Yet Another Slim Cab

[devmod]

I have been reading on and off this forum for years and wanting a mame cab ever since.
Since I have recently become self employed, I thought 'Hey why not get started on it now!'

A few things off the bat, I am very impulsive and often make decisions on a rush.
I know this might end up biting me on the a**, but it usually works out fine and ends up saving me tons of time.

So, I have already ordered parts for a 4 player cab, but since then changed my mind about the number of players. Mainly because I want to put this thing in the living room and did not realized how big a comfortable 4 player CP would be.

While I wait for the parts, I am working on a design on SketchUp (First time user) and have a few questions regarding ergonomics and stability.

1.a) Are there any recommended angle to which mount the monitor? I want the bezel to be parallel to the monitor, so I wanna work out this on a design stage rather than adjusting while building.
I will be using a HANNSG 28" Monitor (Widescreen) simply because I don't want to spend on yet another monitor. I see how size / angle take a big part on how deep my cab will be.

1.b) Are there any recommended inclination angle for the CP itself?

   
2) I want this to be easily portable, so I think I will be doing a two part build.
Base and Top should be somehow connected and locked. (Sort of like when you put a monitor on top of your desk. I have not decided yet whether to extend a long piece of wood from the base to attached the monitor. Or if the monitor will be attached to the top casing. Any ideas regarding this? My major concern here is stability.

3) I have noticed people either make their cp part of the actual cabinet, or they build it independently and then rest it on a base made for it on the actual cab. Any advantages / Disadvantages to doing either one?

4) I wanted to laminate this sucker, but I am having a hard time finding any laminate near me, so I will probably end up painting it. I was wondering a) Where do you guys buy laminate online? b) If I were to paint it, how can I achieve a smooth car-paint like finish on a cab? Could I use cheap plywood and get it smooth out with some sort of putty?  If I laminate, can I use cheap plywood? or best results would be using MDF (which I was trying to avoid due to its weight)?

5) I have seen people building wood skeletons for cabs and others just putting pieces of wood along the sides of the cab.
Any comments on this? And how do they put those pieces along the side of the cab? Just glued? nailed and glued?

For the base I was thinking something like this : (Trying to achieve a general Z shape for stability / Very rough draft!)


   

[shateredsoul]

hmm I'm interested to see what you decide,. but it seems like you're cab is going to end up being a lot nicer than mine, but if it helps at all..  for the model I'm building I've seen guys glue it together.  My friend helped me come up with another system where we lined the cab with these small pieces of wood that we screwed and glued onto the side panels, the back piece of wood,top piece, and speaker panel will be laid on those pieces and screwed onhttp://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=post;msg=1072595;topic=101388.0;sesc=4f6f3c98567e58ca2008b98f8b240df9 The scrweds that will be visible will be screwed from the insides (so the top and piece of wood where the speakers normally go). The angle of the sides is about 15 degrees, but the monitor doesn't necessarily have to be parallel to this line, so I'll be testing out what works best. The issue with my monitor is that it does not have any mounting holes, so we're going to have to build some type of shelf.

1a. Try out what works for you, do you want to play light gun games? This may influence what angle you use.

1b. depends on the size you built it on

2. If you use screws instead of glue, this might be easier to do.. don't have much more advice for htis

3. again, if you want it to be portable I would recommend making them separate, there's several ways to securely attach it to your cab

[devmod]

thanks for the tips!

I received all the missing pieces to the puzzle! Today/Tomorrow I am gonna try to finalize and decide on a design and then start building.

I did all the design on sketch up and all looked good then just for kicks I cut the profile in paper in real size and realized that I had a few ergonomic problems... The top was way too low and I would be constantly banging my head against it, the area i had reserved for the screen is too big and there is a lot of room above it (widescreen monitor)...

Also, I realized that the monitor would be quite up there and that might cause some stability issues.

I made a quick control mockup and realized that one of the joystick was in the way of the 4-way player buttons.
So, the lesson of the day for me? 3D might look perfect on the screen but it might not be so much in reality...

[JustMichael]

What is the red ball joystick for?

[devmod]

What is the red ball joystick for?

Just a 4-way for pacman and the like... not sure if it is worth the space yet tho...

[JustMichael]

Do you know that you can set individual games in Mame to only accept cardinal directions (up,down,left,right, no combos of these)?

[devmod]

Yeah, but I liked the more restricted feel of a 4-way...

Either way, after some measuring and mocking up I realized its eating too much space and since I am trying to
keep it as slim as possible, Im getting rid of that.

I was wondering if it was worth it coming up with a display that can be rotated to match the game.
It would increase my width some since I am using a 28" widescreen lcd but not that much..
I wonder how annoying it is to be switching back and forth between games...

[devmod]

I got some work done this weekend. Everything worked out as expected except i totally made a noob mistake on the CP size ha. So, I am gonna have to attached a 3/4" piece to each side to make it match the side panels...

The only issue I see with it now that I see it standing is that it seems a little too tall specially for my widescreen monitor.
I had drawn it on paper to be much shorter but then I thought I would be banging my head against the marquee while playing so I made it longer while cutting.

the marquee is up too high now and I am wondering if i should just leave it like that or try to fix it,,,

Not sure how to fix the height without making it look like crap tho... Any ideas?

[shateredsoul]

looks good! I really like how you curved it. That's a good idea for the monitor.. my monitor has no versa mounts so I may have to do something like that.  How were you planning to reinforce the monitor so it doesn't wiggle around? and did you plan on making a bezel? I'm dealing with this issue right now.

[devmod]

Thanks, I based the design on http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=103568.0 but pretty much freehand it on the actual mdf.

I am trying to go with a slim design, so I figure if I do use the VESA mount that might add weight to the top of the structure which might make it tip over. This way (I think) the weight is more balance down the center of gravity.

I was thinking of using some sort of U shaped bolts to secure the monitor. something like this screwed to the bottom piece.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330765_200330765?cm_ven=Aggregates&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Trailers%20%2B%20Trailer%20Parts%3ETrailer%20Hardware&cm_ite=12598W?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=12598W

I am gonna do the bezel last to see how deep I will mount the LCD and all that. I am not sure how I will approach that yet. I am planning on putting a row of admin buttons below the monitor and a long speaker mesh on top of it, so once I get that up I can figure out how big it will be. (I am doing everything pretty much as I go, I tried the sketchup route but got tired in the process )

looks good! I really like how you curved it. That's a good idea for the monitor.. my monitor has no versa mounts so I may have to do something like that.  How were you planning to reinforce the monitor so it doesn't wiggle around? and did you plan on making a bezel? I'm dealing with this issue right now.

[Roo]

Thanks, I based the design on http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=103568.0 but pretty much freehand it on the actual mdf.

Wait, you based it on my design?  I'm honored!  But really?  I haven't even built my CP yet!  You have a cab already standing up!  Ha!

Looks nice!  I like the curve of the sides around the monitor   

[shateredsoul]

Hmm.. well my friend said that there are some weights you can buy to make it stay if the front is too heavy. He also joked about getting the monitor on their using epoxy... yeah =/. Do you think those bolts are enough to hold the monitor in place? Maybe another board behind the monitor to provide extra support?

I've also an approach where we decide things as things come up. Makes sense to us. We'll be working on attaching our monitor next time.

-SS

Thanks, I based the design on http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=103568.0 but pretty much freehand it on the actual mdf.

I am trying to go with a slim design, so I figure if I do use the VESA mount that might add weight to the top of the structure which might make it tip over. This way (I think) the weight is more balance down the center of gravity.

I was thinking of using some sort of U shaped bolts to secure the monitor. something like this screwed to the bottom piece.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330765_200330765?cm_ven=Aggregates&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Trailers%20%2B%20Trailer%20Parts%3ETrailer%20Hardware&cm_ite=12598W?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=12598W

I am gonna do the bezel last to see how deep I will mount the LCD and all that. I am not sure how I will approach that yet. I am planning on putting a row of admin buttons below the monitor and a long speaker mesh on top of it, so once I get that up I can figure out how big it will be. (I am doing everything pretty much as I go, I tried the sketchup route but got tired in the process )

looks good! I really like how you curved it. That's a good idea for the monitor.. my monitor has no versa mounts so I may have to do something like that.  How were you planning to reinforce the monitor so it doesn't wiggle around? and did you plan on making a bezel? I'm dealing with this issue right now.

[devmod]

haha yup I liked how curved yours was so I kinda freehand it ur arcade into MDF and just cut it ha

Thanks

Thanks, I based the design on http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=103568.0 but pretty much freehand it on the actual mdf.

Wait, you based it on my design?  I'm honored!  But really?  I haven't even built my CP yet!  You have a cab already standing up!  Ha!

Looks nice!  I like the curve of the sides around the monitor   

[devmod]

I was wondering how do most people attached their "box" style control panel to the rest of the cabinet? not sure how to approach this...

[shateredsoul]

I was wondering how do most people attached their "box" style control panel to the rest of the cabinet? not sure how to approach this...

I've heard of industrial velcro (very expensive IMO), L brackets.. I'm just going to screw it right into the cabinet.  Just have to be careful to align it perfectly and not miss the cabinet.  Pilot holes will help guide the screw.

[devmod]

I was wondering how do most people attached their "box" style control panel to the rest of the cabinet? not sure how to approach this...

I've heard of industrial velcro (very expensive IMO), L brackets.. I'm just going to screw it right into the cabinet.  Just have to be careful to align it perfectly and not miss the cabinet.  Pilot holes will help guide the screw.

yeah i was gonna do that but if i need to remove it later for repairs or what not? what would you do? or is your top attached to the box  with hinges?

[devmod]

Today I went crazy and saw off the whole top of my arcade... It just felt so fricking big it was bugging me a lot...

I was planning on lowering it about 4 - 5 inches but then when I saw it cut I thought I might be able to just keep it that way. Perhaps not a traditional arcade design but should work fine. If I end up not liking the result I might just stick a marquee with velcro to the top ha.

I am thinking of putting either a really wide black mesh "speaker" or two circular mesh speakers on top of the monitor instead of the marquee. I was thinking also of putting a small monitor I have ~7" between the circular speakers to display the marquee of the game being played but it might be annoying while playing having another screen flashing stuff up above...


I also need to figure out how to fix that massive miscalculation on the control panel width lol probably add some 3/4" mdf to continue the contour of the side of the cab...

[shateredsoul]

Oh yeha, my cp panel is hinged.  It's hinged in a way so it opens from the back to front. Not sure why.. but maybe this will keep smaller kids from figuring out how to get under the control panel.  This won't be too effective against 20 and 30 year old kids

[devmod]

i painted the cab onyx black, it turned out ok just a little more bumpy than I expected. If i get the chance I might do  some wet sanding/polishing plus another coat of black or something...

I still gotta finish up the front (cpo, speaker mesh, screen bezel etc plus install the coindoor but gonna hve to do it after moving to our new place  (at the end of the month hopefully)

[Roo]

You put this together pretty quickly!  Nice job 

What kind of monitor and speakers did you use?

[devmod]

You put this together pretty quickly!  Nice job 

What kind of monitor and speakers did you use?

Thanks

Monitor : HANNSG 28" Monitor (Widescreen), but I have enough room to put a regular monitor if I wish later on.

Speakers: Logitech 25 bucks speaker system @ microcenter. It sounds decent, I plan on using this as my jukebox as well so it is good enough for now at least. Speakers are held to the top with screws so I could upgrade those as well later if I needed to.