Mounting Arcade Monitors Vertically..

[davidguy]

I am rebuilding a 1943 and Donkey Kong cabinets both requiring monitors installed vertically..  It seems like all the monitors available for sale are made for mounting horizontally..  Is there somebody or somewhere that I could buy a verical mounting kit for 19" monitors or am I going to have to rig up the cabinets somehow??  Any suggestions??

Also - who would you suggest buying new or used monitors from??  

Thanks,
Dave
Houston,TX

[MonitorGuru]

You can get vertical mount monitor metal frames and move it to it.

However often you simply build a 3/4" plywood frame, mount the monitor frame to it then mount the frame over rails running sideways in the cabinet.

I've mounted horizontal shelf mount monitors in a vertical Pacman cabinet easily.  Smaller cabs you need to worry about the metal frame sticking out the back door area however since horizontal frames have a lot of vertical depth to the frame itself (farther than the tube neck).

Otherwise you simply build a L frame out of wood to mount the horizontal frame to the shelf in the vertical cab.  Some horiz frames even let you put a board on one edge, but a second across the bottom will add support when it's on the side leaning against the metal it's not supposed to.

[Ken Layton]

In the glory days of classic video games most vertical games had standard horizontal (a.k.a. "shelf") monitors mounted vertically. Generally they had a couple of metal cross rails attached to the monitor frame. Even in the old days Wells-Gardner and Electrohome made special vertical framed monitors for vertical games. Gorf is a game that had a horizontal mount monitor mounted vertically in the cabinet. That's why it had that odd black plastic protector sticking out the back door. Zaxxon had a real vertical frame monitor mounted in the cabinet.

Most new video games today use what's called "universal" frame (or "drop-in") mounting. This allows easy mounting for either horizontal or vertical needs. Universal style frames usually have a metal framework that acts as a neckboard protector, too.

Remember that if you're restoring a Donkey Kong Nintendo cabinet that the monitors require 100 volts AC power and inverted video signal. If you don't have an original Nintendo Sanyo or Sharp monitor you could use a regular Wells-Gardner monitor by installing a regular isolation transformer and a video inverter board.

[Paladin]

Not sure if this is what you need, but I am converting a horizontal cocktail to a vertical.  I bought a new Happs monitor, and it won't fit due to the mounting tabs.  I can't use the frame from the monitor that was in the cocktail, so I need to get ahold of a frame without tabs on the screen side, and tabs on the bottom that go under (shelf mount?).

Anyway, here is a pic of what I have that doesn't work:


and here is a pic of what I have and would like to trade:


Here is a pic of the type frame I need:


If you have what I need and want to trade for what I have, let me know.