Opening/closing smoked plexi bezel

[Ninten-doh]

Sorry for the poor title.  Not sure how else to explain it.

I've pretty much decided to go with a rotating 19" LCD instead of the 21" CRT I was planning to use.  The LCD already has a pivoting stand, so no need for a lazy susan type setup.  Problem now is access to the LCD so that I can manually rotate it.  I was thinking of installing the smoked plexi like the glass doors that come on AV cabinets with pivoting glass holders on the left, and magnetic push/pull latches on the right.  The pics below are from the Rockler website.  This way, I can just open the smoked plexi like a door, rotate and close.   I did a search using words like "glass pivot" and "magnetic latch" and didn't see anything like this.  Has anyone done something similar?  Any negatives to this setup?  Any thoughts appreciated.

EDIT:  One negative would be that it would look like an AV cabinet door instead of an arcade cab of course.   

[gamecreature]

EDIT:  One negative would be that it would look like an AV cabinet door instead of an arcade cab of course.   

Unless the bottom was hidden by the CP, which was mounted on a piano hinge to swing forward. A little more work to change the monitor, but you gain some authenticity.

[johnperkins21]

EDIT:  One negative would be that it would look like an AV cabinet door instead of an arcade cab of course.   

Unless the bottom was hidden by the CP, which was mounted on a piano hinge to swing forward. A little more work to change the monitor, but you gain some authenticity.

You'd still have the top showing and the "latch" on the right-hand side. How about just cutting some sort of small groove in the top for a couple fingers to fit, allowing you to pull it out? This would be less noticeable and give you the same accessibilty. You could put some sort of pivot at the base of the glass that would be hidden by the piano hinge idea give by GC, and just use gravity to hold it in place.

Just an idea.

[Ninten-doh]

Good ideas guys.

John - if I was the only person using the cab, I would go with the "coupla fingers" technique.  The thought of my wife or *gasp* kids doing that makes my head hurt.   

hmmm, you know what, when I first got the empty cab it had a black outer edge bezel that just might cover up the parts nicely (see pic). 

[johnperkins21]

That's why I suggested using the pivots at the bottom. I drew up a picture but all I have here at work is MS Paint, so excuse the crudeness. As you can see, there is a small groove at the top for your fingers to fit into, then it rotates at the bottom to give you access. Those two at the bottom would be easier to hide than a magnetic clasp on either side.

[Ninten-doh]

Now I see what you mean.   

[Crowquill]

If you're using the Frogger-style cab, then one hurdle is going to be working around the lip of the control panel. You'll probably have to have the plexi in two pieces (one piece behind CP, then the door itself).

I'd definitely recommend trying to get it to swing sideways or up. If it swings down, you're going to have to reach over 18" or so of plexi to reach the monitor. Also, It's probably going to make contact with the control panel and probably get scratched up.

I think you might be onto something with the black bezel, but I'm thinking black advesive vinyl (used by sign shops) might work better and be more of a permanent solution instead of a loose piece of cardboard.

Another issue is that you will have to leave a little area on the edge of the plexi for either a hinge mounted on the very edge, or clear out some area behind the plexi so the trailing edge (and thickness) of the plexi has somewhere to go. Maybe you could make a piano hinge not THAT obvious if it's on the very top edge

BTW, my MAME cab was a knock-off of the Sega cabs.

[leapinlew]

Heres an option -

Go in through the side. Install the sideart on a peice of wood that can swing open... Or figure another method to go in from the side. This way the front (the part you look at the most) can stay authentic while the side access allows you to change the orientation. Not to mention, no smudges or fingerprints on your plexi.

You could build a side panel that has t-molding around it and is 3/4" higher than the actual sides. I think it would look good, and if you could see what was in my head you would think it looks good too!