Ultra Mega Original CAB!! ... or not ... but seriously 4 player CP thoughts?

[kronic24601]

Ok So, I'm a noob here (yay for me). Been reading the forum non-stop for weeks now. Started messing around with Google Schetchup and I am running into some mental road blocks that I'd love some opinions on.

First off I just purchased an empty cab that was gutted (for the most part) and am in the procees of "fixing" it up a bit. (pics on that to come). Right now, I am working on 2 swappable control panels 1 will have the standard Knevil type layout I think, and the other is this one below.

I love 4 player games like xmen, avengers, simpsons, gauntlet legends, tmnt, etc... As many people have pointed out, there aren't a lot of times people actually play a 4p game, but hey that's why I'm building two panels, should be easily swappable.

Anyway down to business.

Attached you will see my concept ideas. The most creative one is my attempt to have pull out trays for GGG steering wheels for awesome 360 driving games (super off road is my FAV!)

Questions:

1) 4 button layout? I choose this for a few reasons. Price, Size of panel, and I don't know of ANY 4p games that require more than 4 buttons. Aside from console emulation, is there any reason I should have more (considering this will be only for 3-4 player games).

2) Spacing from each other? I angled the 3rd & 4th players buttons and angled the joysticks (as you can see). After reviewing a few other real games, this seemed to be about as close (if not more spacious) than others out there. What do you think? The panel is already 40" wide, and I'd like to avoid adding too much width. Considering it will be for the occasional 4p game, do you all think it will be fine?

3) Angle/Slant? In this particular variation of cp I do not have a slant/angle toward the player. I wasn't sure how that would translate for the 3rd and 4th players (seems like it would be odd). Do you think it is needed? or is flat ok.

4) Hinge Support? Since the front panel will have some form of slide out trays I'll be loosing a lot of "support" on the front panel. I'm worried about the front panel being able to handle to torque load of lifting the lid with those euro hinges. I tried (in my model) supporting them with some 1x1's but I''m not sure. I cannot hinge it from the back due to the way it fits on my cab. What do you think? any ideas on how to secure it better? Or will this work?

5) Steering wheel slide out trays? Ok this is the big one. I've seen people to a fixed angle wheel (thanks solarcade), but I wanted to do something even cooler, more difficult, and more expensive! YAY. My original idea was drawer slides, but I don't think they sell any that small, what do you think I could do to have it pull out, but still give it some support if slightly leaned on. I do want it to be more solid than not, but am not sure how to configure the slide out portion.?

6) Steering wheel angle locks? In my designs I just included a hinge, not sure it I should add some locking mech to lock the angle in? Originally I was going to screw in some metal bracket that would prevent it from folding more than 30 degrees (that's the angle they are at in the design). But that might not be all that stable?

Please anyone, feedback or ideas would be AWESOME. Thanks so much.

[Ond]

Crikey!  I'm not normally a fan of 4 player setups but that layout with the wheels and all,  that looks pretty awsome ( as a design anyway).  I'll let 4 player experts answer your various questions, just wanted  to comment in general.

[Beretta]

wow i love those games too, and thats why on my 2nd project i plan to have a 2 and  4 player panel to swap out.

im currently doing a practice run on a 2player joust cab.. so take what i say with a grain of salt.. i have'nt yet done what you're attempting.

personally if it was me i would not have the wheels pull out.. it's cool but it also add's complexity.. so i'd just make a separate panel for the wheels.

if you think you can round up enough people to play 3 and 4 player games then i say go for it.. 4 player games in the arcade was THE BEST, was always so much fun the more people playing with you.

[solowCX]

Glad I could be an inspiration of sorts, despite being a n00b myself.

I think if you have the room and you only want 4 buttons it might be good to put them in a curved row, kind of like on Neo-Geo cabs. Although I imagine your current format could work too, as long as you mainly want to use it as a 4 player cab. Can always check out MAWS to see if any games of interest require more.

I'd recommend creating a cardboard mock-up to see if the spacing will work out or not. Draw on the joysticks/buttons and gather some people around and see if it is too crowded.

Depending on the height of your cabinet slant might not be an issue. Again, I recommend the cardboard set an appropriate height.

You could just not do hinges. I had toyed with the idea of using like wooden dowels underneath the control panel top being placed into holes in the edges of the boxed sides (or vice versa). I never tested it, but that might keep it from moving around while also letting you lift it up and access the controls if needed. Alternately, if you put in some triangle pieces of wood extending out inside the panel and behind those 2 non-hinging pieces that might provide some extra support.

I also had the idea of using drawer sliders but felt they would be too flimsy. If you did go that route, maybe the same dowel and hole idea underneath the panel to lock it in place in its open and closed positions.

Another idea would be to instead just do a hinge at the top of each of the 3 steering wheel pieces so they pivot out. Locking it in this position would probably require a wedge behind it or something though. 

In any case, cool design so far. I look forward to watching this progress.

[Bender]

the slide out steering wheels are a great Idea, but that's going to take some serious engineering to work
man I hope you can pull it off!

as far a locking down to 30 deg you could use a magnet
as far a the sliding part that is going to be tricky you need to find a way for it to really lock solid once it's out

[ivwshane]

Interesting idea.

This is what I came up with for the steering wheel angle lock.

[kronic24601]

... you need to find a way for it to really lock solid once it's out

Yes, that will certainly be part of the trick, the other issue is making sure any down force is stable. I have a few ideas, but we'll see how they plan out. I really want to plan this thing out good and well before I cut all the wood ...

This is what I came up with for the steering wheel angle lock.

hmmm there's a thought, although the wood at the bottom would have to be pretty thick.  The 1/2" MDF I was going to use would pull right out with any kind of pressure in that way. I'll have to give this one some thought. Thanks for the mach-up BTW that's awesome!

[ivwshane]

The block of wood would need to be thick and at least support more than half of the back face where the wheel connects to (my mock up doesn't do this). You can create the wood block by gluing multiple layers of mdf together.

[kronic24601]

I'd recommend creating a cardboard mock-up to see if the spacing will work out or not.

Yes this is a good idea. I did print out the layout on paper, but I guess it's different with the actual materials. It's too bad I'm so lazy. I'm not sure I'll want to mach up a full scale cardboard layout. I saw the one you did and I was thinking that was a lot of work. Probably pays off in the end though...

Another idea would be to instead just do a hinge at the top of each of the 3 steering wheel pieces so they pivot out.

Ya, this was my first idea, it seemed the most stable, but unfortunately when I drew the plans in Google Sketchup, it just wasn't long enough. (the TurboTwist 2 spinner would have to be really really low, under the panel actually for it to pull out far enough for the steering wheel to work.