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Opinions on Control Panel Layout

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RetroBorg:
Hi guys,

I bought a lowboy cab ages ago and I am just getting around to building a control panel for it.



I don't like control panels that are wider than the cabinet so that only leaves me a control panel of 18 inches wide. So I was hoping for some constructive criticism of this proposed layout and knew this was the place to find it.



The blue spinner thingy on the left is actually an up/down joystick spinner I picked up on ebay.





The silver spinner thing to the right of it is actually one of these 8-way position rotary buttons I also bought on eBay to allow me to play games like Sheriff & Wild Western.





The joysticks will be Ultimarc Mag Stick Plus's and the trackball a 2 1/4 inch from Ultimarc
and I intend to hook it all up using a Mini Pac. I will also have the usual pinny buttons on the side and one on the front for a plunger.

I wanted pretty much an all round multipurpose control panel that would play most games.

Can anyone see any problems with the proposed layout?

Is a Mini Pac the best fit for this layout?

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Phil
 

tba:
18" wide and you are planning a 2 player 6 button control panel? i hope you REALLY like your 2ND player, you are going to be standing close enough to share clothes!

my smallest panel is 22" wide (2 player 3 button) and it is VERY tight playing 2 player. i dint see how you are going to be able to stick that many buttons in that small a space... the buttons are going to be almost overlapping! i would consider either widening your panel or cutting back on buttons and moving the joysticks farther apart.

not to mention i have never been a fan off offsetting trackballs, it is in the middle or nothing for me!

 :soapbox: IMHO i think you might be over reaching your panel layout for the space you have.

unclet:
I would not have 7 buttons for each joystick on an 18" control panel.  Get rid of the 7th button and conserve space.

If you do not plan on playing a lot of trackball games, then offsetting the trackball might make sense and might not, depending on what you want to achieve.  Your control panel layout has the trackball moved to the right side.   This is fine for a right-handed player since the actual player can still be centered in front of the monitor and can move the trackball with the right hand no problem (in my opinion).   However, if a left-handed player wanted to use the trackball, it might be a bit tough since they would need to stand to the left of "the cabinet" to make using the trackball feel comfortable.    So, I guess it just matters what you are trying to achieve with this control panel (ie: who you are trying to please basically).

Did you measure everything to make sure all those controls you want can be mounted that close to each other?  Some controls like the trackball, spinner and rotary thing seem to take up a lot of mounting room underneath the control panel.   Some of your buttons seem like they would need more space.   You need to make sure you have enough space to twist on the nut to the button as well.

Seeing as your spinner, rotary knob and trackball are all lined up with each other from left to right ..... you could make this piece a modular piece of your cab.    Imagine the spinner, rotary and trackball are all mounted on one rectangle piece of MDF board.  You could then lift this rectangle out and rotate it 180 degrees (so from left to right you would have the trackball, rotary and spinner) and then place it back into the control panel space.  This would allow left-handed players the ability to use the trackball as well.

Of course, you could simply mount the trackball in the middle and hopefully the player2 joystick will not get in the way when playing .......



vidmouse:
I might reconsider making the control panel wider.
Even a few inches might buy you something while still being
able to get it through doorways and such.

RetroBorg:

--- Quote from: tba on July 26, 2007, 06:45:38 am ---18" wide and you are planning a 2 player 6 button control panel? i hope you REALLY like your 2ND player, you are going to be standing close enough to share clothes!

my smallest panel is 22" wide (2 player 3 button) and it is VERY tight playing 2 player. i dint see how you are going to be able to stick that many buttons in that small a space... the buttons are going to be almost overlapping! i would consider either widening your panel or cutting back on buttons and moving the joysticks farther apart.

--- End quote ---

I currently have a four player control panel and player's one and two are about that far apart.



Granted I will have an extra button on each side but that will not take up any more width as it will fit under each joystick. I find my current four player control panel a little tight but not uncomfortable having said that I very rarely play games that require two players simultaneously playing, but my nephew and niece are young kids and they play those sort of games all the time, if it wasn't for them I probably would make a single player control panel but I find just as much enjoyment seeing the kids play the cab so I'm going for a two player control panel.


--- Quote from: tba on July 26, 2007, 06:45:38 am ---not to mention i have never been a fan off offsetting trackballs, it is in the middle or nothing for me!

--- End quote ---

I'm not a fan of offsetting trackballs either, I think they look much better in the middle but unfortunately I don't have room to do that and I couldn't think of any practical reasons as to why a trackball placed on the right won't work, besides I must play Centipede & Missile Command.


--- Quote from: tba on July 26, 2007, 06:45:38 am ---:soapbox: IMHO i think you might be over reaching your panel layout for the space you have.

--- End quote ---

You are probably right but I don't want to make it any wider and I think it can work.

Thank for your reply tba, I appreciate your input.

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