Suggestion for OSCAR.....

[paigeoliver]

Sorry, metal pre-made cps, I can't see that working I wish, but I know it couldn't work. So many different layouts, sizes, joysticks, desired plexi

You don't use plexi with metal panels. There is no reason too. The only reason you use plexi is to cover up the old holes in a multiply converted cabinet. Actual dedicated games did not have plexi on the control panel. Well, I can't vouch for EVERY game, but I know that Atari, Williams, Midway, Gottlieb, Centuri, and Stern games did not have plexi (so that accounts for 95 percent of games).

I've got an original Street Fighter II CP that begs to differ.

You have a dedicated Street Fighter II? As far as I know the only dedicated SF II ever made was the Championship edition, but even most of those were kits.

I never said dedicated.  I said 'original'  The CP has never been modified, as far as I can see, when it was made.

Conversion kits don't come with control panels (except for a few early 80's exceptions made to retrofit specific games). They just come with control panel overlays, buttons, and joysticks. They can't come with panels and plexi because the company has no idea what cabinet you are installing the kit into.

With that said. Your panel likely came from a kit installed into a new cabinet. A lot of Street Fighter 2 kits went into brand new Dynamo cabinets.

[DeafBug]

I'd buy one. I want one of those galaga/ms pacman sticks. They are only $16 from bob roberts. That plus $10 for the plate would be feasible for me.

I say GO FOR IT OSCAR!!!

 

I bought the 4-way joystick last year and still haven't put my panel together.  I was waiting for some solution to the mounting for this joystick. I know Bob Roberts has it but it is not flushed.  But good thing I waited as I want to add a trackball now.  So I am ready to put the whole thing together once I get the trackball.  I came across this post from a search.  Any updates on this piece?  can't wait to make a nice smooth flushed control panels with buttons, sticks and a ball.

[Grasshopper]

I'd buy one. I want one of those galaga/ms pacman sticks. They are only $16 from bob roberts. That plus $10 for the plate would be feasible for me.

I say GO FOR IT OSCAR!!!

 

I bought the 4-way joystick last year and still haven't put my panel together.  I was waiting for some solution to the mounting for this joystick. I know Bob Roberts has it but it is not flushed.  But good thing I waited as I want to add a trackball now.  So I am ready to put the whole thing together once I get the trackball.  I came across this post from a search.  Any updates on this piece?  can't wait to make a nice smooth flushed control panels with buttons, sticks and a ball.

The following thread may be of interest to you:

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=7772;start=msg58798#msg58798

[Hoagie_one]

I agree that pre-made metal panels would be pretty neat, I was even considering it for my own cabinet.  However, in order to make them affordable they would need to be fabricated in volume.  I would imagine a typical 2 Player, 6 (or 7) button layout with a 3" trackball between the players would be about the most universal layout that you could come up with that would suit most builders.  I think a bigger concern would be the overall panel dimensions.  So many people have different sized cabinets, either scratch-built or converted, that I wouldn't be sure how to size it so it would fit most people's requirements.  Any other characteristics such as bends or lips in the panel would just increase the cost and be more of a hinderance than an advantage to a lot of people, too.  I think quite a bit of research would be required before I seriously look at this one.

If I were to go ahead with the joystick mounting plate I would be sure to include mounting holes for all of Ultimarc's sticks, that would be a given.  I'll have to think about this one some more, but I believe that there may be some potential here.  I'm in the process of developing a couple more products right now, so these plates would come after those if I decide to do them.

You could make em with just about every button\stick hole you could think of but either make plugs for them or make them like holes in computer cases.  Solid but you can break out the hole with a screwdriver.  Then make it so you can mount a piece of lexan\plexi over it to hide any unused holes or plugs.  hell, include teh plexi and thenall people have to do is add teh paper CP to sandwitch inside it.

Awesome

[Wade]

I have J-stiks mounted approximately 2/3 of the way through my MDF panel (or about 1/4" of wood), held with carriage bolts.  It is very solid, and I seriously think the joysticks themselves would break before the wood would break, if someone where trying to break something (MDF isn't particularly strong in some ways, but the "grain" is going across the surface which makes this practically the strongest way to use MDF).

As far as the stick height... there are lots of joysticks that are used in wood panels in the original, dedicated cabinets.  The height of the stick varies between pacman metal CPs, fighter metal CPs, and wooden CP's like Joust/robotron.  So I think stick height is really a personal preference (I would actually prefer my sticks to be slightly shorter).

That said, for anyone who is concerned about the strength, I think Grasshopper's idea is a great one.  With a thick plate, it would eliminate ANY concern about the strength of the joystick mount in wood, when used with carriage bolts through teh 3/4" portion of the panel.  It would also give us a way to use pacman sticks on wooden panels, without top mounting or a visible plate (could leave "just enough" wood, like 1/8"-3/16").

Wade