Control mount upside-down

[Siege88]

Hey,
I have a question for you guys.  I'm trying to put together my first cab and it seems like other people have run into this problem, too.  With 3/4" board, the Happs joysticks (I'm using competition) come out really short.  I messed around with it a little, and I'm wondering if anyone else has considered mounting them with the base upside-down?
Insert the joystick through the cp , but into the opposite end of the base (so the microswitches are at the top, against the bottom of the control panel).  If you put the actuator(?) in first and that white plastic washer-type thing at the bottom, the joystick seems to fit ok and all of the microswitches are hit correctly when you move it around.  The only issues are the hole drilled into the panel might need to be slightly bigger, and you might need something in between the microswitch screws and the bottom of the panel to make sure it's flat.  (Oh, and much longer machinescrews).  What do people think about this?  I might do this with mine, since I don't have a router.

[Siege88]

(can i bump my own message?)    No one's got an opinion on this or knows enough to tell me if it'll work?  I want to start putting it together.
Thanks

[zaphod]

Just try it and let us know what you discover.

Or you could try routering a 3/8"+ inset on the backside of the CP top which will increase the joystick's effective height.  That's what most everyone else does.

 

[NoOne=NBA=]

He doesn't have a router.

Chisels work just as well as a router (albeit much slower), and are a whole lot cheaper.

There was a good thread about chisels vs. routers awhile back, but I don't remember if it was here, or at Oscar's site.

[zaphod]

He doesn't have a router.

Helps if I read the whole question, last sentence and all.

Here's two of the threads.

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=2496;start=0

and

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=15241;start=msg119570#msg119570

[FractalWalk]

I can't picture it, but if it's what I'm thinking, I don't see where this buys you any extra length except the dust washer recess area.  It also means you won't be using dust washers properly, but not many do evidently.

Howeverm you are doing this, my guess is since it was engineered to be right side up, you are going to have problems getting it to work properly.

[pointdablame]

I guess its possible and it wouldnt hurt to try although I personally can't picture how that will give you all that much space.

My opinion - buy a router, borrow a router, rent a router.  Find a friend with one, home depot rents them for 20 bux or so, harborfreight.com has some commercial routers for something like $30-40 if I remember correctly.  

I'm using Comps in my 3/4" panel also, although I'm not as far along as you seem to be, but I will definitely be getting a router one way or another.  That way you can flush mount everything and effectively get exactly the joystick height you wanted.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I just screwed mine to the bottom of the panel, and the height didn't bother me at all.
You might try them that way, and see if you get used to them, just to save yourself a whole lot of work.
You can always go back and rout underneath if you want to.

[FractalWalk]

Okay, I get what you are saying now. You gain the length of the actuator, which is significant.

I tried this on a spare super and it seems to fit together well. Because of the angle of the stick to the switches, this forces it to be an 8-way only, which may be OK since the supers aren't very good 4-ways to begin with.

It seems to create a shorter throw, which you may or may not like. It also forces the shaft of the stick to hit the edge of the restrictor hole instead of the cone shaped plastic insert. It gives it an odd feel (abrubt stop) and an audible "clunk"  but I don't think that would affect gameplay.

Your issue with mounting it level will be tough to overcome, but it may not be noticable.  You are aslo going to be tight on space for wiring as the switches will be right next to the wood. But you may be able to get a quick connect in there.

It looks like the edge of the actuator sits about 1/2" above the switches and so you're 3/4" board will cover that. As you said a larger hole may be needed to accomodate the actuator diameter.

Overall, it's a very interesting "out of the box" idea. I think it may work. I'd try it to see if you like it.