Control panel mount stability questions / concerns

[Timstuff]

For my project, I'm working with a pre-existing cabinet, but I want to mount a larger control panel to it so that I can fit in a trackball, dedicated 4-way joystick, and a spinner. To do this, I'm currently planning to give up the current flush-mounted CP, and cut into the cabinet to make room for a larger clamp-on panel. However, the one potential snag here is that there's only going to be about 6 or 8 inches of "shelf space" for the new CP to sit on, and the rest will all be overhang. I'm a little concerned that the overhang will be subjected to more weight from people leaning into it with their writs than the screws holding the clamps in can support.



The blue box represents approximately how much "shelf space" I expect to have after I've modified the cabinet (it's a lot less than you'd see with many clamp-on-panel cab designs). The green represents the actual "box" that will make up the panel, with the outline around it representing the "lid." My original panel design had been designed around the popular Lusid cabinet's panel, but when my project changed from a total construction to MAMEing an existing cab, I had to shrink down my panel a lot, and even now I'm not 100% sure that it's small enough for the shelf-space I have availible. I really don't want to give up any of the components on my cabinet (especially since I already own a lot of them), but I also don't want to build something that won't be able to take the abuse of my friends and family playing it. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[Singapura]

It looks very much okay to me. I'm using the same design, except for the spinner. I've moved the 3rd joystick to the center. One question, why are the left and right sticks not place symetrically? I would also put the axes (axises?) at a straight angle to the monitor. Would love to know the measurements 

[Timstuff]

I placed the player 1 and player 2 controls at an angle with the intention of it being more ergonomic since neither player will be standing directly in front of the unit. Now though, I think it might be kind of awkward in practice, so for my next version I'll probably change them back to being straight forward.

[DaveMMR]

Well first let me start off by saying that you're not going to be liking those "angled" joysticks (I'm assuming they are by the position of the crosshairs).  It's one of those things that seems like a good idea on paper but a disaster waiting to happen in practice ("I'm pushing up, so why is my guy going up-left?"). 

EDIT: I see that was addressed before I posted... 

Secondly, try to break yourself free of the misconception that your panel has to be ungodly huge.  I fit a trackball, spinner, 2 sticks and 12 buttons into 25" x 10" of space and no one has ever been elbowed during a game of SFII.  Others have panels that are maybe only a couple of inches deeper and/or wider and are spaced out more comfortably.  (I will admit my panel is not Golden Tee friendly and having components closer together makes wiring installing a little bit - but not much - harder)

I'm no engineer but, at best, it will look horrible disproportionate and, at worst, will be leaned on too hard and the panel will break off (or, if you secure it nicely - it will only take the whole cabinet down on top of you instead).   

So how big is the blue space anyway?   Is it too late to take the small cabinet and trade it in for something that's more capable of holding a large panel?  If that's not possible, you're going to have to cut down on space (ditch an extra button, push them closer to the joysticks, crunch things together). 

[WaRpEd]

How about a bracket to strenghten the CP by attaching 1 or 2 on the front under the CP?

[DaveMMR]

How about a bracket to strenghten the CP by attaching 1 or 2 on the front under the CP?

Again, that will only guarantee the CP won't come detached when the cabinet is toppling on top of you*.  Plus it'll make it look uglier.  If you really want to go that big, maybe you should look into making it a showcase cab.

*P.S. I am aware that it's a pretty slim chance of that happening and you'd have to put full weight for an on it for an extended time to accomplish such a feat (the size/weight of the monitor factors in here too - I wouldn't use an LCD, put it that way), but why interrupt game play to worry about stability. 

P.S.S. (or is it P.P.S?): Do you have pictures of your cabinet?  That may help.

[Timstuff]

Here's the actual cab.



Anyway Dave, I decided to take you advice and try to scale down my CP even further. The total surface area I'll be able to mount the CP to is about 7x21", so really I guess it makes sense to play it safe and try to keep things fairly compact. Surprisingly, 25" x 10" seems to be just enough to fit in all the essentials, minus some of the extra buttons (like the 8th action button for player one and player 2, dedicated 4-way buttons, etc.) I'm hoping I can still fit in the coin-up buttons and mouse buttons in, but if I can't, it's not the end of the world. The hardest part of scaling back is always admitting what things you don't need, I suppose.

[Timstuff]

Well, here's my latest revision. I am feeling a lot more confident about this one not snapping off or resulting in injury to the user.



Less is more! I didn't actually have to decrease the button count, but I ended up "reassigning" the dedicated 4-way buttons to be administrative buttons, and I placed them next to the mouse buttons. I did have to loose the 8th action button, and it's less it's slightly less "Golden Tee friendly," but hey, at least it should work now.

[WaRpEd]

I like the second (new) layout better it's slimmed down and looks more appealing IMHO.
Keep drawing it til YOUR satisfied with it.
Cheers

[DaveMMR]

Yeah much better.  The cab you pictured was definitely not designed for an extra large CP. 

Although not as critical, you can still shave off a couple of more inches by moving the buttons right against where the mounting plate of the joystick ends.  It's more of aesthetic fix than a safety one and only needs to be addressed if you draw it out and you find yourself wanting to cut down on overhang.   Same goes with pushing the back row down.  Again, only if you want.   

If you want more Golden Tee space (vertical motion) you can move the trackball plate down a bit if you'd like.   It might help a little.   

Two more things:  Don't forget to take the mounting plate of the 4-way you have into account (I didn't see it there).   Also, definitely make a mock-up of your panel and test it out to make sure you are comfortable with the placement of the specialty controls (spinner and 4-way).