HAPP Trackball mounting without mounting plate

[thelanranger]

I had planned to do some experimenting but I thought maybe someone had tried this and could save me a bunch of work (and mess) if they already know that this is not at all possible.
I'm building a new panel and I already have all the hardware. The trackball and controller that I purchased (which all works fine) is a HAPP 'golden tee' trackball. I have the mounting plate but it needs you to have that notched out square in the top of the panel and I wanted to try to avoid having anything in the top of the panel because it would make things MUCH easier.
Is it possible to mount these trackballs using EZ Locks or anything like that? Or does it put the ball too low?

[lilshawn]

trackball flange only allows for about 1/8" to 1/4" of mounting depth (depending on model and insert shim used... not enough to put a nutsert or anything in wood.

[thelanranger]

That's kind of what I was afraid of. It seems like these things were meant to be mounted in metal panels only from the look of it. Even back to the real old centipede/etc that used the HAPP style trackballs with the carriage bolts through the top it seems like they were mounted in metal....

[RandyT]

If not using a mounting plate, routing a pocket into the underside of a wooden panel is a necessity.  Fortunately, it doesn't need to be super pretty.

From that point, you can use whatever mounting method you feel comfortable with.  Carriage bolts, L-brackets with short screws or 3M mounting tape, etc.  The latter is good if you don't wish to have carriage bolt heads showing, but that is how they were on many panels, with the exception of those which used welded studs.  Heck, you could even use plumbing strap to hold it in place, so long as the pocket isn't too sloppy.

[thelanranger]

Right, so say I did something upside down (because I already have a plate but I just don't want it to show) and like route out a square on the underside and just epoxy the plate to the underside. Is the remaining 1/8" of MDF strong enough to hold up to that abuse? Seems like that's a pretty think piece of sawdust to bash on while you're playing drunk golden tee....

[RandyT]

Right, so say I did something upside down (because I already have a plate but I just don't want it to show) and like route out a square on the underside and just epoxy the plate to the underside. Is the remaining 1/8" of MDF strong enough to hold up to that abuse? Seems like that's a pretty think piece of sawdust to bash on while you're playing drunk golden tee....

It's a short distance, so it's probably plenty strong enough so long as you don't go deeper than necessary.  Some will even bevel the circle and leave it a bit thicker.

But if you just don't want the plate to show, put a shallow pocket in the top of the panel for your plate, and then cover it with an overlay.  This is a little more advanced, but have seen it done plenty.

[thelanranger]

Well I was trying to avoid using the plate entirely because I have access to a direct print printer. So, if have a nice clean panel top then that can just be printed with my artwork directly and I could just use a single piece of 3/4 MDF and avoid all the plexi/vinyl/etc sandwich. Would be much less work and much cleaner.