Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: The cranky hermit on November 21, 2003, 10:11:34 pm
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My desktop CP can go in two positions. The "away" position where it is under my desk, and the "out" position where it is resting on a table its own size, in front of my desk. (my monitor is bigger than it looks)
Here's my problem. When it is "out," I can't reach my keyboard. So it has to be "away" whenever I do anything other than use MAME, like do serious work. My CP is heavy, and taking it "out" requires a fair amount of effort, making me less eager to play MAME than I'd like to be. Sometimes I even find myself playing MAME with the keyboard, because taking the CP "out" doesn't seem worth the effort.
So, I'm looking for an easier way to switch positions. What I picture, is a small, height adjustable table that can be easily moved. I'd keep it under my desk, with the CP on top of it. When it's playtime, I slide the table out in front of the desk, and raise it to arm level.
Does such a thing exist? What is it called, and where do I get it? Or, can you think of any other solutions to my problem?
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They make pretty big keyboard trays but without your cp dimensions I'm not sure if they can go enough to hold your CP. The one I have at work would hold my x-arcade CP. It comes out and raises to whatever height I want up to about 2"s higher than my desk.
I see a problem with your design though, your going to run into it with your knees when its under the desk.
How about building a smaller lighter CP? Why is yours so heavy?
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I see a problem with your design though, your going to run into it with your knees when its under the desk.
No I don't. It's actually perfectly comfortable in both positions. I can even use it as a footrest in "away." The only problem I have is switching between the two.
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Well you intriged the engineer in me. I hit reply before I had a solution because I knew I wouldn't sleep tonight until I had posted at least one.
I don't like your table idea what I've come up with instead:
Arms that attach under the desk, and then to the CP. Rotate the panel down when you don't want it, and back up when you do. What makes it easy is some clever use of springs to take most of the weight. Somethink like the ones on a car trunk that hold the trunk closed, but you move it a little and it brings the lid up. (I rejected the idea of a moter to automaticly bring it up, though that would be doable)
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How about a monitor stand with a big enough drawer under it to hold your CP?push your keyboard aside pull out the drawer and play away. I like to have my monitor higher close to eye level. I don't like to look down at it. So I have stuff stacked under it, mine would be high enough to get a CP under if I made what was holding it up wider.
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You need what every MAME-addict needs: a computer exclusively for MAME.