Hi everyone,
I’ve been reading through the forums for some time now. This is such a fantastic forum. I’ve followed emulation for years, but never thought of building my own cab as I just don’t have the room for one. When I happened upon Lokesen’s Nanocade (
http://www.nanocade.com), I was inspired. I loved the look of an acrylic mini-cab. Doing more research, I came upon Vance Fry’s Pixelbox (
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50248.0;all), which further inspired me. I really liked the Nanocade, but I wasn’t quite confident that a dismantled netbook would fit inside. I also wanted a spinner, so I knew I’d need something with a slightly bigger control panel. When I saw that Vance Fry also had a trackball, I went for broke.
I decided to design my own using Google Sketchup’s demo. I have blatantly stolen certain elements from each of them. I reached out to both Lokesen and to Vance to make sure that they were okay with my posting. I never heard back from Vance, but Lokesen was gracious enough to say he’d like to see what I’ve done. I’ve borrowed some design elements from both as well as some construction elements.
I will be using Pixelbox’s multi-layered control panel and Nanocade’s marquee and layered side panels.
You’ll notice that I’m throwing the whole farm at this thing, but I think it should all work. In my Sketchup model, I used the joystick and the 2.5” trackball from the Google 3d warehouse. The buttons I made from the spec drawings for Sanwa’s 24mm pushbuttons. The renderings were done using the V-Ray for Sketchup demo.
I do have some questions, though. I am trying to find an alternate way to mount the 2.5” trackball directly to my three layer (2 x 1/8” and 1 x ¼”) acrylic panel. Is there any way to mount these things without needing a 4”x 4” square plate? I’ve even toyed with gluing the trackball housing directly to the top layer of the control panel, then supporting it from below.
The joystick will likely be an Ultimarc Mag-Stik Plus but with a ball top. I’m planning on screwing it between layers sort of the way that Vance Fry did with Pixelbox. Hopefully, you can see what I mean from the pics of each individual layer.
The layout will allow me to use the joystick with my left hand while using the buttons with my right, as well as use the trackball with my right hand while using the buttons with my left, which is just how I prefer to play each.
I’ll get a MiniPAC controller and shift one of the buttons, so that should allow for enough buttons to control MAME and MaLa FE.
I’d really like to know everyone’s thoughts. I know some will say my control panel is overkill, and that’s fine. This will be for my use only, and I’m while I’m not married to the trackball, if I can find a way to mount the thing, I’m gonna put it in there. I know myself, and I’ll regret it if I don’t do it, but I’d like to know everyone’s thoughts anyway. Though it won’t be my first time working with acrylics or modeling, it will be my first cab, so hopefully, even if you have criticisms, you’ll be gentle.

I included a Coke can model from the 3d warehouse for size reference.
Cheers,
/Jules