cp construction question..

[hulkster]

okay, i have the top and bottom of my cp cut and drilled and all that.  im getting ready to measure and cut for the sides of my control panel.  what im wondering is, how deep do i need to make the box?  like, the biggest thing i have is a happs 3" trackball, but that will mount flush to the top of the cp, so that will take away some of the depth.  but right now im thinking 5" deep, but if i can make it smaller, i would like to.  so what do most people have as their depth?

oh and by the way, i will be putting a optipac and ipac in there as well.  

[NoOne=NBA=]

I would check out the installation diagrams on anything you are thinking of putting in there, and go a little deeper the highest measurement.

You don't want to have to rebuild EVERYTHING if you decide to put a different control in down the road.

[hulkster]

well i wont be putting in any new controls.  no tron sticks or anything like that.  just joysticks and a trackball.  

[NoOne=NBA=]

Then find out which one's the deepest, and plan accordingly.

[GroovyTuesdaY]

well i wont be putting in any new controls.  no tron sticks or anything like that.  just joysticks and a trackball.  

I hate to sound like a jackass, but how in the heck do you have ovef 600 posts and haven't even tried building your own panel yet??? WOW, thats just wrong lol.

I would say 3- 3 1/2" depth should be more then enough.   If you look at some of the commercial builds out there like SLIKSTIK, you will see that theirs at the lowest part is 3 & 3/4" deep.    Mine is cut at 3 &1/2"  and is more then enough room. Honestly, if you wanted to cut some off, you could probably go 2&3/4" and be ok, but you would definatly want to check the specs on any peripherals and make sure you have enough room for mounting them.

Good luck,
groovy~

[hulkster]

well i wont be putting in any new controls.  no tron sticks or anything like that.  just joysticks and a trackball.  

I hate to sound like a jackass, but how in the heck do you have ovef 600 posts and haven't even tried building your own panel yet??? WOW, thats just wrong lol.

well i have an old cab, and that one was converted into a mame machine, so a lot of questions were newbie questions so a lot of those posts were...."hey what's a quick diconnect and what do i do with it?"  so yeah, i started out with no knowledge whatsoever of wiring or arcade anything!  ANYWAY....i want this cab to be perfect, so im asking what everybody else does to try to avoid making mistakes.  understand?

[Minwah]

I hate to sound like a jackass, but how in the heck do you have ovef 600 posts and haven't even tried building your own panel yet??? WOW, thats just wrong lol.

I'd made >1800 posts before I started my first CP  

[hulkster]

I hate to sound like a jackass, but how in the heck do you have ovef 600 posts and haven't even tried building your own panel yet??? WOW, thats just wrong lol.

I'd made >1800 posts before I started my first CP  

ahhhh, now i feel better  

[nipsmg]

I had 2 different handles and way over 1000 posts (between arcadecontrols.speedhost.com- the old message board, and this one) before I attempted to build everything.  If you're a college kid and have no #, all you can do is learn as much as possible and soak up all the info you can until you get enough $$$ to do it.

Now that I'm out of college and have a very well paying job, it's much easier to get stuff done

--NipsMG

[Stingray]

I built my first CP before I even discovered this board.   Of course I quickly realised that I did almost everything wrong, junked it and started over. So there's something to be said for asking a lot of questions before you start building stuff!

I agree with NoOne=NBA= just measure your deepest control and there's your depth. 5" would probably be more than enough room. Unless you're using some really old joysticks (like those monster Atari sticks I've got) you could probably go a couple inches shallower.

-S

[hulkster]

well i measured and cut my side panels last night, but i didnt figure on the 3/4" mdf that the side panel is covering, so instead of being 5" deep, they are 4 1/4" deep...go figure.  

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Sorry if i offended ya hulk.   I was actually chuckling to myself about that question when i was typing it.  I completly understand the need for asking questions. I do almost every day.  Some sound dumb, but such is the way of things  Its all good brotha    lol

Good luck with your project. It sure can be interesting when your building your first one hehe.

groovy~

[hulkster]

nah its cool dude.  no offense taken.  i didnt realize i had around 600 posts!  thats crazy that i have that many.  i ask a lot of questions because im impatient and wont do enough research  but im learning.  

[NoOne=NBA=]

Man do I feel old.

I built my first CP before there was even an INTERNET to have a board ON.
4k Vic-20's were AMAZING at that point.

[hulkster]

Man do I feel old.

I built my first CP before there was even an INTERNET to have a board ON.
4k Vic-20's were AMAZING at that point.

holy crap dude....yeah you ARE old

[NoOne=NBA=]

I've been doing this for 23 years now.
I'm betting alot of the people here weren't even BORN when I started my first CP.

[hulkster]

ummm..... ....im 22