Putting it all together

[Leif]

I've been trolling for 2 years now... time to sign up.  I've been working on my cabinet for what seems like forever and I'm trying to wrap it all up in the coming weeks.  If you don't mind me asking a few questions as I seem a bit lost "finishing" this thing up.  As a quick note to anyone building a cabinet... DO NOT TURN THIS THING ON WITHOUT BEING COMPLETELY FINISHED.  I went six months without touching it progress wise and just played the hell out of it, un tmolded and a blank unfinished MDF panel in place... worst mistake ever.   

Question 1:

What comes first... the chicken or the egg.

Or in this case, the wood or the artwork?

Should I cut the wood first and then cut the artwork?  Print the artwork, cut it out and then transfer that to wood?  What about the acrylic?  How do I drill through the acrylic into the artwork to line up my button holes if I don't want to remove the protective covering?  Do I drill from behind the board and into the acrylic?

Question 2: 

My panel looks like knievel's in design.  It's a D shape or curved where it meets the players.  I'm having a REALLY hard time getting this curve right.  Do I cut out a template?  I tried with foamcore and then used that to press my router against but it gave in a few spots and is pretty uneven.  I'll try sanding it today but it looks like ass right now.  I have a feeling that I'll just end up sanding the imperfections along with it and just take an 1/8" the whole way around the arc.  Very frustrating.  I can get the acrylic to match the wood with a template bit on my router but I want the wood smooth and clean looking.

Thanks for the help guys... searched the boards before I posted but couldn't find what I was looking for as far as answers.

[Taborious]

Question 1: I would suggest doing the artwork first, or I should say layout first, so you know where all the controls will go and how much room you will have for artwork.
           For getting everything to line up with my artwork which I did in photoshop I create one layer which was the design layout of the controls. Meaning, it was just white background and black line that outline the size of the parts. For a button it was a simple circle, the diameter of the button with a X through it so I knew where center was. When I had my artwork printed I printed one with all the artwork and one of the controls just black and white. Taped that to the control panel and the for the buttons just taped a finish nail in the middle of the X to show me where to drill. Came out perfect.

Question 2: To get your arc correct; thought you will need space for this option but it will be perfect, take a 2x4 or 1x4 preferred and drill a whole in one side that your routers blade will fit through and on the other side put a nail in the wood to keep the far end in place. Now you can make a perfect circle with your router as it is attached to a focal point. Depending on the size of the arc this will determine the length of the wood.  You could create templates but Ive found this to be the quickest way...

Now, BIG time saver, you are better off cutting the control panel and lexan (NOT plexi) at the same time. You want to sandwich the lexan between the control panel and a scrap piece of wood. This will prevent the lexan from cracking and ensure that the panel and lexan lineup exactly. I would use the newer hole drilling bits not the blade bits they are more....rough when cutting. Plus when drilling the holes back the bit out every so often to remove what it has cut. Once you hit the lexan steady slow even pressure and stop once you go through, and that will give you a perfect fit lexan to CP to holes. If you dont use a backing when cutting the lexan it will bow a little when you start appling pressure to it.

I have pictures from my build if I get a chance I'll post them here as my desription might not paint a good mental picture...

[Leif]

Thanks for the reply.  I little has happened since I posted this.

For one, I bought a router.  God's hand with a plug.  Jesus this thing makes things so much easier.

For part 1:  I did the artwork in CAD first and then in PS.  I laid a jpg of the cad drawing as a layer to design my artwork around.  I have my CAD file plotted and my artwork file printed.  Things do line up but I'll use the cad file to drill my holes.

Part 2:  In cad I figured out the radius for the device I would need to construct to get the arc right.  A swinging arm of 9.28 feet didn't seem reasonable so I went the old fashioned way and cut with with a jig very slowly and sanded until perfection.  So far so good.  I decided I'll hit the lexan with a template bit in the router tonight.

[NiteWalker]

You want to sandwich the lexan between the control panel and a scrap piece of wood. This will prevent the lexan from cracking and ensure that the panel and lexan lineup exactly. I

Lexan will not crack. Ever. It is one of the softest polycarbonates out there.

[Taborious]

You want to sandwich the lexan between the control panel and a scrap piece of wood. This will prevent the lexan from cracking and ensure that the panel and lexan lineup exactly. I

Lexan will not crack. Ever. It is one of the softest polycarbonates out there.

Well, I'm sure if I take a piece of lexan and bend it, it will eventually break, so technically it wont crack, but it will break. Never the less, sandwich it or give the back side some support or it will bow when you put pressure on it and the it might not line up as you want.

[NiteWalker]

Yeah, it will break but not crack the way acrylic would if you tried to drill through that very quickly. As for the support, only on the backside is it needed. Just to prevent blowout from drilling.