brushed aluminum control panel w/ dust washers

[tutone]

I would like to have a brushed aluminum or stainless top to my control panel.  To do this, I would either do a bottom layer in 3/4 ply or sheet steel.  I'd like to go the sheet steel route since it would be less work to drill holes than to route the joystick rectangles in the plywood.  I can bottom mount the joysticks that way which I think would be simpler.

What I am wondering is where to put the dust washers.  If they go on top, they will probably scratch the finish.  I thought about putting them in-between the top/bottom panels, but that would require spacing the panels apart, which would probably cause problems with the thinner sheet on the top, with warping, etc.

Or is there a teflon like finish I could put on the bottom of the dust washers and keep them on the top?

Any ideas?

[SavannahLion]

You're probably over engineering this problem.

I'm not an expert on this so take it with a grain of salt. My numbers might be way off too. I don't have my aluminum notes right here with me. I also didn't confirm any of this with the local metal shop yet.

Based on my research on aluminum you can replace sheet steel with the equivalent sheet aluminum that's about 40% thicker. In other words, if you decided to use sheet steel that's .18" thick, replace it with 1/4" thick aluminum. You lose in thickness, but aluminum is something like 30% lighter than steel. But since you intend to sandwich aluminum and steel or wood, you might actually have a net gain in thickness, instead of a loss.

It's just a rule of thumb I guess. I think it does depend on the grade steel vs grade aluminum. For instance, I guess you can get away with using 5052 aluminum but you'll need thicker 3003 and really really thick 1100 to replace basic steel.

Point being, if you select the right aluminum. You won't need to back it with steel or wood.

That said and with brushed aluminum. I would go with plastic washers if they go on top or move to washers underneath if you want metals. Either way, you're going to get some hefty wear. Either on the washer itself or on the panel.

[tutone]

Thanks for the reply.

I thought about using a thicker piece of aluminum like you stated, but then I would have bolts showing on the top, which I don't want.

With using dust washers on the top, you bring up a very good point about wear.  I had not thought about wear on the dust washer which would probably be significant.  Plastic over brushed aluminum would be like mild sandpaper.

Sounds like I need to get the dust washers underneath somehow.  Maybe I'll just have to improve my router skills and go w/ wood.

[Franco B]

You should be able to back the dust washers with some very thin felt or other soft material.

I would be more concerned about marking the ally CP though using it. I think a acrylic top to the ally would look nice whilst protecting it too. I don't know what the climate is like where you are but hot or cold metal isn't comfortable on the hands and a acrylic top would solve this also.

[Blanka]

Don't go for brushed aluminium or brushed stainless. It sucks to play on. Try anodised aluminium. Less cold and smoother on the hands.

[surface tension]

As Blanka said, brushed, anodized aluminium would be better and much easier to keep clean of finger marks. Aluminium is a hell of a lot cheaper than stainless too!

I've yet to see any marks caused by the plastic dust washers either, but as Franco suggests, felt would make sure of that.

As far as the bolts are concerned, you could countersink them or have stud inserts fitted.