Mounting a spinner vertically on the front of the control panel: thoughts?

[Diewrecked]

This was the last post in my thread "Electrocoin Goliath cab MAME conversion: control panel advice please!!" but was going off-topic so I thought I'd repost.

I've attached a couple of pictures of my cardboard mockup. The panel is very small - the top is 60x20cm - so space is at a premium, although the mockup I have is surprisingly comfortable to use I know the buttons aren't straight, they will of course be dead straight when I come to drilling.

Now, I have two TT2 spinners, one with the MAME weighted top and one which will be used with a Mini Racer for driving games. My current mockup has the Mini Racer spinner in the middle of the vertical fascia of the panel (see my separate thread on that actually working very successfully in practice) - the wheel will only be in place when being used so it's not in the way when it isn't. My conundrum is where to position the one that will be actually used as a spinner (ie Tempest, Arkanoid et al). I originally wanted it as close to the centre of the panel as possible, naturally.

• If I position it underneath the rightmost button of the Player 1 set (on the left), you hit it when using the joystick with your left hand and the buttons with your right
• If I position it underneath between the Player 1 joystick and the leftmost button of the Player 1 set it is out of the way when you use the joystick and buttons but is awkward for right handed players to reach
• If I position it hard left to the trackball housing it is in the way when using the trackball
• If I position it hard right to the trackball housing it is in the way when using either the trackball or the Player 2 joystick
• If I position it underneath between the Player 2 joystick and the leftmost button of the Player 2 set it is out of the way when you use the joystick and buttons but is awkward for left handed players to reach, although not as bad as for right handed players between the Player 1 joystick and buttons. This is my most favoured position so far.
  
• If I position it to the very left or right it's simply unusable

The alternative is to mount it vertically, same as the one for the Mini Racer. Is anyone using a spinner mounted vertically? How do they feel? Are they comfortable/natural to use in this position? If so this potentially opens up a whole extra dimension for me insofar as I could mount both spinner spindles centre to each player (ie in the middle of the left and of the right) on the vertical fascia, buy a second spinner knob and Mini Racer and interchange them as necessary - two player spinner games and two player driving games. Nice - but, if a vertical spinner isn't very usable, unworkable.

I tried my MAME knob on the spindle mounted vertically and I must say initial impression is that it's perfectly acceptable. Where on a horizontally mounted spinner your thumb is naturally at the bottom and your first finger on the top, I found it very comfortable to use the vertical spinner when you flip your hand over, ie, your thumb on top and your first finger underneath - if I don't do this I found my forearm started to ache very quickly - but I've not done any significant long-term testing with this position. Would it be more comfortable long-term horizontally where you can surround it with all your fingers rather than just using two? Would flipping your hand over affect how you play the games?

Many thanks in advance for your advice here guys.

Cheers

[mytymaus007]

How about instead of vertically add a 2inch or less slant coming from the top to the side. Heres a side view of panel. TT2 only takes a small foot print. Check out pic!

[SlayerAlex]

thats what i did. feels very natrual to me.  i liked it

[ark_ader]

Put your spinner on the side of your cab near the CP.

I tried this once and it was very comfortable.

[I/O]

How about instead of vertically add a 2inch or less slant coming from the top to the side. Heres a side view of panel. TT2 only takes a small foot print.

Like so

[ubiquityman]

For a steering wheel, the slant works, but for a spinner or for buttons,
ergonomically, it's good to have enough space to rest the palm/wrist.