Showcase cabinet - help needed

[skarr]

After some thought I've decided on a showcase cabinet. It's bigger once assembled, but I have the room to put it, but you can break it up in 3 parts when moving. It's also better suited to turn it into a home entertainment system (to convince the gf!) by adding jukebox, dvd, vcr support.

I've decided to use a 28" Hantarex Polo2. The 33" is too expensive for my budget. But 28" is big enough imo.

Now there are a few things I'd like to do and looking for some info or help from the BYOAC community.

First of all I'd like a 'retractable' base, that you can move closer or further away from the screen.
Allow me to demonstrate with some fantastic MS paint skills



Second of all I'd like the monitor to be rotatable and easily switchable between horizontal and vertical mode. This means without taking out the monitor.


Any help is much appreciated

[Tiger-Heli]

After some thought I've decided on a showcase cabinet. It's bigger once assembled, but I have the room to put it, but you can break it up in 3 parts when moving. It's also better suited to turn it into a home entertainment system (to convince the gf!) by adding jukebox, dvd, vcr support.

I really like this idea.  See this thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,3994.from0.html#new

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,34632.0.html

and especially my comments here:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,19878.msg160177.html#msg160177

You might need to use a TV with TV-out instead of the Hantarex to make my idea work though.  Not sure about that.

First of all I'd like a 'retractable' base, that you can move closer or further away from the screen.

I haven't done this, but I would make the base totally detached, (probably use an I-PAC in USB mode or a GP-Wiz in the pedestal itself.  Then you just plug the pedestal into front mounted USB ports (using like a 10' or 25' cable) when you wanted to play games, and otherwise it's just an entertainment center.

Your problem is going to be making the base sturdy enough that it is stable as a standalone pedestal.  Hulkster is having some problems with that currently.

Second of all I'd like the monitor to be rotatable and easily switchable between horizontal and vertical mode. This means without taking out the monitor.

Scrap this idea, IMHO.  Most vertical classics used a 19" screen or maybe even a 17"  A vertical game on a horizontal 28" monitor is going to have about the same height as a 21" screen (I think) so you should be fine.  Use the bezel art and SirPoonga's artwork fill edges hack to avoid the letterboxing look and you should be set.

I think a vertically mounted 28" will be too big and not look right for these games.

[hulkster]

yeah, the stable base thing is a problem.   making it so that it can be broken up into different pieces is a definite must have.  mine is in 4 pieces if you count the control panel itself.  im trying to contact the builder of the Arcade Machine 2...as found on the examples page...because he modeled his after the dream authentics showcase cab.  it looked really good and stable.  anyway,  that whole retractable thing, thats not much of my area.  i can give you some tips on building, but not much in the aspect of crazy rotating and moving mechanisms and stuff! 

[skarr]

I'm probably not going for the retractable thing, but instead try to make the base stable enough to stand on its own and put my comp + other hardware in it.

And when I want to play I'll just attach my CP pedestal and plug it in.

Thanks for the tips

Hulkster, I checked your website and it's got great info on it, any chance you want to share your cabinet dimensions ?

Tiger-heli, good call on the vertical monitor. I'll see how it looks when I get monitor in a few weeks.