I should say, I haven't tried doing any of this yet, i'm just trying to plan ahead. I cut out blanks for my interchangeable control panels yesterday out of 3/4" plywood and radius'd the front of them, as they will be sort of a lip that sticks out in front. I've never worked with laminate before, but it was quickly brought to my attention by my dad that it would probably crack if i was trying to make a bend that tight. After visiting the hardware store today and holding a piece of laminate in my hand, I figured he was probably right. The internet made it sound like I'd want something with a MUCH larger radius if i planned on bending Formica around it. Which is why I thought some sort of plastic would be nice.
Yep, the stuff shown above looks about right. Black, kinda glossy, with a fine texture. Whatever the X Arcade panel is covered with feels perfect to my hands, and i'd like to use something with that feeling. What kind of store do I buy the stuff you guys posted at? Is that something that'll be in a hardware store like Home Depot or Menards (if anyone here knows what Menards is...) or will I need to go somewhere special? If it IS in the hardware stores, what department? I'm tired of asking their employees where stuff is and getting walked around to a bunch of different departments until someone knows what I'm talking about. Home Depot didn't know T-Nuts the other day. Sigh.