Minicab builders - Monitor question?

[goofy]

All you minicab builders out there, what size monitors are you using? I've got an old 450Mhz PC laying around with nothing to do and a couple 17" PC monitors. So, I figured I should build a minicab with these and put 100 or so classic games in it.

However, this 17" just seems way too big. It's about 16-17" deep, then add on to that another 6-12" for the control panel and the whole thing is now at least 23" - 24" deep, but more likely closer to 30". This just seems to big for a mini.

Now, I could probably get a 14" monitor and save maybe 2" or so. What about taking the case off of the PC monitor? Is this advisable? How much space would that get me? Wouldn't I have to discharge the monitor to do this?

Any suggestions helpful.

[sjgrover]

Your math is correct, or at least comparable to what I came up with for my design.  At the moment  you can see pictures of my project in the announcements folder.  I wen't with a control panel that projects significantly from the body of the cabinet ... my thinking was that I'd be sitting down to play it and it gives my knees someplace to go.

I took the back case off the monitor but it didn't save me anything in terms of length so I put it back on.  I put the front of the monitor where I wanted it and then played with the mounting angle to minimize how much it stuck out the back which is about an inch and a half.

[goofy]

SJ, nice cabinet. The color scheme looks a lot better in its home than in the garage. Very cool.

Could you do some rough measurements (height, width at base, width at control panel, etc)? Thanks.

[clanggedin]

I'm in the same boat, but I am also trying to fit a 2 player Street Fighter control panel in there too. I figure I can get the monitor and the controls into a space around 25" which isn't too bad. It will need to be atleast 25" wide too though. Short and fat.

[pointdablame]

Those numbers seem about right.  My minicab is about halfway built, and IIRC it's about 30" deep.  It is also 18" wide and I believe 25" or so high.  I'm also using a 17" monitor.

My CP is rather large at almsot 12" deep, so it's possible to save a few inches.  I am debating on what controls I should really use on the CP now, so I may actually wind up hacking off part of the CP.

Hopefully I'll get pics up this weekend.  School started this weeks so who knows when I'll actually have time to finish it though.  There's always so much to do when I come home for the weekend, heh.

EDIT: Clanggedin makes a good point:  My 18" would be really tight for a 2p CP.  Mine will be a 1p with a spinner, and possibly a trackball (hence my large CP depth).

[SirPeale]

For a much smaller footprint, I'd use a 13 or 14" monitor.  Monitors get *much* larger in the back the bigger you get.

[Bgnome]

theres a thread in the BST forum for 14/15" monitors:
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=24000

[sjgrover]

Goofy, here's the converted CAD file for the cabinet with the basic measurements.  If you have the software to read one of the standard CAD formats, let me know and I can send you those.  

[Hoagie_one]

i have a 9 inch color vga monitor that i used.