Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Burnasty on May 16, 2010, 12:38:20 am
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Hi, my name is Brian. I am jumping head first into my first build. I am starting with a defender cab that has seen better days. I want to have comfortable room for two players with 6 buttons and sticks. I think I will need to expand the control panel, which is what I am most nervous about. Any help generally speaking or retrofitting a larger control panel would be greatly appreciated. I have a p4 desktop that is going to be the system used. This is going to take me about 8 months due to moving into a new home and small children. I look forward to having plenty of questions answered. Thanks
Brian
http://yfrog.com/16img0306fj (http://yfrog.com/16img0306fj)
http://yfrog.com/7eimg0307qj (http://yfrog.com/7eimg0307qj)
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Welcome to BYOAC Brian!
This community is a great resource for this hobby. 99.9% of the questions people ask have been asked at some point in the past.
There is over a decade worth of posts- so using the Search feature on the main page of the forums will give you most of your answers.
Another good place for information is the BYOAC wiki. http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/ (http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/)
Hope that helps!
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I'm in the same boat and doing the same thing with a Pac Man cabinet.
What I've done so far was to take a lot of careful measurements of the original control panel. then to start I added 6"s to the width (front to back, or from the screen out towards your body) of the panel. I then cut several cardboard templates to this size.
Next I drew a 1/2" by 1/2" grid in pen on the cardboard. Mounted the first template in place with tape to get a feel for how far it would stick out. It was liveable.
next I got the dimensions of the joystick mounting bases (3"x3") from Happs website and the dimensions of the pushbuttons I want to use and I skecthed a few different layouts in pencil on my template using the grid I made as reference for placement and such.
When i had a layout i was happy with (2 8 way joys with 6 buttons per player, a dedicated 4 way joy in the middle with 2 buttons, 3 admin buttons, and a player 1 and 2 coin up and start button) I realized I could cut my board down a little so it wouldn't stick out as far. So I cut 2"s off. my final panel will, at present, only come out about 4"s further than the original.
This is a good place to start and will let you play with different sizes, layouts, etc until you get something your happy with
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Hey guys,
Check out slagcoin.com. More specifically, go to http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html (http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html)
You'll find it a very useful site to map out a CP.
Burnasty, I'd say you can fit 2p w/6 buttons each into that CP without issue. I've got similar, but even wider per player (4+ buttons wide) in a 24" panel. And there's room for a spinner in the middle (top).
Here's something I added to a previous post:
I've got a 24" x 9" Control Panel in my machine right now (actually a little less than 24" inside the cab frame) and I don't have issues with 2 players.
In that ~24" span, I have the following;
(1)(C) (S)(B) (C)(2)
(J) (B)(B) (B)(B) (J) (B)(B) (B)(B)
(B) (B)
1=Player 1 Start
2=Player 2 Start
C=Coin
S=Spinner (The spinner was thrown into a previously drilled hole. It will later be moved down slightly, or another added for both Players)
B=Button
J=Joystick