Author Topic: What was the hardest part for you when building a machine? (Read 2182 times)

guytalbot · « **on:** April 20, 2004, 06:28:51 pm »

I have been researching this for a few weeks and was curious about what people found most difficult when building their cabinets? Was it the cabinet itself? the wiring? the controls?

I have been repairing pcs for years, I can soder well and am fairly knowledgable with electronics, it is a bit intimidating I must admit

, especially the woodworking, I have nightmares about hacking a finger off. Anyway I was wondering what other people's experiences were like.

telengard · « **Reply #1 on:** April 20, 2004, 06:35:13 pm »

Quote from: guytalbot on April 20, 2004, 06:28:51 pm

I have been researching this for a few weeks and was curious about what people found most difficult when building their cabinets? Was it the cabinet itself? the wiring? the controls?

I have been repairing pcs for years, I can soder well and am fairly knowledgable with electronics, it is a bit intimidating I must admit , especially the woodworking, I have nightmares about hacking a finger off. Anyway I was wondering what other people's experiences were like.

No doubt about it, the rotating monitor. What a pain in the butt!

Aceldamor · « **Reply #2 on:** April 20, 2004, 06:38:05 pm »

hardest part for me has been finding a FE and configuring it to my liking...All the FE Dev's here keep coming out with newer versions of thier already fantastic FE's that have more bells and whistles and I have a hard time not playing around with all of them trying to determine which one I want to go with.

Other than that the hardest part for me has been finding some of the controls and designing a modular panel to be able to use them all.

DougHillman · « **Reply #3 on:** April 20, 2004, 06:38:23 pm »

For me the hardest part didn't involve any actual construction.

The most difficult thing for me has been to lock down the plans and actually start cutting wood. I'd spend forever designing and second guessing myself and never actually START on a project if I didn't have some people telling me, "just GET IT DONE!"

As long as the planning has been done well, there's nothing particularly difficult in any aspect of cabinet construction. If you've never done any woodworking before, getting used to the tools might be a bit of a step, but nothing that won't be overcome quickly. Follow the suggestions & hints found throughout these forums and you'll be making straight clean cuts in no time. Wear your saftey gear (glasses & ear protection for sure. I wear gloves most of the time as well Keeps slinters outta the hands.) and work smartly. Don't put your fingers where the cutty parts are gonna be.

Wiring is pretty straightforward. Time consuming and sometimes overwhelming, but not really difficult.

Good luck.

D

paigeoliver · « **Reply #4 on:** April 20, 2004, 06:48:07 pm »

Hardest thing for me has always been drilling the freaking holes in my metal control panels.

Tilzs · « **Reply #5 on:** April 20, 2004, 07:00:37 pm »

Figureing out how to mount the monitor in the cocktail and then actually doing it.

Santoro · « **Reply #6 on:** April 20, 2004, 08:55:14 pm »

Lifting it up the front stairs into the house!

Also I struggled with a way to neatly mount the bezel glass.

Apollo · « **Reply #7 on:** April 20, 2004, 08:57:15 pm »

Designing and building the unit to rotate the monitor, and saving up to buy all the endless parts of course, lol.

microwrx · « **Reply #8 on:** April 21, 2004, 07:13:39 am »

Completely finishing it once most of it is in and working, it's so hard to stop playing and finish building.

maraxle · « **Reply #9 on:** April 21, 2004, 07:31:05 am »

Keeping the cat from damaging it.

Rom · « **Reply #10 on:** April 21, 2004, 08:25:54 am »

I think the hardest part is setting the design in stone. On more than one occasion while making my cabinet I would find somthing that didn't feel right so ended up making a change which would inevitably set me back a day or two. Even though I had spent weeks on designing it on paper I've found that without it actually being in front of you, there are some things which don't work out as you would of expected.

At this moment in time the hardest part is deciding what colour to paint it. I've narrowed it down to 2 options but still don't really know.

SirPeale · « **Reply #11 on:** April 21, 2004, 08:31:40 am »

Finding time away from the family to actually WORK on the projects. The rest has been pretty easy.

mmmPeanutButter · « **Reply #12 on:** April 21, 2004, 08:34:53 am »

I'm planning a rotating monitor. I'm a little scared.

From what I hear, a rotating monitor will take about 50% of the total time that it takes to finish the cab.

Construction will begin in the coming weeks. Can't wait for the challenge.

(Oh, and I've decided to outsource the button holes in my metal cp)

Ken Layton · « **Reply #13 on:** April 21, 2004, 10:08:42 am »

Building control panels is the single most time consuming thing in my experience. I'm an expert and it takes a while. Everything else is a piece of cake.

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #14 on:** April 21, 2004, 10:12:55 am »

Uh..the control panel is fairly complicated since I am never happy unless things are perfect !

Installing t-molding is annoying too(had to use hot glue).

pocketbikez · « **Reply #15 on:** April 21, 2004, 11:25:29 am »

1. planning out how the monitor will fit at the perfect level, depth, and angle.

2. creating the best looking monitor enclosure and bezel.

3. bringing the cabinet into the house and up stairs. i find making the monitor easy to remove and replace is the key. a cab with the monitor removed is 5 times easier to transport.

Minwah · « **Reply #16 on:** April 21, 2004, 01:05:46 pm »

Painting is my worst part. I f@$%&

Santoro · « **Reply #17 on:** April 21, 2004, 01:11:18 pm »

Quote from: Minwah on April 21, 2004, 01:05:46 pm

Painting is my worst part. I f@$%&

GGKoul · « **Reply #18 on:** April 21, 2004, 01:19:38 pm »

Getting the control panel layout just right, took the most time for me.

The toughest part was recovering from all the MDF dust the I inhaled when I was drilling through the MDF.

-GGKoul

rampy · « **Reply #19 on:** April 21, 2004, 01:51:36 pm »

1. waiting for the ups guy/fed ex guy (shift refreshing tracking page didn't make him show up any earlier... neither did pressing the elevator button repeatedly make it come to my floor quicker)

2. Is the planning process

3. being patient and not rushing to get it finished (i.e. do it right the first time.. don't half arse/rush job it)

4. Fronted end choosing, tweaking / final polishing.

rampy

fredster · « **Reply #20 on:** April 21, 2004, 01:53:57 pm »

The control panel, by far. Getting it right, getting it lined up, interfacing, all the little wires.

Madman · « **Reply #21 on:** April 21, 2004, 01:57:58 pm »

Really just finding the time to work on the project... I really had no idea how much time this would take!!!! The other difficult task was laminating in the winter with a bullet heater in the garage.....NOT FUN! (but well worth it)

MameMaster! · « **Reply #22 on:** April 21, 2004, 06:54:04 pm »

For me the hardest part was realizing that it was finished!

MameMaster!

NoOne=NBA= · « **Reply #23 on:** April 21, 2004, 07:33:19 pm »

Convincing my wife that I really do NEED "another joystick", "another spinner", and "another trackball".

She wasn't too thrilled about me getting most of them the first time around, and can't grasp the nuances of how the controllers differ from each other.
To her a stick's a stick, a trackball's a ball, and a spinner is a knob that twirls around.
One is as good as the next, and should work for EVERYTHING, as far as she's concerned.


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Author Topic: What was the hardest part for you when building a machine? (Read 2182 times)

maraxle