Anyone with modular control panels on their cabinet - which method works for you

[uptown47]

Hi all,

I'm just starting my second cabinet build.

I've "outgrown" my first one as there are games I want to play that I can't with my current set-up (I don't have a trackball or a spinner or a 4-way joystick etc).

I've decided to go down the route of a modular control panel, which I'm hoping will stop me outgrowing this new cabinet (as I can just add new controls as I go).

I've been doing a LOT of reading on the subject as I need to finalise how I'm going to do it before I can start cutting out my cabinet.

I've read some people who use dowels on a top bar and slot the modular control panel pieces on to that. Other people who use a couple of screws into wood. Others who use a couple of screws in captive nuts on unistrut. Other people who use bar magnets etc.

I want my system to be able to be changed without any tools (i.e. would rather not go down the screw-down route). I was leaning towards a wooden lip at the bottom of the control panel and then dowels with added cupboard magnets at the top - however I was worried the magnets might interfere with the signals going down the Cat6 cable (which is the way I was going to connect the modules to the bulkhead).

I was hoping there was someone on here who had perfected a way of doing a modular control panel that they were completely happy with and - if someone was to ask what they would do different in the future - they would say "nothing".

Thanks for any help you can give me on this. :-)

[Titchgamer]

Forget the Cats for connections use JST connectors.

I am in the process of doing swapable panels on my dino kings.

I am using 21 way JST’s, My panels are screwed down but I have used magnets to good effect in the past.



You can see the white connector just bellow the monitor.

[uptown47]

Thanks Titchgamer!

I've not heard of JST connectors before but, after Googling, I do recognise them (just didn't know what they were called!).

What's the advantage of these over Cat6 cable?

My plan was to mount an ethernet breakout board at the end of each control panel that will have an ethernet socket on it and 8 termninals. This will allow me to convert the cat 6 to a bigger gauge wire to hold the crimps that will go on the buttons/joysticks etc.

Also, it means that the short ethernet cables between the control panel and the bulkhead will just be standard cables - maybe 500mm in length.

Do you see problems with this approach?

A big thanks for your words of wisdom - your cab looks like it's coming together brilliantly :-)

[Howard_Casto]

Mine is psuedo modular with a removeable center portion.  I just cut a hole in the control panel and put a lip under it to friction hold the removeable portion in place.  Nothing is really needed to hold them in place but that's because the only thing I use it for is swapping out a trackball for a spinner.  Joysticks obviously would introduce enough twisting to warrant a better method to secure things.  Honestly the whole idea has gotten old..... I rarely use the trackball and the spinner is basically only used for arkanoid…..  I think it's time to ditch them both and just make a dedicated machine for a spinner or something. 

[uptown47]

Mine is psuedo modular with a removeable center portion.  I just cut a hole in the control panel and put a lip under it to friction hold the removeable portion in place.  Nothing is really needed to hold them in place but that's because the only thing I use it for is swapping out a trackball for a spinner.  Joysticks obviously would introduce enough twisting to warrant a better method to secure things.  Honestly the whole idea has gotten old..... I rarely use the trackball and the spinner is basically only used for arkanoid…..  I think it's time to ditch them both and just make a dedicated machine for a spinner or something.

Really? So you would go back to just a dedicated control panel?

My inspiration for 'modular' was a desire to have 4/8 way - trackball - spinner and steering wheel.

I've since found the Servostik (which can automagically change from 4 to 8 way depending on the game). I've also seen fixed control panels that have both a trackball and spinner and still seem quite well layed out and easy to play on. So.. really I suppose the steering wheel is the bit that's leading me down the modular route. I would love to have a wheel and two-position gearstick for Chase HQ.

Thanks for your insight :-)

[Titchgamer]

The main benefit of JST’s is they are idiot proof.

You just match the plug to the socket they will only go in one way.

Also you can get different sizes for different applications.

For instance I am using a 21 way for 2 player 4 button plus a additional 4 way incase you need 6 buttons as a sort of kick harness.

[KenToad]

For my old modular panel bartop, I used T-nuts to secure the panels and parralel ports to connect the controls. The system worked well, but I got tired of switching and storing extra panels, so I tore them up and recycled the extra controls into my current pedestal.

[Howard_Casto]

For my old modular panel bartop, I used T-nuts to secure the panels and parralel ports to connect the controls. The system worked well, but I got tired of switching and storing extra panels, so I tore them up and recycled the extra controls into my current pedestal.

^This^  a thousand times this.  To get things sturdy requires a lot of engineering and even as simple as mine was it was just a pain in the butt to swap things out. 

Also get that idea about a steering wheel out of your head....  If you do that then you've basically put a giant lever sticking out of the end of your control panel which would require your connection method to be built like a Sherman Tank.  Also who has ever had fun at a stand-up racing game?  The answer of course is no one.  Cockpits are a million times better and even though I don't really have the room I built one and I'm about to build a second because you just can't play racing games any other way. 

[Titchgamer]

Also who has ever had fun at a stand-up racing game?  The answer of course is no one.  Cockpits are a million times better and even though I don't really have the room I built one and I'm about to build a second because you just can't play racing games any other way. 

Outrun....

Thats all I got :p

[Mike A]

It is human nature to defeat the usefulness of modular panels. Changing them out will become a chore immediately. You will play less often.
That is why guitar teachers will tell you to put your guitar on a stand plugged into your amp at home. Even the thought of taking it out of its case and plugging it in can deter people from practicing.

[uptown47]

There are some great points there. Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my original post.

Unfortunately I don't have the room for a "sit down" machine and I am wanting two player capability - as well as the extra 1 player controls - without building a frankenpanel so I'm forced to go down the modular route.

I don't think I'll be changing controls that often for it to become a chore. It will normally be 1 player joystick + buttons / trackball and spinner.

When one of my mates is over then it will be 2 player joysticks + buttons in the main.

I do understand that a steering wheel is a big heavy beast and it may cause some issues though so that might not be do-able (I've heard of people using spinners as surrogate steering wheels instead!).

If anyone has any other tips on the best way to achieve modularity? (is that a word??) then I would be very interested to hear them.

Thanks again to everyone who's answered so far. :-)

[Mike A]

My first MAME machine, a million years ago, was sort of modular. The whole CP top came off. I had 2 different tops with different controls. I used window clasps to hold the top on from the inside. I looked and I don't have any pictures of what that looked like. I used cat5 cables for the controls. It was really easy and I still ended up almost never using the second panel.

[uptown47]

Yep, I hear ya! And I might end up being the same. But my thought process is that, if I end up not using the modular functionality, it wouldn't be a major issue to make one big control panel and just permanently fix it in place.... however, if I go for a fixed panel and then want to retrofit modular functionality - it would be a nightmare...

Thanks for the advice though Mike. I really do appreciate you taking the time and trouble to respond to this. Cheers :-)

[Mr. Peabody]

It is human nature to defeat the usefulness of modular panels. Changing them out will become a chore immediately. You will play less often.
That is why guitar teachers will tell you to put your guitar on a stand plugged into your amp at home. Even the thought of taking it out of its case and plugging it in can deter people from practicing.

Separates the men from the boys.

[Nephasth]

Leaving a cord plugged into your guitar will drain the 9V battery.

[Mike A]

Only if it has active pickups. My Strat does not.

[Nephasth]

Lowly Ibanez SoundGear here...

[Mike A]

Mexican Strat not American.

[Jimbo]

I had the grand idea of modular/swappable panels for my first cab.  I used wingnuts and a parallel printer cable.

It was too much hassle to swap panels so I never did it.  In fact I realised soon after building the cab that it was pointless so never even built the additional panels!

I think if you are going to make modular or swappable panels, it has to be stupidly easy and quick to swap them, and you need somewhere to store the extra panels.

Markc's Blip does it as good as I've seen.

[uptown47]

Mexican Strat not American.

Same here. In sunburst red. It's a thing of beauty. :-)

I had the grand idea of modular/swappable panels for my first cab.  I used wingnuts and a parallel printer cable.

It was too much hassle to swap panels so I never did it.  In fact I realised soon after building the cab that it was pointless so never even built the additional panels!

I think if you are going to make modular or swappable panels, it has to be stupidly easy and quick to swap them, and you need somewhere to store the extra panels.

Markc's Blip does it as good as I've seen.

I've just searched for the Blip and read the project development thread. You're right, it's a beauty!

Unfortunately, I'm a complete novice with woodworking (and a lot of other things to do with arcade building too!) so I'm sure anything I make will look like something found on a landfill site...

Thanks for the info though. It's been really interesting reading through a few of these project builds and seeing how the good guys do it. I've got a lot of ideas from them.

Cheers :-)

[Gatt]

I've used Velcro on a couple of iterations in the past to great success.

Dowel rods - Seem fine at first, but become problematic when you start measuring things out.  You have to do all the controls in the same increments, either even or odd, which means you get panels with wasted space just to line up with the dowels.

Magnets - Seem fine at first, but become a maintenance hassal.  They have a tendency to pull off with the panel over time.  Or fall out of the panel.  It'll work, I just don't like them.

Screw downs - The extra effort to unscrew/screw a panel causes people to just not want to switch panels.

Velcro - Tack it onto both the lip and the panel, provides enough resistance to keep a panel anchored if it was well measured, easy and low maintainance

Lip method - Works, but takes a fair bit of extra work.

All of these methods work, I just find Velcro to be the easiest.  Though to be honest, I've also found that if you've measured everything right, the anchor really isn't necessary, if everything's fitting snug then the action of pulling down or pushing up causes the panel to direct the force against the edge of the panel and the box keeping it in place.  But then you have to put in notches in the edges so you can lift straight up.

[uptown47]

Thanks for the post Gatt. I'd not even considered velcro but it sounds like a good idea - cheap and effective (and I've got some in the shed!!).

I would probably put a hinged 'door' at the front of the control panel that drops down and allows you to reach in to push the control panel up and out from underneath.

Thanks again for the idea. Much appreciated. :-)

[Titchgamer]

I temp wired up my one panel the other day.still waiting on artwork.

They are screw down but takes me less than a minute to swap.

[uptown47]

Nice work! What is it mounted on? Is that steel?

I'm going to be using wood. I like the profile on your panels. Would be interested on how they fit together? Or is it just one panel at a time?

Thanks for the pic :-)

[Titchgamer]

Nice work! What is it mounted on? Is that steel?

I'm going to be using wood. I like the profile on your panels. Would be interested on how they fit together? Or is it just one panel at a time?

Thanks for the pic :-)

Its made from the same material as road signs, Its a sort of perspex sandwiched between aluminium.
I do have a steel one to thats a 6 button layout.

They dont fit together though just 1 at a time.

So its either 1 or 2 player 4 button layouts or 1 player 6 button layout.
As you can tell they are small panels which is why I wanted to be able to swap them.

Once finished they will spen most of the time configured for 1 player (just for me ha) but will be swapped out for 2 when I have guests.

[uptown47]

Thanks for the info. Looks great :-)

[javeryh]

I temp wired up my one panel the other day.still waiting on artwork.

They are screw down but takes me less than a minute to swap.

What's that black telephone cord looking thing around the wires called?  I think I need one of those to organize some wires that are out of control.

[Mike A]

spiral wrap

[Titchgamer]

I temp wired up my one panel the other day.still waiting on artwork.

They are screw down but takes me less than a minute to swap.

What's that black telephone cord looking thing around the wires called?  I think I need one of those to organize some wires that are out of control.

As Mike said its spira wrap.
Good stuff and available in multiple sizes.

Word of wisdom always check ya bundle size as its usually bigger than you think!!

[Mike A]

Word of wisdom always check ya bundle size as its usually bigger than you think!!

That's wishful thinking.

[Titchgamer]

Word of wisdom always check ya bundle size as its usually bigger than you think!!

That's wishful thinking.

[Mr. Peabody]

Velcro is a winner - though magnets should stay put if you carefully drill a hole and screw them in.



Apparently one can enlarge their penis through jelqing.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_enlargement

[uptown47]

Velcro is a winner - though magnets should stay put if you carefully drill a hole and screw them in.



Apparently one can enlarge their penis through jelqing.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_enlargement

And, Carvin HH2, Lace Alumitone Deathbucker and HH2 stock neck pickup.

That was like answering three completely unrelated threads in one-go. Nice one! :-)

What are those connectors called on that modular panel titchgamer?

[Titchgamer]

Velcro is a winner - though magnets should stay put if you carefully drill a hole and screw them in.



Apparently one can enlarge their penis through jelqing.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_enlargement

And, Carvin HH2, Lace Alumitone Deathbucker and HH2 stock neck pickup.

That was like answering three completely unrelated threads in one-go. Nice one! :-)

What are those connectors called on that modular panel titchgamer?

They are JST YL series connectors, Available from RS etc.
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pcb-pin-socket-strips/3922789/?sra=pmpn

You obv need the male and female side plus the pins and a crimping tool if you dont already have one.
I recommend the Engineer PA-09 as it crimps the vast majority of flag type crimps effortlessly including the JST ones.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/micro-connector-CRIMPING-TOOL-Pliers-Molex-JST-AMP-mini-Crimpers-Engineer-PA-09/251268499824?hash=item3a80c50970:g:xO8AAOSw-HxdGk7I

They aint the cheapest crimpers out there but they are very versatile and I have used them for allsorts of crimps since I brought them a few years back including using them for QD's for the CP wiring.

A real must have in this hobby imo!

[uptown47]

Great that. Thanks. I've got a couple of sets of crimps. I'm not sure if they do the JST connectors but I'll take a look when I get home from work.

I like that method of connecting the panels as they seem quite robust and you're not tied to just the 8 wires (as you are with ethernet connectors) so will probably go down this route.

Thanks :-)

[Titchgamer]

Great that. Thanks. I've got a couple of sets of crimps. I'm not sure if they do the JST connectors but I'll take a look when I get home from work.

I like that method of connecting the panels as they seem quite robust and you're not tied to just the 8 wires (as you are with ethernet connectors) so will probably go down this route.

Thanks :-)

Yeah they are very robust and easy to connect/disconnect.

Not to mention versatile.

[telengard]

Another modular panel owner chiming in.  Be careful with those crimp style connectors.  I used to use those.  To change a module you pretty much need 3 hands.  One to hold the module, and two more to hold each end of the connection.  I switched to ethernet jacks/cables and it was well worth it.  I have a patch panel embedded under my control panel so there is no limit to the wires, etc.

I agree with those who said it's a bit more work to swap, it is.  I limit this by using a powered screwdriver.  Takes maybe 3 minutes to swap stuff out.  Most of the time my cabinet is setup in a pretty universal setup (8 way with buttons), so the only time I need to swap out is for a game that needs a funky control, or 4 way, etc.  I personally would never go back to non-modular.  Being able to have the exact controls and layout is very important to me.

Here's my modular panels
https://bsturk.github.io/mame/controls.html

[uptown47]

Another modular panel owner chiming in.  Be careful with those crimp style connectors.  I used to use those.  To change a module you pretty much need 3 hands.  One to hold the module, and two more to hold each end of the connection.  I switched to ethernet jacks/cables and it was well worth it.  I have a patch panel embedded under my control panel so there is no limit to the wires, etc.

I agree with those who said it's a bit more work to swap, it is.  I limit this by using a powered screwdriver.  Takes maybe 3 minutes to swap stuff out.  Most of the time my cabinet is setup in a pretty universal setup (8 way with buttons), so the only time I need to swap out is for a game that needs a funky control, or 4 way, etc.  I personally would never go back to non-modular.  Being able to have the exact controls and layout is very important to me.

Here's my modular panels
https://bsturk.github.io/mame/controls.html

That's brilliant, thanks! Your control panels look superb :-)

[yotsuya]

My first MAME cab was modular. Well, sort of. I built like 3-4 panels but only ever used the main one (2 8-ways, 6 buttons each). Also stripped all the consoles games off. Once sensibility kicks in, it all makes sense.