Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: vputz on May 13, 2004, 12:14:27 am
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I'm using an odd surface for my CP (it's intended to be a CP that lives in a trunk, because I don't quite have the funding for a proper cabinet and this way I can hide it away from curious chewing huskies when it's not in use)...
Basically I'm a cheap bastige, and I have a spare package of Pergo laminate flooring that will be enough to cover the CP. The Pergo is about 1/4 inch thick, so I figured that if I used 1/2 inch particleboard and covered it with the Pergo, I'd have roughly a 3/4" sandwich, and with black T-molding on the sides, no one would be the wiser (and while I'm not crazy about a woodgrain CP, I will say that the stuff is TOUGH). You could use 1/4" hardboard as well, I guess (well, two layers of 1/8", I haven't seen 1/4" I don't think), for a similar approach. All edges will be T-molded (I'll only need about 12' of the stuff for this wee CP, and T-molding.com has a min order of 20', so I can be generous...).
But now I have a dilemma. It seems that the popular way to mount joysticks in 3/4" panels is to route out about 1/4 inch or so to avoid using up too much stick height. But I thought--since I'm going to be making a Pergo-particleboard sandwich, why not top-mount the stick to the particleboard and then lay the Pergo over it, thereby only using 1/4" stick height?
It sounds reasonable. But the stick mounting plate has a finite depth (I guess I could route out the top of the particleboard just a bit so the plate nestled down in there). But what fasteners would have a really low profile, so they wouldn't fill too much space between the particleboard and Pergo?
-->VPutz
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Flathead slotted bolts are probably your best bet.
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I also made a layered CP top and I'm working on another one. I used a screw + bolt to fasten the joystick on top of the bottom layer. I routed out the top of the bottom layer to hold the joystick base/mounting "plate". Allthough my bottom layer was 18mm thick so I had more room to route out the top.
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My CP's have been made from a top layer of 1/4" inch plywood and 1/2" inch plywood. I cut holes completely through the 1/2" layer and used flat head security bolts to mount the joysticks to the 1/4" layer.
You can sort of see it in the pictures in this thread: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=12801;start=msg101271#msg101271