DIY dust covers

[telengard]

Has anyone made one of these?  I'm talking about the circular plastic discs that go around the shaft of a joystick.
I ask because I need one slightly larger than the normal sized ones on my Wico.  I think the size of a Donkey Kong clear one would work (3" diameter).

Just looking for ideas of materials I could try and cut which would look half decent.

~telengard

[Droler]

Never tried making one - but a thin piece of acrylic sheet or very thin plexi (like on a poster frame cover) cut with a hole saw (in reverse to avoid seizing and cracking) might work.

[Franco B]

Ive made one or two from stainless steel,  brass and nylon.

[telengard]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I ended up going the acrylic route.  I had difficulty cutting it but the results are *way* better than what I had previously.  I covered both sides of the dust cover w/ black happs pica vinyl so it looks very much like a slightly oversized Wico one.

~telengard

[javeryh]

How did you cut the perfect circle?  All of my attempts have failed using a hole saw.  Also, how did you center the hole to drill out for the shaft?  Using my drill (no drill press ) I am always off by 1/32" or so but it is highly noticeable.

[Franco B]

Good work telengard 

I do think you would struggle to drill one perfectly without a drill press. However, if you could use a drill bit slighty larger than the size of the shaft as the 'centre drill' in the hole saw, you should get good results. I dont know if you could get a drill that size in the hole saw center though.

You can, however, pickup a low power drill press for next to nothing. You would be suprised how much easier and precise jobs are with one.

Clamp job to table, drill shaft size, cut out washer with hole saw, jobs a good'en

[telengard]

Well, I guess I kinda hacked it up.  I traced a 3" circle and used scissors to cut far around it so that the cracking didn't go into the 3" diameter part.  I then filed the rest down.  Looks good to my eyes.  Since my panels are also covered in the black pica vinyl I don't really notice any small imperfections on it.

I drilled the center hole w/ a handheld drill and put masking tape over both sides to keep it from cracking (which helped).  I guess I could have used my 3" hole saw and a smaller one but this seemed a little quicker.

The pica vinyl hides any of the imperfections etc.  This whole thing was to cover up a larger than needed hole in my modular panel for Q-bert.   

~telengard

[clok]

To late now I'm guessing (looks like you completed it) but go to any office store and buy a $3 waste paper basket with flat sides. The plastic has the rough finish on the outside (much like the dust washers on my sticks) or if you prefer smooth on inside. It cuts with a scissor, not easy but not to bad. if you can cut a nice circle you are set, or as somebody suggested, a hole saw should work. Of course you could even change the color if you could find the right colored basket.

Clok