My control panel Your opinions

[Timoe]

I'm planning on building this control panel soon.

[Timoe]

FYI the player 3 joystick all the way on the right will be a rotary (ikari warriors type) joystick

[NoOne=NBA=]

My only concern would be the placement of the trackball.

It looks like P-1 second joystick will hinder the use of the trackball.

[markrvp]

My only concern would be the placement of the trackball.

It looks like P-1 second joystick will hinder the use of the trackball.

Same concern.  Everything else looks nice.

[Elfman]

I would also look into the placement if the spinner too.

[paigeoliver]

Here, consider my edited version, it is cheaper to build and a lot more comfortable and functional than the one you posted.

[Timoe]

Wow.  That ^ is rad.  I am so glad I posted a pic here.  That is excellent feedback.  And with your configuration I can eliminate the player 3 & 4 green credit buttons.

I think the middle looks a little bit barren now though.  Maybe I'll move everything up a bit.  Or just get real cool art.

thanks!  Anymore?

[Raven..]

The center is not "barren"....that's where you sit your drinks. 

[daveg2000]

I dont think you are going to like spinning your track ball with a joystick on each side of it.

I had to push mine up in the center (or a little higher)
on the panel, to avoid as much as I can w/the trackball.

If you are aming for the panel to be a total width of 48"
I think the bottom will be too narrow to fit all that stuff in.

Keep in mind that the stick on the left will not be able to be that
close to the edge, cause you have wood underneath
to think about, plus if you mount the joy on an angle verses
straight up and down, you will need another inch or so then....
Notice my green joystick in the Pic below... With the overhang
of the panel (.5", the wood frame .75" and the wood corner piece
underneath for attaching panels, .5") this is the closest
to the edge of the panel I could put this thing.


Here is a pic of my layout that I am working on tonight as we
speak...


I had to push alot of the buttons inward becasue of the
wood along the edges that make the box, plus the 1/2" wood
that joined the pieces together... lots to consider.



Also keep in mind that if you are going for the 'dual' stick for player
1 and player 2, to keep the sticks far enough apart, that it is
still comforatable to use the buttons.

If you are playing a game of Street Fighter, you dont want your
hands rubbin against the 2nd joystick as you play.

Dave

[quarterstringer]

Maybe I'll move everything up a bit.

Moving everything up is a good idea, especially if you want some wrist and palm area. I have 7 inches of area below the buttons because it was annoying to feel the edge of the panel.

[Veinman]

Daveg- How deep is your panel? The UAII panel is over 17" deep, I was thinking of making mine 16" deep.

What did you use for 4-way sticks, and would you recommend them?

[daveg2000]

Daveg- How deep is your panel? The UAII panel is over 17" deep, I was thinking of making mine 16" deep.

What did you use for 4-way sticks, and would you recommend them?

its 17.25" deep, 48" wide.
No 4 way sticks here.. all 8-way supers.
I play as good with an 8 way as I do with a 4-way.
4-ways would be a waste IMHO.
(others will beg to differ)

[Veinman]

I hope they do beg to differ, so I can get as much input as possible prior to buying joysticks.

48" wide is what I'm going for as well. In that dimension, the UAII design exceeds 48", but after checking on lexan, which I plan to use to cover the CP, going past 48" gets into SERIOUS money.

A 24" x 48" sheet seems to average $40.

As for the depth, I think I can get away with 16" because I'm not doing a trackball.

[Timoe]

Here is my latest cp design.

[Veinman]

I've been making mine in Adobe Illustrator (got it from work  ) but I haven't bothered with the available control templates that you'll find around. I've just been making 1.125" holes where the buttons go, and 1.25" holes for the sticks. After all, the cutting is the most important part.

[markrvp]

A new FREE design program is available from MAMEROOM here:

http://www.mameroom.com/CPKD_Info.asp

[Veinman]

I tried that one and found it to be lacking in the features department. You have to move each item individually, meaning you can't group buttons and sticks together.

Likewise you can't copy multiple items at the same time.

[markrvp]

Yeah, but it's free and he doesn't seem to have any other image editing programs.

[Teknique]

Daveg- How deep is your panel? The UAII panel is over 17" deep, I was thinking of making mine 16" deep.

What did you use for 4-way sticks, and would you recommend them?

its 17.25" deep, 48" wide.
No 4 way sticks here.. all 8-way supers.
I play as good with an 8 way as I do with a 4-way.
4-ways would be a waste IMHO.
(others will beg to differ)

Consider a couple 49 way joysticks.  At least for p1 and 2, they are currently on sale at happs for $25. bucks.  Using RandyTs hardware, they can be converted on the fly to standard 8-way, 4-way, and 4-way diagonal (Q-bert) as well as being used for any newer games that Mame comes out with in the future ( Gauntlet Legends/ Dark Legacy/ Blitz/ etc).  There is also a hack in the works to make them rotary capable- (ikari warriors twist-style).  So I think for the money, you really cant go wrong with a stick that versatile.  Not to mention, all the aftermarket stuff can be done later if money is tight now.

Tek

[quarterback]

A new FREE design program is available from MAMEROOM here:http://www.mameroom.com/CPKD_Info.asp

I tried that one and found it to be lacking in the features department. You have to move each item individually, meaning you can't group buttons and sticks together.

Likewise you can't copy multiple items at the same time.

I don't know how many people saw this thread (didn't seem like many) but it's a standalone CP designing app that has some very cool options and was written by a BYOACer:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,34636.msg301310.html

[Lilwolf]

You really have a packed frankenpanel.

Do yourself a favor and look at a few options...

1) look at dual level.  There is a GREAT example in the hall of fame list.  Of frankenpanels, its REALLY hard to use the back controls without hitting the front ones.  dual levels help.

2) modulare control panel (even just partial).  You might be able to get the center panel to replace the buttons from player 1 and the joystick from player two or something with a trackball or a spinner with TONs of room.  Not sure how you would do it but it CAN be done and look GREAT. 

3) hotswappable control panels.  What I have (but if I could redo it I might go modular).  But this removes a lot of the size (edges can come in and still have a nice 4 player panel with only 4 buttons each)... Then create a perfect 2 player fighter panel... Then a trackball panel... then a spinner with maybe a tron stick and a few buttons... then find yourself a good 720 controller... then howa bout a geared spinner... and a defender control panel??  sinister??