Metal CP "plate" for 3 panel rotating cab (LS30 panel)

[Ninten-doh]

I know the subject line is a mouthful, but I don't know how else to describe it.  I am modifying my cab to include a 3 panel rotating system like REBIRTH did:

http://rebirth.dgthompson.com/

The 1UP style is too large for my cab.  Panel 1 will be the usual 2 player/6 button per setup using MagStik Pluses.  Panel 2 will be for a trackball (and a spinner if I ever hear of one that is good for Arkanoid!).  And finally Panel 3.  Ahhh, Panel 3.  The one I've dreamed of since high school wasting away time and money on Ikari Warriors and Heavy Barrel.  Panel 3 is for an LS30 setup.  I bought an old Ikari CP off of ebay for the LS30's.  Now the trick is to somehow get those sticks mounted onto a wooden CP that will work in my rotating panel system.  My idea, and I'm probably going to show my ignorance and get laughed at (that's okay, I'm a big boy, I can take it), is to get a metal shop to cut the Ikari CP along the edges of the plexi overlay (see pic).  I would then take the metal CP "plate", and screw it down into a wooden CP frame that was sized to fit the rotating system.  Since the Ikari CP already has the holes from the plexi top, I could use those same holes to mount the metal CP to the wooden panel frame.  Does this make sense?  Is this a viable option?  I thought about using the top mount approach rdagger used, but I would prefer to not have to solder the wiring to the LS30's.

[Ninten-doh]

I'm bumping this because despite popular opinion, I really don't want to do something stupid.

[Hiub1]

I don't see why that wouldn't work. Just have a metal shop cut out a rectangular sheet of metal with the holes drilled in the right place, and you can just bolt that to the frame of the wood structure that you are building for the other panels.

Another option would be to have the metal shop construct mounting plates, much like  a trackball mounting plate that you can recess with a router so that it does not show. The plate would have threads tacked on to the bottom so that you can screw it from the underside of the panel, then just bondo away on the top to make sure it's smooth after you recess it and stick the overlay on the top.

A third idea would be to route the underside of the wood control panel enough so that you have good clearance on the stick. On my current fighter layout, I have 2 Wico P360's mounted and I had to recess a good half an inch until I got the height I needed on the sticks. The MDF is still plenty strong, so no worries there, just make sure that you go slowly recessing such a big depth.

[Ninten-doh]

Thanks Hiub1,
I like that mounting plate idea a lot.