Joystick spacing for symmetry

[Gopherboy]

Hi all!

Progress for stand alone controller is going slowly. To many beers that desperately need drinking on the weekends  

That said, I am about to cut out the holes for the buttons etc... and have done a nice little CAD (learnt it as I went!) layout for 1 player. It is a 2 player joystick so I am just going to copy it and stick them side by side.

My question is a strange one and one that I don't think has been asked before (that hasn't happened in a while!) so here goes:

The left most control for player one is the j-stick. For player 2, the rightmost is the buttons. If Ipick a point an arbitrary distance away from the right edge to have player two's rightmost buttons (eg. the rightmost button is 3 inches from the right edge,) what part of the player one j-stick should correspond with this position on the left to make it all symmetrical?

I.e. - should it be the knob, the hole-cover or the screws? Or perhaps even some where between the screws and stick?

Seing as it is hard to measure pictures on people's sites, has anyone else thought about this and used a logical approach?


Ok - NEXT question.....

How much room should be left between the front edge and the buttons/joystick area? I am using a Lusid-esque design dimensions of 900mm (3ft) x 400mm (1.3ft) with the angles cut 100mm (0.3') from the front edge and 300mm (1ft') from each side, which is a bit more than Lusid's (on both counts) I believe. It is also angled. Anyways.... that is the layout so how much room? I have plenty to work with as I am not going with trackballs or spinners etc... just a fighter-type layout with starts & coins along the top.

I am worried about leaving too much room and it being uncomfortable.


thanks!

gohper

[Birdtales]

The far right edge of my farthest right button is the same distance from the right edge of the panel as the most left edge of my left joystick is from the left edge. This is the body of the joystick not the shaft.

 Not only is it symmetrical this way it also gets player one and two as far apart as possible.

[Gopherboy]

"This is the body of the joystick not the shaft."

Does that mean where the screws/bolts are on the top panel?

thanks!

gb

[Birdtales]

Yes the part that sticks out the furthest to the left I guess is the easiest way to visualize it. the top panel of the joystick is the body.

[brandon]

Perhaps I'm oversimplifying this but what I did was make a layout template that had the stick and the buttons on it..  Then I took that template and placed it 3 inches from the left edge and took a punch and marked the centers for all my holes.  then drew a center line on the wood panel and placed the template again 3 inches from that center line.. so basically I divided the panel into 2 halves and made them both the same even though its not a square panel but more like the hotrod...    Hope that helps...