Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: SeanCyrusTowel on October 06, 2005, 04:14:39 pm
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Ok I got this idea, when everyone was ragging on Paige's CD ROM drive. I was thinking that I could do something like a mod-ed PC to hide my keyboard in my cab (long way off). When I started to think about it I wasn't sure how I could get the keyboard to come out of the cab, if there was no place to pull from.
I have finally decided on rack and pinion, with a motor to drive the keyboard in and out of the cab. There would be a 3-way switch on the top of my cab. Forward/out, off, and Back/in would be the three positions.
After a bit of thinking I decided I would need a failsafe to stop the drawer from coming off it's track. So I decided to mount 2 regular Happ buttons on the inside. The catch would be they would be hooked up in the NC position and when the drawer got to a specific point it would hit the button and break the circuit. while the botton on the other side would be Closed to allow for the drawer to retract.
I hope that all makes sense to people. My question is, does it seem like it would work? and where could I find a Rack and Pinion for this purpose. When I googled all I found were places that described the concept of a rack and pinion, or places that sold Steering for cars.
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You might want to go on Ebay and do a search for slide bearings or linear slide
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Just my opinion but it seems like a bit of work and expense for a keyboard drawer - something that should be out of sight and out of mind in an arcade cabinet anyway (and accessed rarely if everything is set up right). I'm of the belief that even adding a simple keyboard drawer is a bit unnecessary. Just pop a USB plug somewhere and plug in the keyboard for when you need it - no need for fancy.
Of course, disregard everything I said if the keyboard is going to slide out to play PC FPS's.
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The biggest reason for the keyboard would be YDKJ, which once in a while requires keyboard input. The whole reason for this setup of course would be the fact that it would all be hidden.
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Why not get something like this (except much cheaper)
http://tinyurl.com/9b8yh for the draw to slide and then mount the motor onto the front wall of your cabinet with a rubber disc that presses against the underside of the drawer? I am pretty sure those slide things wont slide off each other and the rubber disc would have a bit of give so you wouldn't have to worry about a cut-off switch.
I might have completely misinterpreted your first idea in which case stick with that.
Edit: Tinyurl'ed the link because it was way too big