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| MartyKong:
--- Quote from: Zebidee on July 11, 2023, 10:03:45 pm ---Impressed with the rig you setup to cut that curve! Very precise way to do it. --- End quote --- Yeah, On my squared control panel corners, I think I traced a round lid off a jar, jigsawed and sanded er down. That's the redneck way to do it.:applaud: |
| Lexiq:
--- Quote from: MartyKong on July 15, 2023, 02:28:49 pm --- --- Quote from: Zebidee on July 11, 2023, 10:03:45 pm ---Impressed with the rig you setup to cut that curve! Very precise way to do it. --- End quote --- Yeah, On my squared control panel corners, I think I traced a round lid off a jar, jigsawed and sanded er down. That's the redneck way to do it.:applaud: --- End quote --- Haha, that's pretty much what I did for all the other curves, just didn't trust myself to freehand the long one. ;D |
| Lexiq:
--- Quote from: javeryh on July 12, 2023, 10:59:42 am ---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 --- End quote --- I didn't have any woodworking tools when I started, so everything was new and sharp. Most of the photos I've posted are also after a fair bit of sanding too. |
| Lexiq:
Building the Control Box The control box sits under the control panel and houses the various controls, interface boards, and wiring. I wanted my control panel to have a slight gradient, so the front and back needed to be different heights. A height of 70mm at the front, 100mm at the back (matching the cutout on the cabinet sides), and a depth of 300mm gives an angle of just under 6 degrees, which feels about right - not flat, but not too steep. I considered designs where the control box is attached to the cabinet and the control panel is hinged to provide easy access, but decided on a different approach in the end. The control panel and the sides of the control box will be permanently attached, and the base of the control box will be a separate structural component of the cabinet. The control panel / box assembly can then slide over the base, resting on wooden blocks mounted around the inside. This does make access to the control box less convenient, but after setting everything up, I didn't expect to need to do this often. The advantage is that the control panel is very securely mounted to the cabinet and there is no play or movement that may be introduced by hinges. I don't know if this is actually the case, and I'm sure it's possible to build a very sturdy hinged panel, but this felt like the right way to go and it has worked very well for my cabinet. Another thing to note for this approach - the fit between the control box edges and the base must be very precise. The base has to fit perfectly into the box so there's no movement. This can be achieved by careful measurement, and by sanding the edges of the base incrementally until the fit is correct. Slightly rounding over the top edges of the base can also ease assembly. Cutting the Sides These are relatively simple shapes to cut and require no special techniques. I decided to use finger joints to connect the sides together, so the length of each side should match the dimension from the plans, i.e. the width of the plywood doesn't contribute the the length of any of the sides. The front and back panels need to have a slight angle to match the angle of the side panels. To get the left and right sides identical, the router and flush trim bit can be used in the same way as on the cabinet sides. Cutting the Finger Joints This is the most difficult step. Ideally, a router table and a jig for this purpose would be used, but at this point in the build, I didn't want to purchase any more equipment, especially not large tools that I was only likely to use once. I decided that with some careful planning, I might be able to do this with the track saw. The first step was to decide on a size for the fingers. I chose 11mm as this divided relatively evenly into both the front and back heights. The second step was to clamp two adjoining sides together, offset by the finger width, then mark the finger cuts. This means that the gap between fingers can be cut straight across both pieces at once. These pieces, still clamped together then need to be secured in position along side the track. The saw must be carefully aligned for the beginning and ending cut for each finger gap, but precision is not required for cutting the material in between. The final point to note is that the saw must be set to a depth matching the finger length. This process needs to be repeated 4 times - one for each corner. Before I started cutting the sides, I did a trial run on some scrap pieces to check that it would work well enough. Once cut, the fit can be tested. Some sanding and slight adjustment was required, but over all, the result was pretty good, and any imperfections can be fixed after assembly with filler and sanding. The advantage of using this type of joint is that once glued, the end result is very strong and requires no additional joins or brackets inside the box. There is also a certain amount of movement in the joins before the glue sets that means the angles can be adjusted so the box is square. Connecting Blocks To connect the box to the control panel, I decided to use wooden blocks at the front and back, leaving the sides clear to make more room for the controls. I chose to use blocks rather than brackets because the joining angle is not 90 degrees, and I already had offcuts with the correct angle from cutting the front and back sides. These blocks are screwed into the box side and the underside of the control panel. The other requirement is for blocks to sit against the box base, to prevent the box from sliding down too far. At the back, the box is supported by the sides of the cabinet, but at the front and on the sides, it needs extra support. For these, I used lengths of 18mm square pine, screwed into the sides. Button Holes I wanted a button on each side for pinball, so needed to drill a couple of holes. I used a 1-1/8" Forstner bit from T-Molding.com for this, drilling most of the way through from one side and then finishing the hole from the other. I also drilled one more hole of the same size at the back for the wires to come out. It's much easier to drill the holes before everything is glued together. Constructing the Base The base is just a simple panel that sits on top of the shelf area of the sides, attached by two ledger boards, with an 18mm gap at the back to leave room for the control box to slide in. It forms a structural component of the cabinet and also isolates the control box and panel from any structural forces. As mentioned above, some care needs to be taken to ensure the base fits perfectly into the control box, but this can be left as a finishing task. Glueing the Sides This step is fairly straight forward. Apply an even coat of PVA wood glue to all the adjoining surfaces of the finger joints, then assemble. The joints should slide together without too much force and without being loose. Once the joints are fully engaged, and before the glue starts to set, use the square to ensure each interior angle is as close to 90 degrees as possible. Clamping while the glue is drying prevents movement and also helps to form a stronger bond. Any excess glue that is squeezed out of the joints can be wiped with a damp cloth or paper towel. Rounding the Corners and Assembly I wanted to minimize the number of visible sharp edges and this meant rounding off the corners of the control box. With the glue fully cured, it's a relatively easy task to use the router and a rounding over bit to do this, and finish with sanding. I chose a bit with a 13mm corner radius as it was about the right size and the largest I could find that would fit my router. The final step was to assemble all the components and test the fit. |
| emphatic:
Beautiful. :cheers: |
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