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| Lexiq:
--- Quote from: EvilNuff on July 08, 2023, 09:20:10 am ---Looks great, well done craftsmanship with clean work! Why the dual spinners if I may ask? --- End quote --- Thanks EvilNuff! The dual spinners I was originally thinking could be nice to have for 2 player paddle games and some driving games. They work really well with Super Off Road for example. I even bought a couple of those mini steering wheels for them - a bit silly maybe, but I thought they looked cool ;D Apart from that, it was also an aesthetic choice. If you look at how the control panel is organized, you'll see that the player 1 and player 2 controls are identical, and that the spinners are also exactly the same distance from the center of the panel, and relative to the row of system buttons. This gives the panel symmetry and helps it look balanced. |
| Lexiq:
Cutting the Control Panel 5 years and 6 months later... I decided to forget the drawer for the moment, and start work on the control panel. I wanted the panel to be as small as possible while fitting the controls I wanted. I planned an initial layout in SketchUp, including models for each of the components to ensure they'd fit inside the control box. I kept everything as close as I could while allowing enough space for comfortable gameplay plus a little bit of extra wiggle room if reality didn't quite line up with the plans. I wanted the panel to overhang the control box slightly - just enough that using the side buttons for pinball is still comfortable. I also wanted curved corners to match the cabinet sides, and also a gentle curve for the front of the panel to help break up what is otherwise a lot of straight lines. Cutting the Curve The front curve is the most challenging part of this step. It has a large radius so is difficult to transfer from the plans to the plywood. Instead of doing this, I decided the easiest and most fool-proof approach was to use the third, as yet untouched, sheet of plywood, and build a simple jig to guide the jig saw along the curve. With a larger work surface, it would be possible to use clamps and a smaller sheet of plywood, but without that, a full sheet means there's a secure point to attach the jig, and the two ends can't move relative to each other. I found that the long clamp guide I already had would work perfectly for this. The clamp could be used to attach it to a pivoting block of wood at one end, and the hole at the other end could be used to attach it to the jig saw. The pivoting block of wood is attached by a screw through a sheet of scrap plywood, which is clamped to the plywood to be cut. The other end is bolted to a wooden frame made from offcuts that the jig saw sits inside. The point of attachment is in line with the saw blade rather than the center of the saw, which means the saw will rotate around the blade, preventing blade flex. The saw will now move along the arc of the curve and can't deviate. The clamp guide was actually slightly shorter than I needed to match the radius on my plan, but the difference isn't noticeable. I used the thicker clean cut blade that came with the jig saw for this cut because the curve is so gentle, and to further minimize blade flex, which can be an issue when guiding a jig saw in this way. I also used masking tape front and back to help achieve a clean cut. Cutting the Rest of The Panel With the curve cut, I measured the distance to the top of the panel from the center of the curve, and cut along the width of the sheet of plywood with the track saw. The next step was to cut the panel to the required width, which also frees the curved section. The final step is to again use the jig saw to cut the corner curves, in the same way they are done for the cabinet sides. The front corner radius is 30mm like the other corners, with the centers positioned so the curve is tangential to both the panel sides and the front curve. The two back corners have a smaller 20mm radius which looks a little better than a larger radius here. |
| Zebidee:
--- Quote from: Lexiq on June 30, 2023, 07:13:38 pm ---Looks like a good approach - and I guess the wheels are pretty close to the ground so it doesn't need to tilt much before they take the weight, meaning that it will work even if the cabinet is against a wall. --- End quote --- You do have to move it out from the wall a little to get it back onto the two wheels - so four wheels on bottom may work better in some situations. But overall the stability is better with two. |
| Zebidee:
Impressed with the rig you setup to cut that curve! Very precise way to do it. |
| javeryh:
All I keep thinking when I see a new post here is damn OP must have some sharp tools. All the cuts are so clean haha |
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