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| dumb? question - trackball mounting |
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| alandrogers:
I have a happs 3" trackball. like this: http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/560100e.htm the wood cut templates I have look like this though (see attached) and they're supposed to be for happ trackballs. I don't understand why the weird shape cut there. the dumb question ... why not just cut that 3.25" square area around the ball? am i missing something? does somebody have a photo of their construction / trackball mount? |
| Chris G:
You could probably get away with doing that, however, depending on the thickness of the panel you're using, you may end up having to route out that extra area from the underside anyway to make it flush on the top. I don't have that particular trackball, so I'm not sure the depth between the upper and lower sections. Chris |
| Kaytrim:
I am assuming that you are mounting on a wood CP. The outer square is for the mounting plate. This needs to be routed on the CP top if you want a flush mounted trackball. The small squares are for the screws in the plate. The inner square is for the trackball housing and needs to be cut through the CP for the trackball to be used properly. Otherwise the trackball will be too low in the CP and unusable. You don't have to cut the weird shape just the square if you want. Below are two images of my install. I am using a module that will plug into my main CP but the process is still the same. My mounting plate was routed a little too much so I filled in with wood putty. TTFN :cheers: Kaytrim |
| Racer_X:
It's certainly not a dumb question, as I was struggling with this yesterday! Kaytrim - I want to make sure I understand you correctly: For my cardboard mockup, I cut out a bit more space than the gap in the mounting plate so that the trackball and the ring around it fit into the plate and all of the screws connect. Are you saying that we should essentially cut out everything such that the entire track ball unit fits flush against the mounting plate on the underside? This would mean we would route out the mounting plate dimensions in the top for a flush fit, then cut out the space necessary for the entire track ball unit so that there is nothing between the unit and the mounting plate, and the whole assembly is attached to the control panel via the four screws in the mounting plate? |
| Kaytrim:
--- Quote from: Racer_X on March 21, 2007, 12:33:29 pm ---It's certainly not a dumb question, as I was struggling with this yesterday! Kaytrim - I want to make sure I understand you correctly: For my cardboard mockup, I cut out a bit more space than the gap in the mounting plate so that the trackball and the ring around it fit into the plate and all of the screws connect. Are you saying that we should essentially cut out everything such that the entire track ball unit fits flush against the mounting plate on the underside? This would mean we would route out the mounting plate dimensions in the top for a flush fit, then cut out the space necessary for the entire track ball unit so that there is nothing between the unit and the mounting plate, and the whole assembly is attached to the control panel via the four screws in the mounting plate? --- End quote --- You got it. As long as there is enough in the corners to support the screws in the plate and give a lip around the edges you should be fine. I would say no less than 3/16" for the lip and 5/8" for the corners. The corner measurement is a guess so don't take it as exact. IIRC I measured 1" from the corners and drew diagonals to cover the screws then left 1/2" on the edges. TTFN :cheers: Kaytrim |
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