Author Topic: Golden Tee Control Panel HELP (Read 3372 times)

pezkore · « **on:** March 21, 2003, 04:32:20 pm »

I am about to purchase an older GT cabinet (from the 1990 version) with the intention of switching out the PCB with a GT 99'. The problem with this is that the trackball is very close the the screen, which makes playing the game problematic. I was wondering how easy it would be for me (though i have VERY little experience with this stuff) to either build my own control panel and switch it out, or to buy a control panel from a larger GT cabinet to attach to mine.It is a smaller than usual GT cabinet, the moniter is only 19". I think it was orignally a Track and Field cab. There is a 4 in. drop after then end of the moniter that drops down to the control panel, so there is wood there that you smack with your hand instead of plexiglass.I am hoping to eventually have a control panel that sticks out so that i wont smack my hand on the wood, although i realize it cannot be AS big as the standard GT control panel b/c of the width difference, but the same general idea. Let me know what you think.

pezkore · « **Reply #1 on:** March 22, 2003, 04:25:03 pm »

Why has there not been a single person in the "arcade controls" message board that has been able to help me? I do not know where else to look. PLEASE HELP ME OUT.

BobA · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2003, 04:36:30 pm »

You have to provide a bit more information if you want constructive answers.

Your original question was:
"I was wondering how easy it would be for me (though i have VERY little experience with this stuff) to either build my own control panel and switch it out, or to buy a control panel from a larger GT cabinet to attach to mine."

It is difficult to say how easy it might be without some idea of what your cabinet looks like. How can we say how easy it will be without seeing what you are working with?

Easy is relative to your skills at woodworking and access to tools. To someone with skills and tools almost anything is possible.

Give us more info and I am sure you will get some good feedback on how to best approach your conversion.

BobA

pezkore · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2003, 04:38:28 pm »

i have a pic of my cabinet, but it is just on my hard drive, not on the web so i do not know how to post it in my message...i can e-mail you the pic if it would help

BobA · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2003, 04:56:44 pm »

Email me the pic and I will post it.

BobA

BobA · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2003, 06:36:59 pm »

Ok here is a post of pezkore's cab. It is the one on the Left.

My suggestion would be to replace the current control panel with one that extends further forward. This would mean boxing it in to make a box that would replace the exiting control panel. This would allow you to place the trackball at the front and have more room for follow through.

Just for your info pezkore ... To post an image you have to upload it to a site where it is accessable and then insert the link into your message or insert it as a pic in the message.

BobA

pezkore · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2003, 11:55:42 pm »

what would be the advantage of "boxing it in" rather than just having an extended control panel like the more normal GT cab next to mine?

RacerX · « **Reply #7 on:** March 23, 2003, 12:00:27 am »

Quote from: pezkore on March 22, 2003, 11:55:42 pm

what would be the advantage of "boxing it in" rather than just having an extended control panel like the more normal GT cab next to mine?

He's talking about building a control panel like the one next to yours and attaching it to your cabinet in place of your existing control panel. See how the other panel looks like a box of sorts?

pezkore · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2003, 12:03:14 am »

Would i need to extend the bottom half of the cabinet as well so that there would be more support underneath the extended control panel? The cab on the right has that, but i didn't know it it would be stable enough to have the control panel sticking out with nothing directly underneath it

RacerX · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2003, 01:00:27 am »

Quote from: pezkore on March 23, 2003, 12:03:14 am

Would i need to extend the bottom half of the cabinet as well so that there would be more support underneath the extended control panel? The cab on the right has that, but i didn't know it it would be stable enough to have the control panel sticking out with nothing directly underneath it

It depends on how you attach the new panel to the cab. You could get away with not doing that by attaching a couple of supports to the inside of the cabinet sides and running them underneath the top of the new panel. Then they would be concealed by the outside of the "box".

kspiff · « **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2003, 01:40:05 am »

Unless I'm wrong, that looks like an old Centuri game converted to a GT.. you should get some pics of the game with the CP off, but you'll basically have to build your own box (or more like a box cut in half) and find a way to rig it in using the existing supports and/or panel clamps.

Either that or get medieval on that thing with a saw and make room for a custom-sized CP.

My God, I see one every day but I can't get over how big those newer GT CPs are.. what a waste of real estate..

pezkore · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2003, 01:49:12 am »

are there any plans that i could find somewhere that would help me get pointed in the right direction when it comes to the actual construction? I have never constructed a control panel and i dont have a damn clue what i am doing (although i can handle basic carpentry)

pezkore · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2003, 03:40:32 pm »

has anyone here ever undertaken a similar project? I mean, if you have constructed a control panel for a similar cabinet, let me know so i can get some tips from you

brandon · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2003, 04:21:07 pm »

seems to me like it would be a major improvement just the raise the control panel... so basically you could box in the area above the existing control panel.. since the monitor is angled you have more room to move your hand. That's why you see so many Ms Pacman machines converted with trackball games in them. the angled monitor was perfect for them type of games because you wouldnt smack your hand on anything... if you wanted to get really fancy you could extend the panel up, out and also angle it to match the monitor glass then you could zing* the heck out of that trackball without worry

Here's an extremely crude example that I did in Paintshop..

pezkore · « **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2003, 06:27:23 pm »

Because i know nothing about basic control panel construction, what kind of wood would i need to use? Are there any basic plans that i could use as a basis for my design (that i would obviously have to tayler to the specific cabinet).

dac · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2003, 09:28:20 pm »

any kind of wood works. plywood, MDF, whatever... (if you're painting the thing to match the orig, go MDF...)
probably 3/4" thick. and the plans, they're all over the place, but this is the right stop... take a look at the examples link to the left.... there's plenty there to get an idea of what you're getting into / what you'll need...

We're here to answer (and of course ask) questions...

Dac

pezkore · « **Reply #16 on:** March 24, 2003, 12:49:55 pm »

Ok, a few questions: 1, what is MDF? 2, i still cant find any plans that seem to be adaptable to my situation. 3, i like the photoshop job done on my cab that was posted earlier, and i do want to box in the new control panel up like that, but i would also like the new panel to extend out away from the screen to allow for more room. Any suggestions on how i might do that even though there will be no cabinet underneath the extended portion of the panel to hold it up? Should i add on support beams underneath the new panel to keep it from breaking off?

rampy · « **Reply #17 on:** March 24, 2003, 01:33:37 pm »

Quote from: pezkore on March 24, 2003, 12:49:55 pm

Ok, a few questions: 1, what is MDF? 2, i still cant find any plans that seem to be adaptable to my situation. 3, i like the photoshop job done on my cab that was posted earlier, and i do want to box in the new control panel up like that, but i would also like the new panel to extend out away from the screen to allow for more room. Any suggestions on how i might do that even though there will be no cabinet underneath the extended portion of the panel to hold it up? Should i add on support beams underneath the new panel to keep it from breaking off?

Since what you are doing is pretty "custom" i don't think anyone can give you definitive plans on how to do it... You'll need to take off your current control panel and take some measurements and do some thunking as to how to best approach it.

Not that mine is the best example (it isn't, and i don't have documented terribly well the part you are most interested in...) but I took an old taito cabinet and "T"d out the control panel to make room for a trackball... if you go through my gallery you may see better what I mean...

My control panel is just a sheet of plywood shaped like a "T" that originally was bolted onto some L brackets and rested on the original CP mounts. Later I built a "half a box" (i.e. no top) and used 2 super long carriage bolts w/washers (and theirs a 1 x 4 board squished between too, but that's due to constraints of my particular cabinet)... *shrug*

here's a thread that might help a bit (snaaake used "L" brackets... I used the "fatter" "L" brackets as well)

You have the luxary of looking at an existing golden tee (modern style) to get a sense of what's involved... it's pretty easy once you wrap you mind around it.

MDF if medium density fiberboard... They have it at home depot...

*shrug* any other questions?

Rampy

EDIT 1: if you're having trouble making a wooden box, i'm a little worried about your chances when swapping out/wiring boards to make the swap from old skool golden tee to modern golden tee... is the old setup all Jamma-matized (i imagine it is... but you never know on a conversion like that)... did either your old golden tee or the new boards you'll be putting in come with manuals/pin outs etc?
*shrug* just a thought...

Since you'll most likely be swithching from what was probably a metal CP to a wooden one... you'll probably need a trackball mounting plate from happs (or bobroberts)... FWIW/heads up

Distortion · « **Reply #18 on:** March 24, 2003, 01:33:45 pm »

MDF is like particle board, but more dense, it stands for medium density fiberboard. I personally can't help u much with the rest...

pezkore · « **Reply #19 on:** March 24, 2003, 07:54:08 pm »

Yeah the old game is Jamma, i already have the board for GT 99 in the mail right now, and i know how to switch them out. What Rampy did on his machine is what i hope to do on mine. Your pics were helpful, but did you just figure out the design for yours on your own or did you have a friend/internet tutorial to help you out?

rampy · « **Reply #20 on:** March 25, 2003, 10:08:20 am »

Quote from: pezkore on March 24, 2003, 07:54:08 pm

Yeah the old game is Jamma, i already have the board for GT 99 in the mail right now, and i know how to switch them out. What Rampy did on his machine is what i hope to do on mine. Your pics were helpful, but did you just figure out the design for yours on your own or did you have a friend/internet tutorial to help you out?

Well... I figured it out myself (and if you were to examine it closely in person it would show under scrutiny) but I looked at every single example (that was still available) and bookmarked the ones that had helpful info or did something simliar to what I wanted to do... I browsed/posted on the board and skimmed and searched and amassed knowledge and asked questions.

I found this pic in this latest submission to byoac examples page called the The One Machine

I *think* his cabinet may be similiar to yours and will give you some more ideas...

I took some measurements... I also laid out my control panel in Visio using the stencial available in the download section here. to help me figure out how wide I need to make my "T" and how to space stuff... then I just cut some plywood to that shape and bolted it on... and I left it like that for a while (a sheet of plywood bolted on with the bottom guts of the joysticks exposed) and played and played and played...

I was moving from a condo to an apartment and the cabinet was moving from my basement to the living room so I needed to make it more "finished" so I took some measurements, jotted down some primitive ideas for making a "box" to encase the bottom guts and where I could mount it. (my cp is at an angle which made for a more complicated cut which I barely made dedently with a jigsaqw --- a table or circular saw would made my life mondo easier/better)

Maybe if you are having trouble visualizing the "box" (the top of a control panel is really just a flat board like a shelf... check out the desktop controller examples as they show a lot more step by step and illustrate how to take a few boards and some "L" brackets to make a box...

*shrug*

rampy

in summary: I soaked in the examples, and then took what I saw and applied to my specific situation as best as I could. Make a cardboard/duct tape mock up if you are really uncertain as to how to proceed. Or if you have a friend/relative who is handy with wood (hehehe) and/or has tools invite 'em over ... what you are trying to do should be easy for any amateur cabinet, carpenter, around the house handy man...

If I was handy with CAD or whatnot I'd draw you up something, but i'm not =P Do you have dimension of the existing CP?


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