Cab design idea

[BobbyG66]

I have an idea for a new upright cab design. A two piece cabinet, one cab is for the monitor support and the other is a CP pedestal cabinet. See attached pic.

I am going to make a four person cab and wanted plenty of room for the controls and players. Most of the designs I have seen have a huge CP, that dwarfs the support. They almost look like they will tip over.

My design does many things:
Players 3 and 4 have their own playing surface.
I am able to place pinball controls on the sides of the main CP.
I have extra room for storage in the front.
If I change monitors in the future, I can change the back cab. Or if I win the lottery I can use a flat screen and place it closer to the wall.

Any thoughts positive or negative are welcome!

[hulkster]

dude, if you are going to make your cab that big....why not make a showcase cab?  that way you can have a 4 player panel thats 49" wide (like mine ) and not dwarf the rest of the cab.  

[dema]

dude, if you are going to make your cab that big....why not make a showcase cab?  that way you can have a 4 player panel thats 49" wide (like mine ) and not dwarf the rest of the cab.  

I was thinking the exact same thing. If you were looking to make such a massive panel you're better off making it a showcase cabinet and pimp that thing out. Your design is perfect for the showcase cabinet, if you make the TV bigger.

That's what I plan to do. Rather than make a four player cabinet I'm instead going to make a two player cabinet and then a separate 4 player showcase cabinet. That way people aren't crammed together trying to play a game.

[hulkster]

heres the link to mine....http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=16166  ill be done with mine next week, so ill be posting pics soon, but as you will see, the control panel size fits just fine for the overall look of the cab.

[BobbyG66]

Thanks Dema and Hulkster081.
I like your design too Hulkster081, it looks great.

I do not want to make a podium style, I am trying to minimize the distance between the front of the CP and the back of the monitor/wall.

My monitor will be 24-27". I have three kids (four if you count me) and I want they all to be able to play at the same time. I also don't want them messing around with different panels and such, more bullet proof.

I have seen alot of designs and have worked through many designs my self and it looks like this will work for me. I am thinking of doing a scale cardboard mockup like the "Trashcade".

Still working on the artwork, plan on building this fall, hopefully in time for the holidays...

[Tilzs]

Well it's not really my cup of tea but if thats what you want then go for it. My concerns are as follows.

1. Most people really don't want to be any father away from the screen than needed. Are you sure you are going to be pulling the cp stand out from the rest of the cab all the time?

2. If you aren't going to stick with a traditional design, have you considered makeing the portion that holds the monitor to look more like furnature. If it's arcade look you are going after then really not that big of a deal this point.

3. Have you considered the 2 players on the ends of your pull away cp (3/4) also detachable. You could then store those towers along side of the arcade when not in use and roll them over quick when needing 4 player panel. One thing that is kind of odd about your current design is the cp is so long, it'll make it awkard to store that CP when not in use and seems like it'd take up quite a bit of floor space.

4. I noticed that you mentioned flat screen and mount it closer to the wall. Have you considered mounting a Monitor/TV in a wall? This could be done with a bit of framing in a basement or a spot where there is a closet on the other side of the wall.

[BobbyG66]

Well it's not really my cup of tea but if thats what you want then go for it. My concerns are as follows.

1. Most people really don't want to be any father away from the screen than needed. Are you sure you are going to be pulling the cp stand out from the rest of the cab all the time?

2. If you aren't going to stick with a traditional design, have you considered makeing the portion that holds the monitor to look more like furnature. If it's arcade look you are going after then really not that big of a deal this point.

3. Have you considered the 2 players on the ends of your pull away cp (3/4) also detachable. You could then store those towers along side of the arcade when not in use and roll them over quick when needing 4 player panel. One thing that is kind of odd about your current design is the cp is so long, it'll make it awkard to store that CP when not in use and seems like it'd take up quite a bit of floor space.

4. I noticed that you mentioned flat screen and mount it closer to the wall. Have you considered mounting a Monitor/TV in a wall? This could be done with a bit of framing in a basement or a spot where there is a closet on the other side of the wall.

1.  My bad in explaining things. When finished the two pieces will be bolted together. So the unit will be "one piece".

2. Yea, I still want it to look like an arcade when done. My artwork is leaning more that way, fun and colorful.

3. Thought of that too, but when I'm not home and the kids are using it, I don't want them to have to do anything other then press buttons...

4. Thought about that too, someone else did that, but I want it to be able to move if needed.

[Wienerdog]

If I could go back a year, I would make my cab simpler.  I went with my own rotating control panel design and have wasted many many hours trying to get it to work right.  

If you are going to bolt them together anyway, I suggest going with a more typical body, and morph your control panel concepts in.  Basically, you are looking at a Lucid design with a multi-layer control panel.  That could look really cool.

Most of your benefits centered around being able to change things up in the future.  My suggestion is to build exactly what you are using now.  In the future, you can always sell that cab and make a new cab exaclty how you want it.