1st cabinet questions

[subedriver]

Well just got my first cab.  Had it almost a week and just got it repainted after I stripped the old stuff off.  Looks much better than before!  Had some questions about it though.  I'm going to mame it but my control panel is make of thin metal and with the way it latches I'm not sure how I can redo it to expand it.  Will be going with a 6 button setup and of course a couple of admin buttons.  Would like to add trackball if I can get it in there.  My other question is that it has a 19" burned in monitor in it currently and would like to go with 25-27" tv for my monitor.  The link here http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p115/jonelmore/ shows my cabinet with the control panel flipped down and also the basic size and how the monitor mounts.  Can any of you guys tell my looking at the pics what my possible options are?  Also any of you know what kind of cab this is anyways?  Thanks in advance for any advice!

[pinballwizard79]

IMO, just drill 2 new holes on each side to accommodate a 8way w/ 6 buttons setup for each player.

Fill the old holes by cutting sheet metal with tin snips, glue it with jb weild epoxy, fill it with jb wield putty & sand it smooth

Or just put another hole above the middle button, that may be a nice contour to yourhand when playing.

If you really want the spinner, trackball & a 4 way then you are going to have to do some cutting & reinforcing to the cabinet to hold a larger control panel.

contact flake, I think he had to cut & mod his cabinet for his arcadesrfun control panel.

By the way, don't always follow my advice either

[subedriver]

anybody else have any thoughts on this?

[ArtMAME]

You could build a control panel box to bolt onto the cabinet like shown in the picture.  This used to be an Atari Space Duel/Gravitar/BW style cab.  I have done several 19" cabinets this way to accommodate 2 joys + 6 buttons each plus 3" trackball plus 4-way dedicated joystick. 

Works out pretty good, looks a little goofy but you can pull it off if you have an eye for aesthetics.   If you need more construction details, let me know.

[subedriver]

sent you a pm about that.  thats more or less what i'm going for with mine.  25" monitor going to be a possibility?  Anyone using a tv monitor thats happy with it?  I just hate to spend a ton of coin on a arcade monitor when I could put a tv in it for so much cheaper but at the same time I want it to be enjoyable and have all around good picture quality.

[tomdotcom]

I had a 27" TV in my first cabinet and it was more then fine for me. I had it all powered with a smart strip and wired a button on top of the cabinet to turn everything on at once, just hacked the power button off the PC. I'm going with an LCD in the new cab I'm getting. Can't comment on it as I don't have it yet.

[TAG]

sent you a pm about that.  thats more or less what i'm going for with mine.  25" monitor going to be a possibility?  Anyone using a tv monitor thats happy with it?  I just hate to spend a ton of coin on a arcade monitor when I could put a tv in it for so much cheaper but at the same time I want it to be enjoyable and have all around good picture quality.

I've been using a 27 inch TV with s-video, and it looks good to me.  I'm sure an arcade monitor would look better, of course, but I'm content to stick with what I've got at this point.

[venkman]

looks good so far. good luck!

.. keep us posted

[subedriver]

thanks for the replies everyone!  anybody have pics of how they mounted their tv in their cab?

[tomdotcom]

I don't have pics of the old cab, but on mine I just had a piece of 2 x 4 sitting behind the bottom back of the tv and it just rested up against it. Nothing fancy hehe. I'm sure there's alot better ways to mount it "solidly" though.

[ArtMAME]

How much clearance do you have inside the cab?  What is the inside width?

You may have to re-position the glass (not difficult) to accommodate the TV.

As far as the box for the control panel, I took a bunch of pics of my current cab and I will send those to you. 

[Jack Burton]

if you want to redo the control panel the cheap and easy way, just buy a piece of plexiglass and drill your CP holes in it and your old CP then fit over the old one.  You will want to put something underneath the plexiglass to cover up the ugly old holes.

[subedriver]

thought about doing that for the time being.  will need to find the bottome part of the mortal kombat cp graphic to put under it.  at least thats whats on there now.  i order new red t molding and am keeping the mortal kombat marquee.  can i just glue on the new art work or do i need to get a sticker of some sort for it?

[kegger]

I used a TV in my cab  and I found the easiest way to get the TV in there some what secure is to build a shelf and angle it so it align's up with the glass or bezel. Then I placed a couple of 1x3 peices of wood behind it to keep it from falling or sliding back.
The only issue I had with a TV was heat and even after I made a huge vent in the back door of the cab the TV would still over heat. But I know some people have never had any problems with heat using a TV for a display.

Here is a pic of my current cab with the back vented.

[subedriver]

guess i could add fans if needed, didn't think about heat with the tv being an issue.

[subedriver]

i have enough room to add a 25-27" tv in it, will probably have to decase it but thats okay with me.  next project is how to replace what little bit of the mortal kombat control panel art that i have.  i know what i'm getting for the area around the joysticks and buttons, but the red and black striped area on mine is not in the best shape and would like to replace it, just don't know what to replace it with.  also how should i adhear it to the metal or should i just go over whats already there?  is this something that a print or speciality shop would have to make for me with an adhesive backing, or can i just glue it on there?  will be getting new plexi and gonna be drilling a 6th button hole and have a street fighter button layout.