Modular Shelving Unit

[jcoleman]

Don't have a name for this one yet.  My wife took the baby to her parents' house this week so I was finally able to get crazy with the power tools for more than an hour at a time...the baby takes a LOT of naps.    Anyway, here's how it started:





I purchased this from the local Tilt last October for about $200.  I've been trying to figure out an innovative cabinet style, particularly a showcase with a four panel rotating setup, but hadn't really been able to devote the time or energy to doing so.  I ran across this deal and couldn't pass it up.  I've had a WG D9200 for about 2 years now, just waiting for a cab....well, this was it.

I stripped all the artwork off (turns out it was originally a Captain America & The Avengers), gutted the boards and controls, and pulled the monitor.  I rebuilt the monitor mount a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't replaced the display yet because I'm still thinking of putting this on casters and I'd like to avoid extra lifting if possible.  Anyway, I decided to go with not only a shelf-type panel, as inspired by Supercade oh so many years ago, but with a removable shelf so that I can have near-exact replicas of as many control panels as I care to build.  Luckily that's my favorite part.  I can continue tweaking this thing for years...anyway, on to the show. 

I took copious measurements of the existing panel and marked it up pretty significantly.  I am a real stickler for exact, ergnomic controls, so I tried to reuse as many of the angles and spacings as I could.  Once I realized that GGG's mounting plates would accomodate any std joystick, I snatched up four of them for the Ultrastick 360s for players 1 and 2 and two rotary sticks (on a removeable shelf).  Players 3 and 4 would have NOS Wico 8-ways with black handles and three buttons each - there are only a couple of 4 player arcade games that need more buttons, and I can live without them.  I don't expect a lot of 4-player SNES/N64/DC action either.

Measurements and layout in action:

[jcoleman]

Once I had the layout down, I drilled for the mounting plates and tested those:



 I then routed so the plates and Wico sticks would be flush.  The next night I busted my butt and got four shelves made.  Here's the trackball shelf with no main controls installed:



The Robotron/Vortex shelf:



Those are NOS 8-way Wico sticks with 4" NOS handles.

The Defender shelf:



The stick is a Happ Ms. Pacman/Galaga.

The rotary stick panel:



Visible in that shot are $75 worth of NOS SNK LS-30 sticks that I have had upwards of 5 years now...WISHING you had the time to build a cabinet generally means BUYING a lot of parts over the years.  Luckily I'm currently in a position to pretty much complete this thing with no further outlay of cash!

I have plans for another panel with a Trigger stick and my Apache Spinner, but I really want to wait and see what develops in the way of 49-way trigger sticks before I go too far with that.

[jcoleman]

To mount each of the panels I installed hanger bolts in the end pieces of the shelves.  Four 7/16" holes in the main panel accomodate these bolts and wingnuts hold it tight to the panel:



Obviously this has a long way to go but IMO that's what makes it fun.  My current plans are to put red, green, and blue translucent lighted buttons on the main panel, come up with some snazzy artwork, and cover the panel with polycarbonate.  I'm going to try a lacquer-type finish on the panel sides and eventually strip the sides of the cab and apply a similar finish.  Couple that with chrome t-molding and you can see that I'm going for an elegant technological sophisticated look - or maybe I've seen one too many iPhones.  Here's a shot of the updates I just made to my classic cab, seen previously here as "Pac Man Plus Plus":



And the CP detail:



Man, I need to dust...That's a GGG spinner, a U360, and NovaGem buttons.  Unfortunately I scratched the paint while drilling the hole for the spinner.  Argh.  Guess that's a good excuse for an overlay!  I'll probably power up the lights sometime this week.

More as it develops...Comments and suggestions welcome!

[Zero_Hour]

Interesting solution for all the specialty panels. How do you plan to handle the wiring aspect of the modulars?

Love the look of your classic cab as well. Nice work indeed. 

[bfauska]

I really like the idea of only one part of the panel swapping out for custom setups.  Looks like a cool project.  The classic machine seems nice too, clean and simple.  For the CP I would consider using acrylic instead of polycarbonate.  Poly is not as hard as acrylic and therefor will scratch more easily.  Keep us posted on the details and finishing of the cab.

[psychotech]

Looking really good! The swappable shelves are great

I'd consider using straight DB25 cables for the modulars. Fast and easy switching ? I just used them on Bombjack's two swappable control panels and it works works like a charm. Actually, it works so nicely that I'm using a similar solution with an VGA extension cord on my jukebox/pinball W.I.P.

One simple example here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=61679.msg702603#msg702603

Keep up the good work 

psychotech

[jcoleman]

Thanks for the kind words - I've been thinking this thing through for years, literally.  This finally seemed like the least headache-inducing and most economical solution.  All my brainstorming about it paid off b/c when it came down to the woodworking I didn't have to do much head-scratching...I just fired up the router with the pattern bit and went to work.

As for connectivity, I have a ton of molex connectors laying around that I've picked up over the years, and a few harnesses that I made and plan to reuse.  That should keep wiring to a minimum, hopefully.  Back before I could afford IPACs and KeyWizzes and whatnot, I actually hacked a KB and installed a DB25 - it was a nightmare.  A good lesson in the old proverb that time is money.  I'm also a big fan of the industrial-ness (for lack of a better term) inside actual arcade cabs.  I like rugged, overbuilt stuff that will stand up to wear and tear for years.  That's really part of the fascination for me, building something that looks like it came off an assembly line but is in reality completely customized.  I figure that if it's meant to spend 2-5 years in an installed environment with all kinds of wear, it'll last me a good 20.

Coleman

[ChadTower]

It's a good idea.  Round off those 90 degree edges so that they slide in easier and don't start to chip off once you're swapping them in and out.  Looks better too.

[jcoleman]

The corners of the shelves are rounded (pattern bit FTW!) - which edges were you describing?  The shelves sit flat on the main cp, they don't actually slide into anything.  The 1/4" hanger bolts in the ends of the shelves actually go into 7/16" holes in the main cp where they are held in by the wingnuts underneath.

[ChadTower]

Ah, I interpreted the image differently.  I was thinking it was just fitting snugly inside a rabbeted slot and then held from underneath.  I think you may still find that the underside of those modular pieces suffer from edge chipping eventually if something isn't done to address it. 

Good idea and design.   I like it.

[jcoleman]

My plan for the underside of the ends is to line them with felt, or at least stick some felt pads on there, so hopefully that will reduce wear and tear on the ends and (eventual) lexan/acrylic on top of the main panel.