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Cab built for easy disassembly? Suggestions?

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paigeoliver:

If easy cab movement is important to you then I have a couple of suggestions.

#1 Build for low weight, rather than easy dissasembly. That means use plywood rather than particle or MDF, and don't do any interior framing other than the standard 1x1s where the sides meet the front.

#2 Do not make your basic cabinet more than 27" wide or 27" deep. 27" fits through even those narrow 28" doorways (you might have to take the door off the frame, but it will fit). Make sure that your cabinet makes that magic 27" number in either width or depth. Otherwise you WILL eventually encounter a situation where you can't move the cabinet somewhere. You don't have to beat that number in both width AND depth, just beat it in one of them. One of my games (Sprint 2) is like 3 feet wide, but it isn't that deep, so I can still move it around easily.

#3. If your control panel is wider than your basic cabinet, then make it easily removable. This helps out in both the area of weight, and it makes things less awkward.

#4. Finally, if weight is still going to be an issue, then make your monitor easily removable. I know from experience that even a fully loaded plywood cabinet with the monitor removed is an EASY move job for two guys, even up and down awkward stair sets.


Making your basic cabinet multi-piece ins't really the answer, and a basic plywood cabinet really isn't that heavy. To give some easy furniture comparisons. A full standard plywood cabinet with the monitor out is lighter than most couches, and closer to the weight of a larger dresser with no drawers in it.

pmc:


--- Quote from: paigeoliver on March 30, 2004, 12:40:58 pm ---A full standard plywood cabinet with the monitor out is lighter than most couches, and closer to the weight of a larger dresser with no drawers in it.

--- End quote ---

And not the Ralph Cramden / Ed Norton version where they took out all the loaded drawers and piled them on top of the dresser before moving the whole stack. "This is much better! Ya see Norton! You just gotta use your head!".  ;D

Wade:

Doug,

   It only takes a little bit more effort to make a cabinet that will totally disassemble vs. a regular cabinet.  In fact, I wasn't building my cabinet for disassembly but if I had not countersunk and filled over the heads of 4 large carriage bolts on each side (and used so much glue) my cabinet would be totally collapsible.  Some of the tips already posted here are very good and should get you going.

   I wouldn't worry too much about weight or size, IF you plan to make it majorly collapsible.  If your basic design is a base and a sturdy monitor frame, the large sizes can bolt right to those and you pretty much have all the stability you need.  Then all your front/top/rear panels can screw into 1"x1"s  or 2"x2"s and that will further strengthen the cab.  All your pieces will be small enough to fit into a regular car, with the exception of the two large side pieces (which still might fit into a car, if your rear seats fold down).

   Even though I don't plan to move for a LONG time, I wish I had thought about this ahead of time and made my cabinet this way.

Wade

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