Arcade Machine Tip Over Concerns

lovelyhead · 26 Mar 2020 at 20:41

I am in the process of designing an arcade machine with the intent to manufacture and sell them. I am at the prototype stage and have a concern regarding the potential of the machine to tip over. The machine is about 160CM tall, 60CM wide and is top heavy. It would be quite easy to tip the machine over if it wasn't secured to the wall. My plan was to include two anti tip brackets and dry wall anchors with the machine and also make it clear when selling it that it is essential for the machine to be anchored to the wall and by buying it you agree to doing that.

My concern is that I will sell one to someone who doesn't secure it properly and an accident happens. Although I think I would be OK legally if this were to happen due to including the brackets and fixings and providing warnings, I am nervous that something I built and sold caused someone harm.

I am seriously considering just shelving this project which wouldn't be much of a problem for me.

What do you guys think?

brendy · 26 Mar 2020 at 21:33

Is it possible to slot a weight into the rear floor to counter balance? Or fit a front lip so it can't tip.

~>Dg<~ · 26 Mar 2020 at 21:42

think you already know your answer re -design it for more safety. having had a lot of experience with arcade machines and cabinets the weight is literally always in the bottom. why is yours top heavy ?

Firestar_3x · 26 Mar 2020 at 21:46

Why is the machine top heavy? My cabinet isn't.

BongoHunter · 26 Mar 2020 at 21:56

You could put an empty tank or something in the base that meant to be filled with sand when it arrives?

Tbh it sounds like some more work could go into the design to solve the problem more elegantly possibly

Flibster · 26 Mar 2020 at 21:57

Firestar_3x said:
Why is the machine top heavy? My cabinet isn't.

My thoughts exactly. Anything that doesn't need to be in the top 1/2 of the cab should be right at the bottom. Even the old CRT based cabinets with essentially nothing at the bottom weren't top heavy.

Dave M · 26 Mar 2020 at 22:00

Would it be difficult to just move the centre of gravity so it's below half the height of the machine? I don't know what rules govern this area but I'd guess that was safe enough.

Moving heavier components down with longer cable runs, or if the screen is the heaviest part by far, just adding some ballast to the bottom (cement most likely)

Malevolence · 26 Mar 2020 at 22:13

I spent an inordinate amount of my time as youth in arcades, I can't remember a single incident where an arcade machine toppled over.

GSXRMovistar · 26 Mar 2020 at 23:48

lovelyhead said:
I am seriously considering just shelving this project which wouldn't be much of a problem for me.

What do you guys think?

I've built a few arcade machines over many many years and one thing I can tell you is you can't build a decent one without a large amount of effort/expense, or to the volume you can make a profit on them. I'd be very wary of trying to make business out of it.

Angilion · 27 Mar 2020 at 06:56

lovelyhead said:
[..]
What do you guys think?

Shelve it, for two reasons:

1) Your design is unsafe. Relying on it always being correctly bolted to a solid wall is both a dubious risk and a barrier to sales.
2) Where's the profit? Games consoles and gaming PCs have replaced arcade machines in the mass market, so the niches left are nostalgia (which can be filled almost completely by consoles and PCs) and specialised cabinets offering something you can't get from a console or PC. Which yours probably isn't, given its size.

Energize · 28 Mar 2020 at 05:19

Absolutely tons of coin operated slot machines etc. are top heavy when empty, they usually have a big warning sticker on the back saying that they need to be secured to the wall etc.

Angilion · 28 Mar 2020 at 06:22

Energize said:
Absolutely tons of coin operated slot machines etc. are top heavy when empty, they usually have a big warning sticker on the back saying that they need to be secured to the wall etc.

I've seen a couple of thousand such machines, none of which required securing to a wall. They're also only a bit top heavy when empty and sensible cabinet design makes tipping over less likely. Some are only top heavy with the doors open. Some newer ones aren't top heavy at all. The warning is more a matter of "if you do something wrong and tip it over, don't blame us because we warned you". There are some that require wall mounting for safety, but they're not normal IME. Maybe in a pub where people who are drunk and stupid might increase the risk. I know of one model of quiz machine that's wall mounted, though I don't know if that's because it's excessively top heavy or to make it harder to steal. But it takes a fair bit of force to tip almost all slot machines. I've done it deliberately to move them with a sack truck and it's not trivial. They're heavy. But they go down like a hammer if they get past their tipping point and could do serious injury or even kill someone.

The OP's statement of "It would be quite easy to tip the machine over if it wasn't secured to the wall." indicates a flawed design IMO.

koooowweeee · 28 Mar 2020 at 06:48

Problem solved,put everything at the bottom. Surly we should get a cut of the profit for helping to redesign ?

Angilion · 28 Mar 2020 at 19:50

koooowweeee said:
Problem solved,put everything at the bottom. Surly we should get a cut of the profit for helping to redesign ?

If you put everything at the bottom, players would have to lie on the floor to play. Which could be a unique selling point of sorts

Pronegaming - it's the new thing.

Diddums · 28 Mar 2020 at 20:05

Angilion said:
If you put everything at the bottom, players would have to lie on the floor to play. Which could be a unique selling point of sorts Pronegaming - it's the new thing.

Plankgaming? Gameplanking? Where do we collect the royalties?

koooowweeee · 29 Mar 2020 at 07:56

Angilion said:
If you put everything at the bottom, players would have to lie on the floor to play. Which could be a unique selling point of sorts Pronegaming - it's the new thing.

I'm liking it. More great ideas.

ZXSpectrum · 29 Mar 2020 at 09:20

I made mine (still not finished) with and angled part that sticks out at the bottom that is used as a kick plate. Loads of genuine arcade machines used this method to provide stability and that was back when they were using big CRT monitors.

Nevakonaza · 29 Mar 2020 at 13:59

Why not consider shifting to table top /half hight machines then not only are you reducing your material costs, but most likely shipping costs too & won't have the worry about it toppling over.