Nintendo cabinet - why is control panel support an odd shape?

[UnclearHermit]

Hoping someone can enlighten me.  I'm working on a Nintendo cabinet repro and trying to understand the details on how the various pieces around the control panel are attached.  Working from top to bottom there's the control panel itself, then the speaker panel, then a little horizontal piece of wood and then the front/coin door panel.   The control panel rests on the top of an odd-shaped piece of wood that's attached to the cabinet side panel.  The top and front of this piece of wood have obvious support purposes, although even then the speaker panel seems to be supported by a piece of blocking that's attached to this odd piece (and I assume screwed/nailed from behind). 

But it's the underside of this odd piece where things get really weird.  The horizontal piece of wood that sits behind the speaker panel and extends back to the front door panel sits underneath a recess in the odd piece, based upon the few photos I can find from original cabs.  There's then a piece of blocking placed in the recess which the horizontal wood attaches to.  But the dimensions make it looks as if this horizontal piece could easily have been raised up by 30mm and then supported directly by the odd piece above the recess (it already doesn't align with the bottom of the speaker panel).  Similarly the front door panel doesn't extend into this recess either, despite the fact that its top edge would have been neatly supported by it. 

I'm made more nervous about what's actually correct because I have dimensions of this front panel as 660X572 from the cut list at https://www.classicarcadecabinets.com/uploads/4/9/8/2/49822065/nintendo-classic-v4.dxf (making it tall enough to fit into the recess), but Gaetan's plans linked from the same site have it 30mm shorter at 630X570 and with it finishing level with the bottom of the recess.  I'm inclined to go with Gaetan's plans, but I'm hoping someone might have some insight on why the cabinet features this odd recess that doesn't appear to serve any actual purpose, and actually serves to make blocking inconstant in this area.

thanks

Mike

[javeryh]

I have an original Nintendo cabinet that I converted/restored to a DK.  It has been a while but I remember nothing lined up on the original cabinet from the CP down.  It all looked fine from the front but for example the speaker panel hung down just a little more than it needed to and the little lip that goes back about 2" was not flush.  I remember thinking that it was a little sloppy or maybe I'm just anal.  You can't tell from the outside at all so it doesn't matter.

There are lots of pics in my build thread in my signature (DK+).  Maybe one of them will help?   

[UnclearHermit]

Thanks.  Unfortunately I can't see any views of this particular area in your build thread.  You wouldn't believe how many threads (yours included) I've already gone through trying to get decent views of this   There are plenty of shots from the front and from above where the view is obstructed, but very few of that area from behind/inside.  I'm probably obsessing over this area too much, but it's an area that doesn't make a lot of sense and doesn't seem as well recorded.  The marquee area, which is another complicated area, has plenty of good threads covering how it's configured.

If anyone has any photos that show it from below/inside then it would be really useful, even if it ends up just demonstrating that there wasn't a consistent way the area was set up, or that the original intention of the cut has been lost in time.

[javeryh]

yeah - the angled monitor panel is in the way for almost any pic you take of the inside from the back.  What are you trying to figure out?  If you have all of the pieces cut it will be plenty stable with just wood glue and the support pieces.  The CP is sloped a bit which is what causes the two mounting blocks on the sides to look weird. 

[UnclearHermit]

I guess the main things I'm trying to confirm are whether the front/coin door panel only goes as far up as below the recess in the side block (and not actually sits inside the recess) and that the little horizontal piece is supported by a piece of blocking that's places inside that recess.  The image below from another thread would seem to confirm both of those things, but it would be good to know that this wasn't a one-off oddity/alteration.  All the picture does for me is seem to confirm that the recess was completely pointless, whereas you can see how it could have been used to support a slightly taller front panel and the small horizontal piece without the need for blocking (with the downside of nailing from the outside).

[jennifer]

 That is wall of read there friend...But if I follow, Wouldn't it have to be like that for the speaker to fit properly? Those cabs were pumped out at an almost unbelievable rate in a short time, could see a little "good enough" mentality going on when behind schedule....Jenn is curious however now, I will have to check that out.

[javeryh]

OK, I think I get it.  I can confirm that the side block has the cut out on the bottom where the wood batton is.  This is the inside of my cab and you can see it is the same as the pic OP posted.

[UnclearHermit]

Ahh, that's great, thanks.  Confirms that at least two cabinets were built that way, which is good enough for me I'm going to assume that Nintendo had original great plans for that CP mount underside and changed their mind, rather than that they just decided to make life hard and cut it an awkward shape for no reason.  Thanks again for the photo.

[leapinlew]

Ahh, that's great, thanks.  Confirms that at least two cabinets were built that way, which is good enough for me I'm going to assume that Nintendo had original great plans for that CP mount underside and changed their mind, rather than that they just decided to make life hard and cut it an awkward shape for no reason.  Thanks again for the photo.

Both my DK cabs looked like that, but I had a couple other cabinets where the CP area was a little different. I had a Popeye and a Top Gun (not sure if the Top Gun was an original cabinet or refurb). I can't remember what that CP block looked like, but I remember it being a little different.

I didn't think much of the differences. I'd like to think that arcade craftsmen were taking their time, but it's pretty clear that some manufacturers really were pumping out these cabinets and had a high acceptance for variances. Arcade operators will do some really weird stuff.

[UnclearHermit]

Thanks. Interesting to hear that there might be some variance.