Laminating over ugly stuff on control panel

[shmokes]

I'm planning on laminating my control panel, but not using a lexan/artwork topping.  It seems to me that the best way to do the buttons would be to laminate the blank piece of wood and drill through the panel after it's been laminated to avoid chipping and make sure everything lines up.

I'm planning, though, to get a pac-man style 4-way dedicated and mount it with one of oscar's mounting plates.  That and the trackball mounting plate are going to need to be recessed into the top.  I also want to countersink my joystick carriage bolts and make them invisible under the laminate.  What's the best way?  Should I get the carriage bolts and mounting plates in there, laminate over the top of them, then drill the button holes and router holes into the laminate where the trackball and joysticks will protrude throught the panel?

edit: for clarity

[skirge66]

i'm not the greatest woodworker in the world, but am currently trying to do the same thing laminate over everything.

i recessed my trackball maunting plate and my analog flightstick 1/16" into the top of the cp.

my competitions i sunk in 1/4" on the backside of the cp then drilled the mounting holes and hammered in some 1/4" threaded inserts into the mounting holes. they are 5/8" long plus the 1/4" routeded hole comes out to 3/4" exactly giving me a flush surface on to to laminate.

the trackball is even easier just routered a 1/16" hole the rough size of the mounting plate, screwed it into place and laminate over it, then i just took a hole saw the same size as the mounting plate hole and cut it out
.
i drilled all my buttons and joystick holes 1 1/8" just laminate over the whole thing then drill pilot hole through all of these and take your router with a laminate finishig bit and router all your holes, they will come out nice and neat...and perfectly aligned.

the restrictor plate i got from oscar pased a bit of a problem as i was planning to cover it as well, but,  they have like a 1/64" dimple over each mounting screw that i didn't feel like dealing with , so it is just surface mounted it. i bought all the black dimpled plates from oscar, and since my cp i all greans blacks and dark greys, it fits perfect.

the other problem i ran into was my flight stick...i couldn't think of a reasonable way to cover the carriage bolts for it and laminate over the entire thing, so i compromised, i'll laminate over the plate except for a circle about 2 1/2" wide where the stick comes through the mounting plate and run the carriage bolts through the laminate, probably will enamel them green to fit the cp unless i get black bolts instead.

hope some of this might be useful to you, and maybe someone greater and wiser than myself will reply

[shmokes]

There are some good ideas in there.  Thanks.

I'm actually planning to use Oscar's mounting plate, not so I can use restrictor plates, but just so I can mount a joystick made for a metal panel into a 3/4" wood panel.  So I don't even care to have the ability to use his restrictor plates.  The stick is already a dedicated 4-way, so the only restrictors that would be of any use are the two-way restrictors, and I don't mind using a 4-way stick for 2-way games like Galaga. Perhaps Oscar (or anyone else) could recommend a plate that I could find elsewhere that would suit me better.  That would be very helpful.

[Tiger-Heli]

For buttons, I plan to drill the wood first, apply the laminate and then use a Dremel with a carving bit (#115?) to make the laminate match the holes in the wood.

For buttons, the button lip will cover the top of the hole, so even if you chew it up pretty badly it shouldn't matter.

Also, since you have a router, doing the same thing with a laminate bit should work perfectly.