Main > Main Forum
Top Mounted UltraStik - hiding the bolts?
(1/2) > >>
Neverending Project:
There are lots of posts about how to top-mount and under-mount joysticks. I did a lot of searching and couldn't find a post specific about top-mounting the U360 without the bolts showing, so hopefully this isn't another one of the same...

Here is my situation... I have the UltraStik 360s, and I want to mount them in a 3/4" MDF CP. I don't want to under-mount them mainly because I don't have the longer shafts, and I don't really want to buy yet another part. The standard stick length is pretty short, and even if I remove some material from under the joystick I am afraid that they won't be long enough.

If I top-mount the sticks, I would router a recess in the top of the CP so the flange would sit flush with the CP surface. But the screw/bolt holes in the 360's flange are not counter-sunk, and hence the bolts would be showing.

So correct me if I'm wrong here, but it seems that I have 4 basic options here:
1) Under-mount with the short shafts, remove as much as I can from underneath the CP, and live with the shorter joystick height.
2) Under-mount with the longer shafts (they're only 0.4" longer), and presumable remove 0.4" from underneath the CP (more $$).
3) Top-mount with the flange flush, but the bolt heads will show.
4) Top-mount, but counter-sink the flange holes myself... I'm not sure how this will go since I don't have a counter-sink bit that will work in metal.

So what have you done?
bleargh:
I've got a pair of U360s here, and I went with (1); bottom mount them with the short shafts.  That said, I didn't route out tons of material from the bottom-side of the CP; I've still got 1/2" of CP thickness on top of my u360s and they feel fine with the short shafts.  Used "t-nuts" to mount the u360s to the top of the panel, which mount flush and give you a way to bolt the sticks on from underneath.

This post shows a photo of a joystick (but not a u360) being mounted with a t-nut.

I too thought that bottom-mounting the sticks would make them feel too short, and so I'd ordered a pair of the longer shafts just in case.  Tried them out, but put the shorter shafts back in; the longer shafts felt too tall on my CP for my liking.  Sure, having 1/2" of CP thickness made the shafts shorter, but it never felt off/wrong to me.  That said, if you want a pair of longer shafts let me know; I've got a pair here that I'm not using that I'd be happy to sell cheap. :)

And sorry to say, this has been covered before.  That said, I also find it hard to search for things occasionally; I know it was covered but can't for the life of me figure out what keyword to use for searching in order to dig it up...
ids:
I have U360's with the shorter shafts, and thought a lot about top mounting.  In the end, I tried a bottom mount and didn't feel the shafts were too short.  I've left about 1/4" of wood, and fastened them with Chicago nuts.  I've tried another with very short screws - it's holding up, but I haven't really abused it much.  T-nuts sound like another good option.  If you have a spare piece of wood, or even some cardboard, try it out - losing 1/4" or 1/2" isn't so bad.

Oh, and you forgot one option:

5) Top-mount, route enough to bury the mounting plate AND the screws/bolt-heads, fill all that extra space with wood filler
Neverending Project:
@bleargh and @ids: Thank you so much! This is exactly the feedback I was looking for. I am glad to hear that the standard shaft doesn't feel too short when bottom-mounted. I think I will try it out, and if it is too short for my liking, bleargh I will send you a PM about those long shafts.  ;D

Oh, and bleargh, while the post you mentioned does talk about mounting the U360, it doesn't specifically say anything about top-mounting so the screws don't show. But in all my searching, I still didn't find that post, so it is moot anyway. Thanks.
Zobeid:

--- Quote from: ids on February 22, 2008, 05:27:23 pm ---5) Top-mount, route enough to bury the mounting plate AND the screws/bolt-heads, fill all that extra space with wood filler

--- End quote ---

Why do you need wood filler?  Your CPO should cover up the space nicely, I would imagine?

And I assume you would also put the plastic dust washer under the CPO while you're at it.  Or at least, I would.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page

Go to full version