How wide is your CP?

[sealslayer]

I started to lay out the basics of my CP today to figure out how wide it needs to be and im shocked at the size of the damn thing.
My cab is 25.5" wide and I thought I would be able to squeeze 2 joysticks a 3" trackball and 6 buttons for each stick into that gap without any problems, how wrong was I 


I've now measured it all out and it has to be a minimum of 30'5" to have a 1" overlap all the way round the top of the CP, this leaves me no room to trim or shape the top of the CP to give it nice curves or it will show the box section CP edges underneath.

With this layout my cab now looks totaly out of proportion, the CP just sticks out way to far, if I didn't have the trackball it would be fine.
Anyone got some tips on how I can save some space, the trackballs mounting plate at 6.5" inches is killing me 

[FrizzleFried]

Your box is 25.5" and the CP is 30" ...how is sticking out 2.25" on each side of your cabinet too much?   The only option I could recommend if you HAVE to fit it in that 25.5" is to get a smaller trackball.  They have 2.25" trackballs and even 1.5" (i think thats the size)...

[tyroneshu]

My control panel is 24 inches long and I have a 3 inch trackball, 2 joysticks and 6 buttons for each joystick, along with 2 buttons for the trackball, 1 player and 2 player buttons, enter, and exit buttons.

[sealslayer]

My control panel is 24 inches long and I have a 3 inch trackball, 2 joysticks and 6 buttons for each joystick, along with 2 buttons for the trackball, 1 player and 2 player buttons, enter, and exit buttons.

Ahh that looks perfect,  have you got a picture of underneath of the CP so I can see how close your joysticks are to the buttons?

[Bill Mote]

I posted a picture here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59359.0.  I think it's ~40" wide.  My cab is 30" wide for sure.

dot

[AtomSmasher]

My mini cab is only 23'' wide inside the box


ignore the numbers on this pic, the box is actually 3/4 of original size.


edit* just thought I'd mention that the diagram uses a 2 1/4'' trackball, but I ended up squeezing in a 3'' betson ball by screwing it directly into the wood and not using a mounting plate.  I cut a hole out of the CP so the trackball would be a tight fit, then I screwed from the inside of the trackball case into the wood.  Since I have plexi on top, theres no way to tell and it saves a lot of space on the CP.

[leapinlew]

just thought I'd mention that the diagram uses a 2 1/4'' trackball, but I ended up squeezing in a 3'' betson ball by screwing it directly into the wood and not using a mounting plate.

I did the same thing with a 3" trackball. It saves a bunch of space - but you have to get creative with the mounting.

[tyroneshu]

Here is the pic of the underside...
I was told when I started planning that it couldnt be done , but I keep seeing pictures of people who did it.  I did the measurements and found out it would be close, but possible.  Of couse I was also told I couldnt build a 1/2 inch MDF cabniet, but after seeing one in Wal-mart I knew I had to build one.  
PS if you look closely at the panel I routed out a little extra on top of the trackball due to someone else measurements of the trackball plate.  

[leapinlew]

I'd like to add a pic of the underside of my CP as well to show the non-trackball mounting plate mounting solution.

I used carriage bolts through the top and L brackets screwed directly into the trackball plastic frame (making sure I wouldn't damage the inside of it.)

[Tahnok]

Personally, I would never want the buttons so close to the joystick. But, if you're really intent on those sizes, it's possible to fit two joysticks and a 3" trackball, with plate. The picture below is actually 23.5" wide, to account for a 1" overlap. You can also turn the joysticks 90 degrees to save some space. Also note that those buttons are roughly placed, not something you would actually want to build from.