Wood Choice Question(s)

[Uncle Monkey]

I'm wondering if walnut plywood as seen here would be a good choice for my fighter sticks project I'm new to the woodworking world, but I want to do it right, built to last, etc.....and all I know is 3/4" thick seems to be the common choice of thickness, and I LOVE the look of walnut.....

[Green Giant]

The grain on that looks nice.  As a hard wood, walnut would be just fine for a control panel since it will hold up better to aggressive playing.

Don't worry to much about the color since you can customize that with a nice stain.  The other thing you will definitely want is a polyurethane coat to give it some protection and a a shine.  You will find working with wood like that is really quite simple and clean compared to MDF.  I am no expert but I have done more than my share of staining and prettying up plywood.

[Uncle Monkey]

Next question: if I use the plywood instead of 100% hardwood, will there be any weakening problems where I route it down to 1/4" for the SANWA buttons? The joysticks won't be an issue as they will be top mounted.

[Green Giant]

Next question: if I use the plywood instead of 100% hardwood, will there be any weakening problems where I route it down to 1/4" for the SANWA buttons? The joysticks won't be an issue as they will be top mounted.

SANWA's need 1/4" mounting surface?  That seems extreme, but if this is routing on the underside I don't see any problem with that.

It could get a little messy, but sand paper will clear that up.  I think part of that will depend on the plywood quality you get.  You can always ask some of the old guys at home depot about routing out the plywood.

If you are routing out the top the only concern I would have would be large splinters coming up off the wood leaving it uneven.  You can always check how thick each layer of the plywood is by checking out the edges.  But still, 1/2" of wood routed out for sanwas........ ridiculously small clearance for those things.

[kahlid74]

If you get a high quality plywood you'll be just fine routing.  Make sure to have sharp cutting/finishing blades when citing plywood.