Power, Admin and Volume button placement???

[cmoses]

Been working on my control panel and layout and was hoping to get some input on the placement of some buttons.  I have a Mortal Kombat II cabinet that has a NFL Blitz 4 player control panel.  I am only doing a 2 player control panel so I have plenty of options.

I have a power strip and am using the computer power switch to turn on and off everything.  I want to place a button on the cabinet for powering on and off, but am not sure where the best location is.  I have been giving some thought to the top, so that it is out of the way and not accidentally turned on or off.  I also see that some people put them on the front near the coin doors.

As far as admin buttons, I am thinking 3 buttons in the top left and top right corners of the control panel.  In the top left corner - ESC, P1 Coin, P1 Start.  In the top right P2 Start, P2 Coin, Pause.  I will be using the Mini-Pac and it has a shift option, but I think I would make the shift button hidden and not one on the control panel.  I hear it can cause problems sometimes with people pushing a lot of buttons.

I would like to have volume buttons as well since it seems like the is a very wide variety of volumes in the MAME set.  Some games seem to soft and some to loud.  I think having easy volume access would be good.  Not sure where the best place to put these would be?  Possibly on top and out of the way, possibly out of the way on the front panel under the control panel (it hangs out over).  Possibly on the back of the control panel, the 4 player CP extends past the cabinet on both sides.

Any thoughts on these ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks 

[TelcoLou]

I have my power and admin buttons on the laft side panel of my CP box .. where one would put the pinball buttons.

Since I'm always player one, any guests wouldn't have access to these buttons to "accidentally" press anyway 

[Benevolance]

I took my lead from Mountain and placed all of my administration buttons on an admin bar, located on the bezel beneath the monitor. It works out well. It's far enough out of the way that nobody will accidentally hit buttons in a fit of gaming panic, but close enough that it is still convenient to access.

I didn't put a power button on the admin bar (I leave my cabinet on, and the computer power button is fairly accessible besides) but I did include load/save buttons and soft reset/exit on the bar.

[brock.sampson]

I located my power button inside the coin return.  I drilled a hole through the metal return and I'm just using a radio shack momentary button wired to the mobo.  Stick your finger inside the reject and hit the button.  I don't have standard coin mechs though I just made a wood chute that funnels any and all coins to the coin box.  So no chance of a coin ever showing up there.  I have a rocker switch in the other return to turn on the led bars for my top guns.  If you are going to have a spinner you could use cabvol.  On mine you hold down player 2 start and turn the spinner to adjust the volume.  Not sure what you are using for speakers but I have seen people extend a volume knob out the marquee area.  Fairly hidden but still accessible.

[severdhed]

i have a standard pushbutton that is the bower button...it is mounted on the top of the cabinet, towards the front on the right side.  i extended the volume knob from the speakers and it is also on the top of the cabinet, on the left side

my exit button is at the back left corner of me control panel, and pause is at the back right corner.  i have no coin buttons on the panel.  you have to either use the coin slots, press the coin reject buttons, or hold start and press button 1 to enter a coin

[ivwshane]

For my setup my power switch is on the back of the cab towards the bottom. Most real arcade machines I've seen seem to place them at the top or behind at the top.

For admin buttons I only have two. One for pause and the other for tab.

Besides the buttons for player one and two, I have a P1 start and P2 start button. I have P1+tab set to "esc" so I can exit out of mame menus or exit out of the game easily.

For coins my coin door can either except coins or I can press the coin reject button (one for P1 and P2 coin).


I see no other need for more buttons.

Then again my trackball acts as a mouse and my pause and tab button act as my right and left click buttons.

[RayB]

I keep my volume knob on the very top, recessed in a "hole".  My power button would be there too, except I haven't gotten that far yet. ;-)

[TOK]

I like the power button up on top, usually where the original was. I don't like any admin buttons on the panel, or even in view.
Kinda goofy, but I feel like it messes up the "real" vibe of the cab.

[cmoses]

I think I will be putting the power button on top of the cabinet.

As far as the admin buttons, I would like the CP to be as clean as possible, but I also want it to be easy to navigate and use for someone new.  My first cabinet had only Player 1 and Player 2 Start buttons.  Everything else was done through "Shift" buttons.  This made it very clean but caused lots of questions for someone using it.  "How do I add credits", "How do I get back to the menu", "How do I pause", etc.  That is why I am really leaning towards having them on the CP.

I will surely have P1 & P2 Start, I want to have coin buttons either on the CP or at least down by the coin door.  I think I will only put ESC/Exit and Pause on the CP and try to have them away from the other buttons.  Accessible but not where they can easily be pushed accidentally. 

I have given some thought to a admin bar above the CP where the admin buttons are located, but not sure how to incorporate this into my Mortal Kombat II cabinet.

Serverdhed - Any chance you can post some pictures of your buttons located on the back corners of your CP?

[ivwshane]

Serverdhed - Any chance you can post some pictures of your buttons located on the back corners of your CP?

This is from his website:

[severdhed]

thanks ivwshane, i am a little slow to respond, my 2year old has pneumonia..so i havent had as much time to spend on here.

that is a really old picture, but you get the point.  here is a pic of my current panel, but the buttons are still at the same place (just a little nicer this time around).

blue is exit, yellow is pause.

[ivwshane]

Lol you need to update your website! That looks pretty nice. Did you bevel the trackball area? And how do you like the curved layout of the buttons?

[severdhed]

thanks...yeah i need to update my site...i was going to work on it tonight, but a transformer blew up on my block and i had no electricity for about 3 hours.....no, i did not bevel the trackball hole...i got a utrak and it mounted so nicely, it fits nice and flush with the plexiglass.  and yes, i really like the curved button layout.  this is like my 5th control panel rebuild, and the first one with the curved layout...i like it alot

[cmoses]

Severdhed,

Which curved layout did you go with?

[Todd H]

My power button is located on the top right of my machine out of view. Works well in that location and keeps small children from turning it on without my permission.

The only admin buttons I have on my panel are Pause and Exit.

[severdhed]

this is the layout i used... 



i looked at some online templates, but none of them seemed to be what i was looking for...so i just went with my own plan.  i didn't make a template first, i just measured and marked the holes and drilled them.  i later made that image just to document it.   

it was easy to do with a ruler and a compass.