Moxie Mikes Chip Cabinet (2 Viewers)

detroitdad

detroitdad

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I'll post some thoughts in a second. Figured I would grey some pics posted first.

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@Moxie Mike came to my game on Friday night and brought this chip cabinet for me to look at, post some pictures of, and write my thoughts.

First off, I'm not getting compensated, paid, ect....I'm doing this to help out a forum member. I'll post my honest thoughts on this.

After looking at the pictures. If you want shots of something else. Let me know. If you have any questions that aren't on the build itself, ask away. If its a build question, price question, ect..... I'll leave that to @Moxie Mike to answer.

The Poseidon's were out, so they took up temporary residence in the cabinet.

I'll post more later. Colleen was very impressed with the quality of the construction. It appears to be durable, and well built (and a heavy SOB). The game is back on. I'll post more later.
 
Are those plexiglass or some plastic dividers in the top section between rows? Is it a curved bottom or flat where the chips sit?
 
markleteenie said:
Are those plexiglass or some plastic dividers in the top section between rows? Is it a curved bottom or flat where the chips sit?
Click to expand...

Yes those dividers are from a partial sheet of Plexiglas that the manufacturer had on hand to use for the prototype. They're about 1 3/4" wide and are inserted into the foam 3/4".

Chances are prototype #2 will be developed using a different material for the dividers for cost reasons.

The foam is flat on the bottom - the chips fit pretty snugly between the dividers and the flexibility in the foam and the Plexiglas it works just fine.

Why do you ask if the bottom is curved? Is this something that is important and something that should be taken in to consideration?
 
Moxie Mike said:
Why do you ask if the bottom is curved? Is this something that is important and something that should be taken in to consideration?
Click to expand...

Shaped vs flat bottom: I think the rack grooves being curved seems aesthetically more pleasing(uniform) and possibly more secure, since there is a constant point of contact.

I'll let more members weigh in on the significance of a flat vs curved bottom for a chip rack.
 
markleteenie said:
Shaped vs flat bottom: I think the rack grooves being curved seems aesthetically more pleasing(uniform) and possibly more secure, since there is a constant point of contact.
Click to expand...

That makes sense and I can see why acrylic racks are designed this way. But this is a storage/display cabinet, not a 'case' in the sense that it's not necessarily designed with portability in mind.

Another reason the foam is flat is to accommodate a wider variety of objects. The design is meant to be modular in the sense that all you have to do is pluck out a divider or two to store cards, dealer buttons, plaques, etc. I'm not sure if there's a conventional way to machine the foam for a curved groove. There's probably a way of course - but costs are always a consideration.
 
Agree that foam is better than a non conforming curved surface.

I couldn't tell from the picture that the top display section was also foam. To me it looked like plexiglass walls with a dark (potentially) hard flat bottom. The top part didn't look like pluckable foam like in the drawers. Am I missing something?
 
markleteenie said:
Agree that foam is better than a non conforming curved surface.

I couldn't tell from the picture that the top display section was also foam. To me it looked like plexiglass walls with a dark (potentially) hard flat bottom. The top part didn't look like pluckable foam like in the drawers. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

In the top section, the bottom is completely flat aside from the slots cut for the dividers. The foam itself is a polyethylene product - not the 'pick-n-pluck' foam you may be familiar with. It's considerably more firm and durable than the pluck foam.

FYI the top foam is actually a different product than the ones in the drawers - the top foam has a smoother, less porous appearance than the drawer foam. Both are viable products, but the one in the top looks a little nicer.
 
As Mike stated. The foam is a dense, flat surface. It works really well for the chips. The top, display portion holds 116 TRK chips per row. I'm guessing it would be 117 per row for most cpc chips. Paulson's will vary on their condition.

@Moxie Mike there seems to be a lot of extra space in the in between the chips the lift up top. Is it designed like this for that the dividers can be removed and racks of chips can be stored in there? I tried to remove the dividers but they felt pretty secure. I didn't want to damage it.
 
detroitdad said:
@Moxie Mike there seems to be a lot of extra space in the in between the chips the lift up top. Is it designed like this for that the dividers can be removed and racks of chips can be stored in there? I tried to remove the dividers but they felt pretty secure. I didn't want to damage it.
Click to expand...

@detroitdad - The dividers are wedged into the slots pretty firmly but they'll come out just fine with a little tug.

Don't worry about damaging the foam... If the foam gets damaged from regular use then that's a really important piece of feedback that we'll want to know about. So please put it through it's paces and let me know if there is anything that doesn't hold up or work out very well.

Yes the depth of the chest part is to accommodate taller objects. You're welcome to pull the foam out of the top and see how many racks fit... There might even be enough room to stack them .. which would effectively double the storage capacity.

Lastly, when I first approached you to review, I was kind of hoping you would use it as you typically would in your games. So if you would rather not use the foam or the pull out trays, do what's most suitable to your needs.
 
Do the chips in front of an unfilled rack want to fall over all the time? I have a case I built years ago using a standard 500 capacity chip tray with ten rows that hold 50 chips each. If I only have 40 or so chips in a row the first 2 or 3 always want to fall forward and this has always kind of bugged me. The plastic tray actually is built to have a slight uphill design so this helps but does not totally prevent it.
 
mike32 said:
Do the chips in front of an unfilled rack want to fall over all the time? I have a case I built years ago using a standard 500 capacity chip tray with ten rows that hold 50 chips each. If I only have 40 or so chips in a row the first 2 or 3 always want to fall forward and this has always kind of bugged me. The plastic tray actually is built to have a slight uphill design so this helps but does not totally prevent it.
Click to expand...
Ooh I like that. +1
 
mike32 said:
Do the chips in front of an unfilled rack want to fall over all the time? I have a case I built years ago using a standard 500 capacity chip tray with ten rows that hold 50 chips each. If I only have 40 or so chips in a row the first 2 or 3 always want to fall forward and this has always kind of bugged me. The plastic tray actually is built to have a slight uphill design so this helps but does not totally prevent it.
Click to expand...

@mike32 Great question!

In the drawers, the foam is machined to hold a standard barrel, and they fit pretty snugly so even if you don't have a full 20 chips in the cavity, they should* remain upright. In the top, incomplete rows are more likely to have the chips fall forward since they sit on top of the foam, as is typical of most cases that utilize dividers.

One solution we've discussed is to include pins to put in the foam in front of the last chip in the row to serve as a book-end of sorts. I'm not sure how feasible it is to machine the foam for a slight incline, but the bottom of the box could be engineered that way.

*This varies with actual chip width of course.
 
Moxie Mike said:
@detroitdad - The dividers are wedged into the slots pretty firmly but they'll come out just fine with a little tug.

Don't worry about damaging the foam... If the foam gets damaged from regular use then that's a really important piece of feedback that we'll want to know about. So please put it through it's paces and let me know if there is anything that doesn't hold up or work out very well.

Yes the depth of the chest part is to accommodate taller objects. You're welcome to pull the foam out of the top and see how many racks fit... There might even be enough room to stack them .. which would effectively double the storage capacity.

Lastly, when I first approached you to review, I was kind of hoping you would use it as you typically would in your games. So if you would rather not use the foam or the pull out trays, do what's most suitable to your needs.
Click to expand...

I ran out of time to mess with the cabinet yesterday. I plan on filling up the drawers with chips to see how they handle them. I'll also remove the dividers in the top of the cabinet and see how the racks fit in there.

If I still have the cabinet next time I host I will definitely fill one of the drawers up with the chips that I plan on using and give it a trial run.
 
I love these pull out drawers. They are very sturdy. Filled with chips, and opened all the way, I don't have any concerns about it tipping over. It is very well constructed. If I owned a cabinet like this. I would fill it up with my starting stacks. Raise the max buy in to 120. Give out a barrel of ones and a barrel of fives. It is perfectly designed for that.

I have no idea what kind of foam is being used. The thin foam walls that hold the barrels of chips in place feels flimsy to me. It has the feel that it could be damaged with repeated use. I could be wrong, but that is what my initial feeling says.

I also don't love "leather" handles. In the drawer. They also have a "cheap" feeling them. Again, it feels like with repeated use that they could tear.

These complaints are simply nitpicking.

One other thing I don't like about it. Its size. I would need something built exactly like this, but half the size. Even then, I have a feeling that the price point would still be out of my range.
 
I need someone to gift this to me :) It would make a great stocking stuffer.
 
WedgeRock said:
It's a nice piece of furniture, but I'd want some changes...

I should email Moxie Mike...
Click to expand...

This is just the first prototype. I think their currently working on #2. Plus their looking at different sizes. I wasn't involved in the conversation. I overheard him talking to someone at the game last week (I was busy downing bourbons and losing buy ins).
 
detroitdad said:
I love these pull out drawers. They are very sturdy. Filled with chips, and opened all the way, I don't have any concerns about it tipping over. It is very well constructed. If I owned a cabinet like this. I would fill it up with my starting stacks. Raise the max buy in to 120. Give out a barrel of ones and a barrel of fives. It is perfectly designed for that.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words. The barrel design cutouts should be pretty convenient for most hosts to transport chips safely to and from the table.


detroitdad said:
I have no idea what kind of foam is being used. The thin foam walls that hold the barrels of chips in place feels flimsy to me. It has the feel that it could be damaged with repeated use. I could be wrong, but that is what my initial feeling says.
Click to expand...

It's polyethylene foam, the same high-density foam used in most storage cases meant for transportation. The pieces between the barrels is 5mm (I think), which should hold up pretty well.

The thing is, there needs to be a little flexibility since chip widths and heights vary slightly.

detroitdad said:
I also don't love "leather" handles. In the drawer. They also have a "cheap" feeling them. Again, it feels like with repeated use that they could tear.
Click to expand...

We're still exploring options for handles - we chose leather because we needed something that would naturally lay flat when you slide the drawer in. Prototype #2 is being designed with wider panels in the pull out tray to allow us to run the leather straps all the way through the panel instead of fastening the strap to the inside of the tray. It'll probably feel much more secure and durable.

Feedback from pictures we've shown around has been almost completely positive. I'd be curious as to whether others share your opinion that it feels 'cheap'.

detroitdad said:
These complaints are simply nitpicking.

One other thing I don't like about it. Its size. I would need something built exactly like this, but half the size. Even then, I have a feeling that the price point would still be out of my range.
Click to expand...

When you say 'half the size' do you mean half the footprint of the cabinet? Or half the storage capacity?

I don't agree that this is nitpicking. This type of feedback is why I drove across the state to deliver the cabinet (and also to donk off buy-ins while downing no bourbons :)).

Seriously though - I appreciate your willingness to take the time to help us out. This goal is to make the product as good as it possibly can be.
 
WedgeRock said:
No lock either...

:unsure:
Click to expand...

There were a few features that were deliberately left off the first prototype, a lock and a cash slot being amongst them.

It would seem that a lock is pretty important to at least some of the people who've shown interest. We might have to take another look at prioritizing this feature for prototype #2.
 
WedgeRock said:
What's the price tag on that?
Click to expand...

No determinations on price points have been made but our goal is to go to market with a handful of offerings ranging from a few hundred dollars to a top end of maybe $1200-$1500. Right now we're looking at including a variety of features... once those things have been determined we'll likely go into production on a handful of SKUs with a standardized package of features.

Examples include number of drawers, chip capacities of each drawer, various foam insert configurations, whether to include the pull out trays or sell them as an accessory, locks, cash slots, LEDs, customization options to offer, etc...

And then we need to figure out our construction costs by quantity. A one off, custom built cabinet is going to cost significantly more than a standardized SKU.

Sorry I don't have a better answer for you at the moment on cost. Right now our focus is on working the bugs out of the designs through our prototype process. Thanks for understanding :)
 
This is a lovely piece. For me, though, I would prefer three drawers rather than having the top open. You can still have the glass top so that the top drawer contents can be seen. Also, not sure if this is possible with wood, but some kind of mechanism like in a filing cabinet that only allows you to open one drawer a a time (to prevent tipping over).
 
Darson said:
This is a lovely piece. For me, though, I would prefer three drawers rather than having the top open. You can still have the glass top so that the top drawer contents can be seen. Also, not sure if this is possible with wood, but some kind of mechanism like in a filing cabinet that only allows you to open one drawer a a time (to prevent tipping over).
Click to expand...

There is a counter weight in it. Both drawers
filled and it won't tip over
 

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