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Modular controls panel discussion

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DougHillman:
GGKoul, very interesting and inventive idea.  Is that 3/4" acrylic you're making your panel out of?  I'm really starting to like the idea of a wholly acrylic panel with some sorta lighting effect.

Garrett, I've got a huge collecton of original figures too.  They're not on display at the moment though.  Easier to display a pegboard wall of packaged ones that set up all the open ones in a diorama.  :)

I'm heading out to Menard's in a few minutes, chock full of ideas gleaned from the examples & discussion here.   Hopeully I'll get started on the actual CP build within a day or two.

GGKoul:
It's actually Mirrored Plexi.  Call FABBACK.  Purchased from my local Home Depot.  
It's mounted on 3/4 MDF.  I'm not sure if I'm going to use it.. Because its a pain in the ass to cut and drill thru.  As it cracked when I was drilled thru the plexi.   But thats because I didnt glue it down before drilling

What I going to do is design each panel to look like some original game art.  Therefore each panel to have their own colour layout.  Similar to what Frosticillus did with his rotating panel.

So for the driving panel, it'll look like a Pole Position Panel, for the rotary panel.. like Ikari warriors....  At least thats what I plan on doing.

So it's alittle different then whats been done in the past.






NoOne=NBA=:
As far as hiding the hardware, a spin-off of both my designs would accomplish that.
If you built the back end so that it got trapped (like my swappable design), and then had the front end screw/pin through a hole just under the front lip, all the hardware would be hidden.



--- Quote ---Garrett posted this above:
Just wanted to say great ideas all around here, it's really cool to see what different people come up with while trying to accomplish the same thing.
--- End quote ---

My take was exactly the opposite.
I was surprised by all the different GOALS posted here for which this same general design (individual removable components attached to a carrier board) seems to be the answer.

My goal for my modular system is to be able to accurately reproduce ANY arcade CP using a minimum of parts to do it.
I am switching to modular (from my current swappable system) mostly because I am tired of playing games with generic panels, or having to play off-center to the screen.
It's a small annoyance that I COULD live with; but I don't HAVE to, so I am changing it.

Many others here seem to be looking for a way to switch between several generic panels, without having to store the full panels that are not in use.

Still others are building semi-permanent controls for certain functions, while incorporating changable controls in other areas.

telengard:

--- Quote from: NoOne=NBA= on March 13, 2004, 03:09:36 pm ---As far as hiding the hardware, a spin-off of both my designs would accomplish that.
If you built the back end so that it got trapped (like my swappable design), and then had the front end screw/pin through a hole just under the front lip, all the hardware would be hidden.



--- Quote ---Garrett posted this above:
Just wanted to say great ideas all around here, it's really cool to see what different people come up with while trying to accomplish the same thing.
--- End quote ---

My take was exactly the opposite.
I was surprised by all the different GOALS posted here for which this same general design (individual removable components attached to a carrier board) seems to be the answer.

My goal for my modular system is to be able to accurately reproduce ANY arcade CP using a minimum of parts to do it.
I am switching to modular (from my current swappable system) mostly because I am tired of playing games with generic panels, or having to play off-center to the screen.
It's a small annoyance that I COULD live with; but I don't HAVE to, so I am changing it.

--- End quote ---

That's pretty much my goal too.  After going to Funspot I realized that a big part of playing was the layout of the controls.  Galaga with a centered 4 way joystick just doesn't feel right to me.  I can ( within a small tolerance ) duplicate just about any panel except for the large ones like Gauntlet.  I wanted to keep the look of a vintage cabinet so that was a sacrifice I had to make.  My panel is large enough for the games I like to play.  I've also bought up a bunch of original controls for which I'll put screenshots up soon once they're done.  I just picked up a star wars and spy hunter yoke, an original berzerk joystick, tron joy, and battlezone joys.  I have a bunch of other stuff too.  My favorite to play so far is Beer Tapper with the tapper handle.  Like building the cabinet itself, collecting controls can become an obsessive thing.   :)


--- Quote ---Many others here seem to be looking for a way to switch between several generic panels, without having to store the full panels that are not in use.

Still others are building semi-permanent controls for certain functions, while incorporating changable controls in other areas.

--- End quote ---

DougHillman:
Allright after an extended time of no time for cabinet building, I've been able to complete the cab I was hired to build.  

Now I can get back to work on mine. :)

Anyone finished or started their own modular panels since this thread was last active?

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