Scassidy24]

That thing is cool. Inspiring me to make a cocktail cab. That would be awesome as a cocktail style cabinet  with a monitor sunk flush into the top

Groovygamegear.com. Is a great place to get your controls. They sell Happ, its a solid brand. 

I have only built one cabinet and went with 8 way sticks because we like to play street fighter and killer instinct and NBA / NHL games a lot.  The 8 way sticks Are more than adequate for pac man and other 4 way games.  If your not trying to break world records and just playing for fun you don't really need the 4 way sticks. I don't ever find myself getting frustrated by them . Others on this forum may disagree and that is fair. but you need to look at what you plan to play on this machine. I didn't want to install a 3rd stick, and I was more into the 2 player games.   I have no regrets and we do play 4 way games it doesn't seem like a compromise to me but we're not super serious about our arcade gaming it's just family fun.

You'll want to route down to 3/4" thickness to install your controls.  All of them it

Also if your going to have guests over and you want them to be able to play the thing without your constant attention. Less is more. Simple standard control layout... not overpopulating your control panel with extra  joystick and extra buttons that don't do anything for 90% of the games your gonna have on your machine

And yes you can get 8- way sticks with 4-way restrictor plates for that serious PAC man high score attempt.

Good luck I hope you'll post your progress on the build

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[blunderbuss]

Thanks for the replies.  A cocktail cabinet would be rad too, especially 4 player for Gauntlet.  The cable reel I looked at yesterday was 52" diameter.  They come in 48" too but free is free plus I'm going to make some cuts to the top anyway.  If it's 3/4" thickness I need then I can just remove part of one layer of the flanges (2 ply of 1" or 2" x 6"s perpendicular to each other make the flanges). Then it would leave me ~.5" to 1" to route down after that.  Biggest issue that I can think of is that this thing would have to open from the bottom since the top is made of many separate boards.  You can't make a "lid" easily from that.  Plus it will be heavy.

Anyway... this thing will be a long term project.  I'm going to practice on a single fighter style controller first.

[pbj]

This is actually.... not a terrible idea. 

[PL1]

I'm going to practice on a single fighter style controller first.

Wise choice.   

Gives you a chance to try different buttons, joysticks, mounting methods, hardware, software configurations, etc. before you commit to your big build.


Scott

[pbj]

Nah, cause if he builds that he'll never make a full sized cabinet.

Go big or go home, newb.

[CheffoJeffo]

I have only built one cabinet and went with 8 way sticks because we like to play street fighter and killer instinct and NBA / NHL games a lot.  The 8 way sticks Are more than adequate for pac man and other 4 way games.  If your not trying to break world records and just playing for fun you don't really need the 4 way sticks. I don't ever find myself getting frustrated by them . Others on this forum may disagree and that is fair. but you need to look at what you plan to play on this machine. I didn't want to install a 3rd stick, and I was more into the 2 player games.   I have no regrets and we do play 4 way games it doesn't seem like a compromise to me but we're not super serious about our arcade gaming it's just family fun.

Whilst I would choose differently for myself, this is a reasonable statement, except that there will some games that I find unplayable (i.e. no fun at all) with an 8-way. Donkey Kong comes to mind.

[RobodocX]

This is an interesting idea. Those cable spools are visually interesting but the top is clearly too thick. 3/4" seems to be the upper limit for most commercially available controls. Can the top be removed and then reattached without too much difficulty? If so, you could rout out the back of the area where the controls will be mounted to give a 3/4" final thickness as someone else suggested. If you have to do that with the tops still mounted to the column it is going to potentially be difficult.

There are multiple commercial arcade joysticks out there that allow switching between 4 and 8 way modes. The Ultimarc Magstick Plus comes to mind as an example.

Rick

[Titchgamer]

I rather like the idea TBH.
Being a sparky ime probably biased though HAHA!

You will defo need to reduce the thickness of the top though be it with a router or some clever use of hole saws!

As for the stick thing trying to play Pac Man with a 8 way really frustrates me so I would go 4/8 way switchable.
I use mag sticks but theres a few on the market and automatic ones like the servo stick.