To route or not to route: trackball mounting plate

[juggle50]

What do you guys think.  I'm going to put a black trackball mounting plate on a desktop controllor that is going to be stained wood.  I'm not using lexian or plexi glass to hide the trackball mounting plate.

At first I was dead set on routing out the 1/16th of an inch for the trackball mounting plate to fall flush with the wood but after doing my mock up (wish I had pictures but someone is borrowing my camera,) I actually think it looks really good raised slightly as it matches the highth of the dust washers and screw-caps on the joysticks right next to it, and may look funny inset.

What do you think, should I route or not?

[HaRuMaN]

Yeah, I would go with not routed for your case.  Keep it uniform. 

[SirPeale]

Why are the dust washers on the top?

Oh yeah...wood.  Stained wood.

Hm...no easy way to get them where they're supposed to be, is there.

[markrvp]

The one thing I can't stand on a control panel (and this has cause me to not vote for cabinets for MAMEY awards) is an exposed trackball mounting plate.

HOWEVER - I understand why you are leaving yours exposed.  In your case I WOULD NOT recess the plate because if you don't recess the outside lines perfectly straight, you will have to use a wood filler to fix the gaps and that will look crappy when the stain is applied.

Have you thought about not using a mounting plate?  There are a couple of projects similar to yours where the trackball was mounted with brackets under the panel.  All you see on top is 1/8" of wood leading up to the trackball Hi-lip which is flush with the wood.

[juggle50]

Thank you for the feedback guys.  This makes me think that I will  not recess the wood.  Mark MVP, do you have any links to projects or tutorials with the mounting methods that you described.  I will probably be making cuts tomorrow so any immediate help would be appreciated.

This is specifically for a lapbox/desktop controller project not a proper control panel for a cabinet therefore I don't mind it looking a bit unique.  I'm actually a fan of dust washers on top when used with wood or metal panels where the hole does not look as aesthetically appealing as when used with an art/lexian/plexi control panel.

I use black screw caps instead of flat machine screws for the joy stick mounting screws, and I think the black accents the wood rather nicely and therefore do not mind the black mounting plate highlighting that theme.

However, on a lexian control panel on an upright cabinet I would probably find the mounting plate hideous.

thanks again guys

[mccoy178]

I also have a particular problem with an exposed mounting plate.  I don't care what it's going on, you should never see that.  I would mount from the bottom if necessary, but the plate on top, no matter how shiney black it is, is still a mounting bracket and not a cosmetic piece.

[juggle50]

Well, I don't know if I tottally agree with you Mccoy.  The plate is textured and the mounting screws are hidden, it's not just a piece of sheet metal with exposed rivetts. Don't get me wrong, it's not as pleasing as blending the trackball with the surface but depending on the situation not a hideous eyesore.  And at this point, I don't see a ton of options if I'm going to do what I'm trying to do.

 Again, I would be interested and would rather mount it at the bottom, I've just searched a ton and can't find a good tutorial on how to do this.  I'm using a half sheet of plywood.  Any suggestions.

[markrvp]

Don't worry about us.  Go ahead and use the trackball plate on top.  That is the easiest way to do it.

[juggle50]

Thanks Markvp,

It's easy to second guess myself as I value the opinions of everybody on the site.  Please let me know if you find any examples of the method you were talking about.  Cheers

[mccoy178]

I've been thinking about it since I saw this post last night.  If I have any thing creative, non-redneckish ideas come up, I'll post them.  I've just never seen one that I thought looked okay.  Then again, I'm not a fan of seeing carriage bolts on top of any byoacp.  I guess I'm an artwork guy(even if the artwork is bad) .

[markrvp]

I've been thinking about it since I saw this post last night.  If I have any thing creative, non-redneckish ideas come up, I'll post them.  I've just never seen one that I thought looked okay.  Then again, I'm not a fan of seeing carriage bolts on top of any byoacp.  I guess I'm an artwork guy(even if the artwork is bad) .

And no one is more familiar with bad artwork than McCoy.