Control Panel 'Holder'/'Stand'

[Necro]

I've been trying to find an example, but I'm having some trouble.  What I'm contemplating doing, because of space restrictions, is building a 'stand' that I can put a control panel on, and be able to swap out various smaller control panels. 

I'm thinking the stand would be like the front/controller portion of the large, for lack of a better description, U shaped 'cabinets' you see in the arcade sometimes.

Anyone know of anyone that's done something like this?  I'm wondering about stability, basically.

[javeryh]

Try searching "showcase cabinet" or "showcase arcade" and I'm sure you will get some ideas.

[massive88]

This is what I did basically for the same space concerns.

Its in our guest bedroom, with a mounted LCD TV that is also hooked up to the satellite for guests to watch TV.  When in use, its on sliders that make it fairly easy to drag out a foot or so from the wall for comfortable gaming distance.

When gaming is done, I slide it back up against the wall to take up the smalles amount of space possible.

http://eminent.omgbbq.com/misc/fin1.jpg
http://eminent.omgbbq.com/misc/fin3.jpg

Its fairly stable, the center of gravity of the CP is not that far off from that of the stand.  Its stuck on with some serious velcro that keeps it in place when gaming, but makes it removable when needed.

The computer and speakers are all housed below, and theres a pullout drawer for access to a keyboard if needed.

You cant see, but theres about 3" of the stand on the back behind the CP where I mounted drink holders and the volume controls.

[Ginsu Victim]

World Class Bowling FTW!

That game is great with a few other players taking turns!

[massive88]

World Class Bowling FTW!

That game is great with a few other players taking turns!

Heh yeah, I think my wife and I were bowling some before I got around to taking pics.

[Pinguy]

Neat idea,
What have you used for the monitor - I am looking for a slimline option. Is that a widescreen monitor?

cheers Buzz

[massive88]

In my picture its a 32" LCD TV.  It also rotates on its mount to make fricken huge vertical games.  But usually I am too lazy and just leave it horizontal, its pretty big as is, even when playing vertical games.

I was going to go with a 26" screen, but as it was also going to be the TV for the spare bedroom, the wife convinced me to go bigger.

[Necro]

Massive88, thanks for that post.  That gives me a few ideas - not the least of which is having the cab upstairs instead of in the basement...wasn't even something I'd considered.

My setup I was thinking of attempting is a bit weird.  I was going to make a setup that connected to my HTPC and could me moved out of the way or into another room when not in use, so it could, technically, be even less then what you have made.

I need to think about this more and see what I can mock up I guess...

[Ginsu Victim]

Make one using an ipac, then bring it in and just plug in a single cable. Sounds easy enough.

[massive88]

At one point I was also thinking of making a more modular stand, which might work for you if you are hooking it up to a PC that is always going to be out.

I was thinking of two stackable boxes on casters or sliders, that when stacked together would form the stand for the CP, but when unstacked, would have a coushined top to put on them for footrests to be used in the game room.  They would also have a solid panel bottom, as we are low on storage as well as space (they usually go hand in hand though right?).  Lift up the top, thrown in a blanket, wireless controller, whatever you want to store.

So then, the CP could be in a closet, and when you want to play, you stack up the ottomans and slap on the CP, ready to go.

[Necro]

I love that idea.

I can make a coffee table that converts to the stand - something like the one someone built years back that the controller 'popped out' of.

Talked with the wife about the cabinet over the weekend, and the big issue with her is my tendency to 'hobby hop' and drop a ton of cash quickly on something.  This is something I keep coming back to over and over again though over the past 10 years so...  it's may be time.

What's annoying is the controller actually costs more to make than the cabinet.