Width of control panels?

[Justin]

Does anyone know what would typically be the width of the control panel on a classic cabinet?  (Not a protruding c.p. like most MAMERs have).

So, for example, cabinets like Galaxian, Stargate, etc.

Thanks

[anthony691]

I have a JAMMA cab (so not too clasic) it is 8.5x24.

[Justin]

Crap.  I was hoping for 28x10.    I won't be able to fit everything I want in a 24x8.5.

I really don't want a protruding panel... want to keep the classic look.  But I also want a gutted cab.  Looks like I'm gonna have to Build My Own    

[TacoSmuggler]

There is no 'standard' size fo cabinets. It depends on the make of the cab. For example...My Cp on the cab I am making into mame (xenophobe cabinet) is 27.4" by 14.3"
If you know what the make of the cab is we could help you out better.

[spidermonkey]

Thats why alot of us have such large control panels. (commonly referred to as "Frankenpanels" . You just can't comfortably fit joysticks,a trackball,spinner,trigger stick and a butt load of buttons on a normal size classic control panel. More controls = more real estate. Thats one of the reasons I built my own cab. Its slightly taller and wider then an average arcade cab. This way the oversized control panel doesn't dwarf the cabinet and look quite so rediculous. Other solution is build a series of swappable panels. Oh yeh, "1UP" has quite a solution too.

[Odonadon]

I believe you've come to the right place if you wanted to build your own arcade controls  

K, bad joke.

Odonadon

[u_rebelscum]

Does anyone know what would typically be the width of the control panel on a classic cabinet?  (Not a protruding c.p. like most MAMERs have).

So, for example, cabinets like Galaxian, Stargate, etc.

Thanks

Approx 24" for two player games, usually AFAIK.  A classic standup Pole Position has ~25" outside to outside cab walls width (so space for ~23.5" control panel to fit between the walls, or 25" if it sits on top).  I have a ~22" control panel for two player baseball with those snap analog joysticks.  One player classic cabs feel smaller to me, but I think it's partially because the smaller monitor is usually recessed, so you lend into the cab to get see better.

I think I'm going to model my cab off a pole positon cab, but widen it just a bit so the inside to inside width is 24" to fit my control panels I already made, as well as a original pole position CP and (hopefully) a championship sprint CP (also 23.5" wide).

As you see, I plan on going the swappable CP route, so I won't need 42" wide control panels, and I prefer the look of flat wall cabs, without over-hanging control panels.  Of course, this will make a 4 player CP harder to fit in there...

[Minwah]

I too am not really keen on overhanging control panels.  I am basing the width of mine on what I can fit through a door.  I think UK door frames are usually 30" wide, but to fit through comfortably I think I am going to make mine 60-64cm wide.  I am planning to rougly copy the Atari System 1 design, which I believe is 64cm wide.  Of course to fit all the controls I want I will have to build about 4 swappable panels (1UP's great idea is beyond my skills!)

http://www.arcadeflyers.com is a good place to look for cabinet sizes - often the deimensions are stated on the original flyer

[Justin]

Oh, wow.  I never noticed the dimensions were in the flyers!  Thanks so much for pointing this out.

[shmokes]

How wide does a panel need to be to fit two joysticks (perfect 360s) with a street fighter/neo geo 7 button layout and a trackball between the two.  Please say 26 - 27" will do the trick.  I am referring to a classic style cab without an overhanging control panel.  

[DeathMonk]

That should do the trick..  My CP is HUGE for only having 2 player SF-like layout, but it doesnt need to be..  Take a look at some examples and you will see that there are many different sized cp's with the sf layout...  It's all about personal preference.

[Jungle]

How wide does a panel need to be to fit two joysticks (perfect 360s) with a street fighter/neo geo 7 button layout and a trackball between the two.  Please say 26 - 27" will do the trick.  I am referring to a classic style cab without an overhanging control panel.  

That is about the size of my prototype panel.  I found it workable but a little tight for my liking.  The biggest problem I had was hitting the player 2 joystick while playing Golden Tee PC.  If you aren't going to be playing an trackball games where you really need a lot of room for wild swings, it should be OK.

[OSCAR]

Check out Zakk's projects at http://www.mameworld.net/massive/ for some good examples.  Zakk uses mostly classic style cabs and the original control panels.

[Chris]

Mine is 23"x7", in what was a Super Contra cabinet.  Two-player layout with 4 buttons per player and a trackball with 2 buttons in the middle.  (I removed the spinner; it was in the way of the trackball.)

The panel is removable, and I may create a second panel with an analog stick, a 4-way stick, and a spinner.

--Chris