Built in Arcade Workstation

[teef two]

Well, plans have had to change yet again (mainly due to spousal interference )

So, gone is the cocktail cab plan that was to go in the conservatory.

Right now the plan is to convert one of our spare bedrooms into an office and study room. The room is not enormous but will easily accomodate 2-3 pcs plus various filing cabinets and so on.

My plan is to custom build a desk area around 2 of the walls (curved L-shape) using MDF. Now I was going to revert back to an upright cab in the third corner but the space in the room would be a little bit restrictive. Therefore I've decided to build a dedicated arcade "workstation". This will more or less take the form of a built in bartop but with a few little tweaks.

My hantarex monitor will be housed in a bartop like surround, possibly tilted slightly backwards. The controls could be fitted directly into the desktop but given the variety I want I shall be looking at having replacable panels. Again the panels my be tilted slightly forwards towards the player at about the angle of a PC keyboard but I'll have a play around and see what suits.

The PC can just be sitting on the floor below the desk and does not need to be hidden away.

I realise that this does not recreate the authentic arcade experience but feel that it is a neat solution to my particular situation. I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like this before either so it will be interesting to build.

Ideally I'll get a couple of small barstools as well; chairs with casters not being conducive to intense gameplay

Thoughts anyone?

[Forces21]

Maybe I'm way off base here, but I take it you absolutly MUST have an arcade monitor?

If not & you got cash to play with, how about getting a good size LCD monitor (19" +) & have this attached to the wall infront of where you wish to play/work, with a VESA mount that supports rotating the screen (that way you automatically are able to play both horizontal & vertical games in their correct orientation.). Then using KVM switch you could use the ONE monitor for the Arcade & propper PC use (whatever that may be  ). Then for control usage, could you build some sort of turnable control pannel that came from the desk you are building? like one side flat to use when using the desk & anotherside that contains the arcade controls?

Just shooting you some other ideas though as It sounds like quite a project building the desk setions & all & was just thinking that if the space is at a premium .....

Best of luck with the project though, and please take pictures & post them so we get an idea of how things are progressing.... Your concept is giving me some ideas for the kids bedroom though.... dangerous ideas 

Regards

Forces21

[teef two]

Forces21 - thanks for the feedback.

I already have the arcade monitor and arcade vga card from a previous cabinet I had (Cabinet now gone, components still in boxes) so it makes sense to use that.

The desk space is going to be big enough allow for the arcade workstation and two PC's (one business PC and one gaming/childrens PC) along with all the necessary peripherals and some free desk space as well.

I'm a big fan of playing games with the original layout and my previous cocktail plans allowed for interchangable (but not modular) panels. I'll build a storage rack alongside the arcade workstation to store these panels. Joysticks and buttons are, relatively, cheap so making multiple panels is not overly expensive. I plan on having a quick release mechanism situated beneath the desk for removal of the panels and will be using some kind of patch panel interface.

The only problem I foresee is to integrate a steering wheel panel. I've no experience of interfacing steering wheels and pedals so that one will probably wait until last. Unsure yet as to whether to use a standard PC steering wheel and pedals (can that be done through MAME?) or using authentic arcade driving parts.