Looking for Bartop Plans

[Kaytrim]

Hey everyone I need a little help on a project I am planning.  I am going to surprise my Dad with a bartop cab.  However I need to work on the plans and have no idea where to start.  For anyone who has built one and/or has plans drawn up could you send them my way?  I would like to have a joystick and trackball in the CP and use a 15" or 17" CRT.  He likes the classics and Centapeed is one of his favorites.  Not sure if I would need a 8-way joystick or if a 4-way would be enough.  I am not looking at putting fighter games on here and not sure if shumps would be added either.  I want the stick to be fixed 4-way or end up using a 49-way and GPWiz49 for auto mapping by game.  I want this to be as easy for him and his wife to use as possible.

I have a PIII 733 mhz PC with 512 RAM, 10GB hard drive, built in video, creative sound card and a 17" monitor.  I have all the buttons and a T-Stick on hand that would be put in 4-way mode permanently.  I have a trackball coming in the mail.  I also have a GPWiz or KeyWiz that I can put in there.  So as far as hardware I am mostly set.  I just have to decide on either the T-Stick or find a 49-way stick and get the GPWiz49.

I am open to any and all suggestions within the parameter stated above.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[ChadTower]

Plans

[Kaytrim]

Thanks for the link Chad.

Anybody else have some plans that they could share.    leapinlew you had a nice bartop you built recently, care to share?

CP Plans are also welcome.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[rovingmind]

wow i've never actually looked at anything on their site other than models for blender3d

never saw that   

Plans

[leapinlew]

Thanks for the link Chad.

Anybody else have some plans that they could share.    leapinlew you had a nice bartop you built recently, care to share?

CP Plans are also welcome.

TTFN
Kaytrim

Plans are for people who think ahead...

In your case - you'll be looking to do a vertical orientation monitor, a 4 way stick, 2 buttons action buttons and a 2.25" trackball.

[Chris G]

What's with the 8 button vertical configuration?  Never seen that before...

[Kaytrim]

Plans are for people who think ahead...

In your case - you'll be looking to do a vertical orientation monitor, a 4 way stick, 2 buttons action buttons and a 2.25" trackball.

Thanks for the input Lew.  I normally don't think too far ahead but I want this done right from the start.  Dad is a finish carpenter so he would see the little things.  I am stuck with a 3" trackball though.  Any idea how deep I should make the CP?  Looking at the plans that Chad linked to, the CP looks to be 10.25" deep and 18" wide.  Will that be deep enough for the 3" trackball?  The width should be enough though.

I got the PC loaded with TinyXP yesterday. I also rebuilt the .79 MAME set of roms by using CLRMAMEPro and a rollback set.  Now all I have to do is pare down the set to 4-way, 2-way and trackball vertical games minus most of the clones.  I might even put some pinball games on here.

[Tahnok]

A 3" trackball mounting plate should be 6.5" square. Unless, of course, it's a highball (which should still fit, just a little tighter). Check it out for yourself:

http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/55110100m.htm

And here's the actual 3" trackball:
http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/560100e.htm

You should be able to fit what you want.

[leapinlew]

your dad is a carpenter? eesh...

I suggested a 2.25" trackball because thats the trackball that was on Centipede. On my bartops - the CP is around 6" deep. It's 5" deep at the front of the CP and 6" at the back (this provides a slightly sloped CP). This allows room for the controls and any miscellaneous items that are underneath. My last bartop had a hard drive, encoder, and input fan under the controls.

[Kaytrim]

Thanks Tahnok.  I knew that there was room to mount it but I am more concerned with room to play.  Golden Tee is not planned for this project but Centapeed and Millipeed could be a little wild at times.  I may add a bowling game or two as well if they are available and playable.  So room to use the trackball is some what of an issue here.

I guess my real question is has anybody used a trackball on a bartop and how did it work out?

Lew, I wasn't talking about how tall the CP was.  I was talking about how deep, from front to back.

Yep Dad had been a finish carpenter for a commercial building firm around 20-25 years and did residential prior to that for another 10 years.  It really showed when he came over to help me finish off the basement.  There is quite a bit of difference in the requirements for drywall in a commercial building compared to a residential home.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[leapinlew]

Lew, I wasn't talking about how tall the CP was.  I was talking about how deep, from front to back.

7" deep.

There have been a few people who built there bartops with a trackball. Most trackball games are fine it's just the games that have you taking big swings. Shuffleshot, Golden Tee, and World Class Bowling are the primary culprits at my house.

[ChadTower]

The one I'm working on now will have a trackball, but not for any swing games, for mouselooking in FPS games.