Lightweight transportable Cabinet?

[YoungAnimaniac]

I've got a full size cabinet at home, and it's great but I think I'd like something smaller so that it doesn't take over the whole room. Has anyone seen plans for a small upright cab?

I'm thinking of something made mostly of aluminum, the same width and height as a standard cab, but without the marquee. Really slim it down by pairing it up with a nice 17" LCD and a SFF CPU.  

Just imagine taking a portable arcade with you to a lan party...

Any thoughts?

[Cue-Ball]

If you're going to go the route of using an LCD i'd say don't even bother building an entire cabinet.  Just build yourself a full size control panel and make the screen something that either wall mounts or attaches directly to the CP.  Or, make it even EASIER and build a full size CP, put your computer bits inside, then use TV-out to connect to any S-Vid capable television.  That would give you ultimate portability and a very small, light package.  I may end up doing just this sometime in the future.  I'll still keep my full size cabinet, but this would be great for gaming on the big screen (i actually had my current CP setup this way for a few days while i was doing work on the cabinet itself).

[anthony691]

Oh come on! That is hardly the same! I think an LCD in a full sized aluminum cab would be cool. I don't think just having a CP is even comparable to having a cab!

[YoungAnimaniac]

For me, part of the experience of playing an arcade game is standing up, but the portable CP would be a great idea for couch play. I know they have collapsable tables that are used for tradeshows and such. They're pretty stable, and very lightweight.

[zorg]

If I was abble, ie: rich enough to use a flat screen either LCD, or some plasma TV

I wish i'll build a kind of flatten 1UP style arcade. By flatten I mean: just depth enough to hold the CP

Eric  

[Cue-Ball]

Oh come on! That is hardly the same! I think an LCD in a full sized aluminum cab would be cool. I don't think just having a CP is even comparable to having a cab!

No, it's not comparable.  That's why we all build cabinets when it would be much easier to just do a CP or use the computer. But he already has a full size arcade machine and said he wants something portable.  "Portable" and "6 foot tall arcade cabinet" do not mix.

[marcoval]

You know if I were wanting to make something portable and I was working on my 2nd cabinet, I would consider going cocktail..... Use lighter materials and I think you would be set.

[neuromancer]

You know if I were wanting to make something portable and I was working on my 2nd cabinet, I would consider going cocktail..... Use lighter materials and I think you would be set.

I had been thinking in those directions, but the weight of stuff adds up quick. Now I'm thinking of something along the lines of an AV cart. Some sort of wooden framework attached to the PC Case, on casters, with the monitor bolted down. It'll still be heavy, but I'll be able to move it into the living room and out on the porch easy enough.

Bob

[MrArcade]

One thing to consider is weight....cabinets are heavy and do not move when two adults get into exciting gameplay.  If you make the cabinet easy to move...it will move during gameplay.  This would not be good in my opinion.

[Distortion]

think of a cabinet cut off below the control panel.  It's been done before, and if you put it on a table, it's at a good height to be standing up and playing.

[Lilwolf]

How about this for an idea.

A mini - TV, or super small LCD VGA (can you find a small 1/4 vga) hacked together with usb thumb pad.  The two are hacked together to look something like a gameboy.

Then, have them plug into a laptop.

So when you are on a plain, you have a handheld with battery support... Just a cable that goes between your notebook thats under your seat.

[zorg]

talking about lightweight/small/transportable cab, I guess one could find some inspiration here

http://www.inanna.com/~calhoun/projects.html

Eric