Board width for Comp Joystick?

[NickC]

What is the best size board for mounting the competition stick? 5/8? 1/2? I will be using a 1/8 peice of lexan over the board as well.

[Zeitgeist]

Either will work fine, however, you should rout the underside area where the stick will mount, down to about 1/4" or so thick.
If not the stick will really feel short.
If you flip open just about any original wood panel, you will see that the joysticks are recessed into the wood to make the joystick taller.
The good thing about using the 1/2" wood with the 1/8" lexan would be that you could use 5/8" T-molding.
The next size T-molding up from that would be 3/4" & you would end up with 1/8" slop.
Just my 2 bits...

[Distortion]

1/4 inch seems awfully thin.  Most people figure 5/8 or 3/4 for the total thickness.  so with your lexan on top, you should shave the wood down to about 1/2 or 5/8.

[Zeitgeist]

That's what I've shaved the last 3 down to.
Haven't had one problem yet.
Figure that the 1/8" lexan will give additional strength.
I didn't make the 1/4" thing up myself however.
I looked at many original control pannels & the majority of real arcade control panels that are made of wood do rout/shave the area where the joysticks sit down to anywhere from 3/8" to 1/4" & they are plenty strong.
The plastic base of the stick will break before the wood does.
Of course if you are using very cheap soft pine wood, this may not be such a good idea.