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| Pics of My First Control Panel |
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| fjl:
That cp is huge! You could land a 747 on it. |
| paigeoliver:
Well, I am intimately familiar with the art of Multi-game projects in the Defender cabinet (having done 6 of them in Defender cabinets alone, heck, one of my projects lives in Saint's gameroom today) and in my early days even attempted to attach a large panel to one of them. And my best advice is DON'T do it. Defender cabinets are really lightweight. The become unstable as soon as they have a panel sticking out more than about 2 inches in front. Don't chop the front of the cabinet. Just don't do it. Eventually you will become unhappy with a large panel grafted onto a 19" cabinet, and want to redo it. You really do seem to want a superpanel, so I really suggest making the superpanel a free standing unit that is on its very own base directly in front of the defender cabinet. You can put some different controls (something weird for a favorite game), on the defender panel itself. This has the added bonus that the separate control panel unit can later be moved to a different project, and you will not have destroyed that Defender cabinet. Also, it is easy to make swappable panels on a Defender cabinet, since the panels are just a flat bit of wood. |
| urbecrisch:
You're right! This is my first CAB,CP, etc. so I have to listen to the pros! I definitely don't want to make more work for myself than I have to so I'm wondering if I cut down the CP so it would be around 16" (14" base), if that would be enough to keep my current CP layout. It is only then an 8" overhang and with the weight of my 21" CRT, CPU and any other weights I place in back would that be sufficient? Also remember I will be reinforcing the frame with 2x4 which should strengthen the CAB. I could make interchanging panels but I want to avoid the constant plugging/unplugging of the USB, PS/2 etc. Maybe my other option would be picking up a gutted out larger CAB at an arcade auction I will be attending April 7, 2007. Then I would have more flexibilitywhen dealing with my CP. Will have to ponder this and listen to suggestions. |
| paigeoliver:
If you have the option to go to an upcoming arcade auction and get a larger cabinet than by all means do that. You will be much happier with a big panel on a big cabinet than you ever will be with a big panel grafted onto a Defender cabinet. There isn't actually any reason to reinforce the cabinet itself. That won't help the balance issue, and those cabinets are very strong. They hold very heavy monitors with no problems at all. You still have a nice looking Defender cabinet there, you could really do a great looking project. Doing a Defender/Stargate combo mame in it would be really cheap and would be a lot of fun. |
| shorthair:
What page says about the cab and keeping your panel separate (don't cut it - it's great for 27" monitor - good distance) makes much sense. |
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