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Anyone paid for cab plans, worth it?
anthonylitz:
My dad and were thinking of buying plans herehttp://www.cybertechdesign.net/mameroom/order_uaII.asp
Anyone have experience with these? I have researched enough to understand most of the process but niether my dad or me are expert carpenters, so that is why we were looking at these. Hook me up with some feedback please.
Anthony
Lilwolf:
spending money on plans will be the smallest amount you spend on the cab. If you like the plans it is well worth it. You will save money the first peice of scrap or redoing an area. And the chance of having a lopsided cab goes down.
There are TONS of free plans... The ones for money are usually a lot more detailed with good step-steps.
Anyway... Most people here don't pay for plans. Many give their plans away. Most here would say its not needed...
But in the end... They are about 1/20 the price you usually pay for your entire cab... Well worth it for some.
paigeoliver:
There are some free plans floating around too (search this forum). But if you are not an expert carpenter, than you might just want to consider refitting an existing cabinet.
But if you ARE building from scratch, you don't really need plans to do so. The only really important things are that the control panel, and marquee are at appropriate heights, and that the monitor is mounted at a height or angle that allows for easy viewing.
So, go out to a few local pizza places until you find a cabinet you like, then measure the heights of the control panel, where the monitor is, and the marquee, and then you should be fine.
There is really no magic formula to it. I own (and have owned) dozens of cabinets, and the designs are all over the place. Cabinet design is not rocket science.
Your design will be fine as long as the machine isn't too tall (most are 6' or slightly less), and the control panel is at a reasonalbe height, and you can see the monitor. Also, one BIG problem with most "pay" plans I have seen is that they produce cabinets that don't really look that authentic (2 piece cabinets are not authentic, sorry to all who built them, they just aren't).
If your budget is limited, then consider doing a refit, as it is much cheaper.
A few dimension suggestions if you do go it alone.
Most classic 1980s cabinets were right around 25" wide, very few varied from this by more than an inch. (making the front section 24" wide, and then using 3/4" sides is perfect, and seems to be what most game manufacturers did). Newer cabinets are not much wider, figure a max of 29" wide for the basic cabinet. You can always hang the panel off the edge a bit for extra control width.
If you go with a overhanging control panel, then no more than 3" overhang on each side, and you study the dedicated Gauntlet and TMNT cabinets to get the idea for what the general shape of a 4-player cabinet is. I have seen too many 4-player cabinets here that were setup in such a way that player 3 and 4 could't really see the screen.
nipsmg:
OK here's my take on the Plans:
I bought the UAII plans... and I'm glad I did.
Sure, I could have wasted a ton of money killing excess wood, experimenting with my own design, and making something that didn't work out nearly as well as I wanted, but I decided to spend the $ to get the design for a cabinet plan I KNOW works, with everything already measured out. All you need to do is cut, put it together, and its done.. (They even have full size cut-out templates, if you don't feel like measuring out the given dimensions yourself). The plans are easy to follow and are very well detailed.
As far as paigeoliver's comment about :
" Also, one BIG problem with most "pay" plans I have seen is that they produce cabinets that don't really look that authentic (2 piece cabinets are not authentic, sorry to all who built them, they just aren't)." .... I have to partially agree with him.. however, it all comes down to what YOU want. I see so many people on this board adjust their plans because other people don't like them (not that there's every anything wrong with constructive criticism, it can definitely help you iron out kinks in your design..) When it all comes down to is, it's YOUR cabinet.. and YOU have to live with it. so do whatever you want with it.....
Personally, I love the UAII.. I think it looks great, easily houses my 27" monitor, and once it's finished I'm going to get more play out of it than I know what to do with.
Sidenote: I say I "partially" agree with paigeoliver because as "classic" cabinets are definitely not two piece, my original design idea I was toying with was making a Golden Tee Fore replica cabinet, which IS "two piece".
Look:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3272116809&category=13716
--NipsMG
Oldskool:
--- Quote from: nipsmg on February 13, 2004, 08:20:47 am ---Personally, I love the UAII.. I think it looks great,
--- End quote ---
Hear, hear....
I also bought the UAII plans. In hindsight, I probably didn't have to as it would be fairly easy to create your own design based on the pics floating around on the web. Plans are handy, but it's not rocket science.
Personally I find the "authenticity" issue is a little irritating. If you like it, build it.
There's many things about building your own cabinet that aren't "authentic".