CP dimensions

[Sinner]

I want to start building my CP, but I seem to have come up with a lot of design problems.  I'm trying to figure out Adobe Illustrator, so I hope to be able to post a picture soon...for now, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A) If using the Project Arcade plans, and wanting to build it for 4 players, how deep can you go with the CP? 
The plans call for 18", by 34" (I think)...could you go as deepr as 20"?  I was thinking 48"x20".
I'm having problems figuring out what to do about 2 player double joystick games (like Karate Champ).  I've read some posts, and I'll have to work on that a bit more.

B) What is the general prference for coin buttons?  Should they be on the CP, under the CP, or use a shifted key?  I think my personal preference would be, not to see them.

C)  Any suggestions on my controls. I plan on picking up a spinner, and adding a dedicated angled 4-way stick for Congo Bongo, and Q-Bert. So far, I have the following parts:
1 - ipac4
2 - T Stik Plus
1 - Optipac
1 - HAPP 3" trackball
A bunch of HAPP supers
A ton of buttons, of every colour.

[markrvp]

I recently went the 49-way route and find this to be a good solution.  I would be tempted to sell your other sticks and go with 49-ways.  That way you could play Karate Champ using the player 1 & 2 joysticks set to 4-way mode.  You also wouldn't have to have more than 4 joysticks on the panel for a 4 player setup.  You could play two-player Smash TV with the Player 3 & 1 joysticks and the Player 2 & 4 joysticks.

I know not everybody wants to do it this way, but it sure is a nice way if you are doing just one panel and not going to have multiple control panels.

[Sinner]

I recently went the 49-way route and find this to be a good solution.

[Veinman]

On the coin buttons-
In my opinion, the coolest way to do this is to actually rig up a real coind door that works.

Alternatively, I would definitely NOT put the buttons on the front edge since people will always bump them. I would put them on the top of the panel or possibly at the bottom of the bezel. Another alternative is putting one in front of each player area.

[Sinner]

On the coin buttons-
In my opinion, the coolest way to do this is to actually rig up a real coind door that works.

Alternatively, I would definitely NOT put the buttons on the front edge since people will always bump them. I would put them on the top of the panel or possibly at the bottom of the bezel. Another alternative is putting one in front of each player area.

It will be a while, before i add a coin door, since I don't quite have the coin to purchase it...
I was thinking of mounting them under the CP towards the front, where it overhangs the cabinet....

[Chris]

How about rectangular red illuminated buttons mounted where coin slots would be?  Then you could put a 25 cent insert in them, and they'll look slightly coin door-ish.

Happ also makes a "fake" coin door; I'll bet the fake coin rejects on those could be rigged with microswitches.

[Avery]

[It will be a while, before i add a coin door, since I don't quite have the coin to purchase it...

I like Chris' rectangular button idea.  If you place them righ, when you do pick up a real coin door, the holes you drilled for the buttons will go away with the chunk you cut out to mount your coin door in.

Also, check e-bay - I've seen a mess of coin doors go for less than 10 bucks.

[Chris]

By the way, Happ's "fake" coin door is at http://www.happcontrols.com/pc/accessories/40071300.htm , although it probably costs more than most coin doors on eBay.

[Chris]

Here's a realtively cheap lighted button:

http://www.happcontrols.com/wp/item_search.p?ITEM-NO=54L-0004-510P10Z

[rgecko]

The Happs door would be fairly easy to rig up as buttons.  I have one in my cab, when you push the coin reject button, there is a metal shaft that goes back, you'd just have to come up with something to mount a cherry switch there.  Although I ended up with the coin insert buttons next to the player select button on my CP.  reason being I use the coin in button as Select, and player button as Start for NES/SNES games.  Also they are black the same as my CP base so they don't stand out a whole lot.
Making your CP swapable also isn't too hard, a couple of CP clamps from Happs install nice and easy, and using the Ultimarc stuff means it's just a usb/ps2 cable the needs to be unplugged from the computer at least if you use the CP clamps if down the road you'll have the option of making other CPs... I'm already thinking of a driving CP.

[Sinner]

Making your CP swapable also isn't too hard, a couple of CP clamps from Happs install nice and easy, and using the Ultimarc stuff means it's just a usb/ps2 cable the needs to be unplugged from the computer at least if you use the CP clamps if down the road you'll have the option of making other CPs... I'm already thinking of a driving CP.

The only problem I have with making a swapable CP right now, is I would need to buy multiple encoders, or come up with a way to have the encoder stay in the cabinet, and the CP plug into it...I know it can be done, but I haven't researched it yet...seems like a lot of work...