Can anyone out there fab a joystick mounting plate?

acblunden2

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Can anyone out there fab a joystick mounting plate?

The idea is to have the mounting plate fasten to the underside a 3/4" wood control panel. A 1/2" recess shall be beveled/routered out of the 3/4" control panel for which the mount shall sit into. Then the mount shall be fastened to the CP by the flanges as shown the picture. The user shall lose 1/4" in joystick height. But this allows no bolts to protrude through the surface of the CP and shall allow a CPO to lay flat across the surface of the CP.

For now, I would be looking for someone to make this for US-style joysticks. But some out there may want this for Japanese sticks as well. Can someone take this on? Attached is a crude drawing.
 

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The idea is to have the mounting plate fasten to the underside a 3/4" wood control panel. A 1/2" recess shall be beveled/routered out of the 3/4" control panel for which the mount shall sit into. Then the mount shall be fastened to the CP by the flanges as shown the picture. The user shall lose 1/4" in joystick height. But this allows no bolts to protrude through the surface of the CP and shall allow a CPO to lay flat across the surface of the CP.

For now, I would be looking for someone to make this for US-style joysticks. But some out there may want this for Japanese sticks as well. Can someone take this on? Attached is a crude drawing.

I can get those fabricated no problem, but I have no clue what the charge would be... It looks like it would be easy cuts and bends... And four pressed bolts... But volume would be the issue...
 
This could be easily 3d printed might even be strong enough for home use, not sure though how to print the posts though but not sure I understand why the posts play into it.
 
Could you just use normal bolts for the posts?

You could, but you'd have to route out a deeper recess in the underside of the wood to accommodate the thickness of the bolt heads (or just drill/route 4 small, shallow recesses in the bottom of the main recess, one for each bolt head).

This wouldn't be hard to make if you have a bench vise, a big hammer, a drill, and some way to cut out the joystick hole (such as a Greenlee punch). Just cut a piece of e.g., 16 gauge sheet steel to the right size, make your holes, draw lines where the 90-degree bends need to be, clamp it in the vise along the first line, hammer it over 90 degrees, and repeat until you have all your bends. Threaded rods could be welded in place or you could use regular bolts.
 
I can get those fabricated no problem, but I have no clue what the charge would be... It looks like it would be easy cuts and bends... And four pressed bolts... But volume would be the issue...

Given that iL Eurosticks cost about $30/pair shipped, I am thinking $25/pair shipped CONUS and no higher is the retail cap for this. You could probably charge more for the version that would work with Japanese sticks just because that market demands more since it is more exclusive. There would probably be 10 Capcom Gen 2 Big Blue owners that would be interested in this right away. There would be more once we users start advertising its benefits. I mean, think of how many cab owners out there that have hacked up CP's! What is the minimum run you would need?

The market and what it would replace is:
  • Those that have that have a thin sheet of metal overlayed over the top of a wood CP that has been hacked up.
  • Those with hacked/damaged Capcom Big Blue Gen 2 cabs.
  • Those with hacked/damaged Capcom Big Blue Gen 1 cabs. They can now cut one solid piece of wood to replace their hacked up CP's
  • Anyone with a hacked up control panel that is 3/4" wood that requires joysticks.
  • Anyone that has a US Street Fighter 2 control panel layout, but perhaps would like to swap out that original control panel to keep it OG and use one drilled for the newer Sega Astro City curved button layout and spacing (Japanese-style)

Two things we are solving for here are:

  1. If the joystick is mounted to a 3/4" wood panel without bevelling on the underside, players lose 3/4" in joystick height. That makes the playing experience almost impossible. Bevelling out the wood solves the joystick height issue but decreases the strength of the wood the joystick mounts to. Also, without the mounting plate, you would still need to drill holes through the CP to fasten down the joystick. This is unsightly as it ruins the continuity of the CPO. And it is uncomfortable as a players knuckles often rub on the protruding bolts (like with Dynamo cabs). The mount solves these things.
  2. To solve the joystick height, manufacturers back in the day fastened a metal plate that either covered the entire surface of the CP (Like Killer Instinct and Capcom Gen 1 cabs), which is costly to reproduce. Or the made small plates that were bevelled into the top surface of the CP, which caused other issues as discussed here and here.
This could be easily 3d printed might even be strong enough for home use, not sure though how to print the posts though but not sure I understand why the posts play into it.

Wouldn't work. 3D printed plastic won't hold up long up even under home use. To make a 3D printed solution rigid enough for this, it would need to be thicker which would decrease joystick height.

The idea of the posts is explained in the two numbered bullets above.

Could you just use normal bolts for the posts?

We want to eliminate the need for drill-thru bolts for aesthetic and functional reasons stated in the numbered bullets above.

This wouldn't be hard to make if you have a bench vise, a big hammer, a drill, and some way to cut out the joystick hole (such as a Greenlee punch). Just cut a piece of e.g., 16 gauge sheet steel to the right size, make your holes, draw lines where the 90-degree bends need to be, clamp it in the vise along the first line, hammer it over 90 degrees, and repeat until you have all your bends. Threaded rods could be welded in place or you could use regular bolts.

You're right, given the right tools, this could easily be made. But most arcade hobbyists don't have such tools. We do have woodworking tools at most. Also, we want better precision and given this needs to be made, 99% of the time in pairs, no hammering as that would produce inconsistencies even among a single pair. Stamped is best. Short of that, a proper metal brake to make the folds. Hammering is out of the question. ,
 
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I get the need - I tried to reproduce a taito crazy climber panel that uses a thin metal plate mounted in a 3/4 piece of mdf. I was able to get everything perfect, but when it came time to create the mounting holes and match the length of the after market Japanese joystick... the wood was too thin/weak to mount the joysticks... saturday afternoon totally wasted...
 
I have to make a trip to the metal shop to pick up some panels in 2-3 weeks. If you can give me some better detailed specs I could take it with me for a quote... I agree that this is something simple that could be made at home... except for the pressed bolts... that requires bolts that are made specifically for being pressed into a panel that has been drilled or cut to spec... then the bolts are inserted and pressed and when done, leaves a smooth finish on he topside of the panel... it gives the appearance that they are welded... but they are just pressed with a great amount of force...
 
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I had these made a few years ago. Same idea, but easier to build. It just requires a square hole through the wood, and a small routed li- around it to install. I had to do 30 of them to get the cost down to $10/ea.

I have 7 of them left over and will sell them for the same $10/ea that I paid.

They are for American joysticks. I have mounted over 20 different sticks to them. Most fit great, some are a little tight, but still worked. It probably would have been better to use a little smaller diameter stud to account for small differences in the joystick mounts, but these worked well enough.

Get exactly what you want if vegas12 can get them made, but s he said, quantity is the key to getting them done somewhat affordable.
 

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I have to make a trip to the metal shop to pick up some panels in 2-3 weeks. If you can give me some better detailed specs I could take it with me for a quote... I agree that this is something simple that could be made at home... except for the pressed bolts... that requires bolts that are made specifically for being pressed into a panel that has been drilled or cut to spec... then the bolts are inserted and pressed and when done, leaves a smooth finish on he topside of the panel... it gives the appearance that they are welded... but they are just pressed with a great amount of force...

For now, let's see what we come up with for the IL Eurostick (US Style). We can work on the Japanese version later. I am thinking this needs to be made of metal that is at least 1/8" thick for rigidity, maybe even 3/16". So the mount would cradle the joystick base for which the dimensions are on the bottom left of the attached photo. Hole spacing is provided as well. Size of the screw posts are listed as well. The perpendicular bend has to be exactly 1/2" from top of the plate to top of the mounting flange (the parts that touch the panel and run parallel to the bottom surface of the panel) The flange should be 1" wide with 3 screw holes on each side zig zagged.

The only thing I am not sure of is if the flange should be horizontal (left and right) or vertically (top and bottom) placed. Right now, I am thinking vertically placed since I am solving this for a G2 Capcom Big Blue cab that has lots of space either way. Others can chime in here.

Let me know if you need further clarification.

EDIT I: Ignore diagram I attached earlier. That is for version 2 of the IL Eurostick. Will find the proper diagram later and update this post.
EDIT II: Proper diagram is now attached
 

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I had these made a few years ago. Same idea, but easier to build. It just requires a square hole through the wood, and a small routed li- around it to install. I had to do 30 of them to get the cost down to $10/ea.

I have 7 of them left over and will sell them for the same $10/ea that I paid.

They are for American joysticks. I have mounted over 20 different sticks to them. Most fit great, some are a little tight, but still worked. It probably would have been better to use a little smaller diameter stud to account for small differences in the joystick mounts, but these worked well enough.

Get exactly what you want if vegas12 can get them made, but s he said, quantity is the key to getting them done somewhat affordable.

What you have is exactly how they fabricated it for the G2 Capcom Big Blue. Causes issues with the CPO tearing over time. We talked about that here:

https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=3732653&postcount=543

An underside-only mount avoids this completely. But we sacrifice a 1/4" of joystick height.
 
I just noticed that arcadeshop sells a similar setup for a Pacman control panel - approximately same amount of metal and bends... for about $25/piece.... that is not encouraging as far as pricing goes - they usually charge on the low side because they do a lot of volume... but not encouraging for the hope for 2 for $25...
 
I just noticed that arcadeshop sells a similar setup for a Pacman control panel - approximately same amount of metal and bends... for about $25/piece.... that is not encouraging as far as pricing goes - they usually charge on the low side because they do a lot of volume... but not encouraging for the hope for 2 for $25...

You mean this: http://www.arcadeshop.com/i/498/ms-pac-joystick-with-plate.htm? Notice it comes with the joystick for $27.

Then there is this: http://www.arcadeshop.com/i/499/ms-pac-joystick-mounting-plate.htm. Just the mounting plate sans joystick for $11. Very similar to what we need without the posts. Also, we don't need the black finish.
 
I have to make a trip to the metal shop to pick up some panels in 2-3 weeks. If you can give me some better detailed specs I could take it with me for a quote... I agree that this is something simple that could be made at home... except for the pressed bolts... that requires bolts that are made specifically for being pressed into a panel that has been drilled or cut to spec... then the bolts are inserted and pressed and when done, leaves a smooth finish on he topside of the panel... it gives the appearance that they are welded... but they are just pressed with a great amount of force...

What's the word brutha? Were you able to get out to the machine shop and get an idea on volume pricing?
 
It seems to me you would have a strength problem here as well. You will have a mounting plate only held on with a 1/4" of bite from the screws you use to mount it. If the joysticks are getting heavy use, the screws could loosen and the plate come loose. A friend build a multicade and mounted standard happ supers from underneath with screws and had this issue.
 
It seems to me you would have a strength problem here as well. You will have a mounting plate only held on with a 1/4" of bite from the screws you use to mount it. If the joysticks are getting heavy use, the screws could loosen and the plate come loose. A friend build a multicade and mounted standard happ supers from underneath with screws and had this issue.

The the screw posts don't bite into the 1/2" beveled recess for the joystick. That is one of the main ideas. We don't want the cheap Dynamo style where bolts are drilled through the top of the CP which detracts fro the CPO's artwork and grinds at our knuckles as we play our games.

The joystick screw posts bite into the mount and never touch the CP at all. As a matter of fact, the joystick does not touch the CP at all with the mount. The joystick only touches the mount. Joysticks are fastened to the mount by bolting them down to the screw posts. The mount is fastened/screwed down into the underside of the CP at the flanges which will be fastened to the portion of the CP that is not beveled out. From which, the closest screw hole should be about 1/2" away from the recess.

If the beveling is done right with a router, there should be no strength issues.
 
The the screw posts don't bite into the 1/2" beveled recess for the joystick. That is one of the main ideas. We don't want the cheap Dynamo style where bolts are drilled through the top of the CP which detracts fro the CPO's artwork and grinds at our knuckles as we play our games.

The joystick screw posts bite into the mount and never touch the CP at all. As a matter of fact, the joystick does not touch the CP at all with the mount. The joystick only touches the mount. Joysticks are fastened to the mount by bolting them down to the screw posts. The mount is fastened/screwed down into the underside of the CP at the flanges which will be fastened to the portion of the CP that is not beveled out. From which, the closest screw hole should be about 1/2" away from the recess.

If the beveling is done right with a router, there should be no strength issues.

Ah, that makes sense. I was imagining it differently in my head for some reason.
 
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