Suggestions Please...........

[GameDork]

     I have this perfectly good Golden Axe cabinent that I would love convert to MAME. It has a WG4600 monitor and black laminant on the front and sides.

     I have just grown tired of the same old game that I beat within 5 minutes of owning and with MAME, I can have 1000's of other games including Golden Axe!!

      What I need advice on is how to enlarge the control panel without it looking  stupid, or without modifying the sides (i.e. cutting them) . It's just too small now even without the extra buttons I plan on adding.

     If someone can find some pics of something similar or has any advice, it would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks
Brandon

[Minwah]

Not exactly answering your question, and I'm probably in the minority here but personally I would NOT enlarge that CP...I think it would look wrong.

How about relocate the start buttons to the front of the CP to make some more room for controls, and if you want other controllers like trackball etc. then make some extra swappable control panels?

IMO I think it would be difficult to fit a larger CP to your cab without cutting the sides slightly.

[SkateDetroit]

Keep it original and don't fuss with ruining the original design. Personally i'm not a big fan of "T'ing" the control panel.

[abrannan]

I guess the big question is how many buttons you're planning on adding?  You can fit 2 6-button layouts on the CP, with the start buttons on the top on that size CP.  Yes, it's a mite tight, but I think that would be better than adding a beast panel.  You may need to start from a bare control panel for it to work properly.  I'm getting a bending brake to bend my own blanks for my cabinet.  If it works for me I'd be happy to take a stab on bending you a replacement CP for that cab, rather than have you drill a bunch of new holes in that one.

[Lilwolf]

If its a jamma cabinet...

Consider buying a JPac and an ArcadeVGA.  The two of them will allow you to swap between mame and the original without doing ANY constructural damage / upgrades to the cabinet.

You then can decide if you want more buttons in the future.

You also have the advantage of being able to add additional jamma games in the future by just pluggin them in.  Some original games are CHEAP on ebay.

[paigeoliver]

Comments.

No matter how you enlarge the control panel it will look stupid.

Tearing up NICE looking JAMMA/System 16 machines that have no problems in order to Mame them is stupid. I Mame empties, or complete junk. Of course, that is your only cabinet, so you probably don't want to hear it.

A Streetfighter 2 layout will fit that panel easily. Many SF2 machines WERE in that exact cabinet.

[pointdablame]

Comments.

No matter how you enlarge the control panel it will look stupid.

Tearing up NICE looking JAMMA/System 16 machines that have no problems in order to Mame them is stupid. I Mame empties, or complete junk. Of course, that is your only cabinet, so you probably don't want to hear it.

A Streetfighter 2 layout will fit that panel easily. Many SF2 machines WERE in that exact cabinet.

I have to agree with paige, don't put a differnt panel on that. Anything other than the orignal size would look atrocious. A SF2 layout would work fine for what... 80% of all MAME games... more perhaps?  I would go the ArcadeVGA/JPac route and swappable panels if you just HAD to have a certain type of control. In fact, that's what I plan to do with my cab minus the swappable panels, cuz my cab already has an oversized CP.  Good luck

[GameDork]

I guess the big question is how many buttons you're planning on adding?  You can fit 2 6-button layouts on the CP, with the start buttons on the top on that size CP.  Yes, it's a mite tight, but I think that would be better than adding a beast panel.  You may need to start from a bare control panel for it to work properly.  I'm getting a bending brake to bend my own blanks for my cabinet.  If it works for me I'd be happy to take a stab on bending you a replacement CP for that cab, rather than have you drill a bunch of new holes in that one.

thanks, but I'm a machinist and have all those toys at my disposal.

Quoted by paigeoliver No matter how you enlarge the control panel it will look stupid.

Tearing up NICE looking JAMMA/System 16 machines that have no problems in order to Mame them is stupid. I Mame empties, or complete junk. Of course, that is your only cabinet, so you probably don't want to hear it.

A Streetfighter 2 layout will fit that panel easily. Many SF2 machines WERE in that exact cabinet.-

It is a jamma with a system 16 converter plugged in. I have 4 arcade games right now and this one gets the least amount of play. I may do as Lilwolf suggested and swap between jamma and mame, with multiple control panels

Thanks to everyone that wrote. Keep them coming

[paigeoliver]

Oh good, it is already jamma, then yeah, make a few new panels, go the J-Pac/arcadeVGA route.