NEW - More pics of yoke install!

[1UP]

Finally got some time to cut out my yoke base today!  This is for my final control panel, which will be a modular design...


Here are the parts used.  Once again, I printed out a full-size template which aided in construction.  I tried to make as few cuts as possible.  The two triangular side pieces were cut off the corners of the left-over melamine from my cab with a single diagonal cut, and another small cut on each.  The corners were rounded using a plane.


The front panel is where the yoke is mounted, which requires a square hole to be cut, and 4 holes drilled.  Since the yoke's bolts are very short, the wood behind each mounting hole had to be drilled out with my 1-1/8" forstner bit (normally used for pushbutton holes.)


Here the base is assembled, minus the back plate, using cross-drilled 1x1s, glue, and 1-1/2" wood screws.


This is the nearly finished base and yoke, with iron-on melamine edging and t-molding installed.  Still missing two Happ pushbuttons (one each side.)  Hopefully, I'll have time this week to finish the plain looking 3rd panel, with artwork, lexan, USB sockets, and snaps -- which both hold down the lexan and allow the yoke base to be mounted / unmounted quickly.  Right now, the weight of the base itself is more than enough to keep it put during normal use.  I'm hoping the snaps will be enough to keep it in place during more intense play...


And here are the screw-snaps I'm planning to use.  These are heavy-duty snaps from Home Depot.  The flare of the male snap is quite extreme, so it mates with the female snap very tightly.  Without close inspection, the male snap could easily pass as a finishing washer, commonly used to hold down the control panel lexan.  I think I've figured out a way to use the snaps from 2 directions, so that the yoke would not come off unintentionally (more on that later).  I think they may even be strong enough to hold the yoke when the panel is rotated upside down, but I won't know for sure until I get to try it out...

More pics as I finish the third panel!

[GSXRMovistar]

Looks good, very professional!

[Frostillicus]

Wow that does look good.  Nice job on the finishing - can't wait to see it all together.

[Zeitgeist]

This is exactly what I would like to do, except as a stand alone with rubber feet instead of the snaps.
Looks great!
Got the measusrements handy?
Z

[rampy]

Good job 1up!

Dammit  it all... makes my current setup look ghetto...  =P

Keep us aprised of your progress.  

Rampy "2 snaps in a Z formation"

[Xiaou2]

 1up,

  Hmm... I dont think snaps would be the best way to go about holding a 100$+  starwars yoke + pot & electronics.  If it hits the floor... your gona be quite upset...

  While the snaps might be tight now...  over time they may get lose or break.   The pressure from removal may either pop the screw end right out of the wood... and or the other section being thinner.. might simply tear away from the screw you mounted it with.

  The other thing... is How do you intend to pull it off?  As I myself wouldnt want to yank it off via the yoke handles..

  I think you  may want to re-think your approach.   Maybe something to do with one of these:

- an interal locking system (some sort of external slidebar that locks internally via a spring-lock system)

- an external panel clamp system (very strong... but maybe not the best cosmetically)

- sliding track system (unit slides in place on metal rails, locks in front via a spring pin, or keyed lock...ect.)

  I think there is a lot more possibility that exist... especially to do with locking mechanisms... maybe this might inspire you to a more sturdy idea.


 

[Generic Eric]

That looks great.

[1UP]

 1up,

  Hmm... I dont think snaps would be the best way to go about holding a 100$+  starwars yoke + pot & electronics.  If it hits the floor... your gona be quite upset...

  While the snaps might be tight now...  over time they may get lose or break.   The pressure from removal may either pop the screw end right out of the wood... and or the other section being thinner.. might simply tear away from the screw you mounted it with.

  The other thing... is How do you intend to pull it off?  As I myself wouldnt want to yank it off via the yoke handles..

  I think you  may want to re-think your approach.   Maybe something to do with one of these:

- an interal locking system (some sort of external slidebar that locks internally via a spring-lock system)

- an external panel clamp system (very strong... but maybe not the best cosmetically)

- sliding track system (unit slides in place on metal rails, locks in front via a spring pin, or keyed lock...ect.)

  I think there is a lot more possibility that exist... especially to do with locking mechanisms... maybe this might inspire you to a more sturdy idea.

Thanks for the ideas, but as usual, I'm not just going to barrel ahead without some investigation.  If the snaps don't seem sturdy enough, I'll just go back to my original approach, which is to have a long bolt with a plastic knob attached, which goes down thru the base and CP, and hand-tightens into a tee nut in the underside of the CP like so:



BTW, my CP has a little bit of a lip on the front edge because of the t-molding I'm using, so nothing would really just slide off onto the floor.  I'm quite aware of what I paid for the yoke (and the hours of work I did yesterday to build that base) so I'm going to be keeping one hand on the thing throughout my tests until I know that the method I've chosen to attach it is reliable.

[TazMan]

Looks good bro!

My yoke mounting idea is kinda a combo of yours and rampy's

*shrug*

Copyright

[bigmoe]

Wow!

We're so glad you're here...if only to steal from .

[hyiu]

this is the I-donno-how-many-times I looked at your cab.... and I'm still very impressed with it.....

the only bad thing about your cab is.... its not in my basement... haaa haa haaa haaa.....

very nice job with the SW yoke...
very professional...
amazing... as always....

[1UP]

Here's some more pics!  I finally installed the mounting bolt.  I decided to go back to my bolt idea after thinking about all the problems with snaps...


The 1/4" bolt goes down thru a metal pipe that guides it thru the back of the wooden base.  The tube fits so tight in the base that I had to tap it in with a hammer.  The angled 3/8" hole was drilled by placing the yoke on the drill press platform and drilling slowly.  The 5-1/2" bolt has a plastic cap that fits tightly on the head (also tapped in with a hammer) so it can be hand-tightened into the tee-nut under the CP.


The bolt has a small spring that pushes it up when loosened, which means that when I set the base down on the CP, the bolt is only poking about 1/8" from the bottom of the base.  This also allows the tip of the bolt to drop down into the mounting hole 1/8" for easily locating the hole, but doesn't really scratch the lexan since the only thing pushing it down is the weight of the bolt itself.


A washer that is hot-glued to the bolt keeps it from accidentally falling out and getting lost.  The metal bracket keeps the metal guide-tube from being pushed farther out the underside of the base when the knob is tightened.


The hole at the top is where the bolt goes down thru the CP into a tee-nut mounted underneath.  This will have a metal insert to make the hole pretty, once artwork and Lexan are mounted.  At the bottom is a 5/8" hole where I will be mounting the end of a USB extension cord, running back to the USB hub inside the CP.  For now, the yoke's USB plug runs directly down to the hub.  The hole will be capped with a hacked pushbutton top when not in use.


Note that since the base is pressed firmly against the back panel and the control panel, it can't come loose, or rotate sideways, or be rocked away from the CP.  In fact, it connects so tightly, it even stays put when the panel is rotated upside-down!

[Aceldamor]

That's freakin' awsome!! Every time I look at your cab, I ask myself "Now how can you top that?!?" Can't wait to see the modular boxes for the T2 Guns.  Are you also planning on puting the plans for that base on your website?  I could see how that box would come in handy for 360 wheels also. Fantastic work 1UP!!!


I asked my local parts distributer the other day if he had a Star Wars Yoke and he just kinda looked at me for a couple seconds, blinked a few times, then proceeded to laugh at me.  

[REBIRTH]

Awesome 1UP!  Where did you get those bolts with the knob heads?  Those might be handy for me to use to lock my CP's in place instead of my eye bolts.

[Chris]

Awesome 1UP!  Where did you get those bolts with the knob heads?  Those might be handy for me to use to lock my CP's in place instead of my eye bolts.

Look in the specialty hardware drawers at Home Depot.

This whole setup is screaming to be used with steering wheels as well...

[1UP]

The knobs are commonly avialable in the fasteners section at Home Depot, in the little specialty drawers.  I used the ones for 1/4" bolts, you just place the head of the bolt into the recess under the knob, then tap it with a hammer 2-3 times.

The plans are pretty much what you see in one of my above posts (except that I made the bolt perpendicular with the CP rather than perpendicular to the ground), each grid line is an inch, but you need to make one that will fit your panel, unless you are building a cab from my plans...  I'm sure I'll post a writeup and plans on my site when I'm all done.