FIRST CAB. General Q's and Comments

[Soliton_Radar]

Well, after almost 2 years of dreaming of an arcade cab I finally am going to start one. I just stumbled onto this forum today. Of course AFTER I already drew up a plan, bought materials and then started laying out the pattern. BUT I haven't started cutting anything and I had a couple of questions. First of all I was wondering about size. I though I did some careful measurments and I came up with about 39"-40" for the CP height from the ground. I tested it with a mock panel I made and it seems fine. Any input would be great.

Here is a pic of the front view. Thats  27" sony tv btw.


Top view. Now, the the middle two player's setup I will probably keep. The outer two will only have 4 buttons, aside from the standard coin and start buttons.


And here is a top side view with a side panel removed.


I can get tons or more pics from my cad program, but this is only a few. One of my last questions is the total height. It comes in at 76" high and 31.5" wide. Good, bad? Any comments/suggestions would be great. Construction material is 3/4" ply (I work for a Hardwood Flooring and Moulding company). I wanted a nice finished piece that will probably be stained, etc. Anyhow, thanks for looking at my desogn. I also have full plans from this design I created, so if there are any internal questions just let me know. THANKS!  

[old school gamer]

Looks good, my control panel is roughly 39 1/2 twoards the rear and 37 to the front. Works good for me ,but depending how tall you are or the others that will be enjoying the game are.,you might need to make some adjustments. I settled on that height,my 7 year old can play it as can old farts like me; feel free to visit my web page for detailed instructions of my cab. Click on WWW under Mega Man Avatar and look in my photo album. Good Luck

[Soliton_Radar]

 
Cool. Thanks for the input. I was woried that it might be a bit short. I'm 5'10" but I have a few friends over 6' tall. I have one coming over tomorrow. I'll have him check out my mock cp. Nice cab by the way way. I love the artwork!

[Spaced Invader]

Barstools equal everything out...  

[old school gamer]

Make sure to consider where you are going to place the machine when it is done. Front Doors on the outside of a house are larger than interior doors. IE , you might get it in the front door..but not in the spare bedroom. Something to contimplate.

[Soliton_Radar]

Yeah, I was totally going the barstool route. I designed it so that four adults with shoulder length of about 23" could stanf side by side and still view the screen. THe Cab is probably going in the living room. Gotta love double doors. Generally though, is 6'4" a good size height wise. Also, my marquee slot will fit a 30" x 7" artwork. Good size? Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate this.

[old school gamer]

6'4" seems to be about right,mine is about 6'2". As for the marquee 30 " might be a little big, depends on weather you are going to make it yourself or order one. Just check the marquee sites before starting, to make sure someboby can accomadate that size. Good luck and have fun!

[Hooch]

Looks like a nice design.  

One concern I would have is the width.  Unless you already have the TV and it's 30-31" wide I would decrease the width to not more than 28" (most designs like Lusid and arcadeparadise use a 26" design for a 25" TV) That will cut down on your weight and make it easier to move.  You don't need a lot of space on the sides of the TV.
   
You also might want to leave an open space on the back in order to facilitate cooling and air flow (not to mention ease of access).  If not then you should cut an inch or two off the back of your monitor support and put a vent on the top slanted part of the cabinet

Not sure if this helps or not, but it's my .02.

Congratulations on starting your cabinet.  Exciting isn't it!

[Soliton_Radar]

Thanks for the advice!
I plan on cutting out a large opening on the back side to serve as a door (already have the hinges, lock, and knob). So that I can access the computer that will be in there. I was thinking about possible ventialtion fans and after your post and some research here I think it will be a definite addition. Width is something I had considered, but I was afraid that is the ouside player begin to wail away on the cp, I want all the support I can get. It has 30" of clearance on the inside that is wider than the tv.......hmmm. I may cut down on that, but I hope that it will still be able to support the wide CP I've designed. I really need one of those "This vehicle makes wide turns" signs.  

[Ghoward]

Looks good so far however I'm not big on 4 player control panels but as long as you like it that