MameGamers - Mame Arcade Cabinet Making & More

Making a control panel is a very important stage of building your arcade, depending on the type of arcade machine the layout will vary. Some will make use of track balls, joysticks, buttons, guns, wheels and other gadgets.

Choosing the right materials is the most important part and since the control panel is the most used face on a machine, it needs to be durable and high quality.

I have just finished my control panel and I thought I would share the materials, steps and more on what I used to construct it.

Materials

• 3mm thick, 600 mm by 500mm plexi-glass (clear plastic)
• 28mm hole saw
• Powerful Drill
• Router with rounded bit.
• Circular saw
• Hot glue gun
• Wire Crimps
• Pack of 50 quick connectors (maybe more or less)
• Arcade buttons, Josticks, Encoder (ipac) or hacked.

Planning

Before you rush on in, you will need to think about layout. How will the buttons be positioned? How far apart and will it be comfortable?

You can find some great designs for controller layouts here are some sites to help you.

• http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/controlpanel%20full.pdf
• http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/cp.pdf
• http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/draw.htm
• http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_controlpanels.shtml
• http://www.basementarcade.com/arcade/cpom/cpo.html

My design was based off Koenigs controls, with a bit of a twist. I decided to use only plexiglass to build my control panel, this gives a nice smooth finish and also allows me to use art work and a back light under the panel.

There are some pros and cons when it comes to using MDF, metal or plexi as your control panel. MDF can be bulky, time consuming to construct and doesn’t give that nice professional finish. Metal can be quiet expensive to use but still requires a solid backing to ensure that it is sturdy and doesn’t bend and plexi-glass has a great finish however requires support bars under the panel to ensure it also does not bend. Whatever you go with you need to ensure it is going to sit well on your arcade, I prefer the plexi-glass because it gives me the greatest flexibility in the future, it was relatively cost effective and has a nice smoooooooooth finish and it looks very sexy with a back light…

I divided my control panel in half and mapped out the controls on one side, after finishing the layout on that half, using my tape measure I mirrored it exactly on the other side. This gives a perfect control layout with equal space apart on each side. Positioning the buttons is up to the user, be sure to give enough space where the wrist sits so it does not hang off the edge. Allow 38mm for buttons and a standard button space of 38mm from the center of each button, anything bigger can give painful hand cramps when playing mortal kombat… trust me losing to cramps sucks..

Construction

I first divided my sheet of plexiglass accordingly to my arcade machine (width or 600mm and a depth of 240mm). Cutting them with a circular saw I was left with three bits, 2 x 600mm by 240mm sheets and a small left over bit. (I’ll use this for my coin slot!)

I started to counter-sink my joystick screws to ensure a flush finish on the first layer, this allows me to place another sheet of plexi on top and place some art in between the sheets. Clamping the two sheets together I started by drilling small pilot holes then moved on to drill my buttons out, making sure to go slow to ensure the friction would not melt the plastic. After all the hols have been cut out, use some fine sandpaper to clean the edges of the holes.

Place the two sheets together and slide the buttons into place to ensure a snug fit, there may be some movement but this shouldn’t be a concern. You may get some tight areas where the buttons are touching and some buttons touch, the extra space comes in handy to wiggle them around a tighten them on.

Some people have issues with a sharp edge, if you have a router handy you can bevel the edge to give a smooth finish. Be careful when using the router on plastic, it requires a slow setting and a steady hand.

Stay tuned for the next part where I will show you wiring and how to organize your wires.

You can check out more photos here