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Can someone tell me which cabinet plan I need?


Notsogood

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  • 2 weeks later...

Screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner (the black stuff not the grey bezel). The monitor stand is usually removed and the mounting holes are used to screw it into a supporting brace on the cabinet. You don't need the case of the PC, it can be stripped down and the motherboard mounted on the back panel of the cabinet. I'd suggest you search youtube for some videos of people who have done DIY builds to see what I am talking about. See where they mount the components (Motherboard, Power supply etc).

I don't know if you're building your own cabinet or buying one. I was under the impression they are sold/advertised by size of the monitor for the most part. All the best with your project, I'm sure you'll get plenty of help and advice here on your bartop adventure.

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Agree with Honosuseri on stripping the PC, lose the case.

Also, At least for me, no need for a CD drive as all data including OS can be installed from a thumbdrive.

For the keyboard just have some USB ports available (front or rear) and just plug it in when you need to (also goes for USB thumb drive).

t

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Just one other thing...

I've been toying with the idea of building a 'ControlPanel' arcade, where all components fit inside the CP.  Outputs would be something like HDMI DVI vga.. & power.  Would have a carrying handle to move around as well.

Basically all PC components (no case) & PS inside the CP as well as your encoders, etc..

Another option if you have limited space and want to use a 'full size' CP.

 

t

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2 minutes ago, thomas3120 said:

Just one other thing...

I've been toying with the idea of building a 'ControlPanel' arcade, where all components fit inside the CP.  Outputs would be something like HDMI DVI vga.. & power.

Another option if you have limited space and want to use a 'full size' CP.

 

OOH! thats what i'm going to be building :) I want to have the ability to take it to a friends, or easily move it when needed. Eventually I also plan on building a stand so I can "lock it in place" to make it a full size cab. I got my inspiration from this post a few years ago but just never had the room to make one until I bought a house. My build will be a little different (adding some usb in the front for USB game controllers, slightly different button placement etc), but I want that concept for sure

 

https://imgur.com/a/rsWrR

 

 

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2 minutes ago, qualx said:

OOH! thats what i'm going to be building :) I want to have the ability to take it to a friends, or easily move it when needed. Eventually I also plan on building a stand so I can "lock it in place" to make it a full size cab. I got my inspiration from this post a few years ago but just never had the room to make one until I bought a house. My build will be a little different (adding some usb in the front for USB game controllers, slightly different button placement etc), but I want that concept for sure

 

https://imgur.com/a/rsWrR

 

 

Nice!  I made some rough sketches and it seems very doable for fitting all comonents inside.  And Seems like the TV's Nowadays look pretty decent running Windows, etc..

Even possible to get a decent mini itx/atx? style M/B to fit in it and mounting it in the rear, you can have all the ports for easy accessablity.  The PS toward rear as well (maybe on opposite side)... 

Always see to CP arcades but just as 'controls' instead of the entire system ;)

I like ur idea on making it able to lock into an existing cab/stand.

good luck and post some pics & progress if u can :)

 

t

 

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5 minutes ago, thomas3120 said:

Nice!  I made some rough sketches and it seems very doable for fitting all comonents inside.  And Seems like the TV's Nowadays look pretty decent running Windows, etc..

Even possible to get a decent mini itx/atx? style M/B to fit in it and mounting it in the rear, you can have all the ports for easy accessablity.  The PS toward rear as well (maybe on opposite side)... 

Always see to CP arcades but just as 'controls' instead of the entire system ;)

I like ur idea on making it able to lock into an existing cab/stand.

good luck and post some pics & progress if u can :)

 

t

 

I will! I'm hoping to start building this weekend. Originally I was going to pick up an amd APU with an mitx board, but work offered me a free older Dell with a 2nd gen I7 and 8GB of ram so i decided to opt into the free route. My CP will be a bit bigger but I think I can still mount everything in there just fine. I'm still trying to figure out how i'm going to strap the motherboard in, wondering if I can get standoffs drilled into the bottom of the CP or if i'm going to have to use some other method...i'll figure that out as I go along though :D

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6 minutes ago, qualx said:

I will! I'm hoping to start building this weekend. Originally I was going to pick up an amd APU with an mitx board, but work offered me a free older Dell with a 2nd gen I7 and 8GB of ram so i decided to opt into the free route. My CP will be a bit bigger but I think I can still mount everything in there just fine. I'm still trying to figure out how i'm going to strap the motherboard in, wondering if I can get standoffs drilled into the bottom of the CP or if i'm going to have to use some other method...i'll figure that out as I go along though :D

 

Cool :)  Yeah def. go with the standoffs even those Nylon ones would work nicely and doesn't need to be super high/eleveted.

The only hard part I thought was a way to make rear of CP sturdy while still having access to the M/B ports...  (maybe making rear of CP out of Metal instead of wood and cutting out shapes of ports (sound, HDMI, etc...like on rear of a PC case or something)

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I built a standup cab, but the concept would be the same.  My PC case had a separate metal plate that the MOBO was mounted on, which was tack-welded to the metal frame.  I just cut out that plate and screwed it down to the wood floor behind my monitor, then mounted the MOBO to it the same way you would in a normal pc case.  This way, you don't need to worry about special risers, over-tightening, hole placement or any of that other stuff, since the MOBO is mounted to the baseplate the exact same way it is in your case.  I did the same thing with HD mounting plate which is screwed to the side of the cab (also visible on the right), allowing me to change it or the MOBO without a huge ordeal.  In your case, you could put the MOBO on the back of your barcade, with your PSU between the gap created between your MOBO and the monitor (at the bottom). 

The only hiccup with this method is if you use a beefy graphics card (which I did).  There's no longer any top support for the card, so I bent a metal bar (slightly visible in the picture) to stop the card from wobbling around and potentially breaking the GPU contacts or damaging the PCIE slot.

You'll still need to have some sort of ventilation somewhere on the cabinet, though (maybe put your case fan on the very top rear and have it blow out the back?   If anyone's curious, the relay on the left takes the low amperage 12V line from the PSU and switches the output to a 25amp output that powers the fuse block, which then powers all of the cab lights.  No risk of burning out your PSU that way.   -A

20180128_221818.jpg

20180128_222230.jpg

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I thought about seeing if I could take out the panel the M/B and screw that directly into the panel, and most likely what i'll try first. Thanks for the tip, good to know it worked for someone else.  Great idea for the lighting! I think I might just put some led strips under my control panel and call it good.

For ventilation I have several fans I can use. I plan on cutting a square in my panel and putting a mesh grate/dust cover/screen (something like that) on the left and right sides, and if thats not enough I can add more later.

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Saw this YT video about bending mesh, and will do this for my fan covers if I ever build a barcade.  Barcades often have the DISADVANTAGE of being seen on all sides, so you want it to look good all around.  Or you could just get custom fan grills (I have one with flames on it, although no one will ever see it on the back of my cab :( 

Good luck!  Fun project...you'll learn a lot along the way.

 

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