Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Bennatkin on June 16, 2019, 02:32:09 pm
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I’ve been thinking hard about how to make an arcade setup that will look good in my living room, not like it should be in a basement mancave. My wife asked if it would be possible to have something that when not in use fold up into something hidden, like a box on the wall with maybe artwork on it. It seems like a great idea, but I haven’t been able to find any examples. Fitting everything inside may be tough, since I’m doing a deconstructed PC, not a pi. Anyone able to point me to something for inspiration?
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Here you go:
(https://murphybedsofflorida.com/images/test02.gif)
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The Ikeakade might be of inspiration http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=135143.0
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Do a console or podium. Make sure your living room tv is a crt, and if your wife bittches, tell her its me or the crt. Works every time.
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I would think your wall would really determine if it's even doable. If you have wood paneling or a wall made out of something sturdy then sure, but if it's drywall then you are going to dent the crap out of your wall every time someone pulls down on the joystick too hard. It's a fun idea but if you are going non-traditional I'd suggest something that lets you sit down..... that's why bar tops are so popular.
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Don't let the peanut gallery stop you from doing some proof of concepts.
Do you already know where it will be located?
Is the wall it is going against load bearing? (can you use the space inside the wall?)
The concept I have in mind is a painting that slides up or down revealing a slightly tilted LCD monitor & marquee inside the wall.
Most walls will have 4 inches of depth to work with from the backside of the opposite drywall to the surface level of the drywall facing you.
A frame sitting on the surface can add a little more.
The CP would slide out instead of flip up because there won't be enough depth to house the joysticks rotated, but there could be just enough room for them to fit upright if you select something like a Sanwa JLF.
Another idea would be to have a picture setting on a floating shelf and the CP would rotate or slide out of the floating shelf.
It will be a PITA, but it could be done.
If the TV already in the living room is mounted too high as if it is a painting :timebomb: , just build a pedestal to put in front of it.
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I was thinking a fold-down panel, but Ikeacade looks cool.
What features do you want?
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I’ve been thinking hard about how to make an arcade setup that will look good in my living room, not like it should be in a basement mancave. My wife asked if it would be possible to have something that when not in use fold up into something hidden, like a box on the wall with maybe artwork on it. It seems like a great idea, but I haven’t been able to find any examples. Fitting everything inside may be tough, since I’m doing a deconstructed PC, not a pi. Anyone able to point me to something for inspiration?
My cabinet was specifically designed to be "living room friendly", and featured a large drawer on the bottom to serve as non-arcade storage, thus giving it a purpose in the living room aside from its intended purpose.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,103584.msg1096585.html#msg1096585 (Actual cabinet pictures further down the thread)
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Nothing too extreme. 2 joysticks, probably a trackball, 27 in LCD, deconstructed PC inside for the brains, which I think is the real struggle: fitting that in with enough airflow to cool. Ikeacade type cabinet is definitely an option, but I kind of liked the idea of like a picture or something classy looking that reveals an arcade when opened. Might be very hard to do that without recessing into the wall though. At this point, the biggest thing I want to be sure of is that when the control panel flips up or down, depending on how it stores, that it’s held in place pretty well.
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Oh, a thread about 'hidden in furniture' concepts ?
I've been thinking of various things, like a low profile one;
(http://i63.tinypic.com/3321mdf.png)
The hard part is figuring the lifting and rotation mechanism... ???
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The of the cabinet could have a seam running down the center, with each front and back half sitting on a piano hinge mortised along the front and back edge. That flips both of those entirely open to lay flush on the front and back of the cabinet. The control panel is nestled between two drawer rails that are mounted vertically, but affixed to the rails at the top with something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Eforlike-Stainless-Degree-Rotation-Hidden/dp/B07739MJLG/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_60_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=TRB9JYBXQJ7FZVEHGZK5&th=1
So you lift it up, swing it forward, then rest it along the front edge of the cabinet. Maybe have that flip over lip be on a 180 hinge so you've got a bigger shelf for it. I'd make the bottom edge of CP be more of a ramp so that your downward hand pressure was more inward to the cabinet.
Same deal for the monitor, but put the rotation hinge at the bottom and use two small anchor chains to shorten the distance it can lean back:
https://www.amazon.com/Purife-Furniture-Anchors-Prevention-Anchoring/dp/B07PNRJXSQ/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=furinture+chain&qid=1560877906&s=hi&sr=1-2-spell