Author Topic: Motherboard mounting in cabinet, input? (Read 5688 times)

Warborg · « **on:** January 09, 2003, 02:35:12 pm »

I just wanted to hear from those of you that might have mounted your PC motherboard in the cabinet without a case... Right now I have my emu PC shoved in my Showcase, but I don't really care for how much room it takes... I was/am considering mounting the PC hardware without a case in it, but I was hoping to see some examples from those of you that have already done it, and some input on how you mounted it, maybe even a picture or two...

I am just concerned about protecting the board for one, and how to actually support the video/sound cards and not put and strain on the actual AGP/PCI slots on the motherboard...

Additionally, I'd like to be able to mount the hard drive in such a way that it's somewhat cushioned or isolated from the cabinet so small jolts to the cab won't effect it...

wee beastie · « **Reply #1 on:** January 09, 2003, 02:55:32 pm »

No wisdom from me. My mobo is just sitting on an MDF shelf in my cab. The hard drive is along side it. There are 2 rubber bands holding in the graphics card (you'd be amazed at how well this works). I'd honestly suggest keeping your guts in a case. It really is much easier when done that way. The only reason I could see for pulling them all out is to have a cdrom drive that is accessible outside of your cab.

android · « **Reply #2 on:** January 09, 2003, 03:05:40 pm »

My desktop tower has a sort of L-shaped "tray" that slides in and out of the case without any effort. This tray provides a mounting point for the MOBO, plus support to the video, network, etc cards to securely screw them. When I need to service my PC I just unlock the tray and slide it out through the back of the tower and the whole MOBO and cards come out. You could just use the tray to mount all your PC components without the PC tower case and simply mount the assembly inside your cab.

--android

Silverwind · « **Reply #3 on:** January 09, 2003, 03:06:19 pm »

You could always part out a case to get the motherboard tray, the drive cages etc.. then attach those to an inside shelf of your cab...

put an small door externally to provide access to the cd-rom/etc..

That is what i'm sort of thinking on doing... provides flexibility but at the same time makes it a little sturdy to have everything screwed in..

you could screw the drive cage etc to the shelf.. or just build a small frame around it to hold it in place..

Warborg · « **Reply #4 on:** January 09, 2003, 03:10:36 pm »

Quote from: Silverwind on January 09, 2003, 03:06:19 pm

You could always part out a case to get the motherboard tray, the drive cages etc.. then attach those to an inside shelf of your cab...

put an small door externally to provide access to the cd-rom/etc..

That is what i'm sort of thinking on doing... provides flexibility but at the same time makes it a little sturdy to have everything screwed in..

you could screw the drive cage etc to the shelf.. or just build a small frame around it to hold it in place..

I had considered that at first, but ended up going with the case... But the Showcase doesn't have a lot of room in the bottom of the podium for everything, and I'd like to have the DVD-Rom accessable externally... It all fits, but is crowded, and I still have to mount my Dreamcast in here at some point...

eightbit · « **Reply #5 on:** January 09, 2003, 03:35:11 pm »

Why cushion the hard drive? It wasn't cushioned when it was in your PC case. If your worried about it, remove the hard drive tray from your PC case, cut it if you have to. and screw it into your cab with some rubber washers between the tray and the cab.

Warborg · « **Reply #6 on:** January 09, 2003, 03:43:19 pm »

Quote from: eightbit on January 09, 2003, 03:35:11 pm

Why cushion the hard drive? It wasn't cushioned when it was in your PC case. If your worried about it, remove the hard drive tray from your PC case, cut it if you have to. and screw it into your cab with some rubber washers between the tray and the cab.

While that's true, a PC case normally doesn't get the activity/movement that an arcade machine would have... So while I'm not so much worried about it in the PC case, when directly attached to the cabinet directly might get a few more jolts then I like.

Silverwind · « **Reply #7 on:** January 09, 2003, 04:05:33 pm »

Quote from: Warborg on January 09, 2003, 03:43:19 pm

While that's true, a PC case normally doesn't get the activity/movement that an arcade machine would have... So while I'm not so much worried about it in the PC case, when directly attached to the cabinet directly might get a few more jolts then I like.

how often do you plan on moving it??? I've taken my PC (with sometimes as many as 5 hard drives in it) with me in the car to go to LAN parties or something of that sort... no problems there..

I doubt a hard drive attached to a cabinet would have any problems unless you are jarring the cab real hard by dropping it or something similar... just moving it on a dolly or playing on it hard wont' do anything..

wee beastie · « **Reply #8 on:** January 09, 2003, 04:31:33 pm »

Quote from: Silverwind on January 09, 2003, 04:05:33 pm

Quote from: Warborg on January 09, 2003, 03:43:19 pm

I doubt a hard drive attached to a cabinet would have any problems unless you are jarring the cab real hard by dropping it or something similar... just moving it on a dolly or playing on it hard wont' do anything..

I've got to agree with Silverwind on this one. Computer parts are a bit more resilient than you think. Heck, I used an old celeron chip as an ashtray for a few months. Then, my friend burned up one of his chips in an older box, so we took the "ashtray" and plugged it in. It's been running fine ever since!!

JoeB · « **Reply #9 on:** January 09, 2003, 04:31:44 pm »

I never understood why people ever put a full PC in the cabinet..

I too will be mounting my PC inside the mame machine the same way regular arcade companies mount their PCB's.

And as far as as the video card / sound card is concerned, you can always make a wooden bracked that the top of the cards screw into! and that bracket screws into the machine!

wee beastie · « **Reply #10 on:** January 09, 2003, 04:36:21 pm »

I just think that keeping it in the case is the easiest way to do it and have it all be safe and secure.

The only reason mine isn't in the case is because I'm using the case for my desktop. I chose economy above appearance for the insides of my cab

Silverwind · « **Reply #11 on:** January 09, 2003, 04:57:01 pm »

Quote from: wee beastie on January 09, 2003, 04:36:21 pm

I just think that keeping it in the case is the easiest way to do it and have it all be safe and secure.

The only reason mine isn't in the case is because I'm using the case for my desktop. I chose economy above appearance for the insides of my cab

well.. you could always bracket the case into the cabinet.. with the front panel facing one of the sides.. with a door that provides access to the front of the case..

best of both worlds?

Brad Lee · « **Reply #12 on:** January 09, 2003, 06:09:31 pm »

Thats shot thru the coin door

I took 4 3" bolts thru the motherboard(in the corners, normal mounting holes) with 1/2" plastic standoffs, thru the MDF, and then a nut on the back
I've since swapped mobo's, but was able to use the same mounting holes- it just extends farther to the left now

Power Supply has a screw thru the top(there was a little flange) but the blue straps are velcro- we use a lot of it for wire wrapping and such

For the HD, I did what was written above, took an old HD cage and cut it to just about single height, bent the bottom edges and screwed it to the wood

The cards in the mobo are very firm, but if the slots were looser I'd probably use either zip ties or the velcro straps to secure them

OSCAR · « **Reply #13 on:** January 09, 2003, 06:44:51 pm »

Brad Lee and I think alike (scary!)...

Here's a shot through the front of my most recent cabinet project. Standard arcade PCB standoffs hold the motherboard in place. I used some leftover brackets that came from a car amp for the hard drive. The motherboard is a newer nVidia based board with the geforce gfx chip, digital sound, & lan, so no cards needed (for now). The power supply (painted red) is attached to the bottom of the cabinet. Spiral wire wrap on all the wires to try to keep it neat. You can also see that I have an access door in the back of the cabinet next to the motherboard so I can easily get at stuff...

Chris · « **Reply #14 on:** January 10, 2003, 10:13:26 am »

I'm in the process of rebuilding my cab.... I bought an all-in one motherboard, so I didn't have to worry about cards. It's mounted with Happ's PCB mounting feet:

The power suply is mounted on the wall next to it. I removed the four screws from the bottom of the PS case, added four metal tabs, replaced the screws, and screwed the tabs down. Next, I ripped the 5.25" and 3.5" drive cages out of an old case. The 3.5" cage got he hard drive; it had tabs at the bottom with screw holes that I was able to bend outward for mounting to the wall. My machine has a Coin Controls over/under door with the metal coin vault; I drilled holes in the top of that and mounted the 5.25" cage to it with fan screws. I put the floppy drive in an Antec EasyUSB sled, so now through the coin door I have access to the CD-ROM, floppy disk, and USB ports, and if I remove the coin door for maintenance the drives come with it as a single unit.

It is SO much easier to work inside the machine now with the tower case out of there! I'll take some pictures when I get home tonight (although it's not done yet, so all the cables aren't strapped down yet...)

rampy · « **Reply #15 on:** January 10, 2003, 10:19:32 am »

Quote from: OSCAR on January 09, 2003, 06:44:51 pm

Hey, Oscar...

Wow! That looks extremely clean and well done. Lots of small smart decisions to make it that clean (although painting the powersupply is a new level of vanity for me - it's INSIDE the cabinet for jeebus sake! =P )

With that said, (the first part not the parentheticals)... how come we don't see more of your cabinet(s) - either on the oscar controls site or in project announcements here n' stuff? I think a lot of people would learn alot from your approaches/techniques/final products.

Granted you're already super busy with some sort of day job/running oscar controls/creating great new products but i'd be happy with just a generic auto generated photo album of some of your stuff (if you had the time/interest)

how does the Nforce chipset run with mame/different oddball resolutions, btw?

Thanks!

rampy

OSCAR · « **Reply #16 on:** January 10, 2003, 07:00:21 pm »

Quote from: rampy on January 10, 2003, 10:19:32 am

Wow! That looks extremely clean and well done. Lots of small smart decisions to make it that clean (although painting the powersupply is a new level of vanity for me - it's INSIDE the cabinet for jeebus sake! =P )

With that said, (the first part not the parentheticals)... how come we don't see more of your cabinet(s) - either on the oscar controls site or in project announcements here n' stuff? I think a lot of people would learn alot from your approaches/techniques/final products.

Heh, I've been a lazy bastich lately with regard to documenting my cab projects. Although, I will submit the one I'm working on right now (the above pic) when it's complete. I've been working on this cab since about June/July, on & off when I get few spare minutes.

If you want to see what I have done so far, go to www.oscarcontrols.com/unnamed. This is the temporary location of what I've done on this cab so far. Right now the page just has some pics and my random thoughts as I was building. When this cab is complete, I will make a fancy website with all the info/specs/how-to's/features/construction/blah, blah, blah and then submit it to the BYOAC. Now do you see why I painted the power supply?

About the nforce... No, I haven't had any problems with it so far, but I really haven't given it a solid run-through yet, either.

Birdtales · « **Reply #17 on:** January 10, 2003, 07:41:54 pm »

Oscar,

I really love the design of your cabinet. It has a similar line to the cabinet I am currently converting.

But truefully I like yours better. Looks like plenty of room to upgrade to a bigger monitor later on. The whole Batman theme is cool too. Well done.

elfman12 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 10, 2003, 08:33:28 pm »

Quote from: OSCAR on January 10, 2003, 07:00:21 pm

Heh, I've been a lazy bastich lately...

Hey, that wouldn't happen to be a reference to the movie "Johnny Dangerously" would it?

(I say bastage and fargin' alot, that's why I picked up on it... remember, "It's fargin' war!)

Chris · « **Reply #19 on:** January 10, 2003, 09:33:34 pm »

Quote from: Chris on January 10, 2003, 10:13:26 am

I'll take some pictures when I get home tonight (although it's not done yet, so all the cables aren't strapped down yet...)

And here's a pic:

OSCAR · « **Reply #20 on:** January 10, 2003, 09:36:48 pm »

Quote from: Birdtales on January 10, 2003, 07:41:54 pm

Oscar,

I really love the design of your cabinet. It has a similar line to the cabinet I am currently converting.

But truefully I like yours better. Looks like plenty of room to upgrade to a bigger monitor later on. The whole Batman theme is cool too. Well done.

Thanks! The cab is designed for a 25", but I ended up with one of those 18" D9100's that were selling on eBay this last summer for super cheap. I still have a 25" laying around here, but the 18" was just so easy to get working (vga), that I haven't bothered with the 25" one yet. I may put the 25" in the cab before I'm done with it, and then put the 18" in the cocktail that's waiting to be the next project.

Quote from: elfman12 on January 10, 2003, 08:33:28 pm

Hey, that wouldn't happen to be a reference to the movie "Johnny Dangerously" would it? (I say bastage and fargin' alot, that's why I picked up on it... remember, "It's fargin' war!)

Heh, you can't beat me, kid. I'm too good.

elfman12 · « **Reply #21 on:** January 10, 2003, 09:56:26 pm »

Quote from: OSCAR on January 10, 2003, 09:36:48 pm

Heh, you can't beat me, kid. I'm too good.

Hey, don't get snippy with me. My momma got snippy with me once.... ONCE!

(what a great movie. I with they'd release it on DVD, dangit.)


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