joytick brackets, opinions

[Ash...Housewares]

I was looking for some advice to see whether anyone thinks it's worth my time and money to get some mounting brackets for my joysticks.  Has anyone had any trouble with the look/feel of bolts on their control panel?

Any thoughts would be great!

-Ash

[Kremmit]

Nearly every game in the arcade has exposed bolts.

That said, most folks around here that want to hide their hardware use "tee nuts" or "threaded inserts".  A good hardware store (not Home Depot or Lowe's, a real hardware store like Ace) will likely have both, and a tool-geek that can explain how you use them. 

This link will let you search these forums for tee nuts (t-nuts, t nuts, tee-nuts, etc.) & threaded inserts to see previous discussion(s) on the subject.

[Ash...Housewares]

Thanks so much!  That's exactly what I needed to hear!

-Ash

[Bluntman]

I have exposed bolt heads on two of my four sticks (p1, p2 - P3+4 have different sticks and are mounted differently)
I've never had an issue with them, they're small and low profile and never even feel they are there during play.
and like has been said, almost all 'real' cabs have exposed bolts.

[CJK]

That said, most folks around here that want to hide their hardware use "tee nuts" or "threaded inserts".

[Apollo]

I never use anything but metal control panels now and I actually like the bolt heads showing. I use only black powder coated smooth headed bolts.

[Ash...Housewares]

Thank you all very much for your help!  It looks like I'm going to get some black, smooth bolts for my joysticks.

Am I supposed to paint over the mounting bracket for my trackball?  I noticed on someone's website that they had done so and I hadn't really thought about doing that.  I spent a lot of time making my routing job perfect so that I don't need to.  I'm planning on putting an overlay decal on my CP eventually, but not for a while.

-Ash

[Minwah]

Am I supposed to paint over the mounting bracket for my trackball?  I noticed on someone's website that they had done so and I hadn't really thought about doing that.  I spent a lot of time making my routing job perfect so that I don't need to.  I'm planning on putting an overlay decal on my CP eventually, but not for a while.

You don't need to paint the mounting plate if you're going to cover it later.  If you have a Happ one they are powder coated anyway...

FWIW I like seeing the coach bolt heads too

[markrvp]

I never use anything but metal control panels now and I actually like the bolt heads showing. I use only black powder coated smooth headed bolts.

Where do you get these?

[Ash...Housewares]

I haven't gone to look for them yet, but I plan to today or tomorrow.

[Ash...Housewares]

I never use anything but metal control panels now and I actually like the bolt heads showing. I use only black powder coated smooth headed bolts.

Where do you get these?

After a lot of looking, I've come to the conclusion that the bolts have to be ordered online.  Here are two places you can go to find them:

http://www.quarterarcade.com/Browse.aspx?c=All.Parts.Hardware

http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?action=search&category=Game+Parts&subcategory=Nuts+and+Bolts

I believe the #8-32 bolts are the ones typically used on joysticks.
Hope that helps!

-Ash

[Tiger-Heli]

I never use anything but metal control panels now and I actually like the bolt heads showing. I use only black powder coated smooth headed bolts.

Where do you get these?

http://www.homearcade.org/BBBB/siteindex.html

www.happcontrols.com has them also, but I think they may have a fairly steep minimum order (either in cost or quantity of bolts).

[Ash...Housewares]

Minimum order of 100 at $.16 ea.  So you'll spend at least $16 on the bolts.  Shipping & handling from them can also be pretty outrageous.

-Ash

[Mr. Bubblehead]

I went for the "clean look" on my control panel, no exposed bolts.