What to do with Joystick dust cover bit!

[TheDriver]

What do you do with the little plastic disc around the bottom of the joystick? do you recess a bit in the wood cp for it to sit in? glue it down? I ask purely so I know exactly what I am doing when it comes to doing the cp. I can't find a thread describing this part they all seem to be joystick before installation, joystick after installation and no mention of poor little dust cover!

Regards.

[SithMaster]

Bottom?  I was under the impression that they go on above the base of the joystick.

[TheDriver]

Bottom of the shaft, the bit you see on the top of the cp.

Regards.

[patrickl]

On top of the base under the top of the cp. So you don't see it.

[shardian]

Wood CP - on top. Metal CP - underneath.

You don't want to glue it in place or mount it or anything. That would kind of make it hard for the joystick to move, don't you think?

I think it is time for you to take a field trip to the local arcade. All of your research is putting your head in overload mode.

[TheDriver]

  Very funny guys!!! I knew I would sound a div asking about this! Okay, let's see, if you look at the jstick for example:



that black disc moves and from what I remember about arcade machines is it does not move, or does it and I have just never noticed?

If I take this photo as an example:



that black disc sit's on the top of the cp, bear in mind I have never built a cp before so this will be my first and I want to get it right before wasting anything.

Regards.

[patrickl]

We're both being sincere.

it's often easier to put it on top and people say it's better against dust when it's on top like in your picture. Unfortunately when it's on top it covers part of the artwork and just looks plain ugly so other people say to put it underneath. I would rout out a hole and put it under the control panel. Even in wood (i would simply add an extra cover over the stick or whatever is necessary to get rid of it..

It does move though. Or the hole in it must be really wide and the throw of the joystick small.

Here is what Oscar did with his CP:

The whole thing gets covered with some plexi and on top of that he puts the CPO. the Dust washer would then be only a little bit under the top.

Or you could design the CPO so it doesn't look so ugly when the dust washers go on to. Mountains CP would be an example of this.

[shardian]

With that J-stick you show, the dust washer would have to go on top of the control panel. Why? Because there is no recess built into the joystick housing for the dustwasher. Take a look at this picture of a Happ Super:


notice that there is a recess in the top of the joystick body. You could bolt this to a metal control panel, and the dust washer would rest in this recess.

Originally the sticks such as the Super were designed to have the dust washer below the control panel. In practicality, it is MUCH easier to just install the dust washer above the control panel.

Also, if a joystick is bottom mounted on a wood control panel, the dust washer on the bottom would not look very good at all because it would be almost an inch below the top of the panel.

[Sir Auros]

I like the dust washer on top. Yeah, it covers the CP, but I can't recall many games having them hidden back in the day. I'm not saying there weren't, but the dust cover on top sticks out to me.

[TheDriver]

We're both being sincere.

I know, thanks for the comments everyone, it's clearer what to do with it!

I like that cp patrickl, I may do something like that I like the idea of them being hidden.

I like the dust washer on top. Yeah, it covers the CP, but I can't recall many games having them hidden back in the day. I'm not saying there weren't, but the dust cover on top sticks out to me.

This is how I remember them but never payed attention to wether they moved or not, you would think that would be something I would notice!

Regards.

[patrickl]

This is how I remember them but never payed attention to wether they moved or not, you would think that would be something I would notice!

Well when you played in the arcade those were probably metal CP's. On those the dust washers hardly move. Just look at how little it moves when it's laying on the joystick base (and you move the stick). Imagine putting 3/4" of wood between the dustwasher and the joystick base. The dustwasher will be further up the shaft and thus move a lot more. You will really see it move when you put it on top of a wooden CP.

Especially with the classics the artwork is right around the joystick. If you put the dustwashers up on the CP you will cover up the artwork. For instance in this prototype I made a few years ago:

The dustwasher would cover the green arrows and the word Move.

BTW I made my CP's a 2 layer design. I liked Oscars solution, but didn't feel like leaving the top layer secured only by buttons. I wanted to be able to remove the whole top layer without breaking the CP overlay and i didn't feel like routing out the entire CP top to fit the plexiglass in. So what I did was make it two complete layers. A top of 9 mm thick multi and under that a 12mm layer of multiplex. I flush mount the joysticks from the top of the 12mm layer (routed in). The 9mm layer has t-nuts through it so the screws bond the two layers with the joystick in between. This makes it look like the joystick is mounted in a 9mm panel from the top (it allows you to hide the dustwaser under the top layer) yet it has the strength of a full thickness piece of wood. Guess you could make the top layer thinner too, but I need some thickness for the t-nuts.

I used this approach mostly because of the mspac galaga reunion stick which otherwise needs a metal plate to be able to mount them, but I felt it works great for other sticks too.

In the prototype shown above I originally planned to cover it with a bent piece of lexan or plexi, but couldn't get the bent properly (so I ended up with an ugly cut in the overlay). In a new version I simply made the thinner layer of wood go on the top and front of a square box.

[TheDriver]

That's a nice looking cp box. I guess I will need to try a few thing's till im happy with the results, all the long term member's here make it look so easy! I probably started off the wrong way by getting a real cab first instead of making one but as it was for driving games it did'nt concern me at the time.

Regards.

[tommy]

It goes on top of everything with no glue, otherwise it does not do it's job.

[SavannahLion]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet.

I agree with the people who state to put the dustwasher under metal CP's, but on top of wood. But there are additional factors to consider. I've seen some horrid CP designs that include acrylic on top of metal, in that case, put the washer on top.

It all boils down to one basic reason for me. Besides reducing the amount of crap getting into the cabinet, the dustwasher also serves to prevent pinched skin during play. On a metal CP, the metal is so thin that you would need to hold the joystick in a very awkward way to get a pinching (though I have found that if it does happen, it tends to cut the skin ). A wood CP and/or one with acrylic tends to add so much thickness that a person is far more likely to pinch some portion of their hands during play. Therefor the washer goes on top.

Now if you're the "ideal" gamer and you hold the ball of the stick and not the stick itself, then you can do whatever you want.

[leapinlew]

It goes on top of everything with no glue, otherwise it does not do it's job.

jeez. 

I just converted a Williams cocktail and they build their dust washers into the control panel (and it's wood).


Ms. Pacman - underneath


When I build - I put them on top. I think it looks better. But there really isn't a right or wrong here.

[TheDriver]

Nice cocktails leapinlew, specialy the ms.pacman. 

Regards.

[leapinlew]

Nice cocktails leapinlew, specialy the ms.pacman. 

Regards.

They aren't mine - I was just showing how some cabinets look stock.

[northerngames]

I stick the dust cover on top to cover the dust from getting in there like they were intended for.

if you recess them in and somebody spills pop or something I would think it would stiffen the joystick up becuase it is sticking on both side's of the dust cover and the top and bottom it is sliding around in would get gummed up.

also a recessed would let the dust in and shove the dust into the recesses area under the cp.

I remember playing on some of the arcade machine's that had them recesses and there were alway's something goofy going on with the movment of the joys.