Main Restorations Software Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Everything Else Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements Monitor/Video GroovyMAME Merit/JVL Touchscreen Meet Up Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing Woodworking Software Support Forums Consoles Project Arcade Reviews
Automated Projects Artwork Frontend Support Forums Pinball Forum Discussion Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board controls.dat Linux Miscellaneous Arcade Wiki Discussion Old Archives
Lightguns Arcade1Up Try the site in https mode Site News

Unread posts | New Replies | Recent posts | Rules | Chatroom | Wiki | File Repository | RSS | Submit news

  

Author Topic: How do you ventilate your cabinet?  (Read 5783 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

obizues

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 384
  • Last login:June 11, 2023, 06:17:35 pm
  • Before you start your next project, don’t.
How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« on: May 17, 2018, 03:18:29 pm »
With a marquee, power supply, lcd, and computer... how do people ventilate out the inside of their cabinet most effectively?

Is LED even hot enough to warrant creating ventilation?

How about everything else?

Thenasty

  • Trade Count: (+17)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4412
  • Last login:Today at 02:21:30 pm
    • Thenasty's Arcademania Horizontal/Vertical monitor setup.
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2018, 03:25:26 pm »
If I closeup my cabinet (usually is always open, after all it's only in the house)m I have a FAN to let the heat out of the cab like this one

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,140575.msg1455452.html#msg1455452


cut a hole and install a fan.
Thenasty's Arcademania Horizontal/Vertical setup.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=26696.0

Free VGA Breakout Cable
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38228.0

Ultimate All in One Coin Mech write up (Make your own)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=19200.0

barrymossel

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 498
  • Last login:October 29, 2021, 11:25:52 am
  • Spectrum
    • forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,157647.0.html
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2018, 03:49:36 pm »
With a marquee, power supply, lcd, and computer... how do people ventilate out the inside of their cabinet most effectively?

Is LED even hot enough to warrant creating ventilation?

How about everything else?
You are opening a thread for every question, but: Try this sometime...


BadMouth

  • Trade Count: (+6)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9226
  • Last login:March 25, 2024, 08:10:48 pm
  • ...
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2018, 03:54:41 pm »
Normally: vent on the bottom edge of the back panel and a fan or two pulling air out of the top.  (fans on top part of pack panel or slanted panel above the pack panel, but not horizontal on the very top)
In old cabs, convection did a good enough job that fans weren't used.  Fans are cheap insurance though.

I have fans in the bottom of my cab pointing at the floor and pulling air in.  I'd consider that bad practice because it sucks up dust from the floor, but it's what worked with the way my cab is set up inside.

obizues

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 384
  • Last login:June 11, 2023, 06:17:35 pm
  • Before you start your next project, don’t.
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2018, 03:57:52 pm »
With a marquee, power supply, lcd, and computer... how do people ventilate out the inside of their cabinet most effectively?

Is LED even hot enough to warrant creating ventilation?

How about everything else?
You are opening a thread for every question, but: Try this sometime...
Every time I search something very basic I get a ton of results and no discussion about pros and cons- which is what I’m looking for. I apologize if you feel I’m spamming the boards.

obizues

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 384
  • Last login:June 11, 2023, 06:17:35 pm
  • Before you start your next project, don’t.
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2018, 03:59:59 pm »
Normally: vent on the bottom edge of the back panel and a fan or two pulling air out of the top.  (fans on top part of pack panel or slanted panel above the pack panel, but not horizontal on the very top)
In old cabs, convection did a good enough job that fans weren't used.  Fans are cheap insurance though.

I have fans in the bottom of my cab pointing at the floor and pulling air in.  I'd consider that bad practice because it sucks up dust from the floor, but it's what worked with the way my cab is set up inside.
I’ve found some on amazon, and even a few powers by USB, but they only give the measurements of the whole housing unit. I can’t tell how big of a radius/diameter to cut.

Any advice?

I would normally cut after I get them, but I’m taking all my wood to a CNC.

BadMouth

  • Trade Count: (+6)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9226
  • Last login:March 25, 2024, 08:10:48 pm
  • ...
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2018, 04:42:31 pm »
I'd use two 120mm computer fans running off the PC power supply.
The fans go nearly to the edge.  Eyeballing it, a 116mm hole would probably be safe.  That would leave about 2mm overlap to cover the thickness of the sides and avoid having a gap.
I'd buy the fans first and measure though.  If the hole is too small, the fans won't function optimally.



If mounting vertically, sleeve bearing is ok.  If mounting horizontally or at an angle, get ones with ball bearings.  (sleeve bearings wear out prematurely when mounted horizontally)
Ones with built in speed controllers would allow you to make them run slower if they are too loud, but I'd just hack the connector to use the 5v pin instead of the 12v pin on the molex connector.

acvieluf

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 956
  • Last login:March 13, 2024, 03:07:12 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
    • forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,147793.0.html
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2018, 04:56:47 pm »
With a marquee, power supply, lcd, and computer... how do people ventilate out the inside of their cabinet most effectively?

Is LED even hot enough to warrant creating ventilation?

How about everything else?
You are opening a thread for every question, but: Try this sometime...
Every time I search something very basic I get a ton of results and no discussion about pros and cons- which is what I’m looking for. I apologize if you feel I’m spamming the boards.

I actually agree. I've never been able to use the site's search function effectively. That's not a knock on anyone who is/has run the site, just my experience.

My two solutions are as follows:
1) CHECK THE STICKIES! There's usually all of the "starter info" there.
2) a general Google search usually directs me to a good post on this site anyways.

obizues

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 384
  • Last login:June 11, 2023, 06:17:35 pm
  • Before you start your next project, don’t.
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2018, 05:03:43 pm »
I'd use two 120mm computer fans running off the PC power supply.
The fans go nearly to the edge.  Eyeballing it, a 116mm hole would probably be safe.  That would leave about 2mm overlap to cover the thickness of the sides and avoid having a gap.
I'd buy the fans first and measure though.  If the hole is too small, the fans won't function optimally.



If mounting vertically, sleeve bearing is ok.  If mounting horizontally or at an angle, get ones with ball bearings.  (sleeve bearings wear out prematurely when mounted horizontally)
Ones with built in speed controllers would allow you to make them run slower if they are too loud, but I'd just hack the connector to use the 5v pin instead of the 12v pin on the molex connector.

Where do you think I should put the fans?  One on top back and one on bottom right by CPU?

big10p

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 698
  • Last login:May 01, 2023, 01:46:23 pm
  • Mmmm, arcade classics!
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2018, 05:13:27 pm »
Well, the PCs in my MAME cabs are completely de-cased, and mounted on a board, making them easy to remove when needed. This, and the fact an arcade cab is much roomier than a PC case, means I don't see the need for any fans. There's just the original vents, in the back. Never had a problem with overheating. Cabs have CRTs, too, which obviously generate more heat than LCD displays. Fans? Nah! I really couldn't be doing with an annoying fan whir constantly, either.

Moneyhead

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 43
  • Last login:January 15, 2024, 03:36:32 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2018, 06:19:24 am »
The back of my cab is completly open.
It is too much of a hassle to install and remove the back everytime I want to change or switch something anyway.

My cab has 2 PCs and 1 Naomi inside. Switches for Audio/Video and joysticks.

BadMouth

  • Trade Count: (+6)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9226
  • Last login:March 25, 2024, 08:10:48 pm
  • ...
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2018, 09:09:39 am »
Where do you think I should put the fans?  One on top back and one on bottom right by CPU?

This was answered in my first reply.


barrymossel

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 498
  • Last login:October 29, 2021, 11:25:52 am
  • Spectrum
    • forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,157647.0.html
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2018, 09:40:36 am »
With a marquee, power supply, lcd, and computer... how do people ventilate out the inside of their cabinet most effectively?

Is LED even hot enough to warrant creating ventilation?

How about everything else?
You are opening a thread for every question, but: Try this sometime...
Every time I search something very basic I get a ton of results and no discussion about pros and cons- which is what I’m looking for. I apologize if you feel I’m spamming the boards.

I actually agree. I've never been able to use the site's search function effectively. That's not a knock on anyone who is/has run the site, just my experience.

My two solutions are as follows:
1) CHECK THE STICKIES! There's usually all of the "starter info" there.
2) a general Google search usually directs me to a good post on this site anyways.
Try searching with "Search in topic subjects only" or "Show results as messages" on.  Makes a ton of a difference. And take your time to go through a lot of posts....

Or try searching in Google with "site:forum.arcadecontrols.com" in your search query. You will be searching this forum with a better search algorithm.

Osirus23

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 849
  • Last login:August 23, 2021, 01:33:52 pm
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2018, 10:48:56 am »
I don't have a back panel on mine.

Ian

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1060
  • Last login:September 26, 2021, 01:50:35 am
  • "A day without Laughter is a day wasted"
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #14 on: May 20, 2018, 04:29:55 pm »
There is no need for ventilation. In my opinion (unless you run your machine for 18 hours straight), it's the most over done part of a home build. I mean the cabinet itself is big enough to diffuse any heat coming from a computer with a case. Decase the computer and your problem is solved. LED's give basically no heat. Now if you are running a bartop then that is a different story. But a cab is huge. I would never worry about it. Plus using fans is a great way to get a ton of dust in your machine. My Outrun fans are so stupid and loud and bring every bit of dust inside my machine I had to cut the wires.

My Mame cab never once got hot, and that is in a smaller Konami cab. My Galaxian, punchout, time pilot, street fighter, and pinball machine have no fans going. 100% over rated. I have never once heard of a full sized cab over heating.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 04:31:46 pm by Ian »
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

big10p

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 698
  • Last login:May 01, 2023, 01:46:23 pm
  • Mmmm, arcade classics!
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #15 on: May 20, 2018, 04:34:12 pm »
There is no need for ventilation. In my opinion (unless you run your machine for 18 hours straight), it's the most over done part of a home build. I mean the cabinet itself is big enough to diffuse any heat coming from a computer with a case. Decase the computer and your problem is solved. LED's give basically no heat. Now if you are running a bartop then that is a different story. But a cab is huge. I would never worry about it. Plus using fans is a great way to get a ton of dust in your machine. My Outrun fans are so stupid and loud and bring every bit of dust inside my machine I had to cut the wires.

My Mame cab never once got hot, and that is in a smaller Konami cab. My Galaxian, punchout, time pilot, street fighter, and pinball machine has no fans going. 100% over rated. I have never once heard of a full sized cab over heating.
Pretty much what I said. Even the CPU fans on mine are only ever at a low spin speed (quiet!) - if the CPU was getting hot, they would spin up. They only spin up for a few seconds when I switch on the cabs. I assume this is just to blow off any dust that may have accumulated since they were last turned on.

obizues

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 384
  • Last login:June 11, 2023, 06:17:35 pm
  • Before you start your next project, don’t.
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #16 on: May 20, 2018, 04:36:07 pm »
Thanks for the advice guys.  :cheers:

gumby510

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 121
  • Last login:November 17, 2022, 09:19:44 pm
  • SR-20 NX 2000
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #17 on: May 22, 2018, 02:44:22 am »
Thanks for the advice guys.  :cheers:

I have my cab in a hot Vegas garage. I just used a corsair water cooling setup. No issues at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Malenko

  • KNEEL BEFORE ZODlenko!
  • Trade Count: (+58)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13999
  • Last login:March 26, 2024, 07:29:48 pm
  • Have you played with my GingerBalls?
    • forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,142404.msg1475162.html
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #18 on: May 22, 2018, 09:44:46 am »
If you're super worried about it, a fan to pull cold air in near the computer.  A hole at the top is all you need (with vent cover), but you can add a fan there too.  Make sure you mount the fans properly (you don't want it pushing the hot air down). Most people decase their computers, I think its better to leave it in the case. you can control airflow better inside a tiny box instead of a full sized cab.
If you're replying to a troll you are part of the problem.
I also need to follow this advice. Ignore or report, don't reply.

obizues

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 384
  • Last login:June 11, 2023, 06:17:35 pm
  • Before you start your next project, don’t.
Re: How do you ventilate your cabinet?
« Reply #19 on: May 22, 2018, 10:25:35 am »
If you're super worried about it, a fan to pull cold air in near the computer.  A hole at the top is all you need (with vent cover), but you can add a fan there too.  Make sure you mount the fans properly (you don't want it pushing the hot air down). Most people decase their computers, I think its better to leave it in the case. you can control airflow better inside a tiny box instead of a full sized cab.
Thanks!  :cheers: