Mounting a D-Sub connector in a plastic box - ground issue

[bobrocks95]

Posted this in questions that don't deserve a thread, but I think a thread is warranted actually as I do more research.

I've got an issue with a DB-15 (DA-15?) connector I'm mounting for an arcade stick project- ground is only connected on the screws and isn't properly connected to the shielding around the plug.

https://ibb.co/BP1FXWd
https://ibb.co/swj8Sjw

The metal plating for the cable shielding doesn't have threads for the 4-40 jackscrews, so as far as I can tell, when the whole thing is mounted, they are floating right smack in the middle of the metal piece while the weight is held by the screw terminal/connector, so the shielding doesn't actually contact the jackscrews anymore (which are what's tied to PCB ground).

Hopefully this picture shows what I mean by that: https://ibb.co/tPhbNYV

So how do people mount these in plastic boxes? Is this breakout made differently and usually the metal shield is one solid piece the jackscrews thread into, rather than a separate metal piece over plastic?

I suppose if push comes to shove I could jam a piece of tinfoil in there and let the jackscrews poke through it. That's an incredibly stupid solution imo but I guess it would work haha. Somebody has to have mounted a VGA connector or something in a plastic box and not had this problem.

[Syntax]

You could solder some wire to the top and connect to ground for a more permanent fix than the tin foil but I would just leave the shield floating on that end if you can.

IMO this is good practice to avoid ground loops/audio hum, you only need one end going to ground for an effective shield.

If you have say a VGA matrix and all your consoles connected with shields either end there is 0 way to isolate them from each other.

[bobrocks95]

You could solder some wire to the top and connect to ground for a more permanent fix than the tin foil but I would just leave the shield floating on that end if you can.

IMO this is good practice to avoid ground loops/audio hum, you only need one end going to ground for an effective shield.

If you have say a VGA matrix and all your consoles connected with shields either end there is 0 way to isolate them from each other.

I'm a bit confused, you're recommending that I don't connect the shield to ground?

This is for a stick mod. So I have a DB-15 cable connected to a Brook board's pin headers, and that cable's coming out of my stick and going to plug into this box. In there I was going to stick a Genesis controller PCB for a padhack, another DB-15 cable to convert to the Neo Geo pinout, and a microcontroller I'm messing with.

Anything connected to the Brook board needs a common ground connection to work. If I leave the shield floating, and I didn't screw in the DB-15 connector fully each time I used it, then there's no ground connection.

I don't see why I'd want that, this isn't really a situation where anything needs to be isolated as far as I know. No audio or video lines, only data pins.