Main > Main Forum
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